Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
I’m digging a mine beneath the meadow south of town.
On the surface it’s the same grass as always, but there’s a purple chamber waiting below in my Java Edition 1.21.11 world.
Finding an Amethyst Geode Beneath the Meadow
I take out my pickaxe in the meadow, with the houses still in view.
From here, I dig down a step at a time.
Farther down, my pickaxe meets a darker face than the rock I’ve been digging through.
It’s smooth basalt.
I keep going to see what’s on the other side.
Inside the dark shell is white calcite, then purple amethyst.
I shift the opening a little to the side so I can leave the row with budding amethyst intact.
I break through the last block and the space opens up in front of me.
I peer into the dark and make out purple crystals here and there.
There it is: a natural amethyst geode!
I pick out the fully grown clusters, break them with my sword, and collect the shards.
I get eight amethyst shards from four clusters on this visit.
I leave the budding amethyst in place so I can come back and see what grows.
Making a Stairway Back to the Crystals
At the surface, dark oak frames the entrance beside the stone edging.
The lantern makes it easy to pick out the opening in the grass.
I use the stonecutter to cut stone brick stairs and walls, then fit out the tunnel.
Looking down from the landing, I can follow the line of lanterns along the steps.
I put torches at the mouth of the geode and take another look from the entrance.
I can see crystals all over the purple walls that I could barely make out at first.
I’ll leave the rest to give myself a good reason to come back down here.
Checking the Buds and Trying a Spyglass
On another day, I smelt the copper ore I found while digging the tunnel.
At the crafting table, I put two copper ingots together with one amethyst shard to make a spyglass.
With the spyglass made, I head for the meadow again.
Down the steps by that lantern, there’s a spot I want to check.
Where I harvested a cluster last time, a small bud has grown into a medium one.
I leave it growing and collect two shards from a different, fully grown cluster.
When night comes, I set down a bed on the landing and sleep in the mine.
The next morning I come up out of the mine and head to the open-air bath I built last time.
I aim the new spyglass at the keep above the rooftops.
Through the glass I can see the railing on the upper floor and the lantern hanging behind it.
Underground I squint to see a tiny bud. Up here, a shard lets me pick out a light all the way across town.
I wonder how big that bud will be the next time I go down the steps.
That is all for this time.
Greetings.