Chapter 1 Its all Peach's fault. Everyone say it with me. Its all Peachs fault!

My isekai experience was honestly a solid eight-point five out of ten. I wasn't tortured or even bullied by my extremely powerful alternate selves who were reincarnating me, they gave me a potent cheat of inborn knowledge of powerful technology and told me I was getting sent to Genshin Impact and that was it.

I was happy. Literally more than happy, I was fucking ecstatic! Sure, the cost of my reincarnation and cheat was that I couldn't get a vision for whatever reason or elemental powers from a statue, but I had to supposedly earn it.

But whatever, it was Genshin Impact... In the face of Eula's thighs, Lisa's mommy energy, and best girl Shenhe, I was more than happy just having the technology downloaded into my head... And what great technology it was.

DRG, or Deep Rock Galactic, and the technology systems within the other tech game Satisfactory which focused on the manufacturing aspect of resource gathering. I absolutely adored both games which the same development company made but either way with those technological bases that combined with DRG being perfect for resource gathering and Satisfactory for manufacturing I was confident I would become richer than even Ningguang and Sneznhaya put together within a week or two at most!

There was just one slight issue... This Genshin Impact was even more of a damned death world!

-

I awoke in a field, on a massive field on the edge of it with endless grass and beautiful mountains in the distance that broke the large flat dozens of miles wide plateaus that seemingly each had their own habitats before they slid down into the mountain's valleys.

And in the far distance, literally at the end of my vision looked like civilization that I could see from my own plateau was the glimmering clear blue ocean, and in the distance on the coast of the ocean was a large walled city from the tiny pricks I could make out in the city's walls that I thought made up the wall or something instead of a simple mountain.

"Ok, Jake take stock of yourself," I muttered as I took in my surroundings, and seeing no animals or whatever I then moved on to check myself and blinked as I saw I was clad in a red flannel work jacket with coveralls over my legs while also wearing jeans under the overalls... It was surprisingly comfortable, and I didn't at all feel like I was overheating despite the outfit.

Checking my pockets, I took out a note and I blinked as I read it, then my hands holding the note twitched and finally I facepalmed as I finished the damned fucking note.

[To Jake Barris, #74324, Your technology knowledge is game-based in operation, so expect infinite iron ore from a single spot of iron ore popping up from the ground. Either way, your technology however can run off the elemental energy of the world as well as mundane energy sources so don't discount such things at all. Due to the world's dangers and not wanting to directly teleport you into the city as the supernatural beings within could likely feel the spatial disturbance, I personally give you my Fatebringer, the gun that carried me through a good chunk of my travels through Destiny before I got my Thorn.]

Then as I finished reading the note, a small wormhole formed, and from within the pitch-black circular void came a beast of a hand cannon, painted gold with red lights on the indents where the bullets would be, along with a red laser mounted atop and on the side of the gun perfectly aimed straight along the barrel so I would have a clear view of where the bullet would lead with two thick laser pointers that I could see even in the bright daylight.

As I took the hand cannon there was another little slip of paper tied to the trigger guard of the gun that clearly read, [don't think you can rely on this gun to overpower the world, even if I modified it to recharge off ambient energies, the natives of this version of Genshin Impact are not at all what you expect... Also, Goodluck making more Destiny tools, weapons, and exotics, and maybe even acquiring the hint of my True Light that makes up the core light in the gun to give yourself Destiny abilities... I highly doubt you will, but hey I can always hope to see another Guardian come out of the Jakes. PS, if you do unlock the abilities and become a gay Titan, I swear to god I will smother you with a pillow. Love Jake Barriss your much more handsome alternate.]

"Eh... Hunters are the best anyway." I muttered as I reminisced about best bro Cayde-6 that just made Destiny so damned great. Either way with the gun in hand, I definitely felt a lot more confident as I made my way carefully down the slopes of the plateau and down into the valley that I believe would lead me into the city of Liyue in the distance.

Even as I carefully made my way down the plateau my mind was filling with information. Information that went beyond, just DRG and Satisfactory technology... I was given, technological wisdom. What did what, why it did that, secrets of metallurgy, secrets of the very universe that made my steps lock in place and make me trip as the reality that I knew exactly how to make machines to make machines that would encase the very sun within a Dyson Sphere that would capture the sun's solar output overwhelmed my mind.

And from that wisdom, I could imagine things. I could use that wisdom from how to make space elevators, trucks, trains, and nuclear power systems to make mechs if I wanted to... It was glorious and already all I fucking wanted to do was tear apart a television, a toaster, and finally a refrigerator to make a programmable fabricator to get started.

But such thoughts needed to be put aside, the clear valleys were soon shown to be dense forests thankfully without much brush, but that didn't change how the previously bright warm sunlight radiating onto me darkened as I finally entered the shaded canopy that was the thickly forested valleys.

"So that's gotta be Liyue in the distance," I muttered as although the general surroundings were... Very different from what I remembered from my many hours of Genshin Impact, but the game was just that. The game, I knew for a fact that, unlike in the game. A real-world nation would have more than three dozen buildings max in the capital city of the nation with the game trying to show us that there were at best a thousand people in Liyue...

But that same real-world logic, also translated to Liyue not being some a little province you could walk across in like half an hour at most. Even though the city was in view from the mountaintop/plateau I was previously on, that didn't mean it would be a quick jaunt over there.

Either way, as I made my way down the valley I kept Fatebringer in my hands with my finger across the guard as I had gun regulations drilled into my head since I could hold a little .22 in my hands. And that readiness was for the best as I heard a weird chittering noise come through the forest that made me quiet my steps.

Just as when you are hunting, and possibly walking/stalking up to something. When you get surprised, you don't just stop on a dime as you will always jerk or even stomp your foot to stop moving in a hurry. You just slow down and relax, find your footing in the leaves, and make sure there isn't a stick below your feet as you come to a stop.

I looked around, hearing that terrible chitter... Turn into loud clackings, like a wooden spoon tapping on a table loudly, or a large bird's beak loudly snapping open and closing repeatedly. I looked around, even above me looking for whatever was making that noise as I wondered what in the hell was doing that.

Hillichurls didn't make such noises, they were almost tribal and made stereotypical tribal noises as they danced and played around with their friends when they weren't trying to tear apart humans and wildlife.

Then the sounds got louder.

True fear began to set in, I wasn't some supernatural being who could punch out monsters. Even if I had all the knowledge and skills of Tony Stark which I didn't, but that still didn't make me the Hulk who could win any straight fight.

The noises grew closer, making it impossible for me to pinpoint their origin. I looked around quickly as with Fatebringer held up clearly ready to shoot. My gaze darted from tree to tree, searching for whatever could be making that disturbing noise.

I mentally swore I caught glimpses of movement in the shadows of the trees, shapes flitting just beyond the reach of my vision. And without a doubt, I knew. I was being watched by something.

Then a large branch snapped violently above my head and as I looked up, I instantly saw a figure! There was an apparition of pure darkest shadows that quickly merged back into the shadow of the tree. But there was no mistaking those malevolent purple-slitted eyes that ever so briefly gazed downwards upon me.

And whatever that was, it didn't like me looking at it.

All my senses and instincts were screaming at me to run. A not-so-little voice in my head was much more vocal in fact. Screaming something along the lines of. 'Run bitch run!' But I didn't, as I knew that turning my back and fleeing would only make me look like prey to this clearly supernatural being.

So I took my time, I tried to look casual even if my hands shook, even as I felt the textured rubber grip of the gun become wet with sweat and I gripped the hand cannon harder for comfort even as the rubber bit into my skin... I visibly was calm as I made my way through the forest despite the noises.

The clicking however changed. It began a rasping echoing groaning choked noise and that sound broke my inhibitions, the moment I saw a flash of purple at the corner of my eye I whipped my arm to the side and pull the trigger of Fatebringer.

Fatebringer as a legendary Hand Cannon within Destiny, even if it shot a pure energy projectile. It was still a hefty gun... And as I pulled the trigger, I realized why even strong, supernatural Guardians had to be careful of their gun's recoil as I could all but feel my wrist scream in denial at how my arm shot upwards from the insane recoil of the gun shooting out its bullet that hit the tree and violently exploded sending pure beautiful sun's 'Light' everywhere.

And that shadowy monster screamed in both strangled fury and pure hate. As it finally took clear physical form that I could see. It was humanoid, clad in rags of smokey shadows but its body was almost normal looking if not corpse pale from what I could see under its shifting cloth of shadows. But its neck... It's like someone squeezed the life out of a memory foam tube and the memory foam never returned to normal and I realized that the rasping choked noise was its attempt at making noise through its clearly crushed neck.

It was to put bluntly fucking scary, but even as I pulled down my arms and I absorbed the recoil of the stupidly powerful revolver's recoil, I still was able to see the lower chest area of the being exploded sending pitch black gore everywhere as my second shot landed on the monster's waist area instead of the upper chest like I wanted to.

They always said, close enough was only something you could apply to things like horseshoes and hand grenades... But shooting Fatebringer was also in that category as each round exploded with extreme force, not unlike a hand grenade itself. To say nothing of the explosion being some pseudo-magical conceptual Light that had the very sun's essence within it.

As soon as I saw the monster fall to the ground, I shot it again this time actually hitting in the upper chest, and its body all but became an inky splatter across the ground. The very next thing I did was obvious... Did I loot the corpse of the fallen monster for some probably cursed object?

Hell no, I hauled ass at a brisk jog the fuck out of the scary-ass forest towards what I believed was Liyue. My sponsor was an asshole and fuck him for not dropping me like a hundred or so meters away from the city so I could just get got by some monster!

-

The rest of the way down the mountain towards Liyue was clear and I eventually came to a paved path that I then followed down to the city itself, and once I got closer to the city I found a small caravan I could follow behind, and talk to one of the young men leading some the horses in the back.

And just learn about how fucked this world was.

"So yeah you come from Mondstadt and came across a shadow monster?" The youth said putting his hand to his chin in thought. "Do you have some other description, I mean there's a lot of monsters made out of shadows especially here in the land of Liyue." He said wryly.

I blinked with my lips twitching at the thought of such things being... Fucking common and I said dully. "It had some kind of crushed neck and made some weird clucking or rasping noise when it tried to attack me." I explained further and he smacked his fist into his hand as his eyes light up.

"Ah!" He said in understanding. "That was a Ju-On, they are formed from the people that die after being strangled and their resulting hatred taking form... Wasn't likely a martial artist or cultivator or they would have become a lesser demon or something." He said and boy was that a loaded statement ignoring all that about Ju-On being a thing here.

"So how are uhhh Martial Artists and Cultivators treated here in Liyue, over in Mondstadt it's pretty regimented with the strong people being part of the Knights of Favonius and whatnot," I said evenly trying to get more details about martial artists and cultivators but this kid apparently named Lee Zhon apparently didn't know much.

Lee shrugged wryly as he said blandly. "I don't know much honestly, martial artists are... Violent, as they need to be. To become stronger and evolve their bodies so besides hiring them for all our trips, we don't get involved with them if we can help it... But uhm, there is five major dojo's in Liyue recognized by all and a couple dozen large family clans that rule over much of Liyue's internal business." Lee explained before pausing and shrugging.

"As for cultivators? I know even less, the three Sect's of Liyue are famous for being mysterious for a reason, they are always recruiting for their endless war against evil cultivators and of course the demons that constantly plague the countryside, but they disdain non-cultivators and hate martial artists for being hacks that weren't talented enough to walk their path." Lee explained obviously not all that enthused at the subject.

I got a good bit more answers from Lee and I played at being from Mondstadt with a background as a metallurgy expert and inventory coming to Liyue for the more available minerals and ores.

Even the city gate guard bought my story about meeting the Ju-On and having to leave my supplies behind as they were apparently famous for going after people's supplies to make them slowly stew and suffer before perishing in the mountains of Liyue in agony. With them purposefully ending the person via brutal strangling, so they would become a Ju-On as well.

Liyue was an utterly fucking massive city in reality. It was literally the trade hub of the entire world of Teyvat, and it portrayed that fact with the massive harbor that was actually walled in as well into the sea with a massive stone wall that was getting pulled out of the water via a series of pulley's to keep something from the sea out of the harbor it seemed.

But beyond the Chinese-style cultural buildings within the surroundings, there was truly a crazy-sized mob going to and from places in a hurry as the crowded city in the middle of the day went about their daily lives and I took a breath of the sea-smelling air and I realized I was home for now.

Lee and his family's caravan went off towards the business district to unload their load from one the northern towns of Liyue that held a bunch of specialized mines apparently that got the magical crystals filled with elemental energy that Martial Artist's and Cultivators used as premium currency for treasures.

But for normal people or for more normal purchases in general. The world seemed to run off of using coins made out of actual precious metals in iron, copper, and apparently forged steel.

'So... I have the wisdom of millennia, within my mind. How do I get started." I muttered as I realized that no matter what I did. Making a Constructer from Satisfactory was a must, I had no chance of advancing down the tech tree if I literally need to hammer and forge all my materials by myself. But that still collided with the issue of needing resources, and time to set up for my technology.

I may have had Satisfactory, DRG, and other technological knowledge stuffed into my head... But even Tony Stark in his cave had computers, welders, and other first-world pieces of technology to build his first suit.

So in doubt at how to start, I threw my mind back and I realized electricity wasn't exactly out of my reach... I could make a series of jury-rigged acid batteries like the ancient Baghdad Battery that used citric acid around an iron rod surrounded by a sheet of copper to create an electrolytic solution that could output a good 1.2-1.3 volts each. With more powerful acids making a more potent solution in turn creating more volts of electricity!

And of course, I could make my own solar cells by literally just sifting through the sand of Liyue to get trace of amounts of Silicon I could break down and purify... But all these thoughts of working my way up the tech tree. To make a proper system of replication and innovation required something very fucking important.

I needed money just to survive here in Liyue to say nothing of buying stuff like acids or the materials to get my projects off the floorground.

The main issue with my plans to get rich or just some capital was thus... The rich had cultivator/martial artist weird shit to give them access to first-world comforts so it's not like I could jury rig some saltpeter in an ice bath to make a freezer or something to do a get-rich-quick scheme.

Nor, could I do the normal isekai trick to 'invent' mayonnaise or even pizza due to Teyvat being a semi-functional world with Mondstadt having a lot of the normal Western recipes.

I was sitting on a park bench idly thinking about my options and as I was thinking I paused as someone sat on the other side of the bench and began grumbling over the sword that they had laid onto their lap.

Looking over at their form, I saw it was one of the guards and they were checking their clearly... Fucked beyond repair blade. No other way to say it.

"Wow, you got screwed on the heat treating of that blade." I said wryly as I could clearly see the heat lines of stress from the shitty forging that went into the blade with the tang of the blade not having been actually fucking heated seemingly at all.

The guard look up at me with a frown before he paused seeing me in somewhat well-to-do colorful clothes that clearly denoted me as being of someone with the wealth to have well-dyed clothes. He chewed on his words for a minute before he asked unsurely. "Are you a blacksmith or alchemist?" He asked confused at my response and I waved my hand as I said evenly.

"Ehh... Bit in the middle honestly, I study and work with metals but instead of making tools or weapons, though I can, I more study the effects metals have on the world and their capabilities." I explained before nodding at that blade. "Hence I know you got a shit blade man... They rushed the tempering with the forge being super hot so the tang didn't heat up at all from where it was sticking out of the forge so instead of being somewhat shock absorbent or pliable like a handle is supposed to be after quenching the blade. Now the handle is so differing in density and hardness between the hard blade and ultra soft handle that middle is a major stress point that as you see is crumbling." I explained and the guard gapped at me before his face violently twitched and he chuckled menacingly under his breath.

"Those bastard smiths of the Ling clan... They said we have just been too hard on the blades and that the metal we have been selling them has been impure!" The guard snarled under his breath and I couldn't help but snicker making his eyes angrily snap to me for laughing but I held up a hand and said wryly.

"Actually... They weren't wrong. The metal is in fact shit. But it's clear they were alloying or cutting in trash impure metals from old builds into the blade." I said and his face went beyond red and become purple as he tersely stated.

"Proof! Give me proof and I will see you rewarded for your help as a captain of the Liyue Millelith!" He demanded and for a moment I considered using a weak activated acid to break the poorly fused different alloys before I held up a hand to the sword as I reached behind the bench and grabbed one of the pure white park rocks.

When the clearly pissed guard handed over his sword but obviously with some reluctance I flinched at the stupidly dense weight of the sword that was proof of how this world ran on its own material logic as the metal of this sword even if I didn't recognize the metal used, was stupidly heavy.

Either way, the spark and grind test was a good way to point out the differing metals so as I struck the blade in two separate spots with the smooth river rock, the guards face twitched seeing sparks fly off on certain spots and likewise on one spot the very blade chipped and when you inspected the chipped off part you could tell the interior metal had different waves in the metal compared to the actual blade which made it easily break apart.

"So it's clear the metal ingot used to make the billet that was forged into the blade itself used a bunch of different ore and even the chaff or hammerscale of previous projects were recycled into the ingot and billet leading to its unstable current state." I finished with a shrug before coughing as my throat was now kind of dry from monologuing.

The older guard chewed on his lip before snorting and standing up and he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Come on young man, I need to report this and I will need your input to get this cleared... And of course to get you a reward obviously." He said with a small smile and I nodded and followed the Millelith guard captain towards a large governmental building.