Minecraft. A hell of a place to test out gamer-lite abilities. Especially since my actual Minecraft build is kind of cracked. As I survey my surroundings I wonder how modern this version of Minecraft is. The jump document itself is a bit older, but at a glance I don't see anything that hints at the version number of Minecraft that I'm in…
I drift through the air at a relaxed pace and I leisurely glance at my floating book to study the contents of my build. I flip between the gamer system page and the actual build page noting things like my drawbacks and my items. One minor note that amuses me is that I do have new items, a fair few in fact, but none from Generic Gamer… Due to the fact that GG somewhat infamously offers no items. That oddity is one of several quirks in it.
I note one mildly amusing drawback among the slate of drawbacks that Generic Gamer has saddled me with and chuckle: "Aren't You Cold In That". I silently transform a bit of my hair into an eyestalk and swivel it so I am looking at myself. I'm currently wearing my orcish armor but it has been shrunken quite dramatically.
I am in my human form and my armor looks like basic leather armor. The problem is that my clothes do not seem to cover any bit of me except for my genitals and my legs up to my calves, leaving me "barefoot" despite the fact that I am wearing clothes. I'm still fully protected by my armor and clothing, but I definitely look… interesting. I guess if there's anywhere for me to deal with this drawback before I have something like one of the perks from Binder's Regalia it'd probably be best for me to do it in Minecraft, especially since I also have the "Stilted Dialogue" drawback which reduces the sapience of locals and natives. With my current set up I could pretty easily go this entire jump without having meaningful encounters with villagers and be just fine.
I still look like myself. I am not a blocky person nor do I look like Steve or Alex. My body seems to be rejecting Minecraft's curious graphics for reasons that are completely unknown to me and I know they exist in this world because everything else is blocky.
I have a nice body, with lean through clearly visible muscles, and surprisingly long dark hair. If I had to describe my build I'd say I'm not a shower. My muscles are extremely real but they are not super visible.
My gamer perks are definitely responsible for some of this, due to the fact that I got myself the ol' reliable Generic Gamer build; every single 100 and 200 point perk, Progressing Difficulty, Experience Booster, and Master of All. Beyond that my gamer system is ridiculously stacked, which is why whoever does my builds seems to have had to punch me in the face with drawbacks and flaws. Thankfully they did me the double solid of making this jump last just a year and also making my flaws normal drawbacks for all intents and purposes. That's a pair of decisions I can really get behind.
Every part of me is enhanced as a result of the 100 and 200 choice point perks that now surge through me. Everything from the way I smell to my speed and my ability to make decisions on a battlefield has been amplified by perks. I am flying slowly partially to give my mind a chance to acclimate to my surroundings and to the staggering amount of information flowing into it and to adjust my level of conscious awareness of my surroundings, which is the real problem. I flip back to the system page, and as I do I realize that I'm excited for the day when my system is internal and not affixed to a book.
I note a lot of really minute details about my build as I scan the gamer system page. The features I have are meaty and together they are what ensures the explosive growth I will experience in the future, provided I survive this jump and don't chainfail anytime soon.
I have a number of classes already unlocked, and an array of skills. Classes are exactly what they sound like to anyone familiar with RPGs, with my unlocked ones being mage, warrior, necromancer, rogue, teacher, blacksmith, alchemist, enchanter, white mage, eromancer, chef, bard, and psychic, and skills are essentially an itemized list of my abilities given experience bars that I can track gaining a small amount of experience every second due to Dabbler synergizing with Master of All; a training perk that spreads experience and/or training gained to every trainable thing in my possession.
I quietly move to equip a class and sense the world freeze around me as a notification appears on my book. I feel a faint flicker of annoyance, dulled due to another drawback, and click on the notification to send it away. "Tutorial Sprite" a "Hey, Listen!" type drawback that has been given to me at maximum power, meaning this'll be a constant thing from here on out. Thankfully I go ahead and just spam it until it becomes second nature and instinctual for me to deal with the goofy ass pause "Ability" I now possess.
Dabbler trains everything slotted to it with every passing second, albeit an incredibly small amount, but that has obvious, striking synergy with Master of All. As I level up my classes I will gain new abilities based on the class in question, and as I improve my skills they'll become easier than ever for me to use and stronger when I use them. Annoyingly my classes will only be allowed to reach level 10 due to a drawback but when I leave this jump I'll be allowed to skyrocket my leveling rate.
Some of the more amusing things that have been turned into skills include things like my essence-backed pheromones, and my regeneration, both of magic and of health. My pheromones becoming a trainable skill is fascinating though, and I do wonder how strong they'll become in time.
I drift closer and closer to the edge of the forest and take stock of the ridiculous number of drawbacks and flaws I'm facing. Six drawbacks from Generic Minecraft, not counting No Companions/No Warehouse, and 10 drawbacks in Generic Gamer without counting No Companions/No Warehouse… Along with 3 flaws. 19 total negatives, though in exchange what I get in this jump is pretty out there.
My items are pretty interesting as well. I have a Totem of Undying which is definitely neat, and I have the sort of stuff needed for me to do all sorts of Minecraft crafting stuff, from an Alchemical Workshop which is not in my inventory but is marked in my grimoire and thus probably in my mansion, to a Crafting Bench that is in my inventory, and even a special bottle I can pour magical energy into to get the "Levels" that Minecraft uses for its enchanting system. That last item is phenomenal since I can only level to level 10 right now and a lot of enchanting are gonna need more juice than that. Minecraft enchanting is a whole other magic system I get to tap into from this jump forward, and that's a really good magic system, especially when combined with my current slate of abilities and items.
I reach the edge of the forest and pause. The forest is only a few hundred feet from the mansion, enough that I can easily predict some difficulties in the days to come when it comes to the safety of my followers and friends. If we were abiding by regular Minecraft rules that'd be okay, but the drawbacks I've been afflicted with are less than excellent and I don't want to risk the lives of the living people I've come to care for by messing about recklessly.
I descend until I am near the ground, hovering just above it. I flip through the pages of my grimoire and begin to summon my undead minions. As I do I take advantage of one of my new gamer system features: the Guild System.
As my minions appear, resummoned for usually the first time since I stopped the MOGO in Tegucigalpa, I target them, take something from them like a fingernail or the like, and "Invite" them to join my guild with a telepathic message. I'm silent but the drawback only takes away my ability to speak. It doesn't actually remove my ability to communicate with my supernatural abilities like telepathy. The guild I invent lacks a name but it is mine and my undead soldiers and minions accept the invite automatically. As they accept the invite I gain the ability to see their statuses and to send them messages. I take a beat to type up a guild-wide notification using a keyboard that appears in my grimoire that welcomes them and I issue a followup instruction to those who join the guild: they are to get to work cutting down trees.
In minutes undead that look human are wandering towards the very edge of the forest. They begin to punch trees and I watch the intro loop of Minecraft gameplay take place but in real-life: my minions punch trees until the trees vanish. In each case the blocks that get punched out of existence are replaced by small wooden cubes which my minions collect. Some of my minions are undead from Earth, a fully modern Earth, and played Minecraft themselves. They express excitement, both audibly and in the guild "Chat" which shows up in my book, as well as quickly create crafting benches. This is interesting and is enough for me to make a decision. For the time being, instead of heading to the mansion, I'll oversee this.
I watch my minions experiment with this world's distinctive new physics and even ones from Generic Monster School World and Bard World quickly begin to pick up the basics of this world's physics. In minutes my minions are educating each other on how to do things, and a number of modern Earth undead gangsters and criminals begin to stand out as leaders. I watch them craft axes and pickaxes, and a pair of figures even begin to dig out the beginnings of a mine. I assign a few extra undead minions to their side, including the two reanimated death tyrants from Generic Monster School. The beholders are to serve as extra muscle and provide the undead warriors with extra protection just in case my minions are not as accepted by the undead native to this world as I should be.
In time I can hear the sounds of pickaxes on stone, from within the mine two standout modern humans have dug out and the guild chat is filled with messages from the modern undead. They guide their more fantastical counterparts, including the beholders and Beowulf and I allow them to do so, giving them simple instructions to not attack undead they encounter underground, only report them to me, and to begin towards building a town.
My allies are within a decent range of myself so I feel them minorly benefit from the effects of "Support". This pleasant perk gives them the effects of a +2 to everything they do, increasing the odds they'll succeed, and reducing the severity of their failures. Things are peaceful right now but we only have 12 hours until nightfall. And in Minecraft when night falls it's dangerous.
I curiously study my grimoire and glance at the "Magic System" feature. It has given me access to a few simple spells like a basic "Magic Missile" spell, some spells for repairing items which is god-tier in Minecraft, and very curiously an invisibility spell that works on Skyrim rules: I am invisible for a few minutes after casting it but it also breaks if I have a meaningful physical interaction with something, like breaking a block or launching an attack on a mob. "Magic System" is a gamer feature that gives me access to a list of spells based on my current setting and causes me to automatically learn new ones when I gain sufficient experience with the ones I have.
I use telepathy to order my minions to construct more elaborate things like chests and store the resources they harvest inside of them. My orders are obeyed and when my minions begin to fill chests with resources I open the chests and pull the resources to myself using my telekinesis. When the chests open small blocks representing the larger materials flow out and begin to move towards me. I collect them, absorbing them into my own inventory, which I can access via my grimoire. I place down an oak plank in front of myself and watch it expand into a full hunk of wood. I telekinetically lift this and use it as the first block of a house. In moments I spawn more full hunks of wood and telekinetically maneuver them into place to form a house. They are dense and heavy but I've lifted buses with telekinesis so this is far from impossible for me.
My telekinetic muscles are quite strong, more than strong enough to lift buses, so while this isn't as lightweight as many other objects it's still light enough that I can move multiple blocks simultaneously with ease. In minutes I've constructed several simple houses, and given my telekinesis a pleasant workout. I also begin to experiment with Minecraft's physics myself. I place down my own crafting bench; a fiat-backed item I now possess thanks to the Minecraft jump, and experiment with it myself.
When I tap the crafting bench without intending to break it a menu appears in my mind's eye denoting crafting "recipes" and the like. This is keyed to Minecraft so everything I see is Minecraft stuff, but I still do things like convert logs into planks and make things like sticks and even a few torches. Everything works exactly how it should for Minecraft, it's like I'm a player character. This is neat and I wonder how much of it is due to Generic Gamer.
I also experiment with my grimoire's "Crafting System", interfacing with it in a similar manner though for me to do this I do need to flip to the gamer system page and click on the crafting feature. When I do, a number of recipes appear and ones that are written out in blue text are doable while ones in red text require ingredients I don't have.
I have access to a large number of very basic materials. Things like stone blocks, oak blocks, and the like are found in abundance but I don't have access to rarer materials like iron or region specific things like sand, and that does limit the number of recipes I can fulfill. Funnily enough my crafting menu allows me to skip over some facets of stuff that'd be required by Minecraft's crafting rules. I can, for example, take iron ore and instantly turn it into ingots, which undoes much of the need for something like a smelter. I can also instantly cook basic things like chicken, turning the "raw chicken" item into "cooked chicken". I essentially gained access to Minecraft's crafting system and then instantly got a better version.
Hours begin to pass. As the day goes on I order more and more of my minions to go and support my initial efforts to harvest the underground resources that my more knowledgeable minions are cognizant of. About halfway through the first period of sunlight my subterranean minions dig into an existing cave, one filled with local creatures; "mobs" and report no hostility from the inhabitants but do mark the cave with a door and otherwise seal it off. I float over to the entrance to the mine and decide to head down it myself.
It is a simple square-shaped tunnel that my minions have already carved surprisingly deeply into the surface of the world and I float down the steps they created. Dozens of figures working together in Minecraft can achieve wonders. At various depths, groups of undead work with pickaxes to carve out straight tunnels into the earth in search of things like iron, copper, and coal, as well as in the hopes of finding and marking more valuable things like diamonds, gold, and emeralds.
The instant I am fully underground I hear a strange sound come from the wall next to me. My danger sense goes off a split second later and I obey it, causing me to dodge a sudden charge by a silverfish; a weak Minecraft monster that is a fish-like creature that can wiggle across the ground with surprising speed, that spawns on one of the stone steps I was about to step on. I catch the creature in a telekinetic grip and then crush it with what is, essentially, a "Force choke". It disappears in a puff of smoke and I feel something enter my inventory. The ambush was the result of a small but annoying drawback: "Zubat Country". The second I glance at my inventory "Tutorial Sprite" goes off but I nearly instantly deal with the notification. My inventory has a small bit of money in it, and there's a reason for that. "Loot". I make a mental note of it and close my grimoire.
I reach the area where a small branch in the tunnel complex ends in an oak door. I approach it curiously and open it with a wave of telekinetic force. I float through it and into a vast cavern. In the distance I can see a lava flow that provides some natural lighting, though I don't need natural lighting for my eyes to pierce the gloom of the cavern. I can hear… spooky background music that'd probably be more effective if my emotions weren't dulled. The reason I can hear the music at all is a drawback but its a low power 100 point one; "Creepy Ambiance" and it just doesn't really do anything other than add in Minecraft's infamous underground soundtrack to my jump. I don't see any "Elite mobs" either, which is good. I suspect I could deal with them if I needed to, but I'd rather not have to if it could be avoided.
The groans of zombies reach me and as I look near the lava flows I can see a group of them. Skeletons awkwardly stumble around in the pitch-black darkness, and I see a single creeper in a distant corner of the cavern. I focus and conjure an invisible, though solid, forcefield and begin to explore the place. I am deathly quiet, thanks to a new perk, but I purposefully move near the different kinds of monsters and subtly draw their attention.
I reach a pair of skeletons first. They tilt their heads to face me when I get close and make noises but neither of them raise their bows or otherwise interact with me. I make a mental note of this, grateful for the fact that I'm undead and that the lion's share of my servants are undead as well. I next float over to a small group of four zombies idling around a pool of lava. They barely even notice me and even when I am directly in front of one it just moves around me, indifferent to my presence. I quietly let out a sigh of relief. My perks are standing firm against the local undead and the undead are the biggest threat that most players will experience early on.
I look down in the corner where the creeper is slowly exploring the depths of the cavern. I silently approach it and let out a laugh when I draw near and it turns abruptly to face me. It frowns and begins to walk over to me, clearly targeting me. I don't hesitate and I instantly grab it with telekinesis. I lift it into the air above the stone blocks it was just walking over before ending its life by creating a forcefield around it and then shrinking the forcefield down as forcibly as I can. I feel the creeper's life violently end and frown at the fact that what I just did is a little gross.
One second the creeper is in midair and the next a floating bit of gunpowder occupies the space it just occupied. I draw the forcefield closer to myself and then unmake it, collecting the gunpowder the monster "dropped" and sensing it entering my inventory as it begins to fall since it's no longer suspended in midair by the forcefield. I turn around in midair and note that none of the undead in the chamber have become hostile. I fly back out of the cavern and close the door behind me. I scan my inventory and note that I've received an emerald for defeating the creeper, a consequence of the "Loot" system feature; a feature that gives me some money for winning fights and killing foes. If I fuse that with my "Store" feature I can do a lot just by killing creatures…
As I exit the tunnel I deal with another silverfish before looking up at the sky and watching the sun slowly begin to crawl towards the horizon. I silently make my way to my mansion and smile when I reach it. I open the door with telekinesis and step into the foyer. I'm naturally quiet and right now the main bit of sensory information that drifts into my mind is the smell of food being cooked somehow.
Everything in the mansion looks like it did in Chronicle and I try flipping a lightswitch on and watch as it works, light filling up the gloomy foyer. This is a pleasant surprise and I instantly realize that there's some level of fiat-backing in the mansion that goes a touch further than I'd have anticipated, just enough to guarantee a minimal level of comfort no matter where I go.
I write a message to the undead creatures in my guild and tell them to close off the entrance to the mine and to shut the doors to the houses I made, so none of the wild undead can get in. I still want to keep the surface safe, but for me to do that long term I'll need to get light sources and dot them across the land around my mansion.
I float towards the kitchen and smile when I see my friends. Amber turns and spots me and I watch her laugh lightly. I sense her thoughts and am pleasantly surprised to see that this time she doesn't even need to see me to jog her memories. She runs forward and hugs me.
"There you are! When I couldn't find you in the mansion I was worried. I did remember after a second that I've never found you in the mansion before but it's still scary." She tells me, and I smile. My emotions are dulled due to a drawback but I still feel a flicker of relief that comes and goes in an instant.
I hug her, able to feign feeling more intense emotions than I currently do, before moving the grimoire over to her. I telekinetically move the page to the section denoting my build. She studies it and I watch her eyes widen before she laughs.
"Wow your benefactor really smacked you in the face with drawbacks huh?" She observes. I nod silently though I telepathically inform her that none of the drawbacks are especially nasty though together they'll make this jump the least pleasant jump I've been in so far. I deal with the tutorial sprite and invite Amber to a "Party" as well as to my "Guild". She accepts both invites and I flash her a smile. Lilly, the green-haired chef, turns around and waves at me. Seeing my friends safe and sound causes me to be able to relax a little. I wasn't afraid but I acknowledge the pragmatic benefits of having my living friends, especially in a lonely jump like this one, be safe and sound.
"Hey master! Come, sit, food is almost ready." Lilly tells me. I do as she says, floating into a small dining room and nodding at the others: Rowena, Courtney, and Jasmine. Everyone greets me with warm smiles, happy to see that I'm safe after a "day out foraging". It seems that they, and Amber according to a message she sends me over our ability to contact each other through the Party System, have memories of me being a crafter who sometimes goes out to look for materials.
For now I plan to go ahead and try to get another maid to be marked, and as I make that my immediate priority I feel my Chad-ly instincts kick in and remind me that all I have to do to sleep with my maids is ask them to come and sleep with me. I'm a little surprised that it's still so simple, even in this new world, but I suppose that makes some sense since the maids are part of an item and I am a super studly guy who has charisma perks up the ass. I subtly turn on my pheromones and begin to eat the stew that Lilly cooked for us. As we eat time begins to pass and before we know it the moon is out. I type a message using my grimoire to my guild and I order them to patrol the area around the mansion and keep it safe.