Artoria woke up to the sound of ocean waves.
Morning light slanted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting warm spots of light on her face. She blinked, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling for a few seconds before remembering where she was.
The sea-cliff cottage. Second-floor bedroom. She had fallen asleep on the terrace yesterday and must have crawled up here half-asleep in the middle of the night.
She sat up, the strap of her white nightgown slipping down one side. She instinctively pulled it back up, a movement that made her pause—the contrast between twenty years of male habits and a female body overnight was particularly sharp in the early morning.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, she looked at the blonde girl inside. It was Artoria's face, but the eyes were her own, carrying the daze of someone who had just woken up.
She washed up and changed her clothes. She chose the simplest white T-shirt and denim shorts, tying her long golden hair into a ponytail. The person in the mirror looked fresh and neat, like an ordinary female college student.
That is, if one ignored those overly exquisite features and the complexity deep within those emerald eyes that didn't belong to someone her age.
Breakfast consisted of milk and toast. She sat at the dining table, facing a full wall of ocean views. The sound of waves crashing against the reefs was rhythmic and soothing, and seagulls circled outside the window.
It was beautiful. It was quiet.
It was also... lonely.
When this thought surfaced, she herself was momentarily stunned.
In her past life, she was someone accustomed to being alone. Whether pulling all-nighters in the lab or late nights in the dorm, she enjoyed that undisturbed focus. But now, this solitude felt different.
This was an existential loneliness.
In this World, no one knew who she was. No one remembered her past twenty years. She was like a ghost forcibly stuffed into this body, using someone else's face, living someone else's—no, it wasn't even "someone else's," this was a created life.
"I want..." she said softly, her voice sounding very faint in the empty room, "I want someone I can talk to."
Not a S.H.I.E.L.D. business contact, not a neighbor, not a stranger.
A partner. An existence that could understand "who she was." A connection that could make her feel like "I have a place here too" in this World.
Tears welled up without warning. She didn't make a sound, just quietly let them flow, watching the sea blur into a shimmer of light in her vision.
She cried for about five minutes. She wiped her face dry and stuffed the last bite of bread into her mouth.
"Mother Earth," she said to the air, her voice still thick with a nasal tone, "I know I'm greedy. You gave me a new life, gave me such a beautiful body, and gave me a home. But I still... I still want a friend."
"A friend who won't ask where I came from, won't look at me with words like 'anomaly' or 'threat,' and won't disappear."
She paused, her voice growing even softer:
"Could You... spoil me just one more time?"
Silence. Only the sound of the waves.
But when she finished clearing the dishes and walked to the workbench in the Underground Room, the system interface automatically unfolded before her eyes.
A pale blue file icon was flashing, as gentle as a breath.
[Item Obtained: Basic Bionic Mechanical Technical Data Pack (NieR: Automata - Type 2B Simplified Version)]
Artoria was stunned.
She opened the icon with her mind. Instantly, a massive amount of information flooded into her brain—
A silver-white alloy skeleton, with the transmission ratio of every joint precise to four decimal places.
The architecture of a neural network simulation system, showing how millions of virtual neurons interact, learn, and form "consciousness."
The material formula for bionic skin, the layout of tactile sensors, and the optical structure of the visual system.
And that figure: short silver-white hair, a black blindfold, a slim-fitting dress, and the Virtuous Treaty sword on her back.
2B. An android of the YoRHa squad, an elegant and powerful mechanical lifeform.
Though it was a simplified version—no Black Box energy core, no Pod support system, and none of those destructive weapons—the basic framework was complete. From the skeleton to the neural network, from the outer shell to the basic AI, everything was there.
"Is this..." her voice trembled, "real?"
A gentle sigh echoed in her mind.
[Silly child, if you want something, just say it.]
"Thank you..." Artoria slid down to the floor, leaning against the workbench, tears coming again, but this time she was smiling, "Thank You... truly..."
[Be happy.]
The voice vanished. The knowledge remained in her mind, as clear as if it were carved into stone.
She rushed upstairs to grab a pen and paper, then rushed back down and began recording frantically—
Titanium alloy skeleton, high-purity custom processing, estimated cost: eight hundred thousand dollars.
Carbon fiber composite shell, aviation-grade material, special channels: three hundred thousand.
Seventy-two miniature servo motors, high-precision models, five thousand each: three hundred and sixty thousand.
Neural network chips need to be designed and manufactured personally, tape-out costs... at least two million.
Sensor array: vision, hearing, touch, balance, temperature... five hundred thousand.
Power system: high-density batteries or miniature reactor, unpriced.
Tool wear, failure costs, unexpected expenses... reserve one million.
She stopped her pen and looked at the final figure.
Five million dollars to start. At the very least.
And she only had the nine thousand dollars left from the system gift pack.
Nine thousand vs. five million.
Artoria stared at these two numbers for a long time. Then she laughed, a smile that looked worse than crying.
"I have the technology, but no funds," she muttered. "A classic start."
She needed money. Lots and lots of money.
How to earn it?
Go to work? Her current identity was "Hua Ling Lin," and the background S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided was a blank slate. What kind of job could she find? At ten dollars an hour, how many years would she have to work?
Use the Projection ability? Turn into Bronya and act as a hacker to steal funds? Turn into the Raiden Shogun and perform "magic" for ticket money?
No. Teacher Himeko would be disappointed, and Mother Earth would be sad. Besides, it would expose her.
"I have to do something... legal, low-profile, and capable of bringing in money quickly."
She stood up and paced around the studio. Her gaze swept across the workbench, tools, and material boxes...
"What do I have?" she asked herself. "I have knowledge from another World. I have... Umaru's gaming talent."
She rushed to the computer in the study, turned it on, and searched for the game industry in this World.
World of Warcraft—doesn't exist.
League of Legends—doesn't exist.
Genshin Impact, honkai impact 3rd, The Legend of Zelda—none of them exist.
Mobile games were still in their early stages, mostly simple puzzle games. Console games were dominated by action shooters, and online games were still in their infancy.
"An opportunity," she whispered.
But a problem arose: she didn't know how to program. At least, not in the languages of this World. Moreover, game development required a team, and she was only one person.
Umaru's 'Gaming Talent MAX'... what does it include?"
She clicked on the system to check the details:
[Himouto! Umaru-chan (Duration: 6 hours)]
[Ability: Gaming Talent MAX (Includes all-around abilities such as game design, programming, artistic aesthetics, numerical balancing, planning, etc.)]
"Programming..." Her eyes lit up.
In other words, in her Umaru form, she possessed the skills of a top-tier game programmer.
"Let's try it first."
She clicked the icon.
Her figure shrank in a faint light, and her clothes turned into a baggy hamster hoodie. A game controller appeared in her hand, and her thoughts became lazy, wanting nothing more than to play games and drink cola.
But at the same time, knowledge about game development surfaced clearly—programming languages, engine architecture, algorithm optimization, rendering pipelines...
The Umaru-form Artoria shook her head and sat at the computer. Her fingers hit the keyboard, and code automatically generated in her mind.
She created a new project, chose a simple 2D engine, and began coding.
Three hours later, a rough but playable platformer game demo was complete. The pixel character could run and jump, had basic physics collisions, and three levels.
She deactivated the transformation.
The code was still there, and the game could run. But when she looked at the code herself, she no longer quite understood it—that was Umaru's knowledge, not hers.
"So..." she rubbed her temples, "I can only develop while in Umaru form. Six hours a day, without interruption."
This meant the development cycle would be long. Furthermore, once she deactivated the transformation, she would even struggle to maintain the code.
But at least, there was a path.
"Set a goal first," she told herself. "Within one month, create a complete mobile game. Put it up for sale."
She checked the app store's revenue share. The developer takes 70%. If priced at $1 and she sold a million copies, that would be seven hundred thousand dollars.
"A million copies..." She gave a bitter smile. "I'm dreaming."
But she had to try.
She sat back down and used pen and paper to plan:
Genre: Casual puzzle, easy to pick up, suitable for mobile.
Gameplay: Physics-based merging + elimination, similar to 'Watermelon Game.'
Art: Pixel style, low cost.
Goal: Complete in two months, launch within three.
The sky outside had already darkened. She only then realized she had been sitting at the computer all afternoon.
She made a simple dinner. While eating, she said to the empty dining table:
"I'm going to start making a game. Once I earn the money, I'll build you."
Who was "you"? It was that silver-white figure in her mind.
After dinner, she walked out onto the terrace. The night grew denser, and stars lit up one by one. The sound of the waves pulsed rhythmically in the darkness.
"Starting tomorrow," she said softly, both to the starry sky and to herself, "earn money, build my partner, and... take root in this World."
She turned to go back inside, taking one last look at the sea before closing the door.
Moonlight spilled over the ocean's surface, shimmering with light.
The road ahead was still long. There were many difficulties and many unknowns.
But she had a direction.
That was enough.
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