later,” said Steve. The librarian looked a bit disappointed as Steve headed outside and whistled for Pigphelas.
“Let’s go, Pigphelas,” he said. “We need to find some diamonds.” Steve and Pigphelas headed off towards the nearest mountain to start mining. It was going to be dark soon, but Steve decided that spending the night in the village would be a waste of time. After all, it’s always dark underground.
Chapter 5: Preparing for Battle
Steve had his iron pickaxe in hand and a bundle of torches at the ready as he started mining. Pigphelas stood guard at the foot of the mountain as Steve carved into the rock and made his way diagonally down, leaving steps behind him so that he could easily make his way back up again. He put a torch on the wall every seven blocks or so.
The light at the entrance of the mineshaft died away as Steve cut deeper into the roots of the mountain. He knew that diamonds were found only at the deepest levels, and even then only rarely. Steve had never found a diamond before, and now he needed
enough to make a sword and a full suit of armor. “I might be down here a while,” said Steve to the darkness.
Steve kept going deeper, leaving mountains of discarded cobblestone in his wake. He past veins of coal and iron ore without stopping; he was after only one thing. Redstone glowed on the walls as Steve got closer to bedrock.
Steve was getting ready to turn back and try mining another way when he mined right through the wall of a natural cave. Looking around, he jumped down into the cave and placed a torch so he would remember where he came from. With his sword in one
hand and a torch in the other, Steve set off through the winding cave.
There was a growl up ahead and Steve held up his sword as a zombie stumbled towards him. As it came closer, he swung and swung again. The zombie tripped and fell over.
Steve dashed past and headed deeper into the cave. He had never liked fighting quite as much as building, but sometimes it had to be done. Herobrine was probably going to be a lot harder to beat than a zombie.
There was a bubbling noise up ahead and Steve turned a corner to see a lake of lava sizzling in front of him. The cave had
opened up and lava stretched out in channels that disappeared into different areas of the cave. Steve looked around, and then he saw it: on the far edge of the lava sat a cluster of diamond ore. There must have been at least five blocks of diamonds.
Steve’s heart started pumping. This was his big break, but with the diamonds so close to the lava, he had to be extra careful. If anything fell into the lava, it would be burned up— even diamonds are consumed by lava. Steve sat on the edge of the lake and planned out his route to the diamonds.
After some careful thinking, he began edging his way around the lake, mining out just enough room to keep himself from
touching the lava. As Steve got closer to the cluster of diamonds, he realized that there were even more than he had seen at first. He had hit a jackpot. Very carefully, Steve began to chip at the diamonds with his pickaxe.
Steve collected one diamond after another, examining each carefully and storing them safely in his inventory. There was one moment when he slipped and almost dropped a diamond in the lava, but he managed to recover just in time. He had gotten almost all the diamonds he needed.
Steve was reaching across a block to get the last diamond when there was a short hiss behind him. He spun around, but it was
too late. A creeper was standing there flashing white and ready to explode. Steve threw himself at the wall as the huge blast sent blocks flying
Janwillem van de Wetering