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Has anyone ever played a sandbox game?

Personally, I always loved games like those. Where the world was an open place, free to explore to your hearts contend, stories, adventures, and perhaps even romance. But Minecraft in particular was the one game that captured my heart.

I bet a big majority of you have probably played that game before, but I still think some explanations are in order.

In the world of Minecraft, every tree, every mountain, every living and breathing creature, are shaped by blocks. Tools and structures are then created by using blocks as well, giving them a distinctively blocky appearance.

The game offers several different modes for the players to enjoy. There is the Creative Mode, designed for limitless creations and imaginations. Survival Mode, designed for players to experience what it's like to live in the wilds and natural environment with nothing but their wits and skills. Let's not forget about Adventure mode either. Usually it involves player created maps which are programmed differently from normal gameplay, often with specific objectives or goals available.

In the world of Minecraft, the Player(s) are the absolute ruler of the world. They are the sovereigns who are capable of governing over everything that exists in the world. Players can create anything from their own hands. All that is needed was the imagination, inspiration, and dedication to complete one's masterpiece.

And currently, I am building a gigantic city in the sky.

Of course it's not just any kind of city. I am doing everything in Hard-core mode, on my own.

What's so special about building a city in Hard-core mode you say? Well, this mode is where the player can only live once in Survival mode while the difficulty scaling is set to the maximum. You would need to keep a very close look on your health, hunger, and resources to be able to survive under normal circumstances. To build a normal town in Hard-core mode would take a very huge amount of time and effort.

Gathering resources on your own, battling foes and mobs on your own, surviving the harsh conditions of nature on your own, and build a town while at it? That definitely does not sound easy now does it?

But really, I am a veteran gamer who has played search Minecraft for over eight years. This really is just a piece of cake for me.

Let's get back to the subject. You must be wondering why I am building a huge city in the sky in Hard-core mode, right? To be completely honest, I feel much happier working my brain and focusing my energy into creating things that I like in search Minecraft. More happy when compared to dealing with the problems of reality and social expectations, at least. Playing Minecraft helps me channel some of my negative energy productively so that they do not boil over at the worst possible timing, and makes my emotions much more stable.

And regarding my decision to undergo such a big project in Hard-core mode, we will have to look about several years backwards in time, the time when I sent my Ex out of my home.

Well, I can't really complain. My Ex was pining after someone much more handsome, wealthy, dedicated, and considerate than I am. In fact, we parted on a slightly happy note, with me giving her my blessings, and her wishing that I can find someone better than her in the future.

I am just a fat geek who is incredibly inconsiderate and poor in comparison. I have no qualms about it as long as their new boyfriend can give her the happiness she deserves. I felt that my mission in that relationship has been completed.

But of course I am a mortal man, and any mortal man will definitely feel bad after breaking up with someone that they genuinely loved. Not to mention I was the one who initiated the break up. So I decided to dedicate my attention on trying to build a big project in my favorite game on Hard-core mode.

The aching in my heart was drastically reduced after several months of hard work. And since I thought I have already come too far to abandon the project, I just decided to stick with it.

My current daily routine is just the infinite loop of going to work, work on the project, go to sleep, etcetera. I earn enough money to keep my entire family stable, and in my opinion, I have really understanding parents. So there was no trouble on that front.

I let out a big yawn as I stretched my back.

The city in the sky is almost finished. I estimate that it probably needs only a few more blocks of stone to be truly complete.

Oooh, aaaaah. I can already feel the euphoria of accomplishment and the pride for seeing everything to the end filling me as I made my way to the last part of my city.

Finally, after so many years of mind-boggling hard work, it's going to be done!

I controlled my character/avatar to descend from a steel tower, parkour style.

I loved the feeling of adrenaline coursing through my body, the thrill and suspense of danger, where a single misstep will have me falling to my death. In all honesty, having something like an Ender Pearl to teleport would probably be more efficient since it would save time.

An Ender Pearl is something that can be obtained by killing an Enderman, and Endermen are tall black and purple humanoid creatures that are vulnerable to water and have the innate ability to teleport wherever they please.

A regular player/avatar has the height of two blocks, while an Enderman is three blocks tall. They are very slim and slender, and usually leave you alone unless you aggravate it, or until you stare at their eyes. They grow enraged and aggressive when someone stares at their eyes.

… Their behavior almost reminds me of a monarch that lashes out because they simply cannot stand the eye contact with peasants.

Since they can teleport whenever they want, to whatever location they want, it's very difficult to fight and defeat them. You never know where they ended up until you see them again, and when you do they are either trying to run away or ambush you, and you can do nothing about their actions as you simply can't stop them. They have the aforementioned weakness to water, and are hurt whenever coming into contact with it. Rain water, sea water, even a splash of water from a small pond will hurt them enough to back away; so submerging oneself in water is a fool proof plan of protection when fighting against them.

By throwing the Ender Pearl obtained from an Enderman, one could teleport to the location where the pearl has landed. I decided against using an Ender Pearl… but I also have to confess that I am unable to. Something was wrong with my game data, and for six whole years, not a single Enderman has spawned or appeared before me. So it's not like I can actually get an Ender Pearl in the first place.

I only realized this problem regarding the game data and lack of Endermen six months ago. But since my goal was to build a city in the sky, I decided it was unimportant.

… My vision grew clouded as an intense pain in my left chest almost made me fall unconscious.

I was diagnosed with hereditary heart problems when I was young. But the doctors promised us that it was not dangerous. The pain usually fades after a while so I never really paid much mind to it. It has accompanied me for many years.

So I ignored the pain just as usual, and went back up to the top of the tower after retrieving the blocks of stones to complete the finishing touches on my work.

Later in the future, when I think back on the events that happened, I wondered if I jinxed myself when talking about "not meeting an Enderman for six whole years."

Since it was exactly at that point that an Enderman appeared before me at the very top of the tower, and one single attack caused my character/avatar to die. No, I didn't fall off the tower and die from the fall damage. Just pure damage from the Enderman.

Sitting before the computer screen, I stared at the reddish "Game Over" message displayed on it with an inexplicable feeling of rage and disbelief inside me.

Why?

I am wearing a full set of Diamond Armor! How is it possible for an Enderman to take out all eight of my health/hearts in one hit!?

Staring back at the screen again, I noticed that this particular Enderman seems very different from the normal generic Enderman that I know of. The black purplish body had white particles on it… almost like a night sky full of stars.

Is this a Bug? And what sort of bug could cause this?

But I am in no condition to ponder on this strange occurrence since the pain in my chest due to hereditary heart problems continues to magnify.

It must have been triggered due to my influx of intense emotions. Dammit, am I having an actual heart attack right now?

All that I wanted was to enjoy my game, so why?

Didn't the doctors say that my heart problems posed no danger on my life? Why is it suddenly so much worse right now?

Why? Why did I send her away? I loved her so much, so why did I?

Why? Why does everyone, people from school and people from work, bully me so?

Why does all this crap happen to me?

…. I can feel my heart beat spasm as my vision continues to darken. The pain is slightly more bearable now, but I really don't think I can make it.

Am I really going to just die like this? I still have so much regret… in my heart….

I deleted my save data with blurry vision as both tears of pain and regret flow from my eyes. But hang on for a moment…

Why is there a "Revive" option available?

The last thing I remember before I blacked out completely was the clicking sound from the mouse I held in my hand when I clicked on the "Revive" option.

After that, I fell into the dark abyss of death.