Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue

The hastily constructed resting base was simple yet functional.

Everyone sat around a large stone table that Cloud Retainer had just fashioned out of nearby rocks. They chatted and laughed as they ate bread, seemingly enjoying the brief reprieve.

Occasionally, however, their gazes drifted to Xiao, who was slumped powerlessly in a stone chair, looking utterly spent.

Their eyes carried a mix of sympathy and reverence.

And every time Xiao let out a dry heave, the sympathy deepened, their gazes turning to pity.

Eventually, Ningguang, having finished her last bite of bread and fully restored her hunger bar, let out a sigh. She turned to Ryen, a trace of exasperation in her tone.

"Honestly, Ryen, how could you deceive the Vigilant Yaksha? We've relied on him to protect us this entire journey."

Ryen, however, was quick to defend himself.

"Deceive? What are you even saying? That wasn't deception—it was sharing culinary delights! Besides, I ate the same carrots, and look, I'm perfectly fine."

The mention of carrots caused Xiao's face to visibly pale. Without a word, he turned his head away and resumed dry heaving.

It was clear—Xiao would rather never see another carrot in his life.

This display tugged at Zhongli's heartstrings. Shaking his head helplessly, he murmured, "Those carrots of yours… not everyone can stomach them."

"Now hold on just a moment!" Ryen's interest was piqued as he straightened up, adopting a serious demeanor.

"First off, let's get the facts straight about bone meal's growth acceleration properties. You sprinkle it on the soil, and boom—crops are ready for harvest."

"The produce you get doesn't even need washing—no dirt, no grime, and every piece is perfectly uniform in size and taste."

"As for concerns about bone meal residue, that's just a psychological barrier. You've all eaten carrots pulled fresh from the ground before, haven't you?"

"Secondly…"

Ryen paused, shaking his head with a hint of frustration.

"I've explained this many times already—this world doesn't have sentient beings like we're used to. Whether it's zombies or Villager No. 677, they're more like puppets than living creatures. Their essence is fundamentally different from ours."

"They have no thoughts, no will. You've seen it yourselves—when you kill these monsters, they just drop loot and vanish into thin air as smoke. Why would you think something that merely looks human is the same as human life? Besides, they're literally just blocks!"

"And another thing—Liyue's farmers use fertilizer for their crops, don't they? Think of bone meal as the equivalent of using slime condensate as fertilizer. Sure, it's a bit strange, but it's not like it's unacceptable."

The group's expressions turned increasingly peculiar as Ryen spoke. He scanned their faces, hoping for a hint of understanding but found none.

Realizing that they weren't ready to embrace the idea, Ryen let it go. He knew that for people with such deeply ingrained beliefs, bone meal would be hard to accept in the short term.

After all, bone meal was, in essence, made from the bones of humanoid creatures. If they were to accept it too quickly, Ryen would have to start questioning their dietary preferences.

Still, bone meal was a critical solution to the food shortage problem, and Ryen wasn't about to let them avoid the topic forever.

"How about this…" Ryen thought for a moment, then pulled out a bucket of water, offering tentatively, "What if we wash the crops before eating them?"

"…"

A long silence hung over the group. Eventually, it was Ganyu who broke it, unable to bear seeing Ryen left in awkward isolation.

"Um… Ryen, everyone's lived in Teyvat for so long—it's natural that it's hard to change their mindset. Maybe we can set aside the topic of bone meal for now?"

"Exactly," Ningguang chimed in, smiling gently. "Why don't we instead take stock of our mining haul so far? Based on the time, it should be about three in the afternoon now."

Seeing their unwillingness to continue the bone meal discussion, Ryen shrugged, deciding not to push them further.

"Fine, since everyone's rested, let's tally up the minerals we've collected."

At the mention of inventorying minerals, Ningguang's eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

"First up—coal. How many stacks do you all have?"

By now, the group had long since lost their initial excitement over coal. They didn't even bother counting individual pieces anymore.

As Ryen had once remarked, "Coal is basically worthless!"

It appeared everywhere—in massive veins. You'd mine a patch and end up accidentally breaking into another chamber filled with even more coal.

At first, everyone had been excited by the abundance, but over time…

The mere sight of coal made their expressions darken.

They hadn't gone mining just to collect coal!

And yet, it was valuable enough to sell for Mora, and if not sold, it was still useful for personal use.

At this point, the group had developed a collective sentiment about coal: it's a waste of time.

Keqing was the first to raise her hand.

"Ganyu and I each have five stacks. The rest… we gave to Ryen. That stuff takes up way too much inventory space."

"I have four stacks," Cloud Retainer added. "Also, can we skip coal veins next time?"

"Lord Zhongli and I each have four stacks," Xiao said.

Finally, all eyes turned to Ryen, who rolled his eyes and muttered, "Don't look at me! I already have nine stacks of coal. And that's with me constantly making torches and placing them throughout the caves."

"By the way, I also have five stacks of torches. Anyone willing to take some off my hands? I'm running out of inventory space for anything useful."

A heavy silence fell over the group.

After a moment, Ningguang spoke, her voice measured.

"Adding my four stacks, that brings the total to thirty-five stacks of coal—roughly… three hundred seventy-two tons."

"…"

Ningguang's expression darkened.

Seven people mining for half a day had yielded three hundred seventy-two tons of coal. While this was an impressive feat on paper, it brought her no joy.

Anyone who understood coal's lack of value would see it as a joke. To the uninformed, it might even look like the seven of them were a professional coal-mining crew!

"Three hundred and seventy-two tons of high-quality coal! Whether sold on the market or kept for our own use in Liyue, it's pure profit," Keqing mused, her tone calm yet resolute. Then, shifting gears, she added softly, "But let's be honest, we're not here to mine coal. I propose we stop collecting coal for now."

She glanced around at the group. "Any more of it, and we won't have room to carry anything else valuable. We can't afford to waste precious storage space on it."

No sooner had Keqing finished her sentence than the group unanimously raised their hands.

"Agreed!"

"This immortal concurs as well!"

"I second the motion! From now on, let's all avoid mining coal."

With that, coal's once-lofty position was thoroughly toppled. Everyone was in unanimous agreement, treating it as little more than dead weight.

Of course, Ryen had anticipated this outcome. Coal was practically worthless to them at this point. Back in his previous life, when he played games and explored mines, it was the same story—before he could find diamonds, he'd have bags full of coal.

Still, mining that much coal wasn't entirely without its perks. Thanks to their efforts, Ryen's experience level had already shot up to Level 47, plenty high enough to perform some basic enchantments.

However, his own level didn't matter much to him. It was good only for enchanting—at least until some of the more advanced mods, like sword mods, came into play. For Keqing, Ganyu, and the others, though, it was a different story. Their shared experience points were being absorbed into their Vision, boosting their elemental energy. Although the improvements were small, they added up over time.

More importantly, the points helped Xiao suppress his karmic debt. This was why everyone was so enthusiastic about mining coal despite its lack of value.

Thinking about elemental power, Ryen couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. Sure, his physical strength could level mountains—he could probably take down even Celestia itself if he wanted to—but controlling the elements? That was every human's dream.

He'd even asked Zhongli about getting himself a Vision. Not because he cared about the power—it just looked so cool to have one hanging on your belt. Zhongli had promised to look into it, but Ryen wasn't holding his breath.

After all, Visions weren't just handed out by the Seven Archons as many assumed. Judging by Zhongli's cryptic expressions, they likely had ties to Celestia or even the Heavenly Principles themselves.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that Ryen had set his sights on obtaining a Vision. Whether Celestia cooperated or not, well, his fists could always do the talking.

Still… there was one major problem gnawing at him. While Ganyu and the others' experience points were funneled into their Visions, how would they enchant their weapons? Did that mean he'd have to use his own experience points to enchant things for them? That was a bit much, wasn't it?

"Ryen! You're zoning out again," came Ganyu's soft voice, breaking his train of thought.

He blinked, snapping back to the present, only to find Ganyu's face mere inches from his. Her breath brushed against his skin, sending a faint warmth to his cheeks.

Under the dim glow of torchlight, Ganyu's expression held a mix of worry and curiosity. Her flawless complexion gleamed like polished jade, her delicate features so close that he could see every intricate detail.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still. Her skin was smooth and unblemished, like the purest white porcelain. Under the flickering light, it exuded an almost ethereal allure.

Realizing their proximity, Ganyu's cheeks flushed a faint red, but she didn't move away. Instead, her eyes darted nervously, avoiding his gaze.

"My bad," Ryen said with a sheepish smile, tearing his eyes away and straightening up. "I was just thinking about the coal situation. Where were we?"

Nearby, Ningguang silently observed their interaction, her signature gentle smile unfaltering. She made no comment, though her gaze lingered on the pair for a moment longer than usual before gracefully redirecting the conversation.

"We were discussing the iron ore," she said smoothly. "So far, we've tallied five and a half stacks between us. How much do you have?"

At the mention of iron, everyone's expressions turned slightly regretful. Unlike coal, iron was genuinely valuable. If it were as abundant as coal, Ningguang and the others would have happily emptied their inventories just to carry more of it.

The reason was simple: iron was worth a fortune.

In this world, Ryen's reliance on iron was practically endless. Tools, armor, rails, pistons, mechanisms—it all required massive quantities of iron to build.

In Teyvat, Ningguang had done her homework. She'd learned that iron mined from Ryen's world fetched a premium price due to its exceptional quality. If smelted down, it could sell for 10% more than regular iron.

But the real money lay in the iron ingots. Each ingot, though only the size of a palm, weighed nearly a ton and was worth a hundred times the price of Teyvat's common ores.

In other words, the five and a half stacks of iron they'd collected—totaling over 304 tons—were worth billions of Mora.

Of course, selling it wasn't part of the plan. For now, the priority was to use the iron to aid their expansion efforts. Besides, Ningguang had already promised that Ryen would have first access to all resources.

Hearing Ningguang's report, Ryen blinked in surprise before quickly opening his inventory. After a moment of rummaging, he broke into a grin and announced, "I've got exactly one stack of iron ore here!"

"That makes six and a half stacks!" Ningguang exclaimed, her excitement evident. "This is incredible!"

"Looks like we've struck gold—well, iron," Ryen quipped with a chuckle. "This haul is gonna make a world of difference."

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