[Achievement Unlocked: Stone Age]
[Reward: World Coins x100]
In the hills about two kilometers behind the Forest Cottage, Mason and Keqing had just harvested their very first piece of stone in this world.
"Cobblestone can be crafted into stone tools using the same recipe I showed you for the wooden pickaxe and axe," Mason explained. "It's easy to gather, and stone tools are vastly more efficient than wooden ones. We're going to be relying on stone gear for a long time."
Keqing nodded, quietly memorizing the information.
She arranged three blocks of Cobblestone in a row across the top of the interface, then placed two sticks vertically in the center.
She tapped Craft.
A small vortex immediately materialized above the Crafting Table, swallowing the materials whole before spitting out a brand-new Stone Pickaxe.
"No matter how many times I see it, this is still incredibly strange," she murmured.
"Different worlds operate on fundamentally different underlying logic. The variances can be massive—even something as basic as Avogadro's constant could be different here," Mason replied. "Besides, compared to Earth, isn't the elemental energy of Teyvat just as strange?"
"I suppose that's true."
"By the way, Keqing, keep an eye out for yellow-speckled stone while we're down here. Iron Ore is a critically important resource at every stage of development. Since we haven't found an exposed ravine or a massive cavern system, our best chance of finding ore is to split up and strip-mine."
"Understood! Leave the mining to me. I'm actually quite experienced at this!"
Keqing puffed out her chest with energetic confidence. She hoisted her Stone Pickaxe and immediately began digging, strictly following the staircase mining method Mason had taught her to ensure they left a safe path back to the surface.
There was a unique, undeniable charm to watching the girl work with such earnest dedication. Mason caught himself staring a second longer than necessary.
Men and women working together makes the work feel lighter. The ancients truly knew what they were talking about.
Mason smiled to himself and turned to his own tunnel.
...
As a video game, Minecraft's internal time system and resource gathering efficiency were absurdly fast.
But that was only true for the player.
For a physical being actually living inside a realistic Minecraft world, shattering solid rock took time.
One day in Minecraft equaled roughly twenty minutes in the real world.
If breaking a block of stone in-game took two seconds... scaled to this reality, that meant it took over two minutes of physical labor. At that rate, an hour of non-stop swinging would yield less than thirty blocks of Cobblestone.
However, to Mason's relief, his actual swings with the Stone Pickaxe were breaking blocks in about thirty seconds. It was significantly faster than his calculated theory—a very welcome piece of good news.
"Mason! I found Iron! Iron Ore! It's iron!"
Keqing's excited voice echoed down the hollow stone tunnel.
Mason glanced at his inventory—one stack of Cobblestone and half a stack of Coal. He estimated they had been mining for about an hour. He turned his head and shouted back.
"Great! I'm coming! Coming up!"
An hour of work hadn't actually carved out that much of the massive hillside. He soon reached Keqing, whose face was flushed with exertion and excitement.
"Wait, how is your mining efficiency so high?" he asked, surprised by the depth of her tunnel. "Is it because of your Teyvat character level and artifacts?"
"Uh, probably? But never mind that, look!"
Clearly unaware of just how absurd it was that she had excavated a tunnel two or three times the size of his own, Keqing eagerly pulled a block dotted with yellowish ore from her inventory, presenting it like a grand prize.
Iron in the earth's crust often exists in a trivalent state, giving it a dull yellowish hue, commonly known as pyrite.
"That's definitely Iron Ore. You must have broken into a natural cave system over here. All I hit was some surface coal."
"Hehe~"
Keqing lifted her chin proudly, giving him a smug, endearing smile.
Playing along, Mason reached out and ruffled her hair, praising her like a diligent little animal that had done a good job.
"My Keqing is amazing! Alright, I'll move over to this side to mine too. Let's try to gather as much as we can before nightfall."
"Why do we need to stop before nightfall?" Keqing asked, tilting her head. "You said iron is a vital early-game resource. Since we found a vein, shouldn't we prioritize clearing it out?"
"In theory, yes. Honestly, if this were just the game, I wouldn't even be thinking about early survival. I'd just dig straight down until I hit diamonds... but reality isn't a game. Since we don't know the rules for respawning here, survival is our absolute highest priority."
From what he remembered of the maid mod, maids were not invincible. They could be resurrected if killed, but the process was an absolute nightmare.
It required building a specific altar and sacrificing rare materials, including diamonds, just to bring them back.
Keqing nodded seriously. Mason had already warned her earlier that monsters like zombies would spawn when the sun went down.
Even though the word "zombie" immediately made her picture the little talisman-wearing pharmacist hopping around Bubu Pharmacy, if Mason told her to be careful, she would treat the threat with absolute vigilance.
"Understood! I'll follow your lead!"
Feeling the weight of her absolute trust, a ribbon of warmth threaded through Mason's chest.
"Alright! Back to work!"
With that command, the two of them threw themselves back into the grand endeavor of mining.
Time flowed like water.
As they focused on digging and smelting, the distance between them quietly, naturally closed.
Because of the game's materialization rules, Keqing's affection for Mason was already hard-coded at the maximum Level 10.
And because he had played Genshin Impact for two and a half years, his own fondness for Keqing was practically maxed out as well.
When they had first met earlier that day, it had felt like an online couple meeting in person for the first time—a mix of deep admiration and nervous anxiety.
But now, that "Max Friendship" stat was actively weaving into their dynamic. The atmosphere between them was already shifting past the awkwardness of a first date, settling into the comfortable, easy rhythm of an old married couple.
...
Clink!
With one final strike of the pickaxe, the Iron Ore shattered and dropped to the floor as a neat little block.
Keqing wiped the sweat from her forehead. Just as she was about to swing again, Mason's voice floated up from behind her.
"Keqing, the sun's almost down. Let's call it a day. Pack up, we're heading back."
"Huh? Already? I feel like I could easily go for a few more swings."
Mason reached out and lightly tapped her nose.
"Always pushing yourself. Don't you always say we need to strike a balance between work and rest?"
"Hmm? What are you laughing at?" Keqing squinted at him.
"Pfft! Nothing. I'm definitely not laughing at a certain little dirt-covered kitten."
Keqing blinked, then reached up to touch her nose. Predictably, her fingers came away covered in gray soot.
"Oh, you are asking for it!"
Refusing to take the loss lying down, Keqing instantly swiped a handful of dirt from the wall and lunged at Mason's face.
"Hah! Yunlai Swordsmanship!"
Mason was just a normal guy. Sure, the "Steve" physique he'd inherited meant his stamina had leveled up slightly after an afternoon of mining coal, but his opponent was literally using an Electro-powered speed hack.
With a crackle of purple lightning, Keqing moved like she had a Speed III potion active. In the blink of an eye, she was standing triumphantly over Mason, whose face was now smeared with dirt and his hair ruffled into a bird's nest.
"Pfft—hahaha!"
Keqing burst out laughing, showing absolutely no mercy.
Mason could only sigh and scratch the back of his head helplessly.
He remembered how long he'd spent grinding domains to get Keqing that perfect 260% Crit Damage endgame build.
Now, he was literally eating the dirt of his own labor.
Still laughing and joking, the two of them grabbed their freshly smelted iron ingots from the furnace and followed their trail of torches back toward the warmth of home.