Tertium nigrum stella

I went down the road I had made, leaving my fort behind me. I 'marched' down the road at a slow stroll, taking my time since its a multi day journey anyways. I had packed a good amount of food, and some surplus materials - mostly steel - that I was considering trading or selling. When I reached the city after about four days of travel, I noticed one major difference. The gates had been repainted, and were even whiter than before. Lovely...

I walked forward, my main armour hidden under the weird, almost scab colored armour, passing through the gates without any difficulty. I started wandering around, looking at store names, stuff like that. I froze when I saw a store with a name I had never even remotely seen before. It was named "Explorers Emporium" in light blue wording, with a wood I had never seen before as the door and walls, with a cobblestone half wall of sorts before the wood started (AN: standard village building type cobblestone up the wall thing), which I had only seen in barracks and my own buildings. I stopped by it and peeked in, seeing display cases with maps, equipment, trophies, and the like.

I stepped in, hearing a faint bell noise in the distance, and started looking around. The store was the perfect example of organized chaos, with no real sorting system, and yet it seemed like it would be really easy to find exactly what your looking for if you had been there before. I stepped around, eventually finding a folded up map in a dark corner of the store, which I found odd. I stepped up to it, trying to think of what could be on that map, when a hand suddenly fell on my shoulder. I jumped, pulled out my sword, and whirled around in one movement. I put my sword away when I saw a grinning person, an inch shorter than me, who was clearly trying to hide laughter. He then said "Not many people find this corner of the Emporium, and the few that do pass by. Your the third person total to be interested in the map, and the other two are the makers of it. Want to take a look at it?" I simply said "Sure? It's the only map folded up and hidden from immediate view though, so why is it so few people are interested in it?" the person simply chuckled and said "Not from around here eh? I can see it in your eyes and your stance. As for why... people think the map is cursed. In reality, it just leads to a cursed place."

"Cursed place?"

"Yeah, nobody who goes there survives."

"Why? What is it?"

"The End."

I paused, thinking about this, before saying "Is it the only way to the End?" he responded by saying "No, but this is the only way in this continent. I hear there are other portals elsewhere, but this is the only known one on this continent. If I were you, I would stay away. I haven't seen that kind of armour in a long time, but even if you nabbed it from a Bastion, I still must tell you. The End is a dangerous place."

I then said "Wait you've seen this armour before?" he said "Yup, it's called Netherite, its a rare material found in the Nether, it's been confirmed to be a created substance, but it's not really known how. The youngest piece is also older than the end of the age of Mana, so it's ancient. You either inherited it or found it in a Bastion, a big, black fortress of sorts in the Nether that supposedly housed a civilization before they were killed out. It's easily as strong as diamond, and is in fact so strong and rare that most Netherite armour is just diamond armour coated in the stuff."

I said "Yeah, found it in a place like what you described."

He then said "Impressive that you could survive the heat as well as find a Bastion. I sense a very small amount of the fire element in you though, so that might have helped. In fact, if you want it to be stronger, and are already strong enough to survive the Nether, you might want to go and just sit around in it as long as you can, it should strengthen your fire element a bit."

I froze after hearing he could apparently sense mana, seeing as a lot of people hate the void mana I have, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. I eventually relaxed and asked "What do you do as part of your job here?" he said "Well, I'm actually just taking a small break from my main work here, which is exploring uncharted areas and mapping them. Dangerous, but worthwhile. I also am occasionally called in to help kill some strong monster, which is where most of these trophies and rare items come from. I'm only one of seven people, and one of two on break right now. There's always at least one of us on break to watch the shop, but there is generally two or three."

I said "Fascinating, it sounds a bit fun, even if dangerous. What all have you guys done?"

He said "Well, we've explored underwater ruins, looted lost temples in the deserts, investigated trapped altars in the jungles, damaged pillager bases, unearthed ancient dungeons, broken into strongholds, and explored Bastion's in the Nether. All sorts of stuff, although we have a policy of not messing with current politics, it's bad for business." I asked "Ever gotten any Infernite? I have a little in a cave nearby but I don't know how to mine it without burning to death." he said "You have Infernite nearby? Neat! That stuff is incredibly rare. How do you know it's Infernite though?"

I then said "I was mining, broke through to it, and instantly lit on fire. And I have been near lava, and was in this armour." he said "Yes, then it has to have been Infernite. I might stop by some time. Where exactly are you?" I said "Just down a secondary road to the right of the main road out of here." he simply responded with a nod.

I wandered around, looking for something neat to buy. I eventually found a shard of bedrock being displayed that looked pretty, and I asked him "Can I buy that bedrock shard? It's really neat looking!" he responded by saying "Sure, it's just a small shard I got when I smacked bedrock with an obsidion pickaxe on accident, nearly broke the tool but it got me that shard. I have no interest in keeping it, so sure. I would like a little bit of gold or a few emeralds for it." I thought for a minute before saying "Will you take steel? I don't have gold or emeralds on me." he just turned to face me and said "You have steel? How!? It's a top secret material that only the highest ranking blacksmiths know how to make? How did you buy it?" I just lied and said "A long line of trading..."

He said "Sure I will take steel, that stuff is amazing if you can't access diamonds or obsidion without question! Who knows who will buy it!" before taking a couple ingots I held out for him before giving me the shard. I just shook his hand and said "Good business." before leaving. I continued along, occasionally taking a bit of a closer look at some interesting shops, and eventually reached a forge. I peeked in the building and was shocked at how hot it was.

I took a closer look into it, seeing it was lit mostly with a series of bright lava rivulets running through the floor. I also heard hammers clanging, faint talking, and other noises. I stepped in - noticing that it got hotter the farther in I got - and started creeping around - not very hard, given the noise levels -, holding a torch and looking around. I was surrounded by armour, half finished projects, swords, shields, and other random items.

I saw a cracked open door, peeked open, and saw a bunch of short people. They weren't obviously tiny, but they were noticeably short, maybe four feet or so. In fact, the door was even only like five feet tall. I went and watched them for a little bit, seeing them running around and making all sorts of things, like sword blades, armour plates, shield parts, and other metal working projects. I was about to leave when someone tapped me on my shoulder and said "Impressive, ain't it? They work so 'ard." I jumped as I heard this, turning and noticing another short person. At this point I had figured out that they were dwarves, and that they were local blacksmiths.

I asked "What exactly are they doing?"

He said "Ye' wouldn't entirely get it, but we're working on armour and weapons for the army. Somethin' about preparations for war if it happens. We ain't mind, 's long as we get our pay." I said "Huh, well good luck." he responded by saying "We need naught but our own skill." I finished by saying "I might actually be able to help a little" before pulling out some steel and handing it to the dwarf, who sagged a tiny bit under its weight and said "This is steel boy! Where'd ye get it?" I just said "That's a secret for me to keep, good luck." before walking out the door.