Sanya listened as Gyu began to speak and immediately went blank.
"I am fifteen minutes old," Gyu said calmly. "And I am from here—the fortress."
Sanya puffed out her cheeks. "If you don't want to talk, it's fine," she muttered. "But don't make fun of me like that, okay?"
After that, she fell silent. Gyu also said nothing. The room grew quiet until Rudra stretched out his tiny hands toward Sanya and started tugging at her hair.
Sanya gave in with a sigh and began playing with him again, letting the strange answer sit at the back of her mind.
___
On the other side of the fortress, Kamal reached the underground fields. Neelam was scattered grasses for the cow, while Solar Clone lounged nearby on a stone, playing Free Fire on his phone—testing a new mode that had just launched with an winter theme and proudly wearing the skin from the seventh Elite Pass he had bought.
As Solar Clone swiped across the screen, he noticed Kamal approaching on a floating wind‑puppet mattress.
Kamal stepped off, dismissed the construct, and quickly relayed the news he had just seen on television, along with his questions about Gyu, the new caretaker for Rudra.
Solar Clone didn't even look surprised. "That's just a puppet," he explained. "My other half made her to take care of Rudra. She isn't advanced like a human, but she's more than enough for childcare. You don't need to worry about her."
He had already sensed Sacral Clone working on the puppet days ago and had noticed Gyu's presence when she left the workshop, so her appearance didn't catch him off guard.
As the echoes of the world‑news replayed in his mind, Solar Clone frowned slightly. *Is India heading into a crisis?* India had been forced to hand over parts of its weapon blueprint just to keep a global war from breaking out. But after a moment, he shook his head.
The outside world could rage as it liked; his family was safe here. His priority was clear—create new Vyuhas to shield Dark Haven Fortress even further.
While he was thinking, Neelam glanced at Kamal, curiosity shining in her eyes. "Who is Gyu? Is she really a puppet? What does she look like?"
Kamal didn't answer immediately. He was still in shock himself. *Did I really see wrong? Is she actually a puppet?* Her movements, her voice, the way she bowed—all of it had felt completely human.
Then the earlier strangeness clicked into place. The reason he had felt that subtle wrongness when he first saw her was simple: she wasn't human at all. She was a puppet.
He turned to Solar Clone, pride and amazement mixing in his chest.
Humanity hadn't yet managed a truly human‑like robot in the outside world—not one that moved and spoke so naturally—yet his son had built one in just a few days… and then casually said it "wasn't advanced enough."
That could only mean the puppet path still had huge room to grow.
Kamal quickly recounted everything to Neelam. Her curiosity spiked; she immediately summoned her own wind‑puppet mattress and flew off toward the living quarters to see Gyu with her own eyes. Kamal followed right behind her.
Left alone with the cow, Solar Clone's thoughts shifted again. He studied the animal thoughtfully.
*If humans can cultivate using essence flow,* he wondered, *can animals do it as well, if they're given the right method?* In many cultivation stories, ordinary animals could become "beasts" by cultivating, gaining strength, intelligence, and sometimes even the ability to speak.
He drew a line in his mind between the two ideas:
- Animals: normal creatures like cows and birds, driven mostly by instinct.
- Beasts: animals that had stepped onto a cultivation path, gaining power and awareness beyond the natural limit.
This cow was still just an animal—but if it grew stronger, its milk might also change, infused with refined essence. If Rudra drank that milk, his foundation could quietly become stronger as well.
Decision made, Solar Clone expanded his senses and carefully examined the cow's body structure, mapping bones, muscles, meridians, and the slow circulation of natural energy inside it.
Once he had a clear picture, he left the field, walked to a secluded cultivation room, and sat down to work—ready to design a simple animal‑cultivation system, Stage 1 only, crafted especially for a cow.
When Neelam and Kamal reached Kamal's room, they found Sanya playing with Rudra while Gyu stood nearby like a statue.
Neelam's eyes widened. So this was the puppet.
At a glance it was an exact copy of a human—down to posture and breathing.
Seeing her parents' attention fixed on Gyu, Sanya clicked her tongue. "Mom, Gyu is only fifteen minutes old. Don't stare at her like that, she'll get scared."
She turned toward Gyu, waiting for a protest or at least a confused look.
Instead, the puppet didn't react to the tease at all. She simply bowed her head to Kamal and Neelam and said in a calm voice, "Welcome, Sir. Welcome, Madam."
Sanya pouted and turned back to Rudra, pretending to be completely absorbed in playing with him.