(Point of view: Ahmet)
The first thing that crossed my mind after Enes left was to cheat a little and start early.
It wasn't the right thing to do, but it was incredibly tempting. It felt like knocking over someone else's carefully placed dominoes.
"Whatever, all's fair in war."
I stood up, threw an Eye of Ender into the air, and tracked the direction it floated. Before it even hit the ground, I caught it and dashed off in that direction.
This was a race, and every second counted.
Thanks to Terraria's influence, I wasn't getting hungry at all, which made the hunger bar kind of pointless—or so I thought.
I kept running, completely unaware of the immense potential hidden within the hunger bar.
After a while, I stumbled upon a village. I found a saddle and two diamonds in the blacksmith's chest—pretty decent loot for me. But my eyes were on the iron golem.
Confident in the invincibility granted by standing three blocks high, I killed it easily. Just like that, I left the innocent villagers at the mercy of brutal zombies in exchange for a few iron ingots.
For some reason, the expressions on the villagers' faces felt… full of hatred?
After climbing down from the pillar I'd used to kill the golem, I slaughtered a few of the villagers just to confirm they weren't intelligent beings. Since I didn't gain any EXP from killing them, I concluded they weren't truly human.
"That's kind of a relief. They're probably just some artificial creations. Still… seeing the fear and chaos I caused after killing a few of them… felt strange."
I caught myself smiling and slapped my own face to shake off the growing darkness inside me.
"Screw the dragon egg. First, I'll use this iron to make a bucket and find a cow so I can get some milk."
With that thought, I quickly crafted a bucket and started searching for a cow.
After getting the milk, I drank it. When I checked my level, it had reset to zero. I felt a wave of relief.
But there was something odd. Even though my level was reset and the mental corruption disappeared, the power I'd gained from leveling up hadn't vanished. It was like I'd scammed Chara somehow.
Of course, just because I could remove the side effects of leveling up didn't mean I could go around killing anyone I wanted.
I decided to place a restriction on myself.
"If someone doesn't try to hurt me or someone I care about, I won't kill them. Even if they're a serial killer, I won't end their life. At most, I'll play the hero and hand them over to justice like Spider-Man."
It was a vow I made to myself. After all, not everyone could respawn like Enes and me.
After sitting and resting for a while, I tamed one of the horses wandering nearby and resumed my journey to the End portal.
Every now and then, I'd check the stopwatch to track time.
Time flew by. Minutes turned into hours, and hours into days. I'd been here for five days and still hadn't reached the End portal.
Just as I was taking a short break, someone soared past me using Elytra. I groaned and rubbed my forehead in frustration as I realized the detail I'd overlooked.
"This damn game world isn't restricted to the standard crafting recipes!! All you need for an Elytra is some iron!!"
With that realization, I used the materials I'd gathered to craft an Elytra for myself. I built a small platform, climbed up, and leapt off.
After a few practice runs, I tested whether any of the old infinite flight glitches with the Elytra still worked.
These tricks usually relied on flaws in the game's momentum calculations. Once I found one that still worked, I left my horse behind and continued toward the End portal.
Unfortunately, there was no way I could catch up to Enes. I knew it. He was constantly using rockets to boost himself.
It was seriously frustrating.
I still had a long journey ahead of me.
When I finally arrived at the room with the End portal, it was already activated. Right beside it, there was a bed. A wicked grin spread across my face as I set up a little trap using TNT and a pressure plate.
The moment Enes respawned, he'd blow up again. I could already imagine how hilarious it would be.
After that, I dug a small alcove in the wall, placed a bed inside, and set my new respawn point. Then I sealed the hole back up.
When I jumped into the End portal, a message popped up:
[New achievement unlocked: The End???]
But when I looked around, Enes was nowhere to be seen. That was odd. That's when I realized—I'd been tricked.
Enes hadn't entered the portal yet. Most likely, he was still in the real world… breaking my bed.
He probably drank an invisibility potion to avoid detection. Which could only mean one thing—he was on his way here.
Thinking fast, I did the most logical thing ever and covered the obsidian spawn platform in lava. Now, he'd need a fire resistance potion to enter safely.
I'd looted the lava from a blacksmith in one of the villages earlier—I never imagined it would come in so handy.
Since the portal platform had formed inside stone, I broke the blocks and climbed up.
Then I made sure the Ender Dragon flying in the background was clearly visible and took a selfie.
But the moment of joy was broken by a series of notifications:
[Congratulations, you gained 30 experience points.]
[Congratulations, you gained 30 experience points.]
[Congratulations, you gained 30 experience points...]
What the hell?! Why is Enes dying over and over again?! Even if he kept jumping into the End portal, he shouldn't be dying that fast. Unless…