The Crafting Guide

Compared with the way there, he made much better time on the return trip.

The reason Fang Bie had chosen the river as his starting point was precisely this consideration. Even if something delayed him along the way, he could make the round trip quickly by boat.

He had only done it as a precaution, never expecting to need it so soon.

The long stretch that had taken him half a day to cover had taken him less than half an hour to travel back.

That river ran east to west beneath the mountain where his house stood, while his house was built at the summit. He had traveled east this time. Though he hadn't found much, he had at least discovered a village.

When Fang Bie played the game, he always liked to gather some of the resources needed at the start from villages: a little iron and a few rare resources, plenty of food growing in the fields, and a few empty houses he could use as temporary shelter.

Now that he had found a village, he had the same idea. The villagers only performed simple, mechanical actions; they didn't show any real intelligence. That meant he could easily take over the village.

Fang Bie had already worked out a plan along the way. He would gather all the villagers inside a large house and cover its floor with dirt. These villagers, who had only mechanical memories and never grew tired, would make excellent farmers.

It might seem a little cruel, but the villagers were simply creatures designed to go about their business in a village. They were no different in essence from cows and horses.

Fang Bie quickly climbed the mountain and saw the fence enclosing its slopes.

Yinsen worked efficiently. When Fang Bie opened the gate and stepped into the huge clearing they had made together, he could already make out the rough shapes of two houses.

The mountain was quite large to begin with, and his old house occupied only one part of it. After they expanded the area, the space here had grown even more immense.

A stone portal now stood nearby, and a broad, level field stretched out in front. So Yinsen had placed the foundations for the two houses toward the back of the area, farther up the mountain.

As Fang Bie came up the path, Yinsen spotted him. The Stone Sword in his hand slowly lowered.

"Fang Bie, you're back at just the right time. Help me finish the last section of this fence. A few Zombies got out over there earlier, but I killed them. We'd better finish this before nightfall!"

Fang Bie nodded, sorted the things he had found along the way, and put them in the house's storage room. Then he came back out carrying some Wooden Planks.

Yinsen wasn't completely inflexible. He had put a few chests outside, along with several Furnaces and a wooden Crafting Table. It gave the place a certain charm.

"Good. While it's not completely dark, put Torches all over the area you've fenced in. One every four meters should do. That'll let us move around in the dark over a much wider area," Fang Bie reminded him.

His boat was moored in the river below, tied loosely to the bank with a rope. It should be fine. He had never heard of any monsters disturbing inanimate objects.

And since there were no real storms in this world, the setup might not look very secure, but it could hold fast for a long time.

He had picked up some pumpkins along the way. With the iron pot he had casually borrowed from Tony, he could cook them into something tasty and not too monotonous.

Some simple vegetables in the field by the entrance were nearly ripe, and seasonings like garlic were thriving too.

Fang Bie could clearly see that the seeds he had found weren't limited to the dozen or so simple varieties in the game. They were far more diverse; almost any seed he could imagine could be found among them.

He had planted some of them a few days ago, while many more still sat in the chests, waiting to be sown.

Fang Bie thought it was time to get the tools for Food Craft ready, especially for things like rice. Without the right tools, they could only cook it in a Furnace, which was certainly inconvenient.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and a meal couldn't be eaten in one bite either. Keeping his composure, Fang Bie sorted all the plant seeds and various rare items he had gathered along the way into the chests.

He hadn't found anything especially good, but that was only by the standards of a veteran like him. After running short of supplies before, Fang Bie had taken anything he saw along the way that he thought might be useful.

That included all kinds of flowers, the Cloud Mountain and Dark Project that were rarely found near his home, and pumpkins he could eat.

Fang Bie thought it over carefully, made sure he hadn't forgotten anything, then nodded slowly.

Without any extra mods loaded, the MC world was actually this monotonous. Wherever you went, you saw the same familiar trees and plants. Monsters didn't grow more or less numerous no matter where you traveled. The only real variety came from the uneven terrain.

Fang Bie silently resolved to find a way to make this world more diverse. Bringing things in from other worlds definitely didn't count; this world would never accept them. Those discarded pieces of technology were proof enough.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stay long in such a dull world, even with someone by his side. That was simply human nature.

At the thought, Fang Bie suddenly felt that opening a portal to visit other worlds might be a good idea. He could meet all kinds of interesting people and escape the boredom of this monotonous world. What could be better?

The idea only flashed through his mind. He quickly took Wooden Planks and Sugar Cane from his Backpack and used the Crafting Table to make four new Crafting Tables and nine sheets of paper.

"I'm going to make a Crafting Guide. Otherwise, if my memory really does get fuzzy someday and I can't remember how to craft these things, that'll be embarrassing!" Fang Bie kept firmly in mind the idea he had had along the way.

He took a piece of leather from a chest, wrapped it lightly around several sheets of paper, then tapped the Crafting Table.

The Crafting Table immediately combined the materials in his hands into a pale blue book. Four blocky characters, "Crafting Guide," stood out clearly on its cover.

He had also discovered a new way to use the Crafting Table: there was no need to open the crafting grid. He could simply put all the materials for the item together and craft it instantly.