Chapter 1.2: Build Up

I was exploring around the spawn point area in the distance just looking for pots inside a cave, not really a cave but a tunnel with the other end having bright side.

I just separated myself from the group a while ago to look for basic materials such as torch, rope, bombs and basic arrows to shoot down enemies from afar.

So far I've collected 14 torches, 4 bombs, 38 ropes and 2 lesser healing potions. Along the way I've garnered 5 mushrooms, 3 silver coins and 1 daybloom herb accommodated with 3 daybloom seeds.

All of these accumulated resources came from just strolling around the area and breaking pots lying in the cave's entrance and this tunnel I'm currently in.

"I'm definitely hitting the sack with these stuff."

I was thinking of going back since I have gathered enough stuff but then I spotted a lying wooden chest.

"Ooh~ why hello, good loot!"

Inside it was stacked with 9 collectables; a blowpipe, 277 throwing knife, 2 herb bags, 81 rope, 45 arrows, 3 lesser healing potions, 2 recall potions, 14 torches and 12 silver coins.

I took all the loot inside and its container as well. Now that I hoarded stuff in the nearby spots and a chest to place, proceeding the outskirts will be for some other time, I'm gonna need a companion for that.

"I've pretty much gathered all the basic necessities we need so let's head back and help that helpless guy out."

I came out of the tunnel from the way I just entered when I see someone in the distance chopping out trees for some wood.

I walked up towards him to have a chat.

"Hey man!"

"!!!"

The good-looking guy with the brown hair was startled by my abrupt call. Then he looks to my direction when he stopped swinging the axe. I continued.

"How many wood you got for us?"

"Oh.. uh, I chopped down too many trees so I was about to hit a thousand wood on my hotbar. We can never get enough wood, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah. You sure cut too much that there's many saplings you planted around, or are you perhaps taking your time off here?"

"I'm just waiting for someone to accompany me before I go back. Are you heading now?"

"Yeah. We need to sort things out before we proceed. That guy might be having some problems dealing with the ladies."

"Heh... Speaking of people, have you seen the guide around? I've been roaming around the entire area but there's no sight of him."

"No, I haven't spotted him either. Maybe he'll show up once we finish the house."

"Oh. Well I got enough wood for us to build a mansion so let's go back."

Having a fellow familiar guy around, we started heading back to the spawn point.

Now that I'm walking with somebody, let's think about how to engage in this situation.

We were stranded on a virtual world with a realistic background and there's just 6 of us, 3 boys and girls, and neither of us know about the circumstances regarding the transfer. All of this started by just a mere notification note, everything else is blurred out somehow.

My head is already a mess and I can't think up of anything. Only choice now is to talk to others about this.

I look at the other guy and he looks chillin', not being awkward at all. We don't even know each other's names and we were just talking like we're already acquainted.

It's an unspoken rule that we do not reveal our real name in the gaming world, but I don't want to tell them my player profile either so let's see what he thinks.

"By the way lumberjack, any thoughts on the matter?"

"Lumberjack? What's that for.. what matter?"

"This sandbox! We got transported to the world of who knows where and we may not last here for a full day if there's no respawning."

"Sure. You took your time to think about this. Well I don't have any thoughts about anything at the moment."

"But this is Terraria we're talking about. We should at least be concerned about this."

"Right, but we still don't know anything about that. At least, we players know what to do. Let's focus on building the shelter for now and then we'll assess the matter. Maybe the guide will show up and explain the situation for us. We still got plenty of sunlight left."

This guy sounded too carefree in demeanor, but I guess it's just me being paranoid. I'll just wait for that guide to come and get some answers from him.

We arrive at the spawn point and we were met with backlash from the leading navy-haired man.

"About time you guys got back for turning away. The wood, hand it over!"

That last line has that reference-like nostalgic ring to it.

***

All of the boys, now banded together, started building a two-floor cabin. Navy was tasked to replace the dirt floor into wood, Black was assigned to make the walls and Dark Brown was on top of the roof with a wood hammer on his hand.

Navy: "I have to replace the dirt into wood, huh. Without the block-swap feature, I have to dig out the dirt manually but this PIECE OF SHIT PICKAXE can't dig dirt for shit. Focusing on one point just to take out one block takes me a while to do. THIS IS TIRING!!"

Black: "The block placing mechanism is still the same as the initial game. Barely not that much has changed about this world other than it is now a virtual open world."

Dark Brown: "Yeah. Even the blocks just stay afloat if I disconnect the blocks. Game logic here, everybody."

Black: "Yeah, crazy that... That aside, putting up with the walls is fine and all, but.. why's the house have a need for a second floor?"

Brown: "It's for the female occupants."

Orange: "Yeah. To keep the boys separated from the girls. No way we'd be content with just a big house box."

Black: "You guys are just taking it easy. I have to put up with building the rooftop from up here while you girls are ordering us around."

Orange: "You guys have the stuff so naturally you guys will do the work. And you guys keep on complaining when I don't see any problem at all."

Black: "Are you kidding me?! I have to deal with heights while placing footholds over here! Don't underestimate work ethics!"

Dark Brown: "He's got a point, woman. I'm just placing walls but I have to deal with elevation with a block that is almost as tall as my legs so it's a bit troublesome doing this all the time."

Orange: "Yeah yeah. Just stop whining like a little bitch and do your job. Otherwise mobs will kill us if our base isn't finished."

Navy: "Real classy, miss sassy. Why don't you help us then?"

Orange: "Nah. I don't think I can help at all, I would just get in the way, you guys got this. The other girls are just distracting the slimes away from here so they're a bit busy too."

The slimes that are scattered around the place are being poked with the broken branch sticks by the two beauties with glee and the slimes go after them for a while, dragging them away from the construction area.

Black: "They don't look like they're distracting them, more like playing tag with them. Also, those green slimes don't go attacking players when undisturbed if it's daytime."

Dark Brown: "Wait, really?! But they can damage us by a mere touch from them. Why is that?"

Navy: "Dunno. The bestiary says they can digest anything. I thought they were made of acids since they can damage us by a mere touch but I guess--"

Orange: "Who cares about those stuff. You guys need to move your hands. Come on, move it already!"

***

The time is already afternoon and the home base is finished up. All of us are resting up in place in the middle of the campfire right outside of the house. We can finally have a group chat.

Black haired dude first engaged the conversation.

"Alright. Now we have finally grouped up here sitting near the base, we can have a proper conversation."

Dark brown haired guy second it up with a chill voice.

"Yeah. It's been awkward not introducing ourselves because of the sudden situation."

The brown haired girl spoke up next.

"I mean the moment you guys went off like that would make anyone anxious. You don't leave someone in distress like that, it was unbelievable!"

"Yeah." Dark brown haired guy sums it up with a casual tone "It was our bad."

I irritatedly follow it up with a sarcastic tone.

"Our? I was also got left behind to deal with their distress. Don't make it sound like I was not ditched out."

The others tensed up by my sudden follow-up and the awkward air flew by. Dark Brown eased up the situation.

"Alright dude, chill. Of course we're all tensed up by this unexpected turn of events. But we're finally able to get ahold of the sudden situation so let's introduce ourselves first."

"Quite a novel way to alleviate the matter. Alright, I'll go first. My name is.."

The orange haired girl speaks up and just stopped for some reason. She continued..

"Huh, what the.. I don't know anymore."

"Eh? You don't know what?" Brown haired girl solemnly asked.

"My name. I just don't remember. Why can't I remember?"

She doesn't remember her name? I mean the flashing cases could really tick someone off sometimes but something's not right here.

I, for one, didn't forget about myself and..

I'm getting uneasy for some reason. What's happening? I didn't forget anything, did I?

No. It was so confusing that I didn't realized it either. It was not that I don't know, it's that I don't remember.

My name, my address, my phone number. I can't remember about myself at all.

"Huh? Okay, hold on. Could you slow it-- Hnn..?! How the f..? What's going on?!"

"Ehh? Hey man, what's wrong-- Nnn..!!"

The others, starting to understand the situation, are getting restless and the orange girl was mixed in the tandem. We're having a serious problem here and a grave one at that. We know about ourselves next to nothing.

This is next level series of problems that we have to face. We don't know each other and can't even recall our own names.

!!!

"Shit!"

We barely even started and I almost got myself a breakdown. Snap out of it, me! I can't just freak out like that!

I looked at the others and they looked way worse than I thought, they are holding their heads in dread and confusion. Should I give them the wake-up call?

"EVERYONE~ Knock it off!!"

The crew snaps back to reality and looked at me in silence. Their suspended minds must've shaken up right now.

"Gee, can't believe we're getting so worked up about this memory loss. Get those stupid heads back in the game, yeah?!"

I utterly had to spat that last line up just so I can shake off this nervous breakdown of mine. The orange head had something to say about it.

"Excuse me! Stupid? Are you taking me for an idiot? Did that sorry ass whiny mouth of yours dared to mock me right now?"

"Oh I'm sorry, miss. Should I call you dumbass then?"

"Another word from you and I'm gonna take this arrow and shove it up to your jackass petty face!"

'When did you even had the time to have an arrow with you?' I was about to tell her that but I stopped myself.

"Alright, you two!" The black haired guy intervened in a hurry. "Let's give it a rest. Let's think this through get along properly this time."

After looking at his trembling eyes, me and the arrogant lady settles down after glaring at each other and went back to sit at the campfire.

The blonde girl started to speak up.

"All of these is already throwing me off but I can't handle watching others throwing mean things, so please no more fighting."

The air got silenced after she told us off. I started reflecting about what I said before.

I immediately insulted them right away when they started panicking and for someone like me who barely interacted with people, it was the only choice of words I had.

I can't handle it either being thrown off the bus.

"My bad." I spoke in a condescending manner. "I never really meant what I said back then. I was just trying to stop the madness before it could get worse so I did what I did."

The others looked at me intently at my apology. Then they shift their gazes to the orange haired girl awaiting for her response.

I can feel the stare of the girl I insulted even if I'm not looking at her way. She may be getting displeased at the moment because she fired back throwing swears by the insult I threw at the group.

"If you're really sorry about this, then I guess I'll let it slide for now. So you better be careful with your words next time."

She put a strong emphasis on her last line as she sounds like not getting weak by the ruckus. She is one self-centered woman.

After the orange-haired girl commented, the group began to ease their minds down. After a short while, the black-haired guy began talking again.

"Okay. So it seems that our memory was somehow blocked up or perhaps just missing but that's just it. We still have our personalities intact so that's what matters."

"Yeah. It's not like we completely forgot about everything. Apparently, it seems like I just can't recall my identity and that's it, good thing is not much is forgotten. The terraria content is still vividly intact on my mind, I completed the game in sequence and its events too."

The dark brown haired guy followed up. And the blonde girl spoke up next.

"Oh thank goodness. I really thought I'm a goner. I'm completely new to this game and all I can remember is I named myself Aimee."

"Oh! We have player names! That's a handful." The brown haired girl talks cheerfully. "Okay if I remember it correctly, my name is Jenny. What's your name, girl?"

"Me?" The orange haired girl was startled by the sudden iteration. "I didn't name myself properly so I didn't want to say this but I wrote myself Luna."

"Aww. But it's a good name, though."

"I said I didn't name myself properly."

"It's still pleasant to hear your name."

"I should've named myself properly.."

"Oh don't say that! I want to call you Luna."

"Would you stop teasing me already."

"Ehew. You're blushing, Luna."

The girls are having a blast with their exchange and the two boys beside me are sweating bullets, thinking of getting out of this naming situation.

I even have this grandiose name that is a total out-of-the-blue of the names I've come up. I bet the boys are thinking, 'Let's think carefully of a name while they're distracted.'

"Alright. Now it's the boys' turn. Identify yourselves."

Unfortunately for them, Jenny didn't let this off. She put more emphasis on her last line.

"Ahh, umm. Err.."

The brown guy slips up first, stuttering.

"My name, huh. Hey blackie. You go first."

"What? No way. You first, lumberjack."

"No no no. It's ladies first, my guy."

"Hahah, charming. You let the ladies take over the conversation and then you slip up so it's more proper if you introduce first in order."

The two boys meticulously mutters in front of the three ladies. Thus, I've made the first move.

I squint my eyes to look at the inventory section and see other options being displayed. I pressed the PvP sector and picked a random team color, I selected the black guy's pixelated face and saw his name tag on the notification log on the bottom left corner.

"Andromeda. The blackie's name is Andromeda."

And just like that, I spilled the beans. Obviously, Andromeda is not having it, I simply just gave it away without warning and he looked at me disdained. I averted my look in return.

The brown guy started running his rants on the poor guy.

"Andromeda?! Are you being serious?! You named yourself as an android wishing for a falling star?! So fucking lame, man!"

The name Andromeda was named after a galaxy. Of course I did not bother to point that out. Instead, I wittingly called the other.

"And the other guy's name is Low-Key!"

And as per usual, I also exposed lumberjack's name in a cold-blooded manner.

As expected, Andromeda started running off his fumes here.

"Loki?! Are you fucking kidding me?! You call me an android while you name yourself a supervillain, you pretentious bastard?!"

Apparently, he mistook it as Loki instead of Low-key. Might be because of my wrong pronunciation.

"What about it?! I think I named myself better than yours!"

"Oh really?! Well I think you're no better than a mere imitation in being a no-brainer!"

"That's cool! At least I got myself more dignified with my naming!"

"Do you now?! Then you must be an honored shits for gigs kind of loser personified!"

"Come again, dickmeister?!"

And I think another fight is about to go off. The three girls have their narrowed eyes on me feeling disappointed by what I did. Jenny said to me.

"You just apologized not too long ago. Are you trying to pick another fight?!"

"What? I merely introduced them for you."

"But you could've handled it better!"

"Oh, it's fine! It's their fault for getting bored in naming themselves!"

""What was that, prick!!""

The two now aimed their deadly glares at my way. Jenny shouted.

"Shut up, you two bonerheads!!"

""?!?!""

"What is your name then."

"Me? I named myself El Magnifico."

"Wow.. like you're any better at naming yourself."

"Not really. It's my identity."

"Ahuhh, of course it's your identity, smartass. You sure sounds like a wise guy at pissing people off."

She sounded so sarcastic. Is she nitpicking on me now?

At any case, we need to settle this down and get ourselves moving.

"Whatever. We have to start--"

"What, no! It's not whatever!"

Surely enough, Jenny didn't let me off.

"You really think I'd just call you that, smartass. We're going to adjust your names here first. I'm not gonna call you Elma whatever."

She's really ticked off and her rants is getting on my nerves, but I'm in no position to throw shade at her right now. Let's comply to her demands for now.

"Okay then, Jenny. You can just call me Elma like you said so. Happy now?"

After suggesting, the annoyed Jenny subtly agrees.

"..sure. I still don't like you."

"Right."

Now she faces at the two boys looking at her fazed for some reason. Must be from the shout she made to them.

"And you two, what should we call you?"

The two disturbed boys looked at each other before they bothered themselves answering.

"Uhh, in that case calling me Ando is fine."

"I'm also good with just Loki."

"You didn't change your name at all."

"No, you're the one who took it the wrong way, idiot."

"Mistook what? The phrasing part?! That doesn't change anything!!"

"You should be glad you have a proper name now."

"Okay then, Ando and Loki!! No more trouble and let's get along now!!"

""Yes ma'am.""

The two obediently obeys her in shame. Well, all is well and we're through with the introductions. Ando spoke in a hurry.

"Hey, Elma."

"Hmm?"

"I just spotted a cave in the distance a while back so we should go for a little expedition. Are you up?"

This guy was quick in adhering tensed situations.

"Yeah. We need to at least garner more materials so I'll go with you. Also, you got the rope, right?"

"Yep! We also have bombs for our little ride."

"Ah sweet. Give me those. We're gonna trace the cave with lightings while we're at it too."

Ando hand over his stuff to me and we quickly move out of the base for expedition.

We could've done much more productive if we didn't focused on the build-up. We wasted so much time as well as today's sun is almost set to dusk.

But we finally made a step on taking the crux of this messed up world that is Terraria.