Mei dug around in her backpack and
unloaded some more sticks, the fire stone,
and some foliage. She wasn’t sure what the
exact materials were for creating fire in this
world—in every game it was a different
85
formula. She tried leaves and
fire stone first. Then fire
stone and sticks. Then she tried
leaves, fire stone, and sticks. A
tiny spark appeared, then died out.
“TIIIMMMMBBBEERRRR!” Rip
cried out, and a cube-tree came
tumbling to the ground. A cascade
of wood blocks scattered near Mei.
“Hey—can I have one of those
blocks of wood?”
“Sure!” Rip tossed a cube in Mei’s
direction. It was surprisingly light! It
looked and felt like wood, but it was almost
as if the physics of this world didn’t obey the
normal rules. She bounced the block easily
between each hand.
Mei added the wood block to the foliage
and sticks. As an afterthought she pulled out
a few more stones she’d collected and added
them to the pile. She tried the fire stone
again. Sparks flew, and the pile of leaves,
86
wood, and stone shuddered slightly. Slowly,
the items began to shift and move until they
formed a neat little campfire, ringed in small
stones. And finally—as if by magic—flames
suddenly sprung to life and burned brightly.
“Nice one!” Rip cheered.
“Thanks.” Mei beamed back
at him.
This wasn’t so hard, Mei
thought, feeling more confident
now she knew the formula.
“Hey.” Rip tossed her a second axe he’d
crafted. “Wanna help me chop more wood?
We need to get this house up. Fast.”
It was twilight. The cube-sun was sinking
lower and lower down over the ocean in the
87
distance, and the sky had turned from
brilliant aqua to a deep blue.
Rip and Mei were exhausted. From piles
and piles of wood in their forest sanctuary
on the hill, they’d built themselves a modest
but sturdy house. It had four walls, a roof,
and two small windows—large enough to
allow light in, but not so big that anything
unwanted could climb through. There was an
opening at the front of the house to get in
and out. Mei had made wooden torches to
set into the walls of the house for light.
It was starting to get darker.
“What else do we need?” Rip asked.
Mei shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t think
we have time to add anything fancy. We’ve
got the basics, and that’s what’s important—”
THWACK!
An arrow hissed through the air and hit
the side of the house just inches from where
Mei was standing.
“Rip . . . it’s starting.”
“Hurry, get inside!”
Mei grabbed her backpack and ran with
Rip inside the house. Rip turned around and
reached for . . . nothing.
“We forgot to make A DOOR!” Rip cried.
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK!
Three more arrows came whizzing
through the doorway and into their little
sanctuary—which was no sanctuary at all if
they couldn’t keep the monsters out! Rip
began wildly unloading blocks of wood from
his backpack. A door. A door! Doors were
made from wood, weren’t they? What else
would he need?
THWACK!
89
Rip felt a sharp bolt of pain in his back.
“RIP!!!” Mei screamed in alarm, reaching for
him. But the arrow had vanished.
Rip grimaced, and the pain subsided. He
looked down—half a heart had disappeared
from his wristband. “I’m . . . OK. But we need to
hurry. I’m on, like, two and a half hearts now.”
A shadow passed over them both. Standing
in the doorway was a dark figure, silhouetted
against the light of the campfire outside. Mei
swallowed, afraid to move. In the low light it
appeared to be some kind of goblin, its skin
tinged green. It let out a low, inhuman growl.
They heard the creak of a bowstring. Rip was
fumbling with the wood blocks, trying to
arrange them on top of one another
to create a door, afraid to
turn around and face the
fearsome creature.
Mei stood up, suddenly
remembering her axe.
“Get OUT!” she yelled.
90
With every bit of strength she could muster,
she hurled the axe at the creature—her aim
sharp and true.
The axe hit its mark; the creature froze in
place for a moment, its image appearing to
shimmer slightly. All at once, it disintegrated
into a pile of colored pixel cubes on the
doorstep, which dissolved into nothing.
Mei stood, staring in disbelief, her chest
heaving, hands shaking with adrenaline.
Rip held a neatly crafted door in his hands,
and hurriedly shoved it into the doorway
where it settled with a click. He
turned to look at Mei. They stared at
each other in silence for a moment.
Rip managed a wry smile.
“Mei . . . that was amazing. You are amazing.”
But Mei’s face remained somber.
“Rip . . .” she said slowly, her hands still
shaking. “What do you think happens when
these hearts on our wristbands are all
gone?”
91
reinforcements
T
he goblin fight had been unexpectedly
tough. A few hours had passed and Rip
and Mei were both still a little shaken. Distant
howls and cries of monsters had filled the air
at times, but none had come bashing on the
wooden door of their tiny square house.
Rip was at the window, staring into the
night. He’d been on high alert since the attack.
“I’ve fought a LOT of goblins in games before.
But I’ve never had a fight like that,” he said,
still scanning the horizon for movement. He
then relaxed as the sky started to lighten.
“Not that I was scared or anything.” Rip turned
to Mei. “Just, you know . . . it was intense.”
“I know what you mean,” Mei said, looking
up from the floor where her backpack was
92
open and the inventory was spread out.
There were a handful of wood cubes, a few
stones, and some vines. They both knew it
wasn’t enough to build anything useful.
Rip moved from the window, satisfied
they were safe for now, and sat down in
front of Mei.
“I wonder how weird we look to my mom
right now. You know, in my room with all this
VR gear on,” he said. “I bet we look quite silly,
waving our arms about and jumping up and
down.”
&
nbsp; Mei thought for a moment and said, “Oh no!
What if she’s taking photos of us and posting
them online!” Rip raised his eyebrows and
Mei’s face dropped. “She wouldn’t, would she?”
“Of course not.” He smiled.
93
They both giggled and relaxed a little more.
Being connected to a completely different
world for so long was starting to feel
strange. They were both thinking about
DIG WORLD
less like a game and more
like real life. Neither of them was ready to
admit it out loud.
“Seriously though, I want to see this game
through,” Rip said. “I can’t be called a
NOOB,
Mei! Ever! We have to beat this game!“
“Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, Rip, but
we were already total
NOOBS last night. We
should’ve been more prepared,” Mei said. “I
think we can get through this if we just focus.
We need to come up with a plan.”
She started to pick up her materials and
slide them into her backpack. As each block
touched the pack, it
disappeared into it, like
magic.
“Agreed,” Rip said,
nodding. “We need
more materials. Stronger materials. And
better weapons.”
“Oh, we also need more space and a panic
room.”
“Good idea! Then we can retreat if things
get out of hand again,” Rip said.
“And we should stock up on some food,”
Mei noted, looking at her wristband. “We need
to replenish our health—I’ve lost half a heart.”
“Me too. I’m down to two.”
A column of light shone through the
window. Rip opened the door, and they
cautiously stepped out into the dawn. The
square sun rose over the horizon.
“Hope we’ll be safe until nightfall,” Rip said.
“We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get
digging!”
Rip and Mei grabbed
their backpacks and
headed into the
forest.
“I’ve made an iron
pickaxe!” Rip said,
holding up a shiny
pickaxe. He
immediately started
hammering away at a
nearby rock. Cubes
and cubes of different
colored rocks flew out.
It was much more
efficient than
collecting stone, and
the tougher grades of
rock might make for
stronger craftables.
“Excellent.” Mei
grinned.
They were deep in
the forest now. Huge,
blocky trees rose up
around them, and there were plenty of giant
rocks that looked like they’d been placed
there on purpose. Mei looked up and saw the
sun was just about above them. “Nearly
midday,” she yelled to Rip.
Mei had spent the morning harvesting
more wood, and between the two of them
they’d made excellent progress. They’d built a
crafting table first, which allowed them to
fuse more complex combinations of materials
together. Now they had plenty of reinforced
wooden planks, a stone door, enough torches
to see them through the night, and more.
Mei arranged some cubes of wood and
stone that Rip had fished out of the
rocks into the outline of an axe and
waited for the objects to fuse together.
“What’s missing?” she wondered. “Vines!”
Mei spotted some bushes nearby. She
went over and pulled and pulled until she
had a decent bunch of straight, cubeish
vines. When Mei added them to the axe
97
shape on the table, they fused together
instantly and made an axe with a dark-
brown wooden shaft and a sharp black top.
It looked even stronger than Rip’s! “This will
do nicely!”
She made another one for Rip and placed
them in her bag, along with the remaining
materials.
“OK, I think I have enough stone and iron
to reinforce the house,” Rip said, throwing his
own bag over his shoulder. “Let’s get back.”
The door was open.
“Did you leave the door open?” Mei asked Rip.
“No, did you?” he replied.
“Of course not! I would never leave the
door open.”
“Well neither would I!” Rip said. “Someone
has been inside. They might still be inside.
Let’s be careful.”
98
“Catch!” Mei said, as she pulled
out the new axes and threw
one to Rip. They approached
stealthily along the tree line,
trying not to be spotted.
“Your house is boring,” said
a voice behind them. “You
don’t even have a pool.” Rip
and Mei spun around, axes raised to the
ready.
“Angela?!” Rip shouted. What was she doing
here? She was covered in heavy leather
armor and had a bow and arrow drawn,
pointed right at them.
“A pool is a pointless addition to a survival
house,” Mei said, lowering her axe. Rip didn’t
lower his.
“Lower your weapon, Ripley. I’m in full
heavy armor, and I have iron-tipped
arrowheads. You won’t even get close.”
Angela snickered. “Where’s your armor?”
99
Rip looked embarrassed. He hadn’t even
thought to craft protective gear! All he could
think about was reinforcing the house.
“I don’t want armor,” he lied. “It would just
slow me down.”
Mei lowered Rip’s axe. “Angela, we’re not
your enemy; we’re trying to survive the
night. Just like you,” she said.
Angela let go of an arrow and it whizzed
past, inches away from Rip’s head. It hit their
house and knocked a few blocks out of the
wall, exposing the interior.
“Ugh!” Rip growled. “Leave
our house alone!”
“Ooooo,” Angela said
mockingly, “sharing a house are
we? Are you married now?”
“WE’RE NOT MARRIED!” Mei
yelled, a little too loudly.
“With a tiny house like that,
good luck. My place is massive.
See!” Angela pointed off into the distance.
100
Even from here, Rip and Mei could make
out a massive wooden castle-like structure.
“I’ve built an entire castle. I’ve even got a
moat,” she gloated.
“Did you make the whole thing out of just
wood?” Mei asked.
“Yep, isn’t it awesome?” Angela replied. “It’s
the biggest castle I’ve seen so far. And I can
see everything from the top.”
Rip looked at Angela. “Is it really ALL made
of wood? Haven’t you reinforced any—” Rip
stopped himself. Then he said casuall
y, “Wow.
That sounds like a great castle, Angela.”
“Yep, it’s pretty neat. Lots of big spaces to
kick back and sit these three days out,”
Angela said. “Well, this conversation is as
boring as your house. I have much better
things to do. Later, losers!” Angela swung
her bow over her shoulder and
disappeared back into the forest.
Rip turned to Mei. “That castle
isn’t going to hold. Wood is great
when you’re starting out, as a base. But big
creatures, or anything that explodes, are
going to tear a hole right through it.”
Mei nodded.
“OK. Let’s get to building,” she said. “I’ve
been thinking some more about the layout.
We need lots of rooms. A room for some
beds, a main living room for weapons and to
keep watch, and a treasure room for our
spare materials.”
“That sounds perfect,” Rip replied. “I’ll
reinforce the safety room with double stone
and make some stone doors as well. And we
should add a second layer to every other wall
in the house. That’ll be one more layer
enemies would have to bash through.”
Mei nodded. “Plus, if we get an explosive
breach, it’s less likely to be catastrophic.
Let’s do this!”
102
The sun was just slipping to the edge of the
horizon as Rip and Mei placed their last blocks.
Their four-room house was now a tough little
fortress. The living room had a stone door
and a variety of axes and spears at the ready.
“It just looks so boring,” Rip said.
“Rip, when it comes to house construction,
looks aren’t everything,” Mei said.
It was a good, functional, and practical
structure for a variety of situations, which
was all that mattered right now.
“I’ve got it!” Rip said. “I’ll be right back!”
“Rip! The sun is about to go down!” Mei yelled
after him as he ran off toward the beach.
Mei went inside and triple-checked the
walls and weapons. Everything was set. They
were secure.
“OK! Come outside!” Rip called out.
Mei stepped outside to find that Rip had
built a low wall around the front of their
Pixel Raiders_Dig World Page 5
