Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
With a Librarian now offering Mending, the foundations of my village felt much stronger. That stability made me eager to begin another adventure.
I wanted to prepare for a challenge that had interested me for a long time: fighting the Wither. The Ender Dragon had already been defeated, so perhaps it was finally time.
Summoning the Wither requires three Wither Skeleton Skulls. I headed to a Nether Fortress to collect them.
Searching a Nether Fortress for Wither Skeletons
I returned to a fortress discovered while trying to connect the End portal area to my village through the Nether.
That earlier trip became a costly Nether journey with an unexpected map discovery.
I had become completely lost that time and found several Nether Fortresses along the way.
This was today’s destination. I could already see two Wither Skeletons waiting inside.
### Hunting Wither Skeletons
I needed three skulls to summon one Wither, so three was the goal.
The first Wither Skeleton appeared almost as soon as I entered. Once these enemies notice the player, they run forward to attack with their Stone Swords.
Their attacks are troublesome because they apply the Wither I effect. It causes damage over time and, unlike poison, can reduce the health bar all the way to death.
After defeating two of them, I had only Bones and Coal. Wither Skeleton Skulls are rare.
To improve my chances, I had Looting III on my sword. In this Minecraft PE version, the skull drop rate was 2.5 percent normally, rising to 3.5 percent with Looting I, 4.5 percent with Looting II, and 5.5 percent with Looting III.
This fortress contained so many that I seemed to encounter one wherever I walked. All I could do was keep fighting.
The first skull finally dropped!
Seeing it floating in front of me was a wonderful moment.
It had taken about fifteen minutes to get one. Collecting three seemed likely to take quite a while.
Then the skulls began dropping one after another. It felt as though every Wither Skeleton I defeated left one behind.
After roughly thirty minutes of play, I had seven skulls.
During an earlier attempt, I had struggled even to find Wither Skeletons, let alone collect their skulls. This particular fortress seemed to be a lucky one.
I put one of the collected skulls on my head for a photograph. It is amusing that Wither Skeleton Skulls can be worn.
The preparations for fighting the Wither were now complete.
Perhaps the next episode would finally be the Wither battle.
That is all for this time.
Greetings.