Lotte's Pov:

Wow...
What a disaster.
Who could have ever imagined this machine could produce this kind of power.
Though, I never imagined it being so dangerous for the person inside it.

Prototype 3.

Amongst most of the Prototypes found in old ancient cities.
This was probably the most intriguing one.

Having an age of around 200 year's old after its construction it was maintained and passed around to many houses in other countries aside from Havel.

Left and right, unable to comprehend its capability or unlock its secrets.
Later on, it was passed down to my family due to my ancestors who carried interest in it.
But later found it being a worthless heap of junk that no one can use.

It was then placed in the academy as decoration to cater to new students into joining our faction of Alchemy and Mechanical studies.

Most sorcerers in the past who took a look at it was intrigued by it...
Sadly, the best they could do was make pieces and it's parts move.

But in this generation of my house.
We deciphered its cryptic secrets by tapping into its magical lines and tracking it.
We found it had other functions and its use.
Though we had another problem.
No sorcerer in this age is capable of using it.
The reason is the existence of Ark-Seals made sorcerers completely obsolete.

Most of them are book worms who don't have a heap of interest in being a pilot.
Or even dare to try using it just to give it a go...

Those who can use magic doesn't even understand the structure of the inner workings of the spell.

Resulting in them being unable to properly control the machine.
Only moving only its legs or its arms one at a time causing them to crash instantly on the get-go...
We even altered a bit of its magical structure and made it an Arcane Machine capable of using Ark-seals.

It was an innovative design that will surely rock the world of these giant machines.

If only we had a pilot!

Sadly, the truth was painful.
None of these folks were capable of controlling it properly, we will need to train one ourselves.

Why did I not interact with the Blue Sphere Faction?

Obviously, such a house of study is quite prideful and greedy.
They will likely pursue to mass-produce the machine and try to present it to the king claiming the whole reputation for themselves.

"Like hell, I'll let them have this kind of power!
I prefer to make them kneel in front of me and beg me to give me all they have!

Maybe, just maybe...
I'll share a bit of glory to them."

But still...

I felt like, I've invested in a pointless Endeavour and just had to accept and cut losses.
It was shelved back into the academy as a decor due to its complication.

It was such a huge damn shame...

But it's not like a novice within this academy.
Who has a deep understanding of magic will show up in my doorstep.
At best, I can just try and have them test it out by having them move its limbs in hopes of making them interested enough to train themselves to actually use it.

The funny thing about that...
This girl knew only as Talie just broke everything I had called common sense.

A rumored girl who can use magic at 9...
Who is now 12 years old.
Was moving every part of the machine.
At the same damn time!?

I grinned and laughed as I saw that...
That was the first time I laughed out loud like a madwoman that even my own daughter was shocked to see me like that, "Mom, what's wrong!" while crying in worry for me.

But for now, I didn't want to rush it.
Talie is a special case...

I have already made moves to claim her under my wing.
Everything was locked into place.
There was nothing stopping me, but then she brought another one.

Her sibling known as Tori.

This lass...
Is...
Incomprehensible...

When I thought Talie was an anomaly.
This lass was a completely different being.

I used a tiny drone to spy on her twin.
It was the size of a small robot the size of a tiny bug that hovered in mid-air.

Mostly my personnel doesn't know about it.
Usually, I only try to do this thing when I find a newcomer who might slack off on the job and scare his ass off by telling him what I have seen.

But this time it was for her twin.
I was completely curious about what she can do...

I recently sent her to clean up my desk where the Arcane machine was stationed.
It's currently in a messy and I don't really feel like cleaning up after gathering this much results within a day.

However, something was completely off when she said...

"I see, a machine capable of manipulating magic.
But it looks awfully flawed."

Were her words  I first heard after I sent in the drone.
I slowly closed in,

To see if she was reading the deciphered text about to machine.
Because it completely puzzled me.

The translated text about the machine should be well hidden in a file cabinet within my private office. There was no way in this world I would leave it dangling around in an open like that!?
That's basically secret information about the machine that shouldn't openly be read due to certain circumstances around it.

Though, what the golem saw wasn't her reading the translated text at all.
She was reading directly the ancient encrypted text!
That was left lying around on my desk.

Normally I would have tucked it away with the folder but I was still scanning it...
If it still carried some hidden secrets and other things that we may have missed.

But that's not the problem right now...

Right now I was flabbergasted.

"Are you joking me?" I said while observing her.
That took years of decrypting and your reading it like that!?
My eyes were glued to the screen as she continued to speak.

"Project Ardent
Ar-cane
De-rivative
N-erve
T-est

A machine capable of using magic.

It requires a being known as a golem to allow objects to use magic.

Using human consciousness to control the golem's body.
The Ai or Golem mind can produce the necessary magic in order to have the machine produce the necessary magic for combat.

However...
A huge flaw is found.
The machine is incapable of common sense.
Acting as programmed it fails to understand circumstances...
Causing catastrophes where it doesn't realize its own existence is in danger.

Perhaps in certain emergencies should the city be put at risk we fear that we are forced to use this.
Giant monsters that are presently causing havoc across the land, this thing might be our only hope or our greatest demise.

What we are probably afraid of most is probably...
It's technically capable of destroying the country and self-destructing in one fell swoop if we got careless with it.

Hence this project was swiftly pushed to a close due to the damage it had caused the last testing.
I pray for those who were accidentally obliterated by this accursed thing by using fire magic during testing its magical capability...

If someone out there found this machine and seeks to use this...
I'll simply say this now, but...
AI improvement is a must.

I beg none can find this heap of junk and use it for war.
That's just insanity at this point."

She then began laughing at the text with dry laughter showing a wry smile.

...

The funny thing was...
That was completely written on the deciphered text.
As I pulled out the drawer where I kept the damn notes...

[Another man's trash is another man's treasure as they say...
We had hoped to improve the AI and use the thing for conquering specific islands.]

But that is not the issue here...

AS OF NOW!

I felt my common sense fell off gazing at this young child wishing it was all just a dream of mine.
I dropped the hot coffee in my hand into my head and suffered while falling in my chair in complete confusion and pain.

I was hoping this was just a dream of mine and I was just hallucinating.

Reality check: IT BURNS!.
AND ITS STILL REAL!

A 12-year-old child just read an ancient text from 200 years ago...
 Am I going insane is this even reality!

I shook my head and took a short shower...
Then went to bed.

Later that day I went to confront Tori...
I asked her a simple question.
"Can you read ancient text?"

She shook her head in response.

"How can a child like me!
Read such a thing!?"

She cried out in complete denial.
But my eyes were in complete denial as well and simply said.

"Yeah...
How can that possibly happen." I said in a monotone voice while walking away.
We both had a burst of dry laughter...

Even if I try to tell the truth to my co-workers.
I doubt they would believe me.
And If I told them about how I spy on them from time to time.
They might get angry about breaking their privacy.

So yeah... let's forget the fact this ever happened.

As for the weapon test...
We lowered the amount of magical energy it was capable of...
It had Five Mana-Battery Cores inside of it.

That is pretty much enough to power up an airship for a few years.
However, this machine uses Mana as a power source.
Using the mana in the air and its own core it amplifies the power of the spell to greater heights.

But we reduced its ability by 3/4 of what it was capable of...
We didn't want to lose precious personnel when we start testing this thing regarded as accursed designed ability.

 Talie should be safe.

That is...
If our calculation were correct.
As I gaze upon her cockpit currently frozen unable to open.
My men had to use a few small explosives for breaching the cockpit and forcibly open the hatch.

Though when we finally got her out of the damn thing she took a few broken bones and was unfortunately knocked unconscious...

I'm going to get a scolding from her, aren't I?
(Oh well, sacrifices must be made to gain results.)

I should give her a raise from this incident and make more improvements in the machine.
-Was what I deeply thought.

________________________________________________________________________________

Tori's Pov:

Woah...
Never expected it to be that powerful.
Isn't this kind of power capable of destroying an airship single-handedly?

Though, they weren't really kidding about that AI...
I almost feel sorry for Talie.

But one of us has to be inside that thing.
And there was no way it's going to be me.

I  didn't want to be near that giant thing after reading the details about it lying around.
When Lotte tried to get me inside that thing, I refused with great fervor.

She then decided to send me into another machine she claims that is different from what Talie had used...

Undoubtedly it was different it was half the size of Talie's but I was still suspicious of it.

"Now, now...
Aren't you interested in how these machines that use magic actually work?"

Undoubtedly I was curious.

"IF you do this, I'll give a bonus next salary."

I turn to her and said with a thumbs up.

"Deal."

It was way more fun than I imagined...
Utilizing magic to transfer one's consciousness into an object.
How come no one invented this sooner!

I felt HUGE, the trees were the same height as I am and I was pretty felt alive.

"Wahahaha! "

"Fear me tiny creatures of the forest.
I am Giant Now!"

Of course, I disabled the magic that transferred my voice over to Talie and the others.
There was no way, I would let someone hear me say these words.

That would be seriously embarrassing.

With every step, I saw tiny creatures such as birds/animals like deer's in the surrounding.
Though, I was pretty sure they were running from the sound of the machine and not from me.

Right? Right?

But... after a while...
It quickly broke down faster than I expected.

It was unexpectedly short-lived.
The feeling of being taller than everyone else.
But Talie machine was bigger.
There was no way I'm going to ride it though.

After being picked up by a hovering vehicle...
Talie was soon about to try using its weapons.

[This isn't going to end well.]

After asking questions to Lotte in worry.
She then said the machine power was reduced to 3/4 of what it regularly had...

[That was kinda big.
I guess it can be presumed to be safe if that was the case.

Hey wait... how did she know what I wanted to ask her!?

I shook my head trying to forget about the day she confronted me.
I felt worried but she didn't seem to pursue the fact I've actually read the ancient texts.

Suspiciously I gazed at her,
How did she even know about it unless she was watching me at the time!
I didn't even sense anyone's presence at the time that's scary you know!.]

(It was then at this point,
I told myself to not recklessly read things out loud all because I can read them.)

After observing her from the camera inside the machine,
The voices within the machine can be heard from a screen with her voice echoing from it.

"Let's test out its weapons," Lotte said.

『How exactly do I use the weapon?』

"Give us a moment, I'm reading the commands required for it."

She pulled out a folder full of text as she scanned it with focus flipping its pages until she found what she was looking for...

"Ah, it appears there's an Ai inside it."

『AI?』

"It's the machine that possesses consciousness.
It's experimental and quite versatile...

Try calling it out by saying.

Activate: Ark AI."

『Activate: Ark AI.』

Command Accepted.
Activating Ai.

-System Nominal.-

"Ah, you must be my master.
A pleasure to meet you, I am Ardent."

『Ardent?』

"Yes, that was the name specified for my creation.
What do you seek my lady?"

[Heh... calling Talie a lady.
That's something new every day.]

『I think you should refrain from calling me that.』

"Then would you prefer the name little girl or mini-master."

When I heard it said that, I could help but felt angry at it.
After all both Talie and I had the same color, height, and sizes.
The only thing different was our personality.

It then made witty comments about how she's angry and flustered.
They were seriously not kidding about it not being capable of reading the air.

Finally, they soon moved to the topic of using the weapon.

『Well then... Ardent,
Please use what weapon we have on that rock over there.』

It was then the beginning of her catastrophe has begun...
never did I ever imagined that Talie would be pushed into such a state.

The machine ejected her out behind its metal hood.

It appeared as a metal pod that soon made a terrible landing unto a rock and bounced a bit before finally stopping in the muddy part of the forest.

But the steaming air of heat and steam was coming right out of it.

"Is she alright?"

The answer: She wasn't.

Taking a few broken bones from her ribs, right leg and left arm.
Paired with a concussion, that was undoubted quite a terrible scenario.

Thank goodness I wasn't the one to test that thing.

She was soon moved to the med-bay where they patched her up.

...

...

...

Location: Med Bay.
Baster's Pov:

Arcane Machines.
In the game, they weren't the main focus of the story.
Mostly they are shown in a text derived RNG generator where there's a chance they break down or starts malfunctioning at times they blow up if you continue taking too much risk.

We are given options whether we retreat for repairs or continue exploring to find the Ruins to explore the hidden dungeons of the islands.

Then we are given a choice while exploring...
Sometimes monsters attack while we are on foot and a few of our companions are left behind to watch over us during our journey.

It was quite a well-planned mechanic of the Developers that made it seem like a real circumstance where staying for too long in a hostile island is a real risk.

Of course, we do have the option of taking out the giant monster first.
So the timer disappears altogether, but it's so RNGish that it is quite annoying that your companion dies because your machine couldn't handle its attack instantly deleting them from your scenario due to BAD LUCK!

Which is why you use fodder characters you deem useless as your representative for this...
Mostly I sent out most husbando to their demise ha!-ha!-ha!-ha!.

But there is also an option to not kill the monster.

You are instead given a Timer where giant monsters are lurking and hunting the mechs.
Stay for longer and risk one of your mechs from being attacked by one these monsters for more loot and treasure.

Or Retreat for now and return after repairing the machines.

It was an annoying mechanic but quite satisfying to have aswell...

So yeah, they were still vital to the story but not the main topic.
Air-ships are mostly the Heart since you can't get anywhere without it.

Though...

In the game, there wasn't a mech that can use Ark-seals.
This feels like a completely hidden event that the twins uncovered.

I feel both happy and afraid of what is to come from this unknown DLC that wasn't featured in the game.

Mostly...
The text from Shelly's workshop is...

[An old piece of junk maintained by the Arkwright family.
Unusable and still under-development.]

 I feel like this was supposedly for a sequel of the story.
Too bad I wasn't alive to experience it.

Baster then turned to Talie where Tori was sitting and watching over her, she was secretly checking up on her when the doctors and healers went away.

The med bay has an automatic healing field around the place.
So I'm sure...
 She will be fine, even without her help.

But she was a bit worried that they did a sloppy job and decided to use a bit of her power to check up on her recovery.

It was then Talie's eyes slowly opened and groaned.
The first words she said was...

"Fuck you, Ardent..." she said with disdain.

Which both Tori and I could only give a wry smile in response.