Although he had harbored suspicions, when Garrett actually witnessed those words, his heart still pounded rapidly.
Ever since entering this world and noticing that the hearts on his health bar were the standard variety and not the permanent death variant, he had wondered whether he possessed only one life.
But he'd never had the opportunity to confirm it, after all, he could hardly risk death merely to test the theory.
Soon, however, his emotions settled.
[Bed blocks are only effective within your territory.]
Territory, that was his domain. So resurrection was only possible within his stronghold... Well then, no wonder there had never been any prompt when he slept elsewhere. It had all been leading to this moment.
If he didn't expand his territory to encompass... well, considerably more area, he'd be doing himself a disservice.
He began to feel that his current stronghold might actually be rather limited in scope.
Still...
"No matter what, if I can avoid dying, I should."
Shaking his head, he ended his thoughts on the matter. After all, this world possessed hidden depths. No one could predict what might occur after death... And to be honest, the concept of dying remained quite uncomfortable.
Who could say whether the version of yourself that revived would truly be you?
Same conclusion as before: if death could be avoided, then avoid it.
Nevertheless, he placed several chests beside his bed and stored multiple sets of backup equipment and weapons.
That night, for the first time in quite a while, he enjoyed proper rest.
---
At sunrise, Garrett opened his eyes feeling completely refreshed, just like any other day.
There was nothing particularly different, if anything, it provided a small measure of mental relief.
Sleeping... actually felt like sleeping.
It was another promising day. And waking in the morning meant one thing, time to cast his line again!
He continued fishing and maintained the activity until evening.
Another day passed.
Plop.
An enchanted book surfaced near the shore.
"Mending."
He immediately applied it to his ancient elven sword.
Although, truthfully, the blade didn't really require it. Its durability was already remarkably high, barely decreasing at all. He couldn't even imagine a way to damage it significantly... As expected of a masterwork weapon forged by a First Age craftsman.
Perhaps only the Dark Lord at the height of his power could threaten such a blade.
After sitting all day, his hunger bar had scarcely diminished. He absently took a bite of food and gazed at the water, feeling as though he was forgetting something.
He'd constructed the smelting apparatus, possessed all the forging equipment, the enchanting table too, what was still missing?
Ah, of course.
The Nether portal.
He slowly put away his fishing rod and went to the underground workshop to begin smelting lava. As bucket after bucket of lava transformed into obsidian, his palms began to perspire.
This involved another realm entirely, if it truly connected, that presence would definitely take notice.
He couldn't predict the attitude of an entity he didn't comprehend. But by now, everything was prepared. If he didn't attempt it, he'd never find satisfaction.
He quickly gathered the ten obsidian blocks.
Returning to the surface, he selected a location, built a protective barrier around it, retrieved the obsidian, and began constructing the dimensional portal.
Clack.
The final block was placed.
He produced the flint and steel.
Snap.
At that moment, his consciousness seemed to pause.
The river continued flowing with its gentle murmur.
A breeze passed through, rustling the leaves. Horses whinnied in the pastures. Cattle and sheep called out in succession. Grass swayed softly on the ground. The stars above twinkled peacefully. Everything appeared serene.
But to him, the tranquil night sky above seemed to collapse, pressing down entirely upon him. A vast will descended upon his stronghold, radiating from him as the focal point, extending to the newly-constructed Nether portal.
No one could fathom the pressure he was enduring. Even though that presence didn't seem hostile, on the contrary, it felt remarkably gentle. But the weight he experienced was simply the instinctive response to witnessing something immense and incomprehensible.
Not long after, a series of low, resonant tones echoed from the portal's depths, reminding him of otherworldly music from his past experiences.
Following that came what sounded like... a sigh?
In the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal. He stood motionless, took a deep breath, and felt as if some burden had been lifted from him.
Simultaneously, he instinctively grasped new information: Creatures from the Nether could not pass through the portal, and similarly, creatures from Middle-earth could not enter the portal. This was a passage opened exclusively for him.
Also, such portals could not be constructed outside his territory.
That particular restriction, it seemed, wasn't imposed by that entity, but was a pre-existing limitation.
Which made sense, if the Nether could expand without limits, people could just build a few super-efficient zombified piglin farms. The production rate would be insane. Before long, piglins would flood Middle-earth. At that point, forget great music, everyone would just be listening to piglins grunting in chorus, every day.
Still, at least he could finally access the Nether now.
Garrett donned his armor, gathered his supplies, and stepped through the dimensional portal.
---
Whoosh.
[Achievement Unlocked: "Into The Nether"]
A wave of disorientation struck him. He opened his eyes to see crimson all around, followed by waves of searing heat.
"So this is the Nether."
Stepping onto the slightly yielding texture of the burning stone, he felt an odd sense of familiarity.
Woooo.
A cry echoed from far across the fiery sky, followed by a massive fireball hurtling toward him.
He instantly became alert. His extensive combat experience allowed him to locate the sound's source immediately. He drew his sword and struck the oncoming fireball, it didn't explode but instead was deflected and shot back toward its origin.
A moment later, a notification appeared:
[Achievement Unlocked: "Return to Sender"]
Along with it came a bonus of 50 experience points.
A ghast.
After all the battles in Middle-earth, and surviving countless archer ambushes, this slow-moving fireball was practically like a floating target. He didn't even need to concentrate, deflecting it was almost effortless.
Still, as a precaution, he surrounded the Nether portal with cobblestone as protection.
It wouldn't do to accidentally allow it to be destroyed.
Whoosh.
Just as he finished securing the portal, an arrow flew at him from behind. Hearing the sound, he instinctively raised his sword and blocked it with ease. Looking up, he saw that the attacker was a skeletal archer wreathed in shadow that had appeared on a patch of soul sand.
Slow, far too slow. This skeleton's aim was inferior to his own when he'd first begun training.
He blocked another arrow with his sword.
Frankly, it was beginning to feel tedious.
Compared to the intensity of battles in Middle-earth, fighting these creatures felt like mere training exercises, predictable and straightforward.
After two swift strikes, the skeleton was destroyed. He surveyed this realm.
The Nether still retained the signature blocky style, but the monsters were more realistic in appearance. Even so, they weren't much of a threat. Aside from their frightening appearance, they posed virtually no danger to him.
The lackluster combat was making him feel somewhat overconfident. But he quickly refocused. Near the soul sand valley where the skeleton had manifested, he spotted a dark fortress of deep brown brick towering above a lava pool.
A Nether fortress!
Excellent, good fortune indeed.
He gathered some cobblestone and began building a bridge. Soon, he was standing firmly on the fortress's ancient bricks.
[Achievement Unlocked: "A Spooky Fortress"]
The exploration began immediately.
Wherever an experienced adventurer ventures, nothing valuable was left behind. By the time he had searched every chamber in the fortress, his inventory now contained nine diamonds, twenty-three gold ingots, various iron pieces, several golden equipments, flint and steel, iron horse barding, and even a set of diamond horse armor.
"Not bad at all."
Of course, aside from gathering treasures, he hadn't forgotten the two most important discoveries in any nether fortress: Nether wart and the blaze spawners.