Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue

The chaos Lumine and Aether had caused was glossed over amid laughter and easy talk.

Aether had paid his price. Lumine had offered sufficient compensation.

Well.

Whether Lumine was happy about it was beside the point. Aether, at minimum, was utterly despairing.

He had not remotely anticipated that his own sister was actually capable of pulling off the beauty stratagem.

And Ryen was genuinely not picky.

Aether shot Lumine a covert glare, simmering with indignation.

Lumine had no attention to spare for him.

Ryen’s hand was still resting on her leg.

After all, when you want to escape consequences, some price must be paid.

”How did the blueprints I left before I went go?”

Ryen sipped his tea and returned his hand to Lumine’s leg as a matter of course, asking the question in passing.

Zhongli said quietly:

”The Bed Wars blueprints have been almost entirely built. The Sheep Wars and other recreational maps are also nearly complete.”

”Nothing has been tested yet, so we don’t know whether they will operate as intended.”

”Do you want to send people in advance to test them?”

Ryen thought about it.

”Was it built exactly as specified in the blueprints?”

Zhongli nodded. Ryen waved the concern off.

”Then don’t worry about it. There shouldn’t be any problems.”

”None of those blueprints had any particularly complicated construction, and there was very little Redstone involved. It should all work fine.”

”It’s a recreational mode. It doesn’t need to be that precise.”

”Anything else of importance these past few days?”

Everyone exchanged looks and shook their heads.

Ryen and the others had been gone less than three days in total. Two and a half, strictly speaking.

For anything dramatic to have happened in that time would have been unusual.

”Oh!”

Keqing clapped her hands suddenly.

”The Twilight Forest exploration team came back. They’ve already sorted through their gains and returned to their base to rest.”

Ryen’s interest sharpened. He looked at Keqing and gestured for her to elaborate.

Keqing didn’t keep anyone waiting.

”The evening after you left, the Twilight Forest exploration team returned. At that point, they had pushed all the way to the Final Castle and encountered the final enemy: the Goblin Knight.”

”Zhongli and Venti led the team to the Final Castle to deal with it.”

”The rest of the exploration team’s gains were fairly standard. The Iaito situation has matured as well.”

”Totem of Undying consumption was within expectations: only twelve used.”

”I plan to have them bring fresh Iaito and continue exploring the Twilight Forest on the next run, while also refining the Iaito further.”

”Doesn’t unlocking the next mod require a hundred each of various Iaito types? With the Twilight Forest exploration team’s help, that should be achievable without too much difficulty.”

”The tree saplings and soil from the harvest are going to Sumeru. The desert reclamation work there is at a critical juncture.”

”And also...”

Over more than half a year, the MC World had produced profound changes in a great many people.

Zhongli, for instance: freed from his erosion, with old friends returned, was no longer quite so heavy with the weight of ages.

Jean had learned how to manage the Knights with genuine confidence, moving through decisions with ease.

Ganyu now actively disliked overtime. Given a choice, she would push work aside and spend the time with Ryen instead.

The one who seemed not to have changed at all was Keqing.

Same sharp efficiency. Same fondness for working late.

It gave Ryen a faint nostalgic feeling for his first days in Teyvat.

But seeing Keqing about to deliver an extended report, Ryen intervened quickly.

”Hold on, let’s set the rest of that aside for a moment. What I want to know is: the Goblin Knight from the Final Castle. What staff was it using? What magic?”

Keqing blinked, then looked at Zhongli.

This she genuinely didn’t know. Her focus was on the overall strategic picture, not those specific details.

Zhongli produced a staff from his coat at his usual unhurried pace: pure white, radiating an aura of sacred clarity.

”I don’t have a full understanding of staff classification, but by general principles, a staff that carries this quality of pure sanctity...”

”Should be a healing-type Master Staff.”

Ryen had only glanced at it before he smiled and nodded.

”That’s correct. You’re right. This is a healing Master Staff: the Staff of the Sanctified Realm.”

”So the Witchery set it came with would also be healing-oriented.”

Zhongli gave a small nod and produced the complete set: gold and white.

”A Battle Mage set. It doesn’t feel like the most natural pairing with a healing staff.”

Ryen clicked his tongue mildly, though he didn’t think about it too hard.

He had limited personal interest in healing.

”Has anyone confirmed what skills are in the staff?”

Zhongli shook his head.

”As a precaution, the moment the Goblin Knight appeared I had everyone concentrate fire and bombard it continuously.”

”It had no meaningful defenses. The Goblin Knight was eliminated without any difficulty.”

Beside him, Venti gave an awkward little smile.

Zhongli had been... thorough, to put it gently.

The Goblin Knight had barely gotten its staff out before Zhongli had assembled a thousand soldiers. One unit launched RPGs. Another unit laid down sustained machine gun fire. He then personally finished it off with several grenades.

Ten-plus minutes of saturation bombardment.

The Final Castle itself had been blown apart in the process.

Steady. Genuinely, impressively steady.

At the time, Venti had been left thinking that poor Goblin Knight must have committed some cosmic offense to deserve being so thoroughly annihilated.

Under those conditions, there was absolutely no way Zhongli could have observed the staff’s skills.

As for the Iaito gained from the Goblin Knight: in the past, everyone would have been excited. Now, it was just an Ōdenta. Nothing worth dwelling on.

”Fair enough. I figured as much.”

Ryen laughed and shook his head, taking the staff and heading outside.

”Let’s try out the staff’s abilities.”

The moment the staff was in his hands, Ryen’s eyebrows went up slightly.

”Good luck on this one. The staff’s upgrade was to the spell slot capacity. Compared to other staves, this one has seven spell slots.”

At that, Zhongli gave a calm nod.

”I anticipated something along those lines. Which is why I gave the Goblin Knight no opportunity to demonstrate its abilities, and simply covered it with firepower.”

Ryen wasn’t entirely sure what level of firepower Zhongli was referring to, but knowing Zhongli’s characteristic approach of using an artillery piece to deal with a mosquito, he imagined everything short of nuclear weapons had probably been employed.

In a certain sense, it was all thoroughly logical.

The group moved quickly into the MC World.

The moment they entered, the blown-out bridge came into view.

Ryen’s expression darkened. He completely abandoned any thought of stopping by the villa.

Going there in this state would probably just make him more annoyed.

Better to wait for Lumine to repair it first.

He exhaled inwardly and gave Lumine a firm smack on the backside.

She looked appropriately guilty, lowered her head, and pursed her lips.

Ryen turned and led the group toward the open grassland adjacent to the base.

He confirmed there was no one in the immediate area, then sank his attention into the staff and began examining its spells.

After a while, Ryen gave a sound of genuine surprise.

”Good luck indeed. It doesn’t match my Temporal Stasis staff, but it’s still extraordinary. Master-level spells are extraordinary by definition.”

”This staff is extraordinary even within that range.”

He looked back at Zhongli and nodded.

”In a certain sense, it suits you rather well.”

Zhongli’s eyebrow rose. His interest was piqued.

He had sensed from the moment he first held it that this staff felt right for him. Not the Wither’s Bane staff that enhanced Geo attributes, but he was not opposed to a healing staff.

More comprehensive coverage was not a bad thing.

He already had offensive power that was unmatched in Teyvat. Defensive power, equally unmatched.

Add a tier of unmatched healing, and he would become a fully capable all-round force: the ultimate damage dealer and the ultimate support, combined.

In the coming battle to suppress the Heavenly Principles, that versatility would matter considerably.

”Ryen, stop keeping us in suspense!”

Hu Tao looked at him with bright anticipation.

”Show us already!”

Alhaitham and the others were also visibly interested.

This was the first time they had witnessed a Master Staff’s abilities directly.

They had heard it described endlessly: every Master-level spell is extraordinary. Now they would finally have a concrete impression.

Ryen didn’t drag it out. He raised the staff with a light flourish.

”First, a Neophyte-level spell. Don’t underestimate it.”

”In simple terms: this spell will let Zhongli become the ultimate support master everyone has ever dreamed of.”

That got everyone’s full attention at once.

Ryen smiled.

”Healing-type spell: Mark of Sacrifice. Three-second cooldown. Applies a negative status to the enemy for ten seconds.”

”When the marked enemy is struck, the attack deals sixty percent additional damage.”

”Take note: this mark stacks. Each additional Mark of Sacrifice adds sixty percent additional damage.”

”And when you consider Zhongli’s Jade Shield, which is unmatched across all of Teyvat...”

Ryen spread his hands with an easy smile.

”I won’t go on. Three-second cooldown. Ten-second duration. Stackable upgrades. One-shot nuclear detonation.”

”You follow what I mean?”

”Stack it correctly and even the Heavenly Principles goes down in one blow.”

”Make of that what you will.”

Everyone’s gaze flickered, and a profound mix of disbelief and excitement settled over the group.

All honesty, they had assumed a healing staff would be about healing wounds. Maybe reviving fallen allies.

But a skill with a curse mechanic...

Was this really an effect a healing staff was supposed to have?

A beat of silence passed. Then every expression in the group lit up.

It was not exactly that they were eager to use this spell themselves.

It was that they were eager to have a support who had it.

Who wouldn’t want to land a nuclear detonation?

Stack the marks correctly, and one-shotting the Heavenly Principles was not outside the realm of possibility.

This was supposed to be a Neophyte-level spell?

This was a supreme-tier Master-level support ability dressed in entry-level clothing.

Venti couldn’t quite contain himself. He gave Zhongli a discreet poke.

”Old man, I’m not competing with you for the staff. But once you’ve got the hang of it, could you throw a few support rounds my way?”

”I want to try landing a nuclear detonation myself.”

Zhongli looked at the staff with an expression of composed satisfaction. After a moment, he said quietly:

”We’ll see.”

Whatever else might come: even if this single spell was all the staff contained, Zhongli felt thoroughly satisfied.

He had little need for additional offensive output. What he genuinely needed was support capability.

Otherwise, what was the point of commanding all those heavenly troops?

Combat, after all, was meant to work like this: he stood in the back, opening support, and his subordinates formed up to surround and overwhelm the target.

Taking in everyone’s reactions at a glance, Ryen smiled with quiet mystery.

”We’re not done. That isn’t even the most extraordinary spell in this staff.”