Seeing Ningguang's expression, as if she were ready to make a noble sacrifice, Ryen couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.
"Actually, we don't need six fully-upgraded beacons."
Ryen took a slow sip of milk.
The taste of this one... was far inferior to the ones Ganyu used to feed him every day.
Still, it was decent.
"I understand what you're thinking—you want to place the beacon on the Jade Chamber to turn it into a mobile, wide-range power amplifier, right?"
Ningguang nodded. She had already mentioned this yesterday while dealing with the Wither Storm.
A stationary beacon at most functions as a powerful area buff for defense.
But if you placed one on the Jade Chamber…
Wherever it went, the buff would follow. Now that was a true trump card.
"Speed, Jump Boost, Fire Resistance, Strength."
Ryen put down his cup and said quietly:
"Those four effects are the most important power buffs for you. On the other hand, in this world, the Mining Boost is far more useful."
"So, if you plan to install a beacon on the Jade Chamber, there's no need for six max-level ones."
"Five—or even four—should be more than enough."
Ningguang nodded thoughtfully.
"Besides, these active effects can be changed anytime. If you need the Mining Boost, you can always reconfigure the beacon."
"If we're trying to save on materials, I'd say even two beacons would do."
Ultimately, Nether Stars were just too hard to come by.
If not for that, Ryen wouldn't even care about materials like iron blocks.
Seeing Ningguang and the others deep in thought, Ryen stood up and took a bunch of iron blocks out of a nearby chest.
Indeed, this rarely-visited underwater vacation villa still held plenty of resources.
Just Ryen's habit—
Never put all your eggs in one basket.
Worst case scenario, even if something unexpected happened and his manor was destroyed—
These supplies stored here would let Ryen get back on his feet in no time.
That was one of the main reasons Ryen loved building houses.
As for the other reason...
Building houses is fun!
And now that the Minecraft world had been pretty much fully developed, building had become Ryen's greatest source of joy.
He called everyone to teleport with him to the new city under construction in the grasslands.
Under the blazing sun, the Millelith and miners were enthusiastically working on building the city.
However, the weather in the MC world was never too hot or too cold.
Take the base in the snowy mountains for example—even the Millelith wore short sleeves without ever feeling cold.
Maybe it had something to do with Ryen's physique.
Dashi was overseeing the project from afar with a blueprint in hand. When he saw Ryen and the others arrive, he immediately led a group over.
"Lord Ryen, do you have any tasks for us?"
Ryen smiled and nodded.
"Just setting up a beacon. Grab a few people, and we're good."
Dashi nodded and called over a few nearby Millelith soldiers to follow Ryen.
Taking the blueprint Dashi handed him, Ryen examined it briefly before asking:
"The empty space in the center—do you have any plans for that?"
Dashi froze, then scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Actually... that area was reserved for statues of you and the other honored ones. We were planning to build your statue over there."
Ryen's face darkened. He suddenly remembered Cloud Retainer's sketch of the statue of herself and Zhongli.
"Let's forget about the statue… it's just…"
Ryen was about to say "too stupid," but considering their kind intentions, he rephrased it:
"Too embarrassing..."
"This area is perfect. Let's build the beacon here."
Dashi naturally had no objections. He nodded and led the way to the city center.
Along the way, they passed by many miners already constructing outer buildings.
Upon seeing Ryen and his group, everyone enthusiastically greeted them.
Keqing nodded frequently.
The Millelith and the miners may not have had any innovative ideas, but they followed plans and executed their tasks well—which was already admirable.
"At this pace, we'll probably have the basic framework completed in half a month. Then we'll move on to the more troublesome details."
"Also, we'll need to send someone to Liyue Harbor to buy furniture. This world has plenty of resources, but strangely, almost no proper furniture."
Keqing shook her head in mild disappointment.
Ryen, however, only smiled mysteriously and said nothing.
No furniture?
Sure, the vanilla Minecraft world didn't have much in the way of functional furniture.
But there were mods, weren't there?
With modern furniture mods—
They were bound to be blown away.
Before long, the group arrived at the central zone.
There were hardly any people around, and the ground was still a plain stretch of grass.
Clearly, construction hadn't reached this area yet.
Ryen handed a few stacks of iron blocks to the Millelith and pointed to the ground:
"Right here. The base layer is 9×9, then 7×7, 5×5, and finally 3×3."
"Just stack the blocks accordingly."
The Millelith responded in unison and began building with practiced ease.
It was a bit monotonous, but they were no strangers to construction and were quite adept.
Jean and the others were still new to the place, curiously watching the beacon platform being assembled.
Before long, the pyramid-shaped base was complete.
"Next is the beacon..."
Ryen pulled out a Nether Star and turned to Ningguang and the others:
"To craft a beacon, you need three obsidian blocks and five glass blocks, with the Nether Star placed in the center."
"And then… it's done!"
He took the beacon from the crafting table. Lisa shook her head with a sigh.
"In Teyvat, forging any tool or equipment requires an extremely lengthy process. But with you, you just arrange the materials and bam, it's complete."
"You really are challenging my common sense every moment."
Ryen shrugged with a chuckle.
"That kind of operation is just common sense in this world!"
With that, Ryen climbed to the top of the platform, holding the beacon.
Everyone turned to him with eager eyes.
Ryen didn't waste time—he placed the beacon right on the top.
A wave of energy spread across a hundred-meter radius, followed by a brilliant pillar of light shooting into the sky.
Even in broad daylight, the brightness lit up the area noticeably.
At night, it would probably rival the sun.
"Almost forgot."
Ryen patted his forehead and spread his hands.
"The beacon's light is one of the brightest in this world. So if anyone gets lost, just head toward the beacon."
Ningguang pursed her lips, clearly a bit exasperated.
"That might be a problem… Are we going to have several never-ending beams of light shining from the Jade Chamber?"
Just imagining five towering light pillars shooting into the sky in the middle of the night from the Jade Chamber…
Ningguang couldn't help but think that the Jade Chamber might not be the best place to rest anymore.
And besides…
"Isn't that beacon way too eye-catching?"
Not far away, even the Qianyan Army and the miners seemed to have noticed the light emanating from the beacon. From a distance, the sound of hurried footsteps could already be heard as many people rushed toward them.
Keqing spoke softly,
"Tell them everything's fine. No need to come over."
"Yes!"
A Qianyan soldier responded immediately, then quickly turned and ran back to inform the others.
Ryen waved his hand, signaling everyone to step onto the beacon's base.
"Can we choose the buff effects now?"
Ningguang asked curiously as she looked at Ryen, who gestured for her to place her hand on the beacon.
At once, a strange interface appeared before Ningguang—something akin to a personal status panel.
"See that empty slot at the bottom?"
Ryen whispered near Ningguang's ear. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she nodded.
"Place any mineral the interface suggests into it, then select the effect you want. That will trigger the beacon's buff."
Ningguang steadied her focus, nodded again, and placed a stack of iron ingots into the slot, selecting the movement speed buff.
In an instant, everyone present felt their bodies grow lighter.
Turning his head, Ryen looked at Dashi and said,
"Move outward. Let's see the range of the buff you received."
Dashi nodded excitedly and took off running.
At that moment, his speed was obvious to everyone—
It was equivalent to drinking a basic speed potion.
Ningguang slightly furrowed her brows and turned her attention to another symbol on the interface.
In addition to one representing health regeneration, there was a unique mark.
"Speed II..."
She murmured, tapping the symbol on the right and casually reselecting the jump boost on the left.
Visibly, Dashi's speed increased further—
Even his jumping height rose.
"So the buffs currently in effect are Speed II, Jump Boost I, and Health Regen I."
Ningguang nodded thoughtfully, lost in analysis.
Just then, Dashi came to a sudden stop in the distance and shouted back:
"Lord Ryen! The buff ends around here!"
Hearing this, everyone looked over and began estimating the radius range.
"About 100 meters?"
Lisa frowned slightly.
"Only a 100-meter radius? Even the Jade Chamber flies higher than that."
No one questioned the beacon's strength, but the effective range of its buffs felt disappointingly short.
It wasn't realistic to install beacons across all of Liyue.
Minerals were one thing—but Nether Stars?
There weren't that many Wither Storms for them to go around hunting.
Just as Lisa and the others were beginning to feel troubled, Ryen shook his head calmly.
"The world's laws are different."
Lisa's eyes lit up with realization and a bit of suspicion.
"You mean..."
"Remember how high a jump potion lets you leap in this world?"
Seeing Ryen's confident expression, Lisa had a sudden epiphany.
"So you're saying that since the laws of this world are different, the buffs provided will also differ—and their effective range might change too?"
A jump potion in this world barely lets you leap an extra meter.
But in Teyvat, when the Qianyan soldiers drank it, they could easily jump more than ten meters.
If this amplification effect holds true...
Then the beacon's buff range in Teyvat should easily exceed a kilometer.
Its power-enhancing effects would also scale accordingly.
Still, they'd have to go back and test it firsthand to be sure.
As they thought this through, excitement began to bubble among the group.
"Ryen, should we head back and test the beacon's effects now?"
Keqing looked at him eagerly.
This world was important, yes, but their foundation still lay in Teyvat.
If they could grow stronger there, it would make developing the Minecraft world all the more convenient.
Seeing everyone looking at him with anticipation, Ryen shrugged.
"I don't have anything else to do. Since you're all eager to test it, let's head back and see."
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