Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue

”Come on, Zhongli! Just one last trip!”

From the floating island above, Ryen grinned and waved at Zhongli.

The latter, however, did not look amused. His expression was dark, clearly not in the best of moods.

To be honest, when Ryen first asked him to carry villagers up, Zhongli had flatly refused.

After all, even without thinking too hard, it was obvious that Ryen had no good intentions toward these villagers.

And he, Morax, the mighty Geo Archon—doing something this morally dubious?

Utterly ridiculous!

But then, right in front of everyone, Ryen had personally gone down to the village, dragged out three villagers, slung one over his shoulder, and effortlessly climbed back up to the floating island.

With that kind of display, Zhongli and Xiao really couldn’t just stand around and refuse to help.

It would have made them look terribly uncooperative.

However, it wasn’t until Zhongli actually picked up a villager that he realized how damn difficult this job was.

These villagers… were shockingly strong!

Had it not been for the fact that both he and Xiao were exceptionally skilled fighters, they might have actually been dragged down mid-air by these struggling fools.

Zhongli mentally noted to double the size of the retirement treehouse he had planned—something he was definitely going to make Ryen build for him in the future.

At last, Zhongli and Xiao landed back on the floating island.

Meanwhile, Ryen had already finished building a fenced enclosure—and without hesitation, he tossed the villager he had carried inside.

It looked exactly like… a pigpen.

Zhongli couldn’t help but feel that something was very, very wrong with this setup.

Especially when he saw the poor villager inside—running around aimlessly like a headless fly, bumping into the fences in panic.

This just… didn’t sit right with him.

But before he could even begin to voice his concerns, Ryen walked over with a bright smile.

He casually grabbed the villagers off Zhongli and Xiao’s shoulders, one in each hand, and flung them into the enclosure.

”Good work, guys! See? I knew that in this realistic world, there was no reason we couldn’t carry people!”

Ryen looked down at the penned villagers, feeling quite accomplished.

Sure, in the game, villagers spawned rather quickly.

But in reality…

It wasn’t that simple.

He did technically have a whole house full of villagers locked up down below.

But even then, there were only seven of them.

And out of those seven, five were completely unemployed—good-for-nothing idiots with zero profession.

As for the remaining two?

The so-called ”geniuses” of the village—

One of them tried to trade four emeralds for six loaves of bread.

The other one tried to pull the same scam.

An absolute pair of useless masterminds!

Honestly, the fact that Ryen hadn’t wiped them all out already was proof of his great mercy.

Now that he thought about it…

No wonder this village didn’t even have a single Iron Golem.

Too few people. No jobs. And worst of all—pure greed.

They deserved this fate!

But now, things would finally improve.

Ryen planned to leave four villagers down below, so they could keep making babies.

Once their numbers reached ten, a new Iron Golem would spawn—becoming the guardian deity of the village.

As for the ones he had brought up here?

Well, they were going to have to make some sacrifices for the cause.

Once enough of them had bred, Ryen would finally have enough villagers to create a fully automated aerial plantation!

Of course, breeding three villagers together like this…

Might seem a little weird and questionable.

But…

Ryen didn’t care!

Not his problem!

As long as they did their job, he was happy.

Once the villager population exploded, he wouldn’t even have to kidnap more—he could just harvest them straight from the source!

”Ryen…”

Zhongli, after a long moment of contemplation, finally spoke up.

Ryen, who had just been about to start construction, paused and turned around.

”Hm? What’s up?”

Zhongli hesitated, then glanced at the three dumbfounded villagers in the enclosure.

”They…”

”Hah!”

Before Zhongli could even finish his sentence, Ryen immediately understood what he was trying to say.

Shaking his head with an amused smile, he said,

”Don’t tell me that after everything you’ve seen, you still think they’re the same as us?”

He pointed at the villagers.

Square heads, square brains, square noses.

No mouths.

If someone told him they were just evolved octopuses, he’d find that more believable than calling them ”humans.”

No matter where they were, no matter what situation they were in—

They always stood with their hands clasped together, nodding like clueless idiots.

Ryen scrutinized them once more, trying to find anything that could justify calling them ”people.”

But no matter how hard he looked—

He simply couldn’t.

”…Sigh.”

Zhongli let out a long breath and studied the villagers again.

Ryen had locked them up in a house for days.

And yet, not once had they shown any signs of weakness or fatigue.

No eating. No drinking.

As if such things simply didn’t matter to them.

No intelligence. No personality.

Even if they died, all that would happen was a small puff of white smoke.

Compared to zombies…

The only real difference was their color and the fact that they weren’t hostile.

Zhongli fell silent.

After a long while, he shook his head and let out a small, defeated chuckle.

”Forget it. Do as you wish. I just hope you always remember that the villagers of this world are not the same as the people of Teyvat.”

Hearing this, Ryen turned his head to glance at the square-headed villagers and pressed his lips together.

”It’s really not hard to tell the difference…”

Setting his thoughts aside, Ryen called everyone over to another pre-planned area.

Keqing and Ganyu had already prepared all the necessary materials, waiting only for Ryen’s instructions to begin construction.

”Alright then…”

Ryen thought for a moment before pointing at the ground.

”First, we’ll use stone to build a 44-block-wide enclosure.”

”Three of the sides should be raised by four blocks, making the total height five blocks…”

After all, an Iron Farm was an absolute necessity for survival in Minecraft, and Ryen had the entire process memorized clearly.

A 15×15 platform.

Jack-o-lanterns placed around the edges for lighting, torches in the center for additional illumination. Villagers would be placed inside, and the top would be sealed at just the right height above their heads.

A hole would be left in the center, ensuring that Iron Golems could fall through properly.

Once the roof was sealed, a perimeter of wooden doors would be placed around the top, while the drop hole would be lined with wooden signs.

Water would then be poured from the four corners, creating a steady flow that directed anything that spawned.

The wooden signs would block the water from spilling down below.

Once the outer stone wall was built around the wooden doors, the structure would be complete.

Back on the ground, Ryen placed two wooden signs at the second block level. The side facing the signs was then blocked with two stone blocks.

Two more wooden signs were added before pouring in two buckets of lava.

The lava obediently hovered on the signs, perfectly suspended without flowing down.

Finally, a hopper and a chest were placed at the bottom.

And with that—the Iron Farm was complete!

Under Ryen’s guidance, the entire project took about two to three hours to finish.

Hmm…

To be honest, that was slow.

If Ryen had done it alone, he would’ve wrapped it up in just ten minutes at most.

But there was no helping it. He needed everyone to understand how this world functioned.

Aside from certain mechanics that were simply too complex to explain in a short period, Ryen planned to let them do everything themselves.

Of course, it wasn’t that Ningguang and the others were slow at placing blocks—

It was Cloud Retainer.

She just wouldn’t stop asking questions.

Every single step had to be analyzed.

Why did the base have to be 4×4? Why did the platform need to be 15×15? Why wooden doors instead of another block?

Honestly, it wasn’t annoying per se—after all, she was just eager to learn. He couldn’t forbid her from being curious.

The problem was, once Cloud Retainer started thinking, she couldn’t stop. Sometimes she even got lost in thought, wondering how these principles could be applied elsewhere.

And as if infected by her enthusiasm, Ningguang and the others also started joining in on the discussions.

What should have taken only half an hour was now dragging into the evening.

Ryen chuckled and shook his head. Still, he didn’t feel like it was a waste of time.

This afternoon, they had completed the mob grinder and built an Iron Farm. That was already more than enough progress.

As for the other structures—Slime Farms, Witch Towers, fully automated farms, Villager Trading Halls—

Those were long-term projects.

For now…

Tomorrow, he would set up an enchanting table and finally begin enchanting gear.

After that, they would head to the Nether for resources and explore new areas to complete the system’s tasks as soon as possible.

Having mentally laid out his upcoming plans, Ryen clapped his hands and said lightly,

”Alright, the Iron Farm is done. Now, we just wait for the villagers to multiply, and it’ll start running automatically.”

”Let’s clean up and head home.”

Stretching lazily, he added with a smile,

”Everyone’s been working hard these past two days. Tonight, we’ll have a proper meal and rest up—because Ningguang, you all are going to be even busier tomorrow.”

He was, of course, referring to the incoming group of miners.

After a brief pause, Ryen continued,

”I’m sure you’ve all made proper arrangements, but I still have to ask…”

”The Millelith and miners who will be settling in—do you believe they can truly keep this place a secret?”

”It’s not that my world can’t be revealed to others, but for now, we need a stable environment to develop.”

At that, Keqing chuckled.

”Of course, there’s no problem. Rest assured, Ryen—the Millelith and miners we chose were carefully screened. They are completely trustworthy.”

”As for keeping your world a secret, we can’t make absolute guarantees.”

”But at least in the short term, no one will disturb us.”

Hearing this, Ryen smiled and nodded.

With a snap of his fingers, starlight began to gather as the two-way portal reformed.

”Ryen, is there anything specific we should do tomorrow?” Ganyu asked, seeing that there was still some time before the portal fully stabilized.

Ryen thought for a moment and replied,

”Tomorrow, let’s hold off on floating island construction.”

”With the miners settling in, I’ll start by teaching them the basics of building and excavation.”

”At the very least, they need to learn how to construct shelter and defend themselves against monsters.”

His gaze darkened slightly as he continued,

”Tomorrow, we’ll split up. In the morning, I’ll teach them some fundamental survival skills.”

”In the afternoon, Zhongli and Xiao, you two will lead a team to protect them as they gather wood and resources to build their base.”

”Once they get familiar with things, the rest will be easy.”

”As for us…”

Ryen looked at Ningguang, Keqing, and the others.

”I’ll be setting up an enchanting table and enchanting some gear. If you all have time, you can go fishing—maybe we’ll get lucky and catch some enchanted books.”

”Or, if you’d rather, you can start building homes for yourselves.”

”Just focus on creativity—don’t worry about material consumption.”

”Once we have our enchanted gear ready, I plan to explore new areas and even take a trip to the Nether.”

”Hah… there’s a lot to do, but we’ll take it one step at a time.”

With a sigh, Ryen shook his head and turned to the fully formed portal.

He gestured for everyone to step through.

With a flash of light, the group disappeared through the portal, leaving the world silent once more.

Only the mob grinder continued its endless operation.

As for the Iron Farm?

The villagers weren’t numerous enough yet—so for now, Ryen couldn’t count on it.

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