[DIAMOND PICKAXE]
Joshua marvels at the intricately cut crystal points of the new tool in his hand.
“Wow…”
It's not heavier, but it's… denser, more solid. Even the wood, which hasn't changed, seems more durable.
Joshua is once again infinitely gd he does not have to manually craft.
With his new plethora of materials he finds himself repeatedly going through crafting recipes to see what he can make, and like the true American he is, his eyes keep going back to the Workshop.
Guns.
Yeah, he wants a gun.
He can make one right now if he wanted, one of the cheaper “mid-tier” rifles- an AK-47 without a stock, but unfortunately…
They need bullets.
Bullets need gunpowder and copper.
Copper is easy.
Gunpowder comes from Creepers.
So… small pause in this pn for now. He hasn't even seen a Creeper yet, as grateful as he is for that…
…dammit.
“Focus” Joshua locks in.
He needs survivability.
A weapon, and armor. Why hasn't he looked into armor before?
It will dip into his iron supply, but that's what it's supposed to be used for.
[IRON HELMET (+2 Armor)]
Oh, that's a new stat. He didn't even know they would show anything beyond Enchants.
How much that is though… he has no idea. Is 2 good? Bad? Whatever, it helps.
[IRON CHESTPLATE (+6 Armor)]
[IRON LEGGINGS (+5 Armor)]
[IRON BOOTS (+2 Armor)]
He brings the armor pieces to his armor slots and ‘equips’ them. Immediately, pne metal armor materializes around his body.
As borderline clunky as it looked in the game, when transted into real life (debatable), it's surprisingly well fitting.
It corrected to his form, and the joints have segmented… pieces on them(?), Joshua can't find the word but it gives him flexibility in his joints.
“Huh… I thought this would be heavy”
It's part of the reason he stalled getting armor, he wasn't sure if it was worth the potential hundreds of pounds of baggage. But after experiencing… being gutted… he was willing to take the burden.
Instead, it's remarkably light. It's like a yer above his body, Hell if it weren't for the somewhat awkward mild restriction to his flexibility he would forget it was there.
“Po-ny” Comes a chipper cry from the side. Jophiel is lying on her side like a posh woman, resting her muzzle on her hoof. An apple floats near her mouth, already having a bite taken out of it.
“Pft” Joshua gives a pyful scoff “What? Think this'll make the others jealous?” He says in an obnoxiously fmboyant tone, posing for an imaginary mirror.
Jophiel taps her chin, as if deep in thought.
She then sways her hoof.
“Pony”
“You know how they are, anything out of season and they'll be on me like sharks”
“Po-Po-ny”
“White is in season”
Jophiel opens her mouth to respond, but pauses. She looks down at her own fur before giving a content nod.
…
Joshua feels like he's asked this question a dozen times now.
“What the fuck is that?”
It's a tower.
A massive stone tower, basic gray stone with big openings on each “yer”. It's like the leaning tower, but brutalist in design and doesn't look retarded.
He can't see inside the openings at a distance, so he checks the time on his Pokenav.
7:03PM. The tower is barely noticeable on the map due to it not being very wide, but he notes that it's not too far north of the (now scrapped) pne wreckage. He only caught it while scouting out higher on the mountains and saw its silhouette.
He's going north a lot, huh.
He'll check it out tomorrow.
Putting his armor away, he seals the bunker-like cobblestone cube he carved into the side of a mountain.
Though he's sealed in, he can't really stay here for a long time. They still need air, which isn't a problem until they need to bunker down for long periods.
Like overnight.
So he compromises, digging a single block line outside and pcing an iron trapdoor to act as an air vent.
…honestly, it's to keep anything from crawling in. He doubts it'll st long so hopefully it will just buy him enough time to seal it properly if he hears something breaking in.
So now, he's about to complete his second night.
Joshua let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding.
Only two days?
It feels… much longer.
Everything is still baffling to think about, but he's had to adapt to survive, so he found himself not thinking about it too much.
Survive.
And then find a way home.
That is all.
Joshua reaches into his inventory and pulls out a blue gem. Unlike the diamond it's much darker and less refined. Despite that, it shines lightly as an energy radiates off of it.
Lapis Lazuli.
According to Ace, it's a useful magical battery. But since he can't enchant anything right now, it's just another slot in his chest being taken up.
He sighs and tosses it onto the desk he's pced, where it rolls and accidentally bumps into a familiar device he salvaged from the pne.
“z*zz**z********zzz*z**”
The lights on the dispy flicker on with an unsteady dim. Static begins pying through the weathered speakers.
Joshua and Jophiel freeze as they look over at it. A revetion strikes them, one that could change everything.
Lapis can power machines.
“Oh”
“Po”
Joshua walks over and carefully picks up the ore. Opening up his crafting grid with the Workshop.
Using up some of his gold and pstic, he crafts a spool of wires which he attaches to the “battery” of the radio (it's more of a plug, he isn't sure of the term).
Since the entire gem is basically one giant battery of thaumic energy, he can't believe he used that word, he just wraps the exposed wire around it after snipping off some of the pstic shielding.
The radio comes back to life, albeit sluggishly. Having a proper source of power flowing into it is keeping it up, but Joshus guesses that whatever “energy” Lapis gives off (magic?) is only mildly compatible with electronics.
Again, the static comes through, though the breaks in it are considerably less sporadic.
“z*zz**z********zzz*z**”
“zz*zzzz*zzz*zz****z***zz***”
“w-***zz-ow!***zzz”
“...what?”
Was that… a voice?
“n-***zzz-ice to-**zzzzzzzzz***** meet y-***zzz-ou!”
That was a voice.
That was a voice.
Holy fuck.
That's a person!
Joshua, excitement exploding in his heart, starts messing with the dials of the radio.
It's awkward, it's messy, but picking out bits and pieces of the voice he slowly starts tuning it into whatever frequency they're on as the voice gets clearer.
He prays each time the voice stops talking, and each time it speaks again, he inwardly jumps for joy.
This is a person! A real, honest to God person!
“Pony…”
“...sorry”
Jophiel is briefly offended at that comment, but it doesn't stop his momentum.
Each small dial turned, slowly the voice became cleaner and the static slowly faded into the foreground.
“You have sharp cws too! D-**zzz- you know where A-zzz***z*?”
There's a sound of fabric tearing.
And then… gas? Air leaving something?
And then there's horrible screaming, but instead of a dispy of power, it reminds him of the Centaur.
Whatever's on the other side is in pain.
After a few moments, there's another odd… airy sound, then dead silence.
What the hell happened? Are they okay?
The voice speaks up again
“Nope! He didn't know eith-**zzz, maybe they're scared of yellow? Hmmm~”
A higher pitched voice, like a child.
Joshua's heart stops. A child? Out here?
“What if they are just mean… I don't want to talk to them anymor-***”
…what are they talking about?
Joshua swallows some spit and plucks the radio transmitter that's wired to it. He fiddles with it in his hand for a bit, both out of excitement but also anxiousness.
He calms himself, looking at Jophiel as she gives a curt nod. He holds the button down…
And speaks.
“Hello?”
He immediately gets a response, an excited, high energy greeting.
“Hi mist-**! I think you're a mister, you sound like one, are you in my suit? I can't see you!”
He chuckles. Joshua goes to respond…
But something else responded to his message.
One that made him drop all thoughts he had at that moment.
[ Something has noticed you ]
