Another problem is how to locate blocks. When using “micro blocks”, you can’t just use a coordinate to find for a block. A probable solution is to use a binary sequence to show the path from root, an u128 can keep about 42 levels.
It might be hard to use for users, but coordinates can be prevented to use. In gregtech, there are only a few usages, and all of this can be replaced by latitude and longitude or so on.
As for this, I haven’t got an idea.
O(log n) isn’t growing slowly when n is small. Even updating a chunk of minecraft (16 blocks) will cost 4 times time.