Chapter 681

Chapter 681 – Akitsu’s Repair

Jin and Elsa gasped at the dreadful state of Akitsu. It was worse than they had imagined.

As Jin impulsively moved to approach Akitsu, Elsa held him back.

“Jin-nii, be careful.”

“Ah, right, sorry, Elsa… Reiko, can you take a look at her?”

First, he decided to have Reiko diagnose Akitsu.

“Excuse me.”

Reiko began diagnosing the immobile Akitsu’s body. As she did, Akitsu spoke to her.

“…You… are an automaton too. You resemble… Sage Magus… a bit…”

“Resemble?”

“…Yes. Sage Magus also… had black eyes and black hair…”

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Because her voice was so faint, Jin was concerned.

“Reiko, how is it?”

“…Yes, if possible, I think it would be better to repair her at the lab.”

Although they had the materials ready, Akitsu’s entire body was severely damaged, making it clear that it would be easier to perform the repairs in the lab, where all kinds of materials were available.

“But…”

Reiko hesitated because of the potential danger once Akitsu was repaired.

“Hmm…”

At that moment, Jin came up with an idea.

“Akitsu, in order to repair you, we need to stop you temporarily. Could you tell us the stop and start ‘magic keyword’? And also the authentication key password.”

The authentication key password is necessary for someone other than the creator to stop an automaton. It is a key set in cases where it would be problematic for just anyone to be able to stop the automaton, unlike ordinary magical tools.

“…Yes… To stop, ‘Stop, behold’, and to start, ‘Wake up’. The authentication key password is… ‘Kougai-chou 64.'”

The fact that Akitsu obediently provided this information indicated that she was not hostile. She was indeed a rather old model.

“Alright, let’s stop her for now. ‘Kougai-chou 64’, ‘Stop, behold’.”

With that, Akitsu ceased all movement.

“Father, what will you do next?”

Reiko, sensing that Jin had a plan, asked him.

“Ah, we’ll take Akitsu to Hourai Island as she is. There, we’ll repair her and simultaneously copy her control core. By analyzing it, we can determine if Akitsu might become an enemy.”

Both Reiko and Elsa nodded at his words.

“As expected of you, Father.”

“…The preparations were unnecessary, but it’s good.”

Elsa felt a bit relieved as they had meticulously prepared, yet now they would simply take Akitsu back to Hourai Island.

“Yes, those preparations were for safety. Let’s hurry back.”

Reiko cast gravity magic on Akitsu, making her less likely to break, and then lifted her.

They moved carefully and used the warp gate inside Pegasus 1 to transport everyone to Hourai Island.

Only John remained behind to guard the dome in case of any emergencies.

Back at the lab on Hourai Island, Jin immediately began the repairs.

“Jin-nii, how are you going to fix such a severely deteriorated automaton?”

Under the bright light, the extent of the deterioration was clearly visible.

“Well, just watch.”

“Alright.”

Meanwhile, Reiko, who served as Jin’s assistant, remained silent.

“……”

Reiko was reminiscing about the past.

Since she was created by the previous Magi Craft Meister, Adrianna Balbora Ceci, about a thousand years ago, she had been fulfilling her mission of finding a successor.

(This automaton must have also spent its time in solitude…)

She understood that the automaton named Akitsu, lying before her, had experienced a similar fate.

Despite being less advanced than Reiko, Akitsu had sustained fewer damages, likely due to her role in education and remaining mostly inactive within the dome, Jin speculated.

First, they would need to disassemble Akitsu.

“This is…”

There were many similarities to Adrianna’s automata. However, Akitsu’s structure showed many outdated features, indicating that she was an older model.

“This is the control core.”

The control core was an all-attribute magi-crystal, which had also deteriorated somewhat.

Jin prepared a new magi-crystal and performed ‘Knowledge Transfer’. He also made a copy, entrusting one to Lao-kun for analysis.

“Please, verify whether there’s any potential hostility before we proceed with the knowledge verification.”

“Yes, Master. I will conduct it urgently.”

By renewing the control core in this way, Jin’s magical pattern would serve as the standard, often leading the automaton to recognize Jin as its creator, similar to An and Elena.

However, since Akitsu was an older model from the previous generation, it was uncertain how she would respond.

While Lao-kun was analyzing the control core, Jin proceeded with the repairs to Akitsu’s body.

“The skeleton is just ordinary steel.”

Carbon steel, with no special trace elements added and only minimal heat treatment.

“The magical muscles… they’re completely useless. I’ll have to replace all of them.”

Some of the muscles tore with just a slight pull, so Jin decided to replace them all.

“…In that case, it’s essentially like creating a new automaton. I should probably avoid using high-grade materials.”

“Father, I think that’s wise.”

Reiko argued that it was better for the automaton to have lower performance in case it turned hostile.

“I think you’re worrying too much… Elsa, can you handle the skeleton? We have 5.5% nickel steel, so use that.”

5.5% nickel steel is a material where 5.5% of nickel is mixed with the steel.

This material was used in the past by Jin to create a general-purpose golem upon a request from the Klein Kingdom. The kingdom used these golems for secret ore mining, and in the end, they were destroyed by a gigantic centipede, the Giganto Pedea.

Jin had recovered and stored this material.

“Alright. Got it.”

In this field, Elsa was already a top-class Magi Craft Engineer. Although not quite on Jin’s level, she completed the skeleton in about fifteen minutes.

“Jin-nii, I used the current model for the joints. Is that okay?”

“Ah, I forgot to mention it. Thanks, it’s perfect.”

Meanwhile, Jin prepared the lower-grade magical muscles and magical skin.

The standard materials used on Hourai Island had too high performance, so using lower-grade materials actually took more effort.

“Alright, let’s start assembling. Reiko, can you prepare the magical nerves for wiring? Elsa, grab the shield case.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

With Reiko and Elsa assisting him, Jin worked at his own pace, making sure to implement countermeasures against ‘Enslavement Rewrite Magic’ just in case.

“Okay, the body is done. Now for the head. Judging by the remaining eyes… this isn’t magi-obsidian.”

Upon analysis, it turned out to be tourmaline. It seemed they had chosen it solely for its color, with the actual vision provided by magi-quartz within the eyeballs.

“No wonder she doesn’t have vision as sharp as Reiko’s.”

Hearing Jin’s muttered observation, Reiko smiled.

“Father, we have regular obsidian here. Wouldn’t that be better than the black tourmaline?”

Black tourmaline lacks transparency, while obsidian, being natural glass, is more suitable for use as eyes.

“Alright, let’s use that.”

Next, they moved on to restoring the face. Jin and Elsa worked together to shape it.

“How does this look?”

“Yeah, that’s good. It has a face reminiscent of a Japanese person—less defined features.”

Before applying the magical skin, Jin inquired with Lao-kun.

“Lao-kun, how’s the analysis going?”

“Yes, Master. The analysis just finished. This automaton named Akitsu is truly just for educational purposes. It has no function beyond conveying limited knowledge.”

“I see. So it’s essentially like the Führer we sent to the Shouro Empire.”

With the possibility of hostility eliminated, Jin confidently attached the control core.

Finally, once the newly made ether converter and mana driver were installed, the job was complete.

Although the new components were less efficient than what Jin typically used, he managed to upgrade them to a comparable level while ensuring they were compatible with the current free ether concentration.

“I never thought I’d have such a hard time downgrading performance.”

Jin remarked, finding the process surprisingly challenging.

“All right, it’s fixed now. Let’s just cover it with the magical skin.”

The artificial skin was paler compared to the people from Mitsuho.

“It really does look Japanese.”

“Yeah, it kind of looks like you, Jin-nii.”

Jin’s own skin, after being burnt in an electric furnace and restored with ether, had adapted to this world’s environment, ending up with a similar complexion to Elsa and Reinhardt. He speculated that cells rich in free ether might take on this appearance, but as he wasn’t a specialist in this area, he couldn’t draw a definite conclusion.

Setting that aside, Jin and Elsa finished up Akitsu’s exterior. They decided on black hair based on the remaining strands.

Then Jin had a sudden thought.

“Lao-kun, does Akitsu’s control core have any information about her original appearance?”

“Yes, Master. One moment… there is. I will transfer it to Reiko.”

“Got it. Reiko, please handle the final touches on her appearance. Elsa, take care of Akitsu’s clothes.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Okay.”

With these final adjustments, the repair of the ancient educational automaton, Akitsu, was complete.