Whilst exploring the new Minecraft update, I came across a wonderful dark oak forest complete with a stunning snow-topped mountain backdrop. So enamoured with the location, I saved the seed and coordinates and remade it in a Hardcore mode for Hive's pleasure.
Pleasure? The pleasure of me inevitably dying by some silly mishap in the near future. 😅
We'll see!
I'm hoping beyond hope that I don't do something silly like I did last time -- fall down a hole and go splat -- and will instead live a long and prosperous Minecraft Life in which, whenever it is I die, I will have the greatest score imaginable!
Unlikely.
According to Google:
Streamer Philza holds the world record for the longest run in Minecraft hardcore, but that run came to a fiery but disappointing end last week, five years after it began. Philza's death came down to bad luck and bit of panic.
There's no way I could last five years, haha.
Anyway. It's time to begin!
The coordinates I had saved were just a short stroll from this seed's spawn point.
By the time I got to the location, I had found some watermelon for a quick feed if necessary, had killed one lonely chicken, and had quickly made some wooden tools.
When I first found this location while I was on exploration mode, I didn't really have a look at the ground. I just saw luscious forest, the giant mushrooms that I like to see around my base, and a pretty, mountainous backdrop.
Turns out this terrain is treacherous. Full of sudden holes, long drops, and ragged land.
But, I will make it work! This is all part of the challenge.
Before the first night could fall, I quickly dug myself into a small, safe hole and set up my crafting table and furnaces.
For some reason I am feeling a bit nostalgic in this playthrough.
Remembering the first time I ever played Minecraft. I was such a newbie. I had no idea how to make anything, I couldn't even make a simple torch. I tried activating a stick in lava to no avail. I tried patting a pig and was horrified when I punched it instead. When I got the hang of things a little, I would dig out HUUUUUUUUUGE mining systems with stone tools because I didn't want to waste my iron. I only upgraded to iron tools very rarely when I wanted gold or diamonds. And of course I didn't use the diamonds!! They were special.
I can't even imagine doing that now. 😅 Upgrade tools ASAP!!
Whilst I was digging down, down, down, in my new mine, I came across my first new discovery! Clay.
Of course clay has been in the game for years, but this is the first time I've seen it in the ground and not under a body of water. Of course I dig it all up! Need to make bricks for the future and I'm thankful I don't have to swim to do it.
(Turns out clay is a feature in the new Lush Caves biome and I soon had a LOTTTTTT of clay!)
Whilst mining, I also stumbled into what looked like a small part of one of those luscious, greenery-filled caves.
Not feeling confident enough to explore it just yet, I passed it by. 😅 Like a wimp!
Honestly, I'm just not willing to explore anything until I'm at least iron-armoured with an iron sword. And a shield. This is hardcore mode! I'm not takin' chances!
Unfortunately the game had other ideas and I soon ended up in yet another of the new cave biomes.
This one looks easy enough to just hop down into and make a part of my mine, so I carefully take the risk. I'm not going to be exploring it. Not yet. But I need to pass through it to continue my mine.
I follow the tunnel of greenery and stumble into a massive cave system.
Nope. Nope. No, thank you. I'm not interested yet!
I quickly dug up the measly 3 deposits of iron that were on the shelf I was standing upon and retreated back into my man-made tunnel. And decided that I will branch off in a different direction, leaving a door to this area for later exploring.
Finally, after much mining, mining, mining, I found my first diamonds!
Ironically I've barely found any iron at all. I keep finding enough to make one iron pickaxe which I take with me alongside three stone pickaxes. And when I found these diamonds, I had actually found the most iron I had found too.
I at last had enough resources for a whole lot of iron stuff!
The axis I found the diamonds was where I was actually starting my big long tunnel to begin my branch-mine, so that was fortuitous! May there be more diamonds hidden behind these walls and may these not be the only ones for hours and hours. 😅
I'm not sure, however, if around y-11 is still the best place to find diamonds. Sure, I found some there, but from what I saw world generation now goes down to a depth of -64 before getting to bedrock, so I'm wondering if there'll be more chances for diamonds further down there now, rather than at a depth of 11.
I will have to investigate as I gear up!
Now my person was all decked out and ready to actually emerge into the outside world -- and any caves that popped up before her. But it was soon realised that she only had 12 slices of watermelon remaining and nothing else to call food. It was time to begin some food preparations!
And in order to do that, it was time to do some deforesting and a small amount of terraforming.
Unfortunately it was night time and I didn't yet have a bed to speed up time.
So I stood there and waited, and waited, and waited.
And when the sun finally arose, I decided that I would call it a day in real life and take the opportunity to leave this fresh Minecraft day ready for the morrow.
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 
