Chapter 222: Didn’t Expect You to Be Like This, Asuka!

After handing Ningguang over to the Holy Saint, Takumi left and returned to his villa. He glanced at the mountain he was currently living on, then crouched down and activated his power to hollow out the entire mountain, constructing an enormous underground space. This area would be dedicated to money production from now on—Takumi's very own printing factory.

Security here was maxed out. Without orders, nobody could enter, and Takumi would have robots seal all exits. The entire factory would be managed by robots, overseen by the Prometheus AI.

After setting up the space, Takumi went inside and started materializing special materials to make money. These materials, once processed, would look just like regular banknotes—foldable, yet extremely hard to tear. They were also waterproof and fire-resistant up to a certain point. If heated past a certain degree, the materials would liquefy and could then be used in various processes.

If you added some to steel during smelting, you could enhance the steel's quality. Or use it in other industrial ways. This material was truly the "industrial gold" of its era, with countless potential uses.

Takumi filled the empty space with loads of these materials, as well as all sorts of machines and robots for processing. After everything was ready, Takumi let Prometheus take control and start up the machines to begin producing the world's new currency. After several runs, Takumi took all the freshly printed notes, then duplicated a whole batch at once.

"These materials are the best anti-counterfeit marks," Takumi said. "No need for serial numbers. Every note's size and weight are identical—the only difference is the denominations."

With everything confirmed, Takumi took the new banknotes and set out. First stop: the Academy of Sciences, where he handed them to Dr. Mei, asking her to conduct a full range of tests on the new bills to unlock their real value.

Dr. Mei's eyes lit up when she saw what Takumi brought. After his explanation, her mind raced with ideas.

"I understand. I'll have a complete test report ready for Prometheus," Mei promised. "You can check it when it's done."

With that, she turned away and called over her assistants—summoning Velvie too—and busied herself with the task.

Next, Takumi brought a set of notes to Ningguang and the Holy Saint, letting them tinker as they pleased.

After all this, Takumi went home to idle in the group chat, planning to visit Honkai Star Rail only after March 7th and her friends finished sightseeing.

Takumi:

[Group red envelope]

[Take it, spend it however you like!]

He sent a red envelope to the group for everyone to snatch up. Everyone was puzzled, but their hands moved fast, each receiving a decent amount of money.

Looking at the notes, everyone was still curious.

Fujiwara Chika:

[Is this money?]

Paper bills? The designs are stamped with special patterns—are these related to Herrscher authorities?

Miori Shiba:

[It is money! Looks like he's already finished making it.]

Bronya:

[This material is interesting. What's it for?]

If this money wasn't backed by anything, it would just be worthless paper. Bronya understood that much—she didn't believe Takumi would make something useless. The material seemed very special. There had to be some purpose.

Takumi:

[That's right, I plan to bind this to all industry. It's like Mora from Teyvat—a resource. But these are advanced materials. Once they're fully bound to technology, all industrial progress will rely on them. With this, tech will develop even faster.]

He explained everything to the group. It was similar to Zhongli's Mora setup.

Zhongli:

[That should work. The materials are good, quite similar to Mora!]

Takumi:

[That's because I modified the design based on Mora's properties. It's natural they'd be similar.]

Suoh Mikoto:

[If that's the case, these bills could be used in my world too. Actually, you could issue this currency in any technologically advanced world.]

Suoh Mikoto piped up. After examining Takumi's new money, he realized that if Takumi's claims held true, the bills would be accepted in any world that understood their value—a truly universal material. It would circulate quickly.

Takumi:

[Emm... I'm not capable of issuing currency to all worlds just yet.]

He was speechless at Suoh's suggestion. To have his money circulate in every world? Sorry, he just couldn't do that (yet).

Kudou Asuka:

[This paper money is useless for me. But look at this, can you copy it?]

[Takumi's exclusive red envelope]

With that, Asuka sent Takumi a red envelope. Takumi was surprised, but accepted it. A gold coin appeared in his hand, bearing the faces of two goddesses.

Takumi:

[Thousand Eyes' gold coin?]

This was a coin issued by the major commercial alliance "Thousand Eyes" in Little Garden, highly valued there. Was Asuka asking Takumi to forge counterfeit coins?

He stroked his chin at the thought.

Kudou Asuka:

[Yes, it's a gift from Byakuyasha! See if you can duplicate it.]

Takumi was dumbfounded.

Takumi:

[If I could copy it, you'd flood Little Garden with counterfeit coins? I'm shocked! I didn't expect you to be like this, Asuka!]

That must be her plan, right? If she really did this, Thousand Eyes would explode! There wasn't a single standard currency in Little Garden—each region had its own. Thousand Eyes' coins just happened to be one of the most valuable mainstream currencies, because you could buy all sorts of things from their stores.

Even though these coins looked like gold, it was only superficial.