Episode 4: Learning and Adjustment (3)

Thankfully I woke up early the next day.

I was worried that I might overslept again. I should build like an alarm clock or something in the future using Redstone. Clock is also handy to have around to know time.

Mining should be my priority today. I figured that having the best tools can hasten things like gathering wood, stones and ores. Farming should also be relatively easy if you have the best hoe around.

I went outside and observe the surroundings. This is becoming a habit which is good. I don't want to be negligent about my safety.

I crafted a furnace using 8 cobblestones. It doesn't make sense that you need 8 blocks of cobblestones to create a 1 block of furnace. It's quite expensive considering how much work I put in mining these stones but this is a necessity.

I quit my grumbling and place the furnace on the ground. I make sure that is not near any flammable things like my wooden house or trees. I also cleared all the grass on the surroundings for good measure. Now there is nothing to worry about.

I stare at the furnace and wondered how to interact with it. There is pop-up GUI when you open a chest but how do you that with a furnace.

There are two holes in the furnace. The top seems to be where you put what do you want to cook or smelt and the bottom where you place the fuel.

Should I just shove the items in or there is another way to do this?

Hmm.

I put my hand on top of the furnace and imagine the furnace GUI in the game.

The moment my hand touches the furnace a pop-up appears right in front of me. Similar to what happens when you open up a chest.

There are slots that labeled input below it there is fuel and arrow pointing to the right which labeled output. It is similar to the game.

I opened my inventory and tried placing the 8 iron ores in the input slot and a couple of wood in the fuel slot.

After putting the items, I step back from the furnace and waited for a moment.

Nothing happened. I was worried about this. In the game, you just need to put fuel and the things you want to cook or smelt in the furnace and it will automatically be lit up. Seems here you need to start a fire in order for the furnace to work.

This is fantastic. So much realism.

How am I going to start a fire? Flint and steel are the best options right now since I have iron but I need to smelt the iron ore first. Quite a conundrum that you need fire in order to create an item that can produce fire.

I opened up the inventory to see what I can use to start a fire. All I got is wood, stones and tools. Should I craft sticks and start rubbing them together? I remember doing it during my boy's scout camping.

I crafted some sticks. I also went back to the house to grab some flowers in the chest to see if I can use it as tinder.

I sat down in front of the furnace under the heat of the sun and start rubbing the sticks. Never knew that I'll be doing this kind of thing in this world. Well considering that I can poop here so by this point anything is possible.

Sweat and tears are already flowing in my face because it takes a really long time to light up the tinder and the sun is killing me. I was about to give up when I see smoke in the tinder. I picked up the tinder and started blowing in it. After a while, fire can already be seen and I immediately threw it inside the furnace.

The furnace gradually lights up after a while and I quickly stood up to open up the GUI of the furnace. I don't want to touch a hot furnace but I need to know what is happening. Maybe I can try mentally open the GUI of the furnace but nothing happened. So, I reluctantly touch the top of the furnace. Amazingly, it is not hot. Though it produces a lot of heat, the surface of the furnace is not hot.

I can see the iron ore being smelt. It is not as quick as I thought it would be. It is really slow and would probably take hours before it can smelt one iron ingot.

I chuck more wood in the fuel. I am probably going to create some charcoal since I don't have any coal. Coal and charcoal are better fuel in the game so maybe I can try using it as fuel here. All my wood is already in the furnace so I'm probably have to chop trees to gather more wood but before that I have to check on the crops and the chickens.

I head to the farm and surprise to see 2 sheep walking around the fence. They seem to be looking for a way to get inside. They probably want to eat the crops. It great that the fence I build is not useless.

I need to quickly build a barn for the sheep. All of my wood is already in the furnace so I have to chop down some trees.

While I was chopping down trees, I was constantly watching the sheep in case they wander off. I don't want to lose them. I'm tired of sleeping on the cold floor. I really need to make a bed. I can also try make some clothes using the wool.

It is a little bit easier to gather some wood using a stone ax. I manage to gather quickly enough wood to build the barn.

I immediately build the bar. The barn that I made have similar design to the chicken coop but only larger. There's two of them so I made it a little bit bigger.

Now, how do I lure the sheep inside the barn?

I don't have any wheat on me and their attention seems to be focused on getting inside the farm.

I slowly approach them. I don't want to scare them off.

Their attention seems to be focused on the crops so it is easy to get close to them.

I gently touch one of the two sheep. It doesn't seem to mind.

I gradually push the sheep towards the barn. It takes a long time but I assure myself that it worth it. I was worried that it might run off or attack me but I manage to get sheep inside the barn.

After putting the 2 sheep inside, I exited the barn and closed the gate.

I have no wheat to feed the sheep. The wheat farm is still days away from being harvest. I don't want them to starve. I should craft a shear and cut some grass. Shear can also be used to gather some wool. Luckily, I have iron that is currently being smelt right now.

It is great that I finally have a wool supply. It been days since I properly clean myself. The clothes that I was wearing is already really filthy. I can't wash it since it is the only clothing I have. It is nice to finally have wool. I can also try making some new clothes. They probably have a crafting recipe for clothes here.

After tending the sheep, I head to the chicken coop to check on the chickens.

The three chickens seem to be alive and healthy.

There are also 2 eggs on the ground.

I went inside and picked up the eggs. I should save it for now in my inventory.

I threw some seeds to the ground to feed them.

One of them didn't lay an egg. There is two possible reason for this. Either they don't lay an egg every day or one of them is a rooster.

I have no clue on how to determined their gender if one of them is really a rooster but one of them looks different from the others so it is probably that one. I should probably observe them for a while to see how many eggs they can lay. If one of them is really a rooster then that guy will absolutely be butchered and cooked. It is a waste of seeds to feed an adult chicken that don't provide eggs and I really want to eat meat. It been a long time that I've eaten meat.

After tending the farm and the animals, I went back to the place where I placed the furnace. I check to see how many irons have been smelted.

Even after a while, only three iron ingots have been smelted. It really takes a long time to convert ores to ingots here. I estimated that about one ingot is smelted per hour. I spend around three hours building the sheep barn and tending the animals and crops. It also takes 2 woods to smelt an ore.

There is about half a dozen wood in the fuel of the furnace. I chuck 4 more wood to have enough fuel to smelt the remaining iron ores.

I crafted a flint and steel and one shear from 3 iron ingots.

I should have crafted first an iron pickax but I really don't want to boy scout my way into the furnace again. I also want to gather some wool. There are still 5 iron ingots left so I'll probably craft an iron pickax after they are done being smelt.

I head back to the farm to gather some wool.

I know my plan for today is to mine some stone to upgrade my house but I really wanted a bed and some change of clothes.

It seems that shearing is also a chore in this world. In the game, you just have to click on the sheep then boom it is done. Here you really have to work on shearing the sheep. It took me a while since I have no experience in shearing a sheep but I manage to collect 4 wool.

I immediately used 3 wool to craft a bed.

I head back home to try the bed. I placed it in the middle of the house since it is the only space that I can place it on. My house is already cramped with having a chest and chair on the sides.

The bed that I crafted has a cover which is great. It means I no longer have to endure cold nights. I can finally sleep comfortably.

I lift up the cover and lay down on the bed.

It is really comfortable. I didn't expect to find sheep today but I'm so glad to find a pair of them. I going to feed them lots of wheat in the future for giving me this much comfort.

*****

Okay. I didn't expect to sleep in during the day.

Damn. I wasted daylight. I planned to mine stones for the rest of the day but somehow, I didn't regret sleeping.

I deserve to have a little bit of rest from all the mining and farming I did for the last few days.

There still a little bit of time before the sun goes down.

I head outside and check on the furnace to see if the all the ores have been smelted.

All of the ores have been smelted which means I slept for about 5 hours or probably more.

I decided to chop some trees since it is already late to go mining.

I need to gather some wood to make charcoal to be able to create torches. Torches will be useful in mining tomorrow.

After gathering about a dozen of wood, I placed half of the wood in the fuel of the furnace and the other half in the input then ignite the furnace using flint and steel. I should have half a dozen charcoal tomorrow.

I build a little house using stone slabs for the furnace. I don't know if it going to rain tonight but it is better to be prepared. I also want the furnace to keep working.

As the sun about to go down, I head back home to sleep. This is the first night since I got here that I managed to sleep comfortably.