Ivan’s consciousness once again sank into that familiar blocky world.
“Time to grind, time to grind!” he muttered, immediately getting to work.
Ivan skillfully punched down a few trees to craft a basic crafting table, then quickly synthesized an iron pickaxe.
Without wasting a single second, he sprinted toward the nearest mountain face, eager to find a deep cave system.
“Redstone is an absolute must have!” Ivan planned aloud as his pickaxe struck stone.
“This is the essential foundation for making all kinds of automated material-farming machines later on.” In the deep, dark mine shaft, only the rhythmic clinking sound of the iron pickaxe hitting raw ore echoed through the tunnels.
After collecting a comfortable supply of iron and redstone dust, his next major goal was to find diamonds.
However, reality dealt Ivan a heavy blow.
He continuously explored three huge, sprawling ravines from top to bottom.
“Hiss…” Looking at the lonely stack of exactly eleven diamonds sitting in his inventory, Ivan threw the iron pickaxe in his hand straight to the cavern floor.
“No, this is a total rip-off!
What kind of garbage drop rate is this?!” Other various ores like coal and lapis lazuli piled up in absolute abundance, but diamonds remained infuriatingly scarce.
“Should I just use Minecraft’s special features to farm some?” he grumbled.
Swallowing his pride, he used three of his precious diamonds to synthesize a diamond pickaxe.
After mining enough obsidian from a nearby lava pool, Ivan returned to the surface.
He retrieved his trident, and a high-level enchanting table was also successfully crafted and placed on the grass.
“No bookshelves,” Ivan realized, staring at the setup.
“I still need to find a village to ‘borrow’ some.” As Ivan stood there troubled, a figure walked over silently behind him.
The voice carried a distinct hint of playfulness.
“Do you need bookshelves?
I can give them to you.” It was Herobrine.
The mysterious entity pulled out a bed shimmering with the purple light of an enchantment and placed it casually on the ground.
“If you click on this bed, I will not only give you enough bookshelves, but I will also give you this enchanted bed.” Ivan took a step back, his face a mask of deep wariness.
“Uh…
I think I will pass.
Since when are you that kind?
I always get a bad feeling when you offer things.” Herobrine stopped talking nonsense and simply lunged for him.
“Don’t come near me, ah ah ah ah!” Resistance was entirely futile.
Herobrine overpowered him, and Ivan’s hand eventually touched the fabric of the bed.
[Respawn point reset] “Alright, I touched it,” Ivan said grumpily, dusting himself off.
“Now can you give me the bookshelves?” He stared at the entity.
“You will actually give them to me, right?” Herobrine did not answer.
Instead, he suddenly lifted Ivan by the collar and teleported them both.
The surrounding scenery warped and changed in an instant.
They were now suspended high in the sky, looking down at a heavily guarded Tier 3 Village.
Down below, scout Pillagers were actively patrolling the perimeter, all uniformly dressed in gleaming, enchanted diamond armor.
Ivan’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, his voice trembling in pure panic.
“No way, bro!
Me?
Right now?
Fighting a Tier 3 Village?!
I am completely naked!” He flailed in the air.
“If I am guilty of a crime, please let the law punish me, not this cruel method!” Herobrine’s voice remained entirely placid.
“You are too weak right now.
I am honing you.” “I object!
This is straight-up abuse!” “Objection overruled.
Down you go.” With a casual shove, Ivan was kicked down from the sky, plummeting until he landed precisely on the thick obsidian city wall.
The very next second, a heavily armored Pillager spotted him and immediately rushed forward, eyeing the intruder menacingly.
Ivan did not panic.
He calmly poured the water out from the bucket in his backpack, and holding the now-empty iron bucket, he pointed it directly at the charging enemy.
Whoosh!
The massive Pillager was instantly sucked into the tiny container, turning into a Pillager Bucket.
“Fighting fair is impossible,” Ivan muttered, tossing the item into his inventory.
“I would be stupid not to use the bucket if I have one.” Up in the sky, Herobrine watched this scene unfold and his face flushed with sheer frustration.
“I sent you down there to train your actual combat skills, not for you to play smart!” “No, bro, I am completely naked, you know!” Ivan yelled back at the sky, haggling for his life.
“At least give me a bottle of Potion of Pure Diamond!” Herobrine’s expression darkened.
He threw down a glass bottle shimmering with brilliant diamond light, followed by a bucket of milk.
“Alright, drink up and go quickly.
No more using that bucket!” “Fine, fine.” Ivan waved his hand dismissively.
After chugging the milk to clear any debuffs and downing the Potion of Pure Diamond, Ivan was instantly covered head to toe in a heavy set of pure diamond armor.
“Come on!” Ivan roared, pulling out the Blade of Slaughter as he charged headlong into the enemy ranks.
“This is part of the agreement…” The Pillagers swarmed him from all sides, shouting their strange, guttural slogans.
Ivan’s figure weaved constantly through the chaotic melee, the dark sword light flashing in wide arcs.
He executed a series of operations as fierce as a tiger, striking with perfect precision, but the damage numbers popping up were a pathetic 2.5.
“Damn, they are so tanky!” he cursed.
Suddenly, an ender pearl smashed onto the obsidian floor right in front of him.
Distracted by the teleportation sound, Ivan was fiercely knocked flying by a brutal elbow strike from a flanking Pillager.
Before he could recover, even more Pillagers reached into their inventories, pulling enchanted bows seemingly from nowhere, and started shooting a wild barrage of arrows.
[You died.] After reviving at the bed, Ivan twisted his face into a grimace.
“So painful, so painful…
Grandma, how am I supposed to fight this?” Herobrine emerged from the shadows behind Ivan, his tone ice-cold.
“Too slow.
You have not truly understood Steve’s real combat techniques.
Formless in form, unintentional in intent.” Without another word, Ivan was mercilessly dragged back and thrown into the battlefield again.
“Nooo—!” And so, the brutal cycle repeated.
Through countless agonizing deaths and instantaneous resurrections, Ivan’s combat speed grew faster and faster, and his muscle memory became razor-sharp.
He reached a point where he could accurately track the Pillagers, stepping in to interrupt their attacks the exact moment they tried to throw an ender pearl to escape.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of grinding, Ivan managed to wear all the remaining Pillagers down to critical health.
He took a deep, steadying breath.
Gripping the handle of the Blade of Slaughter, Ivan swung the weapon in a massive, sweeping circle.
Countless purple dimensional particles burst forth from the dark steel!
[Sakura Dimensional Slash!] A pitch-black blade light flashed across the courtyard and vanished.
Directly in front of the horde of low-health Pillagers, a miniature black hole appeared without any warning.
The overwhelming gravitational suction instantly crushed their blocky bodies into fine dust.
Herobrine watched the carnage from his vantage point in the sky and commented faintly, “Not bad.” Then, he dissolved into the digital air.
“Damn, it is finally over…” Ivan collapsed onto the obsidian wall, completely exhausted.
He looked out over the courtyard, which was now absolutely littered with glowing loot drops and the untouched chests of an entire Tier 3 Village.
He had hit the absolute jackpot.
He swept through the area, scooping up seven Totems of Undying, forty-seven enchanted golden apples, one and a half stacks of normal golden apples, thirty-four diamonds, a fully enchanted diamond axe, a massive hoard of assorted crafting materials, and a huge pile of ender pearls.
Before leaving, Ivan also made sure to politely ‘borrow’ every single bookshelf from the village library.
“Let’s go, time to head back.” The sky outside began to brighten.
Ivan’s consciousness returned to Terra, and he slowly opened his eyes in the quiet corner of the classroom.
The rest of the students were also waking up one after another, stretching and shaking off sleep.
Zima walked over, immediately noticing Ivan’s heavy dark circles and utterly exhausted expression.
She crossed her arms, her brow furrowing.
“Didn’t you go out last night?” Ivan let out a massive yawn, rubbing his eyes.
“If I told you I went out to prepare gifts for all of you, would you actually believe me?” He did not bother explaining the bizarre truth.
Instead, Ivan reached into his inventory and set out the max-level enchanting table right in the middle of the room.
The dark obsidian block glowed with a mysterious, floating purple light, covered in strange floating runes.
Then, he pulled out the heavy, purple-glowing diamond axe he had captured the night before and held it out to Zima.
The girls gathered around, watching Ivan pull these completely illogical, physics-defying items out of thin air.
They were already getting somewhat used to his nonsense.
“It is for you.
Consider it a gift,” Ivan said.
“To give you a proper new weapon.” Zima accepted the heavy axe with a doubtful look, muttering a quiet, “Thank you.” She instinctively adjusted her grip, swinging it twice through the air to test the weight and balance.
Satisfied, she turned and casually chopped at the remains of a broken wooden door leaning against the back wall.
Swish!
The thick axe blade passed through the solid wooden plank without a single ounce of resistance.
Carried by its own undiminished momentum, the weapon chopped straight down, slicing cleanly through the stone floor slab as easily as a hot knife cutting through tofu.
Zima froze, staring in absolute shock at the weapon in her hands.
She had felt almost zero recoil.
“This axe…
it is way too strong?!” She snapped her head up to look at Ivan, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“What exactly is this made of?
It is ridiculously sharp!” “Diamond,” Ivan replied calmly, as if discussing the weather.
The entire classroom fell dead silent for a long moment.
Rosa, standing nearby, was completely stunned.
Her usually elegant, composed expression almost shattered completely.
“No way…
Ivan, you are the real noble here, aren’t you?” Zima’s voice shot up by an entire octave.
“You made a functional battle axe out of solid diamond?!
Do you own a private originium mine at home or something?!” “Don’t mention it, I actually really do,” Ivan thought to himself, though on the surface he merely gave a casual shrug.
“I have plenty of this stuff lying around, just use it.” Seeing that he was completely serious, Zima hesitated for a brief second before gripping the handle tightly.
She accepted the overly precious gift, her eyes flashing with complex emotions.
Next, Ivan reached into his void inventory and pulled out a heavy trident and a massive, sturdy shield.
He walked over to where Truth was sitting.
While the quiet girl was not paying attention, he swiftly snatched the thick hardcover book she was holding in her arms.
“Hey!
What are you doing!” Truth exclaimed, her eyes widening in mild panic.
“Just borrowing it for a second.” Ivan placed her book, the trident, the shield, and a sleek Netherite Bow onto the surface of the enchanting table one by one.
Immediately, glowing alien runes flowed from the table, sinking into the items.
When Ivan handed the book back to Truth, the cover had taken on a deep, dark texture, radiating a faint, pulsing purple light.
She hugged it to her chest, looking at Ivan with a deeply complex expression.
Gummy, on the other hand, was practically vibrating.
After receiving the massive shield that now shimmered with an indestructible enchantment glow, her round face flushed bright red with excitement.
She jumped up and down, constantly repeating, “Thank you, Big Brother Ivan!
What a beautiful shield!” Leto stepped up and firmly took the Netherite Bow that Ivan offered her, testing the draw weight with an approving nod.
“Natalia took your stuff yesterday, so this is to make up for it,” Ivan said, turning to Rosa.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the heavy trident over to her.
Rosa clearly had not expected to receive a gift as well.
She paused, her eyes widening slightly, before she reached out and caught the heavy, rune-carved weapon.
She traced the cold metal, pursing her lips slightly, before finally whispering, “…Thank you.” Ivan took a step back, crossing his arms as he surveyed the room.
Zima was resting the gleaming diamond axe on her shoulder, Rosa was holding a mythical trident, Gummy was hiding behind an enchanted tower shield, Truth was hugging a glowing magic book, and Leto was testing the string of a Netherite Bow.
Ivan stroked his chin, a dry smile forming on his lips.
“Hiss…
I always feel like the art style around here is getting a little strange.” [Rhodes’s Note: Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?
(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent!
to use the links!)