Takatsuki's purpose in seeking Aozaki Touko was not to purchase her finished products, but to learn how to create bodies that could accommodate souls. Although the Honkai Impact 3rd world had very powerful cloning and genetic technology, Takatsuki always felt that it had flaws.
This could be seen from Otto's desperate attempts to retrieve Kallen's soul and resurrect her, all of which failed.
Of course, it could also be because this was simply how the world was set up.
"I won't teach."
Aozaki Touko had originally thought that two customers had come to buy prosthetics, but she didn't expect them to express their intention to become her disciples as soon as they arrived. What a joke, who was she!?
She was the only one in this world who could become a Grand Master Puppeteer, designated by the Association as a Sealed Designation, through her puppetry skills!
Aozaki Touko directly refused Takatsuki's request, not even asking for a price, and reached out to take off the glasses on her face.
Hoo!
Aozaki Touko's eyes widened as she watched the index finger pressing down on the frame of the glasses on her nose.
"Miss Aozaki Touko, I think it's better if we talk like this."
Takatsuki held Aozaki Touko's glasses, preventing her from taking them off, because he knew that Aozaki Touko had a dual personality. With her glasses on, she was more humane and easier to talk to, while taking them off would make her extremely rational and objective. Wearing glasses was the switch for her personality. Aozaki Touko usually used her glasses-off persona to refuse people.
However, Aozaki Touko seemed to have misunderstood something.
"Do you think Mystic Eyes are my only trump card?"
Although Aozaki Touko was surprised by Takatsuki's speed, she wasn't worried about the strength Takatsuki showed. On one hand, she was confident in her own strength, and on the other hand, she was confident in her life-saving abilities.
"Please don't misunderstand, I just want to talk to the more agreeable Miss Aozaki Touko. If you take off your glasses, there's no way we can continue this conversation."
Takatsuki's words instantly startled Aozaki Touko; it was the first time she had encountered someone who saw through her little trick.
Because switching personalities wasn't very meaningful to others, it hadn't been noticed by anyone else.
"You even know about this. It seems you've investigated thoroughly."
After Takatsuki finished speaking, he withdrew his hand, but Aozaki Touko didn't continue to take off her glasses, because she knew that as long as she made a move, the man in front of her would be able to stop her again.
Moreover…
Not taking off her glasses didn't significantly affect her strength. Although the glasses, named Mystic Eye Killer, prevented her Mystic Eyes from functioning, as she said, Aozaki Touko's biggest trump card was the large number of combat puppets hidden within this Magic Workshop.
Of course, her own strength should not be underestimated. She had Magic Crests she had plundered, and she had even reconstructed Rune Magecraft. Both were very powerful abilities.
"Of course. Miss Aozaki Touko, I wonder if you'd be willing to give me a chance?"
Perhaps Takatsuki's displayed strength had piqued Aozaki Touko's interest slightly.
"Then, tell me, how do you plan to convince the current me?"
If it were the purely objective Aozaki Touko, she would probably refuse without hesitation, but the subjective her was willing to listen to Takatsuki's reasons.
Without concealment, he directly poured out several boxes from his Gate of Babylon and placed them directly on the table in front of Aozaki Touko.
With a click, several boxes opened simultaneously, revealing neatly stacked cash, gold, and gems inside.
"Oh~ I didn't realize you were quite wealthy."
Aozaki Touko picked up a gem and felt the magical energy within it.
"These are indeed considerable riches, but I'm not short on money right now."
This was a lie; no magus would dare to say they weren't short on money.
Because magical research was inherently a bottomless pit.
Saying she wasn't short on money was only because Aozaki Touko's personal debts had been repaid. With her abilities, even under a Sealed Designation, she could easily earn large sums of money.
These riches could buy puppets, but for learning?
Forget it.
"I naturally didn't think that a little money would be enough to learn the Grand Master puppetry."
Takatsuki naturally didn't think that a little money could buy Grand Master puppetry. He was just using this money as an opening. Anyway, it wasn't worth much to him. If the system wasn't sealed right now, he would draw a mountain of gold.
"This is just a greeting gift."
Takatsuki made a gesture for her to help herself. After a brief surprise, Aozaki Touko showed a slight smile.
"Your name is Takatsuki. I'm somewhat impressed by you. Since you say so, I won't be polite."
Aozaki Touko was not polite either, directly accepting all the boxes of wealth, but her attitude was indeed better than before.
However, she was soon attracted by another item that appeared in Takatsuki's hand.
"Is this a gem?"
Aozaki Touko looked at the red gem in Takatsuki's hand. It seemed nothing special, but Takatsuki held it separately. She naturally knew this gem was different from the others.
However, she felt a magical energy fluctuation, and soon she understood the origin of this magical energy fluctuation.
"Is this a projected gem? Can Projection Magecraft reach this level?"
Ordinary Projection Magecraft usually projected things that were obviously fake at a glance, but this one...
It was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Yes, this is my special Projection Magecraft. It can even project a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm, but it can't be taught to others. What I want you to see is this gem, named Red Stone of Aja. Its original body is no longer here, but even a replica has the same effect."
Takatsuki held up the projected Red Stone of Aja in his hand and placed it in the sunlight shining through the window. The sunlight shone on it, forming a light spot that refracted onto a nearby chair.
And within a few seconds, the chair began to smoke.
"The original body of this gem is a pure natural ruby. Because of its special internal structure, it can reflect sunlight hundreds of millions of times, strengthening it to this extent. And this is just an egg-sized gem. I think its structure should be very valuable for Miss Aozaki Touko, who is researching the accumulated Mystic Eyes."
After speaking, Takatsuki directly threw the projected Red Stone of Aja to Aozaki Touko, who subconsciously caught it.
To be honest, Takatsuki's suggestion had somewhat moved her.
Aozaki Touko had innate Mystic Eyes, but their effect wasn't very strong. She used a magical modification method to create Mystic Eyes within her Mystic Eyes to reflect and superimpose them, strengthening them.
However, the intensity was still limited, and she wasn't satisfied. She had been researching how to further strengthen them.
She hadn't yet reached the point later where she constructed more than twenty lenses within her Mystic Eyes to improve accuracy.
But seeing the Red Stone of Aja in her hand, she instantly realized that if she could achieve something like the Red Stone of Aja...
No, it didn't need to be hundreds of millions of times; as long as it could reflect hundreds of times, then it wasn't impossible for her Mystic Eyes to reach the Rainbow rank.
"..." Looking at Takatsuki, who had directly handed her the Red Stone of Aja, Aozaki Touko was silent for a moment before letting out a long breath: "This is indeed very useful to me, but this alone is not enough."
"Then what kind of price do you think would be enough?"
No price would be enough. How could Aozaki Touko, who hadn't even taught her only disciple puppetry, directly teach someone she had just met? That would be too cheap.
However, she also saw the other party's sincerity.
She glanced at Durandal, who was standing behind her in a black suit and a hip-hugging skirt.
Takatsuki's introduction was that she was his wife, and the other party also seemed to follow Takatsuki's actions. No matter what Takatsuki did, she didn't say anything, and Aozaki Touko also felt that there must be some reason why Takatsuki brought her along. After all, negotiating with family...
No one who knew how to negotiate would do that!
"Then, tell me your reason first."
Aozaki Touko, who hadn't expected to encounter such a purely low-EQ novice, said this.
"A reason, if you want a reason, it's that I want to revive someone."
Revive?
Aozaki Touko shook her head: "My puppets can't revive people. At most, they can make an identical humanoid, but that's not the person themselves. If you're satisfied with that, I can make one for you."
"No, you misunderstand. What I mean by revive is true revival: finding the person's soul and then preparing a body that can house the soul."
Aozaki Touko frowned. In the Type-Moon universe, souls exist, but almost all magi cannot control the power of souls. The dead go to another world, unless special methods are used to preserve the soul.
"You preserved that person's soul? In that case, I can also..."
"No."
Aozaki Touko's eyebrow twitched, a little angry, because she felt that the person in front of her was playing with her.
"There's no direct conflict of interest between us, so I can explain the whole story to you, and I hope you can fulfill this small wish of mine. The fundamental reason I want to learn this is because the person I want to revive is my wife's mother, Cecilia Schariac."
She could tell. The moment Takatsuki uttered that name, Aozaki Touko noticed Durandal's reaction: surprise and emotion?
It seemed he hadn't told her beforehand.
"However, because I wasn't confident, I didn't tell her about this, but since you asked, I won't hide it."
Takatsuki continued: "I think you should know about the Second Magic, and you should also know about parallel worlds. In fact, we came from another world. Cecilia in our world could be called a hero, with the qualification to enter Throne of Heroes. Combined with Spirit Evocation and your puppetry skills, I think this possibility is quite high."
"You... for such a purpose?"
Aozaki Touko considered herself to have met many people and could understand many people, and she also saw that the man in front of her, who claimed to want to revive his wife's mother, he...
He wasn't lying.
Without ruling out that he had extremely high lying skills, Aozaki Touko still trusted her judgment.
This man really wanted to do such a naive thing.
Yes, naive, only this word could describe it.
Spirit Evocation was something many magi knew.
But ordinary Spirit Evocation could only summon small spirits; they could only serve as familiars. As for resurrection, forget it.
Even if a Heroic Spirit was summoned, it was impossible to give them a physical body and revive them.
Otherwise, everyone would have done it long ago.
Do you think Throne of Heroes is your personal property!? For you to do such a thing?
However, although this idea was whimsical, the starting point was good.
Don't look at Aozaki Touko this way, but she was not a pure magus; she was also a romantic.
To revive her mother for her wife?
It was indeed a very romantic thing. The other party had such powerful strength, it was impossible for him not to know how low the success rate of this matter was.
But the other party still came, even traversing worlds.
"Hahaha! Good! But, you can traverse worlds?"
Aozaki Touko laughed a few times and looked at Takatsuki.
"That's right. If you want to confirm, I can take you to another world for a tour right now."
D4C's most basic ability was parallel world traversal. This ability, placed in Type-Moon, was simply like a fish in water.
If it weren't for not being able to use it in the Holy Grail War, Takatsuki could easily throw enemies into parallel worlds.
"Good! Let me see your ability. If you can really do it, I'll agree to teach you!"
Perhaps it was genuine interest in the Second Magic, or perhaps it was giving herself an excuse, Aozaki Touko said these words to Takatsuki.
"No problem, let's start now. Bianka, I'll take Miss Aozaki Touko away for a while and be back soon. Please wait for me."
Takatsuki didn't forget to greet Durandal, who also nodded: "Be careful on your way."
Watching the two disappear together after he placed his hand on Aozaki Touko, Durandal looked around.
"Mother... huh."
She hadn't expected Takatsuki's purpose for coming here to be this.
Originally, she had only thought Takatsuki was collecting some unique techniques from this world to strengthen his combat power against Honkai.
But she hadn't expected...
And she had just heard a term.
Throne of Heroes.
Durandal's memory was not bad; she remembered the person she had seen before coming to this world.
"Nanashi, Takatsuki..."
Although she wasn't good at thinking, Durandal wasn't stupid; she instantly understood the key points.
"So that's why, that familiar feeling."
Although she wasn't good at thinking, Durandal's intuition was very accurate, and she also understood why Nanashi had disappeared with just one turn that day.
After all, she had also used Takatsuki's ability to connect two spaces.
"I'll ask him after this is over."
Durandal closed her eyes, to be honest...
When he first learned of Takatsuki's goal, she was indeed deeply moved.