That night, 11:59 PM.
A sudden burst of white light surged up from the ground and engulfed the cabin in the woods.
A prompt appeared before his eyes:
"World evolution in progress. Estimated completion in 8 hours…"
Gong Qu had no suicidal impulse to test whether he could walk out through the white light.
With nothing better to do, he simply held Keqing close and returned to the bedroom. Based on his past life's experience playing the "Dragon Adventure" modpack, he began explaining the basics to her while silently waiting for the load to finish.
The modpack was called Dragon Adventure. As expected, its most iconic creatures were dragons, primarily sourced from the Ice and Fire mod.
In that world, where ice, fire, and lightning clashed, dragons came in three elemental types: fire, ice, and lightning.
Each element had four different color variants, and the scales dropped upon death differed by color too.
Dragons were extremely dangerous. Their breath could destroy blocks outright, ravaging the terrain around them. After a single battle, a hillside could easily be blasted into a ravine.
Their growth was divided into five stages. At Stage 1, they had just hatched. At Stage 2, they could fly. Stage 3 marked adulthood, and most wild dragon nests contained dragons of this stage.
Dragons couldn't be tamed. The only way to obtain a dragon egg was to become a war god and slay a Stage 4 or 5 female dragon, with a small chance of the egg dropping.
This made acquiring dragons quite difficult.
However, unlike other games where enemies get stronger when they turn evil and weaker when redeemed, Minecraft had no such rule. Once players hatched a dragon, they could quickly raise it to Stage 5. At that point, they were essentially invincible.
Aside from dragons, the modpack included a variety of other creatures:
There was the Highland Drake, which had "dragon" in its name but came from another mod, DragonMounts. Killing it dropped medium-quality meat, which could be eaten or crafted into dragon food. It was tameable.
There was the Leviathan, similar in mechanics, but it lived in the deep sea and dropped top-tier meat. Also tameable.
Sirens lurked along coastlines, capable of charming players. They weren't particularly strong, but Gong Qu suspected that, under realistic texture packs, they'd be quite the beauties.
Sea Serpents were powerful aquatic monsters that dropped materials for crafting the Sea Serpent Armor set.
This set vastly outclassed the basic Dragonbone Armor and was only slightly weaker than the endgame Dragosteel set.
It provided permanent Water Breathing and Strength IV, making it an essential ally for mid-game dragon hunters.
And of course, there were others: the Hydra, the Kraken, Griffins, Cyclopes, and more…
"Stellamancy is a type of magic that draws on the power of the stars through esoteric rituals… by observing celestial alignments, one can enchant items or strengthen oneself…"
Mid-sentence, Gong Qu felt something was off.
He paused and looked down.
Keqing had already closed her eyes, her arms wrapped around his, clearly not listening at all.
"Looks like she really is exhausted."
Gong Qu gently slid his right hand free, supporting her head as he laid it on the pillow, then tucked her in under the blanket.
The fact they had managed to mine over 10 kilometers deep for diamonds in recent days was largely thanks to Keqing.
He had tried convincing her to slow down, but once she got into work mode, she was unstoppable.
All he could do was use his Dendro abilities to help her recover.
Eventually, he developed a set of Elemental Skills akin to healing and attack-speed buffs.
But thanks to Dendro-Electro reactions, the attack-speed boost was magnified, turning Keqing into a one-woman army, tripling her output.
She had been so tired lately that the moment she touched the bed, she fell asleep, so much so that even their nightly "activities" had significantly decreased.
"Mmm… Ah Qu… heehee…"
Who knew what she was dreaming about, but a smug smile bloomed on her lips.
Gong Qu could vaguely make out words like "Ayaka," "Shenhe," and "loser dog."
She flung off the blanket and lunged leftward, wrapping her arms around his waist and burrowing into his chest.
Her brows arched with contentment, and she let out a satisfied purring noise like a spoiled Persian cat.
Helpless, Gong Qu propped the pillow upright against the headboard.
Cradling Keqing's upper body, he gently patted her back.
"Sleep, Ah Qing. I'm a little concerned about that white light… I'll stay up and keep watch tonight."
"Mmkay~"
Keqing murmured drowsily, nuzzled him with her head, and promptly drifted into a peaceful slumber on his lap.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The quartz clock on the master bedroom wall ticked softly, the hour hand landing squarely on 8.
Gong Qu's closed eyes snapped open. His mind cleared in an instant.
"Strange. Nothing seems to have changed."
Unlike the grand spectacle from last night, this time the mod update had ended without a sound.
By habit, he opened the Random Shop.
Sure enough, several items exclusive to the modpack had appeared.
Ring of Seven Curses – 100 World Coins
Dragon Bones (6) – 150 World Coins
Wither Bones (16) – 50 World Coins
Balloon – 2000 World Coins
"So they're selling the Ring of Seven Curses as a beginner's pack now?"
He glanced at the item's attributes and was met with a collection of descriptions that would give any player a headache:
Once equipped, this ring will be bound permanently to your accessory slot through a curse similar to Eternal Binding.
The Seven Curses upon the wearer:
All damage received is doubled.
Neutral mobs will attack you (yes, even Endermen).
Armor effectiveness reduced by 30%.
Your damage to mobs is halved.
If set on fire, the flames will never extinguish unless doused with water.
Each death fractures your soul (reduces max HP).
You suffer from incurable insomnia (can't skip nights by sleeping and are dragged into the Abyss dimension instead).
But those who endure shall receive Seven Blessings:
+1 Looting
+1 Fortune
+400% XP gain
+10 to Enchanting Table power (can enchant beyond level 30)
Some mobs drop unique loot
Gain the effect of the Ender Ring
Unlock and use unique relics
Since the ring no longer appeared automatically in his inventory…
Gong Qu no longer had to wait until he crafted a scroll to break curses before starting Adventure Mode. A good sign.
That cursed thing could just sit in the shop collecting dust.
Skipping over the sketchy "starter gift," Gong Qu went ahead and purchased two stacks of Dragon Bones and Wither Bones.
Following standard weapon recipes, combining two Dragon Bones with one Wither Bone produced a Dragonbone Sword, dealing 8 damage, one point higher than a Diamond Sword (7).
"As for the Balloon… that's probably from the Terraria Accessories mod. If I recall, it boosts jump height and reduces fall damage."
Jump height was an incredibly useful trait.
In vanilla Minecraft, most mobs couldn't jump over 2-block walls. But with a Balloon equipped, the player could jump 3 blocks high, making it a breeze to kite enemies.
"Too bad Ah Qing uses a maid template. Aside from the gear she brought from Teyvat that got auto-converted into accessories, regular accessories can't be equipped on her."
With that in mind, Gong Qu only bought two.
One to use right away. The other he'd combine with a Horseshoe once he found one in a dungeon, crafting the Horseshoe Balloon, allowing him to equip two balloon-type accessories simultaneously.
With the Horseshoe granting immunity to fall damage, he could jump five blocks high with no worries.
At that point, he could even cosplay as the Azure Star of the New World.