Chương 232: Something That Never Happened

Heldion looked up to Leton greatly and hoped to one day match his master's genius for mechanistry, but he was well aware that this dream of his was unlikely to come to fruition–There was simply something… Paranormal about how Leton worked and acquired information. It was as if he could interact with another plane where mechanistry was far more advanced, pulling his knowledge from there in the blink of an eye, allowing him to basically build anything he could imagine.

It was indeed impressive just what Leton could achieve with only mechanistry and absolutely nothing else. If compared in this regard to other craftsmen considered to be at the very top of their profession, he blew them out of the water with ease. The swiftness with which he could build what he envisioned was simply mind-boggling.

Leton was basically singlehandedly denying the encroachment of several Great Realms at once, building items to detect and bind their rifts, as well as contraptions to destroy their foul minions–All the while also being a major player in the defence of Rootriska. His importance definitely exceeded that of the old noble houses at this point. …

And yet, despite this absolutely overwhelming success achieved within less than half a regular human's lifespan, Heldion couldn't help but feel that something was always a bit off with his master. It was like Leton was profoundly unsatisfied with something. The master mechanist would often lock himself inside his personal workshop and come out with a forlorn expression etched upon his face, his eyes staring ahead at empty space.

"Are you struggling with a creation, Master?" Heldion had eventually come to ask a question. He believed that a project that wasn't bearing fruit was the only possible reason Leton would act like this, but the answer told otherwise.

"You could call it a struggle with creating, I suppose… But no. If you wonder why my face is like this after I come out of here, it is very simple: It is because I succeeded when I would rather not… Or at least, a part of me would prefer if I failed" This rather mysterious response was all Heldion ever got regarding this subject. Was it some sort of hidden lesson his master was giving him, or was this literal? The young mechanist wasn't socially adept enough to tell, but at the very least…

Leton appeared genuine about this. As much as Heldion would like to decipher the meaning of this, he had to focus on his training–At the moment, he was busy working on creating an automaton of his own. For this project, he went for an entertainment automaton, as this was by far the most common kind of robot. Most were very simple and often bolted onto their stage, as few mechanists could figure out how to make them walk in a reliable manner.

Of course, as the student of the greatest mechanist and father of the whole profession, Heldion needed to come up with something more advanced than the average. For now, he was working on putting together the steel frame of the automaton–Its skeleton. However, he was running into a bit of a dilemma.

Most would design this frame to somewhat resemble a human skeletal structure, as it was simply a good way to ensure that the design would function for a humanoid automaton, but Heldion wondered if this quote-on-quote 'rule' really needed to be followed closely, or if he could simplify the design without losing out on anything else.

"It doesn't hurt to experiment a bit…" He quietly whispered to himself. He didn't need to, but he had found himself working in the middle of the night. His master wasn't around on account that he needed to go back home to his wife. Leton was never here past a certain hour. Heldion decided to take a walk around the underground facility.

This place was huge beyond belief, but in truth, it only occupied a minuscule portion of actual terrain since this place was spatially distorted to appear much larger than it looked, and much of it was still completely empty, awaiting the addition of more machines and rooms. The student took a look at the bots created by his master. Most of them were intended to eventually go to restaurants, diners, and the like. Entertainment automatons were all the rage, and it didn't seem like their popularity was wavering.

Even if the interest in the technical achievements had somewhat faded away, they had nonetheless proved to be a big hit with children. Those robots had become synonymous with children's entertainment in particular, and they had a very good track record–Especially those associated with Leton. His creations were refined down to the smallest bit of circuit to ensure that if an accident were to occur, the automaton would shut down on its own before it could occur.

This was something other mechanists could not yet replicate, so they ran the risk of their creations causing problems if they malfunctioned. As such, establishments with machines built by the man himself would proudly display it as a mark of safety. Unfortunately, Heldion's master was a bit odd in how he created things.

His designs weren't consistent, or rather, Leton seemed to be constantly improving and innovating, so batches of automatons would often look quite different even if they were created only a few days apart from one another.

"Mmh… I might have to just go for trial and error for this one" Heldion scratched his chin before glancing into another room where a bunch of prototypes were kept. This was a storage room for robots Leton had built, but did not intend on selling to anyone. More experimental designs and functions could be found in some of those, and while Heldion would have loved to take a look at them, he had been told not to get close to those. As prototypes, some of them were simply not safe.

With how heavy they were due to their steel frames, a single sudden arm movement from them could be more than enough to kill a person–Heldion wasn't exactly a strong man either… The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Nonetheless, he looked at them from a distance until he spotted something that made him take a sudden step backwards. The young man hit his back against a wall, his heart beating rapidly, before realising that he had let his imagination take the better of him.

Some of these automatons had their outer shells, and one, with black hair and a chalk-white face, had made him think he was looking at the black and white clown for a moment, but no. It wasn't even a clown. What was meant to be its skin was simply the basic, unpainted outer layer. Heldion took a few moments to calm down. Ever since he had had a run-in with this monster, he had never stopped thinking about her.

She was part of his nightmares far too often, and his imagination would often imagine strange shadows and unusual sounds to be her. He didn't like to talk about it due to one specific detail he was fully intent on taking to the grave–But for some reason, while absolutely terrified of her, Heldion had also found himself weirdly interested in clown girls as well. He just couldn't shake it off, and he didn't understand why this was happening following such a traumatic experience with what was precisely a clown girl.

It was already unusual enough to be attracted to something so specific, but it was straight-up abnormal that it had only come into play after his encounter with the monster… The young mechanist shook his head and went back on track, walking away from this storage room, only to pass by Leton's office.

"... Why is it open? Did Master forget to close it today?" He had seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, so it wouldn't be too odd. Nonetheless, Heldion pushed the door open and flipped the switch on. The electrical light buzzed to life, showing an empty office. It looked like Leton had indeed just forgotten to close the door. The student's eyes looked around the room, eventually falling on one of the portraits mounted on the wall.

"Master's sister really was gorgeous…" He wasn't clear on the details, but as far as he was aware, she had simply disappeared more than twenty years ago, before he was even born. Nonetheless, he was certain that if she were still around today, she would still be beautiful even at her age. Leton did not often speak of her to him, but judging by the fact that he kept this portrait in the most prominent spot, on the most prominent wall–His master had to have been quite close to her. Heldion couldn't really relate.

He was an only child, but some of his friends had older sisters, and they didn't make it seem like it was a very good thing…

"Well, I should get going–Huh?" As he was about to leave, he noticed something in the corner of his vision. He spotted a tape, a creation of his master, but there was one problem. It was sitting on the desk, in a spot Heldion was certain had been empty a mere few seconds ago. Heldion looked around in confusion, but took a step forward, turning his head to read what was written on the side of the tape. WATCH ME, HELDION"... What the hell? Is this an elaborate prank or something?" He doubted it.

Only his master could come down here. Other people needed his authorisation, and Leton wasn't much of a jokester, not with his student, at least. Heldion was tempted to just walk away, but he felt inexplicably drawn to the tape, and before he could question it, he had already grabbed the tape. This thing felt inexplicably cold to the touch. It felt like a bad idea, but he couldn't stop himself. He found a tape player and television, as his master called it, and played the tape.

The start was only filled with white noise and grey haze, until a clear image appeared on screen. For a short moment, Heldion saw a full moon, but only shortly. It seemed like the video was recorded by a handheld camera, another one of his master's inventions, although one that had not yet been commercialised… So what was he looking at?

"Alright, this thing's working…" A voice came from the video, and Heldion frowned.

"This sounds like…" The camera turned, revealing that the person holding the camera wasn't alone. Several other boys, who all looked to be teenagers, were present. Heldion recognised them, how couldn't he? They were his friends. The camera spun around, framing the camera holder alongside all of the rest. The one holding the camera was Heldion himself, but he didn't remember any of this. He did recognise the place they were in, however.

This was the old Nebulo property, a place he and his friends had truly gone to, only during the day, and certainly without mechanical equipment that hadn't even been invented yet at the time.

"What the hell am I looking at…?"

"Alright… Today, we are going to be exploring the abandoned Nebulo property. There are rumours that after Leton Nebulo decided to leave, the place became haunted! Some people even say that some people disappeared because they entered it–Obviously, it is all bullshit, but Leton Nebulo's sister did go missing a long time ago, so it isn't improbable that she could be haunting the place!"

"There are also the parents, they both died inside the house""Right. I think I prefer if… Huh… What was her name again…?"

"Mara?"

"Yeah, I prefer if Mara Nebulo is haunting the place. Have you ever seen that portrait of her? She was hot as hell, and I had to choose. I prefer getting haunted by a hot ghost""Man, you really need to find yourself a girlfriend. It's getting concerning. Even ghosts now?"

"Shut up! I know you all think the same as me. Well, except you. I bet you prefer the mother""I prefer your mother""Oi!"

"Guys, stop bickering about female ghosts, this is all being recorded, you know?"

"We'll just remove this part… Anyway, let's get going. We were quite lucky last time with the decrepit farm. We were able to speak with the ghost. This time, let's try to do it even better!"

"The spirit of the farmer was quite the relaxed dude, but I would like to remind you guys that a ghost can be dangerous""Stop worrying, Heldion!"

"Let's get to exploring!"

"Oh, the back door is actually open""Sweet""Suspicious would be the better word…"

"Quiet down… Most ghosts don't like loud sounds""Right…" Heldion watched the tape attentively. Curious as to how this event that never happened would turn out.