"What's going on? Why is it getting dark so fast?"
Still chopping wood and lost in her imagination about the house she was about to build, Hannah hadn't noticed the sky in the game turning from day to dusk.
"Oh no, I haven't even built the house yet! And I still haven't found any sheep!"
Looking at the sky, Hannah froze.
She had only chopped about sixty pieces of wood.
How did ten minutes pass so quickly?
Time in the game was like Don't Starve, split into day and night.
One full day lasted twenty minutes—ten minutes of day, seven minutes of night, and three minutes of sunset.
But she didn't really like this spot for building.
Sure, she could tear it down later, but that would be a hassle.
Still, if she didn't build anything, who knew what might happen once night fell?
While Hannah hesitated, the game world was already getting darker.
Unlike in Don't Starve, where the darkness shrinks your vision and can even kill you outright, Minecraft wasn't set up like that.
Instead, white skeletons with bows and little green zombies would appear.
And even though Minecraft was a pixel game, with its first-person and over-the-shoulder views, the mix of night, the sound of zombies and skeletons, and the dark atmosphere was enough to scare anyone.
"So what do I do now!? What do I do! What do I do!" Hannah shouted as she ran from the monsters chasing her.
The more she ran, the more monsters showed up behind her.
It was like she had turned into a train engine pulling a long line of carts—except it was a horde of monsters.
Among them was a white skeleton with a bow, constantly shooting arrows.
She had made a wooden sword earlier, but after playing Don't Starve, Hannah felt she wasn't strong enough to fight these monsters, especially with so many of them.
And as she kept running, she ran into even more monsters along the way.
"Got it!"
Hannah suddenly looked at the ground under her feet and had an idea.
She pulled out a hoe from her toolbar and dug straight down.
Three blocks deep was enough to drop herself inside. Then she quickly placed a dirt block above her to seal the hole.
The screen went completely dark, and only the growls and hisses of monsters came through her headphones.
"Now I'm safe."
Hearing the monsters but not seeing them, Hannah couldn't help but smile.
Now she just had to wait until morning, when the monsters would be gone.
She reached into her pocket, ready to take out her phone and scroll through some short videos.
At that moment, the sound of a key turning came from the living room, followed by footsteps. Hannah instinctively turned her head and saw Zack walking in with a plastic bag. "Huh? Didn't you say it would take more than an hour?"
"Got lucky on the way—every light was green," Zack said with a grin, shaking the bag in his hand. "I bought roast duck rice for you. Eat it while it's hot, or once it cools, the duck will taste gamey."
"Got it." Hannah took the food from him.
"Wait, did your computer break?" Zack suddenly asked, noticing the monitor was completely black.
"What do you mean broke? I'm playing Minecraft!" Hannah said as she opened the bag.
"Then it bugged out? Why is it just a black screen?" Zack looked confused.
The screen was pitch black, and she was saying she was playing?
"It's night outside in the game. I was being chased by monsters, so I'm hiding underground for now," Hannah explained.
"Isn't this game about building houses? How come you're being chased by monsters?" Zack asked, curious.
"There are different modes. I'm playing survival mode—it's kind of like Don't Starve," Hannah said.
"Ah, I see!" Zack nodded in understanding.
As they talked, Hannah switched the game sound to the speakers.
The monster noises seemed to have disappeared.
Still, to be safe, Hannah dug forward in the dark tunnel for a while.
"Why not just break through the top and go out? What are you even doing in there?" Zack asked, puzzled, watching Hannah shovel food into her mouth with one hand while digging on the dark screen with the other.
"You've never played this, you don't get it! What if the monsters are still waiting up there? Going around a bit is safer," Hannah explained.
After digging about twenty blocks and collecting twenty dirt in her toolbar, Hannah finally dug her way up.
By then, it was daytime.
"Not bad, this looks pretty good," Zack commented, watching the screen.
"Alright, watch closely. First I'll build a house so I have a place to live, then I'll find sheep to get wool for a bed," Hannah said confidently, looking at the pile of wood and dirt she had gathered.
She had been practicing for this in her head for a while already.
She had even pulled out some old toy blocks at home to train in real life.
Now it was time to put her skills to the test.
Even though she only had dirt and wood, it was enough.
Wood could be turned into planks and doors at the crafting table.
Sure, it was far from the "pink dream mansion" she imagined, since she lacked the right materials.
But building a simple wooden cottage in a country style shouldn't be a problem.
"Nice spot, mountains and water—perfect." Hannah chose a spot by a lake.
She crafted a workbench and then made doors and planks.
Then she began her project.
Zack rested his chin on his hand, watching from the side.
First was the foundation—she dug out all the sand on the ground and replaced it with wood to mark the area of the house.
Since she didn't have much wood, the house couldn't be too big. One bedroom and one living room would do.
Next, she started building the walls. In the middle, Hannah left a gap for the door. She didn't know how to make stairs, so she just put down two wooden blocks as a doorstep.
While eating roast duck rice, savoring the rich flavor of the duck and the aroma of the rice, Hannah felt like inspiration suddenly struck her. In her mind, the image of the house became crystal clear.
Since survival mode doesn't allow flying like creative mode does, Hannah had to stack blocks under her feet to climb higher and close off the top of the tall walls.
"Hmm, I'll leave a few holes here. I think I saw in the recipe list that you can make glass. Later I can put glass in, so when I'm lying in bed at night, I can look at the stars." Hannah muttered to herself while working on her "great construction project."
"The crafting table can go in this corner, and later I'll add some decorations to make my house look pretty."
After placing the last wooden block, Hannah finally felt the job was complete.
By then, the sky in the game had already shifted from day to dusk.
"I don't know if I should say this or not, but Master Builder, your house looks like it belongs in a prison."
Zack couldn't hold back as he looked at the house.
The wooden house was just a big cube. The crafting table in the corner looked like a toilet.
There wasn't even a bed inside.
And the spot meant for the door had two wooden blocks acting as steps, making it look like a prison visitation window.
"Seems a little different from what I imagined…" Hannah walked out of the house, fell silent, and stared at the thing in front of her.
In her head, her wooden house should have been simple yet elegant, with details that showed artistic taste.
But what stood before her looked like a giant chimney, with the "door" resembling a prison peephole.
Inside the house, there was nothing except a crafting table.
Even prisons at least have a bed!
Just then, the game world turned dark, and it started to rain.
Raindrops fell through the holes in the roof.
Instinctively, Hannah tilted the camera up and quickly patched the hole with the few wooden blocks she still had.
It worked—the rain stopped coming in—but now the only light in the house came from the so-called "prison window."
The rest of the room was pitch black.
"Change your name. It's too embarrassing."
Looking at Hannah's in-game name "Master Builder," Zack suggested.
(End of The Chapter)
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