Day five of The Merchant of Minecraft!, Michael Deering's February 2015 Minecraft Hardcore Challenge, where the most emeralds at the end of the eighth day wins. Basket starts the morning on the plains outside the village spotted at the end of the last episode. "This is the day where I'm going to get a bunch of emeralds at this town." There's a lot of pork in the bag, and one problem: "I don't have a sword anymore." A stone sword will have to do for now.
A new town to work
Basket kills a few more pigs on the way in. "I have high hopes that there's going to be a butcher in this town." The first villagers aren't much help. "You guys are all church people." There's a cleric, a librarian and a weapon smith, but the leatherworker takes leather, and that's an emerald. A chest in one of the houses holds bread, an apple, an iron helmet and three diamonds, and Basket keeps the diamonds.
This town does have a butcher, and the butcher buys raw porkchops. By about four minutes in, the inventory shows 34 emeralds. What it doesn't have is a farmer, and the farmers were the best customers last time. "Hopefully I'll find another village with a farmer. But I'm up to 37 emeralds."
One more pork trade
A thunderstorm rolls in, and Basket goes back out for more pigs and chickens and a few sheep. "I think just the white sheep because they'll stack with my other wool." There's some inventory cleanup too. "Redstone, I don't need." Back at the butcher, 17 raw porkchops buy one more emerald, and the count is 38. Then it's time to move on. "I approached the town from that direction, so maybe I'll just keep on heading in that direction and see if I can find another village."
A new sword and a long walk
Out on the plains, Basket sets down a crafting table and makes an iron sword. "I'll just keep on migrating north because this is a large biome." Night falls in the rain. The plan is to stay clear of witches and to leave endermen alone, "but they only get mad if you look at them." Basket also wonders about the pile of stuff being carried around. "I should really look up where the trades are to know what to hold onto."
Zombies in the rain
The night brings zombies, a baby zombie, spiders and creepers. A fight with zombies ends up in a pond. "Oh, I'm in the water now. That's a problem." It works out, and Basket picks up the zombie flesh. Basket thinks about a desert temple for gold to trade. Later the land changes. "Extreme hills. That's not where we want to be." Another baby zombie turns up. "I hate baby zombies."
Dawn with no village
The rain stops "just in time for a day," and the sky goes red. There's no new village in sight. "I thought I was going to find another one maybe, but I don't see one." Basket might have to head back toward the last town and go around from there. The zombies start to burn, and the count stands where it was at the butcher. "So, yeah, we're at 38 emeralds." That's the end of day five, with Basket alive on the plains. The credits follow, with no gameplay after them.
