"General, why have you come here? Over in Inazuma, "
Kujou Sara looked at Makoto with some confusion. Makoto smiled, gently patting Ei's head as she spoke softly:
"Everything in Inazuma is going smoothly. With the resources you've been transporting, along with trade support from Mondstadt, Liyue, and Snezhnaya, the people's lives have already stabilized."
"The Tri-Commission has been restored. Kamisato Ayato has unified Inazuma's administrative affairs, and Gorou is in charge of public security. Everything there is in good order."
"Kokomi and I felt a bit bored, so we came over to take a look."
Hearing this, Kujou Sara frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied.
"Gorou and Kamisato Ayato let you come to Liyue without proper escort? That's negligence! What if something happened to you, General?"
Makoto waved her hand with a gentle smile.
"Don't be so tense. I am still an Archon, after all, it wouldn't be that easy for something to happen to me."
"I came this time mainly to see how things are progressing here. I've only been reading Ei's letters, I haven't witnessed everyone's efforts with my own eyes."
"Now that I see it in person, you've truly put your hearts into this. You've all worked very hard."
Ayaka smiled softly.
"This is what we should be doing. As long as Inazuma continues to improve, everyone's motivation will naturally grow."
Seeing nearby soldiers pause their work, ears tilted toward the conversation, Makoto took the opportunity to boost morale.
She raised her voice slightly, still gentle in tone.
"During this period, the resources you've transported back not only brought Inazuma hundreds of billions of Mora in revenue, but also completely paid off our external debts."
"They've also revitalized Inazuma's internal commerce. The nation is full of vitality now, and the people's lives are steadily improving."
"Food supplies are no longer lacking. In short, Inazuma has returned to the stability it enjoyed before the Vision Hunt Decree."
"And before long, living standards may even begin to approach those of Liyue and Mondstadt."
"Thank you all for your hard work."
At her words, the soldiers grew visibly excited.
They had been working tirelessly day and night, while Liyue's Millelith and the Knights of Favonius were off playing Bed Wars and parkour maps, they had been buried in the mines without complaint.
Wasn't it all for the sake of making Inazuma strong again?
Now that they knew their efforts had truly made such a difference, many of them felt like they could keep working without rest for days.
Of course, Makoto noticed this as well and spoke patiently:
"Inazuma's development depends on you, but that doesn't mean endless labor. Proper rest and recreation are just as important."
"You mustn't work yourselves to exhaustion."
Deeply moved, the soldiers nodded solemnly and answered in unison:
"Thank you for your concern, General!"
With that, they returned to their duties, this time with even greater enthusiasm.
Seeing this, Yae Miko sighed with emotion and shook her head.
"When it comes to inspiring people's hearts, ten Eis still wouldn't compare to Makoto."
Ei did not refute this. It was simply the truth.
"Let's talk about business."
Makoto looked at Ei, memories of the countless affairs she had seen while reorganizing Inazuma over the past five hundred years surfacing in her mind.
She pressed her lips together, emotions complicated, but after a brief silence, she spoke softly:
"You've been writing to me, saying that if Inazuma wants to accelerate development and catch up to Mondstadt and Liyue, you'll need more manpower."
"But you also understand that Inazuma has only just stabilized. Large-scale troop mobilization isn't appropriate right now."
"That's why I came, to see how large the manpower gap really is, so I can make proper arrangements."
She paused, then shook her head.
"Actually, there's no need to rush into that just yet. Since I've only just arrived, tell me about the situation here first."
"What have you been doing these past few days since clearing the Twilight Forest? How is the Inazuma base progressing?"
At this, Kujou Sara and Ayaka couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.
The current Inazuma base had been built through their own efforts.
It was the hard-earned foundation of Inazuma's presence in this world.
Now, standing before Makoto, it was time for inspection.
"Recently, our primary focus has been exploring underground resources."
Kujou Sara gestured toward the troops guarding the walls.
"Given the dangers of the overworld, firearms are absolutely necessary for defense here."
"Liyue has provided us with some weapons as support, and our priority has been to explore the mines so we can repay Liyue with the resources used to produce them."
"The revival points we owed Liyue have already been repaid as well."
"In addition to mining, we've been researching redstone technology and survival technology. Just now, we were preparing to build an iron farm."
"Next, we'll be moving on to automated farms and similar systems."
"We've also dispatched a three-hundred-person unit to the Nether. Today, they're jointly exploring a Nether Fortress alongside Snezhnaya's forces."
"They should be back by evening."
As she spoke, Kujou Sara led Makoto toward a large, box-shaped structure in the center of the base.
Ryen looked at the massive "matchbox" building with interest.
It was quite large, several hundred square meters at least.
But honestly…
Ever since Ningguang had brought in a number of professional designers, structures like this had become rare.
Seeing Inazuma's classic matchbox again was oddly nostalgic.
Ayaka, however, felt somewhat embarrassed. Meeting Ryen's gaze, she lowered her voice.
"We were short on time, so we didn't have much opportunity to design proper housing. This is only temporary, we'll rebuild it later."
Kujou Sara nodded and led Makoto and the others inside the building.
What came into view were rows upon rows of large chests.
Kujou Sara casually opened one of them and said softly:
"These contain all the supplies we've gathered during this period."
"About sixty percent are various minerals, along with monster drops, crops, and other resources…"
"Besides that, we also obtained quite a few good items from Lucky Blocks."
"Diamonds, gold, enchanted books, Totems of Undying, Eyes of Ender, redstone components, and so on…"
"Although our quantities can't compare to Liyue's, we still have a decent amount."
"We even obtained three Nether Stars. Originally, we planned to craft Beacons and send them back to Inazuma."
Makoto looked astonished, nodding repeatedly.
"So many valuable resources… You've all worked incredibly hard…"
Kujou Sara felt a sense of pride, but still replied modestly:
"Liyue has already provided us with mature development plans. We just need to keep moving forward according to their guidance."
"It's nothing worth calling hard work."
Makoto shook her head gently.
"Guidance alone isn't enough. Without effort, nothing would come of it. In any case, you've all worked very hard during this time."
"Send part of these resources, food and minerals, back to Inazuma. As for the rest, prioritize using them here."
"For example, diamonds. I remember they can be used to craft diamond armor. You can keep those for now, Inazuma's current market doesn't really need them yet."
"Oh, right. How is research into alchemy potions and enchantments progressing?"
At this, Ayaka immediately nodded.
"With the crafting recipes already available, it's quite simple. We're planning to replicate Liyue's fully automated alchemy systems."
"We're also preparing a Villager Trading Hall."
Makoto raised an eyebrow slightly, half-joking.
"Looks like I arrived just in time to interrupt your technological construction spree."
Ayaka hurriedly waved her hands.
"No, no, not at all! Liyue has already provided us with manuals for all of this. It's just that we didn't want to trouble them with everything."
"So General Kujou and I wanted to study the principles ourselves. That way, once we understand them, we can derive new structures independently."
Makoto smiled and said nothing further.
She then chatted with Ayaka and the others about base construction and short-term and long-term planning.
After more than half an hour, Makoto finally told them to continue their work and turned to leave with Ryen.
Kokomi stayed behind, she wanted to walk around the Inazuma base a bit more.
Considering that taking her to Ryen's villa right away would only raise even more questions, Makoto decided to let her remain at the Inazuma base for now.
Ei, on the other hand, completely stopped working the moment she saw Makoto arrive and stayed glued to her side the entire time.
After returning to the manor villa, Ryen led Makoto and the others into the living room.
There weren't many people inside at the moment, it wasn't evening yet, and everyone was busy with their own affairs.
Only Lumine and Paimon were sitting together, whispering about something.
Judging from Paimon's reluctant expression, it was obvious that Lumine had some kind of plan.
"Ryen! Where did you just go?!"
Guizhong stood on the sofa, puffing her cheeks as she glared at him.
"Dragging little Ganyu and Ningguang around for nonsense in broad daylight is one thing, but you just got back and ran off again with Yae Miko!"
"What level of scumbag are you, exactly?!"
Ryen rolled his eyes.
"I went to pick someone up just now. What kind of twisted logic is that?"
He plopped down on the sofa and pointed at Guizhong while speaking to Makoto.
"You should already know her, the God of Dust, Guizhong."
Then he turned to Guizhong.
"This is the first Electro Archon of Inazuma, Baal. Just call her Makoto. Like you, she was also revived not long ago."
Makoto and Guizhong looked at each other with curiosity.
At present, the only god-level beings revived in Ryen's world were the two of them.
Thinking about it that way, Guizhong suddenly felt a sense of kindred spirit toward Makoto.
"So, Makoto, how long are you planning to stay here?"
Ryen stretched lazily, leaned into Lisa's arms, casually rested his legs on Guizhong's lap, and reclined comfortably.
Guizhong glared at him angrily.
"Don't you know about propriety between men and women?!"
Ryen raised an eyebrow teasingly.
"We're comrades, why bring that up?"
"Get lost! Who's comrades with you?!"
Guizhong snorted and slammed a fist down on Ryen's leg.
Makoto covered her mouth and laughed softly before thinking for a moment.
"For the time being, there aren't any major issues in Inazuma, so I don't plan to leave anytime soon."
"The last time I was revived, I left in a hurry and didn't really understand this world's characteristics."
"Ei and Ayaka are both working hard here. As her sister, I can't just lag behind."
"If possible, I'd like to stay longer, at least long enough to be of some help."
Ryen nodded thoughtfully.
"Then over the next couple of days, you can familiarize yourself with the overworld."
"In a few days, I'm planning to head back into the Twilight Forest."
The moment he said this, everyone's attention snapped to him.
Reclining lazily in Lisa's arms, Ryen continued:
"We've rested enough during this period. Everyone's been looking forward to the new mod as well."
"I'm planning to push straight through the Twilight Forest and unlock the next mod in one go."
Most people showed visible excitement upon hearing this.
Only Lumine wore an extremely complicated expression as she stared at Ryen.
After a long silence, she complained:
"Why… why so suddenly?!"
"I was just about to head to Sumeru, and now you want to open a new mod?!"
"You did this on purpose, didn't you, Ryen?!"
~~----------------------
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