Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue

Keqing, born into a prestigious family, was well-educated and knowledgeable.

She might not match the scholars of the Sumeru Akademiya in terms of expertise, but at the very least, she had a solid understanding of elemental principles and fundamental natural phenomena.

However…

Today, all of her knowledge was completely overturned.

Because she had just witnessed a person take a bath in a pool of lava—and come out completely unscathed.

And then, right before her eyes, she saw an iron bucket, which at most could hold a liter of water…

Pour out an entire cubic meter of water.

And that was only the beginning.

That cubic meter of water wriggled and expanded as if it were some kind of sinister, living creature.

Before her very eyes, it rapidly spread and extended—

From one cubic meter to a dozen cubic meters in range.

At this point, Keqing could still barely accept it.

After all, hadn't Ryen's aquarium back at his villa worked the same way?

But what truly made Keqing—and everyone else—start questioning reality…

Was that after the bucket of water was poured out, it didn't stop spreading. It continued to flow downward, its volume growing from a single cubic meter to an amount capable of filling an entire swimming pool.

And the moment the water made contact with the lava—

There was almost no elemental reaction, no violent explosion of steam.

Instead, in an instant, the lava transformed into a vast stretch of obsidian.

Ryen casually jumped into the water, drifting down along the flowing stream until he landed safely on the newly formed obsidian ground.

Then, with a practiced motion, he scooped up another bucket of water and walked to the edge where lava still bubbled.

Just like before, he repeated the process—

Pouring water, forming obsidian, refilling the bucket, and pouring again…

The group could only watch in stunned silence as Ryen, using nothing but a simple iron bucket filled with water…

Turned what was once an endless lava lake into a flat, solid obsidian plain.

Standing above, Cloud Retainer pursed her lips, her expression complicated as she muttered,

"Does this count as… some kind of land reclamation technique governed by world laws?"

"Perhaps…" Zhongli responded in a deep voice.

Then, without another word, he leaped down, landing lightly on the water.

With a precise calculation of exactly six blocks of height, he fell safely into the water below—without taking a single scratch.

Once again, Zhongli confirmed the bizarre physics of this world—falling from high up onto water resulted in zero injuries.

Hearing the splash, Ryen glanced over.

In just this short time, he had already converted hundreds of meters of lava into solid ground.

He waved a hand and called out,

"Once you're down, start placing torches to light up the area, then check if there are any diamonds nearby."

The others exchanged glances, silently pulling out torches and beginning to set them down.

Keqing, however, seemed somewhat distracted as she walked beside Ningguang.

Ningguang, ever perceptive, quickly understood the reason behind Keqing's absent-mindedness.

After placing the last torch, Ningguang turned to Keqing with a gentle smile.

"Are you still in shock over Ryen's ability to transform lava like this? If anything, you should be more used to these anomalies than I am, considering you entered this world earlier."

Keqing's eyes flickered back to clarity. She turned her gaze toward Ryen, who was still methodically pouring water along the edge of the obsidian. She shook her head slightly.

"I was just thinking about something…"

Ningguang remained silent, simply looking at Keqing with the quiet patience of a perfect listener.

Keqing didn't keep her in suspense. After a moment of thought, she spoke softly,

"Ryen's water and lava interaction is incredible. I was thinking…"

"Could we use this to expand Liyue Harbor?"

"Now that we've established a partnership with Ryen, Liyue's commerce will only grow stronger and more prosperous."

"That means we need to start planning ahead for the city's development. If we could utilize the ocean's surface without disrupting ship traffic…"

"Ryen's world's water and lava mechanics would be a completely cost-free method of land reclamation."

"What do you think?"

Ningguang was momentarily taken aback by Keqing's bold idea.

Land reclamation was no small matter. At the very least, this wasn't something the two of them could decide on their own.

However, Ningguang also didn't want to outright reject Keqing's plan—after all, she, too, wanted Liyue Harbor to grow even larger and wealthier.

She wanted to ensure that Liyue Harbor would never again experience the poverty and hardship she had faced in her youth.

Further development was essential.

After a moment of contemplation, Ningguang didn't refuse, nor did she approve outright. Instead, she responded in a calm voice,

"This matter is too significant for just the two of us to decide. Perhaps it would be best to consult the Lord of Geo during the next Rite of Descension."

Keqing, though eager to act swiftly, acknowledged the wisdom in Ningguang's words.

She was fully dedicated to Liyue's prosperity.

But…

Public perception was a powerful force.

After thinking it over, Keqing decided to focus on helping Ryen find diamonds for now.

The two quickened their pace and walked toward Ryen.

At that moment, Ganyu and Cloud Retainer were hard at work, swinging their pickaxes against the obsidian.

Meanwhile, Ryen stood nearby, watching them with an expression that looked like he had something to say—but kept stopping himself.

Since earlier, Ryen had repeatedly wanted to remind them—

That iron pickaxes couldn't mine obsidian.

But Ganyu and Cloud Retainer were too caught up in their enthusiasm to let him get a word in.

"Ryen…"

Ningguang approached gracefully and glanced at Ganyu, who was puffing up her cheeks as she tirelessly swung her pickaxe.

She looked just like a little hamster diligently trying to build its nest.

But visibly…

The obsidian wasn't budging in the slightest.

Even regular iron ore would at least show some cracks after a few strikes.

Yet this obsidian—

Remained completely unscathed.

Immediately, Ningguang's curiosity was piqued.

"Ryen, this obsidian… seems incredibly durable!"

Ryen let out a helpless chuckle and shrugged.

"Obsidian is one of the hardest minerals in this world. Even TNT—"

He was about to explain how obsidian could withstand explosions but suddenly remembered that none of them had ever seen TNT before.

So, he rephrased it.

"Even a Creeper explosion wouldn't damage obsidian. That's why it has a lot of uses."

"Aside from building Nether portals, obsidian can be used to construct fortifications or even prison bastions."

"Without a diamond pickaxe, no other tool can break obsidian."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ganyu and Cloud Retainer, who had been enthusiastically chipping away at the obsidian, froze in place.

Even Keqing, who had just raised her pickaxe, hesitated for a moment before quietly putting it away.

"Ryen!"

Ganyu's face flushed as she looked between the unscathed obsidian and the iron pickaxe in her hands.

With a hint of grievance in her tone, she said, "Were you just watching me make a fool of myself on purpose?"

Though her words carried a note of complaint, Ganyu was too gentle to actually blame Ryen.

Her voice was filled more with embarrassment over her own actions.

Ryen sighed, looking at her helplessly.

"I wanted to say something, but you didn't give me a chance…"

"You just ran up and started mining. Besides…"

He pointed at the ground beneath their feet and said with amusement,

"Ganyu, didn't it ever occur to you that we're standing on obsidian… which is floating on top of lava?"

"And you still had Chain Mining turned on. If you had actually managed to break the obsidian, wouldn't we all have fallen straight into the lava? I didn't stop you because, well… didn't that seem odd to you?"

Hearing that, Cloud Retainer, who had been just as guilty, averted her eyes awkwardly.

After a brief silence, she cleared her throat and tried to salvage her dignity.

"This Adeptus… This Adeptus actually suspected that was the case all along. But I was merely conducting an experiment to test the hardness of obsidian."

"And as it turns out, obsidian is incredibly sturdy—suitable for constructing prisons to detain powerful criminals, or for fortifications."

"Ahem… I shall go search for diamonds. The rest of you can carry on here."

With that, she quickly turned and strode away.

Though her departure was somewhat dignified, her slightly hurried steps betrayed her embarrassment.

Ryen chuckled and reached out to ruffle Ganyu's soft hair.

"Alright, let's start searching for diamonds. That's the real reason we came down to this mine."

After all, diamonds and obsidian were the foundation for ushering in the era of enchantments.

Of course, if the village he lived in had an enchantment table, he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.

But unfortunately, that village was so poor that even Pillagers would feel bad raiding it.

As he mentally grumbled about the village's sorry state, Ryen lifted his head to survey the cavern.

Keqing had been planning to discuss her idea about expanding Liyue Harbor using Ryen's peculiar water-and-lava technique. But when she saw the gleam of anticipation in his eyes, she hesitated and silently joined him in searching for diamonds instead.

Yet, after scouring the entire lava pool—including the ceiling and surrounding walls—they still found nothing.

Just as Ryen was considering giving up, Cloud Retainer's voice called out from a distance.

"Ryen, come quickly! This Adeptus believes she has discovered diamonds!"

Everyone froze for a second before rushing toward her location.

Ryen, worried that she might start mining right away, shouted, "Don't dig yet! Wait for me to check first!"

Fortunately, after her experiences with gold ore needing precise mining and obsidian requiring a diamond pickaxe, Cloud Retainer had learned her lesson.

She was no longer the type to recklessly swing her pickaxe at every ore she encountered.

So this time, she patiently waited for the others to arrive.

Of course, she didn't have to wait long before the whole group reached her.

They found themselves in a narrow passageway—separate from the lava pool Ryen had transformed.

It was an unremarkable little tunnel, pitch-dark further ahead, making it hard to see what lay beyond.

Cloud Retainer pointed at the ground, where three pieces of mineral glimmered faintly.

"This Adeptus happened upon this little path by chance. After placing a torch, I discovered these. They should be diamond ore, correct?"

Ryen focused his gaze and, upon confirming what he saw, broke into a broad smile.

"That's right! They're diamond ores! And there are three of them—just enough to craft a pickaxe!"

Hearing that, Xiao immediately stepped forward with an eager look.

"Let me mine them, Ryen. Can I use an iron pickaxe?"

But Ryen shook his head slightly.

"I'll do it this time. Iron pickaxes can mine diamonds, but there's a bit of a trick to it."

As he spoke, he moved forward to demonstrate.

Back in his past life, he had made the painful mistake of getting too excited upon seeing diamond ore, only to mine it carelessly—causing the diamonds to fall straight into lava.

That kind of mistake had left scars on his heart.

"When you find diamond ore, don't just mine it immediately. First, turn off Chain Mining and carefully clear the stone around the diamonds."

"Excavate the surrounding area to make sure there's no lava underneath before breaking the ore."

As he spoke, Ryen chipped away the stone around the diamond blocks.

Then, digging one block lower, he uncovered a familiar glow—bright, scorching lava.

Ryen exhaled, relieved that he had been careful this time.

Otherwise, after two days of searching, losing diamonds to lava would've been heartbreaking.

"See?"

He pointed at the lava below and said with a wry smile,

"If you don't check first, not only might the diamonds fall in, but you could end up in the lava yourself."

"So, always be cautious when mining diamonds."

After plugging the lava flow with cobblestone, Ryen finally activated Chain Mining, causing all three diamond blocks to break in an instant.

As the minerals shattered, dazzling diamonds dropped to the ground.

Under the glow of lava and torchlight, they shimmered with breathtaking brilliance.

"Diamonds…"

Ryen picked up the three sparkling gems, a tinge of emotion flickering in his eyes.

"Finally… I finally have diamonds…"

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