Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
A little greeting from the finished road in the Nether.
A pale-blue floor runs through the red rock around me.
Today, let us look back at how it became a route for a boat.
Last time, I watched over turtle eggs on the northern beach and made a turtle shell.
Now I would like to make the long walk toward the Nether fortress a little easier.
First, let us return to the preparations in town, before I set out to gather materials.
Silk Touch, and packed ice from a snowy mountain
At the anvil, I add Silk Touch to my diamond pickaxe from a book.
The displayed cost is four levels.
With a tool ready for bringing ice home, it is time to set out.
I spread my elytra and head for the frozen mountain.
Instead of following the usual paths, today I am travelling through the sky.
Having wings turns a materials trip into something of an outing.
Below me is a forest of snowy spruce trees.
Beyond it rises a mountain streaked with pale blue.
Let us take a closer look at that slope.
On the slope, packed ice peeks out between the white snow.
This is a trip for ice in a mountainside, not an iceberg out at sea.
It is rather amusing to find materials for the red Nether in such a snowy place.
Mining with this pickaxe gives me packed ice as a block.
I shelter through the mountain nights in a small shaft, then return to mining in the morning.
The hollows spread across the slope, and the ice for home starts piling up.
Minecraft’s ice article also names a Silk Touch pickaxe as the tool for harvesting packed ice.
Here, I use mine to gather enough ice for the road.
Flying home with the ice, I see the town’s roofs and torii gate below.
After the snowy mountain, those familiar colours feel rather welcoming.
Now to take the ice into the Nether.
Turning the route toward the fortress into an icy tunnel
For now, there is just a dark rock wall ahead.
I dig east from here to make a new tunnel for the boat.
The fortress route I opened in Episode 84 feels quite long on foot.
Turning around partway through the work, I see the ice stretching into the distance.
I make the passage two blocks wide and two high, with torches alternating between its walls.
That blue strip through the red rock is starting to look like a road.
A boat on the ice, and a pause at the corner
The ice boat road is ready!
From the boat, I can see torches continuing ahead.
Sitting in a boat without water in the Nether still feels a little strange.
Oh, it glides along!
The torches slip past as the boat carries me down the long straight.
A route that felt so long while digging feels quite different from this seat.
At the far end, I turn to look back.
The pale-blue floor and torches stretch away into the tunnel.
Thinking back to walking toward the fortress makes this a pleasing sight.
After the building work, I look at the pickaxe’s description back in town.
There is the name, Silk Touch.
This one tool has helped with both the mountain ice and the tunnel.
After that, I time one trip by each method over the same stretch: about two minutes five seconds on the old walking route, and about 31 seconds using the new boat road.
The boat figure includes the walk to its platform, getting in and out, and lining up its direction.
These are only single runs this time, but the next fortress trip is looking a little less of a trudge.
After timing the two trips, I take another look at the far platform.
There is ordinary flooring in front, and ice beyond it.
Leaving the ice for this floor slows the boat, but I still want to take my time getting off.
At the corner, the boat keeps turning with its momentum, so I have to line it up again.
After that lovely straight run, my clumsiness makes itself known here.
An allay that was already in the Nether flies beside the road too.
A quicker road does not mean I should hurry around its corners.
I look forward to using this icy route the next time I head toward the fortress.
That is all for this time.
Greetings.