After choosing Single Player, the first thing that popped up for Hannah was character selection.
The default male was named Steve, and the default female was Alex.
But there was also a face editor.
Hannah checked it out. Even though the game used pixels and the heads were square,
the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and nose were all clearly defined.
They didn't just use the original Steve and Alex skins.
Hannah created her own character, then named it "Master Builder" before entering the game.
From what she'd seen in the trailers, Minecraft seemed to have a strong building element.
She didn't yet know how to play, but she figured the name should come first.
After all, having a good name was already half the success.
She had even thought of a name for Zack: "Foreman."
Her Master Builder could design houses, while Zack the Foreman could do the construction.
Thinking this, once she entered the game, a pop-up asked her to choose a mode.
The options were Creative Mode and Survival Mode.
After reading that Creative Mode was basically invincible, Hannah quickly made her choice: "Better start with Survival Mode. This one sounds more challenging."
"First time entering Survival Mode detected. Would you like to learn some basic knowledge?"
After confirming her choice, the world seed was generated, and a tutorial pop-up appeared.
This triggered for every new account, explaining the basics of Minecraft—how to play Survival Mode and some basic controls.
For example, how to collect materials and craft tools.
Even though Minecraft was one of the freest sandbox games out there,
freedom didn't mean skipping tutorials. It didn't need to be long, but at least the basic ideas and controls had to be introduced.
Hannah thought for a second and chose "Yes."
Then the real game began. Following the system's guide, Hannah tried out some simple controls.
Move forward, backward, left, right. Jump. Run.
Very simple, nothing special.
The game's UI wasn't very complicated.
It was mainly at the bottom of the screen, with the item bar at the very bottom.
Right now, it was completely empty.
Above it on the left was a red heart, showing the player's health.
On the right was a big drumstick, showing the player's hunger.
There was also something like an experience bar, but since the game didn't seem to have leveling or stat upgrades, Hannah couldn't really figure out what it was for.
But if she couldn't figure it out, there was no need to overthink—just play.
"Next is chopping trees for wood. No matter what the game is, the saying 'if you want to get rich, chop trees first' always holds true."
Hannah sighed with a laugh and followed the hint to chop down a couple of trees.
Looking around, she was standing on a hill made up of countless blocks.
There were trees both on the hill and across the plains, and in the distance she could see the ocean.
Without hesitating, Hannah ran toward the trees.
She stood in front of one, clicked the left mouse button, and saw her little pixel character's right hand swing at the tree at a crazy speed.
The right hand swung nonstop, and soon the block being hit showed cracks, then suddenly broke apart into small blocks scattered on the ground.
She moved her character over them, and the little blocks went into her backpack.
At the same time, an icon of a log appeared automatically in the item bar.
Hannah clicked the log in the item bar, then right-clicked on the ground, and a perfect cube of wood appeared in front of her.
"So that's how building works in this game!"
"These little cubes are the building units."
Looking at the block of wood, Hannah instantly understood the basic building rules in Minecraft.
"Next, I need to turn logs into planks, then make a crafting table."
"Then my building journey can begin. Anyone can build in creative mode. Let me show them I can build Lothric Castle in survival mode!"
She turned her logs into four planks, made a crafting table, and set it down, already full of dreams for the future.
"Okay, now I can make more things. Sticks, then combine them with planks, and I can make more tools."
Hannah looked at the system's hints, suddenly realizing.
This wasn't strange to her.
Just like in Don't Starve, many things had to be crafted.
For example, chopping trees required an axe. In Minecraft, though you could chop trees and dig dirt with bare hands, it only worked for logs, dirt, and gravel.
As for stone or coal, you could try with bare hands, but it would take way too long.
Using the crafting table, she made a wooden axe and pickaxe.
Right after that, another pop-up appeared.
"Huh? That's the end of the tutorial? The game's really that simple?"
Looking at the message, Hannah was surprised to see that the tutorial was already over.
Or maybe not completely over—it still gave her hints about what to do next.
There were also some text tips.
This was actually done on purpose by Lucas.
He wanted players to understand how to play Minecraft, and also that items had to be crafted.
That much was enough.
The game also included a built-in crafting guide.
Of course, it didn't show everything from the start.
It only listed the basic recipes needed early on.
Things like torches, beds, and doors.
More advanced recipes had to be discovered step by step during the game.
"At night, monsters will appear, so you'll need a house and a bed. If you sleep in the bed, you can skip the night right away. Without one, you'll just have to wait it out."
"Health and hunger, just like in Don't Starve, are restored by eating food."
With the tutorial hints, Hannah quickly understood one of Minecraft's core rules.
"Better chop more wood and build a house before night falls."
She quickly made up her mind.
As for the bed, she saw it required wool and planks.
Wool naturally has to come from sheep.
But after looking around, she didn't see a single sheep, only trees everywhere.
She did spot some pigs though, so she swung her blade and killed a few pink piglets, getting some meat so at least she wouldn't go hungry.
Maybe it was just because she hadn't walked very far yet.
But for Hannah, the most important thing right now was chopping trees and building a house.
A city like Lothric was way too big a goal. Better to start with a cozy little home.
After all, big dreams always start with small steps.
Full of excitement, Hannah picked up her axe and began chopping trees.
Once she gathered one or two hundred pieces of wood, she could look for a nice spot to build her warm little nest.
Watching the wood count rising in her inventory and the durability of her axe slowly going down, a smile crept onto Hannah's face.
She didn't even think about why she wasn't digging up some stone first to craft a stone axe and work faster.
Because right now, only one thing filled her mind: what kind of house she was going to build.
Should it be simple European style, classical European, traditional Chinese, or maybe postmodern design?
(End of The Chapter)
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