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From the next day onwards, Bloed spent all his time thinking and working in his equipment for B-Grade.

He had gotten a lot of valuable resources from Eve, some that he already had a use for, and others he planned to use in his future experiments. He was intending to use a part of these resources in his new equipment.

He started modifying his current equipment, aka, t.i.to (puppy/armor), Leto (wolf), and his artificial eyes.

But when it was time to think about his new equipment, Bloed reached an impa.s.se.

Now that he broke through to B-Rank, Bloed's capacity to thought-control machines increased greatly. If the machines were not too complicated, he could perhaps thought-control seven or eight simultaneously. That was three or four machines more than now.

But… Bloed was not quite sure about the kind of equipment he wanted to create.

Actually, it was the opposite. Bloed already had an idea about the equipment he needed, but he did not know if his current engineering ability could allow him to create it.

Unable to decide, Bloed decided to focus on what he could do for now and try to think of a solution for the rest meanwhile.

One week pa.s.sed by like that.

Today, someone knocked on Bloed's door.

When Liu Ying went to open the door, she found a fox girl staring inexpressively to her.

"Saintess Eve?"

"Mm." Eve nodded and went inside, not even asking Liu Ying for permission.

Liu Ying smiled wryly. Well, she was already getting used to Eve's personality.

"What are you doing here?" Liu Ying asked.

"… I came to see how you are doing. Also, I need to talk with Bloed."

"Bloed? He has been closed up in his laboratory since one week ago. He only leaves to eat and sleep… Sometimes, he even forgets about that."

"… Laboratory?" Eve was startled. But then, her eyes brightened.

"Take me there."

"No." An ice-cold voice suddenly appeared.

It was Regina. She was staring at Eve as though she was looking at an enemy.

"Master doesn't like to be bothered when he is working."

Eve stared at Regina for a few seconds and then nodded. "… I see… A shame."

But perhaps because Eve's luck was very good, the door of the laboratory opened up just at that moment.

Then, a tired-looking Bloed swaggered out and yawned.

Bloed glanced at the three girls and was slightly surprised to see Eve. However, he immediately knew why she was here.

"Are you coming for the fox?"

"Mm…" Eve nodded with an expressionless look, but her eyes were shining brightly.

"Great. I have already finished most of it, but I need your help for the next part. Wait a moment, I'll take a bath and eat something first."

"I understand… By the way, congratulations on attaining B-Rank."

"Thanks."

…

Half an hour later, a refreshed Bloed was in the laboratory with Regina, Liu Ying, and Eve.

In fact, he only needed Eve, but the other two girls insisted on accompanying him.

Different from a few days ago, the laboratory was a bit messy now. Regina had been cleaning the laboratory twice each day, but even so, it was very messy.

It was proof of how hard Bloed had been working in his equipment.

Several pieces and parts were scattered all around the laboratory, and some burned parts were thrown away in the corners. To be honest, it seemed like the secret base of a crazy scientist.

"… Sorry about this. I have been a bit busy here recently."

"How is your equipment going, Bloed?" Liu Ying asked curiously.

Bloed smiled wryly. "Well, I already modified t.i.to and Leto. My new eyes still need a bit of work, but they are in the right way. The problem is my new equipment… I have hit an impa.s.se with one of the things I need."

"An impa.s.se?"

"Yeah… Well, in truth, I have a way to go around it, but it's not what I truly want… To be honest, even I'm not sure what exactly I want… I still need to think a bit more about that."

Bloed did not explain much. It was not that he did not want to explain. Instead, it was not something the girls could help with.

As he said, even himself was not sure what exactly he wanted. The only thing he was certain about was that he was not happy with the simplest solution.

Heaving a long sigh, Bloed led the group to a corner of the laboratory.

When they reached there, they saw a robot in the form of a fox sleeping elegantly inside a gla.s.s box.

"This is…" Eve's eyes were shining like a child.

Bloed smiled wryly and opened the box. He then used his mind to order the fox to come out.

Instantly, the fox jumped out of the box to his arms.

"I used a lot of valuable metals on it, mainly mithril and orichalc.u.m. Also, I ground several Rank magic cores and used them as the cores for each individual nanorobot… Do you want to touch it?" Bloed asked Eve.

When he saw Eve nod, he immediately told the fox to jump towards her.

Eve held the fox with shining eyes. She seemed like an excited little girl playing with her favorite toy.

Soon, however, she realized that something was wrong.

The fox…

"It's weak."

Bloed was startled before nodding.

Certainly, the fox was weak. Weaker than t.i.to or Liu Liu, who were the same kind of mechanical pet.

"I told you it's incomplete. I still need to synchronize it with your mana and set its main method of attack. Currently, it's nothing more than a beautiful toy."

"My mana?"

"Yes." Bloed nodded and explained. "You see, robots need a source of energy to run. I can use mana stones or mana cores, or even batteries as the source of energy. But if I use that method, the source of energy will have to be replaced regularly. Therefore, I normally synchronize the pet with the user and use the user's energy as the source of energy.."

Just like t.i.to and Leto relied on an application of [Molecular Disintegration] to move, and Liu Liu used Liu Ying's mana to work, this fox also needed a source of energy.

Eve nodded after hearing Bloed's explanation. "What do I need to do then?"

"Well… Firstly, I need to know your normal output of mana."

With these words, Bloed took Eve to a machine designed to measure the energy output. Initially, it could only measure the output of psychic energy, but Bloed had modified it to measure mana too.

"Put your hand on there and release your mana. Try to release as much mana as you can without using special techniques."

Eve nodded and did as Bloed said.

Instantly, a strong pressure engulfed the laboratory.

And the numbers on the screen started to increase.

Soon, though, Bloed expression changed.

The number had already reached a terrifying level, and it continued climbing without stopping.

When it finally stopped, the number had surpa.s.sed even Regina's numbers.

Eve removed her hand from the machine and stared at the number with a curious expression. Then, she turned towards Bloed and tilted her head.

"… Is it alright?"

"… To be honest, it's much more than I expected."

...

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