Honkai, But With a Spirit Simulator

"In the end of the story, Dr. Tesla still shared her mushrooms with everyone."

"Those are truffles! Truffles! Not mushrooms!"

"Truffles and mushrooms are both fungi," Liu Bai kindly reminded from the side.

"You're just a ghost who hasn't even eaten any, so stop siding with Lieser—that bird's nest head!" Tesla angrily pointed at the air next to Einstein.

"……"

One sentence silenced Liu Bai.

Right, it seemed like he had just watched the two of them eat.

Liu Bai looked at the pizza box with only food scraps left and fell silent… This, was this really a celebration for him?

"Clearly, Dr. Tesla, you ate the most and were the happiest."

Eating the last piece of pizza with the last truffle, Einstein elegantly took out a napkin and wiped her mouth, not at all angry at Tesla's form of address.

"I, I…"

Tesla's momentum instantly deflated.

"What's wrong with me eating more of my, my things?"

"Dr. Einstein kindly reminds you—even if Dr. Tesla likes to vacation in Trieste, it doesn't mean that the bag of mushrooms is Dr. Tesla's private property."

The naturally curly-haired green-haired girl shook her finger as if she had expected this.

Trieste, an international metropolis in Italy.

"What, what, what are you saying!? This is clearly something I bought with great difficulty, are you kidding me? And say it again! Truffles are not mushrooms! Calling them mushrooms is an insult to them!"

"Sigh…" The green-haired girl sighed helplessly, "Those were bought with laboratory funds, so of course they're public property, is there a problem with that?"

"Uh… cough, it's all small problems." Tesla completely deflated.

"If Dr. Tesla continues to insist on the wrong claim, Dr. Einstein will have no choice but to report this act of misappropriation of public funds to headquarters."

Liu Bai watched this scene with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. He always felt that Einstein seemed quite happy today—after spending a month with the two of them, Liu Bai also roughly knew how to distinguish the moods of these two beautiful girl scientists.

"Cough cough, now that lunch is over, let's hurry to the lab." Knowing that she was in the wrong, Tesla took the initiative to change the subject.

"Speaking of which, today is the final experiment of the first phase, right?" Liu Bai seemed to remember something.

"I'm impressed you still remember the experiment's progress, so it seems you're not just spacing out in the lab."

Tesla glanced at Liu Bai with some surprise.

"Could it be that you secretly learned something?"

I've almost learned everything from you…

Liu Bai secretly curled his lips.

Tesla's main skills were three: physics, mechanics, and engineering. Apart from some minor skills, the current Liu Bai considered himself a mini-Tesla.

Speaking of scientists, Liu Bai thought of Mobius again. It was a pity that Mobius didn't have a good teacher and could only explore on her own, but even so, by the end of the simulation, Mobius had level 8 biology and level 7 pharmaceutics.

He had watched these two people's experiments from beginning to end for a month, plus flipped through the books and notes on the bookshelf, and forcibly cultivated three high-level skills.

"Don't worry, if you don't understand anything when you get to the lab, just ask me and Lieser."

Tesla saw that Liu Bai was silent and thought that she had accidentally touched Liu Bai's sore spot, so she couldn't help but comfort him… but this comforting tone…

Heh…

Liu Bai silently floated away.

"Liu Bai isn't an idiot either. After watching our experiments for so long, Dr. Einstein thinks he shouldn't let us worry."

Einstein seemed to have unexpected confidence in Liu Bai.

"Um… what's with this inexplicable confidence?" Tesla raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"Dr. Tesla, haven't you noticed? The books on the bookshelf have been moved—and they're not leisure books."

There wouldn't be too many leisure books on the laboratory bookshelf—or rather, for these two girl scientists, that knowledge was leisure.

Even the two of them wouldn't dare to say that they knew everything in their professional fields.

"Re-really?"

Tesla mostly stayed in her room when she had nothing to do. She wouldn't be like Einstein, who could sit on the sofa with a cup of tea and a book for a whole day, so it was understandable that she wasn't sensitive to the books on the bookshelf.

"Then it seems Liu Bai has really worked hard."

Tesla scratched her face, a little embarrassed.

The tsundere rarely showed a little shyness.

"Cough, let's not talk about these things, let's hurry up and finish the first phase of the experiment."

[After a cordial exchange with the two beautiful girl scientists, you have successfully become an assistant at the Imperial Research Institute 42nd Research Division. You feel that you are truly beginning to be accepted by these two scientists.]
[Einstein Compatibility +10%, Tesla Compatibility +10%]

Generally speaking, in the current situation, Tesla, as a tsundere, would have a higher compatibility increase than Einstein in the same event.

But this time, the compatibility between the two increased and leveled out... one could only say Einstein was genuinely pleased.

[During this final experiment, you displayed scientific abilities that astonished both geniuses. At the same time, you discovered the gap between yourself and these two brilliant scientists.]

"Experiment complete."

As Einstein's voice fell, the large machines rumbling in the laboratory came to a halt.

"The control group data is normal. It seems the ghost's presence didn't interfere with the machine."

Dr. Tesla, after organizing the experimental data, wiped away sweat and summarized.

Nearby, Liu Bai stared at the unpainted large machine, lost in thought and somewhat depressed.

This thing is probably... maybe... seems... a bit like Titan?

So, the thing he's been looking at for the past month was making parts?

His final experiment was assembling a mecha?

That's right, what stood before Liu Bai was a mecha, or rather, a mecha skeleton.

However, it was smaller than the Sky Dome Patrol Liu Bai had seen. If he had to say, it was probably just a prototype?

No, it might not even qualify as a prototype. After realizing the essence of this thing, Liu Bai recalled what he had done this past month and instantly saw its shortcomings.

First, the controls. As an initial product, this thing could only accept a few simple commands: forward, backward, turn, etc. You couldn't even get it to do a proper parade march.

Second, the equipment. These two scientists hadn't designed any weapon slots or defensive components for this mecha skeleton.

Then there were the action performance, materials, and other shortcomings, which he won't go into detail about.

In summary, this thing, which resembled a Titan in its early stages, only shared its appearance and ability to move with the future Titan.

Chapter 20: A Date!?

However, even after Liu Bai realized what it was, he still felt a bit depressed looking at the crude robot before him.

The experiment lasted thirty days, and all the procedures were unhidden, yet he only figured it out on the last day.

Indeed, research ability and comprehension are not the same thing, are they?

"Didn't expect you to actually have some skills."

Dr. Tesla, who was shutting down the machine, rarely complimented Liu Bai.

"An assistant of your caliber is probably not to be found in the entire Imperial Research Institute."

"Dr. Einstein believes Liu Bai's abilities are sufficient to serve as a doctor," Einstein also gave a very high evaluation. "To reach this point after only a month of study, is this Liu Bai your talent or the ghost's characteristics?"

Einstein said, while taking out a small notebook and scribbling.

"Probably both..."

The confidence he had just built, snap—! Gone.

"Speaking of which, can this mecha... or rather, robot, be further optimized?"

Fortunately, not being as good as Einstein and Tesla wasn't something to be ashamed of. Liu Bai quickly adjusted his mindset and asked them about the thing he was most concerned about.

"It can, but there's no need."

Einstein replied calmly. The mecha she personally made seemed as insignificant to her as casually stacking blocks.

"If we want this mecha to have real practical value, the required equipment, materials, funding, site, and even manpower are beyond what our laboratory can afford. We need support from other experts, and it's also a very long process."

Einstein wasn't excited about this success—she had too many successes, and this one was insignificant to her.

"Moreover, with the current level of technology, materials, and weapons, the overall practical level and cost-effectiveness of the entire mecha are quite worrying."

"Of course, if someone really invests a lot of money, it might be used in actual combat in the future," Dr. Tesla said confidently.

"But no one will, right?"

Liu Bai calmly stabbed Dr. Tesla with a knife.

But in the future, when Anti-Entropy is established and runs away with Destiny's North American branch, it will have money. Large sums of money will be transformed into Anti-Entropy's future mecha forces.

Speaking of which, Anti-Entropy's rapid advancement in mecha technology was due to digging up relics left by the Previous Era in the Americas and absorbing the technology within... the Americas are indeed Anti-Entropy's place of origin.

So that means... everyone's mecha technology is currently amateurish?

Well, there are levels of amateurism, and he's probably the most amateurish of them all.

Liu Bai was very self-aware.

However, Liu Bai really didn't expect Dr. Tesla to have this idea now... she truly is a woman with fantastical ideas.

"So, this mecha is the 'homework' we have to hand in?"

"That's right, but there's no need to rush to hand it in."

Einstein took a chocolate from her pocket and gently put it into her mouth.

"We can postpone the report by a year or two."

"A year or two?" Liu Bai suspected he had misheard. "Einstein, is that unit really okay?"

"Of course, it's okay—who do you think we're making this thing for!" Dr. Tesla replied briskly. "Now, we can start the second phase of the experiment—'The changes and principles of possession brought about by ghosts possessing modern equipment.'"

"..."

Liu Bai looked at the humanoid mech in front of him... Is this the routine?

You guys made this mech just to wait for me here?

"...Mixed feelings."

"Cough, cough, cheer up a little, this is a surprise prepared for you." Dr. Tesla coughed, "Look, a freely moving body, shouldn't you be a little happy?"

Should I really... be happy?

"Why not design it to be a little more ergonomic?" Liu Bai asked his question.

Liu Bai wasn't some ignorant newbie; even if this thing in front of him moved, it would be at a snail's pace.

"Don't you think heavy mechs have an unexpected romance for men?"

Dr. Tesla tried to fool him, as the designer of this project, Dr. Tesla absolutely couldn't say it was something she liked.

That's true...

Liu Bai was a little persuaded by Dr. Tesla.

"But why do I feel like this is just what you like?"

"Uh... isn't it better if everyone likes it?"

Nice! Dr. Tesla! A witty answer!

Dr. Tesla couldn't help but want to give herself a thumbs up.

"The second phase of the experiment doesn't need to be rushed." Einstein spoke at this time, "Regarding research in this area, I've said it before, the two of us alone are not enough, we need outside help. I've already sent them an invitation in the name of this project."

"Outside help... I think we talked about this, Lieser, you're really quick."

Dr. Tesla and Einstein's social circles almost completely overlapped, and Dr. Tesla knew exactly who Einstein was talking about.