Once they got back to the village the first thing Pinkie did was take her new tome and added it to her collection, allowing her to understand how to make armor, even though it would take some time to get the hang of things, before she, Steve, and Alex focused on the division of materials. Most of the base materials, like the diamonds and emeralds for example, were placed in Pinkie's care so she could focus on figuring out how to make new gear for herself, since she could likely use the latter already, while making armor for the others. Anything else was divided between Steve and Alex, so they could learn more about the world and anything else that might help them in their quest, though Pinkie also kept the list of rings, since she was sure that it would be some time before such a thing became useful. The instant they were done dividing their loot, for the time being, Pinkie got to work crafting a brand new bench to add to the rest of the tinkering station she had created earlier, which was what she was thinking of calling it, before worrying about trying to make some armor.
Octavia watched as her companion resumed working with iron, since that was the shared level that they were at and she wanted some practice before messing with the diamonds they had recovered, hence why she was crafting new casts with the new tables, so she could make new armor for everyone. From what she read one needed to make the 'core' of a piece, such as one for the helmet or chest piece, plates that seemed to be reinforcements for the piece itself, and some trim to complete the look, though while one could make a piece entirely out of one metal the book encouraged the smith to use different combinations. It reminded her of what she found in the tomes about the new tools and weapons that would be added to their arsenals, and she glanced at the list of supposed traits that each metal supposedly had, discovering that iron had some sort of magnetic aspect, and some of the others had interesting effects. Once more she found that, of all of them, that Manyullyn might have the best effects and, by combining it with the other metals, could make some serious gear for all of them, to which Pinkie, while she wasn't busy crafting anything, formed some plans for the future, to find the materials needed to reach that metal.
Steve commented on her choice, indicating that they might have to go to the Nether at some point to retrieve some of the materials she wanted to use, but Pinkie was fine with that, especially since she would ensure they were well prepared for when that time came.
While they did that Octavia went back to her new tower house and got to work on the next step of her Thaumaturgy, to which she sought out the Crafting Table that was in the structure, at the peak, and once more confirmed that she needed to change the layout at some point. After reaching her target she pulled out some materials and carefully repeated what she had done earlier, allowing her to make some more Salis Mundus with the crystals and redstone she had on hand, just a small pile, before sprinkling it on the table. Such a thing caused the magical energies to wrap around the table for a few seconds before transforming it into a dark brown table with a green top, though, just like the tome that allowed her to do this, it also contained magical energies, to which she opened the Thaumonomicon and studied the information that had been unlocked. According to the tome her creation was an Arcane Workbench and could even make things that were, as the tome called them, mundane, but through the use of the Vis Crystals, the gems she found while mining, she would do all sorts of things and make new tools.
Apparently the magical energies of this world were known as Vis as well, hence why they were called 'Vis' Crystals, and, as she soon discovered, the tome even revealed recipes that would allow her to open more pages, confirming her thoughts from earlier, causing her to sigh for a moment.
"Twilight would have a field day with this tome and the knowledge it contains." Octavia commented, in fact she was sure that the Princess would devote too much of her time to studying and understanding everything that was inside this tome, likely to a point that was too extreme or even dangerous for everyone, before she focused on the page that contained the recipe for the Thaumometer, "I better visit Pinkie."
Her reason for that was because she needed some gold ingots, four of them to be exact, and a glass pane, something that was even written in the side of the page, in case someone was unfamiliar with the recipes of this world, so she headed to the smithy and found that Pinkie was more than willing to hand a few over, plus she made some panes and handed a set of sixteen to her. With those in hand she returned to her new house and climbed up the stairs once more, where Octavia wondered if there was a way to make this quicker and safer, even if she had to invite Pinkie over for some renovation, only to stop at her Arcane Workbench. She huffed for a few moments and regained her breath, because walking up the stairs each time she wanted to use this place seemed like a little much, before she placed the four pieces of gold into position in the four directional spaces of the bench and filled the middle with one of the panes. She also found that she needed one of each Vis Crystal, of which there seemed to be only six types, those being red, blue, green, yellow, white, and black, and she was fortunate enough to have at least one of each, hence why she slipped them into six colored slots that formed a circle around the crafting section of the table.
Once all of that was done, and she was sure that all of the steps had been completed, she watched as the Vis energies of the crystals wrapped around the materials, quickly merging all four gold ingots into a metal ring with the glass right in the middle, with six beads resting where all of the crystals had been. According to the tome this device was supposed to aid her in understanding the world in some manner, as in she needed to pick it up and look through the lens while focusing on an item, like some wood or a stone pillar, to understand more about the Vis. Interestingly enough the tome, filled with more information, told her that the Vis was like an ocean, ebbing and flowing all around them, while finding that there was a second category of Vis called Essentia, which happened to be more rigid than the formless Vis and seemed to be linked to physical items. Even then the tome told her that there were all sorts of Essentia for her to discover and study, in fact it seemed like the next step would be to do such a thing, so her first step was to use the new device to study items around her, like the bed or the shelves, and found that it seemed to make notes on whatever she looked at.
While she did that, and discovered that the information also flowed into her mind to help her understand what she was seeing through the lens, she had to wonder what might happen when she glanced at Pinkie's smithy or a dragon, though it would be a long time before they attempted the latter.
Octavia also found that, to aid her progress, she needed to make some sort of research bench, to make theories about the contents of the tome and the world around them, and noted the materials necessary to do that as well, since it looked like she was only scratching the surface of what was inside the Thaumonomicon. Such a thing required special glass bottles, a feather, and an ink sac to make the writing tools, while using some wood and some wooden slabs to make the table, and by combining the two together she could make the research bench, causing her to make a list. Most of the items were far too each for her to find, it should be easy to make the glass bottles, finding a feather should be easy since she was sure a chicken was somewhere in the village, and using some wood to make the table was straightforward, but finding the ink sac would be a little difficult. Based on what she found inside the tome she would need to track down a squid and claim it's sac, though to do that she would need to visit a larger body of water, since Octavia was sure that they wouldn't appear in the nearby river, which meant her studies, for the most part, were at a standstill.
As such she headed down the stairs once more and crossed the bridge, allowing her to make her way to the smithy and found that Pinkie seemed to be taking a break right now, though right now Steve was wearing iron armor, pure iron since she didn't use any other metal in the construction, and he seemed ready for battle.
"It seems that you've made some progress." Octavia commented, finding that the armor made from the new tome was far more impressive looking than what she and the others had found inside the chests of the Battle Tower, where she had to guess that it was due to the plate nature of how it was constructed.
"Yeah, but I need more metals to experiment with the rest of the knowledge inside the tomes," Pinkie said, something that caused Octavia to smile for a few seconds, because if both of them were stuck like this, needing materials to advance with their new occupations, that meant they would have to go out into the wilderness and see if they could find anything new, "so for now we're stuck with just iron armor... I was looking forward to making some modifications, but this is pretty good for right now."
"Which means we'll either have to go on another mining trip, or explore the rest of the world," Alex added, as Steve was in the middle of being checked out by Pinkie as she studied the suit he was now wearing, making sure everything was right before focusing on making a set for everyone else, "with iron gear both options are possible and encouraged, so we can figure out what else is resting in this world, if there are other villages out there, and locate the structures of the strongest beings in the world... like the Ender Dragon, for instance."
"Ender... Dragon?" Octavia inquired, as Pinkie was far too focused to ask anything right now, hence why she seemed to be the one figuring out more about the world that Steve and Alex came from, which had some similarities with this one, and any information they could get out of their companions meant their stay in this world would be easier, to some degree as she thought about things.
"A powerful dragon that rules over the End... or is imprisoned there, we're not too sure which is true." Steve remarked, all without moving too much, as he knew that Pinkie was interested in his armor and what else she might be able to do with the materials they had, before she nodded to him and quickly took her own measurements, he wasn't going to ask, before also doing the same to Alex and then moved to the smithy, "Anyway, if this world is anything like our world, the Ender Dragon will be waiting in the End... it might have been left behind by the Builders to guard something, or might have been created as a weapon by some other entity we're not aware of... if its the former, we might a clue as to why the Builders left, but if the latter is true taking it out will help protect this world."
Such a thing told Octavia what one of their end goals was, figure out how to get to the End and take down the dragon that ruled over it, though she also knew that it would take some time before they were able to do such a thing, given the state of their armor and weapons. She also found that Pinkie walked over and took a few seconds to get her measurements, to make sure her new suit of armor would fit perfectly, before resuming her work on Alex's set, who smiled when it was done and put it on once everything had cooled down, finding that it fit her perfectly. It wasn't too much longer before she had a set for Octavia to wear, only hers seemed more suited for a wizard, she guessed Pinkie knew about the Vis, again it was better not to ask how she knew about it, and she smiled as she put it on, finding that it fit nicely and would aid her in their next battle, but would likely help her once she learned more about magic. After making sure the three of them were ready to go, and were armored for whatever might happen next, Pinkie focused on using more iron to make her armor set, even if their companions were getting used to her chaotic abilities and the fact that it meant they had unlimited resources for whatever the future held for them.
With all four of them outfitted, and Pinkie took a moment to make sure all of their tools and weapons were ready for their next venture, she headed outside as the others followed after her, as she guessed it was time to talk to the village Elder and see if he knew anything else about the surrounding area, before Pinkie paused as she felt something.
Arachnophobia! a voice said, one that sounded like it came from somewhere else, instead of the Villagers, though as they heard it Octavia noticed that the Villagers seemed worried about something, meaning they might learn more about the voice if they asked them about this, Eight-legged terrors!
As the voice faded away, with some sinister laughter, Pinkie, Octavia, Steve, and Alex found discovered that the village was suddenly under attack by a bunch of spiders, some looking like they belonged in an icy environment, a number looked like they were sandy brown scorpions and belonged in the desert, and a few more vine green colored, like they came from a jungle. The Villagers, of course, started to freak out and ran for their houses, screaming about the end arriving, to which the four of them drew their weapons and rushed out to meet the invaders in combat, finding that their enemies used a bit of webbing to try and slow all four of them down. Octavia, seeing all of the scorpions out of the corner of her eye, did the smart thing and slashed at their stingers before they got close to her or her companions, taking out part of their natural weaponry, while discovering that the shield beings in the village were useless, as they floated above the streets and let the invaders have their way with their domain. As such she and her companions hacked and slashed at all of their enemies, to stem the tide and make sure everything remained safe for the foreseeable future, where Steve and Alex slashed their way through their enemies and opened the way for Pinkie to bounce around, taking some down with ease.
While they carefully fought their enemies, and Pinkie placed down more torches to make sure the surrounding area was clear so no more monsters came out of the shadows, Octavia wondered if there was a way to make this place safer, other than stone walls, before finding that the group of eight-legged terrors had been wiped out, allowing them to regroup as they made sure the coast was clear.
"Praise the Builders! You saved our village!" the Elder exclaimed, where he and the other Villagers were pleased to see that the invaders had been taken care of, though he was the only brave one who came out to speak with them, the others just waiting to make sure everything was clear before bothering to come out again.
"It is the least we could do, since you let us take some of your houses and call this place home," Steve replied, because he and Alex weren't about to leave the Villagers to fight off whatever had just happened, even though he could see Pinkie in the corner of his eye, staring up at the sky for some reason, before he focused on the Elder, "however, if you don't mind me asking, what in the world was that?"
"We call them 'Events', and they are used by the... well, the Admins, to have fun with our world." the Elder answered, which caused Steve and Alex to share a look as Octavia shook her head, indicating that she and Pinkie had no idea what he was talking about, causing the older Villager to sigh as he considered the information he knew, "We do not know who they are, rather we know that they seem to have taken the place of the Builders... to put it plainly, we suspect that the Admins just see our world as their toy and they start Events, a period of which that monsters of a specific nature will spawn."
"Like how Arachnophobia spawned spiders and scorpions?" Octavia asked, as she had noticed that the outskirts of this village hadn't been too lit up before the monsters arrived, which prompted Pinkie into lighting everything up, where the Elder nodded his head for a moment.
"Yes, but we were incredibly lucky... I have heard tales of them spawning hordes of dragons or other dangers on some of the other villages... even with you four we might not survive such a thing." the Elder said, which told them everything else they needed to know, these Admins didn't care for the people of the world and it was only a matter of time until they just wiped everyone out when they got bored of them, before he considered something else, "I've also heard tales of three imposing monsters who answer to the Admins... not the Ender Dragon or anything else you might have heard of, but we don't know anything about them. Such knowledge might be found in the ancient structures or the other dimensions..."
The group glanced at each other for a few more seconds, as it seemed like they had their next objective, head out and see if they could find one of the structures in question, though for now Steve decided that making sure the village was alright should be their first priority, while in the morning they could go on a new adventure, causing Pinkie and Octavia to look forward to what they and their companions might discover next.