That afternoon, Bilbo hurried straight to his pantry and pulled out a long string of sausages in various flavors. As a proper hobbit of the Shire, he was determined to give a warm welcome to Garrett, this friend who had come from such distant lands.
Garrett naturally didn't refuse such generous hospitality.
The two of them enjoyed a hearty "afternoon tea" together, though by most standards, it was practically a feast. While savoring the food he had personally prepared, his mind was heavy with thoughts.
Although he had watched The Lord of the Rings many times and was quite familiar with the story, now that he had truly arrived in this world, aside from those key plot points and major scenes that were almost like prophecies, he had no idea about the specific details of daily life that the films and books didn't cover thoroughly. He needed time to blend in, and he needed to gather information about this world.
After the meal, he politely declined Bilbo's offer of Old Toby, the Shire's finest pipe-weed. The two of them sat on chairs in the small garden, gazing out over the rolling green hills in comfortable silence.
The air grew peaceful and quiet.
"Master Garrett, do you have any pressing business in the next few days?"
Suddenly, Bilbo asked this question.
Garrett glanced at him and raised an eyebrow.
Bilbo stood up, took a deep breath, and said, "Of course, don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to pry into your private affairs. What I mean is, if you don't have anything urgent, perhaps you could stay here for a few more days. You see, the scenery in the Shire is quite lovely, isn't it? I think you could explore a bit, consider it a chance to rest and recover from your travels. Well... you know, we hobbits are not ones for leaving our homeland, nor do we have much appetite for adventures, but personally I'm rather curious about the outside world. If you're willing, you could tell me about your travels. I'd be delighted to host you and show proper hobbit hospitality."
With that, he clasped his hands behind his back, looking at Garrett with hopeful expectation. At this moment, in his eyes, Garrett had already become a master chef from some far-off land, perhaps even the cook of some great lord or king. With culinary skills like his, every additional meal was a gift.
Silence settled between them.
Garrett quickly saw through this little scheme with just a moment's thought.
As expected, those with real cooking skills never had to worry about finding a welcome, no matter where they went.
Bilbo grew a bit anxious. Just as he opened his mouth to say something more, Garrett laughed.
"Well, since you put it that way, I'll gladly accept your hospitality for a few more days. Thank you for your generosity."
"Oh, wonderful! Wonderful!" Bilbo nodded enthusiastically.
Only after Garrett had gone back inside did Bilbo finally let out a relieved breath. This was actually the first time Bilbo had ever invited a complete stranger to stay in his home, naturally, he was more than a bit nervous about it.
Pleasant moments always pass quickly. The time between afternoon tea and dinner flew by with only occasional conversation.
Under the guise of "learning local recipes," Garrett picked up several new cooking techniques that evening.
The result?
All the dishes Bilbo prepared were politely eaten by Garrett, while all the expertly crafted meals made by Garrett were gratefully devoured by Bilbo.
This left the hobbit feeling rather embarrassed, he was enjoying restaurant-quality meals while Garrett had to make do with his own amateur cooking. For a chef of this caliber, eating such simple fare must be quite a hardship...
He thought to himself that if he were forced to eat a charred piece of fish made by a kitchen novice, he'd probably lose his appetite entirely.
At the table, both of them showed satisfied expressions after the meal. It had to be said, hobbit stomachs really could handle impressive quantities of food.
By Garrett's usual standards, that meal would have lasted him the entire day. He had thought he might not be able to eat so much, after all, in Minecraft, once your hunger bar was full, you couldn't eat anymore. But to his surprise, even after maxing out his hunger bar, he found he could still continue eating.
A second, brighter hunger bar appeared above the original one.
Hunger storage.
He immediately formed a theory. In Minecraft, there were many modifications that made this kind of thing possible. So the fact that Middle-earth also seemed to follow "modified" rules made perfect sense.
After some experimentation, he quickly discovered that the hunger bar could only store one additional full bar at most. Once the second hunger bar was completely filled, no matter how much more he ate, there would be no further change. At that point, he would finally start to feel genuinely full.
After the meal, he bid Bilbo good evening and quietly slipped away, heading deep into a distant wood.
This was something Garrett had been wanting to try for quite some time. He looked around, confirming the area was uninhabited and unlikely to be disturbed. Then, he raised his hand and delivered a firm punch to a large tree in front of him.
Thump.
A dull sound echoed out. A barely noticeable crack appeared on the tree trunk.
His hand remained completely unharmed.
Thump thump thump thump thump...
The dull pounding continued. After several solid punches had left their mark on the unfortunate tree, a sharp crack was heard, and a chunk was knocked out of the trunk. The entire tree toppled over with a tremendous crash, startling birds and small creatures throughout the forest. At the same time, a small section of wood dropped to the ground and began to glow faintly.
After being absorbed into his inventory, it displayed its name: Oak Log.
Unlike in the game, this piece of wood still looked exactly as it had when it broke off from the tree.
He tried harvesting another piece of wood and discovered that it took up a separate inventory slot, it couldn't stack with the first, because the two logs were slightly different in size and shape.
The solution?
[Crafting Recipe Unlocked: Standard Oak Planks]
After a short while, the fallen tree disappeared entirely, replaced in his inventory by several stackable "Standard Oak" blocks, along with a collection of sticks and leaves.
[Achievement Unlocked: "Getting Wood!"]
"So that's how it works."
Seeing the achievement appear, he came to an understanding.
Just as there are no two identical leaves in nature, items directly gathered from the world couldn't be stacked in his inventory due to differences in size, grain, or structure. But after being processed through crafting, they could be converted into standardized materials, thus allowing for stacking and more efficient storage. For example, when collecting tree logs, he just needed to place them into the four-slot crafting grid in his inventory. That would "standardize" them into the familiar uniform blocks he knew from the game.
With this understanding, he got back to work, methodically harvesting trees and gathering materials throughout the forest. As materials filled his inventory, more crafting recipes became available.
First came the crafting table, then a wooden pickaxe.
Clack.
He struck the ground at his feet, beginning the classic "direct mining approach": digging straight down from where he stood.
Much later, when Garrett finally climbed back out of his improvised mine shaft, he had gathered a full set of stone tools, unlocked the "Stone Age" achievement, and even built a few furnaces to smelt some charcoal for torches.
There was no other choice, in the real world, unlike in Minecraft, you couldn't just dig anywhere and expect to find coal veins. So charcoal would have to suffice for now.
After all that work, with a soft chime, he reached level one.
No obvious changes occurred to his abilities. Still, once he found diamonds and obsidian, he could try crafting an enchanting table and see what might happen...
By then, night had already fallen completely.
Looking up, the sky was filled with brilliant stars, with a crescent moon hanging among them.
"Beautiful," he murmured.
It was about time to head back, Bilbo was probably wondering where he'd gone, and perhaps expecting one of those late-evening meals that hobbits were so fond of.