George's gaze settled on the horizon, where the sun was nearly hidden behind distant trees and mountains. Minecraft truly was breathtaking without that annoying render distance.
As he looked around, he noticed a few more mossy mobs: the Mossy Cow, the Mossy Pig, and the Mossy Creeper. All these creatures resembled mossy zombies, but none had the sprouting flower.
[Mosy Cow
Health: 27
Attack Damage: 6.3
Effects: Strength 2, Resistance 2]
"All the mobs are similarly powerful," George thought.
He approached the cow, slowly extending his hand to touch its head. The cow merely lifted its head and looked at him blankly, ignoring his hand as it made contact. George then noticed that all the mobs were completely quiet.
"Creepy,"
As he observed his surroundings, he noticed something unusual: the moss had stopped spreading. After infecting everything within a 16-block diameter, it suddenly ceased its growth.
"The moss can't spread indefinitely? That's disappointing. Maybe I'll have to craft a Phase Advancing Order," he muttered.
He opened his inventory to grab some wood and dragged it halfway through the menu when he suddenly froze. Next to the menu was a small tab displaying effects, with the current effect showing:
[Mossy Symbiote].
"Should I be worried about that?" George nervously asked himself as he inspected his body.
A menu popped up.
[George
Health: 30
Attack Damage: 5+Tool damage]
That's stronger than a normal player, too. Maybe it was the Mossy Symbiote? Nevertheless, the Mossy core is a friendly entity, so the effect should be good, too.
Deciding to temporarily ignore his concerns, he pulled out some wood and prepared to build a small shack.
Unexpectedly, a new menu popped up in front of George.
[Mossy Core
Points: 102
Phase: 0 (Phase advancement at 1000 points)
Symbiote Phase: 0 (Phase advancement at 500 points)
Mob Cap: 15/20
Further features locked]
"This is completely different. This was never in the mod!" he exclaimed. It seemed that the mods weren't entirely identical to the originals.
'Groan'
Suddenly, he heard a rough, dry groan from behind him, rough, like air escaping from a parched throat.
George's ears perked up.
"A zombie, a normal one."
He quickly glanced around to locate it. Sure enough, in the distance—about 30 meters away he saw a familiar green, humanoid creature wearing a blue T-shirt.
The zombie was slowly staggering toward George's location. He decided to wait, allowing the mossy mobs to handle it. As soon as the zombie stepped on the moss, a nearby Moss Zombie immediately rushed toward it. The Moss Zombie raised its blocky fist high and brought it down onto the normal zombie's face. The zombie let out a grunt as more than a quarter of its health was stripped away in an instant.
In retaliation, the normal zombie raised its fist and swung it toward the Moss Zombie. However, the Moss Zombie unexpectedly stepped back to avoid the attack and quickly countered. It was clear that the mossy zombie was not nearly as sluggish as the regular one. It was even quite fast.
In just a short while, the zombie fell to the ground and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
[Mossy Core
Points: 112
Phase: 0 (Phase advancement at 1000 points)
Symbiote Phase: 0 (Phase advancement at 500 points)
Mob Cap: 15/20
Further features locked]
"Oh?" George tilted his head slightly. "Killing mobs increases the points? Not sure if that was in the original or not."
Not long after, another zombie groan pierced the night. This time, George decided to fight it. He waited for the zombie to approach the mossy area, hoping to gain both safety and points for killing it within the moss.
The moss-covered mobs around him seemed to listen to his thoughts, refraining from rushing into battle right away.
"Convenient," he muttered.
As the zombie slowly approached, he raised his wooden axe and swung it down onto the zombie's shoulder. The health bar above the zombie decreased by 12 points. The creature let out a groan as it staggered back from the impact. George quickly followed up with another swing, striking the zombie squarely in the face.
The number 18 appeared above the zombie as it turned to smoke and vanished.
"Was that a critical hit?" he wondered.
George decided to continue building his small shack. He wanted a place to sleep for the night and a place to avoid any powerful modded mobs that could appear.
George stacked mossy wood in 4x4 layers until it reached a height of 4 blocks. The interior of his shack was relatively modest, measuring 3 meters in width, height, and depth. Since George didn't have any wool to craft a bed, he decided to mine some mossy grass outside and use it as a cushion inside his little home. He left a small hole with a slab to allow natural light to enter while preventing any baby variant mobs from getting inside.
He quickly covered the 2x1 opening he used as a door to block out mobs from entering, then dropped onto the grass, heavier than he'd realized. Somehow, the day had drained him more than he'd expected. Though most of it was mental.
His eyes slowly felt heavy, and he let himself fall asleep on the grass.
The next morning.
George shifted on the grass, blinking blearily against the soft morning light. His back ached faintly from the uneven ground, and he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand before pushing himself upright.
"I had the craziest dream about being stuck in Minecraft," he murmured.
When George opened his eyes fully, they quickly widened in disbelief.
"Are you kidding me? How could it not have been a dream?"
He quickly pinched himself to check if he was dreaming. After confirming that he wasn't dreaming, George tried to ignore the looming depression, pushed himself up and swiftly mined down a 2x1 opening in the wall. For some reason, it felt much faster than yesterday.
As he stepped outside, he immediately noticed one thing: the moss had spread to four times its earlier size, now covering an area over 60 meters in diameter. Converting trees, flowers, and other flora into mossy variations.
His thoughts quickly turned to the menu he had seen earlier about the moss, and, as if responding to his thoughts, it appeared before him.
[Mossy Core
Points: 2012
Phase: 1 (Phase advancement at 5000 points)
Symbiote Phase: 1 (Phase advancement at 5000 points)
Mob Cap: 48/50
Reinforcement: Summon 2 mossy mobs of your choosing as reinforcement
Further features locked]
"If the points from the zombie yesterday are anything to go by, this means the moss killed roughly 190 mobs?" Pondered George with his eyebrows raised.