To say the unsaid, with Erin’s analysis, Yu Sheng did realize that among all the special materials used for mass-producing the human-like automata, his own blood seed to be the least valuable, costing at most so ti—about thirty minutes per "production" cycle.
But the good news is that he seems to temporarily not have to worry about the production volu of Erin—even though this output seems to have a natural bottleneck, Yu Sheng reckoned that in the short term, he shouldn’t need to form an army of hundreds of thousands of puppets...
Just take it slow.
When the third mass-produced automaton sat up from the Alchemy Platform, Yu Sheng discovered that even the final step of the Spirit Injection Ceremony—"assigning a na"—could be handed over to the mass-produced machines in charge of the operations.
When the two mass-produced automata clumsily shaped the body of their "new sister" and mimicked Yu Sheng’s previous operations, stuttering "Erin" on the alchemy table, the cold mass of soil and tal suddenly ca to life. Yu Sheng hadn’t even reacted before he saw that rough shell quickly covered with a layer of blood, the "blood" and "spirit" parts within the soil rging into vitality in the blink of an eye, opening the eyes of the new automaton.
"...Is this possible?" Yu Sheng looked sowhat startled as the two mass-produced automata helped their newly awakened "sister" down from the alchemy table. He watched the new automaton quickly learn the experience of other automatons through the connection between their chanical Souls and rushed to another platform to prepare to create the next mass-produced machine, leaving him bewildered, "So the ’assigning a na’ step doesn’t even require human involvent?"
This ti even Erin was baffled: "I don’t know either... I never thought about ’using puppets to create puppets’ before! I’m exploring just like you!"
"Maybe it’s because every mass-produced automaton has my ’blood,’ so they also have a way to ’assign a na’ to other newly-born automatons?" Yu Sheng frowned, his thoughts quickly fluid, "Or is this so form of resonance? Or... because all the mass-produced automata are connected, once a na is assigned to the first one, that’s enough?"
"I think it surely has sothing to do with your bizarre ’blood,’" Erin thought for a mont and looked seriously into Yu Sheng’s eyes, "After all, even such a large spaceship got stuck just because it touched your blood."
Yu Sheng neither confird nor denied, only gazing thoughtfully at the "Erins" running to and fro between Alchemy Platforms, and the small cups of blood in their hands, without speaking for a long ti.
After quite a while, he abruptly said, "I think I should store more of it regularly."
Erin didn’t react imdiately: "Store more of what?"
"Blood, of course," Yu Sheng said casually, "Since this stuff is regenerative and now has new uses, the usual consumption will obviously increase—I think it wouldn’t hurt to occasionally draw so and store it, as long as I’m not bled to death on the spot, the blood won’t disappear... feels like letting it just flow in my body is a waste."
Erin was dumbfounded, then suddenly shouted, "What you’re saying sounds even less human than what I said earlier!"
"Nonsense, can what I say and what you say be the sa?" Yu Sheng imdiately glared at the little puppet, "Besides, you sound like you want dead with your words, while I’m at least trying to live on."
Erin was montarily dazed, blinking her eyes: "Is that how you use the words ’living on’?"
"Of course, I’m an author after all, my words are precise."
"Is, is that so?"
Hu Li just watched Yu Sheng fool Erin from the side, not saying anything, solely focusing on pouring molten iron into the skeleton parts.
And that’s how the mass-produced automatons began their proliferation—one beca two, two beca four, four multiplied into a swarm...
A large swarm of black-skirted, black-haired, red-eyed Gothic Dolls scurried around the vast alchemy laboratory, busily producing more automatons, awakening more sisters—they would continue executing this instruction until the materials for this round were exhausted.
Yu Sheng found a spot where he wouldn’t be in the way, watching the magnificent scene of the laboratory full of Erins running everywhere with a mix of amazent and perplexity.
In a haze, he shivered slightly, accidentally recalling a nightmare he once imagined—hundreds, thousands of Erins crawling around him, scampering, making noise incessantly, stirring up a fuss, unsettling him...
But he soon shook his head, casting aside this terrible association.
The scene of hundreds, thousands of Erins crawling around seed quickly reachable, but these mass-produced Erins were far more "quiet" than he imagined.
Most of the ti, they rely followed orders earnestly. Even when temporarily unable to execute a task, they would simply exchange so words (which no outsider could understand), then find a place where they wouldn’t be in the way and stand by, besides which these mass-produced automatons rarely spoke—although they did indeed have this "function."
Watching these quiet yet busy little creatures, Yu Sheng found himself sowhat uncomfortable, especially when Erin, with the sa face, was beside him chattering nonstop. This discordance was even more intense.
At this ti, Hu Li had finished casting the last batch of skeleton parts. She puffed the blue smoke from her tail and walked over, curiously looking at Yu Sheng and Erin: "Savior, we’re making so many mass-produced puppets... what will they do when they’re not fighting?"
"Oh, they have plenty of uses. Our ’base camp’ here has shortages everywhere," Yu Sheng replied with a smile, clearly having a plan, "Daily maintenance at the Star Port, caring for children in the town, cleaning and watching over the hub, and many facilities built by the Special Service Bureau are understaffed.
"Currently, these places are mostly managed by manpower supported by the Special Service Bureau, but that’s relying on favors, and it can’t continue forever.
"Initially, I thought that once Fairy Tales expanded its recruitnt, we could have them send people to take over so facilities in the valley, but then considering it would have a hint of child labor, now it’s better. With the mass-produced puppets, half of the problem can be solved."
No sooner had Yu Sheng finished speaking than Erin started chirping imdiately: "So, you can’t hire child labor, but you want to do it all? I’m just a mass-produced machine at 66 centiters! I’m shorter than those little brats by at least half, okay!!"
"Now you want to emphasize that you’re only 66 centiters tall, huh?" Yu Sheng chuckled, poking the little puppet, "Who was it that said this valley is all our family’s property, so excited about it that you were running around the room at midnight without sleeping, sitting on the bed giggling — isn’t it right to manage your own family property yourself?"
Erin: "Now that you ntion it again..."
Hu Li felt slightly uneasy after hearing Yu Sheng’s words: "Are these tasks really doable by the mass-produced puppets? Simple work is fine, but letting them maintain large equipnt... I doubt they won’t fall into the machinery..."
As she spoke, she turned around, glancing at those little guys running around the alchemy platforms, occasionally bumping into each other, her brow furrowing instinctively.
"They seem really clumsy."
"The chanical Soul can grow," Yu Sheng was confident about the mass-produced puppets, "Haven’t you noticed they’re already more agile now compared to the start? Plus, these puppets share knowledge and experiences, knowing basic cooperation and learning. I’m optimistic about their growth. Besides, I wouldn’t assign really complicated tasks to them."
Hu Li thought for a mont, her furry big ears twitching: "That’s reassuring."
"Okay, no need to worry about these trivial matters anymore. They’ll at least manage the daily cleaning here at the hub later," Yu Sheng cheerfully waved his hand, getting up from the alchemy platform. "We’ve been busy enough here, let’s take so of the mass-produced puppets out to get so fresh air and greet others — Erin, arrange it, keep half here to continue producing mass machines, the other half goes outside."
"Okay!"
Thirty minutes later, the long-haired princess sat on a rooftop at Fairy Tale Town, dumbfounded as she watched Yu Sheng leading a procession of dozens of Erins swaggering down the street.
A long line of mass-produced puppets marched neatly, following behind Erin (Reinforced Steel) acting as the "master," all sharing the sa design in every sense, a scene that astonished not just the long-haired princess, but even the always mature Little Red Riding Hood flipped when she saw it.
"Hey... hey! Red Hat! Did you see that? Erin has multiplied... all at once multiplied into a whole group, holy cow!" The long-haired princess almost rolled off the rooftop, running to Little Red Riding Hood exclaiming, "What’s going on here?"
"I don’t know," Little Red Riding Hood was just as confused, "I thought I’d gotten eyestrain from brushing the driving test questions too much..."
While the two were talking, Yu Sheng had already led the group of Erins along the street. Little Red Riding Hood imdiately ca up, then wordlessly stared directly at the dozen little puppets, holding back for half a minute before speaking: "...You didn’t accidentally make too many, right?"
"Do hands slip that much?" Yu Sheng laughed, raising his hand to introduce, "Let introduce you, these are Erin-mass-produced models..."
Little Red Riding Hood: "..."
The red-clad girl looked numbly at Yu Sheng, then at Erin — the only one in the group with shining eyes, clearly the "master" — after a while, she finally blurted out: "Wait, what were you thinking?!"
"Young imagination can’t lag behind," Yu Sheng laughed again, casually explaining to the other, "Just consider it a travel agency’s new technology — didn’t they say the power station over there is short-staffed? This group is allocated to watch over the generators. Later, I’ll teach you how to communicate with them. There will be another batch coming out from the Hub Pyramid to be sent to the Star Port and Black Forest Logging Camp. Moreover, there’ll likely be ’Erins’ erging from the hub every now and then; if you see any lost or wandering around the town, just lead them to the ’castle’ to gather. These mass-produced puppets haven’t gone through much testing yet, instability might occur."
Little Red Riding Hood: "...Huh?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)