Chapter 6

Chapter 6 MORGAN MERCADO: ALONE IN THE NETHER! HE'S GOING TO NEED THAT ARMOR. AND A LOT OF LUCK! Morgan's solo adventure in the Nether started off well. He felt confident in his full set of netherite armor. And that's not all he'd taken from the golem's stash. He had a bow and arrows, cooked food, a shield to protect him from fireballs, and potions to provide a variety of benefits. In short, he felt prepared for whatever the Nether had to throw at him. His first task was to travel through the warped forest. It was full of Endermen, but that was okay. Morgan had taken a pumpkin from the golem's chests. He wore it now, which allowed him to pass among the Endermen untroubled.

If this whole challenge was a test, then so far, Morgan was on track for a perfect score. The forest ended at a steep cliff wall. Morgan climbed it by carving out a staircase. He used a diamond pickaxe, which made it easy. At the top of the cliff, Morgan gasped. He could see far off in the distance. The Nether was every bit as strange as he remembered. Great creatures floated in

the air; they didn't see him yet. A ceiling blocked any view of sky, sun, or stars. A vast ocean of lava stretched out before him, leading to a soul sand shore. And past that, hazy in the distance, was a structure. It was a bastion remnant. That had to be the "fortress" the golem had mentioned. That's where he'd find its treasure. He was sure of it. He spared a brief glance backward. The warped forest spread out behind him. His friends were down there, depending on him. He couldn't see them through the trees, but he knew that they were there. He wouldn't let them down. Morgan descended the cliff. The sea of lava was below him. It stretched out for a hundred

blocks or more. He would have to find some way to cross it. Unless… what if he went underneath? It was a risky choice. But all his choices were risky, and digging a tunnel would at least keep him from drawing the attention of the flying mobs. So he dug. He started by making a hole. When he was twenty blocks below ground level, he cut his way forward. Soon he was beneath the lava, traveling through an underground hallway of his own creation. He placed torches as he went, and he counted his steps. Morgan knew that even a diamond pickaxe would wear down eventually. He took a quick look at the tool's durability bar, and he saw that it wouldn't last much longer. He had hoped to dig all the way to the fortress, but that would be impossible. So after counting one hundred steps, he started digging upward at an angle.

He struck lava almost immediately! Clearly, one hundred steps had not been far enough. Morgan was still under the lava lake. And now the lava was surging forward, filling his tunnel. It reached for him like a hot, glowing hand, and as it touched him, he burned. Morgan quickly placed a pair of netherrack blocks. The blocks were a dam, holding the lava back. But Morgan was still on fire! He had thought something like this might happen. There were a lot of fire-related hazards in the Nether. He pulled a Potion of Fire Resistance from

his inventory, and he drank it quickly. It kept him relatively safe while he waited for the fire to go out. In this version of Minecraft, Morgan could feel when he took damage. The lava and flames had been uncomfortable, and the potion's effect was cool and soothing on his digital skin. "LET'S NOT DO THAT AGAIN," he said, and then he realized he was talking to himself. He missed his friends even more than he had thought he would. Morgan cut his tunnel sideways, going around the spot where lava had filled it. He didn't try to dig upward again until he'd counted another hundred steps. This time, he drank a Potion of Fire Resistance first, but there was no lava. Only sky—or whatever passed for sky in the Nether. Morgan hopped up aboveground. He knew he would need to identify what biome he was in quickly. Every biome in the Nether carried new threats. He was immediately struck by arrows. He felt them, even through his powerful armor. He turned to run, but he was so slow. The sand at his feet was like wet cement.