V2/Chapter 17: The most informative episode
What exactly is Honkai Energy?
This question involves many complex theories. Even though Ai Yue can find many clues from the original plot, his climb up the system technology tree has not yet touched this mysterious area, so he cannot give a definite answer.
In the original setting, Honkai energy was determined to be "imaginary internal energy", and the concept of imaginary internal energy can be simply understood as "energy from imaginary space."
If we infer according to this setting, then whether it is the Honkai eruption phenomenon that occurs in this world, or the sudden transformation of humans into "Herrschers" who possess powerful powers, they are actually some kind of natural laws that are indispensable in the development of civilization in this world.
But this conflicts with another setting that Ai Yue knows, namely the "Cocoon of the Finality".
The "Cocoon of the Finality" located somewhere on the moon is the existence that gave birth to all the Herrscher, but the "Cocoon of the Finality" itself was created by an extremely powerful civilization. Its purpose is to allow other civilizations to continue to grow and develop through the mechanism of the "Cocoon of the Finality" in reincarnations over and over again, and thus grow into a civilization that can transcend the "Cocoon of the Finality".
There may be conflicting settings in the game, but not in reality. How these two settings will be presented in reality is also what Ai Yue is currently planning to explore.
However, since there is no relevant material that can be used in one step, Ai Yue can only start from the most basic part.
The "Code Purification" project is one of them. By using the power of the Herrscher of Thunder, it attempts to further dissociate the Honkai energy, thereby separating the purer energy from other substances. This is a project designed by Ai Yue himself outside the system.
However, because the power of the Herrscher of Thunder is difficult to control, and the dissociation of Honkai energy is extremely difficult, basically every experiment ends in an explosion.
So Ai Yue arranged the test site in Vill-V's spiral workshop.
"You bastard, don't use someone else's workshop for such a dangerous experiment!"
This was the protest Vill-V made after she learned about Ai Yue's experiment. However, when Ai Yue doubled her research budget, she took the initiative to transfer Ai Yue's authority in the Spiral Workshop above her own.
Of course, the budget for this research is still kindly provided by various chaebol families in the world.
Now Vill-V is still building a new laboratory for Ai Yue. The entire Spiral Workshop has actually fallen into Ai Yue's control. However, this does not make Ai Yue happy, because what he wants most is not here.
Vill-V's treasure trove had already been moved away by her in advance.
"What a stingy guy." Thinking of this, Ai Yue couldn't help but mutter. Fortunately, he didn't care about this matter so much now, so he finally focused his attention on the experiment. "Prometheus, are the experimental results out?"
After repeated failures and explosions, Ai Yue finally gave up this reckless behavior and instead handed over all the experimental data to Prometheus, and provided her with several sets of plans for simulation and deduction until the success rate reached an acceptable value before using it in actual experiments.
After 24 hours of repeated simulations, Prometheus finally gave its answer.
"90.13% success rate?" After seeing the plan submitted by Prometheus, Ai Yue couldn't help but frowned. "I said if it exceeds 90%, I can give it a try, but you really blocked me?"
"Please don't embarrass me, Dr. Ai Yue." Prometheus' voice seemed to reveal a sense of helplessness, "I am just an infant artificial intelligence that is less than a hundred days old. If you push me any further, I will crash."
Prometheus also had her own difficulties. Scientific research and innovation were not her areas of expertise. If Ai Yue had not marked out the variables of several plans in advance, allowing her to adjust and try them repeatedly, she would probably not have been able to produce a result with a success rate of more than 90% until now.
"Yeah, this wave is mine." Ai Yue also shook his head, and then decided to do it himself, "Wake up all the machines, it's time to start working."
He then took out a crystal that was carefully guarded.
"The Herrscher's Core: Herrscher of Thunder".
If there is any means that can enable humans to exert the power of the Herrscher to the greatest extent, then it is naturally to directly use the Herrscher Core. After all, all the technologies that Ai Yue has currently developed using the pseudo-Herrscher power are not strong enough to dissociate the Honkai energy.
Of course, for ordinary people to directly touch the Herrscher Core is no different from seeking death, so even Ai Yue must take certain protective measures.
So he made a mechanical gauntlet specifically for controlling the Herrscher Core, and embedded the Herrscher Core of Thunder in the groove on the palm of his hand. In this way, he could use the internal design of the gauntlet to control the power of the Herrscher Core and avoid problems.
By the way, the name of this gauntlet is "Limited Gloves".
Under the control of Prometheus, the equipment used for the experiment was gradually moved in front of Ai Yue. It was a metal platform with a tabletop area of about two square meters. A crystal emitting lavender light was placed in the center of the platform. At the four corners of the platform, pillars were used to support a trumpet-shaped device above the crystal. It looked very simple.
In fact, this is true. The only technological content of this equipment is the trumpet-shaped energy absorption device on the top. Apart from the most basic low-temperature device, there is nothing else. In this way, the cost of this workbench is reduced to the lowest. Even if it explodes a hundred times, it will not be as much as Vill-V's daily expenditure.
But the experiment was still expensive because the cost was mainly concentrated on the purple crystal.
It is a special crystal that can only be collected during the Great Honkai eruption. It is made entirely of Honkai energy. It can be said that it is a natural source of energy. As long as it is placed in a suitable energy extraction device, it can directly power various equipment.
It can even be used not only for energy supply, but in an emergency, it can also be used as a bomb by simple and crude means. It can not only causes physical damage, but also allows the Honkai energy to spread rapidly, affecting the human body and electronic equipment. Therefore, it is also extremely valuable in war.
Moreover, the energy density of the Honkai energy crystal is also very exaggerated. Just a piece the size of a little finger is enough to support the energy supply of the Spiral Workshop for a month. If Ai Yue could not now get the gold coins from the high-level people and take things out of their pockets for himself, he would definitely not be able to use the Honkai energy crystal for research so unscrupulously.
Of course, the research on artificial synthesis of Honkai energy crystals has been submitted to the system by Ai Yue, and it shouldn't be long before results are available.
"Be careful, Dr. Ai Yue." Prometheus saw that the Herrscher core on Ai Yue's gauntlet had begun to glow, so she reminded him, "The failure rate of 9.87% is not low, and illegal operations will increase the risk of the experiment."
"You are reducing the risk by not speaking." Ai Yue injected a portion of "Aponia's Embrace" to ensure that he could maintain a high consumption of mental power, and then gradually moved his palm closer, "It doesn't matter, watch me use my operation to make up for the missing success rate--"
Then in the next second, the Honkai energy began to release intense light, which was a sign that the stable state was destroyed and energy was about to explode.
Ai Yue immediately moved his hand away and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the Honkai energy crystal regained stability.
Prometheus silently replied: "The success rate is now less than 90%."
"Shut up, Prometheus, this is when things get serious," Ai Yue moved his wrist again, "You are not allowed to speak!"
"The sound system is turned off."
Ai Yue concentrated and calmed himself again, and once again moved his hand wearing the limited glove towards the Honkai energy crystal.
He adjusted the power a bit too high just now. Now that he lowers it, there should be no problem.
Ai Yue had actually tried to dissociate Honkai energy a long time ago, but in an environment with low Honkai energy concentration, even if it could be successfully dissociated, it would soon dissipate into the air, and there was no way to collect energy. That was why he chose to experiment with crystals aggregated with high Honkai energy concentration.
However, high concentrations of Honkai energy are extremely unstable. Even if it is now in the form of aggregated crystals, once it is sufficiently stimulated, it will explode and scatter. Not to mention dissociation, Ai Yue will be injured if he runs slowly.
If Ai Yue could control two Herrscher cores at the same time, he could also try to use the Ice Herrscher core to stabilize the Honkai energy crystals, but unfortunately he couldn't do it, so he could only use existing technical means instead, which might have some effect.
Fortunately, this attempt was successful. The radiation released by the Honkai energy crystals was gradually increasing within a controllable range. This showed that Ai Yue's operation did work. The limited gloves were also constantly adjusting the energy output and operation according to the current situation under the control of Prometheus, thus ensuring that the entire process was within the initial design range.
The Honkai energy crystals were also enveloped by the crackling electric light and gradually began to shrink. Although the entire process was almost invisible to the naked eye, the glasses on Ai Yue's face still analyzed the entire process frame by frame in real time, ensuring that Ai Yue could pay attention to every detail.
At this rate, it would only take five minutes for the Honkai energy crystals to be completely disintegrated, but Ai Yue did not dare to relax at all.
Because the energy density of Honkai energy crystals is not always consistent, the energy density of the inner core will be significantly higher than that of the outer core. If the power of the Herrscher core cannot be adjusted in time, or if there is an error when adjusting the power, problems will easily arise.
There had been several failures before, and it was because of this situation that resulted in nothing in the end. So Ai Yue now completely focused his attention on the Honkai energy crystal, not wanting the previous incident to happen again.
However, what is to come will always come. Just when the Honkai energy crystal was less than the size of a fingernail, the brightness of the light suddenly began to soar, and it was on the verge of explosion almost in the blink of an eye.
Ai Yue realized at this moment that the energy density of this damn Honkai energy crystal was not only higher inside than outside, but also higher outside than inside!
Prometheus still didn't make a sound, but the power of the limited gloves had begun to decrease, and the entire gauntlet was automatically deforming, wrapping up Ai Yue's entire hand and the Herrscher core to prevent him from being hurt in the subsequent explosion. At the same time, a scarlet prompt box popped up from Ai Yue's lenses, warning him to step back immediately, otherwise there would be danger.
But this is the closest I have ever been to success, how can I give up like this?
"Terminate protective measures and increase power!"
Ai Yue issued an order instantly, overriding Prometheus's independent judgment and regaining control of the gauntlet, while also making a bold move.
He no longer relied on the subtle electric light emitted by the Herrscher's core to dissociate the Honkai energy crystals, but directly grasped them in the palm of his hand!
The remaining energy is no longer important, but after the Honkai energy is stripped away, something will remain, and he must keep it!
The next second, violent energy exploded in all directions with his fist as the center. The fine lightning broke the entire gauntlet into pieces, and even Ai Yue's clothes turned into rags, exposing the protective suit he was wearing underneath.
"Dr. Ai Yue, you are really crazy." Prometheus did not turn on the microphone until the energy fluctuations completely subsided. "Don't you know how big the risk of doing this is?"
"It's okay. I'm fine." Ai Yue shrugged, obviously not caring. "As long as the result is good, it's fine."
"Let's put aside the fact that there is only one Herrscher Core in the world for now. Dr. Ai Yue, your own value is immeasurable. I don't recommend you to risk yourself in such an unimportant experiment." Prometheus' voice was as calm as ever, but angry yellow bean emojis kept popping up above her head. "It seems that I need to update the permission system on my own to prevent myself from becoming an accomplice in your dangerous operations."
"Wrong, wrong. I won't do it again next time." Ai Yue casually replied to Prometheus, "Besides, this is not an unimportant experiment."
Feeling that the numbness in his palm had finally subsided, Ai Yue regained control of his palm and spread it out, revealing a charred and unconscious palm and two crystals, one large and one small.
The big one was naturally the intact core of the Herrscher of Thunder, but the small one was only the size of a grain of rice. If Ai Yue had not kept his fingers tightly closed, it would have almost slipped through his fingers.
Looking at the material information provided by the system, Ai Yue showed a rare serious expression.
[???'s Will Fragment (Special): Utilizable Value 100%.]
[Using this material, a special research project can be initiated.]
[Note that special research projects must consume materials to advance scientific research progress.]
(TL: Hey there! If you're enjoying this fanfic and want to get early access to more chapters or explore some of my other works, feel free to swing by my Patreon. You'll find plenty of advanced updates and maybe even some exclusive content waiting for you~
link: patreon.com/Elysia_Husband)