Complete Minecraft Book Series (9781311830654) Read online

  Spud said goodbye to his lonely tree and chopped it down from the top with his bare hands. A few patches of dirt grew around the bottom of the tree, but apart from that only rock made up most of the mountain. He dug this dirt up and proceeded to break the wood down into planks. (This process is quite indescribable without a computer screen. It’s as though he held the wood in front of him and placed it in a mental box and out came wooden planks!)

  The first thought that crossed Spud’s mind at this point was to build a bridge across the crevice to harvest more wood, and that’s what he did. By carefully looking down and inching forward, Spud placed a few wooden planks down attached to the one he stood on. With three spaces left until reaching land, he placed down his three dirt blocks. This way, if he was running from any more monsters he could quickly dig up the dirt to leave them on the land behind. He reached jungle land and created a crafting table with four of the planks in his back pocket (or wherever he magically kept his inventory).

  He made a few sticks from these planks and created a wooden axe from them. He ran two squares over to a tall jungle tree and started chopping. He couldn’t reach the top, but he could cut enough wood to get started making other tools for later. Spud ran from tree to tree cutting what he could from the ground until his axe broke. To him, this was a sign that he should move on to his next project – a hut. He gathered whatever wood blocks he missed and picked up an apple or two that fell from the leaf cubes and decided to head back.

  Spud had begun breaking down his crafting table when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He gazed in that direction until he could make out a small white item on the ground nearly hidden behind a tree. Quizzically, he walked over to it. It was thin and white and curly, and it bounced above the ground like a free-floating item. It was string! Spud ran over to it and it flew into him. He now had string in his inventory! And there was another next to it! And another!

  String littered the jungle floor and it had Spud scouring the area for what he could find. He looked up and down trees, over and around stumps, and on top of small mounds of dirt. Spud was elated to find so much string – thirteen in all – until remembered where it came from. All this string had come from spiders. Dead spiders.

  This sent chills down his square back. Surely thirteen spiders hadn’t been following him all night, had they? And what killed them?

  Spud finished his search for string. This grim thought spooked him too much to continue. Even if thirteen or more spiders had been following him all night, they were gone now. The scary thought was that whatever killed them must be something big, and something fierce. If this something found him, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The sun was hitting its peak in the sky and it would be turning to night soon. Spud had spent too much time searching for string and now it would be dark before he knew it. He had what he needed and there was plenty of daylight left to accomplish his first mission. But first, he had to find his way back.

  The floating trees made this venture back to his crafting table a breeze. He was on flat ground and his crafting block was off in the distance. Spud had managed to clear all the trees up four blocks, so this level ground was more like flat plains with some leafy shade above. It was a neat sight, but not enough to wow him under these circumstances.

  Spud returned to his table when he heard another sound behind a tree that he hadn’t cut down. A mixture of worry and curiosity bubbled inside Spud with the latter emotion winning the battle. Spud was going to creep around the tree and investigate. As silently as he could, Spud crept over to the tree. The noise was coming directly from the opposite side, but it didn’t sound like a spider. He would have to peek around the trunk to see what it was. He latched on to the corners of the tree and leaned out to the side.

  It was small, yellow with black spots and stripes, and had beady green eyes. It was an ocelot playing with a cocoa pod!

  This excitement must’ve jerked Spud because it spooked the ocelot, which in turn spooked Spud. The ocelot let out a meow-squeal mixture of a sound and ran off. At the same time, from being startled, Spud tensed and smacked his head on the tree, causing him to fall on his butt. The ocelot pranced off into the jungle, turned to inspect Spud from a distance, meowed, and disappeared into the trees.

  Spud shook his head and got to his feet. The cat was gone now, but he was relieved to see it was a friendly feline and not something potentially much scarier. It was so young though, still a kitten. Where was its mother? What if whatever got those spiders got its mother too? Spud didn’t have time to ponder about the fate of Minecraft’s wildlife; the sun was setting.

  Spud crossed his makeshift bridge and took the dirt with him so that nothing else could cross. He climbed his stone mountain until he reached the plateau at the top. That is where he saw the most magnificent sight yet. The mountain had its own private pond on top! This was even cooler than a volcano! He had his own swimming pool!

  The pond took up most of the top of the mountain and was encircled by fresh dirt. It was round in shape, but not a perfect circle. It came very close to the edge of the other side of the mountain with maybe one or two blocks keeping it from the edge. Other than that, there was nothing but stone at the top as with the rest of the mountain.

  Spud sprinted toward the pool but halted just before he jumped in.

  “A hut,” he reminded himself and turned around.

  Spud broke more than half of his wood down into planks and began building a hut four blocks long, four blocks wide, and four blocks tall. He left out two spaces for a door, but as he tried to make one, he realized he had left his crafting table in the jungle. He didn’t fully break it down! This didn’t faze Spud too much though. He forgot about his table and it was an accident, so he didn’t take it too harshly. Besides, he had enough wood to build another and he did without a sweat.

  After building the door and some sticks he decided to make a bed. Three wool blocks were composed of four items of string each, leaving him with one extra. His simple hut was complete and his bed was made. He could finally rest in peace. Darkness was looming over the outside world as Spud shut the door and crawled in bed. It was comfortable enough for being a big red block, but Spud couldn’t fall asleep. He tossed and turned before finally opening his eyes. Actually, he couldn’t tell if they were open or shut because it was so dark. That was the problem! This was his first time without a night light! But he couldn’t venture outside now! What if there were monsters outside!

  Then again, what if monsters spawned in his room for being so dark? This is a thought he just could not take!

  Spud had to brave the darkness and mine some stone because he had a plan. He jumped out of bed and ran to his crafting table (which was really only two blocks away in his hut) and made a pickaxe with two sticks and three wooden planks. Next, he built a sword in case of an emergency and ran outside. The whole mountainside was made of stone and he only needed eight blocks. After making sure he had a way back up to the top, Spud mined in a straight line until he received eight blocks of stone. He would come back for more tomorrow, but this is what he needed for now.

  Something moaned off in the distance. Was it in the jungle below? Was it on top of the mountain? Was it in his house? Spud didn’t have time to think. He jumped back up his makeshift staircase and sprinted back for his hut. He slammed the door behind him and crashed into his crafting table, assembling the blocks in a hollow square. This made a furnace that Spud placed right next to the table. Wood was used to burn more wood and it lit up his hut with enough light to see around his new home. Spud let out a sigh of relief and pulled out some of the charcoal he received from the burning wood. He placed one of these charcoal items on a stick and instantly he had four torches. There were two spots Spud wanted to put these torches: one on the inside of the door and one on the outside.

  Spud hung a torch above the door on the inside and suddenly BAM! A zombie slammed into the door! Its blue and green arms slid through the windows and almost hit Spud in
the face, but he backed away in the nick of time.

  “I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hang my light up outside!” Spud said, laughing at the zombie. Day two was complete and Spud now had a house, a bed, light, and some tools. He was confident now.

  Only a few food icons remained for Spud, but he wasn’t too worried about it. He ate his only two apples that dropped from all of his tree chopping and plopped back in his bed.

  “Goodnight,” Spud said to the zombie, still smiling, “don’t let the dead bugs bite!”

  Darkness wiped over Spud and daylight came right after. As refreshing as sleep was, especially that it made the night go by faster, it was missing something. It was missing a few things actually. The bed wasn’t as comfortable as his bed at home. There was no lying in bed at night waiting to fall asleep. There was no waking up and not wanting to get out of bed. Spud just kind of placed himself on the block and before he knew it, he was standing up the next day.

  Worst of all, Spud had no dreams.

  “Dreams are life’s little miracles,” his mom would always say. “Nobody knows where they come from or if they’re real or not.”

  “But mom, they are real!” he remembered saying back. “They are stories in our sleep to teach us lessons!”

  Spud was living his dream now. He was all alone where nobody could bother him. All he needed was his ginormous castle and he would be happy forever. Deep down inside, however, a small part of his was already lonely.

  Part 4: Spuds Terrifying Run-In

  Spud moved to the door and peaked out before opening it. There was no sign of the zombie. It may have left over night, but Spud took precaution and equipped his sword to be safe. He clicked the door open and stepped back in case something came around the corner. The coast was clear from what he could tell. He tip-toed out the door and checked and double checked both directions. Spud even searched around his hut in case something was hiding behind it. As he suspected, nothing.

  Today would be the day Spud began work on his castle, but first he needed the stone to build it. Spud contemplated digging from the sides like he did last night but he didn't want to ruin the natural shape of the mountain, which was almost a perfect cone. However, if he planned to make a castle inside the mountain, he would need to hollow it out.

  "I'll dig from the inside out!" Spud thought to himself, waving his bricky arms in the air.

  But first, he would have to be prepared. He thought back to all the times he would try to do his homework but forgot a pencil or went to a soccer game without his cleats. He couldn't let that happen. Not today. Before he set out, Spud would make sure he had everything he needed.

  The first item on his list was to make better tools. The wooden ones were flimsy and broke easily. If Spud was going to clear out the inside of a mountain he would need a better pickaxe. Of course he would want gold or diamond, but for now all he had was stone around him. Spud made his way back to the side of the mountain and cleared out a few more blocks of stone - only enough for two pickaxes and a stone shovel. He created these on his crafting table.

  At this time he thought about making a stone sword. His wooden sword was still at full strength, but if he got in trouble he would need a better weapon. After a moment of pondering, Spud decided he wouldn't need the sword. With only one heart left, it would be smarter to run away from trouble rather than fighting it. But, he thought, he would take his crafting table. Not this one. No, he would take the one in the jungle since he was going that way anyway.

  Spud climbed down the side of his mountain until reaching his makeshift bridge. He placed his dirt back down to cross and retrieved his original crafting table. He crossed back over, taking his dirt with him. This bridge would serve as the only way onto his mountain. This bridge would be his first defense from creatures. This bridge would be the entrance to his castle. The part of the mountain directly behind the bridge was a flat wall of stone three blocks high and four blocks wide. This was perfect! This piece of the wall would serve as his castle doors. Well, he wished he could make giant castle doors, but eventually iron ones would have to suffice.

  Spud broke down the inner two columns a few blocks at a time. He swung and smashed his wooden pickaxe into the stone blocks until it broke. Spud didn't realize it was close to breaking until it disappeared and he was punching stone! Punching it didn't hurt as bad as real life, but it still didn't feel good. He pulled one of the stone pickaxes out of his inventory (or magical pocket-thing) and continued working. It wasn't until his first stone pickaxe was about to break that he considered just how wide the mountain was. This whole time Spud was digging in a straight line and still hadn't got to the other side. He could keep digging this line but nothing exciting was happening.

  "Every great castle needs a grand hallway," he thought. Spud was going to build rooms off of this hallway. All kinds of rooms. Bedrooms, play rooms, an armory, a library, an indoor chicken room, maybe open up the ceiling and make a farm room, he didn't know what exactly they would be for, but he was making rooms. The upstairs would be one giant bedroom for King Spud. And below he was going to build a dungeon for all of his enemies. Whoever told him he was a bad teammate would be sent to the dungeon. Whoever told him to clean his room would be sent to the dungeon. Anyone that he was upset with would be sent to the dungeon. A dungeon! But not just any dungeon. The Dungeon.

  His eyes grew so wide you'd think he had seen a ghost. But the good kind of ghost that would be awesome to meet and not the scary kind. If he could drool in this Minecraft world, he probably would be right now. This idea of a big, open dungeon excited Spud more than anything yet. This is what he would need to do right away! Spud furiously dug downward, leaving whole blocks of stone as a sort of staircase. He would perfect it later; he had no time to make it pretty now. He had a dungeon to build!

  This dungeon was going to be great! Pools of lava! Pressure traps that shoot arrows! A minecart that drives creatures into explosive TNT! And worst of all, a pit that falls straight to the bottom of the world!

  Down and down he dug. He didn't bother placing torches along the walls as he went. He knew exactly which blocks to break since he could feel them below his feet. The pathway became so completely dark and black that Spud couldn't tell if his eyes were open or shut. This scared him a bit but his excitement prevailed and he dug further still.

  Suddenly the pickaxe in Spud's hand shattered, making a loud CHAINGK! sound. This startled him so much that if Minecraft people needed to pee, he would have had an accident. Since that was the only other pickaxe he made, Spud figured it would be time to turn around.

  But wait, there was another noise.

  Euuungh...

  The walls weren't talking. This could only mean one thing: there was a creature was nearby. If a creature was nearby, that means it would have to be in an opening. If there was an opening, then there was a cave. And if there was a cave, there would be iron! And silver! And gold! And probably lava! But if there was one creature, then there might be two creatures. Or three. Or four.

  Should Spud risk opening the wall? He was down to one heart still and had no armor - and no real weapon other than a flimsy wooden sword. The anticipation was killing him! This was the break he wanted for his dungeon (or so he hoped)!

  He decided.

  "If I am going to open this wall, I need to do it very carefully," he type-talked to himself. "First I will place a torch above the stone so that I can see. Next, I will get as far back as I can from the wall so that if this zombie (or whatever creature it is) is next to it, it won't hit me right away. Then, I will use my sword to break the stone. That way if it attacks me, I can swing back right away. If it gets too close, I going to run."

  Spud read his text two and three times over to make sure his plan sounded okay. Sometimes writing stuff out and reviewing it helps correct mistakes. The plan sounded okay. Spud took a deep breath, placed a torch above his target area and started attacking the stone block with his sword. Attacking stone with a wooden sword i
sn't ideal because it breaks the weapon more quickly, but this was a precaution he needed to take. First to go would be the bottom of the two blocks needed to walk through. By doing it this way he could see if any feet were on the other side.

  The stone block crumbled and flew into his back pocket inventory. Another euuungh came from the other side. Spud couldn't see any feet. Maybe this creature was around the corner. If it was, this would give Spud enough time to see what was in this mysterious cavern. He hacked away at the top block. It began crumbling and with every swing of his sword, Spud panted more and more with a mixture of excitement and worriment.