The discovery sparked a massive discussion almost immediately.
[Holy shit! What is this place? It looks terrifying, like a world made entirely of lava!]
[So the obsidian portal needs to be activated with flint and steel. I'm trying it right now!]
[I get it now, this must be the map for the final boss! Is that black and red fortress the Demon King's palace?]
Hearing that a new map had appeared and was suspected to be the location of the final boss, a large number of players soon began experimenting with the mechanic.
They discovered that as long as obsidian was placed in a specific rectangular pattern and then ignited in the center with flint and steel, the Nether portal would activate.
[Damn, why is this world full of gold? I'm gonna be rich, I'm gonna be rich!]
[You think that's real gold? I haven't even found a use for this gold stuff yet. It's not nearly as valuable as diamond!]
[I dug up some ancient debris. Does anyone know what this is for?]
[I've entered a Nether fortress. There's no boss inside, but there are tons of new mobs and these piglin brutes, and they fuckin one hit me!!]
"How is this guy progressing so fast?"
Jose saw that Boshita had actually discovered a new map and felt incredibly competitive all of a sudden.
"No way, I won't let this guy get ahead of me."
He immediately built a portal with obsidian and quickly headed into the Nether and came fully prepared with diamond armor enchanted with Protection.
He wielded a Sharpness III diamond sword, and his bow had Power IV.
Then he searched and searched until he finally found a Nether structure looming in the distance.
"This must be the Demon King's lair, right?"
Jose immediately planned to venture inside and explore its depths.
Before long, he made his way to the very center of the fortress.
After exploring for a while, though, he didn't find any boss waiting for him. However, there were several black wither skeletons and blazes wreathed in flames patrolling the corridors.
[You obtained Blaze Rod x3]
"Blaze rod?"
Holding the materials in his hand, he realized it matched one of the items required by the blueprint that had dropped when he killed an enderman earlier.
He immediately opened his crafting table and combined an ender pearl with a blaze rod.
Of course, it didn't work out, but he immediately read the blueprint again and quickly realized his mistake. He crafted Blaze Powder first, and then combined it with the Ender Pearl.
[You obtained an Eye of Ender]
[Eye of Ender]
Follow it, and you might find clues about The End.
It was a remarkably simple description, but it left Jose deep in thought.
"The End?"
"Could there be another world beyond this one?"
He used the Eye of Ender directly but found it showed no reaction whatsoever.
Then he returned to the Overworld.
There he used the Eye of Ender again, and the crystal suddenly broke free from his palm and transformed into a beam of purple light that shot off in one direction.
Its flight path left a faint glowing trail behind, as if guiding the way forward.
"So that's how you use it!" Jose's eyes lit up with understanding.
The Eye of Ender continued flying forward at a steady pace with Jose following closely behind, but after traveling a short distance, it fell to the ground and shattered into fragments.
Clearly, more Eyes of Ender would be needed to reach the destination.
He quickly returned to the Nether to continue farming Blazes. He had stockpiled many ender pearls before, so he wasn't short of them for now.
He farmed about twenty or thirty blaze rods through repeated trips back and forth.
Then he used all of them to create Blaze Powder and subsequently crafted them all into Eyes of Ender and returned to the Overworld once more.
He continued throwing them to track the path.
The Eye of Ender flew into the distance, and Jose immediately followed its glowing trail.
After traveling like this in a stop-and-start pattern while consuming five Eyes of Ender, the purple glow ahead finally stopped moving forward. Instead, it hovered above a flat patch of grass and circled continuously while flashing.
Jose stepped forward quickly and swung his diamond pickaxe to dig vigorously. Soon, he revealed a dark opening in the ground.
"A stronghold!"
Jose felt a surge of excitement as he dropped directly into the labyrinth below.
Stone bricks covered in moss and various winding passages appeared before him.
The internal structure of the stronghold proved incredibly intricate. Eventually, deep within its depths, he found a massive hall. In the center of the hall stood a portal frame made of green blocks.
Three Eyes of Ender were already positioned on the portal frames. Nine more were needed to activate it fully.
Jose immediately took out the remaining Eyes of Ender and carefully fitted them into the empty slots on the frames.
When the last one clicked into place, the entire portal instantly lit up with a blinding purple light, and a swirling vortex surged to life in the middle of the frame.
Unlike the deep crimson darkness of the Nether portal, this vortex was filled with tiny specks of light, as if an entire starry sky was hidden within its depths.
"Is this The End?"
Jose took a deep breath to suppress his nervousness and excitement, then leaped into the swirling vortex.
The feeling of weightlessness lasted only a moment. A hard and cold sensation came from beneath his feet. After steadying himself, he looked up and found himself shocked by the sight before him.
It was a desolate world rendered in shades of gray and white. The ground was made of strange pale stone blocks, and several towering obsidian pillars stood in the distance.
Ender crystals emitting a faint glow were embedded atop each pillar.
And at the center of this realm, a pitch-black dragon with an enormous wingspan was slowly circling through the air. The Ender Dragon.
Throughout the heart of The End, many endermen were also wandering about aimlessly.
The Ender Dragon seemed to sense the intruder's presence and immediately let out a deafening roar, flapped its massive wings, then lunged directly toward Jose.
He quickly dodged to the side and then drew his bow to shoot in response. Even though fighting with a bow isn't his strong suit, one arrow struck true and took away a sliver of health.
But at that moment, an enderman immediately teleported over to cause him even more trouble.
To this day, he still hadn't figured out the aggression mechanics of these endermen. Some would attack him for seemingly no reason, while others would pass right by him without doing anything.
After killing the troublesome enderman with several quick sword strikes, he could only try his best to avoid the others while continuing to attack the Ender Dragon.
Fortunately, the difficulty of this boss didn't seem particularly high at first.
After fighting for a while, though, the Ender Dragon flew past one of the crystals. A white energy beam connected them instantly, restoring the dragon's health to full in seconds.
Jose stood there dumbfounded.
He soon realized that he had to destroy these crystals first before he could actually damage the boss.
Building a pillar of blocks beneath himself, he climbed up steadily while dodging the Ender Dragon's diving attacks along the way.
After finally reaching the top of the tower, he swung his sword to break the obsidian cage protecting the crystal and slashed hard at the Ender Crystal itself.
It exploded instantly.
"Oh crap!"
His figure was sent flying backward through the air. The explosion damage, combined with the fall damage, killed him instantly.
"Damn it, I was careless! I didn't expect the ender crystal to explode like that."
Continuing on, he respawned and returned to The End once more with grim determination.
With his previous experience guiding him, he began trying to use his bow and arrows from a safe distance instead.
This method proved far more effective, and before long, all the crystals had been cleared from the pillars.
Without the crystals to heal it, the Ender Dragon became easy prey. Jose soon wore it down and killed it with a final arrow.
With a mournful dragon's cry, the Ender Dragon's body emitted a brilliant purple light. As the light faded, it transformed into a shower of experience orbs that rained down around him.
[You defeated the Ender Dragon]
"Hahahaha!"
Jose stood with his hands on his hips in triumph.
He immediately wanted to show off to Boshita and recorded a video to post on the forum.
[First clear of the final boss. Who else can match this???]
And once again, it instantly sparked intense discussion across the forums.
But even after doing all this, he still didn't feel satisfied. For some reason, he also tagged Alto in his post.
[To be fair, this game really isn't difficult at all! And the mechanics feel a bit repetitive. @Designer Alto]
He really wasn't lying either. It truly had been too simple. After all that buildup, it was just one dragon to fight. Isn't it easy enough for anyone with hands?
In his opinion, this game really wasn't as challenging as Ark had been!
At this moment, Alto was still anonymously browsing the forum when he noticed the message tagging him.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
"Think it's simple? This is what you said yourself, remember that!"