The soft morning light crept through the gaps in the cabin walls, casting the familiar interior in gentle stripes. Inside, the comforting aroma of breakfast – a simple meal of toasted bread and sweet berries – filled the air as the family gathered. Quiet greetings were exchanged as they began their day.
Once breakfast was finished, the others prepared for their day's tasks and headed out into the snowy landscape. Neil, however, remained by the crackling hearth, the quiet of the cabin allowing his thoughts to roam regarding his next project.
He focused his mind, and the familiar holographic interface of his inventory shimmered into his vision. The first page, displaying a grid, overlaid his view of the room.
His gaze lingered on the items listed in his inventory:
Page 1-
100 dark oak wood 1 slot
30 dark oak wood 2 slot
79 stick 3 slot
Page 2-
2 oak sapeling 1 slot
7 sweet berry 2 slot
Page 3-
71 stone 1 slot
26 coal 3 slot
100 dirt 4 slot
100 dirt 5 slot
100 dirt 6 slot
60 dirt 7 slot
His eyes rested on the large amounts of dirt he had. This made him think seriously about starting a farm so they could have more food regularly. But then he remembered he didn't have any proper seeds, just the sweet berries he had found. Also, living where it snowed so often, almost every week, any plants outside would likely be ruined. So, he started to think about making a roof over a farm, something sturdy to protect it from the snow. Or, a more interesting idea came to him – maybe he could build the farm underground. He remembered from a game he used to play that plants could actually grow underground as long as they had a light source, and he could make plenty of torches to use as a light source.
This thought grew into a bigger plan. He could make the farm safely underground, away from the cold and snow, and then use the space above it to build a place for animals. This way, they could use their limited land within the village area much more efficiently, getting both crops and animal products.
Extending his thoughts on the underground space, he envisioned a special room to keep their important things safe and dry. He also thought about the future; if he ever found metal, he would need a furnace to melt it down to make tools.
Previously, he was thinking of making it near the house, but now a bold idea to make it right beneath their cabin began to form. It would mirror the house's size, offering ample storage and a central point. This underground hall could also connect to the underground farm and be used as a workshop.
With the underground hall and farm thoughts settled, a new question of the entrance to this underground hall arose. After some thoughts, the first room, which has the main door and one side used for storage, seemed a logical place. He could organize the stored items in chests and move them to the new underground space, freeing up a corner for a staircase leading down.
But as he thought about digging such a big space, he realized he would need a lot of stone. Digging in real life wasn't as simple as digging blocks in the game. He would likely need to build strong stone walls to stop the earth from collapsing. Even though the snowy ground was more stable than loose sand, he still needed a lot of stone for the walls and at least the floor of the underground hall. Luckily, the strong stone floor of their house could act as a solid roof for the space below.
Completely absorbed in his planning, the time seemed to fly by. The sun had climbed high in the sky, and a bright beam of light shone through the doorway, a silent reminder of the passing hours.
A feeling of determination settled within him. This ambitious project would definitely need a lot of resources, especially wood for supporting the tunnels and rooms they would dig, for making tools like shovels and pickaxes, and maybe even for building the animal pens above ground. He decided that his main task for the day would be to go into the dense forest and chop down as many sturdy dark oak trees as he could manage before nightfall.
He informed his mother of his plan and headed out into the crisp air. The familiar weight of his stone axe felt natural in his hand as he made his way towards the dark oak forest. As he cut the trees, the sound of his axe biting into the wood soon echoing through the quiet, snow-covered forest. He saw them visibly break into cubic chunks before disappearing, leaving behind the familiar dark oak logs, which shimmered briefly before being drawn into his invisible inventory.
By sunset, he had felled a considerable number of trees. Mentally accessing his inventory, he saw the dark oak logs stacking efficiently:
Page 1-
100 dark oak wood 1 slot
30 dark oak wood 2 slot
79 stick 3 slot
(He had 17 before, collected 113, total 130)
Looking at the increasingly open areas in the forest where he had been cutting, a sense of responsibility stirred within him, and he realized the need for sustainability. He thought maybe he should start planting the oak saplings he had found near their home so he would have a supply of wood for years to come.
Later, he returned to the cabin as dusk settled, the scent of their evening meal welcoming him. After a brief greeting, he joined his family.
During their after-dinner conversation, Neil explained his idea for the underground hall.
The adults voiced their concerns about the house's stability. He smiled reassuringly and mentioned an experiment he had conducted in the forest earlier. He had wanted to see if the way blocks behaved here was similar to the game from his previous life – Minecraft. He remembered how a block of wood had remained suspended in mid-air after its support vanished. To them, it would have appeared as a cubic chunk simply defying gravity.
Soon, bewildered questions filled the room. Neil simply reiterated that it wouldn't be a problem, a confidence born from his understanding of the underlying rules.
Seeing his brother speaking with such confidence, Lyra's curiosity was piqued. She asked him to show them. Neil took two blocky pieces of stone from his inventory and placed one on the stone floor, balancing the other on top.
"Lyra," he asked, "what do you think will happen if I take this bottom block away?"
Lyra puffed out her cheeks, feigning exasperation. "Honestly, Neil! Do you think I'm a fool? Even a fool knows it'll fall!" Hearing that, Neil removed the lower block, and the top one remained suspended. To the others, the bottom blocky stone would have disintegrated into cubic fragments and vanished, while the top one inexplicably floated.
Seeing this, gasps of disbelief filled the room. Neil explained that the same principle applied to the ground beneath their stone floor, implying that his unique influence extended to the very fabric of the world he interacted with.
Uncle Rhys, skeptical, had Lyra step aside and tried to push the floating block, but it remained stubbornly in place.
The impossible sight slowly eased the family's worries, replaced by a hesitant wonder. Finally, Grandpa nodded. "Well, lad," he said, a mixture of awe and trust in his voice, "if that's how things work… then go ahead and build your underground hall. We'll trust your judgment."
Excited questions followed before the day's weariness took over. As they prepared for sleep, Neil turned to Lyra with a smile. "So," he whispered, "about earlier… do you still think I see a fool?" Lyra's cheeks flushed. "You are a big, tricky fool!" she whispered back with a playful shove. Quiet laughter filled the room before sleep claimed them, the strange possibilities of their world lingering in their dreams.