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 50: Tower renovations and hatches! You can tell I'm bored!!!

     Today was another boring day; I had successfully destroyed the second portal in my quadrant yesterday, but now there was nothing to do... Was there another portal? And if so, where was it? My quadrant is massive, as is every miner's, but if it was likely to be underground, there was literally thousands, maybe millions, of square feet to cover! I hoped that THEROS would contact me again somehow... But I saw nothing to suggest that all day...

     I nearly didn't get out of bed today; I had destroyed two portals and seen so much mystery that I wasn't sure that my mind could put up with the boredom of nothing mysterious happening! In the end, I decided against the lie-in option, and went straight down to the wall, more specifically, the South-Eastern tower! I had finished the modifications to the South-Western tower yesterday, and for security and symmetries sake, I was going to finish the other! I had left the stone on the tower from last night, so it was simply a case of retrieving the tools from the chest and making my way to the tower. As it was closer to the house, I made use of the wall access from the porch instead of the rapid wall elevator. As I was building up the corner struts for the roof, I remembered the wooden cover for the tunnel shaft for the other tower and wondered if there was an easier way to access the tunnel. I could make a latch, but I would need to craft some hinges from iron! It wouldn't take too long, so long as I could sort out the fiddly bits... Maybe even make a lock and key!

     A little after midday, I finished the tower extension, and I climbed down to admire my handiwork! It looked just as good as the other, and would provide decent shelter from the elements... And possibly anything that is thrown my way by strange creatures, although that was highly unlikely...

     I went back to the house via the wall access, taking the tools and spare stone back to the chest. I then had a walk to the forge where I stored the iron, thinking about the possible ways in which I could craft a hatch or small door. I settled with a simple wooden frame with small holes in to let enough light to enter through it. The hinges would be a simple construction, linking the hatch to the stone wall. The actual hatch was made in minutes, but the hinges were tricky! I had to craft small intricate rods of iron to place between tubes of iron with slits in. Then attach a flattened piece of iron to the rod, and another to the tube and then secure it in place with pins! It was a very crude design, and aside from a few differences in size, I had successfully constructed hinges! I affixed these to the hatch using sharpened rods of iron, and then I took it to the tower to be fixed into place!

     On the way to the tower, I stopped off at the house for a hammer and then continued to the wall. After climbing the new tower, I had hammered the new hatch into place and tested it thoroughly. It squeaked a bit, and sometimes required a bit of a tug from the tower-side, but it was much more efficient and secure than the wooden cover! Using the holes in it, I would also be able to see if there was anything that found its way into the tunnel!

     After I finished with the tower, I returned to the house, wondering what else there was to do. I had read a decent number of the books last night - hence my longing to stay in bed this morning - but didn't feel like reading anymore. My open-cast mine had more or less ground to a halt; both ways in which I had dug had resulted in something unexpected which put me off further mining! I was tempted to go back through the wooden barricade and see if there was anything else there! I had hit an excellent stash of ores and precious metals, I was stupid not to! But at the moment, I wanted to try and let things settle; a lot had gone on in the past week, and I needed time to gather my thoughts and get back into a routine. If I jumped back into it, I'd probably break down and be a sniveling wreck, rocking backwards and forwards in the fetal position, at the bottom of a mine!

     I've just received a message back from HoN Co. about the portals and the information I sent. They are "intrigued" by my finds, but are remaining reserved. They cannot conclusively prove that I haven't done any of this myself! How on earth...?!?! How stupid are they? Why would I construct a giant temple, portals and purposely create stories about monster attacks? For fun?!?! I was confused as to what they needed as proof! Maybe an image of my corpse! Oh wait, of course I'd be dead and I wouldn't be able to contact them(!) The lack of trust and respect HoN Co. has shown me recently has really made me rethink my career path. If I ever get out of here, I'm tempted to go into another field of expertise! Yes HoN Co. can promise you mystery, intrigue, treasure, a huge pay cheque, but they can't guarantee they'll believe you if you're in trouble!!! I can see it from their point of view; they've sent out an entire investigation team, who mysteriously went missing, and yet I'm still alive! But why would I spend vast amounts of time concocting stupid stories to bring attention to myself? If I wanted to leave, I could have them send a boat to pick me up... Wait a minute... Would that work...? Could I trick HoN Co. into coming to the island if I said I wanted to leave? Nah, it was a long shot... They'd see it from a mile off...

     I've done a bit of cooking to calm me down; a nice steak with bread and butter pudding for the sweet! If only I could have some custard... Maybe I could try milking a cow and getting some cream! Well, not now... I was going to wait until tomorrow to do anything like that. It's too late now, and I'm still not in the mood to do anything at the moment...

Syeonyx signing off

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