Once the Knights of Favonius delivered the materials for the library management system to the alchemy workshop, Shen Qin entered the FLOW state to work intensively.
When Klee suddenly came to play and learned he was busy with alchemy, she was a little disappointed but obediently didn't disturb him.
"Klee doesn't like being interrupted when making bombs either," the little one muttered while carefully closing the door of the alchemy workshop.
After "chasing" Klee away, Shen Qin felt a twinge of guilt. But as the price for obtaining the Electro Crystals, he had to hurry up in developing the library management system before working on the hoverboard.
In the blueprint, the library management system was divided into two main parts: its hardware and software. The hardware includes a terminal with a screen, while the software requires a program that the system will run on the terminal.
If he relied solely on Earth technology, even with all the knowledge, Shen Qin couldn't possibly develop a usable terminal in such a short time. However, with Teyvat's alchemy combined science and mysticism—a field that didn't always follow logic, if he follows the system, he can create it.
Grasping the system's blueprint in his mind, Shen Qin ground five crystal cores into powder using a grinder. Mix the Lamp Grass and distilled water at a ratio of 1:10 before heating it to 100 degrees Celsius for an hour.
While waiting for the Lamp Grass solution to heat up, Shen turns to ground the Cor Lapis, Noctilucous Jade, and Crystal Marrow in a 3:1:4 ratio, turning them into a powder while combining it with 2 kilograms of molten white iron.
After thoroughly stirring the molten iron, he poured it into a mold measuring 20 by 30 centimeters.
By the time the Lamp Grass solution had been heated for an hour, he now added the ground crystal core powder. The solution inside of the pot emits a faint white glow.
'Success! The glow indicated that the solution was effective.'
He quickly stopped the heating process and let the solution cool naturally.
Once the molten iron had solidified and cooled, Shen Qin removed a thin, tablet-like piece of light gray alloy from the mold and polished its surface to a smooth finish.
Now came the most critical step.
Shen Qin donned a magnifying headset with tenfold magnification and controlled a mechanical arm to apply the Lamp Grass solution drop by drop onto the alloy plate with a pen as thin as a needle.
Coming from Earth, Shen Qin never imagined he'd one day find himself hand-drawing pixel points.
(The details of the subsequent development process are omitted.) (T/N : No one wants that info ಥ‿ಥ)
Working through the entire day, Shen Qin poured his entire heart and soul into the task. After he completed the last pixel point, he exhaled deeply and collapsed into his chair, utterly drained. His eyes burned, and his limbs felt weak, eventually passing out.
…..
…..
…..
'Ugh… What time was it now? The light outside seemed dim.'
Glancing at the clock on the wall, he realized, to his surprise, that it wasn't evening —it was 5 a.m.
'Whatever, let's go back to sleep.'
Dragging his weary body to the bedroom, he noticed a dinner set on the table beside him, accompanied by a small note:
「 Big Brother, remember to rest once you're done. If you overwork yourself, it won't be good, and Klee will feel sad 」
Warmth surged through Shen Qin's heart. He neatly folded the note and tucked it into his shirt pocket before devouring the meal.
Before going to bed, he brought the completed terminal to his bedroom —mainly to prevent Klee from accidentally damaging it while he slept.
Shen Qin awoke to the strong aroma of food and opened his eyes to see little Klee sitting by his bedside, happily munching on a chicken-mushroom skewer.
Hearing movement, Klee turned around. When she saw him awake, a cheerful smile spread across her face.
"Yay, Big Brother Shen, you're finally awake! If you slept any longer, Klee was going to eat your dinner too!"
"Dinner? …Klee, did I sleep for an entire day?"
"Yes! Klee even thought you were sick and called Sister Barbara to check on you. Klee was so worried!" She patted her chest, looking like she'd just escaped a crisis.
Shen Qin chuckled. "My bad, my bad. I shouldn't have worried you."
After sharing his meal with Klee and chatting with her for a while, he sent her back to the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Then he returned to his workstation to examine the terminal.
The terminal weighed about four pounds, with its color, a shade of light gray. Its screen-to-body ratio was an impressive four-fifths.
As for its power, Shen Qin placed an Electro Crystal next to it. A thin arc of electricity connected the two, and the terminal's screen lit up immediately. At this stage, it emitted only a white glow since no system had been loaded yet.
After that, Shen Qin spent three hours writing a simplified version of the library management system. When the colorful interface smoothly responded to his touch, he now felt a great sense of accomplishment similar to those CS students who created their own system, even though the knowledge had been system-provided.
If one wondered why combining the materials resulted in functionality comparable to advanced Earth technology, the answer was simple: Teyvat alchemy, my friend.
The next morning, Shen Qin brought the terminal to the library to meet Lisa.
She looked surprised. "Oh my! You're saying it's already done? Sweetie, don't trick me now!"
"Miss Lisa, here, please take a look."
Shen Qin placed the terminal on the table, wearing insulated gloves, and brought an Electro Crystal close to it. As a thin arc of electricity sparked, the screen lit up. A white silhouette of Dodoco appeared before transitioning to the main system interface.
When designing the system interface, Shen Qin adopted a skeuomorphic style, so the home screen resembled the scene of a library counter. (T/N : I got ya homies, it is when something is designed with extra ornamentation to make it resemble another object so it is more familiar, for example, the trash bin and camera application design overtime changes from both apple and microsoft)
Shen Qin placed the Electro Crystal back into his bag. "Its operation relies on electrical energy, essentially the energy from the Electro element. This energy can be stored within the terminal. Both its activation and charging require an Electro Crystal. Alternatively, you could directly use your Electro Vision instead of the crystal."
"The design is very ―I mean, the terminal is easy to control. You can simply tap or swipe the screen with your fingers." Shen Qin demonstrated by sliding his finger across the screen, making the home screen scene shift slightly in response.
"How is this even possible? You've managed to make the image move with just your fingers!" Lisa exclaimed, bewildered. Her past exposure to screens at the Akademiya had shown her that while they could display content, any interaction required joysticks and buttons.
Shen Qin didn't address her amazement and continued his explanation. "Currently, the system only has two basic features: Inventory and Lending."
"Tapping the bookshelf opens the inventory feature, while tapping the counter accesses the lending feature." Shen Qin tapped the bookshelf on the screen, triggering a smooth animation of a book opening. Three sub-options then appeared on the pages: Inventory Update, Check-In/Check-Out, and Inventory Organization.
"Inventory Update is straightforward. The first time you activate it, it automatically scans all the books in the library and adds them to the inventory." Shen Qin narrated while operating the system.
As the screen displayed "Scanning in progress," Lisa keenly sensed a brief fluctuation in the Electro element around them. When she looked back at the screen, the scan had already completed, and a dense list of book titles appeared.
"Hmm, the scan results indicate there are 4,683 books in the library. Does that match the actual number?" Shen Qin asked, glancing at Lisa.
"No, there should be 4,700 books—" Lisa started to deny it but suddenly widened her eyes in surprise. "Wait, there are currently 17 books loaned out. Adding those brings the total to exactly 4,700!"
With a slight motion of her fingers, several thick ledgers floated onto the table. Pointing at them, Lisa asked, "Are you saying that everything recorded in these ledgers was just now captured by this terminal in mere seconds?"
"Yes," Shen Qin confirmed with a nod.
"Impossible!"
Lisa, rarely flustered, was visibly shaken as she skimmed through the screen. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, though the rise and fall of her chest that even left Shen Qin feeling a bit flustered.
"You're an absolute genius, sweetie," she said, her voice serious as she praised Shen Qin.
Shen Qin found it hard to meet Lisa's gaze directly. His eyes wandered, and his face flushed slightly.
'I'm only embarrassed because I'm not used to being praised, he reassured himself internally. It's definitely not because I saw something inappropriate that I shouldn't have seen. Absolutely not.'
He quickly shifted his focus and began earnestly teaching Lisa how to use the library management system, explaining how to manage inventory and record lending activities.
"This Inventory Organization function is similar to Inventory Update. It scans the library and records the positions of books, but currently, you'll have to rearrange them manually. Once I develop the mechanical floating spirits, it'll become a fully automated feature," Shen Qin explained.
"The lending feature, too, might eventually allow borrowers to simply stand in front of the terminal with their books to complete the process automatically."
"All of these require additional development, and that it will take a considerable amount of time."
"Oh, sweetie, you must work hard to complete these features quickly for your dear Lisa!" Lisa teased, winking playfully at him.
"Unfortunately, I can't complete them all at the moment," Shen Qin replied, maintaining a calm expression. "I need to work on something else I've been planning. Finding Electro Crystals was just the first step for it."
"Alright, alright," Lisa said with an exaggerated sigh. "But can you at least tell me what this mysterious project is? I'm dying to know what kind of incredible invention is so important that you'd set aside this library management system!"
"A hoverboard!" Shen Qin's eyes lit up with excitement as he spoke. Images of Klee using her Wind Glider to fly freely and her murmurs about wanting him to join her in a flying competition flashed through his mind.
"A tool that will let humans break free from the constraints of wind currents and soar through the skies!"