Unexpected Visitor

God knew how many Bastion Remnants Li Wei had searched through for these four Netherite Ingots.

He could have mined for scraps himself, but leaving aside how low the odds of finding them were, it might not even have been faster than searching Bastions.

More importantly, even if he dug them up, he still would not have enough diamonds to make armor. He had to find some diamonds somehow.

But Bastion Remnants could solve that problem.

In the chests at the center of each Bastion, Li Wei could always find one or two pieces of diamond equipment.

Sometimes armor, sometimes weapons or tools.

To take all those good things with him, Li Wei threw away unnecessary food, potions, and the like. He even discarded a stack of Iron Blocks.

After all, there was still an entire iron vein waiting to be mined. He could never use it all up.

None of his efforts had gone to waste.

With that, his trip to the Nether came to a temporary end, and Li Wei returned the way he had come.

The path of exploration was always difficult. He had to traverse all kinds of rugged terrain, build bridges across lava lakes, and watch out for the occasional monsters that spawned along the way.

But going back was much easier. He only had to sprint along the paths he had built on the way here.

And in just a few days, Li Wei returned to the portal.

Along the way, he even found time to kill a few Ghasts, and when passing through a Warped Forest, he cut down several Endermen.

Weighing the cool, smooth pearls in his hand, Li Wei felt that they would surely fetch a good price if he sold them. Though if someone accidentally threw one from their hand, they would definitely get quite a fright.

"Time to go home."

Li Wei was beginning to miss the sunlight and air of Middle-earth.

Whoosh—

The sunlight was so bright that Li Wei could barely open his eyes.

Having grown used to the crimson gloom of the Nether, the dazzling sunlight of the overworld and the green grass tinged with yellow gave him a different sort of feeling.

"Autumn is here."

As the cool breeze blew over him, Li Wei could not help but sigh.

In the blink of an eye, he had already spent more than half a year in this world.

It felt as though he was either adventuring or on his way to an adventure.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled the lingering sulfur smell from his nostrils. Li Wei stretched hard, savoring the peace of the overworld.

Then he went to the warehouse to tidy up his backpack a little before heading straight for the Enchanting Table.

Fortunately—or rather, his luck had not been too bad—Li Wei had gathered a complete set of diamond equipment from the many Bastion Remnants. Some pieces even came with decent enchantments already on them.

After fighting in the Nether for so long, he had reached level 42.

Li Wei used all that experience to enchant books, constantly rerolling for the attributes he wanted.

Whenever he ran out of experience, he went fishing. Once he had enough, he went back to enchanting.

After fishing for another week like this, the chests accumulated even more miscellaneous junk. All sorts of enchanted books, bows, and fishing rods filled several chests, some good and some bad.

Thanks to Luck of the Sea III, Li Wei combined the pieces of equipment with lousy enchantments that he had fished up on an anvil, and even managed to create a fully enchanted bow with Infinity.

Power V, Infinity, Unbreaking III, Punch II, Fire Arrows.

Though this bow's base stats were inferior to the Half-Orc Bow, its enchantments made up for that weakness nicely. Until he had enough experience to enchant the Half-Orc Bow, he would use this one for now.

Besides that, Li Wei also maxed out the attributes on his fishing rod, using the enchanted books he had caught to fill in the missing Lure III and Mending.

Of course, those gains were only incidental.

The most important thing was that every enchantment on his diamond set had been maxed out.

That day, Li Wei stood before the smithing table and took out his diamond armor and Netherite.

Advancement Made: Cover Me in Debris

A beautiful set of jet-black armor, radiating a hazy gleam, appeared on his body. It looked hard and powerful, with a weighty presence to it.

And, like the armor he had worn before, it did not hinder his agility in the slightest.

The instant he put on the armor, Li Wei even had the illusion that nothing in this world could move him again.

The four pieces of Netherite armor provided a total of 4 points of knockback resistance.

This was a full set of Protection IV Netherite armor.

Now, Li Wei was beginning to feel confident about challenging certain things.

But before that, there was still one more matter to take care of.

Li Wei took out the Ancient Elven Sword and completed the enchantments it needed.

Sharpness V, Unbreaking III, Sweeping Blade III, Looting III, Mending, Fire Aspect II.

After considering it again and again, Li Wei decided not to add Knockback to the sword.

If one slash sent an enemy flying and failed to kill it, he would have to run over and finish it off with another strike. That was too troublesome and not conducive to combat.

With all his equipment complete, Li Wei still did not stop developing. He continued mining, harvesting crops, feeding animals, brewing potions, smelting metal, and steadily stockpiling resources.

"Unfortunately, whether in Middle-earth or the Nether, I haven't found anything like Redstone."

Without Redstone, automation was impossible, and many technologies could not be tested.

Who knew how long those days of resource accumulation lasted? Li Wei worked day and night, doing the things only he could do.

The castle's resources piled up at an unbelievable rate.

"Huh?"

One bright, breezy morning, Li Wei leaned against the city wall and admired the scenery when he suddenly noticed someone standing outside the castle gate.

It was an old man in a grey robe and pointed hat, holding a wooden staff.

At that moment, the travel-worn elder stood on a patch of grass before the gate, puffing on Shire pipe-weed without a word. He stared fixedly at the enormous castle, which he seemed never to have seen before, his brows furrowed so tightly they nearly twisted together.

He looked as though he were questioning his entire life.

"Either I've lost my memory, or the world has gone completely mad," the old man muttered.

Seeing that a guest had arrived, Li Wei pulled the lever. With a sharp clack, the two iron doors beside him swung open, startling the old man badly.

"Oh, oh—greetings, stranger."

Though startled, the old man still greeted him politely.

"Hello. May I ask what you need?" Li Wei asked, carefully studying the visitor at the same time.

The instant he saw the old man's face, Li Wei was certain of his identity.

That weathered yet peaceful face, along with the pair of dark eyes gleaming with wisdom beneath his thick white brows, left a deep impression on Li Wei at first sight.

There was no mistake.

The Grey Wizard, Gandalf.

"Hello, young man. I am merely somewhat puzzled. I do not seem to have ever seen such a vast castle out here in the wilderness. Though I may look old, I believe my memory is still quite good."

As he spoke, Gandalf took another puff of his pipe.

It helped him calm down.

"It has been less than a year since I last passed through here. Back then, this little plain had none of these things. In fact, it would be more accurate to say there was absolutely nothing here."

"This is simply too strange."

"Yes, you remember correctly. There really was nothing here a year ago," Li Wei replied before continuing, "But I came here some time ago. I thought the location was fairly good, so I built a castle here."

"You mean everything here was made by you? By yourself alone, and in less than a year?"

Li Wei nodded, as if it were only natural.

Gandalf's already furrowed brows knitted even deeper.

Someone was about to get abducted.

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