Scaramouche did not understand what a "battery" was supposed to mean.
But from the implications in Ryen's words, he could clearly tell one thing:
This man treated demon gods as consumables.
Something to be captured whenever necessary, again and again.
With that realization, Scaramouche's emotions suddenly became extremely complicated.
So the godhood he had long obsessed over…
In someone else's eyes, it merely meant transforming from a useless puppet into an exploitable expendable.
Yet on second thought, that only meant one thing, the ceiling of this world was far higher.
And the man standing before him was far stronger than imagination itself allowed.
If…
This man regarded Makoto as his younger sister…
Then did that make him Scaramouche's eldest uncle?
Having such a powerful eldest uncle suddenly made him feel far more secure.
Scaramouche firmly rejected Lumine becoming his "little aunt."
But now, he found that he did not reject having an eldest uncle at all.
This entire world belonged to his uncle!
If he played his cards right and pleased his uncle,
If his uncle was in a good mood and gave him a magic staff,
Would that not be an instant ascent to the heavens?
The humiliation he had suffered at Lumine's hands could finally be repaid in full.
Thinking this way, the look Scaramouche gave Ryen suddenly became intensely fervent.
"Now that Sumeru's matters are settled, when the Sabzeruz Festival arrives, we'll go celebrate Nahida's birthday together."
"After that, we'll formally establish the Five-Nation Alliance."
Hearing this, Yae Miko shot Ryen an annoyed look and complained,
"Didn't you say we were going to Inazuma first?"
"Sigh! Priorities matter," Ryen waved his hand dismissively.
"My precious daughter's affairs come first."
Despite those words, Nahida did not show even the slightest hint of joy.
Her ambition to rise to power had never changed.
Yae Miko stared at Ryen with faint resentment. He felt a headache coming on, gently rubbed her tail, and gave her a meaningful look.
Only then did Yae Miko accept it, albeit unwillingly.
"By the way, how long are you two planning to stay spaced out?"
Ryen looked at Dehya and Nilou with amusement.
"You both stayed in Liyue for quite some time before. When Alhaitham came over earlier, he adapted almost immediately."
"Now even Thunder Cannon has adjusted this quickly, are you two still going to keep staring?"
Scaramouche pursed his lips.
When exactly had he adjusted? Even he did not know himself…
He had merely been quietly observing his surroundings.
Especially the surging, indescribable power flowing within his body.
This was a kind of pure strength he had never possessed.
Estimating it roughly, he felt he could shatter his former pseudo-god body with a single punch.
And this power was supposedly only one quarter of his uncle's?
This was the true endpoint of power.
Scaramouche fell in love with this unreasonable world.
And the title eldest uncle came to his lips more and more naturally.
"Sorry…"
Nilou came back to her senses, looking at Ryen with mixed emotions.
"We had speculated before about why Liyue advanced so rapidly, but we truly never imagined that you had control over an entire world."
"And such a miraculous one at that."
Ningguang shook her head lightly and smiled.
"Strictly speaking, it is Ryen alone who controls the world. We simply cooperate with him in developing it."
Scaramouche's admiration deepened further.
His uncle truly had real capability.
Worthy of being his uncle.
"I think I now understand, at least roughly, what the alliance is meant to do," Nilou said, rubbing her temples helplessly.
"But this world is too incredible. For now, we really don't know where to begin."
"Take it slowly," Jean said patiently.
"We were the same when we first arrived. Once you grow accustomed to it, you'll know what to do."
"And you won't be thrown in directly, we'll provide training."
Dehya nodded.
"Thank you, everyone…"
"All right, all right!"
Venti waved his hand, cutting off the conversation, and looked eagerly at Ryen.
"Back to business, back to business! Now that everyone's back, your new mod research must have produced results, right?"
"Well? Isn't it time you explained it to us? Is it interesting?"
At those words, everyone perked up, staring straight at Ryen, anticipation written on their faces.
"Interesting… depends on how you define it," Ryen said softly.
"But it is quite practical, quite powerful. Three new mods were unlocked, and all of them can be put to good use."
Ganyu tightened her grip on Ryen's hand, looking at him with curiosity.
"Which one would you like to hear about first? Of the new mods, two are combat-oriented, and one is lifestyle-oriented."
Venti immediately raised his hand.
"Lifestyle, obviously!"
Since Venti had already called it, no one bothered to object.
In any case, they would understand all of them eventually.
Ryen nodded slightly and continued,
"Very well. Then I'll start by talking about my personal reward this time."
"…"
After a brief silence, Ningguang smiled and tapped Ryen lightly on the face.
"So in the end, you just got something good and want to show it off first."
"See? Ningguang understands me best."
Ryen admitted it openly, chuckling as he took out a longsword and a longbow.
There was no enchantment on them. Their surfaces shimmered like the star-filled sky itself.
Yet merely looking at them, everyone felt an unprecedented pressure pressing down on them.
"What kind of weapons are those? They're far too powerful!"
Scaramouche asked urgently on behalf of everyone.
"What weapons they are has nothing to do with you," Ryen shot him a sideways glance before smiling again.
"But I like your enthusiasm. Keep it up."
"Let's start with this bow. From the Endless Greed mod, the strongest bow of all."
"The Heavenfall Longbow."
The name sounded extremely domineering, but the moment "Heaven" was mentioned, Tartaglia's face darkened.
He was reminded of the time he had been tricked into messing with a Heaven teleportation gate for an entire night.
"Heavenfall Longbow… a fine name,"
Zhongli murmured softly, his gaze fixed on Ryen.
"How powerful is it?"
"How powerful?"
Ryen spread his hands.
"It cannot be worn down or destroyed. Using it consumes no arrows at all, and its damage is essentially one-shot kill."
"Even the Ender Dragon would go down in two or three arrows."
"On top of that, it has an automatic tracking function. If the shot misses, ten light arrows will automatically spawn and pursue the target."
"In simple terms…"
Ryen gently drew the bowstring. A dazzling azure arrow condensed into shape.
"This bow possesses guaranteed lethality even against demon gods."
"It is one of the ultimate weapons among bows."
The group nodded with complicated expressions.
Zhongli then looked toward the sword. His intuition told him,
This was something that must not be touched.
Touch it, and death was certain.
"So this sword is…?"
"You should have heard of it," Ryen replied seriously.
"Sword of Universal Dominion."
"Touch it, and you die. No matter what the enemy is, even that goblin from before, one touch is instant death."
"This sword doesn't have flashy attack patterns like the Heavenfall Longbow. It has only one property."
"Touch equals death. No matter who it is, as long as it's not a special-mod entity or something that cannot be struck by a sword."
"Whoever touches it dies."
"It ignores armor. It ignores instant resurrection effects. It forcibly reduces the target's HP to zero."
"Even if you're holding a Totem of Undying, the effect is ignored. Guaranteed kill."
"At present, there is nothing this sword cannot kill. And it is extremely difficult to damage."
"Even against an omnipotent Creator God in Creative Mode, it can still kill in a single strike."
"There's a saying about this sword that's widely circulated…"
Ryen looked at the Sword of Universal Dominion with something like affection and said softly,
"Even God will bleed."
"If you really want to describe this sword, there are many ways, but if you summarize it, it's just one sentence."
Ryen paused, his gaze sharp.
"The one who is powerful is not the wielder, but the weapon."
"Take it in hand, and there is no enemy you cannot cut down in a single strike."
"Put simply, even a hilichurl wielding the Sword of Universal Dominion could kill the Heavenly Principles with one slash."
Silence fell over the room.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhongli spoke with quiet awe.
"We once said that even divine artifacts depend on whether the user can awaken their true power."
"But this sword… does not care about the user."
"No matter what you are, young or old, human or demon, the moment you hold it, you are invincible."
"It violates the laws of existence. A weapon like this should not exist."
Ryen shrugged.
"If laws could be given physical form, this sword would cut them apart just the same."
"With the Sword of Universal Dominion, you don't ask whether you can defeat your opponent."
"You ask whether there is anything in this world that can withstand even one of your strikes."
Scaramouche's eyes burned with unprecedented intensity.
At this moment, upon seeing the Sword of Universal Dominion,
Gnoses, Musou no Hitotachi, magic staves…
All of it became meaningless.
With this sword in hand, he would be Teyvat,
No.
He would be the supreme god of this entire world.
This was not a weapon.
It was a scepter that held absolute authority over life and death.
Wielding the Sword of Universal Dominion and dueling Ei before the throne,
That would not be Scaramouche challenging Ei.
It would be Ei challenging Scaramouche's universal might.
Unfortunately, such thoughts could remain only fantasies.
Even without thinking, it was obvious that this sword would never be given to him.
"You'd better keep that thing properly," Ningguang said with clear concern as she looked at Ryen.
"It's far too dangerous. We wouldn't feel at ease letting anyone use it."
"Even you should use it sparingly. Your own strength is already invincible, and you understand this world far better than we do."
"No matter how powerful this sword is, you at least know how to restrain it."
"The ability to ignore the Totem of Undying is terrifying. If possible, I hope there will never be a second Sword of Universal Dominion."
Hearing this, Ryen nodded and replied softly,
"Of course. Setting aside the fact that this sword is truly unique, even if Endless Greed is unlocked again in the future, I will not allow a second one to exist."
To be honest, this was the only weapon capable of threatening Ryen's control over the Minecraft world.
A blade that could kill even a Creator God in Creative Mode was absurd beyond measure.
That was precisely why Ryen both wanted to unlock Endless Greed, and did not truly want to.
Carefully putting the weapons away, Ryen resolved that these two would never be left outside again. From now on, they would remain permanently in his personal inventory.
The group tacitly agreed not to bring up the sword again.
Venti grinned and said,
"You've shown off enough. Can we talk about the mods now?"
"Sure," Ryen replied. "What did we say we'd introduce first?"
"The lifestyle one!"
"All right."
Ryen nodded decisively.
"Then let's start by looking at this combat mod, Slash Blade."
"…"
"…You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"
~~----------------------
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