Arknights: I'm Pretty Strong With Minecraft — Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The Command Block and the Sky Fortress

Ivan stood in the vast, untamed wilderness of Terra. Rolling hills and sparse, dry vegetation stretched out as far as the eye could see beneath the overcast sky. He planted his hands on his hips, nodding with deep satisfaction.

“Hmm, this spot is perfect. Open terrain, clear sightlines. Exactly the kind of real estate you need for a massive project.”

He closed his eyes. The desolate wind of Terra faded, replaced by the absolute stillness of his inner sanctuary—the Minecraft conscious space. Endless rows of storage chests stretched into the horizon, carefully categorized and overflowing with the yields of his automated mob grinders and massive crop farms.

“Back again,” a deep, echoing voice rumbled from behind him. “Looks like you’re gearing up for a war.”

Herobrine leaned lazily against a double chest, his glowing white eyes piercing through the void. He had appeared without a single sound.

Ivan continued sorting through his inventory stacks without turning around. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Not really,” Herobrine replied, crossing his arms. “I just hang around here and sleep all day. I’ve lost the taste for fighting anyway.”

Heavy, blocky footsteps approached as Steve walked over, his iconic square head and pixelated blue shirt looking oddly comforting in the vast conscious space.

“He’s right, there’s no real need for us to fight anymore,” Steve noted, glancing at the rapidly emptying storage arrays. “But you… you’re completely cleaning out the material reserves this time.”

“Yeah,” Ivan said, wiping a bead of non-existent sweat from his forehead. “The thing I’m building out there is a bit on the large side.”

Herobrine suddenly remembered something. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a heavy, cubic object wrapped tightly in a strange, coarse cloth.

“Take this. Notch asked me to pass it along to you. He said it originally belonged to you anyway. It’s wrapped up so tight I didn’t even bother checking what’s inside.”

Ivan took the heavy cube, feeling a strange hum vibrating through the cloth. “Alright, thanks. You can head back to sleep now.”

Herobrine waved a hand dismissively. “Once you’re done with your little war, I’ll hand over the Serpent Blade too. It’s just gathering dust in my inventory.”

“Really?” Ivan’s eyes lit up. He immediately spun around and offered an exaggerated, sweeping bow. “Thank you, Brother Herobrine! Please accept my deepest respects!”

Herobrine rolled his glowing white eyes. “Just remember to come back here and spar with me when you’re done.”

“Against a clone?” Ivan asked cautiously.

“The main body.”

Ivan’s expression instantly fell flat. “You know, on second thought, I think my Fox Moon Blade and the Blade of the God of War are still perfectly fine…”

“Less talking,” Herobrine interrupted impatiently. “With your current strength, you think you can skip training? Get your ass back in here the second you’re done fighting!”

Before Ivan could formulate another excuse, a heavy boot planted itself squarely on his backside.

He was violently kicked out of the conscious space. At the exact same moment, a colossal mountain of building materials clattered and crashed onto the dry dirt of the real world, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

“Sigh,” Ivan groaned, rubbing his backside as he picked himself up off the ground. “It’s always the same exit method. Zero creativity. Whatever.”

He patted the dirt off his clothes and looked up at the towering mountain of iron, redstone, and stone bricks.

“Alright, time to get this sky base off the ground.”

Just as he reached for his tools, he remembered the heavy package Herobrine had shoved into his hands.

“Wait, let’s see what Notch actually sent me first. Did I leave anything behind? Don’t think so.”

Ivan carefully unwrapped the coarse cloth, pulling the fabric away to reveal a pristine, white Command Block. Its surface pulsed with faint, colorful lines of code.

“Huh?” Ivan blinked in genuine surprise. “A Command Block? But why did Notch say this was mine?”

Curiosity getting the better of him, Ivan tapped the surface, pulling up the block’s holographic interface.

“Let’s test the waters. [/weather rain]”

Ivan looked up at the sky, humming a cheerful tune. “Come on, let the heavy rain fall…”

He pressed the confirm button. The interface blinked, but the sky remained stubbornly dry and overcast.

“Broken?” Ivan scratched his head. “Or maybe the authority requirement is too high for world-altering stuff. Let’s try something smaller. [/give Ivan golden_apple 64]”

He pressed confirm.

Instantly, a crushing wave of exhaustion slammed into him. His knees buckled, and he collapsed against a nearby chest, gasping for air as if he had just sprinted across the entirety of Lungmen.

At the same time, the familiar weight of a full stack of sixty-four golden apples materialized perfectly inside his inventory.

“Damn… I feel like my soul just got sucked out through a straw.”

Ivan leaned heavily against the wood, waiting for his racing heart to slow down. After about a minute, the intense fatigue began to recede, his overpowered stamina regeneration kicking in.

“No way. A single stack of golden apples has that much recoil? Good thing my recovery rate is absurd.”

He stared at the white Command Block with newfound respect. “It looks like I need to increase my own physical and mental limits before I can spam the big commands. I’ll just keep this tucked away for emergencies.”

Stowing the block, Ivan turned his attention back to the mountain of building materials. He stroked his chin, doing some quick mental math.

“Building a sky fortress by myself is going to take weeks. I need a construction crew. Time to bring in the heavy lifters.”

Moving with practiced efficiency, Ivan rapidly stacked solid blocks of iron into several T-shaped frames across the clearing. He pulled out a stack of carved pumpkins, leaping up to place one squarely on the top center of each iron cross.

As the final pumpkin clicked into place, a burst of white particles erupted. The inanimate iron warped and expanded, transforming into massive, broad-shouldered Iron Golems. They slowly stood up, their red eyes glowing as they emitted low, metallic grinding sounds.

“Alright big guys, time to earn your keep. Start moving the heavy plating over to the center.”

Ivan directed the Iron Golems to haul the heaviest materials while he pulled up a holographic blueprint from his terminal, acting as the site foreman. The golems executed his orders flawlessly, their massive bodies shuttling back and forth across the dirt with terrifying efficiency, easily carrying loads that would crush a normal Terran vehicle.

Watching the skeletal frame of the base begin to lock together, Ivan’s eyes sparkled with pure gamer excitement.

“Oh yeah. This is going to be the ultimate toy.”

He tapped his earpiece, dialing out. A few seconds later, the line connected.

“Ch’en, I’ve sent you the coordinates. You on your way?”

Ch’en’s crisp, no-nonsense voice crackled through the comms. “Received. I’m heading there now.”

Hanging up, Ivan turned back to the colossal structure taking shape above him, his brow furrowing in concentration. He paced around one of the massive thruster engines, his fingers flying across the virtual projection of the blueprints.

“Hiss… this redstone conveyor belt alignment is completely off.”

He muttered to himself, zooming in on the schematic. “And this engine’s power output curve… No, if I run it like this, the whole thing is going to explode mid-air.”

He sprinted to the base of the main hull, craning his neck to inspect the steel connection points.

“The stress tolerance here is way too low! If I punch the throttle, the chassis will rip itself apart!”

Ivan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and shouted at his towering assistants.

“Hey! Bring that spare engine over here! Yeah, the one glowing blue!”

The Iron Golems rumbled in acknowledgment, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground as they hoisted the massive engine block. Despite their bulky appearance, they moved the multi-ton component with shocking speed and precision.

“Grab the triple-barreled cannon and the physical bearing assemblies too! Bring it all to the main deck!” Ivan barked, rapidly modifying the structural supports on his terminal. “Watch the weight distribution! Don’t let the left support strut collapse!”

For the next few hours, the wilderness was filled with the deafening sounds of metal slamming into metal, the roar of test-fired thrusters, and Ivan’s frantic shouting.

Just as he was securing the final armor plates, the distinct, high-pitched whine of a Lungmen Guard Department motorcycle echoed across the plains.

Ch’en tore over the crest of a hill, her bike kicking up a trail of dust. She hit the brakes, executing a flawless, sliding drift that brought her to a halt right at the edge of the coordinates.

She killed the engine and pulled off her helmet, ready to ask Ivan what the emergency was.

Then she looked up.

She froze completely.

“Ah…?”

Ch’en’s jaw dropped. Her eyes widened to the point of hurting, and her grip went completely slack, nearly dropping her expensive L.G.D. helmet into the dirt.

Looming over the wilderness was a colossal, silver-gray sky fortress. Dozens of massive thrusters were built into the armored hull, while heavy turrets and missile silos bristled along the broadsides. Giant metal golems were casually walking along the exterior, welding the final components into place amidst a display of grinding gears and humming energy cores.

Ch’en aggressively rubbed her eyes. She pinched her arm hard enough to leave a mark, desperately trying to prove this was an Originium-induced hallucination.

“No…” Her voice trembled, completely stripped of its usual strict authority. “What… what is this? Explain this to me right now.”

She pointed a shaking finger at the metallic behemoth that was currently blocking out the sun.

“How long has it been? Two hours? Three hours? And you built… this?!”

Ivan popped his head over the railing of the main deck. He wiped a streak of black grease from his cheek and flashed a blindingly smug smile.

“How is it? Not bad, right? I call it… well, actually, I haven’t settled on a name yet.”

Ch’en opened her mouth to yell at him, but the sheer absurdity of the situation drained the fight right out of her. She weakly pressed a hand against her forehead.

“Ivan… do you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the phrase ‘not bad’?”

She took a few slow, hesitant steps forward, her neck craning back to take in the sheer scale of the flying warship.

“This is… this is something out of a ridiculous sci-fi movie. How in the world did you actually build this?”

Ivan shrugged, casually tossing a wrench to a passing Iron Golem.

“It’s just basic engineering principles, Ch’en. That, and a little bit of creative liberty.” He leaned over the railing and winked at her. “Want a VIP tour? The internal redstone circuitry is my proudest work yet.”

Ch’en took a long, deep breath, trying to force her racing heart to calm down. She knew Ivan was capable of bending reality, of pulling miracles out of thin air. But this? This completely shattered her understanding of logistics, physics, and common sense.

“Ivan, you are truly, undeniably outrageous,” Ch’en muttered, staring up at the floating guns. “I can’t even begin to imagine the look on Amiya’s face when you park this thing over Rhodes Island.”