The Nether... I didn't think I'd ever taken anyone else there before. Every time, I'd gone by myself to look for Nether Fortresses and Bastion Remnants.
Should I take Tang Wulin there later?
Tang Heng fell into thought.
Just then, Tang Wulin came in after handing the Jade Horned Dragon to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
"Brother, what are you doing? Is there anything I can help with?"
"Hmm, I'm planning to upgrade some potions. I'm just missing one ingredient, so I was going to go get some later."
Tang Wulin blinked her bright eyes and asked curiously, "Where are we going on an adventure this time?"
"Uh, the Nether."
Tang Wulin froze at Tang Heng's reply. The Nether? Wasn't that the land of sinners and the dead in novels?
Seeing Tang Wulin's dazed expression, Tang Heng hurriedly explained, "How should I put it? Whatever it is, it definitely isn't what you're thinking. You can think of it as another dimension attached to the Overworld. The creatures and biomes there are just completely different."
"Oh, I see." Tang Wulin tilted her head and said with a smile, "Even if you really asked me to go to hell, I'd still go."
"Silly girl, how could I actually let you die?"
Tang Heng handed Tang Wulin a few Healing Potions and reminded her, "I just used gunpowder to extend the effects of these. If you get hurt in a fight or are about to fight someone, it's best to drink one first."
Tang Wulin happily accepted the Healing Potions her brother had handed her and carefully put them into her Storage Soul Tool.
"Let's go. Remember, once we get to the Nether, don't touch those zombie pigmen. They're disgusting, and if you hit one, all the others will come after you."
Not that Tang Heng was afraid of them, of course. They were just Zombie Pigmen. If they dared to cause trouble, he'd send them packing!
Tang Wulin nodded, then followed Tang Heng and stood with him inside the Nether Portal.
The next moment, a crimson world came into view.
Compared to the Overworld, the Nether felt oppressive. It wasn't just the missing blue sky; there was also the endless sea of steaming lava.
"It's so hot."
Tang Wulin fanned herself with her hand. She'd only just arrived, and she was already sweating all over.
Because they'd loaded the Realistic Weather mod, they now had temperature values. In the Nether, temperatures rose in terrain like lava seas. First, they'd get a whole bunch of negative buffs, then, once the temperature passed a certain threshold, they'd start constantly losing health.
Conversely, if they went to a snowy mountain or the Far North, they'd suffer symptoms like hypothermia.
Tang Heng beckoned, trying to gather the water element from the air, but all he got in response was dead silence.
He'd almost forgotten: there was no water in the Nether.
But it didn't matter. He had a backup plan.
"Drink this. It should keep you cool." Tang Heng took a few Fire Resistance Potions out of his bag, drank one himself, then handed some to Tang Wulin.
After drinking the Fire Resistance Potion, they felt much better. At least for the duration of the effects, they wouldn't feel hot.
"Remember, go dig up as much of that stone with the yellow glow as you can. The more, the better."
"Understood!"
The brothers split up, agreeing to meet back at the Nether Portal in an hour. That would be more efficient.
Once he got the glowstone, he could spare some of the potions he had on hand to upgrade their effects. From now on, everyone could call him the Potion Maniac.
Their enjoyable glowstone-mining session soon came to an end.
Tang Heng hadn't run into anything new during that time. On the way back, he'd casually slaughtered a few Magma Cubes, so he could make Fire Resistance Potions for future trips to the Nether.
"Brother, this is the glowstone I collected, and here's some other stuff." Tang Wulin spat out several stacks of glowstone dust in one go, then tossed Tang Heng a few black skulls.
"These are Wither Skeleton Skulls. Wulin, did you see a fortress over there?"
Tang Wulin nodded, looking thoughtful. "I was mining glowstone over there when a group of pitch-black skeletons suddenly came at me with Stone Swords. Luckily, I drank one of the potions you gave me, or we'd have had to respawn."
What luck! She'd actually gotten Wither Skeleton Skulls.
Back when he'd first played Minecraft, he'd planned to summon a Wither to get the achievement. He'd gone to a Nether Fortress to farm Wither Skeletons, and it had taken him a full day just to scrape together three skulls.
Tang Wulin had gotten into a skirmish and somehow gotten six to drop in one go.
And she'd done it without Looting Enchanting. Her luck was unreal.
"Good job. I'll make you a feast when we get back."
Tang Heng patted Tang Wulin on the head. She smiled, looking thoroughly pleased.
The feeling was strange, much like the sensation of petting the big yellow dog he'd had at home in his previous life.
Putting that peculiar feeling aside, Wither Skeleton Skulls were genuinely useful. They could summon the Wither, the strongest boss mob in vanilla survival mode apart from the Ender Dragon.
The Gold Dragon King Martial Soul contained the Dragon God's power, ferocity, and power of destruction. The Wither fit the concept of destruction perfectly.
Tang Heng had originally planned to make the Wither his Martial Soul or Soul Spirit when he reached level forty. Now he could skip the tedious skull-farming stage altogether.
After all, with his terrible luck, even with the Auspicious Beast's blessing, it would probably have taken him quite a while to farm enough skulls.
When they returned to the Overworld, Tang Heng kept his promise and cooked Tang Wulin a sumptuous turkey feast himself.
He gave the extra meat to the Golden Lion to feed the Ice Empress.
The Primary Academy didn't have many classes, and lessons generally ended at around three in the afternoon.
This was to accommodate the work-study students and give them time to work.
After returning from the Minecraft Plane, Tang Heng had planned to go to his dorm and write for a while. He'd just reached the second Heavenly Court War in his story, and the climax was coming up: destroying the Fate Gu.
But then he received a notice from the academy asking him to go to the office.
It seemed some important person wanted to see him.
Could it be Mu Chen?
No, if Brother Mu wanted to see him, he'd have come straight over. He wouldn't go to all this trouble, especially since he knew Tang Heng.
"Student Tang Heng, may I ask what your relationship is with the person in the office?"
His homeroom teacher, Lan Ruobing, who was leading the way, asked curiously.
She'd been startled when she got the notice. She hadn't expected the legendary Divine Craftsman, who was so elusive that even many Titled Douluo couldn't get the chance to meet him, to visit their little academy.
It was like buying a lottery ticket on the way out that morning and winning the one-hundred-million-Federation-Coin jackpot.
"Who is it that wants to see me? Could you give me a hint? Otherwise, I won't know what to say."
Lan Ruobing took a deep breath, as if she needed courage just to say the man's name.
"Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua. You've heard of him, right?"
"Oh, Uncle Zhen Hua... No, should I call him Brother?"
What? Uncle? Brother?
Lan Ruobing couldn't quite process it. Anyway, they were relatives, then.
Seeing her homeroom teacher's brain practically overloading, Tang Heng could only try another explanation. "Actually, Teacher Lan, you don't need to read too much into it. He just thinks I have talent."
"I see. So you're a blacksmith, Student Tang? What rank are you now?"
"Hmm, I just got assessed a few days ago."
Lan Ruobing smiled and praised him. "You're a Level Two Blacksmith at such a young age. No wonder President Zhen Hua came to see you in person."
"Uh, I'm actually not Level Two. President Mu Chen personally certified me as a Six-Star Grandmaster. I accidentally completed Spirit Forging that day."
Lan Ruobing suddenly stumbled, her face going completely stiff.
"A-a Six-Star Grandmaster?!"
It seemed her student was a monster.
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