Scaramouche acknowledging his aunt was something he truly did.
Although most people had long tacitly accepted that, since Scaramouche was created by Ei, he was effectively her child, and since Makoto was Ei's elder sister, that naturally made Scaramouche her nephew, this matter had never really been discussed openly.
This time, however, it was formal.
To put it simply, Scaramouche performed the full rites: kneeling, bowing, and acknowledging his lineage.
Makoto, for her part, felt that Scaramouche was a filial and well-behaved child.
He listened attentively and did whatever he was told.
That said, Scaramouche absolutely refused to acknowledge Ei, still looking at her the way one would look at an enemy.
Naturally, Ei did not care in the slightest.
In her heart, the only person truly worthy of her concern was Makoto.
After that came Yae Miko and Kitsune Saiguu.
Then other friends.
As for Scaramouche?
Who was that again…?
During this period, Beidou once again explored the New Continent.
Her original intention was to look for a suitable foothold, so that everyone would have a place to land when they later went to explore the New Continent in earnest.
Unfortunately, no matter which direction one approached from, the entire landmass was covered in dense jungle.
Considering how many new mods had been added to the Overworld, who knew how many dangerous monsters might be hiding there, and the fact that jungles were notoriously easy to get lost in, Beidou didn't dare venture too deep on her own.
Compared to the Slash Blade mod and the furniture mod, which had already matured and even entered large-scale production, the Thaumcraft mod was practically stagnant.
They had found quite a few vis crystals, but with only those, the options were limited.
Either hand them over to Albedo for research, or use them directly to craft an unaligned novice staff or some magic fabric.
None of these were particularly useful to the group.
At best, the magic fabric gave Albedo more material to experiment with.
Overall, Thaumcraft clearly could not progress without Library Ruins,
, or perhaps an Infusion Altar.
Without those, progress was essentially blocked.
That said, it wasn't as though there had been no progress at all.
On the already fully explored continent, there were still quite a few Wizard Towers.
They had gone to trade with the wizards there, obtaining some materials and spellbooks.
In one case, the top of a wizard tower even housed a hostile red-eyed wizard.
After defeating him, they obtained an advanced-tier staff, a fairly useless accessory, and several spellbooks.
Still, compared to the Slash Blade mod, Thaumcraft remained largely undeveloped.
The spells acquired so far were unremarkable, certainly not enough to make anyone want to replace their existing spell loadouts.
Overall, mod progression during these days had been smooth.
As for Ryen's personal progress, it had gone even more smoothly.
A few days ago, he and Guizhong had agreed to go to Guili Plains to test some new abilities.
After that…
Everything happened naturally.
Ryen never would have imagined that Guizhong was a once-in-a-millennium divine treasure.
He could only exclaim that he had truly struck gold.
Just thinking about it made him reluctant to leave that feeling behind.
"Ryen! What are you thinking about again?!"
On the sky island, Guizhong lightly pushed Ryen.
They had been farming mobs on the island all morning.
Today, Ryen had planned to help Guizhong forge the demon blade Crimson Sakura.
Of course, that couldn't be completed in a single day, the prerequisite for Crimson Sakura was three thousand kills with the Blood Blade Samehada.
But Guizhong desperately wanted its active skill, Final Sakura.
She had even promised Ryen that once the blade was completed, she would let him do whatever he wanted.
How could he not take this seriously?
"You're thinking about something indecent again, aren't you?!"
Guizhong leaned in close, glaring at him unhappily.
Ryen raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"How did you know?"
"Please!"
Guizhong rolled her eyes and pointed at the mob farm.
"You haven't swung your sword for four or five minutes, and the way you're looking at me is clearly wrong. Your disguise is terrible!"
"Have you ever considered that I wasn't disguising anything at all?"
Ryen laughed, pulled Guizhong into his arms, gently rubbing her head as he murmured:
"You already belong to me. What's wrong with me thinking about you?"
Guizhong muttered,
"It's broad daylight, aren't you embarrassed?"
Even as she said that, she obediently hugged him tighter, no small amount of pride in her heart.
She didn't really understand what "divine artifact" meant, but she could clearly feel that ever since that day of evolution, Ryen had been displaying an indescribable level of excitement.
Guizhong guessed that he must be very satisfied with her.
That alone was something she could be proud of.
Suddenly, Guizhong sensed something amiss and pressed a hand against Ryen's chest, wary.
"No! It's daytime! Today we have to finish the Blood Blade Samehada first, everything else can wait!"
Ryen sighed regretfully, but then his eyes flicked, and he leaned close to her ear, whispering:
"Stop pretending. Can you really hold back?"
"N-Nonsense!"
Guizhong's gaze wandered, her face flushed red.
"Of course I can!"
After a pause, she lowered her head and added weakly,
"But… if you don't eat your fill, you won't have the strength to work later, right?"
Ryen grinned and scooped Guizhong up, heading straight for the Cloud-Top Villa not far from the sky island.
As the Minecraft world had been developed further and further, Ryen's early construction on this floating island, centered around the manor villa, had become increasingly complete.
The grand architectural complex he had once envisioned was now fully realized.
The sky island was layered, orderly, and well structured.
The lower islands served as centralized work zones for mob farms and similar facilities.
The upper level was purely for scenery, the Cloud-Top Villa.
The two were connected by an automatic redstone elevator designed by Guizhong.
Notably, this kind of automatic lift had already been applied to city construction across the Minecraft world.
Modern cities were drawing ever closer.
But Ryen had no time to think about any of that right now.
At this moment, nothing could stop him from enjoying his personal divine treasure.
Seeing Ryen's impatience, Guizhong smiled, gently cupping his face and blinking.
"Ryen… do you remember what I told you before?"
Ryen froze, then replied irritably,
"You make a new request every day, how am I supposed to remember which one you mean?!"
"Idiot! Look at the situation, of course it's about this!"
Guizhong puffed up angrily, then softened her voice.
"You have to tell me you love me first."
Ryen laughed helplessly, lowering his head to rub noses with her.
"Guizhong, I love you."
"Me too!"
Guizhong's eyes curved happily as she urged him on.
"Okay, okay! You can start now!"
Ryen found it amusing.
Even though Guizhong had truly matured, at heart she still carried a girlish sweetness.
And Ryen loved that sweetness.
After all, she was Guizhong, the Guizhong who would never truly grow old.
Today's plans were completely thrown off.
The demon blade Crimson Sakura once again became a distant goal.
Even the Blood Blade Samehada likely wouldn't be completed today.
Some time later, the Cloud-Top Villa finally returned to peace.
Guizhong lay by the window, gazing at the drifting clouds outside, eyes half-closed in contentment.
After resting for a moment, she turned back toward Ryen, who was holding her, and asked softly:
"Tomorrow is the Sabzeruz Festival. Are we leaving today?"
Ryen kissed her back gently.
"In the evening. There are still a few things to handle, and it's time to send people to start developing the Twilight Forest."
"I'm guessing Ningguang will come looking for me soon."
"Once that's settled, we'll head to Sumeru and properly celebrate Nahida's birthday tomorrow."
"And then…"
As he spoke, Ryen realized he was starting to plan far ahead again.
He smiled wryly, turned Guizhong around, and held her close.
"Forget it. No need to go into that much detail with you."
"No! I want to hear it!"
Guizhong pushed him lightly.
She didn't really want to hear the plan, she just couldn't handle staying this quiet much longer.
Ryen was like a raging bull, and he liked her far too much.
If this continued, she would suffer again soon.
As pleasant as it was, everything needed moderation.
She wasn't made of iron!
Ryen naturally saw through her unease and smiled, deciding not to continue.
Sustainable long-term development was the key, breaking his divine treasure would be a huge loss.
After a moment's thought, he said softly:
"After finishing things there, we'll go to Inazuma again. Call it a trip."
"Then, just like I planned before, we'll explore the New Continent, fully roll out Thaumcraft, and after that… it's city building."
"Oh, right, one more thing."
Ryen suddenly patted Guizhong and asked gently:
"The Lantern Rite is coming too. This will be your first Lantern Rite since your revival. What gift do you want?"
"A gift?"
Guizhong's eyes lit up, and she hugged Ryen tightly.
"Having you is enough!"
"Who taught you lines like that? They're unbearably sweet…"
Ryen laughed and pinched her cheek. Guizhong blinked playfully.
"Obviously I learned it from you! But really, there's nothing I want."
"I have you, I can see Liyue of the future, and I'm already very happy. I don't need anything else."
Ryen rubbed her head gently.
"Then I'll think of something. You might not need it, but I still have to give it."
Guizhong smiled and said nothing.
She truly didn't need material things to symbolize happiness.
But since it was a gift from her beloved, even a blade of grass would become the most unique and precious grass in the world.
As long as Ryen didn't say something like,
Your gift is spending the whole day in bed making you happy.
Because if that really happened…
That would be awesome.
Guizhong wasn't shy about these things. She liked what she liked, no need to hide it.
She had told Ryen clearly, many times:
She liked it. The more, the better.
After resting a bit, Guizhong finally recovered her strength.
Without needing Ryen to say anything, she eagerly returned to form.
The two hit it off again, enjoying themselves until afternoon, before leisurely returning to the manor villa.
Ningguang, waiting in the living room, took one look at them and knew they'd spent another shameless day together.
She didn't bother commenting, simply standing and walking toward Ryen.
"A thousand soldiers are already waiting outside. Everyone has also returned to Teyvat."
"We're just waiting for you. Once the soldiers are stationed in the Twilight Forest, we'll depart for Sumeru."
Ryen raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Looks like I was the one dragging things out."
"You only just realized?"
Ningguang shook her head helplessly, then glanced at the radiant Guizhong, feeling a faint itch in her heart.
She walked past Ryen and said softly:
"Let's go. Settle the soldiers first, and then, "
Suddenly, Ningguang poked Ryen in the waist and whispered:
"Tonight, I want the same treatment as her."