"Achievement unlocked: Stone Age."
"Reward: world coin x 100."
About two kilometers away from Linjian Cabin, in the back mountain, Jack and Keqing collected their first stone in this world.
"Cobblestone can be crafted into corresponding stone tools using the formulas for wooden pickaxes and wooden axes that I told you. Also, cobblestone is very easy to collect, and stone tools are much more efficient than wooden ones, so stone tools will be our common type for a long time."
Keqing nodded and made a mental note.
Then she placed three cobblestones in a row, with two wooden sticks extending downwards from the center.
Click to craft.
A vortex immediately appeared above the crafting table, swallowing the materials, then spitting out a stone pickaxe.
"No matter how many times I see it, it still feels so magical."
"Different underlying logics between worlds can cause huge differences. Even Avogadro's constant might not be the same. Compared to Blue Star, isn't Teyvat's elemental power also something magical?"
"That's true."
"Oh, by the way, A Qing, if you see any yellow stones later, pay attention. Iron ore is a very important resource at all stages. Since we're not finding a mine to dig, the chances of finding ore are higher if we collect separately."
"Mhm! No problem, I'm very skilled at mining!"
Keqing energetically patted her chest, then raised her stone pickaxe and began digging, following the principle of stepping downwards, leaving a path for later exit from the mine while excavating ore.
The sight of the girl working diligently had a unique charm, attracting Jack to look at her a few more times.
When men and women work together, they don't get tired. The ancients truly didn't deceive me.
Jack thought with a smile.
...
As a game, MC World's time system and material extraction efficiency are extremely fast.
But that's only relative to the player.
For characters in the real MC World, the time required to excavate rocks is actually not fast.
One day in MC World is roughly equivalent to 20 minutes in the real world.
Assuming it takes 2 seconds in the real world to excavate one cobblestone.
Compared to that, it would take more than 2 minutes in MC World, meaning less than 30 cobblestones could be collected in an hour.
But from Jack's own actual feeling, using a stone pickaxe allowed him to collect one cobblestone in about 30 seconds, which was significantly faster than the theoretical value, a good piece of news.
"A Qu! I found iron ore! — iron ore! — ore!"
Inside the empty cave, Keqing's excited voice echoed.
Jack looked at the stack of cobblestones and half a stack of coal in his inventory, estimated that about an hour had passed, and turned to reply.
"Good! I'm coming right away! — coming! — coming!"
After an hour of work, the two hadn't excavated much of the huge back mountain. Soon, Jack saw Keqing, whose face was flushed with excitement.
"Huh? How are you so efficient at mining? Is it because of Teyvat's character levels and artifacts?"
"Uh, probably. Never mind that, A Qu, look!"
Keqing wasn't sure what concept the mine she dug, which was two or three times larger than Jack's, represented. She took out a block of yellow ore from her inventory as if presenting a treasure.
Iron elements often exist in a trivalent state underground, and their color is mostly dark yellow, also known as pyrite.
"It is indeed iron ore. Perhaps your side, A Qing, connects to a natural cave, while I only have some open-pit coal."
"Hmph hmph~"
Keqing proudly tilted her head towards Jack, looking adorably naive.
Jack indulged her, stroking Keqing's head as if rewarding a good little animal.
"My A Qing is so amazing! All right, I'll come over here and collect too. Let's try to collect more before nightfall."
"Why before night? Didn't you say iron ore is a very important resource in the early game, A Qu? Since we found a cave, we should prioritize collecting it, right?"
"Theoretically, yes, and if it were in the game, I wouldn't even consider early-game survival issues, but would just keep digging down until I found diamonds... But reality isn't a game. Without knowing the resurrection mechanism, survival is the top priority."
As he recalled, the maids in the maid mod weren't invincible. Although they could be resurrected if they died, the process was very troublesome.
It required not only building an altar but also a series of materials like diamonds to resurrect the maid.
Keqing nodded. Jack had told her earlier that monsters like zombies would appear at night.
Although her mind was full of the little one bouncing around in Bubu Pharmacy, since Jack told her to be careful, she would treat it with twelve parts of vigilance.
"Okay! I'll listen to you!"
Being trusted so much by the young girl, a warmth flowed through Jack's heart.
"Alright! Let's get to work!"
With a single command.
The two immediately started their great mining endeavor with grunts and huffs.
Time thus flowed away like water.
The two focused on mining and smelting, and unknowingly, the distance between their hearts also continuously drew closer.
If Keqing's affection for Jack had already reached the max level of 10 due to the game's materialization, then Jack's affection for Keqing had also reached the max level after playing Genshin Impact for two and a half years.
Their meeting during the day was like an online relationship meeting in real life, with a hint of unease in their hearts while longing for each other.
And now, the max level of affection had been gradually digested by the two, and the atmosphere between them had transcended that of online partners, moving towards the mode of an old married couple.
...
Ding!
As the last pickaxe struck the iron ore.
The iron ore also turned into blocks and fell to the ground.
Keqing wiped the sweat from her face and was about to bring down her pickaxe again when she heard Jack's voice from behind her.
"Jack, the sun is about to set, let's stop here for today, pack up, and get ready to go."
"Huh? So fast, I feel like I can still swing a few more times."
Jack flicked her delicate nose.
"Still so competitive at a time like this, Jack, didn't you often say that you need to balance work and rest?"
"Hmm? What are you laughing at?"
"Pfft! Nothing, I absolutely did not laugh at a certain little calico cat."
Keqing was stunned for a moment, then touched her nose, and sure enough, her fingers were covered in dust.
"Oh, you dare to tease me!"
Keqing couldn't let this slide, so she immediately smeared a handful of dirt and lunged at Jack's side face.
"Hah! Cloudfall Swordplay!"
Jack was just an ordinary person, although due to Steve's special physique, mining coal for an afternoon had leveled him up a few times and he felt his physical fitness had slightly improved, but unfortunately, the other party had activated a Electro Element cheat.
Under the flashing purple lightning, Keqing seemed to have activated Acceleration III, and soon Jack appeared before her with a face full of mud and a bird's nest hairstyle.
"Pfft!"
Keqing couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Jack also scratched the back of his head helplessly.
He recalled how long it took to farm Jack's 260 Crit Damage graduation build back then.
Now, it was like he had dug his own grave.
As they chatted and laughed, the two had already taken out the iron ingots from the furnace and, following the trajectory of the torchlight, walked towards home, laughing and talking.