Honkai, But Spirit Simulator

A stroke of luck amidst misfortune...

"Oh, right, Hua."

His Spirit once again spoke up.

"Do you go to fortune tellers?"

"...No, why?"

She considered herself a very pragmatic person, keeping a respectful distance from fortune-telling, that half-trickery, half-theology nonsense.

"Then you believe what I, a suddenly appearing spirit, says?"

Liu Bai chuckled, closing the book in his hand and placing it back where it belonged.

"Is there a chance I'm lying to you? That I'm not a Spirit at all, just a ghost that absorbs the life essence of the living and happened to latch onto you?"

"...?"

Obvious confusion appeared on Hua's face.

"No, I can't find any reason why I'd be haunted by a ghost."

Although Hua didn't believe in ghosts and gods, as someone living in Shenzhou, she could understand what Liu Bai meant.

"Well, ghosts don't need a reason to harm people," Liu Bai said with a smile. "Please don't believe the nonsense ghosts say, Hua. Doesn't Shenzhou have an old saying? 'Man proposes, God disposes,' and 'Man will conquer nature'?"

"...I understand."

Seemingly having thought of something, Hua, who had been sitting on the bed, relaxed her guard and nodded thoughtfully.

Then, Hua clasped her fist in her palm towards Liu Bai.

"I look forward to your guidance in the days to come, Master Liu."

"Master?"

Liu Bai was taken aback by the word.

"Uh... it's just that your tone, Mr. Liu Bai, reminds me a bit of a school teacher."

The usually serious girl showed a rare hint of embarrassment on her face.

"If you mind..."

"No, I don't mind, it's just a little embarrassing..."

After all, it was the first time he'd been called "Master," and with such a highly embarrassing title as "Master Liu"...

Chapter 57: The Probably Stillborn Fu Hua Cultivation Plan...

"Ah, no, it's already four thirty!"

The two of them had a pretty good chat, but by the time Hua came back to her senses, half an hour had passed.

Hua jumped out of bed in a hurry.

"Master Liu, you..."

"I understand, I understand, avoiding suspicion."

Alas, the world is going to the dogs, people's hearts are not what they used to be. Back then, Liu Bai wouldn't even glance at Mobius's two massive...sigh.

However, Liu Bai glanced at their compatibility; in just half an hour, their compatibility had reached 20%.

The Celestial was still just a slightly uptight girl.

Although she was disciplined, she would still be bleary-eyed when she woke up, wanting to sleep a little longer.

She didn't hide her happiness or sadness, her emotions all displayed on her face.

Although this was very unqualified for an adult, it was just right for a girl.

--This is how a girl should be.

Liu Bai slowly retreated to the door. Hua moved faster than Liu Bai had expected. In less than five minutes, Fu Hua had changed into her training clothes and stood in front of Liu Bai, full of energy.

Thus began Hua's fulfilling but monotonous day--

[You have become the Spirit of Hua--that is, the future Fu Hua]

[You are becoming more and more accustomed to the life of a Spirit. Therefore, you have had a very successful exchange with Hua, who is still just a girl]

[Perhaps because you both belong to Shenzhou culture, your compatibility is obviously very good. You quickly gained Hua's trust and were addressed as "Master" by Hua--you feel more and more like the old grandpa living in a ring.]

[You learned from Hua that Hua has not yet started high school--which also means that there is still a long time before the Honkai outbreak in Canghai City]

[You have to find a way to let Hua have the ability to protect herself in the Honkai of Canghai City as soon as possible, after all, it is not a wise choice to put all the hope of survival on strangers]

No wonder the Celestial's face looked a little tender. Liu Bai thought it was because of the Previous Era, but he didn't expect that Hua hadn't even gone to school in the city yet.

"Hua, would you like to learn how to build a Gundam?"

Looking at Hua, who was stir-frying vegetables and cooking porridge, Liu Bai asked out of the blue.

"Gundam?" Hua was startled by Liu Bai's sudden voice, then looked at Liu Bai with some confusion.

"It's that kind of steel robot," Liu Bai explained as clearly as possible. "Hua, do you want to learn? Although you call me Master, I don't have anything else to teach you except this. I don't know anything about martial arts or other skills."

Alright, even though he didn't learn mecha manufacturing in his previous skill choices, theoretically he shouldn't be able to build mechas.

However, Liu Bai's foundation is solid. He has reached level eight in the basic physics, mechanics, and engineering disciplines required for mecha manufacturing.

In other words, Liu Bai already has the prerequisite skills for mecha manufacturing, and he has also seen Tesla assemble mechas and studied the Honkai energy conversion formulas in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Liu Bai already has all the prerequisites.

All that remains is for Liu Bai to spend some time integrating these skills properly, and he will reach the standard for manufacturing mechas.

As long as Fu Hua is willing to learn, Liu Bai is willing to teach.

"Robots... um."

Hua, still a country girl, obviously doesn't quite understand robots.

Most of the black technology of the Previous Era, such as God Keys, Armed Dolls, Stigmata, and even Hypermutation Surgery and Honkai energy conversion formulas, emerged along with the Honkai outbreaks.

In terms of secular technology, the current Previous Era is not much different from 2017 AD. The final weapon of secular warfare is still nuclear bombs—and it was nuclear bombs that ultimately destroyed all the cities of the Previous Era, ironically confirming the law that "Honkai develops with civilization."

But no matter what happens in the future, mechs are still worth pursuing right now. Being phased out in the future is a problem for the future.

Liu Bai believes that the choice of "Dr. Hua" is definitely much better than "Soldier Hua."

If Hua's comprehension is good enough and she learns fast enough, he might be able to get Hua to attract the attention of Moth Chasers to Fire ahead of time.

However, after a brief moment of contemplation, Hua asked a question that left Liu Bai speechless:

"Robots... since they're made of iron, they must be very expensive, right?"

"... That's true."

Hua directly revealed a fatal fact to Liu Bai.

No money.

The last simulation, Liu Bai and the two scientists, Einstein and Tesla, spent more than a year doing various experiments, almost forgetting that doing experiments is a money-burning activity, let alone research on such large mechas.

Einstein's evaluation of mecha research at the time was:

"If we want this mecha to have real practical value, the equipment, materials, funds, venues, and even manpower required are beyond what our laboratory can afford. We also need support from other experts. At the same time, this is a very long process."

Liu Bai may be able to top other experts alone, but money...

Hua's family only runs a martial arts gym. Although the family was considered well-off before Hua's father was injured, wanting to do this kind of mecha experiment is simply wishful thinking.

Even Mobius first finds a way to get the principal, and then relies on the principal to do experiments and get results, and then sells it to create a virtuous cycle.

"... In short, I'll teach you first. Mechanics... is at least a kind of knowledge, a kind of skill. If it doesn't work out, you can still repair cars to subsidize your family."

Liu Bai is also quite wooden. He thought that even if his plan failed, it would fail due to Hua's learning ability, but who would have thought that this plan would fail due to the simple and unadorned reason of money?

It's simply fucked up...

"In that case, I will set aside some time in my daily routine to learn from you, Teacher Liu."

Although Liu Bai's "repairing cars to subsidize the family" is more of a joke—just like asking people who study computers, "You must be learning this to repair computers, right?"

But this reason is indeed an irresistible reason for Hua, who is thrifty by nature.

"If it really comes to it, we can take a step back..."

Liu Bai muttered, but Hua didn't hear the last part clearly.

"?"

Hua tilted her head, a puzzled look on her face.

The step back Liu Bai was talking about... of course, is swindling funding!

Just like Einstein and the others did back then, find someone who is stupid, rich, and easily fooled, draw a big cake, get funding, then use a little money to buy some sesame seeds and sprinkle them on the cake, and the rest of the money will naturally be the activity funds that they can freely dispose of!

But it's better not to let Fu Hua, this good child, know about this.

"Hua, the porridge and vegetables are about to burn."

"Eh—!?"

Chapter 58: Maybe Fu Hua is a Late Bloomer?

[You begin to plan for Hua's future]
[After thinking, you realize that the thing you are best at is the various scientific skills you learned from the two doctors]
[This allows you to see a shortcut to "knowledge changes destiny"]
[——However, it is a pity that it is difficult to cultivate a junior high school student into a great scientist in high school——not everyone is called mei, and not everyone can meet a recommender like Mobius who is in a high position and has great power]
[So you are stumped by money. ]
[The training plan is declared a failure, congratulations, congratulations]
[Maybe you can change the plan to "Car Repairman Training Plan"? ]

Damn system...

Liu Bai couldn't help but curse in his heart as he looked at the simulated text on the system, but the next moment, Liu Bai noticed a piece of information.

"Recommender"

Mobius... If I could get in touch with her, she would definitely be willing to be a reference.

But the problem is... I can't find her.

Although Mobius doesn't seem that old, in reality, she is one of the older Flame-Chasers. There's a reason why Griseo calls her "Auntie Mobius."

Kids have pretty sharp intuition (laughs).

Back when Mei and Kevin were in high school, Mobius was already a top scientist with high authority within Moth Chasers to Fire.

Liu Bai found a calendar in the living room. Sure enough, it had been quite a while since he parted ways with Mobius.

Speaking of which, what did Mei do to get noticed?

Wasn't it a paper on Quantum Mechanics?

Quantum Mechanics?

Liu Bai stroked his chin. He knew that stuff. Level 8 Physics covered most physical theories, including Quantum Mechanics. What's more, he also had Level 8 Quantum Cognition... although the "quantum" in that skill seemed to refer to the Sea of Quanta.

Anyway, theoretical research doesn't cost money, so let's go with that!

Even if he couldn't reach Mei's level, he could at least be a little better, so that when he was recruited by Moth Chasers to Fire, he could be considered a special talent.

When Mei was first recruited, she was recruited as a brain.

But... wouldn't that waste Fu Hua's potential in combat? Even change the future?

"Fu Hua... research or martial arts, which do you prefer?"

Liu Bai looked at Fu Hua, who had just finished cleaning up the meal.

"Eh? Research or martial arts... If I had to choose, I would naturally want to inherit my father's martial arts school."

Fu Hua honestly expressed her thoughts.