OP: AMP Ch. 207

"This is pretty incredible," Marcus muttered, staring at the Soul Sand Floating Island as it continued its slow growth.

Soul sand was supposed to be a non-renewable resource in Minecraft. You couldn't duplicate it through machines like you could with regular sand or gravel. The game mechanics simply didn't allow for it. Well, that was the theory anyway. In practice, you could trade gold ingots with piglins to get some, though the drop rates were terrible and made it hardly worth the effort.

It was way easier to just fly out to a Soul Sand Valley biome and start digging. A single valley usually had enough soul sand and soul soil to last a player through their entire playthrough with plenty to spare. After all, soul sand only had a handful of practical uses. The main one was summoning the Wither, that took four soul sand blocks per summon. Then there was growing nether wart, which needed soul sand as its growing medium. Beyond that, you had niche applications like certain mob farms and water elevators. Those last few uses barely consumed any soul sand at all. The real drain came from repeatedly summoning Withers to farm nether stars.

And nether stars could only be used to craft beacons. That was it for vanilla Minecraft, mods might add other uses, but the base game was limited to beacons. You really only needed one beacon to get the job done. Having more just expanded the coverage area of the buffs. Some players also used soul sand as a decorative building block, but that was purely aesthetic.

"You sure this is safe?" Usopp asked nervously, placing each foot on the cobblestone platform Marcus had constructed.

After leaving the small containment chamber, that crushing sense of oppression had faded. But the faint aura emanating from beneath his feet made it impossible to relax. The urge to run back to the real world kept getting stronger with every passing second.

His body trembled involuntarily.

Marcus thought for a moment, then started mining away some of the soul sand blocks to see if that would help. He broke maybe a dozen blocks, creating a wider buffer zone. Removing the soul sand didn't seem to change the wailing property at all. The screaming faces within the remaining blocks continued drifting and twisting. He could even sense countless resentful voices whispering at the edge of his consciousness, like static on a radio tuned between stations.

After clearing the area a bit, he decided to try something he'd been curious about for a while. He pulled out six crying obsidian blocks and three glowstone blocks and began constructing a respawn anchor. The respawn anchor was a special structure that could only be crafted with crying obsidian. It was designed to work around the fact that beds exploded when you tried to use them in the nether, providing an alternative way to set your spawn point.

In theory, it was useless for someone in hardcore mode like him. Death was supposed to be permanent. But that was only in theory. After all, he'd already been transported to another world. Soul sand had mutated into something that could grow on its own. And crying obsidian had skyrocketed in price to 100,000 EMC per block, double that if you wanted to buy rather than sell.

That price was already far beyond normal, which strongly implied the material had gained some new use that the system recognized.

He had enough EMC now. But he wasn't about to gamble his life on whether a game mechanic would work after he died. What if it didn't? Then he'd be dead, and all his plans would be worthless.

Usopp watched the construction process without really understanding what Marcus was building. He figured it was some kind of special, useful structure. If it was something that would benefit him, Marcus would explain. If not, it probably wasn't worth worrying about.

The respawn anchor stood about a meter tall. According to the game, it only needed glowstone to charge it up and record a spawn point.

He pulled out a glowstone and tossed it in.

A layer of soft luminescence began spreading from the respawn anchor's surface.

"Promising."

Then Marcus started dumping glowstone in by the thousands. One stack, two stacks, five stacks. The glow grew progressively brighter and more intense. After he'd thrown in nearly ten thousand units of glowstone dust, a small yellow marker finally appeared on the respawn anchor's surface. Just a quarter of a circle.

He did some quick math in his head. One glowstone dust cost 33 EMC, 66 if he bought it directly. A full stack of 64 ran 6,600. Ten stacks came to 66,000 total.

Not too expensive, roughly the cost of a full diamond armor set. And compared to the potential of reviving after death? That was dirt cheap.

The question was whether it would work. And more importantly, how would the respawn anchor even recognize him as the one who needed reviving after he'd invested all that glowstone?

He pondered this, then quietly placed his hand on that quarter-circle yellow marker.

Information flooded into his mind immediately. Not enough. He needed more.

He dumped in another thirty stacks of glowstone dust. The small yellow marker slowly expanded, growing into a complete circle. When he placed his hand on it again, the glow within the respawn anchor surged like someone had pulled a plug on a drain. Energy rushed inward through his palm, pouring into the structure. A moment later, the luminescence vanished completely.

And in his hand, a small yellow circular mark had appeared on his palm, glowing faintly beneath his skin.

New information appeared in his mind.

He could now revive here, but only if he died in the Nether. If he died in the outside world, death would be permanent. As for what condition he'd be in after reviving, he didn't know. And honestly, he didn't want to find out.

"What is that?" Usopp asked, leaning in curiously to examine the glowing mark on Marcus' palm.

"Resurrection."

"WHAT?!"

Usopp's eyes went wide. He looked at the respawn anchor, then at Marcus, then back at the anchor. His gaze gradually took on an almost fanatical intensity.

"Then can I—"

"It only works if you die in the Nether," Marcus interrupted. "If you die in the outside world, you're still dead for good."

The sudden excitement drained from Usopp's face faster than water through a sieve. How exactly would he manage to die here? This was Marcus' home turf. The place was about as safe as it could possibly be. And if someone was on the brink of death in the outside world, could they be brought to the Nether to revive? The answer was probably no, if you weren't instantly killed, their crew could heal any injury back to full health. So the revival function was useful in theory? Maybe? But he had zero intention of ever entering the Nether by himself again. After all, the terrifying atmosphere of the Soul Sand Floating Island had left a psychological scar on him, just like it had on Nami. Maybe even deeper.

Just then, agonized wailing erupted from behind them.

"Don't... don't kill me! I'll submit, I submit!"

"Is this hell?! God, please, I'll do anything, don't let them devour me!"

Two pirates, bound hand and foot with rope, were already praying desperately. But even with their eyes squeezed shut and prayers spilling from their lips, the inescapable wailing exploded in their minds like bombs going off. They could see countless ghosts screaming within their field of vision, spectral hands reaching out to drag them into endless torment.

"AAAHHH!"

Screams tore from the mouths of both pirates, as if they were experiencing unimaginable torture.

Goliath, on the other hand, seemed completely unbothered. As one of Marcus' created entities, the soul sand caused him no discomfort whatsoever. He dragged both men over, dropping them at Marcus' feet.

Usopp felt sympathy for the two prisoners. Without the protective diamond armor, they were experiencing the full, unfiltered horror of the ghostly wailing. Who knew if they could even survive it without going completely insane?

He looked at Marcus, wanting to say something but hesitating. Then Marcus pulled out two potions and tossed them at the pirates' feet.

Crash.

The glass bottles shattered on the cobblestone. A layer of hazy, shimmering mist rose up and enveloped both men.

Usopp felt his mind clear instantly. "What is that?!"

"Something Chopper made. The effect is Mental Amplification I."

"Damn... He's amazing." Usopp was genuinely impressed.

Chopper was technically the ship's doctor, but he rarely had to treat injuries these days. No matter how severe the wounds, eating food could pull people back from the brink of death. And as for illness, after the crew's internal competition and training had started, everyone's constitution had improved at an abnormal rate. Getting sick was nearly impossible now.

Yet Chopper was busy every single day, working away in his lab.

Clearly, he'd been spending his time developing these potions. And based on the effect, he was getting damn good at it.

The two pirates slowly regained consciousness. When they opened their eyes and saw three people staring down at them, their bodies jerked involuntarily. But the whispers and howls of countless vengeful spirits had vanished from their minds, bringing a wave of relief so intense they almost sobbed. Then they turned their heads and saw the soul sand still twisting and screaming silently, they nearly passed out again from terror.