Chapter 2: What is this? Leather!
Adrian climbed out of the sand pit, stood by the edge of the hole, and weighed the miniaturized sand block in his hand.
"It doesn't weigh much. I can just barely feel a block in my hand."
He tossed the block onto the ground. It stayed miniaturized without changing shape.
"So that's how it works. Seems I have to mentally perform the placing action for a block to return to its original size."
He picked up the sand block again, aimed at the hole, and mentally performed the placing action.
The block instantly returned to full size and neatly filled the hole.
Adrian knelt down to inspect it. "Ignoring the wind-blown sand particles, this block's surface looks perfectly flat to the naked eye."
He stood up and stomped hard on the block. Then he knelt again and observed the result.
"It feels like stepping on real sand, but it doesn't deform at all. That means... it probably has other block-like properties too."
"Maybe anti-gravity, or something like spatial anchoring. Basically, it's fixed in space in a way that would make Newton roll in his grave."
To test it further, Adrian dug out two blocks beside the first one, then removed the sand underneath the original block.
As he expected, the block remained perfectly suspended in the air.
"Yep. Until the block is converted into a real object, it keeps its in-game physics, just like in Minecraft."
After refilling the pit, Adrian restored all the blocks to their real forms and stood up.
"Until I know whether monsters can spawn on placed blocks, I'd better be cautious."
His gaze turned toward the dilapidated house where he had first arrived.
"Time to check out the other abilities of being data-ized."
Though it was called a dilapidated house, it wasn't just bare walls—it had the worn-down look of something that was once lived in.
Facing him stood a broken iron door with several holes. On either side, cracked and flaking walls crumbled slightly with every gust of wind.
Adrian approached the door and gave it a gentle push. It didn't move.
"Locked from the inside, makes sense. If it weren't locked, the wind probably would've blown it off its hinges by now."
He raised a fist, thought for a moment, then lowered it.
"Feels weird to punch things like in a game. Better to get used to using mental actions."
He focused on the iron door and mentally activated the digging action. A crack appeared on its surface.
The longer he concentrated, the wider the crack grew until—crack!—the door broke into a miniaturized block and dropped to the ground.
(Note: In Minecraft, punching an iron door with bare hands yields nothing.)
Adrian picked it up using a mental command, and the door appeared in his hand as a block.
"Good thing my system isn't pure Minecraft logic. Otherwise, punching an iron door wouldn't even give me a particle."
He put it into his inventory and stepped inside the house.
With the door gone, sand-laden wind burst into the room, kicking up long-settled dust and filling the air with chaos.
Thankfully, Adrian's data-ized body didn't require breathing—though it still needed oxygen—so he instinctively held his breath to avoid the sensation of inhaling grit.
Even if he hadn't, nothing would have entered his lungs. His body didn't have internal organs—just the shell of the "Adrian" skin.
Same with his eyes. They weren't actual organs anymore—just the appearance of them. Still, if he kept them open, the wind felt like it could blind him. So, he squinted.
Despite the storm inside, he scanned the room calmly.
("Living room in the center. Kitchen, dining room, and bathroom on the left. Bedroom and storage room on the right. Small house, but everything's here.")
("If it was locked, the last occupants might've planned to come back... but judging by the state of the place, that clearly never happened.")
Several inner doors were also made of iron and appeared locked, but the crumbling walls had gaping holes. Adrian peeked through each one to get a general sense of the layout.
Then, he spotted a sofa in the living room.
"Not real animal leather, but artificial leather might still work."
He crouched next to it and pulled off a strip of the dry, brittle surface.
Ding! Leather detected. Proceed with block conversion?
Block conversion, like reality conversion, was a perk of his new data-ized self.
"Convert," Adrian said.
A flash of light, and the brittle strip turned into a Minecraft-style leather block.
He held it up and smiled. "Nice. My first armor material in this world."
"I'm still wearing my dorm clothes—T-shirt, underwear, pants, and slippers. If I run into anyone out here, they'll think I'm crazy."
"Who wears this kind of stuff in the Badlands?"
He tore off more leather from the sofa.
"But leather changes everything. I can craft leather armor, and when it's converted to reality, I can control the appearance."
"If I model it after the Wanderers from Cyberpunk 2077, it should blend in just fine."
"Of course, there are still other weird things about me. Like my unblinking eyes, my friendly vibe, my pale skin... but I'll deal with those later."
He finished stripping the sofa completely.
"As long as each piece of leather is at least a quarter meter squared, I get one leather block. That's super helpful—otherwise I'd never have enough."
Giving the system a mental thumbs-up, he crafted five armor pieces: helmet, chestplate, gloves, leggings, and boots.
(Note: Minecraft doesn't actually have gloves. This system must've modified the recipe.)
(Crafting notes: Head, legs, and boots use the usual pattern. Chestplate has only one piece in the bottom row. Gloves require two leather blocks placed diagonally.)
"For the style, let's go with Wanderer aesthetics. AI Assistant, convert the armor to reality."
Ding! Armor reality conversion complete.
Adrian picked up a broken mirror and examined himself.
"Not bad. Black shirt, black pants, and Wanderer-style leather armor. Looks solid."
"It's just... slippers inside boots? That's too much. Kind of abstract, honestly."
"AI Assistant, disable the display of the slipper part of my skin."
Ding! Display of the slipper part of 'Skin: Adrian' has been turned off.
"Much better."
He set down the mirror and looked at the now-bare sofa—just springs and a metal frame.
"AI Assistant, is that enough iron to make ingots?"
Ding! Detected iron content exceeds one-eighth cubic decimeter. Can be converted into iron ingots. Maximum: 24. Convert?
"Convert. If I get some wood, I can start crafting weapons, tools, and shields."
The metal frame dissolved into ingots, while some non-metal bits fell to the floor.
Adrian stood, stretched, and looked through the gaps in the walls. In the bedroom, he spotted a large wooden bed.
He clapped his hands. "Perfect! Just the wood I needed!"