Chapter 48: Kafka: Is This Your Reason for Calling Me Mom?
[Kafka: Mom? That is quite a fresh way to address me. In my memory, the exact last person to call me that... was still you.]
[Kafka: Is this the real reason you called me Mom when we first met?]
Somewhere across the cosmos, Kafka crossed her long, slender legs. She rested her chin against her knuckles, tapping her cheek with a manicured fingertip. A playful, dangerous glint danced in her magenta eyes as she stared at the glowing chat interface.
She certainly had not forgotten her very first encounter with Leon. Back then, she had woven her Spirit Whisper into her voice, fully expecting him to fall under her absolute control. Instead, the thick-skinned anomaly had simply looked her up and down and called her 'Mom'.
Even though she was not the type to hold petty grudges, the sheer absurdity of that moment still echoed in her mind from time to time.
Looking at his newly revealed game design documents now, it seemed this mysterious man had planned the entire dynamic from the very beginning.
On his end, Leon let out a soft, low chuckle. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the holographic projection. Oh my. He had been thoroughly caught red-handed by Kafka.
[Silver Wolf: So, you plan to put exactly what happened that day directly into the game?]
[Silver Wolf: I think I finally understand why Elio is pulling his hair out right now.]
Silver Wolf's logic was sound. If Stelle and Caelus were designed as the dual protagonists of this virtual universe, then having them call Kafka 'Mom' made perfect narrative sense. She was, after all, the one who awakened them.
But how in the world did Leon know that back then?
According to Elio's script, Leon was an absolute anomaly. A variable that defied calculation. Could he possess the same foresight as the leader of the Stellaron Hunters?
[Leon: More or less. You guys will be the 'villain' faction, but the cute and charming kind. Who knows? Maybe this game will even single-handedly salvage the terrible reputation of you Stellaron Hunters.]
Leon tapped his fingers rhythmically against his desk as he sent the reply.
While the Stellaron Hunters were far from traditional heroes, they were absolutely not the pure, chaotic villains the galaxy painted them to be. They traveled across the cosmos, collecting highly dangerous Stellarons and mitigating apocalyptic crises, indirectly saving countless worlds from total annihilation.
Yet, their reputation was entirely in the gutter. Leon had more than a sneaking suspicion that the Interstellar Peace Corporation played a massive role in that smear campaign. After all, whenever the IPC needed a convenient scapegoat for an unexplained disaster, the Stellaron Hunters were the perfect target.
[Silver Wolf: Will I be a playable character? If so, remember to make my skill effects look incredibly cool. I will not accept anything less than top-tier animations.]
[Leon: Do not worry, I have got you completely covered. You will be the absolute core of a meta-defining team archetype.]
Leon pictured the infamous Quantum Mono-team composition and could not help but burst into laughter. He tried to hold it in, but the sheer absurdity of the meta broke his composure. The legendary 'Quantum Goddess' who could implant weaknesses at will was about to become a terrifying reality in this universe!
Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, Leon shifted his thoughts toward a much higher plane of existence. He had not forgotten about Nous, the Aeon of Erudition.
If a mortal prophet like Elio was currently sighing in utter frustration over Leon's unpredictable actions, what about the great cosmic supercomputer? Would Nous be so furious that the giant mechanical eye would want to scratch the walls of the cosmos?
Actually, Leon had genuinely witnessed Nous sigh in digital frustration before.
While it had been a bit shocking at the time to see a god act so human, upon deeper reflection, it made perfect sense.
Nous insisted on calculating the absolute future, anchoring specific moments in time to form a flawless, deterministic universe. But the chaotic nature of Akivili's Trailblaze constantly derailed those carefully set trajectories.
What made it even more irritating for the Erudition was that after the Trailblaze completely shattered the calculated timeline, they would just pack up and leave on their train, leaving Nous behind to helplessly recalculate the entire universe. From a certain perspective, was Nous not just a vastly upscaled, divine version of Elio?
[Leon: I plan to name this game Honkai: Star Rail. You... should not have any objections to that, right?]
A few moments passed in heavy, cosmic silence before a reply materialized on his screen.
[Nous: No objections. (grinding_teeth.jpg)]
Leon smirked. Nous might dare to project frustration at other followers of the Trailblaze, but would the Aeon dare to do that to Leon?
Absolutely not.
From the exact second Leon stepped foot into this reality, every single moment Nous had painstakingly anchored had been completely and utterly shattered. Facing an existence that treated the universe like a personal sandbox, the great Erudition was entirely out of options.
[Aha: Hahahaha! That old stick-in-the-mud Nous actually knows how to use emojis now?! This is a real eye-opener for Aha!]
[Aha: When the game is finished, Aha wants to be the absolute first to play!]
[Aha: No problem, right? No problem? You can put Aha in the game too! Aha is very happy to participate in the fun!]
[Leon: Do not worry, I have got it all planned out!]
Closing the chat, Leon threw himself fully into the development process.
In truth, if he merely wanted to copy and paste the exact version of Star Rail from his past life, his overpowered abilities could have manifested the entire code in less than a fraction of a second.
However, he was building something better. Adding himself as a fully integrated character, completely overhauling the main storyline and side quests to fix the original tragedies, and carefully balancing the combat numbers required actual effort.
Since he had absolutely zero intention of milking people dry through a predatory gacha system, the numerical design had to focus entirely on fairness, strategy, and pure fun.
Even with these massive changes, the workload did not consume too much of his time. The technological baseline of Herta Space Station and the wider universe far exceeded the primitive computers of his previous life. With the help of advanced AI tools and quantum processing, massive chunks of coding and rendering were completed with terrifying efficiency.
Once the polished initial version of the game was compiled, Leon chose not to release it to the public immediately.
Currently, the character roster was relatively small. It only featured himself, Stelle, Caelus, Dan Heng, March 7th, Welt Yang, Himeko, Asta, Herta's puppet, Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Arlan. He was in no rush. The cast would naturally expand as their real-life journey unfolded across the stars.
"A playable demo is ready this quickly?"
Asta stood beside his workstation, her pink hair bouncing slightly as she leaned in, her eyes wide with genuine shock. Was Leon truly this monstrously fast at game development?
He had only asked for her portrait rights and permission yesterday afternoon. Now, barely twenty-four hours later, a fully functional game was sitting on his monitor?
Was this a display of beyond understanding efficiency, or had he secretly finished the bulk of the project beforehand and only asked for her authorization as an afterthought?
"This is only a small portion of the final content."
Leon smiled warmly, tapping a few keys to bring up the character selection screen. He clicked on Asta's portrait, bringing her playable avatar to the center of the display.
When Asta saw the fully rendered three-dimensional model on the screen, she gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth.
The digital Asta wore her signature, exquisite Lead Astronomer uniform. Her pink hair flowed smoothly with realistic physics, and her bright eyes held a lively, intelligent spark. The model stood calmly at a virtual command console, occasionally turning her head to gaze up at a digital starry sky with an expression of deep, quiet longing.
"This... this is me?" she whispered, leaning closer to the glowing monitor.
The rendering technology of this era was lightyears ahead of Leon's past life. The model on the screen was virtually indistinguishable from the real Asta standing right next to him. It did not just perfectly replicate her physical appearance; it flawlessly captured her unique aura—that delicate blend of high-society elegance mixed with a highly endearing, youthful innocence.
"It feels so strange. It is like looking at a version of myself through a window into a parallel world," she murmured, her eyes tracing the complex details of her digital coat. "And it is not abstract or cartoonish at all! She looks incredibly reliable!"
"Naturally. I promised I would do you justice," Leon laughed, leaning back in his chair. "However, I also included a little easter egg in her animations."
He moved the cursor, switching the character into her idle state.
On the screen, the digital Asta suddenly broke her professional posture. She stretched her arms high above her head, rubbing her somewhat sore shoulders with a tired sigh. Then, as if suddenly remembering a secret stash, she quickly glanced around, pulled a brightly wrapped lollipop out of her pocket, and popped it into her mouth. Her digital eyes narrowed in pure, sugary satisfaction as she began to sway side to side, humming a slightly out-of-tune melody.
Listening closely to the audio output, it was the exact, catchy tune Asta always hummed when she thought she was alone.
'Ding-dong, ding-dong~ Diu-pa-pa-pa~'
Asta's face erupted into a brilliant shade of crimson. She spun toward Leon, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You... how did you know I like to do that?!"
"I might have happened to see it a few times while walking past your office." Leon winked, flashing her a teasing smile.
Asta immediately covered her face with both hands, the tips of her ears burning bright red. Yet, the gaze peeking through the gaps in her fingers was entirely devoid of anger, sparkling instead with warm laughter.
Truthfully, this feeling of being so carefully observed, of having her small quirks tenderly immortalized in his work, was not unpleasant at all. It made her chest feel strangely warm.
Of course, these carefully crafted models were far from being limited to just Asta.
Leon clicked through the roster, showcasing the fruits of his labor. From his own customized avatar to Stelle, Caelus, Dan Heng, March 7th, Welt Yang, Himeko, the Herta puppet, Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Arlan... every single character possessed uniquely exquisite modeling and exclusive, fluid animations.
March 7th's Six-Phased Ice bow bloomed with brilliant, crystalline frost. Dan Heng's Cloud-Piercer spear technique was steady, sharp, and lethal. The ultimate skill animations for Himeko's orbital laser and Welt Yang's synthetic black hole showcased a stunning, cinematic sense of pressure that practically leaped off the screen.
Every character breathed with life, their distinct personalities shining through every frame of movement.
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