Minecraft: loading new world

I arrived at the designated place only to see that Captain Siren just arrived as well.

She carefully studied the place before seeing me.

"Light! Glad to see you doing well. How was your week?"

She was more friendly than the last time we met, did something good happen?

"It was a fun week, to say the least. I had the chance to see the sea with its beauty and also get lots of riches. I now have all the diamond blocks necessary to pay for the ship. How was your week?"

She gave me a big smile.

"Glad to hear that, I don't want to make the bald man angry at me for not paying on time, as a captain that's the last thing you'll want. As for my week, it was eventful as well, just got some side emeralds and I'm enjoying life little by little until I get that big ship."

So she was looking for a job when I found her.

We talked some more as we walked and I was debating with myself if I should show her the map and the drawings that I found in the ruins or not.

It's not like I expect her to fight together with me since she's very underequipped for that, but at the same time, I don't know if I'm able to get to the temple in the first place with the strength that I have.

Sure I have an overpowered armor, potions, and tools that I could use. But I also had those when I went back to the Piligers, and Solomon managed to get through all of that with just a little preparation.

And now I'm supposed to get to the most guarded SECRET the ancient civilization built, something that is supposed to replace the System itself!

They even built living weapons for this, I'm sure they have some more traps then what's shown.

I don't want to get too overconfident in my ability once again.

That's why I want to get some help, to get someone else perspective on my dilemma.

And I don't have my friends with me to ask them for help, but maybe I can trust Siren with this.

Could I trust a pirate not to backstab me when there's such a big prize at the end?

I don't think so.

But maybe I don't have to say the whole truth, just parts of it.

I shook my head, there's no need to make a decision now, I could get closer to her, and for that, I needed to show a sign of trust.

We arrived at the warehouse where I could hear loud voices giving orders to workers. Once we got inside I could see everyone working at a huge ship that was 100 blocks long and 40 blocks wide.

I looked closer at the men on the floor, working on separate parts of the ship and saw that they made a huge V shape line of wood, but the base of the V used slimeballs besides the natural stickiness of the blocks.

Once the shape was done, an iron chisel was taken and chopped enough wood to still be a whole block but not enough to be registered by the System anymore, and because of the slimes, the rest of the blocks that were still under the influence of the System were held together.

I got curious about what just happened, so I asked one of the workers who got scared when they saw me.

But after he calmed down he told me the process which was fascinating for me.

Apparently, when a system block is broken wrong, gravity gets a hold of it and it falls leaving the others behind.

But, if you manage to stick it with the System blocks, the broken one can make the other to be semi System.

That means they stick to each other, and have the same resistance as normal, but are affected by gravity.

This happens for the next 7 blocks besides the broken block.

At first, when it was found, it was thought to be stupid.

Why would you want to have blocks that fall like sand and gravel?

That's when they found out they could build ships out of anything that could flow over water.

And that's how ships were born.

That was interesting to know since it was new knowledge for me.

I asked, what's the point of building a wall if you can just damage one block and the others would follow?

Surprisingly, it wasn't that simple.

While it's true that in theory, every block can fall this way, it's not as easy as it is with wood.

The whole process depends on the tools they were using.

When you punch wood, the wood gets slowly broken by the System, not by you.

That's why they need to make special tools, not made by the System that bypasses the System itself.

If the tool is too big, the System would register the damage as being hit, and it would break the block itself.

If the tool is too small, it would not be strong enough to damage the block itself.

That's why you need the perfect tool for each type of block.

You can't use the same tool for every block.

And that's the reason resistant blocks can't be broken this way.

I was a little disappointed by this but also relieved. I thought I could use those tools to get into the temple, but I was relieved to hear that there is a limit to what you can use this method for.

After some more talking with the man, I let him go back to his work and joined Siren who was patiently waiting on the side for me.

"You truly aren't from here if you didn't know about this."

"True, I came from the Stone Kindome and this was truly a fascinating experience."

She stopped and looked at me from head to toe with a surprised expression.

"You're from there? But you so...rich and powerful...and weird, from what I heard about the Stone people."

I could only laugh at her which made her feel awkward.

"It's not like I'm a normal citizen myself, but the people from the Stone Kingdom are like you Coral people. The only difference is that they use the System facilities more often than you."

"Huh, I guess that's true, and was ignorant on my part. But you have to understand the benefits of not using the System for everything."

"Oh captain, believe me, that I know the best how to live without the System. There's the bald man, let go and say hi."

She looked at me with a confused expression but still followed along.

"You two! I was going back home to get some sleep if you didn't arrive just now."

"Sorry old man, we got distracted by our future beutie."

The man looked at the ship that was built with proud eyes.

"Yes, she is a beauty indeed, and she would be like no other ever was. She would be the start of a new era."

Siren and the bald man looked at the ship like they could see the future right in front of them leaving me on the side sitting awkwardly.

"Ahem, I came today to pay the rest of the diamonds and give you the iron. If you need some more, please don't hesitate to ask me."

I said that as I gave the man the blocks of diamonds and iron.

He started to whistle impressed.

"Two big purchases in a day using diamonds directly, I'm curious where did you manage to get them?"

This time I was the one confused, and Siren seemed to be as well, but not for the same reason.

"What do you mean?"

"While we do say the price in diamond blocks, we mostly do it because it sounds better to say give me 10 blocks of diamond than 90 blocks of emeralds. It doesn't feel that big of a purchase until you start counting. Not only that, but there aren't a lot of places where you can exchange from emeralds to diamonds, at least not on such short notice."

Is that why he is so surprised by the diamond blocks?

Then Simpson must be much more powerful than I anticipated If he walks with diamond block in his inventory.

And from the reaction Siren has she didn't know this either.

"What are you trying to say old man?"

"I'm trying to know if I'm going to be hunted for those diamonds or not."

His expression was serious, trying to peer through the darkness of my helmet with no success.

"I didn't steal those diamonds."

That was a lie.

"I gave you emerald blocks previously because that's what I had on me. I had to send a message back home to fetch me the rest of the diamonds. There's no need to look over your shoulders waiting for someone to arrest you for them. And let's be serious, if you would get in trouble it wouldn't be because of those diamonds."

This seems to make the bald man relax and even gave a powerful laugh.

"Yes indeed, I wouldn't get in trouble for this. And you are clearly not a normal man yourself, so I should expect abnormal results. But I have to say this Is not enough iron to cover the ship."

Good, I don't want him to stop building the ship because he's suspicious.

"How much more do you need?"

"Hmm, those 20 should be enough to start the project but we'll need 100 more blocks."

I froze for a moment.

That was more than 1.000 iron ingots.

Is it even worth it?

But I shook my head to get myself together.

I don't need iron for me anyway, If I want to progress, I need to craft with diamonds anyway, and where I'm about to go I can't afford to take half measures.

"Sure, I would give them to you tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll be waiting then."

With that, we parted our ways and Siren follow me in silence as we walked on the busy streets.

"What was he referring to when he said you made two purchases."

She said on a diplomatic tone.

"I was looking for a house to buy and by accident I ended up choosing his house. In the end I bought it and everything was fine."

"I see, I didn't know the fish head was selling houses as well."

Wait, this was a great opportunity for me to know her better and built some trust.

"Siren, where do you usually sleep?"

"Huh? I don't have a place I call it my own, mostly it's in inns or bars since it's cheaper then hotels, why?"

Perfect.

"Don't you want to live at my place?"

She suddenly stopped in the middle off the street looking at me with wide mouth and red face.

"D-did you just ask me to be your wife?"

That made me suddenly stop and turn at her.

"Wait, is this the custom here to ask for your partner?"

"Y-you didn't know?"

"No! In my hometown you give a ring to the person you love to be with you for life."

"What's a ring?"

"It's a- doesn't matter, I wanted to invite you to my new house so we can trust each other more, since we would go on a dangerous journey together, I don't want either of us to have taught of betraying each other."

I bearly manged to formulate an answer for this misunderstanding.

"Phew, yeah, that's more in your character. As for your invitation, I'll have to think about it. What are the house rules since I don't want to sleep with you and have a kid, I'm not ready to be a mother."

While the misunderstanding was out of the way, it seems that she was still flustered.

"Don't worry, we would not sleep in the same room, much less in the same bed. You'll have your own room, while I'll have mine."

She started to think more intensely on this.

"What about food?"

"You can have food with no strings attached."

"What about drinks?"

She asked more excitedly.

"I don't drink, so you can get your own."

"Yeah, that checks out."

She was disappointed about that.

"Sure I'll come and live with you."

"Just like that, I thought you needed more time?"

"What's there to think about, plus I want to know more about you as well, so it's convenient."

With that, we got back to my home, and Violet wasn't happy about the new guest.