"Heh, not hard to understand."
Lisa lazily lifted her witch's hat, revealing her bright, charming eyes.
"Although what our little cutie has been doing in Mondstadt hasn't spread yet due to the timing, the Fatui have their own intelligence gathering system."
"Our little cutie is already on their radar. Besides, don't forget—those Fatui stationed in Liyue have long been suppressed for wanting to explore the area around Mt. Tianheng."
"But those rats just won't give up."
Lisa hinted subtly, and Jean suddenly understood.
"You're saying…"
Diluc took over the conversation, his voice cold:
"These past few days, while we haven't exactly made a big show of it, we've repeatedly descended from the Jade Chamber to Ryen's private residence."
"Besides Ningguang and her group, we're the only ones who've gone in."
"Given how seriously the Fatui regard that place, of course they'd notice. They're constantly trying to figure out what's going on there."
"But they also know that Mondstadt and the Fatui are in a state of irreversible hostility, so there's no point in trying to get information from us."
"So instead, they've shifted their focus to the Traveler."
"If I'm not mistaken, that Harbinger—Childe—is going to try and orchestrate a 'coincidental' meeting with the Traveler next."
Diluc's intelligence network had well-documented information on Tartaglia.
Whether it was from the private intelligence of the Dawn Winery or underground informants, all sources agreed: Tartaglia was a muscle-bound battle fanatic.
But if you think he's just brawn and no brain, you're in for a nasty surprise.
To travel all of Teyvat in search of worthy opponents, strength alone isn't enough—intellect is also essential capital.
After all, none of the Fatui Harbingers are fools.
"So they want to use Lumine to get information on Ryen?" Jean responded with a tone of certainty.
Diluc nodded, saying nothing more.
"Those evil Fatui!" Paimon huffed with arms akimbo.
"When we see Ryen tomorrow, Paimon the Great will definitely make him punish them hard!"
Hearing that, Jean and the others couldn't help but laugh and shake their heads.
They were all perceptive enough to see clearly:
Ryen held no strong ill will toward any faction—except for the Doctor from the Fatui, toward whom he had openly shown hostility.
Other than that, he was indifferent.
And besides, Ryen was the master of a world. Why would he involve himself in petty power struggles?
If he did get involved, it would be on the level of directly dealing with the Tsaritsa, like Zhongli and Venti.
Simply put, the Fatui aren't even worth Ryen's attention.
He wouldn't bother doing anything about them.
"Little cutie, just be careful during this time," Lisa murmured idly while toying with her hair.
"The Fatui may not dare cause trouble in Liyue, but it's still best not to fall into their schemes."
"As long as you stay with us or Ningguang's group, even a Harbinger wouldn't dare act rashly."
Lumine wasn't foolish—she quickly understood the stakes.
Even if she didn't belong to any particular faction, she still had her preferences.
And to her, Mondstadt—where she had many friends—was naturally far better than the Fatui.
She nodded slightly and began to think silently.
"In that case, let's spend the next few days exploring The End with Ryen and the others. Once we hatch a dragon egg, we'll return to Mondstadt and mobilize our people to settle in Ryen's world," Jean said with a deep breath, visibly pleased at the thought of Mondstadt flourishing there.
"Indeed. Getting a dragon right now would be a direct and powerful boost to our strength."
Diluc nodded slightly, speaking softly:
"I suspect Ryen intends to help each of us get our own dragon egg this time…"
As he spoke, the excitement in his heart was evident.
Lisa raised an eyebrow and smiled playfully.
"Looks like Lord Diluc already knows which dragon he wants to hatch."
Diluc nodded without hesitation.
"For me, an Ice Dragon is the best choice. With our mutual understanding, I can fully command it and trigger elemental reactions at will."
His words stirred excitement in everyone.
While Liyue might not feel too strongly about Dragon Knights, Mondstadt was different.
Back when they dealt with Dvalin's curse, Jean and the others had briefly flown with him.
There was no denying it—dragon-riding flight was the ultimate dream of any knight.
Now, they were finally close to achieving it.
For a moment, everyone began pondering what kind of dragon they wanted to hatch.
Compared to their lively discussion, Ryen's side was much quieter.
To sneak away unnoticed by Ganyu, Ryen had used every trick he'd learned in his previous life.
Ganyu had passed out from exhaustion…
Satisfied, Ryen gently tucked her in, covered her with a blanket, and quietly slipped out of the room.
Opening the interdimensional gate again, Ryen was visibly excited.
The moment the gate finished forming, he charged through.
"Modern firearms, here I come!"
Suppressing his excited cheer, he disappeared into the gate, which then closed again.
Liyue Harbor fell into the quiet of the night.
---
Back in the Minecraft world, Ryen wasted no time and rushed straight to the basement workshop of his estate.
This was where he stored most of his important materials.
Dozens upon dozens of chests were stacked high.
That was the benefit of having helpers to mine resources.
Ryen hadn't gathered any of this himself—it had all been sent over from Liyue.
So, he was long past the beginner phase of struggling with basic materials.
"First, the weapons and armor workbench… If I remember correctly, four iron ingots and one crafting table."
"Then, the ammo press… Four iron ingots, one steel ingot, one crafting table."
"Steel ingot… steel ingot?"
Ryen paused.
He had clearly overestimated his memory.
The Vic's Modern Warfare mod had thousands of crafting recipes. Many were highly complex—without a guide, it was like groping around in the dark.
Even a year of guesswork would get you nowhere.
Completely blanking on how to make a steel ingot, Ryen muttered:
"System… you're a good guy, right?"
"…Ding. Crafting guide for Vic's Modern Warfare mod added."
Hearing that, Ryen let out a satisfied laugh.
"I knew it! You're a good guy, System! Alright, now you can buzz off!"
Showing classic scumbag energy—using it and tossing it—Ryen eagerly opened the crafting guide.
The next moment, hundreds of pages of crafting recipes filled his screen.
Ryen's scalp instantly went numb.
"Um… System, the crafting guide should have a search function, don't you think?"
Once again putting on a warm and enthusiastic smile, Ryen looked completely sincere.
"System, you're the best…"
"…Ding."
This time, the system responded with only a weak chime.
Ryen examined the holographic synthesis menu in front of him. As expected, there was now a dedicated index section at the top.
"Nice!"
He nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright, System, scram!"
The system didn't respond. After all, it was a rigid program.
But to Ryen, the system was still his best friend.
Even if it was dumb, brainless, and lacked intelligence…
At least it gave him good stuff and had always stayed by his side.
And most importantly, it had never issued any punishment quests.
So when Ryen said the system had a conscience, he wasn't joking.
"Steel ingots…"
He furrowed his brows and began checking the crafting recipe for steel ingots.
As far as he remembered, steel ingots didn't require any special ores introduced by the mod.
If they actually did, then he'd have to run a few mining trips tonight.
Though with his current gear, he didn't really have anything to worry about.
"Found it!"
"Smelted from steel powder… What a pain. Steel powder…"
Ryen ran his hand through his hair in frustration, but then carefully looked into how steel powder was made.
Thankfully, it wasn't hard to produce.
Four pieces of coal and one iron ingot could synthesize it.
And those materials? He had tons of them in stock.
Without hesitation, he crafted five batches of steel powder, then tossed them into the automatic furnace to smelt into steel ingots.
Once the first ingot came out, he finally managed to craft the Ammo Press.
With that, he now had the essential tool for making bullets.
"Now let me think…"
Ryen opened the firearm crafting menu and carefully picked out the weapons he wanted to use.
"Desert Eagle, Benelli Super 90 Shotgun, M249 Light Machine Gun, Fragmentation Grenade…"
As he muttered to himself, he pulled the selected weapons into a separate crafting tab.
A handgun, a shotgun, a machine gun, and grenades.
Adding that to the AK47 and RPG launcher he already had…
Basically, he now had what he needed to craft a solid arsenal.
"Wait a second!"
He paused and checked his equipment menu.
"I still need scopes and magazines, a set of body armor, and a tactical combat knife…"
Honestly, when a man's shopping urge kicks in, it can be just as intense as a woman's.
In just a few minutes, Ryen had compiled a massive list of gear to craft.
Only when he snapped out of it did he realize—he probably didn't have enough materials for all that.
So, reluctantly, he pared everything down to just the essential weapons.
He forced himself to close the drool-worthy firearms interface.
Taking a deep breath, Ryen opened the Desert Eagle's crafting recipe.
It required firearm-grade metal plates and plastic plates.
As expected, the shotgun and machine gun required the same materials—just in different amounts.
With mixed feelings, Ryen clicked into the crafting menus for the metal and plastic plates.
Instantly, his scalp tingled.
The plastic plate needed Synthetic Plastic, which required Carbon Fiber and Synthetic Polymer Composite.
Carbon fiber required Carbon Composite Materials…
The firearm-grade metal plate was the same story…
Nesting recipes!
This was absolutely a nesting doll of crafting trees!
Ryen cursed internally.
He had expected crafting guns to be hard—but not this hard.
Let alone teaching Ningguang and the others, even with the indexed recipes in front of him, he was starting to struggle.
Expecting them to grasp all the crafting formulas in a short time…
Ryen decided it would honestly be more practical for them to just form a Dragon Unit instead.
And that didn't even include the basic gun modifications.
With that factored in, Ryen figured that nobody could even reach the beginner level without at least half a year to a full year of training.
With a sigh, he jotted down the basic ores needed for crafting the metal and plastic plates.
He'd have to mine them himself later.
Then, he turned to examine the ammo types compatible with the weapons.
".50AE, 12-gauge shotgun shells, 5.56mm, my AK47's 7.62mm rounds, and RPG rockets… plus Ganyu's .50 BMG rounds."
Ryen braced himself and searched the required materials for these bullets.
Gunpowder and copper ingots.
Gunpowder was no problem—he had at least a dozen chests full of it.
But copper ingots…
This wasn't the useless vanilla Minecraft copper—it was a newly added ore.
"Copper ore, graphite ore, sulfur ore, tin ore…"
Ryen sighed again, suited up in his enchanted diamond gear, and swapped in his weapons and tools.
Taking advantage of the night, he plunged headfirst into a long-overdue mining expedition.
This was going to be a sleepless, nonstop work night. Even without Ryen's enthusiasm, the crazy number of crafting recipes alone would've kept anyone wide awake.
As for this mod—
Ryen would personally crown it the King of Nesting Recipes.
The only blessing?
Fragmentation grenades weren't nearly as complicated to make.
Just steel plates, steel ingots, gunpowder, and a flint.
The main material he lacked was steel…
Which, before leaving, Ryen had already loaded into the automatic furnace.
Once he got back, he was definitely crafting a batch of grenades first!
~~----------------------
To read 30 future chapters head over to patreon:
patreon.com/Dreamer20