Saving the Pre-Civilization by Hand-Crafting Black Tech in Honkai Impact 3rd

Sakura wanted to go with Ai Yue, but in the end, she couldn't bear to leave her sister. Thinking that she didn't know when she would see her again after this parting, she obediently nodded, "Thank you, Ai Yue."

Ai Yue waved his hand, "Then I'll trouble you to explain it to the children."

After saying that, he walked towards the exit, leaving Sakura standing there, looking a bit lost.

I have to explain it to the children?

"Doctor Ai Yue, what happened? Why the rush?"

As soon as she got on the plane, Hua asked impatiently, "Did something happen at headquarters?"

Hua had thought there was an urgent mission for them, but when she noticed Sakura wasn't leaving with them, she realized it probably wasn't a critical situation.

"It's nothing, an experiment just yielded results," Ai Yue explained simply. Then he suddenly asked, "Hua, what do you think is the essence of 'Honkai Energy'?"

"Uh... it's a type of energy?" Hua hesitated before answering, then realized she'd stated the obvious. "Sorry, I don't know much about these things."

"It's alright, that's the most common thought," Ai Yue said dismissively. He continued, "Honkai Energy is indeed an energy, but it's more than just energy. Think about it, why do Honkai Beasts emerge from outbreaks of Honkai Energy? And why are humans corrupted by Honkai Energy and turn into monsters, instead of just dying?"

"Could it be because there's some special information hidden within Honkai Energy?"

"Hidden... information?" Hua repeated Ai Yue's last words, a vague understanding dawning on her. "Doctor Ai Yue, what does this have to do with information? Could it be that if we decipher the information within Honkai Energy, we can understand where this disaster comes from?"

"Who knows? This is just my guess. Even if there is information hidden within Honkai Energy, with our current abilities, we're not yet at a level where we can decipher and interpret it," Ai Yue shook his head, but then a smile appeared. "However, even if we can't decipher it, we can at least try to perform basic separation."

"If we can separate the energy from its strange corrosive properties, perhaps we can obtain a purer form of energy."

Chapter 17: The Most Informative Chapter (4000 words)

What exactly is Honkai Energy?

This question involves many complex theories. Even though Ai Yue could find many clues from the original plot, his progress on the System's technology tree had not yet touched this mysterious domain, so he couldn't provide a definitive answer.

In the original setting, Honkai Energy was identified as "Imaginary Energy." The concept of Imaginary Energy can be simply understood as "energy from the imaginary space."

If we extrapolate from this setting, then whether it's the Honkai outbreaks occurring in this world or the "Herrschers" who wield immense power and transform from humans, they are essentially natural laws indispensable to the development of civilization in this world.

However, this conflicts with another setting Ai Yue knew: the "Cocoon of Finality."

The "Cocoon of Finality," located somewhere on the moon, is the origin of all Herrschers. But the "Cocoon of Finality" itself was created by an incredibly powerful civilization. Its purpose was to allow other civilizations to develop and grow through the mechanism of the "Cocoon of Finality" in repeated cycles, ultimately becoming civilizations capable of transcending it.

While conflicting settings might exist in games, they wouldn't in reality. How these two settings would manifest in reality was also something Ai Yue planned to explore.

Since there were no relevant materials to directly achieve this in one go, Ai Yue had to start from the most basic aspects.

The "Project Purifier" was one such endeavor. It aimed to further dissociate Honkai Energy by utilizing the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, thereby separating the purer energy from other substances. This was a project Ai Yue designed himself, outside of the System.

However, due to the difficulty in controlling the Herrscher of Thunder's power and the extreme difficulty in dissociating Honkai Energy, almost every experiment ended in an explosion.

Therefore, Ai Yue chose Vill-V's Spiral Workshop as the experimental site.

"You scoundrel, don't use someone else's workshop for such dangerous experiments!"

This was Vill-V's protest after learning about Ai Yue's experiment. But after Ai Yue doubled her research budget, she willingly granted Ai Yue administrative privileges above her own within the Spiral Workshop.

Of course, the research budget for this project was still generously provided by various financial magnates and families around the world.

Currently, Vill-V was building a new laboratory for Ai Yue. The entire Spiral Workshop was effectively under Ai Yue's control, but this didn't make him happy because the thing he wanted most wasn't here.

Vill-V's treasured collection had already been moved away by her in advance.

"What a stingy person." Thinking of this, Ai Yue couldn't help but mutter. Fortunately, he wasn't that bothered by it anymore, so he finally focused his attention on the experiment. "Rose, have the experimental results come in?"

After repeated failures and explosions, Ai Yue finally abandoned the brute-force approach. Instead, he handed all the experimental data to Prometheus and provided several sets of plans for her to simulate and deduce. Only after the success rate reached an acceptable level would they be used for actual experiments.

After 24 hours of repeated simulations, Prometheus finally provided her answer.

"Success rate of 90.13%?" Seeing the plan submitted by Prometheus, Ai Yue couldn't help but frown. "I said over ninety percent would be worth trying, and you're really cutting it close?"

"Please don't make things difficult for me, Doctor Ai Yue," Prometheus's voice seemed to carry a hint of helplessness. "I am just a nascent artificial intelligence, less than a hundred days old. If you push me any further, I'll crash."

Prometheus also had her grievances. Scientific innovation wasn't her forte. If Ai Yue hadn't pre-marked the variables in several plans, allowing her to adjust and try repeatedly, she might not have been able to produce a result with over ninety percent success rate even now.

"Indeed, my bad this time," Ai Yue also shook his head, then decided to take action himself. "Wake up the machines, it's time to get to work."

He then took out a meticulously protected crystal.

"Herrscher Core - Herrscher of Thunder."

If there was any method to maximize a human's ability to wield Herrscher power, it would be to directly use a Herrscher Core. After all, the strength of all the techniques Ai Yue had developed using simulated Herrscher power was insufficient to dissociate Honkai Energy.

Of course, for an ordinary person to come into contact with a Herrscher Core would be no different from seeking death. Therefore, even Ai Yue had to take certain protective measures.

So, he created a mechanical gauntlet specifically designed to control the Herrscher Core. The Herrscher Core of Thunder was embedded in a groove on the palm. This design allowed the gauntlet to control the power output of the Herrscher Core, preventing any issues.

Incidentally, this gauntlet was named the "Limited Gauntlet."

Under Prometheus's control, the experimental equipment was gradually moved in front of Ai Yue. It was a metal platform with a tabletop about two square meters in size. At the center of the platform was a crystal emitting a faint purple light. At the four corners of the platform, pillars supported a horn-shaped device above the crystal, giving it a rather rudimentary appearance.

In fact, it was indeed rudimentary. The only technological sophistication of this device lay in the horn-shaped energy absorption device at the top. Apart from the most basic low-temperature device, there was nothing else. This minimized the cost of the workbench, making it cheaper than a single day's expenses for Vill-V, even if it exploded a hundred times.

However, this experiment was still very expensive, as the main cost was concentrated in that purple crystal.

It was a special crystal formed entirely from aggregated Honkai Energy, collectable only during major Honkai outbreaks. It could be considered a natural energy source, capable of directly powering various devices when placed in a suitable energy extraction device.

It could not only be used for power supply but also, in emergencies, could be directly detonated as a bomb through simple and crude means. This would cause physical destruction and rapidly spread Honkai Energy, affecting both humans and electronic equipment, thus making it highly valuable in warfare.

Furthermore, the energy density of Honkai Energy crystals was astonishing. A piece the size of a little finger was enough to power the Spiral Workshop for a month. If Ai Yue couldn't "cash out" the higher-ups and take things from their pockets to use, he certainly wouldn't be able to conduct research with Honkai Energy crystals so recklessly.

The research on artificially synthesizing Honkai energy crystals has already been submitted to the System by Ai Yue, and results should be available soon.

"Be careful, Doctor Ai Yue," Prometheus warned as the Herrscher Core on Ai Yue's gauntlet began to glow. "A 9.87% failure rate isn't exactly low, and violating procedures will only increase the experimental risk."

"You talking is already lowering the risk," Ai Yue injected an "Aponia's Embrace" to ensure his high mental energy consumption could be sustained, then slowly brought his hand closer. "Don't worry, watch me compensate for the missing success rate with my technique—"

In the next second, the Honkai Energy began to emit a violent radiance, a precursor to an imminent explosion as its stable state was disrupted.

Ai Yue immediately pulled his hand far away, only relaxing when the Honkai energy crystal returned to a stable state.

Prometheus silently added, "The success rate is now less than ninety percent."

"Shut up, Rose, this is where the real work begins," Ai Yue flexed his wrists. "You're not allowed to speak!"

"Vocalization system deactivated."

Ai Yue refocused, his breath steady, and once again brought his hand, clad in the Limited Gauntlet, towards the Honkai energy crystal.

He had set the power too high earlier; lowering it now should resolve the issue.

Ai Yue had actually attempted to dissociate Honkai Energy before. However, in an environment with low-concentration Honkai Energy, even if he succeeded, the energy would quickly dissipate into the air, making collection impossible. That's why he had chosen to experiment with crystals formed from high-concentration Honkai Energy.

But high-concentration Honkai Energy was extremely unstable. Even in its aggregated crystalline form, it would explode and scatter with sufficient stimulation. Dissociation would be out of the question, and Ai Yue himself would be injured if he wasn't quick enough to escape.

If Ai Yue could control two Herrscher Cores simultaneously, he could try using the Herrscher of Ice's Core to stabilize the Honkai energy crystal. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Thus, he had to rely on existing technological means, which could only offer some effect.

Fortunately, this attempt was successful. The radiation emitted by the Honkai energy crystal was gradually increasing within a controllable range, indicating that Ai Yue's operation had indeed worked. Under Prometheus's control, the Limited Gauntlet was continuously adjusting energy output and operation based on the current situation, ensuring the entire process stayed within the initially designed parameters.

The Honkai energy crystal, enveloped in faint electrical sparks crackling and popping, began to shrink. Although the process was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, the glasses Ai Yue was wearing provided real-time, frame-by-frame analysis, ensuring he wouldn't miss any detail.

At this rate, the Honkai energy crystal would be completely dissociated in just five minutes, yet Ai Yue dared not relax in the slightest.

This was because the energy density of the Honkai energy crystal was not uniform; the energy density within the core was significantly higher than on the outside. Failure to adjust the Herrscher Core's power in time, or making an error during the adjustment, could easily lead to problems.

Several previous attempts had failed midway due to this very issue, resulting in nothing gained. Therefore, Ai Yue's entire attention was focused on the Honkai energy crystal, determined to prevent a repeat of past failures.

However, what was bound to happen eventually did. Just as the Honkai energy crystal was reduced to less than the size of a fingernail, the brightness of the light suddenly surged, nearing the point of explosion in the blink of an eye.

It was only then that Ai Yue realized that this blasted Honkai energy crystal didn't just have higher energy density internally than externally; it could also have higher energy density externally than internally!

Prometheus remained silent, but the Limited Gauntlet's power began to decrease. The entire gauntlet automatically reshaped itself, encasing Ai Yue's hand and the Herrscher Core to protect him from the impending explosion. Simultaneously, a crimson warning box popped up on Ai Yue's lenses, urging him to retreat immediately to avoid danger.

But this was the closest he had ever been to success; how could he give up now?

"Terminate protective measures, increase power!"

Ai Yue instantly issued the command, overriding Prometheus's autonomous judgment and regaining control of the gauntlet. He then made a bold move.

Instead of relying on the faint electrical sparks emitted by the Herrscher Core to dissociate the Honkai energy, he directly clenched it in his palm!

The remaining energy was no longer important, but he had to preserve whatever remained after the Honkai energy was stripped away!

The next second, violent energy erupted outwards from his fist, turning the entire gauntlet into fragments with fine lightning. Even Ai Yue's clothes turned to rags, revealing the protective suit he wore underneath.

"Doctor Ai Yue, you're truly insane." Only after the energy fluctuations completely subsided did Prometheus reactivate her microphone. "You know the risks involved in doing that, don't you?"

"It's fine, I'm not hurt, am I?" Ai Yue shrugged, clearly unbothered. "As long as the result is good, that's all that matters."

"Setting aside the unique Third Herrscher Core, which is the only one in existence, Doctor Ai Yue, your own value is immeasurable. I do not recommend you casually endanger yourself in such a non-critical experiment." Prometheus's voice was as calm as ever, but yellow angry emojis continuously popped up above her head. "It seems I need to autonomously update my permission system to prevent myself from becoming an accomplice to your dangerous operations."

"My apologies, my apologies, I won't do it again," Ai Yue casually appeased Prometheus. "Besides, this isn't a non-critical experiment."

Feeling the numbness in his palm finally subside, Ai Yue regained control of his hand and opened it, revealing a charred, unfeeling palm and two crystals, one large and one small.

The larger one was, naturally, the intact Herrscher of Thunder Core. The smaller one, however, was only the size of a grain of rice. If Ai Yue hadn't kept his fingers tightly closed, it would have slipped through his grasp.

Looking at the material information provided by the System, Ai Yue displayed a rare look of seriousness.

"Will Fragment of ??? (Special): Usable Value 100%."

"Using this material allows for the initiation of a special research project."

"Note: Special research projects require the consumption of materials to advance research progress."

Chapter 18: System, Does Your Gacha Have a Pity Counter?

An unidentified Will Fragment.

A "Special" material, independent of standard material rarity.

And a special research project that can only be initiated with special materials.

Ai Yue had never expected that, before even reaching the true objective of this experiment, the byproduct would bring him such a pleasant surprise.

But a serious question immediately followed: who did this Will Fragment belong to? Could it be that even the System couldn't identify its true identity?

Ai Yue first dismissed this idea. The System's capabilities were clearly far beyond this. It recorded incredible technological projects that could span across multiverses and grow infinitely. Ai Yue didn't believe that Honkai would be so special as to surpass the System's limits.

If the System was fine, then the problem lay with himself.

Ai Yue removed his glasses and rubbed his temples, appearing somewhat weary and helpless.

This was quite possible. After all, both the unknown civilization that created the Cocoon of Finality and the potential mysterious source of Honkai were existences beyond Ai Yue's comprehension. Even many projects within the System displayed "???" for him, perhaps representing those things he couldn't understand.

However, it was only temporarily incomprehensible. One day, he would illuminate every star in the galaxy.

As for what the special material and special research project truly meant...

Ai Yue first carefully put away the Herrscher Core, then clenched his fist again, sending the special material into the System.

The next second, an interface he had never seen before unfolded before him.

If the tech tree the System had shown him before was as grand and brilliant as a galaxy, then what appeared before Ai Yue now was more like the most primitive state of the universe: cold, silent, and empty.

This couldn't be described as a tech tree at all, because Ai Yue couldn't find any path to climb upwards along any single branch.

He couldn't even see anything on it.

What did that mean? Giving him a choice but no options?

As soon as this thought crossed Ai Yue's mind, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed.

The entire screen seemed to shrink, finally revealing the complete picture to Ai Yue.

It was a black hole. What Ai Yue had seen just now was only the deep "opening" at the center of the black hole. Around the black hole, there was a halo-like dark red glow, looking like an eye.

Then, after the black hole was fully revealed, a point of light gradually lit up from the opening in its center, eventually occupying the entire interface before Ai Yue.

"Special Research Project Unlocked."

Along with the System's prompt, Ai Yue finally saw the content on the interface.

"Data Transcription Technology for Genetic Information."

What is this?

Ai Yue narrowed his eyes, a hint of confusion on his face. This was the first time he had seen such an absurd project title.

Data transcription of genetic information?

The term "transcription" did exist. In biology, it was generally used to describe the process of genetic information flowing from DNA to RNA. But what was "data transcription"?

Did it mean converting genetic information into some kind of data, allowing for human datafication? Or did it mean something else?

Ai Yue's curiosity immediately surged. However, this project was completely different from the previous research projects initiated with specified materials. There was no research progress at all; it needed to be advanced bit by bit from scratch. He couldn't see any useful information right now.