On the Main Continent.
Dashi received the urgent transmission from Ningguang and immediately ordered a suspension of the Mage Corps training drills, stepping out of the staging ground with rapid strides.
When accounting for the personnel currently rotated into the Nether for resource harvesting, the End Expeditionary Force, and the active teams clearing dungeons within the Twilight Forest, the available standing army was stretched thin. Subtracting the structural masonry teams and those clearing land for urban sprawl, fewer than two thousand veteran soldiers could be immediately mobilized for foreign deployment.
The primary cause for this constraint was that the remaining recruits had only recently crossed the portal grid, meaning their standard survival and adaptation training protocols were still incomplete. Constructing a logistical landing zone on an entirely unmapped landmass required seasoned pioneers who understood the specific, non-Newtonian traits of this world.
Among these two thousand experienced pioneers, the contingents from Liyue and Mondstadt formed the absolute majority. Dashi executed a mass displacement teleport directly to the staging grounds outside the walls of Mondstadt City, and within minutes, the distinct hum of cross-dimensional anchor points pulsed continuously as the entire detachment consolidated at the coordinates.
Once the respective platoon leaders verified their equipment integrity, Dashi stepped onto the raised platform, his voice carrying clearly across the ranks.
"Lord Ryen has issued an operational mandate. All present units are to advance immediately to the New Continent coordinates to initiate the construction of a permanent deep-water port facility."
"The transit will be executed in pairs utilizing standard personal watercraft. Thirty elite Dragon Cavalry units will maintain high-altitude overwatch and continuous celestial navigation to guarantee a completely linear trajectory. No lateral deviations from the charted naval course will be tolerated."
"Upon arrival at the destination coordinates, a absolute roll-call will be conducted. If any individual separates from the fleet, the respective squad leader will be held directly accountable under military law."
"Furthermore, during the crossing phase, when intersecting the coordinates of the recently breached Ocean Monument, you are authorized to construct a fixed floating platform on the surface. The dimensional footprint does not need to be excessive; a one hundred by one hundred grid of solid blocks is sufficient."
"This structure will serve as a permanent maritime replenishment depot and a secondary navigation beacon for subsequent supply convoys."
"After clearing the Ocean Monument coordinates, maintain the linear heading until intersecting the sector containing the third shipwreck structure. At that junction, break ground on a secondary floating platform matching the exact spatial specifications of the monument depot."
"Upon making landfall at the port site, every soldier must immediately secure their watercraft in their inventories and commence construction of a harbor facility scaled to accommodate a baseline of ten thousand naval vessels."
"The engineering corps will organize into standard ten-man cells, with ten cells forming a cohesive division."
"Are the operational guidelines understood?"
A sea of disciplined nods answered him, and Dashi barked the final order. "Deploy! Destination: the New Continent! May the winds favor your crossing."
As the command left his lips, the two thousand soldiers systematically deployed their boats into the surf, creating a dense, perfectly aligned armada that carved through the coastal waves toward the open sea. Dashi watched in silence as the flotilla slowly shrank against the horizon, eventually vanishing beyond the curve of the ocean.
He held no real anxiety regarding the possibility of the troops losing their bearings. As trained military personnel, their structural navigation skills were excellent, and the presence of the Dragon Cavalry maintaining an unhindered aerial perspective ensured a fixed course. His primary concern was simply preventing eager recruits from drifting off to investigate anomalous surface structures.
He remained at the shoreline for several minutes, the ocean breeze catching his cloak, until a brief ripple of light manifested beside him, and Fengyan stepped through the teleportation interface.
"The vanguard has departed?" Fengyan asked casually.
Dashi nodded, tracking the distant clouds. "Yes. Once their structural foundation is completed, we will likely need to authorize the secondary migration wave to establish permanent forward bases on the New Continent. That landmass is far too massive to leave its development entirely to Khaenri'ah."
Stowing his mapping materials, Dashi shifted the topic. "How is the progress on the Redstone Technology City construction zone?"
Fengyan reflected for a moment, a trace of genuine marvel showing in his expression. "We have officially entered the structural finishing phase. To be perfectly honest, that entire sector is nothing short of an engineering miracle."
"The sheer physical scale is staggering, and every vertical column is laced with complex redstone circuitry and industrial logic that defies anything found in Teyvat. Those towering structural blocks and automated transit rails are utterly breathtaking to look at."
Dashi offered a slight smile, his posture relaxing. "That is only natural. The architectural blueprints for the Redstone Technology City came directly from Lord Ryen's personal archives. He explicitly stated that the design reflects the structural layout of the modernized metropolitan areas from his ancestral world."
"The Technology City is designated to function as the sovereign administrative core of this entire world, so its visual and functional grandeur must reflect that status. This current phase is merely the initial urban footprint. Once the civilian populations of the seven nations are systematically integrated into this dimension, the city limits will expand exponentially."
Dashi paused, adjusting his gauntlets before offering a brief nod of farewell. "If there are no further logistical discrepancies to review, I must return to the staging grounds. The Mage Corps requires my direct oversight for their combat drills."
"The port construction division will establish communication parameters with your office the moment they anchor at the coordinates."
Fengyan waved the formality aside with a light chuckle. "Commander Dashi is certainly carries the weight of his rank with increasing gravitas these days."
Dashi let out a weary, heartfelt sigh. "There are moments when I genuinely long for the simplicity of being a standard Dragon Cavalry rider. The administrative overhead is suffocating. As the number of Millelith personnel stationed within this dimension scales upward, my entire schedule is consumed by structural drilling and exploratory assignments."
"I am practically moving without pause from sunrise to dusk."
Fengyan rolled his eyes. "Save the complaints. You are holding the most sought-after commission in the entire military structure."
Dashi laughed, the tension leaving his shoulders as he activated his personal hearthstone. "I am departing. Once the final redstone arrays are verified in the Technology City, ensure that a formal status report is compiled for Lord Ryen."
Fengyan nodded, watching Dashi dissolve into a shimmer of particle light. He cast one final look toward the open sea before executing a standard teleport back to the perimeter network of the Redstone Technology City.
The urban development within the MC world was growing increasingly sophisticated, and the foundational fire of civilization was burning with a brighter, more unyielding intensity. A world generated life, that life kindled the spark of civilization, and that civilization ultimately reshaped the metaphysical parameters of the world. This was a absolute law acknowledged across the vast expanse of the cosmos, and the MC world was proving to be no exception to the rule.
With massive quantities of Teyvat physiology leaving their immutable imprints upon the blocks of this dimension, and with the entire population of Khaenri'ah preparing for permanent migration, this wild, chaotic world was rapidly transitioning into a structured cradle of true civilization. This slow, subterranean shift in the world's core essence was something that even Ryen had not fully consciously mapped out yet.
A sudden, cataclysmic awakening likely awaited him once the world reached its next developmental threshold, and by all structural indicators, that threshold was approaching rapidly.
On the New Continent.
Following the confirmation from Dashi regarding the military vanguard's deployment toward the naval coordinates, Ningguang briefed Ryen on the operational status.
Ryen did not delay. With a simple focus of his intent, he accessed the world's spatial grid and anchored a permanent teleportation node directly adjacent to the iron-based beacon Ningguang had erected at the coast. He instructed her that once the construction divisions arrived, they were to utilize the beacon as the absolute center point for the harbor's urban expansion. With the spatial anchor set, the logistical details were left to the automation officers.
The midday meal consumed by the party was utilitarian; the culinary resources of the baseline MC world were fundamentally limited in variety, and furthermore, every member of the expedition was far too focused on mapping out the potential of the Witchery mod to squander precious sunlight on extensive dining.
Once the meal concluded, Ryen prepared to signal the march, but Aether adamantly insisted on systematically dismantling every temporary table and chair they had placed, directing the Khaenri'ahns to harvest the blocks with intense efficiency.
Lumine watched her brother's rigid hoarding habits, her expression turning into a flat glare. "Is this absolute penury necessary? These are basic oak planks and raw stones; they are literally everywhere in this world. There is no logical reason to pack them back into your inventory."
"If any foreign scouts see a prince of Khaenri'ah hoarding basic cobblestone like a starving beggar, they'll write reports claiming Liyue is running a slave labor camp."
Aether did not stop his work, countering her criticism with a sharp, defensive snap. "Your perspective lacks any structural vision."
"I am systematically clearing the sacred perimeter of the future capital of Khaenri'ah!"
"This precise geographic coordinate represents the sovereign heart of our restored kingdom. Every aberrant block or foreign object left rotting on this grass degrades the purity of our future capital. It must be preserved with absolute care."
Lumine's lips thinned, and though she held her tongue to avoid a public shouting match, her internal thoughts were clear: Look at this pathetic, materialist display.
Aether ignored his sister's silent judgment, barking orders to Endis to ensure that even the stray wood shavings from the crafting tables were collected. His words, though dramatic, came from a place of absolute, raw emotion.
To finally touch a soil that belonged to his people, a vast, unblemished domain where they could build without hiding, was something that shook him to his core. The environment was pristine, the air was clean, and the sunlit expanse was an absolute paradise for biological life.
If the ancient nobility of Khaenri'ah could see this place during the height of their old empire, they would have wept with joy. The old kingdom had possessed incredible technology, but a subterranean realm, no matter how heavily reinforced by steel and hydraulics, was still a tomb devoid of natural light. If their old homeland had been this beautiful, they would never have built the field tillers to wage wars of expansion across Teyvat.
They had spent five centuries rotting within the dark, toxic margins of the Abyss. To transition from that absolute prison to this sunlit expanse of endless grass was a shift so profound that any Khaenri'ahn who desecrated the soil would have faced immediate execution by their peers.
Lumine and the other Archons, having never known the absolute despair of losing the open sky, could not comprehend the frantic, protective obsession driving the Khaenri'ahns.
Once the camp coordinates were cleared down to the baseline grass blocks, Ryen scanned the topography, pondering the geographic layout before pointing toward the left quadrant. "We will advance along that vector, toward the dense forest line."
"The resource density within timber biomes is significantly higher than what these open plains can provide."
The expedition party immediately formed up, weapons drawn and armor locked, moving into the untamed terrain. The geography of the New Continent was entirely different from the Main Continent; the latter had been completely mapped, with hostile generation zones systematically walled off and lit by torch grids. This land was a pure, hostile wilderness.
The baseline firearms mod generated variants of hostiles that could easily overwhelm an unarmored target, and when combined with the unpredictable hexes of wandering spellcasters, the terrain required absolute vigilance. Ryen walked with unburdened hands, his fingers occupied with holding Klee and Qiqi safely beside him. The women in his party did not show any resentment toward his focus; his absolute protective instinct toward the children was a core trait they had long accepted.
Their advance across the plains was remarkably smooth, encountering only sporadic hostile entities. Given the sheer, overwhelming firepower carried by the party, it was difficult to determine whether the monsters or the adventurers were the true predators in this ecosystem.
Diluc and Tartaglia walked near the flanks, their tactical belts lined with high-explosive grenades, RPG launchers slung across their diamond plates, automatic machine guns held at the ready, and high-tier staves resting in their primary weapon slots. Short of a pair of aviator glasses and a lit cigar, they looked exactly like ancient, unyielding mercenaries from Ryen's old cinematic histories.
Ryen watched them with a silent grin, while Aether walked nearby, maintaining a continuous, low-voiced dialogue with his engineers. They were mapping the environmental markers, debating where the primary residential quadrants should be established. The first urban center would be their capital, meaning its structural design and symbolic layout had to follow a sovereign logic, it could not be configured like the functional, agricultural towns Liyue had built on the Main Continent.
Aether's plan dictated that the inner city walls would contain exclusively high-density residential sectors, public administrative plazas, and commercial districts. Industrial constructs like automated mob-grinding towers would be completely banned from the civilian sectors.
However, since such utility constructs were an absolute necessity for resource generation in this world, they would be situated well beyond the outer walls. The agricultural grids and livestock pens would follow a similar logic, flanking the military garrisons in a layout reminiscent of the ancient military-agricultural colonies of early Liyue history.
The further they marched across the sunlit grass, the higher the collective morale of the Khaenri'ahns rose. Their eyes lingered on every rolling hill, visualizing the massive stone towers and steel frameworks of their capital rising from the earth within the year. A dream that had sustained them through five hundred years of torment was finally taking physical shape. The very flora beneath their boots felt sacred, this was the future soil of a sovereign Khaenri'ah.
By the time the shadows began to lengthen into the late afternoon, the uniform grass blocks began to break, interspersed with scattered birch and oak trees. They were approaching the edge of the plains.
Under standard physical laws, an endless grassland of this scale would take weeks to cross on foot, but the spatial logic of this dimension allowed for an altered perception of distance. Moreover, the plains were naturally populated by herds of horses, and the raw equestrian speed permitted by the world's physics was nothing short of miraculous. Still, to completely clear the grassland biome, they would likely need to march until dusk.
Ryen weighed the tactical advantages of slowing their pace to pitch camp on the open grass. Spending the night on the plains was infinitely safer than entering an unlit forest canopy where the mob generation algorithms could spawn hostiles behind the trees. While their collective firepower minimized the actual risk, avoiding unnecessary night engagements was the most logical choice.
As he was about to call a halt, the sudden, deafening roar of automatic gunfire and high-explosive detonations erupted from the tree line ahead.
Ryen merely cast a brief glance toward the smoke before looking away. It was a standard pillager outpost patrol, perhaps a hundred units strong.
In terms of actual offensive capability, even if the pillager numbers were doubled, their crude crossbows and basic axes were completely outmatched by the modern military tech carried by his vanguard. True to his calculations, the intense gunfire lasted for less than three minutes before absolute silence reclaimed the woods.
Ryen prepared to lead the children past the cleared zone when Tartaglia's voice cut through the trees, sharp with genuine shock.
"Lord Ryen! Come to these coordinates immediately! There is an completely inexplicable object embedded in the dirt!"
Ryen arched a brow, stepping through the broken foliage toward the location. The moment his eyes locked onto the object, his stride froze, and his jaw dropped.
After a long, stunned silence, a single, disbelieving word left his lips.
"An automobile?!"