Ryen himself did not particularly care about Paimon's identity.
Whatever she was, as long as Paimon spent her days clinging to him and being a cheerful little floating companion, he would keep spoiling her.
In his eyes, who she was didn't matter. He was a World Master. Did he really need to concern himself with things like that?
Watching Paimon's large eyes well up with tears, her fear and panic entirely genuine.
Ryen hadn't the heart to keep probing. The others had also by now recovered from their shock over the staff and were drifting back toward him with laughter and chatter.
He exhaled quietly.
He discreetly wiped the corners of Paimon's eyes, then gave her cheeks a gentle ruffle.
"Come find me tonight. We can talk then."
Paimon looked at his gaze, as warm and unhurried as ever, completely unchanged by the matter of her being the so-called Ruler of Space.
She relaxed, and settled back onto his shoulder like a well-behaved little thing, though she looked noticeably preoccupied.
"Paimon, what's wrong? Your eyes are red. Were you crying?"
Lumine had been about to say something when she noticed Paimon's unusual state. The two of them bickered endlessly on a daily basis, but deep down Lumine genuinely cared about Paimon. Paimon had been the first friend she made after arriving in this world, had traveled at her side the whole time.
She was Lumine's most important companion.
"No I wasn't!"
Paimon rubbed her eyes and let out an exaggerated yawn.
"Didn't sleep well last night. Just a bit tired!"
Lumine curled her lip.
"You can't sleep badly. You eat your fill and you can sink back into your pocket dimension and sleep anywhere, anytime."
"Normal people get through on eight hours and feel fine. You need twenty hours or you're drowsy."
"Honestly, at your age, how can you even manage to feel sleepy?"
She poked Paimon's cheek with a grin.
Under ordinary circumstances, Paimon would have launched immediately into a counter-argument.
Now she just pursed her lips and lowered her head in silence.
"Really is tired, apparently."
Lumine shook her head, no longer pressing.
The others didn't find anything particularly wrong either, though Yae Miko glanced quietly at Ryen with a thoughtful expression.
He gave her a small nod. She exhaled inwardly.
"So that's the full picture on the Master healing staff."
Ryen shifted the subject with an easy smile.
"Every spell in this staff is powerful. Neophyte or Master tier, the strategic value is significant across the board."
"Zhongli is now the finest support there is. Study your staff carefully."
"Find some military units to test the large-area buffs when you have time. See what level they can be pushed to combined with their potions."
At heart, Ryen genuinely believed that if soldiers combined their potions with weapons like the Iaito, and eventually staves of their own, with Zhongli providing support, every one of them would be capable of reaching archon-vessel combat level.
That was the ideal scenario, of course. The actual results would depend on how the enhancement transferred in Teyvat.
"This staff still needs Spell Power and Mana Capacity upgrades. Keep the Battle Mage set safe as well, it's a matched pair."
"After the new year, when we go to the new continent to look for library ruins, we can continue then."
Ryen mentioned it in passing. Zhongli gave a small nod, then said with some feeling:
"In hindsight, we were fortunate to have been cautious with the Goblin Knight and given it no opportunity to use its spells."
"Otherwise, setting aside the staff's damage output, its spells alone would have kept us tied down and unable to deal with it."
Ryen smiled and waved the thought off.
"That said, this staff's one-on-one effectiveness is not actually that impressive. In terms of pure output, it doesn't compare to mine or Hu Tao's Master Staves."
"But in terms of support capability, it's genuinely in a class of its own."
"This kind of staff finds its true value in large-scale engagements."
"If that Goblin Knight had been able to summon a pack of goblin kin, even around a hundred of them, this staff would have been enough to deal serious damage to your forces."
Zhongli glanced at Venti with unhurried calm.
"So as a general principle, erring toward caution does have its advantages."
Venti rolled his eyes, but considering he was still counting on Zhongli for a support session at some point in the future, he turned his head away and said nothing.
"Let's head back. There are still a few things to go over."
Ryen turned and started toward the manor villa.
But Lumine tugged at his sleeve with a guilty expression.
"Could we... go tomorrow? Give me a chance to tidy up. Right now over there is... a bit of a situation."
The villa's living room currently had a crater in it. The fish tank was shattered. The decorative fish Ryen had kept were scattered across the floor.
And all that water had essentially flooded the living room.
Lumine was worried that if Ryen saw it now, she would end up with another smack on the backside before the day was out.
Ryen had a decent idea of what kind of destruction Lumine was capable of. He tapped her head without much patience.
"Let's go to the sky island then. Good chance to see how the Jade Chamber is coming along."
Ningguang smiled and neatly rescued Lumine from the moment.
Around the manor villa, everyone had built their own signature structure as a personal project.
Ningguang had recreated the Jade Chamber in the sky above. Jean had rebuilt a Knights of Favonius administrative office. Diluc had constructed a replica of the Dawn Winery.
In general, no one visited these buildings very often. Building them had been mainly about practicing construction skills.
The group followed Ryen and Ningguang up to the MC World's Jade Chamber.
The Minecraft aesthetic was unmistakable, but the Jade Chamber's silhouette was immediately recognizable.
Slightly larger than the one in Liyue Harbor.
Other than the fact that it couldn't move, it was essentially the same.
Ningguang looked quietly proud. She had built this entirely by herself, from beginning to end.
Blueprint design. Overall construction. Detail work.
Every part of it, by her hand alone.
She could genuinely claim that after Ryen, she understood this world better than anyone.
Ryen and Ganyu and the others had been gone only two and a half days to Inazuma. In that short time, the MC World side had progressed through the Twilight Forest and acquired the staff, and not much else worth noting had happened.
The construction blueprints Ryen had left behind were steadily advancing. The more complex elements Jean and the others had already completed on their own. What remained was bulk processing work, which would take one more day at most before the military units could finish.
The recreational mode maps would be fully operational before the Lantern Rite began.
The competition would launch on the first day of the festival and run for a week, with the grand finale on the last day: the ultimate Bed Wars championship that everyone was most anticipating.
From what Aether had indicated, he was apparently planning to enter with his own team.
Beyond that, nothing else in the MC World required attention, and Liyue Harbor was calm.
The Lantern Rite itself was being managed by the General Affairs Office. Ningguang and the others only knew the broad outline of the schedule, which was by design: some surprise had been maintained.
"There is one more matter that needs coordinating with Liyue."
Once the conversation wound down, Makoto mentioned it quietly.
"The next Inazuma contingent is already en route, led by Ayato. They should reach Liyue Harbor within three days."
"Approximately three thousand people. I'll do my best to ensure they don't cause any disruption for Liyue Harbor."
Ningguang and the others gave small nods. Having just been to Inazuma, they had naturally known another military deployment was coming.
Just a matter of informing the General Affairs Office.
"My brother brought three thousand people?!"
Ayaka looked surprised, turning to Makoto with a trace of pleased disbelief.
"My Lord Shogun, is my brother coming here as well?"
Makoto smiled and gave a small nod.
"That's right. Inazuma's situation has fully stabilized, and there was nothing pressing enough to keep Ayato there. Besides, with the Abyss Order having agreed to handle Inazuma's monster problem, we have a genuine need for people on this side. So it made sense to let Ayato bring a capable force and come to help."
Ayaka had been happy enough to hear her brother was finally coming, but then she'd caught the part about Inazuma's monsters being handled by the Abyss Order.
What kind of situation was this?
Not just Ayaka: even Kujou Sara looked completely bewildered.
Three thousand additional people would certainly ease Inazuma's MC World planning considerably and allow many workstreams to run in parallel. But...
The Abyss Order solving Inazuma's monster problem: was that actually not a joke?
"My Lord Shogun..."
Kujou Sara looked worried. Before Makoto could respond, Aether said quietly from one side:
"There's no need for concern. I'm aware of the arrangement, and it has my agreement."
"The Abyss Order needs to gather the Khaenri'ahn people who were cursed in those days: the Hilichurls."
"And going forward, once the Khaenri'ahn settlers are in this world, cooperation with the other nations will be necessary."
"Helping Inazuma deal with its monsters benefits us as well."
Makoto gave a confirming nod.
"That's correct. Before we came here, the Abyss Order's people had already arrived in Inazuma. Gorou is leading them in the monster clearance operation, and the progress is good."
"With them there, we can send everyone except essential garrison forces over here to help with the development plan."
"No need to worry. From what I've seen, Gorou and the Abyss Order are working together smoothly."
With Makoto saying as much, Kujou Sara and the others let the concern go.
The next thought that surfaced was: three thousand people, arriving in just a few days.
Kujou Sara sat up straighter with a surge of energy.
"Three thousand people. That's wonderful!"
"With this many, developing the Nether, the End, and the Twilight Forest simultaneously won't strain our capacity at all."
"City construction, base building, territorial exploration: none of it will have to compete with resource collection."
"So many workstreams can run at the same time. Everyone's individual workload goes down, efficiency goes up, and soldiers finally get adequate rest time."
"Thank you, My Lord Shogun!"
She pulled out a notebook and began writing rapidly, pausing now and then to murmur something to Kokomi.
Once those three thousand arrived and finished training, they could go straight to work.
Three months of planning that had seemed ambitious: with these people, it could be complete in less than a month.
Time to revise the task allocation now, before they arrived.
Inazuma was finally about to enter the same rapid development phase as Liyue and Mondstadt.
Alhaitham and Rosaria and the others nearby watched Kujou Sara's reaction with barely concealed envy.
Three thousand people.
Inazuma's incoming reinforcement alone outnumbered the combined forces of their two nations.
The hardest part to swallow was Snezhnaya's situation.
Their progress had been roughly on par with Inazuma's. Now with this influx, Inazuma was going to pull ahead with ease.
The thought left Rosaria and the Cryo Archon quietly frustrated.
Always the same problem: not enough people. It had been grinding at them for far too long.
As for Childe and Scaramouche...
People without a care in the world don't feel pressure.