In the Minecraft world, the air shimmered with the warm orange glow of the artificial sunset.
Ryen had just finished deploying the new arrivals , the knights from Mondstadt and the soldiers from Snezhnaya , to their respective bases. As with every newly arrived batch, they would undergo a week of training before being allowed to explore and expand the frontier.
By now, the population stationed across the MC realm had swelled to nearly ten thousand.
Liyue alone accounted for over five thousand, Mondstadt had three thousand, Snezhnaya fifteen hundred, and soon Inazuma's thousand-strong contingent would arrive as well.
With such numbers, Ryen could finally relax. Once the training cycles were complete, the scale of work that could be done , mining, construction, resource automation , would multiply drastically.
Soon enough, he thought, I could just sit in my villa, say a few words, and someone else would complete every system task for me.
But not everyone shared his calm.
Since stepping into this strange, cubic world, Ei, Eula, and the others had been silent , overwhelmed by what they had seen.
The endless mines that refilled themselves, fields that grew every crop imaginable, automatic alchemy tables churning out potions by the hundreds, enchanted weapons mass-produced with eerie ease , all of it clashed violently with the reality they knew.
Their silence only deepened after seeing Liyue's New City, its shining walls built in days, not decades.
So Ryen and the others let them adjust. There was no rush , it wasn't night yet, and their expedition into the Twilight Forest would wait until later. For now, they chatted idly, most of the conversation led by Yae Miko and Lumine, who recounted the recent affairs of Inazuma with an amused ease.
After some time, Eula finally found her voice.
Her expression was complicated as she looked at Jean, her commander, and asked quietly:
"So… all the strange changes in Mondstadt lately , the surge in trade, the new weapons, the potions that never seem to run out , they all came from here, didn't they?"
"The endless minerals, the alchemy serums, the enchanted blades, even the farmlands that can grow anything, and the food that never spoils… all of that came from this world, right?"
Her tone was questioning, but her certainty was clear. There could be no other explanation.
Jean hesitated, then nodded, her voice low.
"You're right. I'm sorry for keeping it secret. It wasn't a matter of distrust , we simply didn't have the time to return and explain."
Under normal circumstances, Eula would have replied with her usual half-teasing, half-serious line about "remembering this grievance."
But not this time.
Instead, she stared into the distance, recalling what she had witnessed just moments ago: the iron-farming machines, the villager trade halls, the automatic potion stations, and the unending, glowing mines.
Her heart sank.
"So," she said slowly, "those materials that the Knights of Favonius treasure so dearly… the high-quality ores that we treat as national wealth… the potions and enchanted weapons I've been hoarding for years, "
She paused.
", are actually cheap products? Made in bulk, by strange mechanisms that cost nothing?"
Jean winced, looking genuinely guilty. She couldn't bring herself to meet Eula's gaze.
But before the silence could thicken, Lisa stretched lazily, leaning her head against Ryen's shoulder with her usual playful grin.
"Now, now , you make it sound so heartless. It's not that cheap. We've paid our own price for all this convenience."
Eula's icy eyes narrowed.
"Oh? And what price would that be?"
Lisa smirked, pretending to sigh dramatically.
"Why, myself, of course! To keep Mondstadt's progress in step with Liyue's, I offered my own body to our dear Ryen. Every night, I must endure unspeakable torment."
Ryen groaned audibly, rolling his eyes.
Of course Lisa would twist the truth for a laugh.
She wasn't suffering , far from it. If a day went by without seeing him, she was the one complaining.
But it was pointless to argue.
Eula crossed her arms, eyeing Lisa's smug, rosy-cheeked expression.
"You don't look particularly tormented to me."
Lisa only gave a mysterious little shrug.
From nearby, Yae Miko's foxlike smile grew sharp.
"Oh my… so that's the kind of contribution required to join this alliance? Should Inazuma be prepared to make the same… offering?"
Then, with mock horror, she added,
"Or could it be that you've already set your sights on me, Ryen?"
The man gave her a long, amused look.
"If you're willing to turn into that adorable pink fox of yours and let me pet you for a while, maybe I'll consider some privileges."
Yae Miko froze, her grin faltering.
That… was not the answer she expected.
He just wants to pet the fox?
Her mind blanked for a moment.
Was she losing her charm?
Even Eula's lips twitched.
Jean cleared her throat delicately, trying to bring the conversation back on track.
"Ahem… regardless, Eula, you shouldn't think of these materials as worthless simply because they're abundant here."
Her tone was patient but firm , the kind of voice she used to explain things to hot-headed recruits.
"Yes, in this world, production costs are negligible. But that doesn't mean there's no effort behind it. Every resource, every potion, was developed through study, risk, and hard work."
"And beyond that, if we flood Mondstadt with too much of it, we'll destroy our economy."
Eula frowned slightly, puzzled.
Jean continued, drawing from recent lessons she'd learned in long discussions with Ningguang:
"Take iron ore, for example. The ore mined here is far purer and stronger than anything in Teyvat. But if we dump it endlessly into our markets , what happens to our miners? To our blacksmiths? To all the merchants whose livelihoods depend on scarcity?"
"If iron becomes too common, smiths will earn less, apprentices will quit, and one profession's decline can ripple through an entire nation."
Jean sighed softly.
"At first, I wanted to send as much as possible back home. But Lady Ningguang stopped me , she said abundance can be as dangerous as famine."
"So now, we only export carefully. We're learning how to adapt without breaking Mondstadt's balance."
Eula listened in silence, her brows slowly easing.
She was no economist , she didn't fully grasp the reasoning , but she could sense the weight of it.
The world she knew had changed forever.
And the treasures she once guarded so dearly , those precious bottles of potion, those carefully honed blades , were no longer rare miracles, but simple byproducts of a world beyond imagination.
Still… a part of her couldn't help but ache.
"So my prized alchemy potions," she murmured, "are nothing more than mass-produced trinkets now?"
Lisa giggled.
"Oh, don't pout, Eula. Think of it this way , even the most common potion is special if you're the one holding it."
Eula gave her a withering glare.
But then, despite herself, she smiled faintly , exasperated, resigned, and maybe, just a little bit hopeful.
Eula couldn't help sighing every time she thought of it.
Those alchemical potions she had once cherished, sealed in velvet boxes and locked in her private chest , now, here in this strange world, they were being mass-produced effortlessly.
Not brewed by master alchemists after days of work, not extracted from rare ingredients, but replicated endlessly by automated contraptions that ran on nothing but strange red energy.
A lifetime of pride reduced to cheap abundance.
"Anyway," she muttered gloomily, folding her arms, "this grievance , I'll remember it!"
Jean merely smiled, used to Eula's habit of declaring her little vows of vengeance.
After a pause, Eula turned toward her again.
"So… the reason you had me bring all these soldiers , it's to help develop this world?"
Before Jean could answer, Diluc replied calmly from where he stood, arms crossed.
"Obviously."
His expression was as unreadable as ever, but his eyes carried a faint gleam of satisfaction.
"We've been scouting new territory along the coast near the Mondstadt Base One. The plan is to build a New Mondstadt there."
"But we don't have enough manpower. Every knight here already has a critical role. We'll need fresh recruits soon."
Eula blinked, taken aback.
"A new city… like Liyue's?"
Jean nodded with a small smile.
"Exactly. But city-building isn't something that can be done overnight. We must design its layout, defenses, and resource networks first.
Even in this world, construction on that scale will take two or three months."
"And while that may sound fast, it means we'll still need more people later , Ryen's expansion schedule cannot fall behind."
Eula fell silent, her mind spinning.
Two or three months to build an entire city?
Even Liyue's new fortress had left her stunned , such size, such precision , things that would take years in Teyvat.
Mondstadt itself had taken centuries to evolve into its present form.
And yet Jean spoke of building another one as casually as if she were discussing a week's patrol schedule.
Had her commander's sense of time already been warped by this world's unnatural rhythm?
Jean, reading her confusion, said nothing. Some truths, she knew, had to be seen to be understood.
Across the group, Kujou Sara had also fallen silent for some time. Now she turned toward Yae Miko, her gaze faintly sharp.
"So… Yae Guuji, you already knew about this world?"
Miko's lips curved in her familiar sly smile.
"But of course. How else could Lady Makoto have returned to life?"
Sara's expression tightened , not with anger, but conflicted surprise.
"Then… you should have told me earlier. I could have dispatched Inazuma's new army sooner.
Now we're far behind the others."
Miko rolled her eyes dramatically.
"And how exactly was I supposed to do that before the contract was signed?
If I'd revealed anything prematurely, Morax and the others would have come storming in to silence us.
This was , and still is , the greatest secret of all. No carelessness allowed."
Sara froze, realizing her mistake. She lowered her head slightly, a rare gesture of apology.
"You're right… I spoke without thinking."
Indeed, she'd forgotten , before Inazuma signed the four-nation contract, they had no right to know anything of the MC world.
If Miko had revealed it, it could easily have provoked a direct purge from the other nations.
Still, the thought troubled her deeply.
"The Inazuma army only set out this morning," she said quietly. "They've likely not even cleared our territorial waters.
At best, it will take two days to reach Liyue."
Ningguang, who had been listening from nearby, chuckled softly.
"So you mean to say we should wait for you?"
Sara immediately shook her head.
"No , we won't delay Mr. Ryen's plans.
It's just… I worry. When our forces arrive, who will receive them?
And with travel, training, and orientation time, they'll fall even further behind."
Her tone betrayed both discipline and frustration.
She had seen enough to understand how fast this world moved.
In Teyvat, a few days meant little. But here, even a single day could mean vast expansion , new biomes discovered, new technologies forged.
What was a moment's delay in Teyvat might translate to weeks of progress lost here.
That was what made Lumine anxious too.
She had been away only briefly , yet Ryen could have, in that span, flattened the entire Twilight Forest and unlocked a new module of reality.
The truth was simple: with tens of thousands of workers and soldiers now trained, Ryen could advance his projects at will.
But he preferred to move with steady precision, letting Ningguang and the others learn the systems themselves instead of rushing blindly ahead.
He could have conquered the Twilight Forest in a single day , his modern weapons made it trivial.
But what would his allies learn from that?
So he waited, patient, giving them time to catch up.
Ningguang, seeing Sara's worry, said gently:
"Don't fret. I'll assign the Millelith heavy cavalry to receive your troops when they arrive.
We'll already be heading into the Twilight Forest by then, but it won't take long , our schedule is behind as it is."
Sara managed a faint smile, but her heart remained heavy.
Because deep down, she knew , Inazuma was still learning to walk, while the other nations were already racing into the future.
The Twilight Forest, the strange dimensions beyond it, the miraculous world itself , all of it was racing forward faster than she could measure.
And as she looked up at the glowing cubic sky, her thoughts sank into a quiet dread.
By the time we catch up, she thought, how far ahead will they already be?
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