Chapter 332 The Little Familiar (2)
“How do you like the vie-huh?”
“Achoo!" Karma let out a cute sneeze.
We hadn’t even spent a minute up here, but the cold was killing her.
I guess her type of dragon can’t survive in cold environments. Either that or being so young meant she shouldn’t be so high up.
I shrugged and teleported us into the dungeon master’s room of the Fortress of Solitude. The room was still a mess, littered with craters, wires, and broken machinery. I was expecting the dungeon to fix itself up, but I guess for that to happen, I needed to insert a new dungeon core.
Weirdly enough, there wasn’t another one in here.
Does inserting any random dungeon core work?
<<Yes, it will. But acquiring one can be tricky>>
How so?
<<Dungeon cores come about as the result of a, frankly, toxic amount of mana condensation. For this reason, it’s exceptionally rare to find artificial dungeons, let alone dungeon cores>>
So what? Kaleb Zen just randomly found a way to produce these things on a whim and gave such a valuable thing to whoever beat the Forbidden Dungeon? Seriously, I get that he was being sent to Horizon forcefully, but couldn’t he have at least thought of the possible consequences of the things he left behind?
Wait, no. Those consequences are coming to my benefit now.
Never mind what I was just saying. Thank you, Kaleb Zen! I’ll make good use of the precious treasures you left behind.
‘Why are we here?’
I dropped Karma to the ground so I could pick up Yurei’s body.
“For the exploration of science, Karma.”
‘Science?!’
It seemed excited.
“You like science?”
Karma shook its head.
‘Master told me I’m the result of science, so I…’
The little dragon didn’t finish its sentence. It looked away, as if embarrassed by how excited it sounded. It was trying too hard to not open up. Heh.
“What kind of science?”
Karma refused to respond. It was being difficult for no reason. Rather than no reason, pride might be a better answer.
Even before reaching adulthood, dragons are too prideful.
<<Analysis of the automaton Yurei is complete. Would you like a full explanation or just a summary?>>
…
<<Summary: The automaton’s build itself is not complex, although the materials used to make it are extremely rare. It would seem that in exchange for the superhuman strength and physical abilities regular automatons have, the creator made the automaton cute. It’s core, however, is tainted with an ethereal substance. I am unable to determine what exactly it is, but the more I scan it, the more I’m led to believe its core possesses a soul, but it doesn’t have the same make-up of other whole souls>>
Hmm, so it’s an artificial soul. You can analyse it, right?
<<Still performing the analysis to find out how it works>>
Can we actually find out how they work?
<<It’s like how when you eat a soul, you’re able to see its memories and experiences>>
I can’t help but feel you’re making it much less of a deal than it actually is, but I appreciate that.
Anyway, how does analysing this help us out in the future? I can understand the other resources, but the creation of artificial souls simply feels unnecessary to me.
<<I am still unsure, but you can have a look at the blueprints I’ve made based on what I’m seeing>>
The holographic projection of the inner workings of the automaton popped up. Reading through her analysis, I could tell that this Kaleb Zen guy was just far too gone! Her build was the epitome of inefficiency! She was weak and slow, just like an actual little girl. Her only ability boosts came from the military-styled gear she wore, but I was certain that was merely due to Kaleb’s fancies.
Tch. Hm, wait. What’s this?
I zoomed in on the little egg-shaped thing that was sticking out of the automaton’s chest.
<<That is the core of the automaton>>
Really? Just looks like an egg, ha. That’s quite different from the other cores I’ve seen. Guess Kaleb was going for something new?
<<An egg…>>
Agent?
<<Readjusting my analysis on the core of the automaton>>
W-What’s going on? Agent? Speak to me!
I didn’t get a response for another few seconds.
<<Rather than a core, it’s more like an egg that was nurturing something. The taint on the soul is merely the soul giving life to the shell>>
Oh? Oh! Oh... Hmm, I still don’t get it.
<<Haah~>>
Don’t sigh. You can’t even get tired!
<<Well, because of my reanalysis, I have observed something odd in the familiar, Karma>>
“Karma?”
‘What?’
Oh, not you. Well, you, but not... What did you find, agent?
<<Karma’s structure is built like an automaton>>
What?
<<Much like the automaton Yurei, Karma’s body seems to possess materials far too important to belong to something so weak, and it has an egg-shaped core, much like Yurei>>
Wait, wait, wait!
I looked at the little familiar.
You mean to tell me Karma’s an automaton much like Yurei?
<<I… am unsure>>
Eh?
What’s this? The almighty, all-knowing agent doesn’t know? Did you scam me, agent? Did you?
<<This is new grounds, ok? I bet even Kaleb Zen didn’t know what he was getting himself into. This is territory that could get Ozvaloth extremely pissed. I’m sure if Ozvaloth ever gets wind of this, he'll turn the nine hells upside down to find the person who did this>>
He seemed like a pretty chill guy.
<<Yeah, you don’t want to see what he’s like when he’s angry>>
T-That bad?
<<Last time someone tried to deceive him, they ended up being tied to a pole right in front of limbo, where their innards are ripped out for all of eternity>>
Oh, so like Prometheus.
<<How did you know his name?>>
Wait, I... yeah, that’s not important. So, we won’t be experimenting with artificial souls?
<<Who said that?>>
But you just said, Ah! You know what? To hell with it. Let’s go crazy.
<<Yes sir! I hope nothing goes awry with this idea of yours!>>
Idea of mine? You little… ah, whatever. Still, what does this mean for Karma?
<<I am uncertain. Can you give me a little bit more time?>>
Sure. But I guess I’ll play around with the other automatons till then.
I walked further down the dungeon hall until I came into a room. A vault of sorts, with piles of precious crystals on either side and mountains of gear. Without a doubt, the highlight of the entire vault were the 4 little girls, standing up lifelessly in little cubicles. They all had various characteristics, with their names written above them.
I walked up to the automaton with the name CATH: Tatianna.
It was a little girl with auburn red hair, covered in oversized black furry coats, leggings, and high punk gothic boots. Her metallic skin was pale and soft to the touch. I was having a surprising amount of fun poking her cheeks.
She looks like she’d be really fun to have around.
<<Well, she has no personality>>
None, huh? So, they are all actually children, huh?
<<More like mechas waiting for hosts. You can give a soul to an automaton. It will have the personality of whatever soul it belonged to, but will be loyal to you>>
That so? But I don’t have any souls I’d like to... Oh, there is one!
Yep, one that kept resurfacing and causing problems whenever there was a war happening. I’d managed to calm it down, but that was only a temporary solution. She must have been taking a mental toll on Tsuna for how long she’d been active.
<<Would you like me to perform a soul extraction from the General Tsuna?>>
Yeah, let’s do that. We’ll put her into Tatianna.
The agent went to work immediately. In a matter of seconds, I held the wicked witch’s soul in my hand. She was screaming and wailing, begging me to let her go, but I ignored her pleas.
How do I insert it into the body?
<<Place it above the core. It should automatically absorb it>>
I followed the agent’s orders to the letter. The automaton’s chest opened up, revealing the egg-shaped core. Unlike Yurei, this core hadn’t nurtured a soul, so placing a new one in it probably wouldn’t change much. Even if it did eventually nurture a soul, this could have unexpected consequences. And for a scientist, there was nothing more exciting!
Let me pretend I’m a scientist.
Tatianna’s chest closed up, and her body pulsed, like new life was being breathed into it. Get it? I’m getting better with these puns!
<<Haah~>>
Oi, agent!
Her eyes creaked open, revealing little pearly almonds.
Tatianna took steps forward, so I backed away to allow her to move around. She looked around, taking in her surroundings, before eventually settling a dauntless yet lazy gaze on me.
She took a yawn, covering her mouth, before sleepily muttering,
“So, yer my new master, ey? Get me some food, I’m starving. Also, it’s cold, I want a warm bed.”
“Huh?”
‘Why is she so impertinent, Hinotori?’
“Don’t ask me, kid. I’m just as confused as you are.”
Tatianna walked over and hugged me, rubbing her cheeks on my stomach.
“Yer warm. Want me to call you master too?”
Wait, is this how the wicked witch used to behave? Was she this high-handed?
A/N: It's been a weird last 2 weeks. Definitely not how I expected my year to end, but whatever. We're in 2024 now! On to better things! Hopefully I can end the story this year too, haha. To do that, I'm setting a goal of 30 chapters each month, let's go
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