Everyone that has played Minecraft has a set goal in mind before embarking on their own individual adventure. Some want to build massive structures and recreate feasts for the eyes; some want to explore and find extravagant treasures; and some just want to be friends with annoying farm animals. Whatever ambition you have when you start playing, you'll get lost and sidetracked and forget all preconceived ideas. My ambition was to find diamond. That's mainly why I've been digging for such a long time.
We left last with me wondering whether I still had my file. Thankfully I did, but it reverted back to my last manual save, so my glass cathedral was gone. I was sad, but some things aren't meant to happen; by thy hand of the Minecraft gods I am stuck with my stone house. So, to make up for lost time, I went to continue my mine. In my last save I was close to hitting rock bottom, and thus I was excited. I eventually hit bedrock (the absolute bottom of the Minecraft world where all the goodies are).
There are a few ways to go about making a mine. One strategy is to go in blind and hope for the best. In doing so, you're almost guaranteed to hit a lava pool or a monster spawner before finding the illustrious diamond. Stay calm, and section off parts of the mine to dig out. A calculated attempt is less likely to get you killed. Also, always keep a stack of the cobblestone you've been slowly gathering and torches with you; a tidbit like this may be common sense, but you'd be surprised how often I've mined through forgetting one or both of these things. The cobblestone stack is useful in two key situations - quickly placing a block to disallow any lava to seep through, and for no arrows to fly through in case you hit a pesky monster area.
Knowing this, I planned my route accordingly and went to work. Fifteen minutes later I made the essentials: a workbench, a range and a chest. The chest is mainly for any gems I found, and easier to keep them down there instead of making the long trek to the surface. Not even ten minutes into digging, my eyes fluttered. One of my problems with games is I am extremely attracted to shiny things, and immediately stumbling on some redstone I had to have it. Redstone can be used in some unique scenarios, such as making a switch to open a door, or for torches to provide dim lighting. Whatever your fix, it's a neat little element to obtain. After finding a massive deposit of redstone, I continued in one direction for a while and looped around to connect with another hallway.
And there it was. It's as if the Minecraft gods (whom I pray to most nights) were smiling upon me, blessing my character. In front of me laid a stockpile of diamond, a gargantuan deposit of seven ores. In the Minecraft universe, a high amount in a condensed area is very rare, and I was lucky beyond words. However, the victory was short-lived when I realized I didn't have an iron pickaxe. Iron is slightly rarer than coal, and often veins comes in pockets of three-or-less blocks. A rare commodity, but very useful when looking for precious minerals like gold, redstone and diamond. I punctured many a stone block furiously, frantically looking for any trace of iron. Three was all I needed; when I started my mine, the LAST thing I considered was finding diamond before iron. A messed-up trip I had.
As I ventured further into the underground, I discovered many interesting paths and caverns that will be explored in later blog posts. But for now, I must take my leave. Good'day to you all.
P.S. Completely off-topic, and a couple days late, but please take note of what happened in Japan and donate to the Red Cross or other charities operating there. I wish the people of Sendai the best, and hope the region can recover soon enough. The same goes for Christchurch. A state of emergency is still there, and word now is a third of the buildings need to be demolished. Stay healthy.
P.S.S. I'll be starting a new blog about topics that may not relate to video games, or may differ entirely. The link is http://filthcardia-nonsensicalramblings.blogspot.com/ so check it out and give me any feedback! Thank you.
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