Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
This time, I am setting out on my first long expedition in a while.
I will obtain an Ocean Explorer Map in the castle town, then travel with Shiro across the open sea.
The map points toward an ocean monument I have never seen before.
Can we find its exterior and make it safely home?
Leveling up a cartographer and buying the map
I begin at the cartography house in the castle town, where an unemployed villager is ready to take the cartographer profession.
There is one problem: the building does not give him a clear path to the cartography table, so he refuses to start working.
I open a two-block-wide passage through the wall.
Once the villager can walk to the table, he finally becomes a cartographer.
I leave this passage open rather than closing it again.
His novice trade gives one emerald for 24 sheets of paper.
I complete this trade six times, raising the cartographer to apprentice level.
At apprentice level, a trade appears for 11 glass panes in exchange for one emerald.
After completing that trade six times, the cartographer reaches journeyman level.
I must admit that I make a mistake along the way.
At apprentice level, I buy a map without checking its name because I assume it is the one I need.
Only after spending the emeralds and compass do I discover that it is a map to a savanna village instead of an Ocean Explorer Map. Oops! (laughs)
I recover from the mistake and inspect every journeyman trade carefully.
This time, I find the actual Ocean Explorer Map.
The price shown by this particular cartographer is nine emeralds and one compass, and I complete the trade for one map after checking its name.
In this Java 1.21.11 session, the paper and glass-pane trades let me raise the cartographer to journeyman and buy the map.
The trade quantities and price above are simply the results displayed by this villager in this play session.
Minecraft’s official ocean monument article also introduces buying an Ocean Explorer Map from a cartographer.
The exact trade counts and price in my story are my Java Edition observations, separate from that general explanation.
When I open the map, I can see the shapes of land and sea along with the monument marker.
The destination is roughly 470 blocks from the castle town.
Flying beyond the open sea with Shiro
I pack netherite equipment, food, a Totem of Undying, and the Ocean Explorer Map.
For this trip, I am only going to inspect the monument’s exterior.
I am not yet prepared to enter it.
I climb onto Shiro in the castle town and set off from his broad back.
I keep checking the map from the air as we head toward the southern sea.
The town buildings shrink behind us, and soon the ocean stretches in every direction.
My measured round trip with Shiro is roughly 900 blocks.
As the marker draws closer, a large shadow appears beneath the water.
A huge prismarine structure rests on the seabed.
We have found the ocean monument!
Returning home while guardians wear down my health
As I study the monument’s exterior from the surface, guardians swim around it.
The official article explains that guardians protect ocean monuments by attacking with lasers.
That is exactly what reaches toward me this time.
I only intend to look from a distance, but the lasers steadily wear down my health even through the netherite armor.
I begin retreating when my health falls below 14, but the attacks continue after I turn away.
At the lowest point, my health drops to 6.6—just over three hearts. That hurts far more than I expected! (tears)
I eat while creating distance and decide that seeing the exterior is enough for this trip.
Shiro and I return to the castle town, where my health recovers to 14.9.
The seven villagers, Shiro, and the town’s familiar animals are all alive and well.
The adventure begins with raising a cartographer and ends with following his map all the way to the monument’s exterior.
Even a brief look is enough to teach me how frightening those guardian lasers can be.
Next time, I hope to prepare properly before taking on the monument itself.
That is all for this episode.
Goodbye.