A Virtual World Turned Real (An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure)

Chapter thirteen: A Well Earned Boost

I stood over the pile of items left by the leader user who, in a failed attempt, tried to kill me and my friends. I tried to slow my breathing and calm down, but after that fight, my nerves felt like they were shot. "Jace?" London said. Startled,  I whipped around lightning fast and nearly whacked her in the face because of how on edge I was.
"Sorry." I said sheepishly.
"That's OK. You're on edge. I would be too if I went through what you did." She replied, understanding my condition.

I sighed deeply and drooped my shoulders, relaxing my tense muscles. "How's your shoulder?" Kelly asked as she and Ally walked up. I looked at the wound on the back of my shoulder. It was pretty much a superficial wound, as Minecraft characters don't bleed. "It's fine. I'll live." I replied after a moment of examination. I pulled out an apple anyway and ate it quickly so my health could restore.

I crouched down and, digging into the pile of items at my feet, pulled up the diamond chest plate the user wore. There was a hole in the center from when I impaled him, but upon closer inspection, I noticed the hole was actually getting smaller gradually. It has the Mending enchantment on it? Nice! Mending was basically a regeneration spell. It slowly increased the durability of a tool or armour if it was damaged. It was very useful. The chest plate likely had other enchantments on it because it rippled with waves of purple-blue magic. I flipped the chest plate around in my hands and shrugged into it. As soon as it was on, it changed to fit perfectly. It covered my entire torso, front to back, as well as my arms. The only part of my arms it didn't really cover were my hands.

"What are you doing?" London asked. "We might as well use free resources. No point in wasting them." I responded as I stooped down to the pile again but looked up at her. "With all their items, it will be a LOT easier to get to the End."

London's face changed from one of confusion to that of clarity. "Oh I see. Fine by me." Then she walked away to another of the item piles, guaranteed to pillage things she wanted. I went back to my own pile.
I grabbed the rest of his armour and put it on, save for the helmet. I've never been fond of headwear. I just put it in my inventory so if I needed it, I had it.  I swapped out my leather leggings for the diamond ones and gave the leather ones to Ally. I also gave the bow I snagged from that one skeleton the other night to London. I grabbed his tools and weapons next. He had an enchanted diamond sword, enchanted bow, and iron tools. He even had a shield, which was a newer item recently added to Minecraft. I gasped and stopped rummaging through the pile when I found something almost more useful than diamond armour:

Eyes of Enders.

Ender Eyes were absolutely important when it came to getting to the End. Not only were they needed to open the portal to the End, but they also show the way to the closest stronghold, where the End portal is held. Ecstatic, I sent a silent thanks to the users for their preparedness,  but also their stupidity, and shoved the Ender Eyes into my inventory for safekeeping.
The rest of his inventory consisted of food, other survival items like torches or Ender Pearls, and some potions. All of which I took. Satisfied with my new collection of items, I stood up and looked around at everyone else. They were picking up items from the other piles and trading around things. I walked over to London, who was busy digging through the pile of items she chose. Kelly and Ally were also in that pile too.
"What do you think?" I asked as I posed to show my new look. They all looked up at me and I noticed their eyes widened in suprise.

"Whoa-ho." Kelly said.
"Nice!" Ally added.
I looked over at London. She had a look of awe on her face. "Damn," She said breathlessly. "Now you really look a hero. But also like a knight from history"
It was true. My armour kinda did look like something knights would wear in medieval times, except their armour was made of iron or steel. Mine was made of diamond. I guess it makes sense seeing as Minecraft has a medieval/fantasy feel.
"Well, that's what I was going for." I said jokingly. "Anyways... what did you guys find?"
"Well, we found some armour, weapons. All sorts of fun stuff." Ally replied.
"We also found these." Kelly said with a devilish smile. She pulled out TNT. "I've always wanted to blow something up."

"Well now you'll get your chance," I said. "Because I have..." I reached into my inventory, "This!" and I pulled out a flint and steel.
"Yes!" Kelly said and rubbed her hands together like she was trying to start a fire, but not for that reason. She was excited about how now she could blow stuff up. It was nice to see someone smile. The battle with those users was draining. Both physically and emotionally.

"With all these items, getting to the End just got a whole lot easier," I said.
"Still, we should probably rest before we make the journey to it. The stronghold will likely be quite a ways away and we want to be at one hundred percent before we leave."
"That's true. It would be nice if we could recuperate before we run off into another heated battle." Ally said as she stretched and yawned.

"Says you. You joined in at the end. Jace fought the whole thing nearly himself." London snapped. I think she was offended that Ally said she was tired. "If anything, HE deserves a breather." 

"Let's not fight. I think we've had enough of that for one day." I interjected.
"I'm with Jace," Kelly said, adding to my point. "We shouldn't fight."

Ally turned away. London went back to sifting through the item pile.

I sighed. It was true that we should rest, but I think the sooner we get to the End and finish this VR test, the better. Who knows if we'll have to face more users, and in more numbers too? I wasn't sure if we could last another fight like that. I had to make the choice now: rest, or get this over with? No one else could make this choice, I was basically the leader here.
And leaders often have to make difficult decisions.

After a moment of consideration, taking everyone's well-being into account, I made my choice. I could only hope it was the right one.

"What's it gonna be Jace?" London asked. "It's your call. Just know that whatever you choose, I'll follow your lead."
I sighed -- somewhat relieved that someone will listen to me and not get mad at my choice -- then spoke.
"We'll rest. We'll need it for the journey ahead. We still have a long road ahead of us before we finish this test."
"Then rest it is." London said.

. . .

Later that day, I sat on my bed and examined my armour. The center hole was nearly gone, and the other chips and holes in it were magically repairing as well. I was honestly astonished. As much as I knew about Minecraft, it still finds ways to amaze me.

It was starting to get late outside by that time, but it wasn't dark enough yet that monsters could spawn. A part of me almost wanted the mobs to come out so I could test my new gear.

Earlier, after some debate, we determined who would get the other enchanted armour. We finally decided on London, Dom, Kelly and Lily getting the armour. Like my armour, their's changed to their bodily forms, but I don't think their armour has Mending. They still had some helpful enchantments on them though.

Thinking about that, I wanted to know what enchantments my armour had. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind and tried to imagine the enchantments in my mind. A fuzzy image came into my subconscious, it looked like the inventory interface in the regular game. I imagined that I was controlling the the pointer in the interface and scrolled it over the armour in the armour slots.

They all had Mending I, as I determined, but they also all had Unbreaking III, which makes them tougher. The chest plate had Projectile Protection, the leggings had Fire Protection and the boots had Blast Protection. All at their highest level, which is IV. The boots also had Feather falling IV, which reduces fall damage and damage from using Ender Pearls.

In short, this armour was VERY powerful and would protect me very well. I hoped that the others had enchantments just as good, because iron armour isn't as protecting as its diamond counterpart. I guess it would have to do.

I looked over my other items as well in my mind. My diamond sword had Sharpness IV and Knockback I. My bow had Power IV, Punch II, Flame I and Infinity.  The shield had Unbreaking III, making it very durable.
Iron tools, torches, food, Ender Pearls, Ender Eyes, flint and steel, spare blocks for building. These all made up the rest of my inventory. I was definitely ready for a fight now.

I was ready for the fight that would determine my -- and my friends' -- fate. All I could do right now was wait for morning, because that would be when the final leg of the journey will begin.

It all starts at dawn.