The Hermitcraft Story Book 2: Deeper Down

Chapter 5: Derp Coin

Pearlescent Moon

Pearl nervously wandered through the woods. The Boatem meeting wasn't the only meeting she'd be going to that day. She met Helsknight in the darkness of the woods. He was sitting at the edge of a pond. Pearl sat next to him.

Pearl had found the poor injured man crawling through the woods and being chased by three zombies with only a broken iron chestplate to his name. Pearl saved him from the monsters. He explained he was a clone of Welsknight, created to do the heavy lifting. But Wels feared the clone would replace him so he tried to have him killed and he'd been wandering the woods ever since.

She felt pity for him so she agreed to be his friend. They were to meet by the lake every night where Pearl would give Hels food and Hels would give Pearl treasures from his adventures.

Hels could sense Pearl's distress.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Gem's missing. And after we heard that British kid's warning, I'm scared I'm next. I should go talk to Light."

"No. Because you know who you can trust," Hels pointed out.

"I just don't know where Gem is...and learning what Wels did to you. What if there's something out there?"

Hels gently tussled Pearl's hair to comfort her.

"It'll be okay," he said. "I'll help you through this."

Pearl was grateful to have a friend like Helsknight.

Xisumavoid

X had gathered every hermit at the heart of his newly constructed Evil Town. They were made nervous by the presence of red, corrupted land and the deepslate houses and stores. The darkness was Evil X's idea. He did have "evil" in his name after all. Evil X himself would not participate in the reveal of Derp Coin, as they both understood tying him to the project might automatically sink it. That was the purpose of this gathering: to unveil the Derp Coin to the world.

He noticed some things as the hermits gathered. For one, Gem was missing. This was beyond the point of her being shy. She was fully missing. He would have to assemble a search party for her later. The next thing he noticed was Pearl giving Welsknight dirty looks. This was out of Pearl's good nature, another thing he'd have to investigate later. In that moment, he had one goal as Evil X watched from the shadows: strengthen the economy.

"Friends, hermits, countrymen, LEND ME YOUR EAR!"

X thought opening with a reference might get a laugh. It got a murmured chuckle from the crowd. He forgot to consider how early it was.

"Thank you for coming here to Evil Town this morning. I have brought you all here because I have a new currency for you: something STRONGER than diamonds!"

The hermits were stirred up by this statement. Diamonds had been the backbone of their economy for almost a decade.

X nodded at Zombie Cleo who was standing off to the side with a wool tarp covering a small structure by one of the buildings in Evil Town. She gracefully yanked the tarp away to reveal a small mound made of deepslate and diamond ore with a slot on the floor and a disperser facing the center of the structure.

"I present to you: DERP COIN! All you have to do is place in as many diamonds as you like and it spits out the equivalent number of Derp Coins. The coin's value fluctuates based on a complex redstone computer under my base. So, it will either become more valuable or less valuable. Play the system right and you could save a FORTUNE on building materials."

The hermits seemed unconvinced. X would need someone they trusted to try the machine first.

"Who among you will be brave enough to try THE FUTURE?!"