Honkai Impact 3rd: Starting to Save the Pre-Civilization with Hand-Crafted Black Tech

Honkai Impact 3rd: Starting My Journey with Hand-Crafted Black Tech to Save the Pre-Civilization, by Meng Li Geng Xin

Carrying a peculiar System that claimed "even a fool can do research," Ai Yue transmigrated to an era destined for destruction.

However, when he saw the top of the technology tree displayed by the System, the project name "Plasma Spark Tower," he realized someone was in for trouble.

The Thirteen Flame-Chasers might not be able to defeat the Herrscher of the End, but what about thirteen billion or even thirty billion Flame-Chasers?

Herrscher of the End, prepare to be defeated by my Zaipeiliao Ray!

Chapter 1: The Big Dummy of Twilight Street

It's hard for anyone to say where the name Twilight Street came from. The only certainty is that what people commonly refer to as Twilight Street isn't confined to just the street with the church, but encompasses the settlement centered around it, spanning several blocks.

After all, after the city was destroyed by a sudden disaster, this was the only place that survived.

Those who miraculously lived through it believed they were blessed by the heavens, so the population here didn't decrease; instead, it gradually increased.

Ai Yue lived here now too.

At this moment, he had just come out of the market on the west side of Twilight Street, carrying half a wooden chair and a bag of miscellaneous junk. His face was beaming with a smile, looking like he had a very fruitful haul.

Of course, Ai Yue himself would probably only consider it a fruitful harvest later—after all, in this era, it was hard to imagine someone trading canned meat for such random junk.

Watching the pale-faced young man swagger away from the market and head towards the outskirts of Twilight Street, a youth who had been squatting by the market entrance, constantly looking around, finally couldn't resist standing up, intending to chase after the person in front.

In this era of extreme hardship, food was life. If someone could casually use food to exchange for useless junk, it meant they had plenty more.

Such a person was undoubtedly a fat sheep.

However, as soon as he took a step, he heard a scoff from the side.

"What are you laughing at?!"

The youth immediately glared fiercely at the source, seeing a middle-aged man in a tattered trench coat with a scruffy beard.

In this world, when being mocked, one had to appear tough and fierce, otherwise others would think you were an easy mark and harbor ill intentions towards you.

As a scavenger skilled in harboring ill intentions towards others, the youth understood this principle well.

"You look unfamiliar, new here?" Facing the youth's fierce demeanor, the middle-aged man said calmly, "Consider it a welcome gift for newcomers. I advise you not to get any ideas about that young man."

The youth frowned but didn't dismiss the man's words: "What do you mean?"

"That young man has been living in Twilight Street for almost half a year," the middle-aged man said. "For half a year, he's always acted like this. Do you think you're the first person to set your sights on him?"

The middle-aged man's meaning was subtle, but the youth still understood—if the young man had survived countless robberies and remained unharmed, it could only mean he was far from as simple as he appeared.

A trap?

"Thank you for the reminder, sir." The youth pondered for a moment and decisively abandoned his previous plan. "May I ask who you are?"

Just as the middle-aged man said, he had only recently drifted to Twilight Street and lacked a way to understand the area, so he wanted to build a good relationship with the man.

"You can call me Brother Dog," the middle-aged man said with a smile, his meaning profound. "My job—is probably police, I guess."

The youth's expression immediately became interesting—if I had insisted earlier, would you have arrested me on the spot?

Ai Yue was completely unaware that he had once again been mistaken for a lamb to be slaughtered, but even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared.

Just as Brother Dog said, he dared to show off because he had his own confidence.

For example, the two stun guns hidden under his jacket, and the self-triggering mini shield generator attached to his belt.

At this moment, Ai Yue had returned to his home, only to find an uninvited guest sprawled on the sofa.

"Brother Yue, you're back!" A slender girl with short, yellowish-brown hair lifted her head from the sofa, her face beaming with a bright smile. "Went to be a big dummy again?"

She glanced at the items in Ai Yue's hands and knew where he had been—after all, this person rarely left home.

Everyone in Twilight Street knew that Ai Yue used precious food to buy junk, so they all secretly called him a "big dummy." However, the only one who dared to call him that to his face was the girl in front of him.

"I told you, I only buy useful things, Pardo." Ai Yue wasn't surprised by the girl's arrival. His home's anti-theft measures could deter many ill-intentioned thugs, but they certainly couldn't stop the elusive "Twilight Street's righteous thief."

Moreover, he hadn't intended to stop her.

"Can anything be more useful than gold?" The girl called Pardo rolled over on the sofa and stretched. "You'd rather trade a can for half a chair than for a small gold bar. That's too strange!"

"It's not strange, because I've already used up the gold's utility value." Ai Yue put down his things and patted the girl's leg, signaling her to make some space. "Got any good stuff?"

Pardofelis, as the most skilled thief in Twilight Street, found any security measures useless. Entering a rich person's treasure vault was as easy as going home, so she humorously called her actions "stocking up."

And as Pardo's biggest partner, Ai Yue had the first right of purchase every time she stocked up.

"Hehe, of course!" Pardofelis opened her waist pouch mysteriously. "Remember that bald fat guy who lives on Muddy Avenue? He got a new batch of collectibles!"

The fat bald guy on Muddy Avenue was a gem collector. Even at this time, he hadn't forgotten his hobby, making him a favorite "supplier" for both Pardo and Ai Yue.

For Pardo, gems were easy to carry and valuable. For Ai Yue, gems were also a category where rare items often appeared.

As Pardo placed the contents of her waist pouch on the coffee table, several gems of different colors and shapes appeared before Ai Yue's eyes.

"These are all very precious gems, especially this one!" Pardofelis picked up a pale purple gem. "The fat guy said it's called Taf, Taf…"

"Tafite Stone." Ai Yue took the gem from the girl's hand and nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, it's good stuff."

"Brother Yue, you know it?" Pardo thought she could show off, but her attempt failed again. "How do you know everything?"

That fat guy said it was an extremely rare gem, and she thought Ai Yue finally wouldn't recognize it this time.

With a slight smile, Ai Yue replied, "I don't know either, but it's written on them."

In his field of vision, these gems were covered by a faint blue light screen, displaying information that only Ai Yue could see.

"Tafite Stone (Rare): 100% Usable Value."

"Investing in the current research project 'Spacetime Fracture Technology' will increase research progress by an additional 50%."

Chapter 2: The Cheater from Beyond the World

It was clear that the fat bald guy's new collection was indeed quite something. The few gems Pardofelis obtained were all useful to Ai Yue.

"There are five in total, I'll take them all," Ai Yue casually stuffed the precious gems into his pocket. "Same old price, one gem for a case of canned food?"

"Love you, Brother Yue! I knew you were the best!" Hearing that he wanted them all, Pardofelis was overjoyed. She flipped over and got up from the sofa. "As for the canned food, I'll come pick it up tonight. It's too conspicuous right now."

Although gems were more valuable than gold, their poor liquidity meant that selling them to black market dealers would result in heavily discounted prices. Not only could she not get a case of canned food for one gem, she couldn't even get half a case. Only Ai Yue could offer such a price.

And it wasn't just gems; whatever Ai Yue wanted to buy, he would purchase at a very generous price and never haggle. This was why Pardofelis had long since developed the habit of selling her newly acquired goods to Ai Yue first.

Of course, she didn't know that Ai Yue was doing this intentionally, aiming to gain her favor.

"Oh, right, Brother Yue," Pardofelis remembered something after her excitement and flashed a fawning smile at Ai Yue. "Have you tinkered with any new magical tools lately? If you have, don't forget about me!"

Although it was hard to tell from his appearance, Ai Yue was actually a "scientist" capable of inventing all sorts of strange and peculiar things.

"Soon," Ai Yue glanced at the air beside him and said casually, "Wait a couple more days."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Pardofelis nodded repeatedly. "Then I'll be going now. I won't disturb you when I come to move things tonight!"

As Ai Yue's biggest supplier, Pardofelis not only could trade with him in person but also had the privilege of freely entering and exiting Ai Yue's storage room.

After Pardofelis left, Ai Yue carried the junk he bought from the market into the innermost room.

The door to that room had a sign that read "Research Lab." Even Pardofelis, who could freely enter Ai Yue's house, was not allowed inside. In the girl's imagination, the room must have been filled with all sorts of instruments and tools, but in reality, the room was completely empty.

This was because Ai Yue conducted his research not with instruments and equipment, but with a cheat.

As a transmigrator, this cheat was Ai Yue's foundation for survival in this chaotic world.

After locking the door, Ai Yue finally sat down with peace of mind and placed the half-broken wooden chair on the table.

In his field of vision, the wooden chair displayed special information.

"Maple Tree (Common): 100% Usable Value."

"Welcome back to the Hand-Crafted Research System. Would you like to start the unfinished research project?"

Along with the prompt that appeared in Ai Yue's mind, a light screen, visible only to him, materialized before him. The screen displayed the unfinished research project, "Spacetime Fracture System," based on his thoughts.

The Hand-Crafted Research System, while not as convenient as cheats that allowed for effortless power-ups, was indeed as its name suggested: as long as you had hands, you could conduct research.

By investing materials with usable value into the system, one could increase the research progress of a project. Once a research project was successfully completed, Ai Yue would learn the entire content of that project.

However, it was important to note that although all things in the world possessed usable value, once the usable value of a material was depleted, it could no longer advance research progress.

For example, once the usable value of the maple chair in front of Ai Yue was used up, the maple wood would be meaningless to him. Even if a hundred identical chairs were placed before him, he wouldn't give them a second glance.

This was also why he had told Pardofelis earlier that "gold is useless now."

However, based on Ai Yue's research into the system, he found that the system was quite lenient in its assessment of usable value. If new items could be created from materials whose usable value had been exhausted, then these new items would regain usable value.

For instance, if Ai Yue first used up the usable value of copper and tin metals and then refined them into bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, through smelting, then the bronze alloy would also possess its own usable value.

But now was not the time to dwell on such matters.

Ai Yue refocused his scattered thoughts on the research project before him.

"Spacetime Fracture Technology: Total Progress 89.1%."

"Analysis of Basic Principles: Completed."

"Basic Structural Design: Completed."

"Basic Material Selection: Completed."

"Prototype Framework Construction: 43.6%."

No matter how many times he browsed the system, Ai Yue couldn't help but sigh at how brutally simple this damn system was.

Technologies that would originally require long periods, vast human and material resources, and repeated testing and iteration were, in the system, divided into just four parts. To complete this technology, all one needed to do was find some wood, stones, or metal and feed them in.

If this were ever made public, it would likely cause many people to vomit blood and die on the spot. Even for the sake of others' mental and physical well-being, Ai Yue absolutely could not expose the system's existence.

The thought of having saved so many innocent lives made Ai Yue feel a sense of pride.

After restarting the research project, Ai Yue directly invested the entire usable value of the maple wood into it. Soon, the half-broken chair leg turned into countless light spots and dissipated into the air, while the progress of "Prototype Framework Construction" also increased—by 5%.

Honestly, Ai Yue couldn't imagine how a half-broken chair leg could be useful in the research of "Spacetime Fracture Technology." However, he quickly abandoned such pointless thoughts and began to put the second item into the system.

In just two minutes, the items Ai Yue had bought from the market that day had their usable value completely depleted, turning them into scrap. The progress of "Prototype Framework Construction" rose to 85.4%. However, Ai Yue didn't discard them immediately but continued to control the system to absorb these items.

Even if he fed them all into the system, they wouldn't advance the research progress by even another 1%, but this way, they could be completely decomposed, saving Ai Yue the trouble of dealing with trash.

Now came the main event.

Ai Yue took out the Tafite Stone from his pocket, placed it on the table, and his expression became solemn.

As one of the most precious gems in the world, the word "Rare" after Tafite Stone proved that the system recognized its value. The main difference between rare materials and common materials was that they possessed special effects.

For example, Tafite Stone can contribute 150% to the research progress of "Spacetime Fracture Technology." If materials of the same quality can advance progress by 10%, it can advance it by 15%.

Whether this project can be completed today depends entirely on the Tafite Stone.

After all, it's something the lucky cat brought back, so don't disappoint me.

Chapter 3 Herrscher of the End: Oh, I'm fighting Ultraman?

Although he knew his actions wouldn't interfere with the System's operation, he couldn't help but hold his breath as he inserted the Tafite Stone into the System.

The next second, as half of the Tafite Stone's body turned into light particles and disappeared, the progress of "Prototype Framework Construction" was completely finished.

"Spacetime Fracture Technology has been successfully researched."

"Please enter the construction system to manufacture the prototype."

Ai Yue glanced at the Tafite Stone on the table and found that the gem still had 47% of its usability left. He had to admit it was worthy of being a rare-grade material.

Following the System's prompt, a series of complex knowledge flooded into Ai Yue's mind, and the System interface before him was gradually replaced by a blank space.

Ai Yue's System plug-in was actually divided into two parts. Relying on materials to climb the technology tree was only one half, and the other half was what Ai Yue called alchemy.

That is, the so-called "construction system."

As Ai Yue conceived it in his mind, a fingerless glove gradually took shape on the blank interface before him. Most of this fingerless glove was covered in metal, making it look somewhat heavy. Near the palm, there was a circular button, allowing the user to activate it with one hand.

"Spacetime Distortion Generator (Prototype) has been completed."

As the System prompted, the fingerless glove gradually gained substance, detaching from the light screen before Ai Yue and falling onto the table with a heavy clatter.

The System didn't require any materials when creating the prototype, as if the items used to advance the research progress before were utilized here.