The time quickly reached 7:15.
Everyone who had gone out, whether to fight monsters, explore, orZ just sightsee, had returned.
Yae Miko and March 7th were sitting together. This wasn't because their relationship was already that good, but because among everyone present, only Lumine and Xing hadn't returned yet. So, they sat together, thoughtfully leaving two empty seats between them.
The group sat around a makeshift table in front of the house. This was arranged by Lin Tian, who said he wanted to show them the original scenery of MC.
Everyone was a bit puzzled when they heard this. The game world was indeed a pixelated world, but other people's worlds also had that 2D anime look, which was indeed very different from the art style of 3D people like Liu Yueyan and Men Yashi. However, the real world and their worlds were quite similar.
Besides, during the first gathering, everyone had also seen that realistic world, at most just witnessing destruction happen in one-cubic-meter chunks.
Now, hearing Lin Tian's arrangement, everyone was curious about what MC looked like with different lighting and shaders.
Of course, Lin Tian didn't just let everyone sit and wait for nothing. He knew the personalities of those two scoundrels; they probably wouldn't come back until their backpacks were full, and they would likely cut it close, returning just seconds before the agreed-upon time.
They still had to wait for Xing and Lumine, and Lin Tian didn't plan to rush them. As long as they were having fun, it was fine. But since most people had already arrived, he couldn't just let them wait idly.
So, Lin Tian played a small trick using his dream-manipulation mod ability, pulling everyone directly into a dream state.
Of course, the reason Lin Tian could bring them into a dream while they were still awake was all thanks to Scaramouche's help. That imprisonment incident had not been easy. Although it looked like Lin Tian handled it in just a few minutes, the time ratio between the dream and reality was actually enormous.
He had spent nearly four days in the dream mastering this mod. Otherwise, did they really think he could set up so many dream layers for Scaramouche on his first try?
And for this dream, Lin Tian set up a very interesting world—that famously insane world from his previous life where gods and people alike were crazy: Annoying Villagers!
Perhaps due to differences between worlds, Liu Yueyan's world didn't have the extremely classic MC fan-work "Annoying Villagers." Lin Tian had chosen it precisely for this reason, wanting everyone to see this work with its spectacular fight scenes.
He also set the time. After thirteen minutes, Lumine and Xing should be back, and when the group woke up, it would be just in time to eat.
Watching everyone fall into the dream, Lin Tian suddenly felt a pang of guilt for what he'd done. He had left in all the original crazy scenes, the so-called dance battles and such. People who hadn't seen it before might genuinely be driven mad by those lunatics, especially since he had set it to a first-person perspective.
...
"Hah... I'm slightly exhausted."
Looking at the 'Snake-blade HIM' who was down for the count, Zhongli let out a breath, staring in shock at the 'Blue Demon' before him.
He had only heard Liu Yueyan talk about the legends of HIM before—something about being the world's creator god, destroyer god, and so on. But verbal descriptions were ultimately not as shocking as seeing it for real.
And the 'Blue Demon' could actually defeat it, even if it was just one of its avatars. This already proved how terrifying the 'Blue Demon's' power was!
Just as Zhongli was preparing to watch the rest of the story, the entire world suddenly began to collapse, and his consciousness was forcibly pulled back to reality.
Staring at the familiar scene, Zhongli paused, looking at Lin Tian with a puzzled gaze.
The others who woke up also turned their gazes to Lin Tian. Although it felt like a long time had passed, and the beginning parts were indeed not suitable for living beings to watch, the later plot was truly brilliant and intricately woven.
To be pulled out just like that—who could stand it!
They had just gotten to the exciting part! And now it was gone. Wasn't this just like the agony of being young and on the verge of exploding, only for your parents to suddenly open the door, forcing you to hide everything in a panic?
'Anyway, we're not in a hurry to go back. It would have been good to let us finish it!'
"Lin Tian, quickly! Continue! I want to keep watching the rest of the story! Why doesn't my world have this stuff!"
Liu Yueyan spoke up. She now thoroughly despised the MC fan-work creators in her world. They couldn't even make an abstract video like this; they seemed pretty useless.
'But none of that matters. What's important is the sequel!'
Although one could guess from the general direction of the plot that it would most likely lead to a world-war-level conflict, this was ultimately just speculation. No one knew what the final ending was.
"Er..."
Hearing Liu Yueyan's question and seeing everyone's expectant gazes, Lin Tian felt a bit helpless. Was it that he didn't want to show it? He didn't know either!
"Even if you want to know, I can't do anything about it. The original author only updated it up to this point. I can't just randomly make up an ending, can I?"
Hearing Lin Tian's words, a collective sigh echoed through the group. They also knew this was something they couldn't force, so they could only feel regretful.
"Let's not talk about that. Are Xing and Lumine still not back? They didn't actually get hooked on mining diamonds and forget the time, did they?"
"Probably not. Although those two are flighty and not like normal people, they should still understand basic courtesy."
"Look, they're already back."
Knowing there was no continuation, Liu Yueyan could only give up regretfully. It was then she noticed that Xing and Lumine were still missing from the scene and couldn't help but complain.
However, just after she finished complaining, the diamond-block portal to the side flashed, and the figures of Xing and Lumine appeared in the doorway.
"Hm? What's wrong, everyone?"
Xing and Lumine had just returned, their faces still glowing with the joy of a bountiful harvest, only to see that everyone was already seated around the table, staring at them with strange expressions.
"Speak of the devil. Why did you two really cut it so close? Don't tell me you mined the diamond dimension empty?"
Lin Tian looked at the watch on his hand. These two were really punctual. They said they'd be back at 7:30, and they were back at 7:30 on the dot.
"Er, about that... we really did mine a little too much. You're not going to blame us, are you?"
The two looked at the dozen-plus stacks of diamond blocks in their inventories and felt a bit embarrassed. Although Lin Tian didn't care about this stuff and had given them permission to mine, emptying out an entire village was still quite embarrassing.
Seeing their expressions, Lin Tian could already guess how much they had mined. But he didn't mind. He didn't need that world anyway, and besides, even if the two of them mined for a year, they couldn't possibly empty it. Let them be.
"I told you already, do as you please. We'll just see if you can carry it all when you go back. If you get injured because you can't carry it, I'm not taking responsibility."
"It's fine! It's just four or five thousand tons, right? Easy peasy!"
Hearing Xing's words, Lin Tian gave her a surprised look. 'Xing's strength has reached this level already? It seems the potential of a Stellaron is truly limitless. A Stellaron Hunter is even more incredible.'
Next, Lin Tian turned his gaze to Lumine. She wasn't like Xing. Xing had a high foundation to begin with, but Lumine... one could only say that, limited by her world, even with enhancements from points, it was hard for her to grow much.
After all, the underlying logic of the point enhancement was just strengthening their constitution. If the foundation wasn't high, the strengthening wouldn't have much of an effect.
However, while the points were somewhat lacking in strengthening constitution, the enhancement to abilities was constant. But this created a very contradictory characteristic!
If one's physical constitution wasn't up to par, a sudden strengthening of the abilities they controlled would make them impossible to control properly. So, it was still safer to improve one's constitution first, then improve abilities.
Therefore, although this method of using points to strengthen power was decent, it was still too slow for those with low strength. But it was still some improvement, wasn't it?
Moreover, building a foundation this way was excellent. It required no strenuous effort—a perfect foundation!
"What are you looking at! I'm very strong too, okay! I mined according to the limit of what I can handle. Otherwise, do you really think I'm stupid?"
Seeing Lin Tian look at her, Lumine immediately understood his thoughts and said, exasperated.
'What? You look down on her, someone who can travel between stars?'
'Zhongli can summon thousands of meteors with a wave of his hand. Her current strength might not match his, but it's not weak, okay!'
"Oh! It seems Lumine is really working hard. Are you afraid of being surpassed by others and left too far behind?"
Hearing Lumine's words, Liu Yueyan felt a bit incredulous, but she still spoke in a deliberately teasing tone.
But inwardly, she was also starting to feel nervous. 'Even Lumine has become this strong. It seems I really can't keep slacking off, or I'll really end up at the bottom of the chat group.'
"Yeah, what else? You think I really spend all day looking for cute girls? Well, I do, but I also want to get stronger, okay? After all, I know that my brother might not be my real brother. I have to find him and ask him about it face to face!"
Speaking of this topic, Lumine's expression became a little dejected. After all, she had traveled with her brother for so long, only to suddenly discover her brother might not even exist. This was really devastating, okay?
'But luckily, there are plenty of cute girls in Teyvat. That's quite reassuring. I'll just put the brother stuff aside for now. Anyway, I have revival coins. Even if my brother dies, I can still save him.'
Ignoring the now-crying, now-laughing Lumine, Miko Yotsuya and the others looked at Xing and Lumine in shock. They hadn't expected there to be two such powerful masters in the group. Four or five thousand tons! They could carry that!
'Let's not even talk about Xing; her world's framework is clearly unusual. But based on their impression of Teyvat, it seems only the Seven Archons have this kind of power, and above them, the Heavenly Principles.'
'As for Lumine... her performance really wasn't that impressive. They truly couldn't equate the Lumine in front of them, who claimed she could lift four or five thousand tons, with the underperforming Lumine from the story!'
...