“That’s not a problem,” Red shrugged nonchalantly, fiddling with the Automaton’s arm joint.
“But you have to tell me, what kind of style do you want for the Automaton? A young girl? A mature lady? Or… hmm, a loli?”
“Eliminate the last one first, I have no interest in washboards, but let me think for a moment.”
Click.
A faint, brittle sound, like a dry twig snapping, clearly reached Mason’s ears.
Mason’s thoughts were immediately interrupted.
He jerked his head up, his sharp gaze sweeping toward the source of the sound, seemingly behind Red.
“Red,” Mason’s voice held a barely noticeable trace of doubt, “did you… just hear something?”
“Sound?”
Red stopped what he was doing, cocked his ear to listen for a few seconds, then looked back in the direction Mason was staring.
The Automaton he’d created was still standing quietly behind him, motionless.
“Nope, must be your imagination?”
“No, no, I definitely heard something odd,” Mason still trusted his own instincts.
He continued, “Red, did you install the Automaton’s Core?”
The Automaton’s Core was somewhat akin to the Core Magic Array in mechanical constructs.
Only after installing this could the Automaton move for a short time, acting like a real person, though its operational time was brief.
“Huh? The Core?”
Red paused, then scratched his head awkwardly.
“Uh… I got too caught up changing its clothes, didn’t get around to installing it. But once you decide, I can add it in slowly.”
As he spoke, he felt a pressure in his lower abdomen.
“Pfft, you take your time thinking, I’m going to take a leak first.”
Mason didn’t stop him; his attention was wholly captured by the Automaton and the strange sound from earlier.
He crouched down, eyes sweeping over the Automaton before him, as if searching for the source of that sound.
But everything seemed normal.
The Automaton hadn’t even had its Core installed yet, though there were some Magic Patterns on it, apparently drawn by Red.
These patterns were very simple in design, so Mason couldn’t tell what they were for.
“How odd…”
Mason turned around, preparing to continue pondering his perfect image.
Tap.
What was once the sound of joints rubbing had now become the sound of something walking.
Mason whipped his head around.
The Automaton that had stood quietly in place was now gone, nowhere to be seen.
Mason’s pupils shrank.
He scanned the room.
The window, previously shut tight, was now open.
The evening breeze billowed the curtains and brushed against Mason, sending a chill down his spine.
An Automaton without even a Life Core… just ran off like that?
Mason sucked in a sharp breath, then shouted toward the bathroom.
“Red! Get out here! Something happened!!”
Hearing Mason’s voice, Red hurried out of the bathroom, not even bothering to zip up his pants, bewildered.
“What happened, what happened?”
He looked more closely and realized the Automaton’s spot was now completely empty.
“Huh? Where’s my Automaton?”
Red was at a loss.
Mason pointed at the window and said,
“While you were in the bathroom, the Automaton you made… ran off.”
“Huh?”
At Mason’s words, Red noticed a series of footprints on the floor, leading toward the window.
“It ran off? But I haven’t even installed the Core, how did it move?”
“Did you draw some Magic Arrays on it?”
“Oh, right…”
Red nodded.
“But those arrays were just to make its joints move more naturally, and I only injected a bit of magic power. That shouldn’t be enough for it to run off.”
“But the fact is, it did. This is definitely your doing, Red,” Mason said urgently.
“Don’t just stand there, go after it!”
“Right!”
Red snapped out of it now.
An Automaton that looked so much like Litt running around out there—who knew what kind of trouble that could cause?
***
In the dark alleys of Succubus Street, the Automaton, newly awakened, looked around at the scattered remains of various limbs.
Seeing Mason piecing those bits into some monstrous form, she immediately chose to flee for her life.
She didn’t want to die.
But she hadn’t run far.
A tall, graceful figure, as if waiting there all along like a ghost, silently appeared at the boundary of moonlight and shadow at the alley’s mouth, blocking her path.
“Who are you?”
Standing before the Automaton was Otto.
He was no accidental arrival.
From the beginning, he had been watching Red, witnessing firsthand as Red, with just a touch of magic power and a simple Magic Array, turned a lifeless Automaton into something almost human.
From this, Otto could tell that Red’s talent was frighteningly strong, and his magic seemed fundamentally different from others.
It confirmed Otto’s original suspicions.
Red was by no means an ordinary Great Magician of Creation.
What he created… couldn’t be compared with typical constructs.
But that wasn’t the point.
For now, he needed to decide what to do with this wary Automaton.
“Good evening, lost soul.”
He chose this philosophical greeting.
“There’s no need to be so tense. I’m not your enemy.”
The Automaton didn’t respond.
She continued to watch Otto warily, but he wasn’t surprised.
He simply smiled, spreading his gloved hands elegantly, palms up, showing he meant no harm.
“New life is always accompanied by confusion and vigilance. But I can offer you a safe place, somewhere undisturbed, where you’ll have plenty of time to understand your current state, to sort out your… self.”
As he spoke, Otto took out a Black Robe and tossed it over.
“Put this on. Your joints are too conspicuous. I’ll optimize them for you when we return.”
The Automaton looked at the Black Robe in her hands, giving no response.
Otto simply waited patiently, like a philosopher guiding a lost soul.
Moonlight stretched his shadow long, almost enveloping the Automaton.
A few seconds passed, feeling as long as centuries.
At last, the Automaton gave a slight nod and draped the Black Robe over her shoulders.
“Heh~ Come with me.”
Otto walked ahead.
The Automaton followed close behind.
One tall and one small figure walked down the street, passing through Succubus Street and onto the main road.
The Black Robe was indeed a bit conspicuous and caught the eye of Litt, who was cleaning up her shop.
Seeing Otto made Litt a bit puzzled, but the sight of the girl in the Black Robe next to Otto stunned her outright.
Though the Black Robe covered the other’s face completely, Litt still saw a face that looked uncannily like her own.
Litt’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened.
No way!
The real Litt!?
Huh wonder I’d the real Little was always a doll.
Now I Realizing that Otto is actually modeled after Otto Apocalypse, and that robotic girl feels a bit like Kaslana from the Kaslana family, it’s truly Honkai Impact 3.