Power Restored

"August 5th. Today, the upper limit of my Creation Power reached 201 points. The growth rate is quite consistent. Perhaps it's because I exhaust my Creation Power completely every day? However, the recovery rate still hasn't improved. It used to recover about 4 points per hour; now, it's roughly 4.3, not even reaching 5. Theoretically, since my limit increased from 100 to 201, the recovery rate should have doubled as well. Why is the improvement so minimal?"

Huang Si pondered while writing in his diary.

The recovery of Creation Power was so sluggish that the increase in the upper limit felt rather lackluster—at most, it just allowed him to store a bit more power to manufacture extremely complex or massive objects.

How could he increase the recovery rate of his Creation Power?

Huang Si didn't have a clue. He had tried shifting his consciousness back into the Creation Book or asking the book questions, but it showed no reaction, as if it had gone completely dormant after being opened for the first time.

Unable to figure it out, he decided to set it aside for now and focus his energy on solving practical life problems.

The first issue was the nuisance of carbon dioxide.

Huang Si could create oxygen, but he had no way to eliminate carbon dioxide, and both his pancakes and his daily life generated a significant amount of it.

There were no plants in Huang Si's home, making it impossible to form an effective air circulation system.

The dark space where his house was located was also quite peculiar; even if you opened the doors and windows, the air wouldn't leak out, regardless of whether the internal air pressure was high or low.

As for the items inside the house, they would only vanish into the darkness if Huang Si actively threw them out.

Therefore, to deal with the ever-increasing carbon dioxide, Huang Si had to refer to a simple guide on Wikipedia and design a blower himself.

He modeled this blower after a water bucket. It featured a long plastic tube, about three buckets in length, with a pushrod inside connected to a ring. Inside the ring were shutters shaped like a camera lens; when pushed outward, the shutters closed and became airtight, and when pulled inward, they opened to intake air.

Using this method, Huang Si only needed to vent a small portion of the indoor air every few days and then replenish the air composition with oxygen and nitrogen.

As for what happened to the air, trash, and other things he discharged into the dark space outside, Huang Si decided not to dwell on it.

He would think about that problem the day the dark space became full; for now, he would just let it serve as a trash can.

"August 8th. There is so little information on solar cells. Regardless, I'll start by creating monocrystalline silicon."

Huang Si stood by the window, looking at the glass. The microscopic structure of the glass magnified in his eyes, and before long, he located the silicon molecule within the silicon dioxide.

Then, he arranged the silicon molecules in an orderly fashion, recorded the pattern, and retreated to the macroscopic world to synthesize the silicon crystal.

In reality, Huang Si extended a finger on his right hand, concentrating his power at the tip.

A thin, translucent little disc formed at his fingertip and rapidly expanded outward. Soon, a silicon wafer the size of a CD appeared.

This silicon wafer was composed of 100% silicon atoms, and because the arrangement was absolutely regular and dense, the crystal structure was flawless.

If researchers at a real-world academy of sciences knew this, they would be green with envy, as it is impossible to achieve such purity and structural perfection in reality.

In the real world, high-purity silicon wafers are generally used for the production of high-end electronic components, such as the latest CPUs and graphics cards.

However, even with the most advanced purification and manufacturing technology, some flaws remain. Thus, behind the production of every new model of CPU or graphics card, many silicon wafers are often discarded or relegated to low-end production lines.

This is why the cost of the latest electronic products remains so high.

If those IT professionals knew that someone here was using 100% pure, flawless silicon wafers to make solar panels, they would likely die of grief on the spot.

Because solar panels have very low requirements for silicon wafers—and even require surface texturing—Huang Si was essentially squandering a treasure.

But for Huang Si, it was merely a question of whether or not to expend Creation Power; producing a 100% pure silicon wafer was easier for him than a 99% one.

Huang Si had already recorded the monocrystalline silicon and the structure of the silicon wafer in the book. However, the silicon wafers used for solar cells required a rough, uneven surface. When magnified, this surface consisted of tiny facets, which increased light absorption efficiency.

"Hmm, the number of facets is sufficient; it should be recordable." Huang Si examined the surface of the wafer with his microscopic perspective, nodded, and made a record in the book.

Over the following days, he tinkered with the reflective film, circuitry, tempered glass, and other components.

Modern manufacturing would require screen printing for the circuits, but for Huang Si, it was just a matter of conceptualizing the design and generating it directly onto the surface.

So far, two things troubled Huang Si. First, Wikipedia descriptions were often too simple; even after checking all relevant materials, it was very difficult to make complex components like solar cells, and he basically had to draw the blueprints himself.

Second, his Creation Power recovered far too slowly.

At 4.4 points per hour, that was 105.6 points per 24-hour day, and he still had to deduct the costs for air, food, water, daily necessities, and power supply. In the end, Huang Si only had about 60 points of free Creation Power to spend daily.

Whenever he tried to develop something new, such a small amount of power was quickly exhausted.

Often, Huang Si was forced to study circuit knowledge while waiting for his "mana" to recover.

By August 21st, Huang Si had finally produced a functional solar cell.

Huang Si registered the composition of the solar cell in the Creation Book, using up his last few points of power.

"My recovery rate should be 4.6 now, but my Creation Power limit is already at 297. The amount recovered in a day is less than half of the limit; it's truly a headache to wait. Even mobile games aren't this stingy with stamina recovery."

Due to the limitations of power recovery, Huang Si had to develop various components in batches, which dragged the process out until late August.

The solar cell was a crucial link in Huang Si's energy supply plan. Previously, relying on batteries to charge his phone and computer required him to manually replace them, which was not only environmentally unfriendly—generating piles of empty battery waste—but also consumed his Creation Power.

It was indeed pitch black here with no sun, but didn't he have the Creation Book?

Huang Si had long realized that the Creation Book was the only truly permanent energy source in this room.

Before he could create nuclear batteries, the only way to achieve true automated power supply was through solar panels powered by the light of the Creation Book.

On August 22nd and 23rd, Huang Si used the Creation Power recovered over those two days to manufacture 32 solar cells and related components, then connected them with tempered glass and plastic clips to form a solar panel.

The photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar panel was not high, so a single panel could not yet provide a sufficiently high voltage.

Afterward, Huang Si spent another seven days constructing four more solar panels. He connected them in parallel with the previous five to supply power, finally achieving a voltage of 220V.

Huang Si connected the wiring to the distribution box beside his front door, and with that, the power supply inside the house was completely restored. He no longer needed to rely on the battery circuit he had invented to provide electricity.

Now, Huang Si placed a cabinet in the living room and set the Book of Creation on top of it.

The five solar panels, each slightly larger than an A3 sheet of paper, were suspended from the ceiling by steel cables. They wrapped around the Book of Creation like petals, fully utilizing the light it emitted.

Huang Si, of course, kept the brightness of the Book of Creation at its maximum, generating electricity 24 hours a day without interruption.

During this process, because Huang Si had to wait for his Creation Power to recover, he was incredibly bored. He watched all dozen movies on his hard drive and even completed a AAA game, which he was now playing through for a second time.

When he grew tired of gaming, Huang Si would read novels; when he couldn't stand reading anymore, he would go back to gaming.

There was no helping it; in this completely enclosed space, the only way for Huang Si to keep from going insane with boredom was to find various things to do that were at least somewhat interesting.

Without these distractions, being locked in a pitch-black room for a month or two would likely have driven him truly mad.

After finishing the solar panels and playing games for a few more days, Huang Si began to ponder creating other automated devices.

For instance, an automatic blower? An air conditioner? It would be best if it could automatically absorb carbon dioxide.

Or perhaps, continue researching new foods?

Huang Si hadn't yet developed the methods for making potatoes and ham, and both items had already spoiled.

Helpless, he had no choice but to throw them away.

This served as a reminder that there were still germs in the house, which was why the food had spoiled.

It seemed necessary to develop a sterilization device.

"September 3rd. I've started researching how to make a UV germicidal lamp. The principle doesn't seem too difficult; I hope to finish it soon. My cap has reached 325 today, and the recovery rate is 5.0. I feel like this cap is useless. I wonder when the recovery will speed up."

By September 7th, Huang Si had hung UV disinfection lamps all over the room. Their power consumption was quite high; if he turned them all on, he wouldn't be able to use any other appliances.

On September 12th, Huang Si began using an electric blower, solving the problem of air pollution caused by carbon dioxide.

On September 15th, Huang Si used plant protein to create a pale yellow film; out in the world, this would be called gluten. He then spent another day adjusting its structure and improving its texture before finally recording it.

Gluten thus became the only dish on Huang Si's table. He developed several ways to prepare it, making his meals slightly less difficult to swallow.