"As a seasoned veteran of many worlds, Li Ke had developed a natural, almost instinctive knack for understanding the women he encountered. It wasn't about manipulation; it was about resonance. He knew that every person needed a different kind of support to feel secure in a world that had literally chewed them up and spat them out.
A girl like Toph didn't want pity or soft words; she responded to a straight-laced, firm presence and a soul that could match her own sharp wit. She needed an equal, someone who didn't see her as 'broken.' But for someone like Elsa, a woman who had spent her life terrified of her own shadow and the cold power beneath her skin, the approach had to be different.
With her, he had to lead with genuine empathy and the raw truth of his own struggles. He wasn't just acting; he truly did share that sense of being a 'victim of fate,' a traveler lost in an endless sea of worlds. He knew that without that emotional bridge, a woman of her regal standing and guarded heart would never be able to lower her walls. He had to be her anchor. It was a skill he'd honed since his younger days—learning how to read the room and adjust his 'frequency'—but now, with their lives and sanity on the line, that ability to connect was the only thing keeping them all afloat."
After their talk, Li Ke finally turned in. The night passed without incident—no zombies or skeletons came knocking—leaving them in a rare state of peace.
When he woke up, Li Ke wasn't in any rush to move. He had decided not to summon the 7 Days to Die merchant to this blocky world just yet. Instead, he planned to summon her into the Shokugeki no Soma world to ensure a steady supply of high-quality ingredients for Erina. Saving energy and world-power whenever possible was always the smart play.
Plus, he still had plenty of vacuum-sealed meals from Erina's world. Even if they were just "leftovers" from a gourmet world, they were more than enough for now.
More importantly, he could get plenty of food right here. Back when he played this game, his favorite activity was farming—there was a profound sense of achievement in watching a tiny patch of wheat grow to cover an entire field. Outside of building, it was his main source of fun.
"I think apples and saplings drop from the leaves? And wheat seeds come from the grass?"
"Li Ke stepped out of the house and stared at the landscape, feeling a bit dazed by the sheer lack of curves in his field of vision. The horizon didn't slope; it stepped. The clouds weren't fluffy clusters of vapor but rigid, rectangular slabs drifting across a sky that felt like a blue ceiling. He was the first to wake up, mostly because his 'lower half' was feeling incredibly uncomfortable and restless—a biological reality that felt strangely out of place in a world made of blocks.
Inside, Elsa and Toph were still asleep. Toph's sleeping position was a mess; she was sprawled out with her limbs akimbo, looking more like she was in the middle of a fistfight than resting. Elsa, however, was the picture of a princess. Even leaning against the stone steps, she looked breathtakingly elegant. As the morning sun hit her, she radiated a surreal beauty that Li Ke couldn't resist—he pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.
His gallery didn't have many pictures. He had shots of Erina and Nikumi, and most of the other girls he'd encountered. He'd missed out on Tsunade and a few others since his phone hadn't been back with him then, but he'd made sure to capture the rest.
Still, looking at his screen, Elsa's photo was easily the most "decent" one he owned.
He walked over to a nearby pool to wash his face, kneeling beside the shimmering, pixelated surface. He watched the water level, marveling at how it never dropped regardless of how much he scooped out. In the world of Minecraft, water was a glitch in physics; it was infinite. You could drain a bucket, and the source would simply replicate itself instantly, defying every law of conservation he had ever learned. It was a bizarre, magical rule-set that made him feel like a ghost inhabiting a computer program."
Lava worked the same way. In fact, most fluids in this world followed these bizarre, magical rules.
Li Ke stared at the pixelated, mosaic-like water for a long time. Even though it looked like water, he couldn't quite find the courage to actually take a gulp.
A stray thought suddenly struck him. "Wait... is the oxygen in this world square-shaped too?"
Honestly, Li Ke wouldn't be surprised. In this godforsaken place, the sun and even the bubbles in the water were square. There was no reason the air should be any different.
"Forget it, let's just try a taste."
Li Ke took a deep breath. If things went south, he'd just bite the bullet, spend some World Power, and summon the 7 Days to Die merchant to buy a medical kit.
He scooped up some water in his hands and tentatively brought it to his lips. He felt the sensation of drinking; he felt his thirst vanish. But…
"I can't feel anything!"
His tongue didn't register the texture of the water, and his throat never actually swallowed. The moment the water touched his mouth, it simply vanished. He couldn't even remember the flavor—only the objective fact that he had "drunk water."
His dry lips instantly became moist, his mental fatigue lifted, and his thirst evaporated. It was as if he'd drunk the water, but also as if he hadn't.
"This feels wrong."
He moved his limbs, checking for any side effects. He tried using Life Return to force the water back up, but nothing came out. Yet, his body's hydration levels had clearly increased; the water hadn't traveled through his stomach or intestines but had been directly "injected" into his entire system. He could tell just by the lowered density of his blood.
"So strange. Is it a conceptual thing, like the meds in 7 Days to Die? Does the food work like that too? Nutrients just teleport into the body instead of being digested?"
He looked up at the square sun and shook his head. "Whatever. Every world has its own quirks, right?"
He pulled out his iron axe. He'd forged it—along with an iron pickaxe—from ore he'd found while digging out their living quarters. He hadn't tested many other tools yet, so he wasn't sure about the specifics.
Looking at the dense forest surrounding the entrance, Li Ke muttered the golden rule of Minecraft:
"To get rich, you gotta punch a tree..."
He wasn't just clearing wood for materials, flooring, or supports. Even though he'd seen blocks literally float in mid-air in this world, he still felt safer having actual pillars. It was better to be cautious—plus, it looked better. Clearing the trees also opened up his line of sight, ensuring he could spot any invading monsters from a distance.
He swung the axe. An iron axe was much faster than its wooden counterparts, but due to the "Minecraft logic," he had to chop each section individually. It took about six swings to bring down a large tree.
One by one, the trees fell. The leaves decayed as he worked, popping into existence as tiny floating icons on the ground. They were either saplings or apples.
Li Ke tried an apple. The experience was identical to the water. The moment he shoved it into his mouth, it vanished. A sense of "having eaten an apple" filled his mind, and his body received the nutrients instantly.
After a few apples, his hunger bar was full. He could feel the minor internal injuries caused by his Blood Qi techniques healing at a frantic pace. Within moments, he was completely mended.
This was different from the grueling, cellular-burning recovery of his Blood Qi or Life Return. Those techniques left him frayed and exhausted, but this—this was conceptual healing. It didn't drain his lifespan; it simply hit a reset button on his biology.
"Li Ke stood amidst the fallen trees, a realization washing over him that was more chilling than Elsa's magic. This wasn't the grueling, cellular-burning recovery of his Blood Qi or Life Return. Those techniques were a desperate trade, burning his very lifespan and leaving his cells feeling like frayed, overheated wires. But this? This was conceptual healing. It didn't ask for a sacrifice; it simply checked a 'True/False' condition in the world's logic and hit a reset button on his biology.
He looked at his hands, watching a small scrape from the axe handle vanish without leaving even a hint of a scar. If he stayed in this world forever, the concept of 'Old Age' would cease to exist for him. He had stumbled into a fountain of youth that worked on calorie-math. Even the elderly, if brought here, would find their brittle bones re-rendered into the prime of their youth as long as they kept eating. The only price for this immortality was a full stomach. As long as he kept his hunger bar maxed out, time itself had no teeth. He was no longer just a traveler; he was a potential god in a land of infinite bread and wood."