Caelus opened his eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. He turned his head, only to find March 7th crouching by his bed, staring at him.
---o---
With both hands cupping her cheeks and her head tilted to one side, March 7th watched him with an indescribable expression. Faint dark circles hung beneath her eyes. Her pink hair was uncombed and slightly messy, spilling over her shoulders, and the bow on her pajama collar was askew.
"Morning."
Her voice was flat, devoid of any fluctuation.
"Morning," Caelus replied, rubbing the back of his head. His gaze lingered on her face for a couple of seconds. "Didn't you sleep well? You've got dark circles."
March 7th's hands slid down from her cheeks. She leaned back, shifting from a crouch to sitting cross-legged on the floor, and rolled her eyes dramatically.
I was supposed to have a good night's sleep!
But then a certain someone broke down her door in the middle of the night, stood at the entrance with a torch and a pickaxe, and scared her half to death. Then, he moved a bed to block her doorway, claiming he was too scared to sleep alone, only to fall asleep faster than the Express during a warp jump the moment his head hit the pillow. Meanwhile, she was left wide awake, staring at the ceiling until the latter half of the night, repeatedly making sure the light from that torch wouldn't set her room on fire.
March 7th didn't voice any of this. She just patted the edge of Caelus's bed and pointed a finger toward the door.
"Let's go. Time for breakfast."
Caelus rolled out of bed. The first thing he did was dismantle it. The entire bed shrank into a miniature version in his hands, which he stuffed into his backpack. Then, almost subconsciously, he took out his pickaxe and mined down March 7th's door.
March 7th, who was standing behind him, froze. The corner of her mouth twitched.
"Couldn't you just open the door normally?"
Caelus paused awkwardly as he picked up the metal door from the floor. "Sorry, it was subconscious."
After all, in Minecraft, he always instinctively dismantled any metal door that didn't have a pressure plate, since they weren't as convenient to open as wooden ones.
He slapped the door back onto the frame. With a click, it fit perfectly. March 7th stared at the pristine door for two seconds and decided not to press the issue.
After they stepped out, Caelus told March 7th to go to the dining car first. He ducked back into his own room, put down the bed, reset his respawn point, and only left after confirming the familiar notification popped up in his status bar.
---o---
In the dining car, Himeko was already seated at her usual spot at the long table, a steaming cup of coffee and a neatly arranged breakfast set before her. Caelus sat down opposite her, and March 7th sat down next to Caelus.
"How did you sleep last night?" Himeko asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Great. Slept like a log."
March 7th's grip on her fork tightened.
Slept like a log… right, YOU slept like a log. But who was the one suffering?!
She pictured the fried egg on her plate as a tiny version of Caelus, viciously sliced it in half with her knife, and stuffed it into her mouth without a word.
Himeko nodded and put down her coffee cup, her tone tinged with apology. "I was originally going to arrange for you to stay in one of the larger rooms in the parlor car, but it hasn't been used in a long time and is filled with clutter. We haven't had the chance to clean it up yet, so we could only have you make do with the room next to March for now."
"It's no problem, this is already great."
He wasn't carrying many things that needed storing at the moment, so his small room was perfectly adequate. He could consider moving later on.
After breakfast, Himeko stood up and called everyone to gather in the parlor car. The Express was about to depart for its next stop.
As Caelus followed March 7th through two cars and into the parlor, Dan Heng and Welt were already in their respective seats. Pom-Pom stood in the center of the car, its short little arms behind its back.
Seeing Caelus, Pom-Pom immediately walked over, looking up to remind him, "Passenger Caelus, the Express is about to begin its warp jump! The ride might get extremely bumpy, so you'd best find a seat and hold on tight, Pom!"
Caelus nodded and was about to find a seat when Pom-Pom turned, its gaze falling upon March 7th, its tone becoming noticeably sterner.
"And you, Passenger March 7th! You find a seat and sit down properly too, Pom!"
March 7th pouted. "We've done this so many times. Pom-Pom, do you really have to remind us every single time?"
"And whose fault is that? You challenge yourself every single warp jump, and you fall down every single time, Pom!"
Hearing this, Caelus turned his head. "A challenge? What challenge?"
Pom-Pom sighed. "Passenger March 7th refuses to sit down during every warp jump. She insists on standing in the aisle to see if she can make it through the entire trip without falling. To this day, she has never once succeeded, Pom."
Caelus couldn't help but laugh.
March 7th's face flushed. She turned and glared at Caelus. "You couldn't last a second either if you tried!"
Caelus hadn't thought much of it, but hearing March 7th's words, a slight arch appeared in his brow.
There's nothing Steve can't do!
"Are you challenging me?"
March 7th was a bit taken aback by his sudden shift in tone and took a step back. "Where did this weirdly competitive streak come from?"
Caelus didn't answer her question. Instead, his eyes blazed with fighting spirit as he enunciated each word perfectly, "I accept your challenge!"
"Why won't you listen to what people are saying?!"
---o---
March 7th huffed. Her own competitive spirit successfully ignited by Caelus, she unclipped the camera from her waist, tossed it onto a sofa, and stood in the middle of the aisle with her feet together, facing him.
"Fine, let's see who falls first! The loser has to agree to one thing for the winner!"
"You're on!"
In Minecraft, without some special mods installed, there's no way for Steve to fall over in this state! This is a guaranteed win!
The two of them stood facing each other in the middle of the aisle, less than a meter apart. Neither made a move to grab onto anything for support.
Pom-Pom glanced at them, shook its head, and walked away.
Himeko came over from the dining car just in time to see the two standing there like statues. She paused for a beat, then tilted her head and asked the passing Pom-Pom what was going on. After Pom-Pom recounted the details of the challenge, Himeko didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Not wanting to disturb them, she found a window seat and sat down.
Pom-Pom's voice came over the broadcast, beginning the countdown.
March 7th took a deep breath, widened her stance, lowered her center of gravity, and held her hands out slightly to maintain balance. Her expression was dead serious.
Caelus, however, stood casually in the aisle. He even found the time to wink at March 7th, a clear provocation.
March 7th gritted her teeth in frustration, her mind already scheming how she would 'torment' Caelus after she won.
The broadcast countdown hit zero.
The moment the train started, a curtain of light swept from the front to the rear, enveloping the entire Express. Its speed was pushed to the limit in a fraction of a second!
March 7th's body lurched forward violently. Her feet slipped on the floor, and she instinctively tried to use her arms to regain her balance, but the inertia was far faster than her reaction.
She fell right into Caelus's arms.
Caelus stood his ground, his feet seemingly nailed to the metal floor, not moving an inch. His hands held March 7th firmly in his arms. Even though it was a competition, he couldn't just let her fall.
March 7th's face was buried in Caelus's chest. Feeling the touch and warmth from in front of her, her ears quickly turned red, the blush burning from her earlobes to their tips and spreading down her neck.
She lifted her head.
Caelus was looking down at her, their faces nearly touching.
"Aha! Who's the winner now? A mere little March, and you dared to challenge me!"
---o---
Author's P.S.: Some readers wanted to know more about the protagonist's abilities. Since the explanations in the previous chapters are a bit scattered, I'll summarize them here.
Caelus possesses all the settings and characteristics of Steve from the game Minecraft. This includes, but is not limited to, the fact that no matter what kind of poison he is afflicted with, it will only be registered as the poison debuff from Minecraft. His health will only drop to a single sliver but will never reach zero.
The total mass of the items in his inventory is equivalent to Caelus's strength value. For example, if his inventory contains a block of cobblestone, a cubic meter of cobblestone weighs about 2.4 to 3.5 tons in reality. Therefore, in this situation, the protagonist's strength would be 2.4 to 3.5 tons.
The Proficiency MOD can be understood as a proficiency system. Caelus can increase his proficiency through various actions to obtain related mods and enhance his power.