Section 1:

   Lesson 1, never give up.

   Lesson 2, conserve your resources.

   Lesson 3, think before you act.

   Lesson 4, don't mine at night.

   Lesson 5, don't mine at day.

   Lesson 6, just make your own mine for Pete's sake!

     Hero laughed aloud after reading the sixth one. Steve sat on a chest he had made for his friend across the room, which was really just an arm's reach away. The human listened awkwardly, wondering why again he let his friend read through his old notebook filled with the lessons of old. Steve had forgotten just how many jokes he had put into his old writing, and was not expecting his past self to be so humurous..and cringe worthy. All the jokes kind of made him wish he would tell more in his recent writings. Suddenly, Hero laughed out loud again, reminding him that Hero was still reading, mostly aloud, but sometimes he would start to whisper read instead.

     "Maan! This makes me want to see what your other books following your story are like. Are they this funny?" Hero asked, a big smile across his face.

     "Wellll..." Steve leaned on one arm as he has at there, awkwardly coming through his hair. "Thing is.. No. Not at all." He attempted to chuckle. "My- uh.. I've been stuck on this one part lately."

     "Heh, that's understandable. One simply doesn't write a whole book in two weeks! Breaks are good." Hero laughed light-heartedly, making it hard to believe the man had been bed-bound for almost two weeks now. He was having a good day today, though, so Steve had hope he was getting better already.

     "The thing is.. I've been stuck on the part, where... I, um... You know.." The older human's head cowered away from the bright atmosphere within moments. "The part with the Illagers..."

     "...Oh..." The other realized. "..Well, just zoom right through that part then, or skip some parts if you want! Just think about the time me and you met. I'm honestly curious to read what your opinion of me was the first time we met. Hopefully thinking about the bright stuff at the end will help! I barely even remember all the things that happened while we were there. It's all just a blur to me now."

     "Heh, lucky.." The human sighed. "But, yeah.. Good idea. I'll try that next time I can write." His face shifted back into a smile again. "Only problem is then after that I will have to write about how much of a jerk I was to you!"

     "Pff! It'll be fine. I've forgiven you already. I want to read what you thought of my new house, though. Do you think you'll put that in there?"

     "Uhh, sure. Hah! I mean, I can just tell you right now... I think it looks pretty good. Nice, quaint, carries a peaceful vibe; pretty much everything you'd want from a house." Steve complimented as he looked up and around the space they were in, with only two windows, one door, and one beautiful garden around the small pond out front. Hero had planted all the seeds -- mostly consisting of wheat and a couple watermelon -- on one of his good days, but now the garden was mostly tended by Steve after finishing up with his own chores. Hero still had a pretty big say in how he tended the garden, though. Remembering the garden and outside, "Hey, Hero, do you think you have enough strength today to walk around the village? Everyone has been growing anxious lately with you inside so much."

     "Ummf.. well..." Hero paused a moment, not entirely sure if he did have the strength to walk so far. "I should.. but, just in case... Can I ride your horse?"

     Steve smiled, "Only the best one."

     Ten minutes later, Steve had his brightest mare saddled. She was the fastest he had, and the gentlest for hosting such a wild spirit. All Hero had to do was walk out onto his porch and hop onto the saddle, with Steve's help of course. And, Steve lead the fully black mare by the reigns down the thin trail, all the way to the nearby village.

     The villagers noticed immediately, and within minutes, they were everywhere. Hero spoke to all of them in their language, and would translate whenever one wanted to tell Steve something. The human politely nodded whenever one acknowledged him, though it was hard to comprehend anything Hero was translating to him. He tried to listen, but after a while his words were mostly muffled. For the next half hour or so he just went through the motions, sometimes responding without even realizing someone had even said something to him. As strange as it was, he kind of liked seeing all the faces, happy as they were. Simply knowing they were making Hero happy, talking to him, telling jokes, or asking fine questions, brought a smile to his face. Eventually the crowd dyed down, and only those closest to Hero -- including Billy -- stayed.

     Everyone was just casually standing in a circle by then, talking and laughing, except for Steve. While in the crowd he felt a very strange sensation: something similar to that moment, like it had happened before, but, different somehow... He tried to think of when. No... It didn't match up with any of the times he tried to join a village meeting, or even that one time Hero tried to throw him a party, or even when everyone was crowding around him uncomfortably while he was trying to cure those two zombified villagers.

Tangent: Just a week ago, Steve had tried to cure a couple normal zombies the same way he cured zombie villagers, but it never worked.

     But then... What was he remembering vaguely..? He couldn't remember anything beside how he felt, which was almost how he felt just a minute ago, but that, times ten! Other than that, there was nothing... Maybe it was just the remnant of some distant dream.. Yeah... Probably just a dream, though, he hoped it was more...much more.

     "Hey, Steve. You alright?" Hero waved his hand down from his horse in front of Steve's face. "You've just been staring blankly at Clarkson. He's wondering if he did something wrong." Hero informed through a small chuckle.

     Steve shook his head, breaking himself out of it fully, and blinked a few times to wetten his dry eyes. "Oh... Sorry, I was just... I.. don't know..." A little confused, Hero attempted to translate what Steve had said to the villager, earning nothing but a confused face and a bit of a relieved smile from the assumed Clarkson.

     On their way back towards Hero's house from the event, the sun was beginning to set and Steve finally shared. "Hero, I think I need to go to more events like that one."

     "Heh, really? You were silent the whole time! I began to wonder if you were just bored out of your mind!" 

     "Well, I am not entirely sure what happened, but I had this weird feeling I was remembering something. L-l-l-like I-I- was remembering something from a long time ago! Maybe even before my first memory!"

     "Wow... that does sound important!" What was the memory?"

     "W-w-wh- well i-it's hard to ex-p-p-plain.. M-more like some v-ague f-f-f-feeling."

     "Uhh, Steve, are you broken?"

     "S-s-sorry, just d-eep in thought..." Steve explained, beginning to comb his fingers through his hair again.

     "Ah... Well remember what I suggested to you last time. Just write down what you are thinking and maybe that'll help." The taller one, now way taller while sitting on the horse, recommended.

     "Th-thanks.. It actually d-id help."

     After the younger man had been dropped off, Steve helped him to his bed, made sure he had everything he needed, and left the house with a thankful wave. It wasn't until he returned to the safety of his own bed that he realized what he had just done. Just knowing Hero, he knew the younger man had taken him seriously, and would schedule many more events just like that one. With a dissatisfied groan, regretting already what he had done; at the same time, Steve knew that was his only window to finding out something completely new. Something even he hadn't dared dream of uncovering before.... Or... Maybe he had just made it all up... yeahhh he was definitely going to end up chicken-ing out of this one.

Section 2:

     To his surprise, Hero hadn't planned any big events the next day. At least... that he knew of. Steve was also pleasantly surprised to see his friend had made it to the garden and was watering his flowers outside his house when he arrived. As worried as he was that somehow Hero would only get hurt by doing such a simple task, inside he took this as hope that his friend was finally recovering. The two chatted briefly, but then both split to doing their own things, Hero tending to the rest of his garden, and Steve leaning against a tree to write some more in his book. When Hero was done he leaned against the same tree and took a quick nap.

     Billy strolled in right as Steve was struggling through the scene where Billy, as a villager, was about to be executed by the Illagers. He hummed the tune slowly as the scene replayed in his head.

     "Hurrr?" The ravenger tilted his head slightly. The human didn't even know he was there until Billy spoke. After the startle, Steve saw the large beast attempting to write something in the nearby patch of dirt. The human stood to see what he was doing. He found that Billy was writing letters. He would write one or two large letters, and then erase them to write a few more. Steve followed these writings in his mind, slowly reading along with his old villager friend.

     ' "Wi ll yo u end up wri tin g abo ut you wri tin g? :)" ' The ravenger slowly wrote with a smile. Steve looked up at him when he was and smiled back.

     "Heh, maybe... I don't really know if I will get that far, though. Not much has happened lately important enough to talk about.

     Billy began to write again. ' "I sti ll ke ep fin din g wa ys to ta lk to you. Th at is pre tty co ol. :)" '

     Steve laughed softly again. "You do have a point there. You're probably the smartest one in this village." That compliment brought a smile bigger than ever onto his old friend's face.
 
     ' "So, I he ard yo u fou nd a new bo ok. Ha ve yo u re ad it yet?" '

     Steve sighed, "No, not yet... I'm still getting over the fact that this is his last book."

     ' ":(" '

     "Hhh, I know.. You can probably read it if you want." The human offered to his friend.

     ' "How? I ca n't ev en ho ld it." '

     "Hmm, true... Maybe you could have someone also interested in it read it to you?" Billy thought for a moment.

     ' "Ti m and Dra ke are int ere st ed in go ing on mo re ad ven tur es no w... May be th ey wou ld li ke to re ad it for me. Th ey ha ve sta rt ed re ad ing oth er on es alr ea dy." That one took a while for Billy to write, but when he was finished, Steve was rather intrigued.

     "Wait.. villagers going outside the village...exploring? That could..." The first thing that came to mind after reading that were full-on squads of villagers, leaving their village to find other villages. It sure would be dangerous, but.. maybe that was what they needed if they ever wanted to fend off any full scale raids without him. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of it before?! Quickly, the human wripped out an empty page from his book, using the back of his book cover to write on the paper the idea that had suddenly shot into his mind. He wrote a simple sentence or two about the whys and hows, and even crudely illustrated some things he couldn't describe so easily. Billy watched from afar curiously as the human wrote with record speed and the sloppiest of handwriting. When he was done, he waved the paper in front of Billy.

     "Here! Show this to Tim and Drake! It's perfectly fine if they just explore for fun, but if they look for other villages that this village can teach and trade with, you guys could probably grow much stronger and even be able to defend yourselves from any raids!" Billy was rather surprised to see the human thinking this way. He was always too adamant about focusing on one village: this village; and without the help of any other village... What on earth changed?!

Section 3: (font 1)

     "The human wants to do what?!" I nearly screamed. On the ground, Hokeson dropped the scribbly piece of paper the human had apparently written his idea onto. But, he had already told me the basics of Steve's plan. I would just need a moment to digest it. Other villages? Talking to villagers, from far away.. who probably speak in different languages..or have weird accents...or might be cannibals... or not like the same foods!?!

     "Oh, relax. He speciffically told me you guys don't have to enter any other villages if you don't want to. But if you happened to find one or two on your journeys, he proposed you guys find a way to gain alliance with them and set up some sort of trading system. He also mentioned roads, but that would be for a bit later in the future; maybe after we secure trade or something.

     "O-o-okay, but listen! I'm not a politician! And neither is Drake! Y-you can't expect us to actually do... political things!" I felt like I was beginning to hyperventilate. It was enough that I had finally agreed to go on a daring adventure back to the Bad Lands to look for gold, but it was an entirely different thing to do actual adult stuff like talking to strangers!

     "Come on, Tim! You're great at debating and you love learning, so there is no doubt there that you'll make a good trader in the future.. but you're looking at this all wrong. You're thinking about this as if you have to be a village chief to do this. Just think about it like making a new friend... Well, a lot of new friends, hopefully... You know.. I kind of like Steve's idea. Our villages would be much stronger together. Of course, you don't have to actively search out villages, but, if you find some.. then... I don't know, maybe attempt to become friends with them." Hokeson said. I sighed. The man was spittin' pure facts, and, to be honest, I kinda got a little excited at the idea. Hopefully the other villages had kids who were more fun to play with and didn't just play "Mud Pit" all the time!

     "It... actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. But.. can you go with us? You're a lot better at talking to people." I admitted. Alas, as brave as I was, my strengths were not in the art of talking to large crowds.

     Hokeson smiled down at me kindly. "Why.. I wish I could, but... You know... I look like, this. Not a soul outside the village would trust me. Heck, there's still a portion of villagers in this village who haven't trusted me since I returned." With a sigh, he admitted the truth. I sighed a little as well. I had hoped Hokeson would join us, even before the whole other villages ordeal.

     "Hhrrmmm, maybe we could hide you under a blanket!" That made Hokeson laugh.

     "Or maybe I can come along too!" I spun to look further down the path. Quancie walked towards us with her hands on her hips. "Sorry. What were you guys talking about? I just heard you and Drake were planning to go exploring and I wanted to tag along. My parents already said it was okay, as long as Hokeson went too!" She admitted, addressing me directly. I face-palmed. Had she really asked her parents first?

     "Uh, Quancie, no. This is an adventure for the big kids." I said, lifting my chin and crossing my arms.

     "Hey! You can't use that one against me; I'm two months older than you!"

     "Oh yeah?~"

     "Yeah!!"

     "Well...-fine then!" I didn't have any other excuses not to bring her along. And if her parents already said she could go, then... it was almost like bullying not letting her come along. Hokeson just watched all this go down from the sideline, half smiling at our petty little argument. "But if you come along, you have to bring your own food and stuff, and you have to carry it all too." I said, and both of us silently shook on the agreement... Shook our hands... We didn't literally shake like weird people or something.

     "Good to know you two were able to sort that one out on your own. Guess that means I will be going with you then. I'll just hide when we get near a village, and if you need any ideas, you all just come to my hiding spot and I can help you with that." Mmf, it wasn't as good as him just talking for me, but it was still good knowing he would be there for us. Especially if we were ambushed by monsters, now that I think about it.. Only problem is.. Quancie would be coming along too...

     "Oh well, at least you're coming, Hokeson." I decided to smile at the bright side instead of wallow on the downside. "Hey, is it alright if you tell Drake about this too? Quancie...go home for now. I need to do something before we go!" We hadn't actually come up with a scheduled time or day to leave, but that really just meant we could leave as soon as everyone else was ready, and I still hadn't made the robe I wanted for my very first official adventure!

     As we all dispersed, I ran back to my house to change into my newly made outfit that should have been dry by then. Hanging on some string was my newly dyed robe, as well as a couple more things I thought would make it stand out. I wanted a real adventurer's outfit, and that meant no more long tunic like the rest of them! I did the absolute absurd; I wore no such tunic over my dark tan pants that ended below the knees, and a dark green shirt, which to me represented the part of me that didn't care for any particular trade.

     On my arms I slid things similar to socks over them, from just below my shoulders all the way down to my wrists... Okay, so they were once socks just with the part for the foot cut off. But I dyed them a cool dark red, so no one could tell what they once were. Similarly to the things protecting my arms, I pulled a scarf-like thing, which doubled as a face mask over my head. It too was dark red like the arm things. And finally, I slid on the robe over my shoulders. The dark blue alone looked a little bland, but I had plans to use some of the gold we collected from the Mesa Biome to outline the trimming of it, hence making it pop a little more in color. For now, the simple blue and red would have to do.

     I pulled up the red face mask, flipped the blue hood over my head and ran outside for the nearest reflective surface, which was the pond near the center of town. Everyone I passed by stopped and stared at the strange difference in outfit compared to the rest, but I felt it only reflected how cool I felt on the inside, so I didn't mind their curiosity and occasional weird looks. I looked epic! (Finally decided to make him a wandering trader, though I like how naturally that decision was almost made for me. 😅 It was almost like Tim chose his own destiny.)

     It wasn't until a few days later that we actually headed out, still following our previous plan to mine some easy gold in the Bad Lands, but we had already started planning a trip we could go on afterwards that would lead us in basically the opposite direction of the desert.

     Before we left, Hokeson, Drake and I met up with Hero to talk over our plan. Though he hadn't been on many more adventures than us, he still had a little more experience. We could have talked to Steve, but that required a lot more writing back and forth and... he really just didn't look in the mood to do all of that. Hero suggested we bring enough wood to make a couple small huts to hide from the night in, which was a good idea. He also reminded us to bring as many potions we could carry, varying in their effects. That also was a good idea, and I ended up being the one to carry the majority of those potions, since I was much more of a minimalist than the rest, so I had a lot more storage space. The four of us finally ready, our little squad, plus Quancie, ventured out, again, into the unknown. Watch out, adventure. We're coming for you.

Section 4: (font 2)

     Nearly a week had gone by since the venturing villagers left on their second adventure, and still there was no sign of them returning.

     Steve and Hero were on the wall -- Hero sitting with his legs dangling over the wall's outer edge, and Steve standing with one hand shading his eyes from the setting sun as he looked to the horizon -- waiting for the crew of villagers to return. The human squinted, hoping somehow to see past the swamp that also sat right next to the village.

     With a huff, Steve grabbed his sword off from the floor and held it tightly as he walked up closer to the corner of the wall. "Hhh, that's it. I'm going." He announced, turning back towards the village to go in and grab his things.

     "Wait! What if they are just taking their time? What if they found a village, and-?"

     "I would think that you out of anyone would understand why I need to go. Even if they are alright, they still have been gone an entire day longer than they said they would be. And... three of those four were the three who saved my life. I can't just leave them out there like that. Furthermore, they could have been captured by Illagers, and... we know how merciless those monsters are.." The shorter human explained his reasoning.

     "You're right... Just, please put on your best armor at least. I would go but-" The younger quickly coughed before continuing, "I know how you would feel about that.."

     "Exactly. You still need to stay where it is safe. And.. drink some more healing potions while you're at it..."

     "Hhh, alright... But they always make my tummy hurt.."

     "As long as they are helping, it'll be worth it in the end... Now, guess I better be going then. You make sure you get off that wall before the monsters show up... I've been wanting to practice with some potions I've been brewing..so hopefully that can make this fun.."

     Later that evening, when the sky had fallen to a dark shade of purple, Steve exited the wall through an iron door. As silence swallowed up the night, the human chugged down half of the new potion he had made. Agility came to him, along with the energy to run a thousand miles if he had to. With great speed, Steve ran around the swam, throug a small field, and continued racing all the monsters who challenged themselves to follow. It was exciting to run so fast. He had never felt such a freedom before; it was almost like he was flying.

     After some time, and a few more chugs, the human saw the dull orange glow of a torch. He rolled over his shoulder behind a tree as soon as he heard noises. They certainly were familiar, but not in a good way. The human slowly crept through the trees, closer to the light in the clearing.

     Aha! Steve had a good view of them. Five Pillager scouts had managed to knock out Billy somehow, and were hauling the rest back to base, chains tyed around their prisoners' wrist..even little Tim's.

     Excited to test these ones, Steve pulled out two more potions: strength and invisibility. He chugged them down quietly as he could. Wiping his chin, Steve smiled the moment he could feel the potions already working in his body. He vanished, nothing but the indents in the grass could be seen from him. Still with the speed potion in his system, the human ran up behind the Illager troops. Once behind the last of the Illagers, the human drew his sword, which was visible, unlike him.

Shap!

     The man's blade pierced through the Pillager, alerting the other troops immediately.

     "Hor-horr!" The head Illager with the banner casually placed over his shoulder ordered the others to charge. They dropped their chains, allowing the six or so villagers to flee from them. All enemy eyes were now on the floating sword.

     An arrow whistled through the air. The diamond blade quickly shifted, deflecting the deadly object. Then that arrow too rose off the ground, and flew into the shoulder of the Pillager who shot it. The sword raced after another, rising only to swat the creature's crossbow away from its target and swiping lower to pierce straight through the monster's chest. When that monster fell, the sword was active again, this time going after the Illager with the arrow in its shoulder. That one was taken out easily. An invisible thing kicked its legs out from under it, so the monster fell, where it was an easy target for the sword to again pierce through. The other two fell just as quickly, and by the time Steve's potions wore off, the captain of the small force was already knocked down and bleeding, his banner having been broken.

     "P-please spare me, human!" The monster's arm not holding him up desperately reached out to act as a sorry barrier between its neck and the human's shining blade. No ounce of mercy shown in his eyes, so the outcome was likely to be unfavorable for the Illager.

     "...Why should I..?" Steve growled, inching the diamond tip of his sword ever closer. The Illager swallowed, the feeling of a tight knot deep in his throat.

     "B-because, your village will be attacked if you do!"

     "But... How will they know it was me..?" Half whispering, the faintest of smiles mocked the monster's claim.

     "We have our ways.." The head Illager grunted, lowering his head, knowing he hadn't given an answer good enough to persuade the human. Steve pulled back his sword and... swiped no more than a few layers of skin on the creature's forehead, scaring it, yes, but doing no more than giving it a new bleeding cut to clean up. The Illager's head shot back up at Steve as the human walked away with his bloody sword in hand, absolutely astonished.

     "I don't want to take any chances..." Was his reasoning. "But count this as a warning." Spinning around, Steve pointed his sword again at the monster's head. "Because I'm going to be looking for that scar if my village is attacked again." He threatened coldly.

     The Illager only nodded, before quickly bolting back into the forest for cover. Steve then set his mind to Billy, who had been dragged on some weird platform with wheels. He checked to see if his old friend was alright. In studying him, he saw an arrow sticking out from his side with a weird grey tinge to it. The instant he pulled it out, the ravenger shot back up onto his feet, snarling, until he realized nothing was there. Then, he noticed Steve, and all was good.

     One by one, the villagers crept back out of the forest towards Steve, the chains now off their wrists. The first few were Tim Drake and the other kid, but after them crept out a few more. These villagers' outfits mostly consisted of purple fabric and moss and or weeds one would usually find in the swamp. One or two of them also wore these plants on their heads as hats. Though somewhat confused, the human smiled. These villagers must have come from another village. Who knows.. maybe they were the last survivors as well.

    These swamp dwellers were especially intrigued with the human, attempting one at a time, and even all at once, to communicate with them. There smiled kindly, enjoying their reactions, but eventually had to let them know he couldn't understand them by shrugging and turning away. In case the villagers were lost, Steve took it upon himself to lead the weary group back to the village, grabbing one of the torches the illagers had left to better lead the way. He went ahead and put on the full set of diamond armor he had made for Hero a while back as he escorted them. Good thing too, because along the way many monsters attacked them, and it was much easier to fight them off when he didn't have to worry about every little injury while fighting. Most of all, the human was just glad he could finally repay those who had saved him so long ago, especially Billy.

     When the villagers, lead by Steve, finally arrived at the safety of the village, two things happened. One, the new villagers marveled at all the light, the protective walls, and tall tower which protected that village so much. And two, Tim translated through writing that the three new villagers were not the last of their village, but a small portion of the relatively safe village in the middle of a distant swamp, which was kept safe from the Illagers due to them not being so eager about marching through murky water just to reach them. Those three were there as representatives to prove what Tim and the others said about there being one remaining human -- in their village -- being real. Apparently, that village wanted proof that Steve was real before agreeing to anything else involving these mysterious travelers. And now...they had their proof. After generations of having no connection with another village, finally, contact had been made. And an alliance formed.

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Lol, time for war.