First One Armed Doll

P. S.: The previous chapter had 4444 words!

(Due to length constraints, future short-term crossover episodes will be directly integrated into the main storyline and will not be published as separate volumes. You can probably guess what I'm going to do next, right?)

Swing, pendulum!

Oh, by the way, to ensure a good reading experience for our readers, new cards will only appear in the You Hui Card Printer after they've been used in actual gameplay.

Tesla looked tense and was completely focused on his work, fortunately with someone assisting him.

"Wrench."

Fortunately, it was handed over.

"Hammer."

Fortunately, it was handed over.

"Seasoning packet".

Fortunately, it was handed over.

"The instant noodles are finally cooked."

The two scooped up their instant noodles and enjoyed a delicious meal.

With the help of a fortune, Tesla built a secret laboratory at the Fire Moth Base One to continue the development of Build and other research.

After finishing the noodles, Tesla took out the newly manufactured Build Driver and handed it to Xing: "The reason for the last explosion was probably that the driver's performance could not withstand the force of Fullbottles for a long time. This time, I have carefully considered the energy index of Fullbottles, and the driver I made will not have that kind of accident again. Try it out."

"Oh, and also, while the Fullbottles you made aren't fundamentally different from the ones I made before, they lack sufficient Honkai Energy to sustain them, making them incomparable to the official Fullbottles. Their use is somewhat limited. According to my calculations, if you use them to transform once, it will take about 24 hours to cool down before you can use them again. But don't worry, the energy of the Fullbottles will gradually increase during battle. As long as you continue to nurture them with your own power and continue to use them, even the basic form of Build can possess strength comparable to S-Rank Valkyrie. Oh, and I have a gift for you."

If the energy in Fullbottles reaches a certain limit, evolution might occur. However, that's just a theoretical hypothesis, so Tesla didn't mention it.

As he spoke, Tesla opened a box containing several exquisitely crafted weapons. Upon seeing them, Sachi immediately became excited; he recognized them at a glance as the exclusive weapons for some of Build's form types.

The versatile, transformable weapon, "Drill Crusher," can launch different attacks by inserting different Fullbottles.

The "Falcon Gatlinger," which fully utilizes the capabilities of the eagle-gun form, is increasingly appealing to those who appreciate its black and orange color scheme.

With the "Four-Panel Ninja Sword" matching the style of Ninja Manga in hand, Sachi was eager to try it out and couldn't wait to find someone to test it on immediately.

Tesla looked at the excited boy and his vanity was instantly satisfied. "Last time you told me that Build lacked weapons for combat, so I created them based on several optimal combinations of abilities. How about it, do you like them? Hmph, these are just appetizers, the main course hasn't even appeared yet."

Tesla pressed a button, and a piercing alarm and a blinding red light blared in the laboratory. "Self-destruct countdown, 10, 9, 8..."

"Sorry, I pressed the wrong button!"

Tesla quickly pressed the emergency brake button, then took out the correct button, checked it several times, and pressed it.

A peculiar gear pattern lit up on the floor, then slowly separated, revealing a pair of small yellow rabbit ears.

The mechanism gradually rose, revealing the full form of the object. Xing's eyes widened. "This is..."

Tesla coughed a few times and proudly introduced, "This is the zeroth creation of the [Scientific Forbidden Arts Catalog], a masterpiece of genius, the key to the forbidden door... (N words omitted) The fully automated miniature bionic Armed Doll — Tesla Zero!"

Xing picked up the red-haired doll with shining eyes. Her eyes were closed, and her skin texture was no different from that of a normal person, or even better. On her body, the gear pattern representing Build was branded on her clothes.

Except for the absence of the three iron fists behind him, everything was exactly the same as the S-class puppet he remembered.

Yes, I recognized her eyes; she was one of those S-rank dolls he couldn't get.

"Tesla Zero is a creation developed entirely by this genius. I wrote a self-learning artificial intelligence program for it. Well, considering the possibility that artificial intelligence might evolve self-awareness and destroy humanity, I didn't design an emotion module for it. Its main purpose is to assist you in using the Build Driver. It can detect the operation of the driver and the energy fluctuations of the Fullbottles. If you have any questions about Build, just ask it. I've been feeding everything related to Build into its database in real time. So don't bother me for no reason anymore. I'll let you know if there's any progress on the armor you asked me to develop for those girls."

"Oh, by the way, if the driver blows up again, ask it to help you repair it. If you have enough materials, it can make a new one. Besides that, it can also help you analyze the enemy's abilities and find the most suitable combination of energy bottles for battle. This powerful Armed Doll is free for you, no need to thank me. Also, I worked hard to make this, so if you dare to break it, I won't let you off the hook!"

So Tesla pushed Sachi, who was holding Tesla Zero, out of the way, and also threw the box containing the weapons out of the way.

After storing the new drive and weapons in the Guidance Module's storage space, he sighed and patted Tesla Zero's little face, saying, "You better tell me how to turn it on..."

It has been more than a week since Tesla took up his post at the St. Freya Academy, and his health has almost recovered. He can now find an opportunity to go to London to obtain the Thousand Worlds.

The Honkai Vision pinpointed the exact location of the Eternal Key, the Mortal Tribulation Difficult to Cross evacuated the masses, the Jizo-Mitama hacked into Kevin's doll, and other issues were dealt with incidentally—perfect.

Speaking of Armed Doll, Xing glanced at the Tesla Zero in her arms and then at the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet on her wrist. When will this little rascal finally wake up?

Wait a minute, how is he going to take this little Lobster Doctor back? It's impossible for him to bring it around in public at the St. Freya Academy, is it? He might as well leave it in his dorm as a mascot.

Speaking of mascots, I feel like I've forgotten something?

Pardo walked to his feet and rubbed against him, meowing softly.

"Stop fooling around, I'm thinking about something... Hey?"

Xing silently picked up the fat cat, and when he saw the bitterness and anger in her eyes, he finally remembered what he had forgotten.

"I'm so sorry, Pardo, for making you a cat for so long..."

Back in the dorm, Xing placed Tesla Zero on the bed, picked up the cat, and said, "By the contract between us, I command you to revert to human form, Pardofelis!"

With a blinding flash of light, the catgirl, her face full of anguish, finally reappeared. As soon as she regained her human form, she angrily grabbed Sachi by the neck. "You Little Xing, how could you forget about me for so long?! How are you going to make it up to me?!"

"To be honest, I think you look cuter the way you do."

"Meow! I'm not a cat!"

After venting her frustration, Pardo went to lie down and sunbathe, leaving Xing to study the Tesla Zero alone.

He lifted the Tesla Zero and searched it up and down. "Strange, shouldn't there be a power button?"

Even after searching unsuccessfully, Xing even lifted her short skirt to look for her, but still found nothing. By the way, why do dolls have underwear?

Just as he was fretting, the terminal rang; it was Tesla calling.

"Hey, Lobster, cough, Dr. Tesla, how do I activate the Armed Doll you gave me?"

"Were you about to say something disrespectful to me? Never mind, I won't argue with a child. I forgot to mention earlier, the Tesla Zero is started by voice recognition. The start command is, 'The great genius Dr. Tesla!'"

Fortunately, his lips twitched uncontrollably as he suppressed a laugh and murmured, "The great genius Dr. Tesla. Huh, why isn't there any response?"

"What kind of attitude is this? You need to be very sincere and excited, and shout it out loud."

Jizo-Mitama!

Just as Xing was about to hang up the phone, intending to use the power of the Key of Erosion to hack into the program and force a restart, Tesla said somewhat apologetically, "Um, Little Xing, could you do me a favor?"

Damn, the last time I heard that tone was when I was throwing money at her. What is this lobster trying to do?

"What's wrong? I'll definitely help if I can."

Tesla coughed a few times. "It's nothing serious. Do you remember Chiyou? During the exploration of Nine Nether and Chiyou's remains, Schicksal discovered a Soul Steel Computer, but they haven't been able to study it in depth. I heard that the Soul Steel Computer was discovered by a search team sent by the Far East Branch, so it should be kept at the St. Freya Academy. Can I borrow it to study? I promise I'll just study it, and absolutely nothing will happen!"

Why do I have a bad feeling?

"An illusion, absolutely an illusion. I am the genius Dr. Tesla, there won't be any problems. At worst, you can just watch me do my research, okay?"

"Well, okay, it's fine if it just satisfies your curiosity as a scientist. Theresa mentioned it to me last time, and it is indeed here. Wait for me in the lab tonight; I can only borrow it for one night at most, so hurry up."

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Tesla was delighted.

The red-haired doll slowly opened her eyes, her red pupils coldly scrutinizing the boy before her.

It stood up from the bed, uttering a cold female voice. "Identity confirmed, Xing Kaslana, highest level access granted. Hello, I was developed by the genius Dr. Tesla..."

"Let's skip the self-introduction." Xing smiled and patted her head. "From now on, you'll be following me. The name Tesla Zero sounds like a robot, even though you are. Let's just call you Little Te; it sounds more human that way."

"Name changed successfully, Little Te. It's a pleasure to serve you." Little Te's voice was icy, and the expression on his face was a simulated smile, completely unlike the Little Te in his memory who was a miniature version of Tesla.

"Don't use honorifics, just call me, um, Little Xing. It's more affectionate that way, and I like it very much."

"Okay, Little Xing, what do you need me to do now?"

After thinking about it carefully for a while, he pushed a pile of notebooks to her. "Help Kiana with her homework."

Little Te: "..."

The emotionless doll quickly began completing the task, its efficiency so remarkable that Klein had to give it a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Klein, who was eating instant noodles in the Elysian Realm, looked at the Canned Food that still showed no interest in instant noodles and sighed silently.

In the evening—

In the laboratory, Tesla looked at the Soul Steel computer in the culture tank with great excitement, his fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard, trying to connect to it and obtain the data within.

You have to understand that in a world where most of the Soul Steel has already been snapped up by Schicksal, finding a Soul Steel Computer is an extremely rare thing. If you were to make a discovery, it would be like Otto seeing Kallen – he would be ecstatic.

Fortunately, Bronya, who had been brought to the class by him, was quite energetic, yawning constantly, and was watching Tesla's operation intently without taking her eyes off him.

Little Te stayed motionless beside Xing, and wouldn't move an inch even if she faced the danger of being damaged, until she received the next instruction.

PS: Fortunately, Bronya wanted to study the Soul Steel Computer, and Theresa approved it.

"Fifty-sixth attempt, failed."

As the experiments failed one after another, Tesla's expression grew increasingly grim. "The fifty-seventh time, slightly increase the injected Honkai Energy and attempt to activate it."

"Fifty-seventh attempt, failed."

Seeing Tesla constantly hitting roadblocks, Xing glanced at the Book of Cang Xuan Bracelet on his right hand. It was a product of pre-era technology; perhaps he could use it to connect to the Soul Steel Computer?

Moreover, he remembered that in the comics, it was this Soul Steel Computer that became the Book of Cang Xuan (weapon version) after it was combined with the two pieces of Soul Steel found in Chiyou's body. Maybe there will be a surprise?

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Tesla was allowed to open the incubation tank. After repeatedly hitting a wall, Tesla decided to give it a shot and placed his right hand, wearing the bracelet, on the surface of the Soul Steel Computer, feeling the icy touch.

Five minutes later—

He awkwardly withdrew his right hand. It seemed he had been overthinking things. How could everything possibly go as he wished?

Looking at the failed attempt, Tesla felt a mix of regret and relief. Thank goodness she hadn't succeeded, or she would have seriously questioned her life choices.

She could do whatever she wanted with the Fullbottles, but if he figured out the Soul Steel Computer that she had spent all night researching but couldn't figure out, she might as well just grab Little Te and run herself to death.

Just as Tesla was about to shut down the culture tank and continue his experiment, an anomaly occurred.

"Neuron connection complete. Do not interrupt power supply. Available device detected. Initialization connection successful."

The voice of the Book of Cang Xuan Profound, which had not been heard for a long time, rang in my mind again. Fortunately, I could feel the Honkai Energy in my body flowing continuously into the bracelet.

"Current charging progress: 89.73%. Forced energy replenishment is in progress. Please do not interrupt the energy supply, otherwise it may cause damage to the system."

Fortunately, he gritted his teeth and persisted in maintaining the supply of Honkai Energy. To be honest, this was far less impressive than Star of Eden, but he managed to hold on!

"Sachi?" Bronya looked at the scene in surprise. Sachi put her right hand on the Soul Steel Computer again. Although there was no change on the surface, she had a vague feeling that something was about to happen.

"Hey, what are you doing? If it's really not working out, just forget it, I won't blame you. Wait, what the hell (Anti-Entropy profanity), what's going on with this skyrocketing value?"

"Current charging progress: 97.62%".

"Charging complete, synchronizing with available models... Regenerating the machine..."

The originally spherical Soul Steel Computer underwent a dramatic transformation. Before everyone's eyes, it gradually split into two parts. One half became a Tai Chi sphere floating in mid-air, with eight glowing trigrams and four floating black horns appearing around it. The other half—

Her long, black hair cascaded down her back, tied into two buns on either side of her forehead, giving her a distinctly ancient look. She wore a loose-fitting robe, which made her already adorable figure appear even more petite and delicate.

With her eyes slightly closed, Cang Little Xuan slowly descended from the air and landed steadily in Xing's palm. She opened her sleepy eyes, rubbed them, and then saw Xing in front of her.

Neuronal connections are completed synchronously in modern language.

Cang Little Xuan was taken aback at first, then the Book of Cang Xuan bracelet on his wrist glowed slightly, transmitting a message to her. After a few seconds of silence, the little ancestor clutched her head and cried out in despair, "Oh my god! Why was I awakened by my blockhead son? Which lucky bastard slept with my immortal?!"

PS: Little Xuan's true form is still the bracelet; this body is essentially an external device.

Author's Note—

The reason why Little Te appeared first is because You Hui collected 150 fragments a few days ago and forcibly summoned her.

Speaking of which, I was incredibly lucky that day, with three pieces of gold arriving at my door.

At 4 AM, I successfully pulled Tengen on my 29th pull from the selection pool. Unfortunately, I didn't get Xinyan as before. Then in the afternoon, I changed my selection pool to Da Ya Ya. After not getting a single pull from the pity system, I actually got her in a single pull. Following Ice Tower and the four Xiao Shi, I once again got a free S-rank character within ten pulls.

By the way, I got the first Xiao Shi when I had more than 90 pulls left, and the other three were obtained through consecutive single pulls.

Also, there are typos in this chapter... Some I might have missed while proofreading, but some are definitely not.