Minecraft Flare Server Day 2.
On Day 1, all of the Flare Crew, except Mollru, participated and embarked on personal play, each building their own bases and setting their own goals.
Rita has come out for a neighborhood inspection under the pretense of checking the current progress.
“Ria, you built a palace.”
“Hmph, I’m a princess after all.”
“Ah, yes. That makes sense.”
Even within Minecraft, the characters are distinct with their characteristic appearances. Ria, the princess-themed VTuber, seems to have built the palace where I will live.
Rita is moving among the people, supervising and managing the overall progress. In her free time, she enjoys the game but is currently interviewing the crew members to see how they’re doing.
“Hanyang, you’re going to hunt the Ender Dragon?”
“Yep. It’s supposed to be the strongest, right? I’ve got my diamond set.”
“But that requires a raid.”
“Solo play is totally possible.”
Hanyang, known for her laid-back tone, doesn’t seem interested in building at all. Well, she never played these calm games anyway.
The Ender Dragon, often called the ultimate content in Minecraft, is what she’s set out to hunt.
“Where’s Jay?”
“—I’m here!”
“What? Where are you talking from?”
“Over here, over here!”
Hearing a voice from a distance, Rita looked up. A pale character was nodding from a tall structure above. Rita clicked her tongue at the oddly stacked building.
“It’s good to have personality, but… it’s not just about piling up high, you know?”
“It’s a tower, a tower.”
“It’s just bricks stacked in a line.”
“I’m going to stand in the sky.”
“Excuse me, Jay?”
“Uwahhahahaha.”
It seems everyone is enjoying the game in their own way. Rita wondered if she might be missing someone and suddenly thought of Mollru.
“Hey guys, where’s Mollru?”
[Mrl]
[Underground]
[??]
[Guess she’s digging.]
“Underground?”
Looking down at her feet, Rita noticed:
Mollru has found 5 diamonds.
Real-time system messages popping up in the chat confirmed the viewers were right; Mollru was indeed mining underground. Rita was curious about what Mollru was up to.
*
[Is this person a geologist? Why are they not coming out?]
[It’s a new kind of hikikomori.]
[Why are they just digging?]
[Maybe they’re after diamonds.]
[Nope, they already got a bunch earlier.]
[Get some sun, will ya?]
[Is my mom feeling like this?]
[Oops.]
[Sorry, Mom…]
[I haven’t seen light for a full 3 hours…]
Today came after yesterday’s break. Except for me, all crew members had participated on Day 1. I got a rough idea of what happened through the clips sent by viewers.
It was impressive to see the crew members I hadn’t met before roaming around in small groups. It’s not like it’s a competitive content, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling of falling behind.
Criticism bubbled up for not participating from the start, being a newcomer in a crew that’s already running a show. On the flip side, there were those saying I had enough clout to do as I please.
But I didn’t think that was right. Little things can spark divisions among us.
With the crew joining in, shouldn’t we all be putting in our best efforts?
Thump thump
[Did this person turn on macros?]
[Looks like an auto. Report it.]
[It is nice and chill though.]
[Too chill, I’m falling asleep.]
[Could you at least talk while digging, please?]
So here’s the reason I’ve been mining for hours.
Honestly, this is my first time playing Minecraft. I’d seen others play it occasionally, but that was just a few minutes of short clips.
I had no idea how this game worked or what features it had at all.
I learned some basic operations and functions from Rita, but it took too long to grasp the finer details.
It seemed more fun to discover those things for myself.
Someone told me that if I just keep digging for ores, I’d eventually learn what I don’t know.
The ground knows the answers, or something like that.
“Hey, a diamond.”
I mined another diamond.
In this respect, there isn’t much to learn. It’s a simple truth: diamonds are good. Because they’re rare.
Much better than common iron or gold.
[Can we stop now?]
[How many diamonds do you even have?]
[Is this a diamond mining content?]
[That’s just how this game goes, lol.]
[You’re making progress, buddy.]
[These guys are whining, lol. If you watch Minecraft YouTubers, they dig holes and mine ores for 10 hours straight.]
[Is Mollru a Minecraft YouTuber?]
[For real, what we wanted to see was some interaction and building with others, and not just this.]
[Is this person a loner? Why do they seem so withdrawn?]
[They’re awkward for sure, but they’re not totally antisocial.]
[They just seem a bit off and are digging alone in silence.]
It was surprisingly addictive, mining for ores.
I was completely lost in it, not realizing how much time had passed.
But now, it was time to go up.
I felt like I had grasped the basic functions and got somewhat familiar with the game, and viewers were starting to express some mental issues one by one.
I began retracing my steps back, and I spotted a character lingering at the entrance where I had started digging.
“Hello, Rita.”
“Oh, Mollru. Have you really been digging for hours? It must have been pretty boring.”
“It was okay. Kinda felt like picking the heads off dried anchovies?”
Just like monks tapping their wooden blocks and chanting sutras, my mom used to pick the heads off dried anchovies while practicing her craft.
I’ve helped her out a few times, and while it felt frustrating at first, I gradually found a sense of calm and learned the truths of life, so to speak.
Through mindless ore mining, I suddenly felt that feeling again after such a long time.
“If that was fun, you’ll likely enjoy other things too.”
“Really?”
“Building is nice, or maybe farming…”
What moved my heart more than building was farming.
Having grown up in the countryside, I loved that unique rural atmosphere.
After moving to the desolate city as an adult, I had often thought that I wanted to retire and become a farmer someday.
Tilling fields and growing crops, maybe even raising an animal in a spacious yard.
Like the horse that Rita is riding.
“Are there horses?”
“Yeah, you’ll see a couple wandering around.”
“Oh my…”
I could farm and ride horses?
What a game this is!
I fondly pet the horse Rita was riding.
Neigh!
I intended to pet it, but it seems I accidentally swung my fist instead.
My character is more violent than expected.
[Oh no.]
[Animal abuse!]
[Mollru doesn’t like horses, noted…]
“Hey, don’t hit it! You scared it away.”
“I just meant to pet it. I’m sorry.”
Leaving Rita, I checked with the viewers about what materials I needed for farming.
*
“Alright everyone, I’m heading out early today. Take your time and enjoy yourselves.”
Due to personal reasons, Rita has decided to end the broadcast earlier than usual.
Leaving the rest of the group on the server.
In such cases, one of the fun aspects is seeing how much the situation has changed when you log back in the next day.
Just like the sun never sets on the British Empire, even though Rita logs out, the people still continue to play the game.
What kind of changes might happen tomorrow?
“I’ll come back tomorrow. See ya.”
[Night.]
[Bye bye!]
With hopes for tomorrow, Rita ended the broadcast.
The next day, Rita logged back into the Flare Server.
“Let’s see how everyone is doing.”
First, she visited Ria’s palace.
There was no one there.
Next, she checked out Jay’s tower.
Again, no one was there.
Finally, at Mollru’s Underworld Cave.
There was no sign of anyone at all.
“Where is everyone?”
Rita tilted her head.
She had heard from the viewers that everyone was online, so not seeing anyone felt strange.
What she came across was an unexpected scene.
“Hey, hey. If you’ve wasted it, get out.”
“Wait, isn’t this staged? How can this be real? Did I just get pranked?”
“Thanks for the meal~ burp”
It was the crew members, trapped in a gambling frenzy.
