Back in the treehouse, Alexei was grinning like an idiot.
The drowned conversion had paid off spectacularly. Just as he'd predicted, the golden helmet and golden chestplate obtained from killing the drowned were both at near-full durability. Still, he immediately deconstructed both pieces and re-crafted them, because leaving them in their "naturally spawned" state felt wrong somehow. Like wearing secondhand armor. Well, it wasn't really the fact that it was secondhand... but don't forget, a zombie had worn it. It was probably a psychological thing, but he felt better knowing every piece had been through his crafting table.
The golden helmet and chestplate directly replaced his previous gear. The iron helmet he'd been wearing got broken down and re-crafted into iron boots. This wasn't arbitrary fashion choices. This was optimization.
In Minecraft, golden helmets and iron helmets provided the same two armor points. But golden boots gave one armor point less than iron boots. Therefore, the mathematically superior combination was: golden helmet, golden chestplate, leather leggings, iron boots.
Maximum armor efficiency with current available materials: eleven armor points total. Four points better than a full leather set. But that wasn't even the important part. The important part was that his physical defense was now equivalent to 20% leather, 60% gold, and 20 % iron all combined.
Could he tank a missile with his body now?
...Probably not. That might be pushing it.
But ordinary swords and knives? They'd have a hell of a time doing any serious damage. Fatal injuries were basically off the table unless something got really creative.
Completely immune to damage? No, that was unrealistic. Even a kitchen knife could chip a steel pipe if you hit it hard enough. And he definitely wasn't as hard as a steel pipe yet.
Qingxue watched him swap armor pieces with an expression that could only be described as "deeply conflicted."
The kid was... well, he certainly understood his priorities.
The armor combination was objectively hideous. Mismatched colors, different materials, no aesthetic cohesion whatsoever. He looked like he'd mugged three different people and stolen one piece of equipment from each.
But from a purely practical standpoint? It made... kind of sense?
Alexei caught her expression and shrugged. "Function over fashion."
"I didn't say anything," Qingxue protested.
"You didn't have to. Your face said it for you."
She looked away, ears twitching.
Once he'd confirmed the armor worked properly, Alexei took it all off and hung each piece on the armor stand. The moment the gear left his body, it reverted to that blocky, geometric appearance from the game.
Qingxue felt an inexplicable sense of relief seeing him back in normal clothes. The mismatched armor had made him look ridiculous, like a teenager playing dress-up, which, to be fair, was exactly what was happening. But still. She preferred him looking like a normal person instead of a walking fashion disaster.
Now that they were back at the treehouse with no threats nearby, Alexei had no intention of going back outside today. Instead, he started going through the three chests, sorting items and making decisions about what to bring when they left tomorrow.
"I'm not spending one more second in this place than I have to," he muttered, pulling out stacks of materials.
According to Qingxue, the Silkspore Basin was basically worthless from a cultivation standpoint. The demon beasts were low-grade, spiritual energy was thin, rare herbs were nonexistent, even rogue cultivators avoided the place. The only thing it had going for it was its weird geographical location, which apparently made it useful for something. She hadn't been specific.
Qingxue leaned over to watch him work, curious about what he considered important enough to pack. What she saw was a bewildering array of items she didn't recognize at all. She'd been watching him pull things in and out of these chests for over a week now, but she was still shocked by their storage capacity. After a while, she just sat back. She wanted to help. Or at least make conversation. But she had no idea what half these items were, and her social skills were... Well. "Lacking" was a polite way to put it.
As a self-proclaimed shut-in of the cultivation world, her ability to make small talk was arguably worse than Alexei's. Unless he initiated conversation, she typically just stayed quiet. Even though she really wanted to chat with him.
---
Night fell.
Qingxue lay on the small bed, unable to sleep.
Tomorrow they'd be leaving. Going back to her sect. Which meant Alexei would be meeting her fellow disciples, seeing where she lived, potentially staying there for months while she recovered fully and he got tested for spiritual roots. The thought made her anxious in a way she couldn't quite put into words.
What if her martial siblings embarrassed her? What if the sect was too poor and shabby and he judged them for it? What if...
She heard Alexei shift in his sleeping spot across the room.
"Hey," he said quietly. "You okay? You've been tossing and turning for like twenty minutes. It's a little annoying… so, seriously, are you fine"
"I'm fine," she said automatically.
"You sure? Because you sighed like four times."
Had she? She hadn't even noticed.
"I'm just thinking about tomorrow," she admitted.
"Nervous?"
"A little."
There was a pause. Then Alexei said, "Is it because you're worried I'll judge your sect for being poor? Because I really don't care about that. I've been living in a treehouse eating bread. My standards are not high."
Despite herself, Qingxue smiled. "That's not entirely untrue."
"See? Nothing to worry about."
Another pause. This one was longer.
Then Alexei said, "Wait... shit. I just remembered something."
"What?"
"I was supposed to get revenge on the python, the scorpion, and the bee."
"Okay?" Qingxue blinked. "Now? It's the middle of the night."
"No, I mean... I completely forgot about it. We're leaving tomorrow and I never went back to kill them."
"Do you want to go find them in the morning?"
Alexei considered this. "I mean, yeah, but also they might've left the area already. The tribulation probably scared them off. Tracking them down would take days."
"Probably weeks," Qingxue agreed. "The Silkspore Basin is enormous."
They lapsed into silence.
After a few minutes, Qingxue heard Alexei's breathing even out. He'd fallen asleep. She lay there a while longer, staring at the ceiling, before finally letting her eyes close.
---
Early the next morning, Alexei woke up with a mission.
"We're finding those bastards," he announced.
Qingxue, who'd been hoping for a leisurely morning, sighed. "I thought you said they probably left the area."
"They probably did. But we should check anyway. For closure."
"For closure," she repeated flatly.
"Exactly."
She couldn't really argue with that. If the kid wanted to waste a few hours searching, what was the harm?
They set out, Alexei leading the way toward the territories where he'd encountered each monster. Qingxue followed, ready to intervene if anything dangerous showed up.
Twenty minutes later, they'd made a complete circuit of the relevant areas. All three lairs were empty, completely abandoned.
Alexei stood at the entrance to the python's former den, staring into the dark tunnel, and felt his revenge fantasies crumble into dust.
"This sucks," he said.
"At least you tried," Qingxue offered.
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"No, I suppose it wouldn't."
"Forget it. Revenge is overrated anyway."
They made their way back to the treehouse in silence. The whole trip had taken less than an hour, including the searching. When they arrived, Qingxue had her tail manifested again, she'd retracted it during the search for better mobility.
"Check if there's anything else you need to bring. We should get moving soon."
"Moo?"
Bessie lifted her head and tilted it slightly, making a confused sound as Qingxue's gaze passed over her.
Qingxue's head started to ache immediately. Her sect didn't have spatial artifacts capable of housing spirit beasts. The only treasures they had for creature storage were the bare-minimum variety, and those were reserved for sect leader use only. Which meant if they were taking Bessie, someone would have to carry her. And since Alexei definitely couldn't carry a cow... The mental image of herself walking up to Aureate Summit Sect with a mushroom-cow slung over her shoulder made her want to die of embarrassment.
But if there really was no other option, that would have to be the solution. Spirit beasts that produced soul-healing milk were priceless. Even if it made her look ridiculous, she couldn't just leave something that valuable behind.
Just as she was racking her brain for alternatives, Alexei's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Nothing else. I'm good to go."
Qingxue stared at him. "What about the cow?"
"What about her?"
"You're just... leaving her here?"
Alexei glanced at Bessie, who was peacefully chewing cud without a care in the world. She gave him a soft moo and went back to grazing.