"I believe that every character in Honkai Impact 3rd is unique and irreplaceable."
When Tesla was briefly stunned, Hokuto used a calm voice to express his perspective.
"So, there has never been such a thing as one person replacing another. If Tesla is unwilling, I'll find a way to make her satisfied."
Einstein & Tesla: "..."
Einstein glanced at Tesla. For someone with her personality, this statement was basically a finishing blow.
Tesla had already stepped into miHoYo, then turned around to look at the two still frozen at the doorway.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up! Get rid of that awful electronic synthesized voice and let the players witness the brilliance of the genius Tesla!"
"Wise words, Miss Tesla."
Hokuto replied, then quickened his pace to lead them inside.
Einstein and Tesla followed behind him, curiously observing miHoYo's working environment.
Their eyes occasionally swept across some unfinished illustrations.
They didn't show it obviously, but that didn't mean they weren't fans of Honkai Impact 3rd.
"Are you both curious?" Hokuto noticed something different in their expressions.
"I'm very concerned about Kiana's safety," Einstein added calmly. "Tesla is the same—her Kiana is 3S."
Tesla: "..."
"Hehe~ Is that so?"
Hokuto gave a faint smile. "Don't worry, Kiana will be fine. She'll carry on Himeko's spirit. The flame will never die."
"Your credibility isn't exactly high right now, considering some of the things you've said to mislead players."
"You mean the line about Honkai Impact 3rd being a 'healthy, sunny, and uplifting' game?"
"Exactly!" Tesla interjected. "I don't even know where you found the confidence to say something like that. It's borderline delusional optimism."
"Hmm..."
Hokuto thought of Kiana's energetic speech from that time, and her recent behavior.
"Although it was a knife to most players, there really were people who felt warmth. So I wouldn't say it was entirely wrong."
"Someone actually felt warmed by that plot? Was it the Herrscher of Reason?" Tesla asked, visibly baffled.
"Uh… actually, yes."
"Hmm?" ×2
The three continued their conversation as they arrived at the recording studio. Hokuto deftly adjusted the equipment and handed the scripts left behind earlier to Einstein and Tesla.
The two "doctors" were both action-oriented and quickly got into the groove.
Hearing their perfect in-character voices, Hokuto's mood lifted.
These were the Einstein and Tesla of Honkai Impact 3rd. That electronic synthesized voice from before had no soul whatsoever.
He was now even more determined to find the right people to complete Honkai Impact 3rd.
Because both Einstein and Tesla were grounded, competent scientists in the game's lore, they didn't complain much about their in-game portrayals.
Well, maybe Tesla had some opinions…
"As a major organization in the story, Anti-Entropy should have the gravitas of important figures. What's with all the fussing and shouting? It's completely unseemly."
"...Maybe that's just what a mad scientist is like?" Hokuto answered after some thought.
"Fine, I'll let that slide. But what's this?" Tesla pointed to a line. "Calling a welding gun the 'Blazing Quantum Blade'?"
Her face turned red and white in succession. "What kind of middle-school chuunibyou nonsense is this?"
"Maybe it's—"
"You can stop saying 'maybe'… mmph—"
Einstein once again reached out and covered Tesla's loud mouth, turning to Hokuto and apologizing:
"Sorry, our idiot here tends to lose her ability to speak human language when she's irritated."
"Ei—nn!" Tesla protested with a muffled groan.
"It's fine… Tesla's just being genuine."
The recording went smoothly overall… as long as you ignored Tesla's occasional outbursts.
A few days later, when Honkai Impact 3rd updated with a new main story, their voices would be used to replace the synthesized ones.
"Thanks for your work. I'll send your payment."
"No need for payment—we volunteered..."
"But payment should still be given."
Hokuto paused, then glanced at the two "doctors" preparing to leave and asked tentatively, "What do you think of miHoYo?"
Others might not catch the subtext in his question, but these two certainly did.
Einstein shook her head. "We have our own things to do. It's fine to do voicework occasionally, but joining miHoYo full-time isn't for us. Besides, we don't know the first thing about making games."
"Unless miHoYo no longer plans to make games."
Hokuto thought carefully and realized that made sense. Honestly, he was just being a bit of a collector at that moment.
"miHoYo's business might expand to novels and manga in the future, but that's not really your thing."
"Novels? Manga?"
"I'm planning to release some Honkai Impact 3rd side content in novel and manga form to flesh out the lore—like what Anti-Entropy really is as an organization."
Einstein and Tesla exchanged glances. "Can we participate?"
"Huh?" Hokuto was momentarily stunned.
"We'd like to contribute our own ideas about Anti-Entropy in Honkai Impact 3rd."
Einstein raised a finger, speaking in her usual robotic tone: "Since we came to miHoYo on our own initiative, you should understand we really like Honkai Impact 3rd. Being able to expand the lore for a game we love—any fan would be excited about that."
"…If you're willing to help me co-create Anti-Entropy, I'd be more than happy."
Hokuto saw no reason to refuse.
Anti-Entropy was originally a visual novel centered around Einstein and Tesla.
A story about a bunch of female scientists.
He now planned to adapt it into a short story series to be serialized on the official forum.
...
...
Einstein and Tesla's sudden visit turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Hokuto still planned to continue developing Honkai Impact 3rd at his own pace.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten to reach out to Welt.
The result… well, let's just say when Welt found out Hokuto was the writer behind Honkai Impact 3rd, the sheer resentment practically radiated through the phone.
Still, deep resentment also meant deep love for the game. So the invitation for him to join the project went relatively smoothly.
As for the little mishaps along the way, we'll save those stories for another time.
In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
Honkai Impact 3rd updated again with two interludes following Chapter 9.
Naturally, someone had to stream it.
Who else?
Elysia: [Elysia and Eden have moving to do today. Anyone willing to stream and fill the runtime?]
...
Elysia: [Elysia's Grand Adventure begins now~♪]
Elysia: [It'll be the last person in the group chat to send a message.]
Kevin: [1]Hua: [2]Elysia: [You two really don't want to help, huh~]Eden: [3]...Cosmo: [11]Kalpas: [???]