As night fell upon the base, Arcum filled the 1x1 holes in the walls with wooden planks. If these mobs were smarter than usual, having anything, even 1x1 holes, open would lead to disaster.
His eyes are drawn to the corner of the base, where all the chests were lined up.
"We're planning on going to another base tomorrow morning," Arcum planned in his head. "So I need to create a to-do list tonight."
Arcum whipped out his book and quill, flipping the pages of the book to reach the back of the book.
Using his quill, Arcum labeled 'To-Do' at the top of the page, underlining it before drawing bullet points.
"Number 1..."
Arcum gave it some thought, before writing a list down.
_____________
- Smelt ores
- Distribute items
- Coordinate with teammates for who's leaving
- Sleep
- Prepare materials for journey
- Teach others (Possibly)
_____________
"There we go," Arcum said, putting the quill away, giving the list a once over. "That should be good for now."
Walking over to the corner chests, Arcum opened on of them and looked inside.
Rummaging through the items inside, he pulled out the blocks of raw iron and gold, blocks of coal, lapis and redstone, and the few diamonds that were sitting around.
"We got so much iron, and we already have free iron armor," Arcum muttered bitterly, looking at the iron armor laid on the floor in another corner. "That was the point of the mining trip."
Sighing heavily, Arcum made his way over to the furnaces, dumping some of the copious amounts of coal they had into them.
"And let's let that smelt," Arcum said, turning away from the furnaces after dumping a two stacks of iron into one furnace, and one stack of gold into another. "I'll claim that after our meeting."
"If things go well," Arcum thought, already planning for the day ahead. "Then if the base is looking good, we can trade some of our ores for other materials needed."
Clapping his hands loudly, Arcum took a deep breath in and shouted through the base with a voice loud enough to be heard anywhere inside.
"We need a meeting!"
Arcum waiting for a bit, watching as everyone stepped out of their respective rooms.
First came Asta, followed by Fugue. Mydei and Hysilens came together, with Stelle and Argenti following.
"Hi guys," Arcum greeted. "We need to plan for tomorrow."
"Plans for the base visit tomorrow?" Asta asked.
Arcum nodded.
"We need to figure out who's staying at our base, and who's going over."
Mydei raised his hand.
"Yes?" Arcum asked, nodding for Mydei to speak.
"Stelle said she knew who Kingyuan was," Mydei said. "So shouldn't she be one of the ones going?"
"It's Jing Yuan," Fugue corrected, her head down. "I believe Stelle was playing a little... prank on you two."
"Hm. Still, Stelle should be the one to go if she believes Jing Yuan is there," Mydei reaffirmed. "We have 7 people at this base, so at least 3 should stay."
"I believe that Fugue should go!" Argenti abruptly stated, raising his hand up to the ceiling. "I have visited the Xianzhou every now and then, and I have seen her working there. She will be an excellent addition to the party."
"Alright," Arcum said. "So Stelle and Fugue are going. Does anyone else volunteer, or does anyone want to stay here?"
"I'll stay here," Mydei said. "If we're leaving people here, you're saying this base must be protected. I can do that."
"As will I!" Argenti added. "I will also be busy making a flower garden!"
"... you do you," Arcum dryly responded. "Hysilens? Asta?"
Hysilens looked up as her name was called.
"I can do either."
Asta raised her hand. "I'll stay here, continue to manage the base."
"Wait wait," Stelle said, pointing to Arcum. "What are YOU going to be doing?"
"Me? Arcum questioned. "Well, I was planning to stay here—"
"Oh no you aren't," Stelle said. "You're the one who got us the information of the base, so you're leading us there with them."
Arcum deadpanned. "Bruh."
"Can't you do it yourself?" Arcum said with a sigh. "I'm really tired and—"
"You know a lot about this world we're in," Stelle said, her voice serious now, causing Arcum to narrow his eyes, paying more attention. "So shouldn't you also be helping?"
"... fine. I'll go," Arcum said. "But if I'm going, we're going to have to set rules."
Stelle nodded, stepping back, waiting for him to speak.
"Those who aren't joining us should defend the base," Arcum explained. "Keep it organized, and gather materials if you can. Things like wood, stone, food."
Arcum gestured to Fugue.
"I'll have her leave the book she's been making with crafting recipes," Arcum stated. "So you can make things when I'm not here."
Mydei, Argenti, and Asta nodded.
Turning to the others, Arcum rose a finger.
"I'll make up rules later, but I think one rule I can lay out now is this—if its something you don't understand or don't trust, run it by me first."
"Makes sense to me," Stelle said. "Anything else?"
"Yes," Arcum said. "We need to distribute the items we got from Goons 1 through 5."
Arcum pointed to the corner where all the iron armor was stashed, drawing everyone's attention to it.
"If anyone wants to wear iron armor, just pick up a set from there."
"I won't take a set," Mydei said. "Equipment is too unreliable. Spears and swords forged in flames also wear down with the corrosion of time."
Arcum narrowed his eyes, but shrugged. "That can be fixed in the late stages of our survival."
"Well... it's not like you needed it, you tank of a man..." Arcum thought.
"Anyone else want it?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"I guess most of it will sit in the corner until any of you want it," Arcum said. "I'll be taking a set though. And I'm also forcing you all to take tools."
Arcum walked over to the furnaces, pulling out the iron and gold. "I'll be making you all iron tools, so you can collect items easier. You guys can do whatever, I'll hand it to you personally."
Everyone scattered, leaving Arcum alone in the main area of the base.
Putting all the iron ingots and gold ingots in his inventory, Arcum moved towards the chests, taking out some wood to make sticks.
He turned around to head back to the crafting table, his eyes widening as Hysilens stands behind him.
"Did you need something?" Arcum asked, a bit surprised that Hysilens decided to appear behind him.
"Am I coming along?"
Arcum closed his eyes, thinking for a little.
"Mm... do you know if Fugue can fight?"
"She probably can," Hysilens said. "But not at the proficiency that the Gray Fry, Lionfish, Clownfish, or I can."
"Clownfish... is she talking about Argenti..?"
"Well," Arcum said. "If that's the case, then we should bring you along. Then, we have two competent fighters, and I can stay in the back."
Hysilens nodded, and walked away, leaving Arcum truly alone in the main room.
Taking the time he had, Arcum crafted multiple sets of iron pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes.
"Here you are," Arcum said each time as he entered everyone's rooms individually, handing them each one pickaxe, axe, shovel, and hoe. "If it breaks, just make another one or ask me for one."
Pulling out his book and quill, Arcum marked off what he had done, and what still needed to be done.
"... I'm really not feeling it to teach others today."
Deciding to hold off for today, Arcum went into his designated room. All of the rooms were nestled near each other, like a row of doors.
His room was on the outside, the first one when entering the base. The others had their own room, further down along.
It was a small room, with a desk built from a few oak slabs and planks. There was a chest inside, with a crafting table, and two slabs for what seemed to be a bed.
"A prison bed," Arcum muttered. "I'll need to teach them how to make actual beds later."
Taking off his chainmail helmet and chestplate, Arcum placed it into the chest beside his 'bed.'
He sat on top of the oak slabs, adjusting himself to lay down on it, pulling his scarf above his eyes to act as a sleep mask.
"So we have Stelle, Fugue, Hysilens and I going to the base," Arcum organized in his head. "Everyone else stays at the base."
Arcum goes through his memories, organizing and making sure that everything was in order for the next day.
He had made new tools, organized the people going, and smelted ores.
"... I forgot the prepare materials."
Sitting up from his bed, Arcum left his room and headed over to the chests.
Looking inside, Arcum grabbed anything that seemed useful, like more wood, and cobblestone.
"Tools… tools… what else do we need?"Arcum muttered, rubbing at his eyes.
Arcum placed all the supplies next to the crafting table and looked at them all.
"Another bucket, so that we can make an infinite water source... ladders?"
"Do I need ladders to ladder clutch?"
Arcum debated on whether or not to make ladders.
On one hand, it worked to negate fall damage in Minecraft.
However, this wasn't technically Minecraft—it was Minecraft... and real life.
"Minecraft physics work here, though," Arcum argued in his own head. "And those raiders negated fall damage using water buckets, something that wouldn't work in real life."
Arcum shrugged.
"Ladders it is, then."
Arcum crafted some sticks into ladders, putting them into his inventory.
He then crafted all the rest of his ingots and ores into blocks again, so that they wouldn't take up as much space when on the move.
"Oh, wait!"
Arcum immediately thought of something as he looked into his inventory.
He still had a sharpness 1 iron sword, from the previous night. They also had plenty of excess iron that he could use to make an anvil.
"Let me just..."
Arcum converted one of the iron blocks into ingots, using 3 blocks of iron and 4 ingots to make an anvil, placing it down next to the crafting table.
Putting his low durability sharpness 1 iron sword on the anvil, Arcum used the remaining 5 ingots to repair the sword.
The ingots disappeared, and only the iron sword was left.
As Arcum picked it up, he checked the durability on the sword.
"Nice. Full durability," Arcum said with a grin. "Now I have a stronger weapon."
Taking one final look into his inventory, Arcum nodded, walking over to the corner of the room to grab the iron armor that he had forgotten to grab.
Dragging himself back to his room, he dumped the iron armor into the chest alongside the chainmail armor, before plopping himself back down onto his makeshift bed.
"Finally," Arcum said. "Rest time."
Arcum took off his coat, laying it over himself as he pulled his scarf over his eyes.
"Better rest for tomorrow," Arcum lazily thought, already drifting off to sleep. "Things probably won't go as planned..."