Clockwork Bride

Adam then realized he had probably said the wrong thing. He suddenly remembered that Karen, ever since college, seemed to have been most averse to words like DNA processing, racial modification, and customized babies.

"Do you think sleeping with someone makes you more mature? Don't you have any realistic ideas like future planning and retirement savings?! I don't need to get married! As long as I plan well for my old age and make enough money, I won't need to get married even if I live to be four hundred!"

This is a huge problem.

If Hayden was merely drunk and rambling at the wedding, not truly ruining the atmosphere, then Karen's words completely negated the wedding itself. Moreover, she was a representative sent by the company's HR department to the wedding; what did her words imply?

Several guests, and even Adam's parents-in-law, couldn't help but change their expressions.

No secrets stay hidden forever. It won't be long before this wedding farce is on the entertainment news front. But as company employees, they can't just intervene and directly stop Karen, the representative of the HR department.

"Nonsense! What's wrong with wanting to get married?"

Therefore, at this moment, only a drunk Hayden could deliver a powerful rebuttal to Karen.

"Have you never returned to your cold, empty home alone, feeling like it's just a cold 'nest' without anyone else? Have you never been lying in bed with a cold and fever, wishing someone could help you? Have you never experienced how terrifying it is to be in complete silence, with no one to speak? At times like these, just having someone to talk to makes all the difference!"

In his drunken stupor, he raised a finger high and loudly proclaimed,

"Open your eyes wide and wait! I'm going to show you what the ideal artificial wife is like!!"

002: Deus Ex

Before the wedding banquet ended, Karen, having calmed down and realizing she had caused a mess, slunk away. She had attended the wedding representing the company's HR department to express the department's stance, but instead, she had lost her temper and swaggered, shouting a string of things that denied the marriage. She was sure to face some trouble when she returned to the company.

Fortunately, Karen is an elf, and her parents are high-ranking officials in the human resources department of the Mitra Corporation. In any case, she wouldn't be fired for something like this.

As for Hayden, well, he never cared what the company's upper echelons thought of him anyway. In fact, they only ever saw him as an inferior person. And with Karen's outburst and inappropriate remarks, nobody cared anymore about what crazy things Hayden had just said.

Why would a superior person care about the drunken ramblings of a inferior person?

"Uh, sorry for the trouble."

However, Hayden wasn't ungrateful. After being pulled outside the banquet hall, he immediately realized he had caused trouble and quickly apologized to his old classmate.

“I can handle this. Besides, the one who’s really causing trouble is Karen. Your drunken ramblings are actually quite amusing to some customers. As advertising, it’s good for business.”

Adam didn't take this seriously and instead asked another question.

"You really don't plan to order a cyborg? Consider it an advertising fee for today's farce, and I can give it to you at cost price."

But Hayden immediately shook his head: "Prematurely growing genetically modified babies and then brainwashing them? That's disgusting, not my cup of tea."

"So what exactly are you planning to do? Just like Karen said, even with today's advanced arcane technology, we still can't create an AI with at least human-level emotions and intelligence."

Adam looked puzzled upon hearing this.

"Magic isn't omnipotent either. The most practical strong artificial intelligence right now is to directly use the blank soul of a human fertilized egg. No matter how talented you are, you can't overcome this challenge on your own."

His words were not without reason.

However, perhaps because he wasn't fully sober, Hayden immediately scoffed and said arrogantly, "You, a guy who just graduated and went straight to being a salesman, dare to talk to me about this? I'll throw you a question from a required freshman course, and you probably still can't do it!"

"Why do we love magic? Because magic is the power to grant wishes! No matter what academia says, the essence of magic is ultimately 'what I want to achieve'! Let those self-limiting losers eat shit!"

Adam wasn't angry at his drunken ramblings; instead, he became more and more curious: "What else are you hiding? Are you hoping for some mysterious technology to fall from the sky for you?"

Hayden didn't answer, but just smiled mysteriously: "You'll find out soon enough."

He waved casually and turned to go home.

“Hayden, I am now the deputy manager of the business department and the new project manager of Mitra Group in New Seattle. I will be building my own team.”

Adam spoke up from behind him.

"Would you like to work for me? I can offer you at least a five-figure monthly salary. Plus, having a stable job at a big company will make it easier for you to find a girlfriend."

Wow, a five-figure monthly salary, that sounds really good. The average working person in New York City only earns about two thousand a month.

"A square nail can't be driven into a round hole; forcing it in will only cause problems."

But Hayden refused.

"I am a free man like the wind, and I am not suited to the 996 lifestyle of clocking in every day."

He raised his hand and simply uttered the word "ventus." A single word, and the magic took effect instantly. Hayden's body disintegrated into a gust of wind composed of trillions of tiny molecules, drifting out of the wedding venue and into the light rain of New Seattle that night.

"If I hadn't known he simply couldn't afford the cost of the teleportation spell,"

Watching him vanish into the wind, Adam couldn't help but mutter to himself.

“I really think his trick is very fashionable.”

----------------------

Hayden, transformed into the wind, weaved through the skyscraper jungle of downtown New Seattle, bypassing the busy flying taxis, soaring over the new Space Needle that reached the sky, and passing through the high-rise apartment buildings that looked down on the ant-like masses, all the way to his own home.

As he crossed the city's boundary, the scenery around him changed abruptly. The buildings along the road suddenly appeared shorter, as if New Jersey, this emerald city, this elegant giant, had been severed at the knee.

The differences in the landscape between different areas of New Jersey are a microcosm of the class differences in this world.

The city center is a well-maintained, modern district with towering skyscrapers, beautiful parks, and comprehensive public services. The mansions of the wealthy and powerful sit on hillsides, creating a serene, poetic atmosphere. Neon lights, seemingly wanting to flaunt their excess magic, illuminate the city all night, adding immeasurable glamour to this technological hub of the American Federation.

However, the situation in other parts of the city was not so optimistic. It was clearly poorer and more dangerous, with ugly and shabby buildings lining the streets, mostly low-rise townhouses covered in graffiti. The streets were dimly lit at night, streetwalkers lingered in the shadows beside the streetlights, poisonous insects huddled in doorways, and fat rats jumped out of half-open garbage cans and scurried into the stinking ditch on the other side of the road.

This is the Bay Area of ​​New Seattle, one of the city's lowest-end, most dilapidated areas, barely better than a true slum. Walking in such a place takes considerable courage, not to mention the dangers of living here. Yet Hayden's house is in this area. Partly, this is because someone like him, completely independent and without any connections, simply couldn't afford a decent house. Partly, it's because the Bay Area has a principle absent in many parts of New Seattle: "If you don't mess with me, I won't mess with you (unless someone is worth it)."

So Hayden's doghouse for the past five years had always been here—a very ordinary, fenced-in single-story house with one bedroom, one living room, a kitchen, and a storage room. The living room was quite spacious, the single bedroom had an ensuite bathroom, and Hayden had converted the basement storage room into a magic workshop, which was quite comfortable for a solitary life. The low-level laborers and gang thugs living nearby knew not to mess with him, or they would be turned into frogs.

As Hayden, transformed into the wind, flew to his doorstep, the magic dissipated. He immediately felt his tiny molecules suddenly coalesce, rapidly combining into a cohesive form. It was incredibly painful, and made Hayden, who had drunk too much, feel nauseous. While flying as wind seemed fashionable, it was actually very uncomfortable. Transforming oneself into wind was more troublesome than normal flight, because when you fly, at least you can see things and know where you are. But what about when you're wind? Each of your tiny molecules has its own perspective, which the human brain simply cannot process properly; it can only roughly estimate where you seem to have flown.

However, magic that truly tears through space for teleportation is extremely expensive, requiring an astonishing amount of magical power, generally affordable only to the upper class. Therefore, poor mages can only transform themselves into wind or a stream of energy, moving at high speed for a distance before transforming back. This technique is very difficult, few people possess it, it's uncomfortable, carries the risk of accidents, and isn't as fast as teleportation. The only advantage is its low energy consumption and the fact that it is indeed slightly faster than regular personal flight spells.

However, Hayden forcibly suppressed his nausea. He slipped through his house's defensive barrier, entered the house, took off his evening suit, and wore only shorts and a t-shirt. He stretched to relieve the stiffness in his muscles before heading towards his magic workshop.

If Karen or Adam saw the scene in his studio, they would be astonished.

Because on the control panel in the center of this basement, there lay a mechanical doll in the shape of a young girl!

Its appearance resembled that of a human female around eighteen years old. It lay supine on the operating table with its eyes closed, showing no sign of moving. It had long, pearl-colored hair, a beautiful face that was symmetrical and flawless, delicate and silky white skin, and a slender waist that accentuated its full breasts. Its perfectly proportioned and well-proportioned body possessed a certain inhuman beauty.

Of course, since it is not human.

Beneath this soft nano-skin, there is no flesh or blood, but rather it is composed of hundreds of millions of gears of various sizes, artificial fibers, superconducting simulated nerves, reinforced silicone, carbide ceramic alloys, springs, alchemical circulating fluids, and many other components.

"Hahahaha! Those two idiots! They never imagined—I started building my own wind-up waifu a year ago!"

Slurring his breath, Hayden walked to the control panel, raised his head, and burst into loud laughter.

"Hahahaha! Adam! What makes you think I dare to spout nonsense at your wedding? It's because I'm just one step away from winning you over!"

Anyone else who heard this would probably just think he's an idiot. If Hayden hadn't been drunk, he certainly wouldn't have said such nonsense.

But then again, why did he start building this wind-up mechanical doll a year ago?

The reason is actually quite simple.

One day a year ago, Hayden suddenly realized that if things continued this way, he had a high chance of growing old alone.

Hayden is already twenty-nine years old, but he's never even been in a relationship. He's tried dating, matchmaking, and online dating, but what was the result? Every time he went, he found himself facing a bunch of weirdos, ranging from goblins to cyclops, making Hayden wonder if he'd wandered into a dungeon in the wilderness.

Of course, Hayden did try at first. Maybe the Cyclops, despite his enormous size, is a good kid at heart? Maybe the Orc, despite his terrifying appearance, has a side that enjoys gardening? Perhaps a womanizer who's juggling eight men will transform into a virtuous woman after meeting him?

But such a good thing simply doesn't happen in reality! Damn it!

Perhaps there are gentle and considerate girls in this world who don't pursue upward social mobility and are willing to live a leisurely and free life with him, but the chances of encountering one are probably about the same as being hit by a shooting star. The possibility of encountering a bad woman is obviously much greater.

So after simulating his life at thirty, forty, fifty, and even further into the future, Hayden finally realized that if he continued like this, the only outcome would be an extremely lonely and unfulfilling life.

Even if he lives to old age, he will only have a hospital bed to keep him company, with no one to visit him, and he will be completely cut off from the word "happiness." He can only die in unimaginable pain, when his tears have long since dried up and he can no longer even utter a cry of anguish.

A year ago, when he realized just how terrifying this was, Hayden finally felt a profound shock and dread. That's why he made up his mind a year ago to create the perfect Clockwork Bride, even if it meant spending all his savings—because things couldn't go on like this!

Dating costs money, and marriage costs even more. You might not even recoup your investment, and there's a real chance a bad woman will run off with it all. So, since you're going to be spending money anyway, why not take a big gamble?

And so, he began his "Clockwork Bride" project.

As Karen previously stated, it's not difficult to "just want a talking robot to fly x cup".

Two hundred years ago, Thomas Edison, the inventor, created the first wind-up mechanical doll, resembling a human in appearance and movement, in an attempt to create a companion that could embody "ideal love." However, this wind-up doll was ultimately heartless. Despite its human-like appearance and behavior, it merely mimicked human actions using a rolling pin, simulating a certain degree of emotional expression. Lacking self and soul, it could not, naturally, embody the ideal love the inventor envisioned.

Thomas Edison's dream may have been shattered, but the technology of wind-up robots has not been lost. Over the past two centuries, robot technology has been improved generation after generation, and software technology has seen leaps and bounds. Today, many companies sell humanoid robots, ranging from priceless custom-made wind-up idols to domestic helpers that even the middle class can afford... Of course, there are also courtesan robots used in the legal sex industry.

That said, they are ultimately nothing more than machines that simulate humanity using pre-programmed procedures and emotional engines. Although they possess intelligence capable of passing the old-fashioned Turing test, they are essentially philosophical zombies. Most consumers don't see anything wrong with this. Many people are content with simply having a pet at home that can talk, help with housework, and even wiggle its back.

But Hayden didn't want that kind of thing.

He wants an ideal wife! Just like the dream of the great inventor Thomas Edison two hundred years ago!

However, even if the body can be done as long as money is spent, what about the mind?

Hayden couldn't possibly design groundbreaking strong artificial intelligence independently. He's not even in that field, and even if he were, he couldn't have done it alone. His major in university was arcane magic, and his graduation thesis was on ancient magic—which sounds trendy, but ancient magic is something obsolete in modern arcane magic. The world of magic changes rapidly; modern arcane mages are far more advanced than mages of a thousand years ago.

Can something backward defeat something advanced? Is something that is eliminated necessarily better?

That's impossible.

Even though Hayden disliked those mega-corporations, he admitted that only large companies had the most advanced technology.

However, while Hayden doesn't possess the boundless power of a large corporation, he has many tricks up his sleeve. For every task he can accomplish, he has roughly five different ways to do it, just as he can fly as the wind instead of teleporting, even though he doesn't have enough magic to directly tear through space.

So Hayden had indeed considered a fallback option: ordering a high-level blank AI and nurturing it from scratch, which might barely meet his needs. Similar to Adam's idea, directly using the consciousness of a living person to drive a mechanical puppet was indeed a backup plan, but where would he find an ideal soul? Moreover, even if he did do that, due to the difference between a physical body and a machine, success wasn't guaranteed.

Ultimately, a living person is a living person, and a machine is a machine. That's common sense.

But today, probably because he drank too much, and also because of what everyone had said before, Hayden has come up with a new, clever, and opportunistic way to exploit loopholes.

Isn't magic the power to grant wishes?

Hayden reached around the back of the doll's neck, inserted the platinum wind-up key into the spring hole behind the white hair, and turned it three times. The magic furnace deep within its chest immediately began to operate, infusing the entire mechanical body with energy. With an almost silent low-frequency sound, the nano-runes emitted a bright green halo, indicating that the machine was ready to start.

Having a body and energy, the only thing this doll currently lacks is a soul.

But no one knew how to create a soul, and Hayden was no exception.

So he's going to do something crazy.

"What? Adam, what did you say? I'm 'hoping for some mysterious technology to fall from the sky'? Very well! Adam, I'll tell you!"

Under the influence of alcohol, Hayden, rambling incoherently, grabbed the staff that was lying in the corner.

"Anyone with a dream is amazing! I can even fly a plane after drinking! Today, I'm just begging God to grant me an aphrodisiac!"

He brandished his ash wood staff and, in his drunken stupor, shouted:

"elelohimelohoelohimsebaoth! elioniechadiereiechadonai!"

"World, world! Listen to my wish!"

As an expert in ancient magic, he was skilled enough to chant spells fluently even when drunk—at least until he made a wish.

"I wish that this doll may find a soul that loves me, loves me, especially loves me, uh, can't love anyone else, loves me unconditionally, builds a family for me, and loves me—!"

The effects of mixing those expensive liquors at the wedding banquet were considerable; their magic still lingered in Hayden's blood, making his wishes incoherent and clearly indicating he was drunk.

But the magic still worked.

If someone were to ask Hayden, when he's not drunk, what kind of magic is this? Hayden would tell him that it's the oldest and most primitive magic in the world. It's the magic from ancient legends—making a wish upon a magic lamp, entrusting one's dreams to a miracle, conjuring up wealth from a treasure bowl, and having a fairy conjure up a pumpkin carriage and glass slippers.

The most primitive form of magic is actually the power to grant wishes.

Sounds amazing, right? But in reality, because primitive magic is so primitive and chaotic, it's impossible to determine whether it will work or in what way. Its success rate is as low as a miracle.

One in a million? One in ten million? Or perhaps one in a hundred million? What exactly is the probability of using this primitive magic to fulfill one's wish? Because it cannot be effectively measured, no one knows for sure.

Therefore, in ancient times, there were very few people who could perform magic, and they were worshipped as gods by others.

Today, modern arcane magic allows even those without magical knowledge (theoretically) to enjoy the benefits of modern technology. Those unfamiliar with magical techniques can use magical items and download simple spells online. As a result, primitive magic has become obsolete. With modern technology, who needs to gamble everything on completely unknown miracles?

Therefore, almost no one in this era believes in these most primitive forms of magic anymore. They have become mere superstition, like the superstition of placing certain items next to your phone before drawing cards in a game to increase your success rate.

If Hayden hadn't drunk too much high-quality wine rich in magic at the wedding banquet today, if he hadn't thought of the phrase "magic is the power to grant wishes," if Adam hadn't just told him about "hoping for magical technology to fall from the sky"... then he probably wouldn't have tried to cast this most primitive and ancient magic.

"Watch me pull a miracle with a single pull!"

He was even rambling incoherently while making his wish.

But the magic still worked, and it was more powerful than any spell Hayden had ever cast in his life. The surge of magic shattered the staff in his hand. The shock, like a massive hammer blow, made his veins bulge, his body contort, and like a tidal wave, it drained his life force, leaving him feeling cold all over. The pain from over-casting raged, and the vital signs monitor on Hayden's wrist immediately reported nervous system disorder, rapid heartbeat, and rising blood pressure.

A mind-numbing sense of omnipotence.

A chilling sense of happiness.

He is looking at things he shouldn't look at, and listening to things he shouldn't listen to.

The surging magic flowed through the room. A blind, chaotic, indescribable color, far beyond the realm of reason, erupted with hurricane-like force, scattering everything in its path. A frenzied, bizarre roar shattered countless bottles and jars around them. Hayden, having exhausted all his magic, could only struggle to withstand the onslaught.