It took less than an hour, and soon a large fairy-tale cottage was finished.
The whole house was pitch black, with a chimney specially made on the roof.
Thin wisps of smoke curled upward.
Of course, it wasn't a real chimney—just sothing Ryen had improvised with a campfire.
To be honest, it was mostly for decoration.
The house was built near the Twilight Forest portal, with a small path cleared along the way.
Green firefly lamps lined the trail, twinkling like starlight in the dimness, creating a beautiful scene.
Truth be told, everyone wasn't used to lingering in this kind of night.
Even when they slept in the Overworld, torches had to be lit—otherwise monsters would spawn for sure.
But here, it was different.
The Firefly Forest was absolutely safe, a rare place where everyone could enjoy the night scenery of the Minecraft world.
Klee and Nahida were laughing nonstop as they sat on a swing.
Not far away, Ryen and the others gathered around a campfire, chatting about what they had seen and experienced in the Twilight Forest these past few days.
Honestly, there wasn't that much to share. The Twilight Forest was massive—just the bosses alone numbered eleven.
So far, they had only defeated two.
The rest of the forest hadn't been explored much at all.
This was their first ti embarking on such a long exploration.
Even in the End, things had been wrapped up in just a few days—clearing the dragon, settling matters, and assigning the Millelith to garrison.
But with the Twilight Forest…
A large-scale settlent was likely still a long way off.
"The Dragon Rider Legion—we can start preparing for it when we return. By then, we should have gathered quite a number of dragon eggs."
Ryen ntioned lightly. Ningguang nodded in agreent.
"The manpower is already in place. All we need to do is arm them."
Jean glanced at Ningguang with a touch of envy, then sighed.
"Unfortunately, Mondstadt has only sent five hundred people so far. Many projects can't even get off the ground."
Lisa leaned lazily against Ryen, eyes half-closed as she drawled:
"Then just bring another seven or eight hundred next ti."
"It's not that simple…"
Jean's tone carried helplessness.
"Mondstadt doesn't have many knights left to begin with. Once you exclude those stationed in Mondstadt to defend the city, we barely have a thousand we can deploy."
At this, Diluc's expression soured.
He gave a cold snort, though this ti he didn't say anything.
Deep down, Jean already harbored so intent to seize greater control of Mondstadt.
Now, under her direction—or rather, under Ningguang's guidance and Jean's adjustnts—the Knights of Favonius had made a qualitative leap in efficiency.
Those five hundred knights stationed here might not match the Millelith in sheer physical strength…
But their efficiency was no less.
Their physical shortcomings were natural—after all, they weren't elite fighters. When the main forces of the Knights still existed, these were rely ordinary reserve knights.
Diluc had already seen the changes that would co to Mondstadt under Jean's leadership.
Naturally, he didn't find occasion to criticize the Knights so often anymore.
To put it bluntly, many of Diluc's resources now still relied on those five hundred Knights.
Jean had entrusted him with overseeing Mondstadt's comrce, which happened to be his area of expertise.
Resources gathered from this world had to be converted into so Mora.
Just like in Liyue.
Of course, Liyue's wealth and vast influence ant they cared less about Mora itself, and more about power and reputation.
But Mondstadt was short on money.
The large-scale trading of resources inevitably required plenty of manpower.
And Diluc wasn't the kind of man who would eat another's al and then complain it tasted bad.
Besides, although those five hundred Knights were weak compared to the Millelith, everything was moving in the right direction.
With the boost from alchemical potions, their overall strength wasn't really a problem in Teyvat.
The only pity was their small numbers.
If they had three or four thousand people to mobilize, everything would be much easier.
"Manpower is still the biggest problem…" Jean sighed softly.
"When we return to Teyvat, I'll contact Kaeya and continue expanding the Knights of Favonius.
After a short period of training, the new recruits can take over the city defense, and the experienced Knights can join the developnt here."
Rosalyne added from the side:
"Her Majesty the Tsaritsa has surely prepared the first batch of manpower by now."
Ryen shrugged, speaking lazily:
"You can handle these matters yourselves."
Anything involving administration or organization, Ryen never bothered with.
"Let's rest for today. Tomorrow, we'll continue exploring the Twilight Forest.
This ti, we'll try to push toward the Hydra's lair."
Hearing this, everyone nodded in eager anticipation.
It was still early in the evening, so they began asking Ryen about strategies for dealing with other monsters.
The soft glow of fireflies bathed the land.
Outside the fairytale-like cottage, they sat around the fire, talking like an evening hearthside gathering.
Peaceful and harmonious.
In the end, though, Ryen and the others still didn't reach the Hydra.
It wasn't that the Fire Swamp was too dangerous—
the harsh environnt was manageable now that everyone was familiar with it.
Rather, the issue ca from one of the Millelith exploration squads.
They had discovered a Pillager Outpost, and even a Woodland Mansion.
So, Ryen decided to lead everyone back to the Overworld, where they designed a Totem of Undying farm.
After all, with Lucky Blocks around, Totems weren't exactly scarce—
but they couldn't just have Klee and Ganyu spend every day breaking Lucky Blocks and doing nothing else.
Ti passed quickly, and half a month went by.
Two new bases had been set up, and the Millelith had already begun exploring and mining.
Ryen inspected the resources there—very abundant, easily enough for at least a month or two of mining.
During this period, they revisited the Twilight Forest several tis, progressing as far as the Alpha Yeti's domain.
The next boss awaiting them was none other than the Snow Queen.
~~----------------------
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