Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

Day 13: Correction: I made a hole...

     I had a good feeling about today; and for good reason! I woke up at a decent time and decided to take Chiron with me to go start the vertical mineshaft. Although I left Chiron at the top, I kept him occupied with a pork chop and a few bones. I just hoped he'd stay there. As i went past the water trap, I noticed nothing unusual; the pork chops were still there, along with a chicken! I constructed a few ladders and ensured that I had loads of torches; the way I mine I'd need lots, especially as there is no other light source underground... I hope. Vertical mining is a quick way to gain depth, but it is considerably more dangerous as I need to watch what I'm mining for underneath me. Occassionally I may come across small pockets of isolated toxic gas and lava. It's worse if I find both at the same time! My method however should improve the danger facor slightly: I would dig down vertically for about 20 metres, then dig horizontally for a few feet and then start a new shaft underneath the old one. This protected me if parts of the upper shafts began to collapse, and it also prevents other stuff falling on top of me! I had to create a small fence and gate to stop Chiron being too nosy and falling down into the shaft after me!

     After about 4 hours of mining, I'd gone down quite a distance. I'd almost exhausted my supply of torches and ladders. I was about to turn back around and return to the surface, when I saw red sparks being emitted from behind some dirt. I dug it out and found a huge stockpile of redstone! Plenty to make fusewire for the TNT blocks! Now I could actually perform some large scale mining, as long as the sulphur/sand mix went far enough. I suppose that the TNT would be great for open-cast mining, but only if I had enough of it, which I don't!

     The next logical stage was testing: this time I returned to the surface, redstone in my inventory, with the perfect place to test it! As I climbed the wooden staircase I had erected around the hill base linking my forge to my house, I noticed another small, white creature at the base of the hill. I could've sworn it was another wolf, but it saw me and ran off before I could get a better look. Casting it from my mind, I returned to the cellar where I had placed the sulphur/sand mix, and returned to the ground floor. I constructed some simple wooden boxes with a basic lid flap and copied the design for three boxes. I was only going to test the TNT with 3 blocks... a controlled amount. I also constructed a simple flint switch to send a charge through the redstone fuse to the TNT. I had to take the three boxes out to the preassigned place separately and then fill each with enough powder to be effective. I then crushed the redstone into a fine powder and created a trail leading from the TNT blocks to the flint switch at a safe distance.

     After ensuring that no wildlife was too close, and that the fuse was safely connected and at a reasonable distance, I set my camera up on a small rocky outcrop nearby and put it on reverse flash setting. This meant it would instantly take a photo if it detected a flash of light. I then flicked the flint switch and covered up my ears!

     After I felt the explosion, I uncovered my ears, but waited for the remaining debris to finish falling. After a minute or so, I stood up and looked in awe at the destruction that had been wrought: there was a giant hole with a vein of coal on the surface! It had worked perfectly.... better than perfect! In a simple controlled test I'd ensured that I could safely use TNT and redstone fuses together, and I had found a vein of coal which might otherwise have lain hidden. I could definately make use of this later on, and was wondering if it was possible to create a basic form of sulphur or gunpowder to make an open-cast mine a more profitable option!

     I'll see what I can make using manure from the animals; they're definately plenty of them so I might as well put their waste to use! On returning to the house with flint switch and fuse line, I spotted the little white shape again, this time on the wooden pathway leading to the forge. I lowered myself and crept along the side of my house, but before I could get to it, it had gone. I'm sure there's another wolf, or maybe a pack of them, wandering around near my house. I'm worried that they may be looking for Chiron... It then reminded me that I'd left him back at the vertical shaft, but as I headed towards the walkway, he came running towards me, bone in mouth! He shot straight past me, down the side of the house and onto the porch where he then lay down and began gnawing at the bone. I returned to the house decided to give the mysterious book another look over.It was strange; I'd had a dream about it last night, but the only thing I could remember was solving it, but not how! It was infuriating; I had it in my head but within seconds of waking, I felt the solution bleeding from my head! I'll get it sometime... I know I will!

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