Nether Mined
Part 22 ~ 29 August 2025
Played: 7 April 2025
"Are those... diamond tools?"
These are the words of a fellow player on a server I played on back in 2020 (early 1.16 era), in response to a screenshot and comment that had nothing to do with my gear. I never asked them what they meant by this, and it was never brought up again, but to me the implication was clear: "We've upgraded to full netherite. Why haven't you?" It's been five years and I still think about it.
And so, here I was, unsatisfied by the diamond-ness of my tools, and still feeling a little pang of disappointment from my first mission for ancient debris. It's not a competition, of course – this is my single-player world. I just wanted the simple satisfaction of completing a set, of finishing a task. So for this session, I decided to go full-bore (oof!) and tunnel til I had enough ancient debris to upgrade all my gear.
My first mine was basically cashed out, so I set about finding another, ideally larger, area to strip for its precious minerals. After a little flying aroud, I found this low-lying nether wastes area to the south, largely tucked away behind the nether's high walls but with a few narrow passages. In my experience, the nether tends to generate in tiers or shelf-like formations. If you're standing at mid-elevations (60-80), there's a good chance that the terrain gives way to air – and lava lakes – before you get down to the netherite layers. Such is the case at my portal and much of the surrounding area. But if you find yourself in a large, flat plain at a low level (say, 40 or so), you're on solid ground all the way to bedrock. Well, barring ravines and the ever-present single lava blocks. They couldn't make it TOO easy, now could they...
While looking for a suitable spot to begin the dig, I found a small magma patch... which turned out to be a not so small magma patch. After a couple of lava spills and piglin skirmishes, I finished clearing the pile and came away with over 500 blocks! These roasted rocks will make me rich someday... trust me :)
With my pockets full of half-molten earth, I proceeded down to y15 and – OH MY GOSH IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I got TWO BLOCKS into the mine, I was digging out the entrance room, and I hit ancient debris! This is going to be a GOOD session.
And it was, indeed, pretty good. The tunnels were long, hundreds of blocks without interruption in some parts. I struck green early and often. I swam through the few ravines to grab the fireproof deposits from the walls. And when it seemed I had stopped striking later on, I went back through with my "intentionally explosive devices" to flush out the hidden treasure. I came away with 32 debris, and there's plenty more to be had from this mine in the future!
A quick flight past a bastion to the Elaville portal, and I'm back at base to craft up my 8 shiny netherite ingots – of which I only need 6 to finish up my upgrades. Bear witness to my Serious Dedication! I'm undecided as to what I'll use the others for – Frost Walker boots? A Fortune hoe? Lodestones?? I can tell you what I am definitely NOT doing and that's a netherite block beacon!
