"When I let go in a moment, you can let go too—and it's best if you step back a few paces."
Navis spoke while cranking the wind-up key.
Fiora nodded, listening as Navis started counting down.
"Three, two, one!"
Navis yanked the key out with force, then stumbled backward a few steps, nearly falling.
At the same time, Fiora released her grip and also retreated a few paces, interest flickering in her eyes.
The "training dummy" in front of them emitted the sound of gears turning. It began to move—slowly, stiffly—first stepping out with one leg to steady itself, still wobbling.
"I reinforced balance mechanisms in its waist and both feet," Navis explained from behind. "So it can move under power without just tipping over."
In the next second, the dummy regained its balance. Its arms swung wildly, flailing around like some bizarre dance.
Navis continued, "That's the attack pattern I set. Right now it only does this—usually it's meant to train dodging."
Sure enough, the training dummy started advancing, arms whipping through the air toward whatever stood in front of it. The clank of its mechanical motion made it sound more intimidating than it really was.
Fiora watched the two steel arms swing at her. The speed was actually decent.
Curious, she shifted her body and lightly slipped aside, dodging with ease.
She knew the thing was weak.
But her eyes were bright with genuine interest.
She'd seen plenty of motionless dummies. A moving one, though—this was her first time.
"Let me try!" Kahina jogged over too, eyes full of fascination.
Fiora stepped aside to give her room.
Now it was Kahina's turn to dodge. She moved with a nimble grace, making it look effortless.
"Switch! Switch!" A moment later, Lux ran in with shining eyes, clearly treating this like a fun game.
Kahina retreated.
Lux immediately stepped forward. When the dummy's arm swept in horizontally, she bent backward in a smooth arch and let it pass over her.
Honestly… that waist was impressively flexible.
She dodged several more strikes in a row, then grinned smugly. "This is way too easy!"
From the side, Navis couldn't help but warn her, "Um… that's probably enough."
"Enough of what?"
"I think you should back up a bit… because it's not that stable yet."
"It looks stupid, sure." Lux curled her lips into a confident, contemptuous smile and taunted the clunky dummy. "But a dumb thing like this won't touch me even once all day!"
The instant she finished that sentence, the dummy suddenly froze in place—then twitched twice.
Navis knew it was already too late. She shut her eyes, unable to watch.
The next moment, a spring snapped—launching the dummy's iron helmet straight up!
Lux's eyes followed the helmet as it rose, her expression blank.
Then she realized it was coming right at her.
The next second—
CLANG!
A crisp, ringing impact sounded out—an unmistakable "solid hit."
"Ugh—"
Lux clutched her forehead and dropped into a crouch, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes from the pain.
The louder she'd been one second ago, the more miserable she looked now.
She genuinely hadn't expected the dummy to fire a "hidden weapon."
When she lifted her hand, her forehead was already red. She touched it and felt a small bump forming.
"Unbelievable!" Lux glared at the iron helmet, now rolling across the floor and finally coming to a stop. Her anger surged. She stood up and, without thinking, kicked it.
CLANG!!
"—Hiss!"
Another sharp, ringing impact—followed immediately by Lux sucking in a breath of pain as her right foot lit up.
Now her head hurt, and her foot hurt too.
Lux's expression turned downright wronged.
She hadn't done anything! Who had she offended?!
"Pfft—"
Luke couldn't hold it in. He laughed out loud on the spot.
This was the training dummy striking back.
Kahina and Fiora also turned their heads, shoulders shaking as they struggled not to laugh.
Navis lowered her head, mortified. "I did warn you…"
Realizing she'd completely embarrassed herself—publicly annihilated—Lux glared at the training dummy slumped on the floor like a heap of scrap iron.
She hesitated, then gave up on taking more revenge.
She suddenly realized there was no point arguing with a pile of metal.
So she redirected that murderous stare toward the person laughing the hardest.
"Cough—cough…"
Luke was still trying to stop. Only when he felt Miss Crownguard's hostile gaze did he force himself to cough a few times to smother the laughter.
Then he looked at the bump on Lux's forehead, raised a thumbs-up, and said, "Not gonna lie—your new horn looks pretty good."
"PFFT!"
Kahina and Fiora instantly broke too, bodies trembling as they tried to hold it in.
"AHHH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Lux's furious roar ripped through the workshop.
Question: How do you make a woman furious with one sentence?
Answer: "Your new horn looks pretty good."
It took a while to calm Miss Crownguard down.
That iron helmet still ended up suffering Lux's revenge—pounded until it looked mangled—then tossed aside.
Luckily, the workshop kept medicine on hand to prevent accidents.
Navis dabbed a cotton swab in a medicinal solution and applied it to Lux's "horn," then said, "Okay. If nothing unexpected happens, it should go down soon."
Lux nodded, her mood finally smoothing out.
Navis apologized again, quietly. "I've worked on that training dummy for a long time, and it's never been stable. I'm sorry I didn't warn you sooner."
This one was entirely Lux's fault, so she didn't blame Navis at all.
Lux flashed a bright smile. "Honestly, I think it's really impressive. This is the fir—"
She stopped abruptly.
Navis looked up, confused. "The first what?"
"Nothing." Lux smiled and praised her sincerely. "It's just really impressive, that's all!"
Lux had almost said it was the first moving dummy she'd ever seen.
But then she remembered… maybe it wasn't the first.
Navis stared at the pretty, adorable Miss Crownguard, deeply moved. "Thank you. You're one of the very few people who's ever praised me."
"We're friends now." Lux corrected her gently. "Just talk to me normally."
Navis nodded.
Meanwhile, Luke wandered the workshop and asked, "What made you want to build a training dummy like this in the first place?"
Hearing the question, Navis thought for a moment. "Actually… my original plan wasn't a training dummy. I wanted to build a larger one.
I realized steel is much tougher than a human body, and mechanical combinations can produce a lot of force. So I wanted to build a taller, bigger dummy—one that could still move flexibly. A person could hide inside and control it, so you'd get both defense and strength.
But later I realized the difficulty was too high… so I gave up."
The three girls all felt it was a bold idea.
Luke, however, stopped dead.
He spun around, quickened his pace, and strode right up to Navis. He planted both hands firmly on her fragile shoulders, eyes flashing with excitement.
"Genius, Navis. You might actually be a genius!"
Navis jumped like a startled rabbit, staring at Luke without daring to move. She hadn't expected praise that excessive.
Luke didn't hold back at all. He looked at her like he'd just found buried treasure.
What was this once-in-a-lifetime find?!
Mechs.
This girl—born in some unknown corner of Demacia—was trying to build a mech.
Of course Luke was excited.
Mechs were his dream—every man's dream.
Who hasn't imagined controlling an eight-meter-tall mech, drawing a massive blade, and charging into battle?
If Navis had only seemed talented before, then now—without exaggeration—she was a genius.
And don't forget: she was the only one who'd ever gotten a training dummy to move at all.
If she had time, effort, and enough funding…
"Navis," Luke said with a serious face, "I order you not to abandon that idea—and to restart it immediately.
This is your third task, after printing and the sound transmitter."
Navis nodded stiffly. It really didn't feel like she had the option to refuse.
Off to the side, Lux pouted, not understanding why Luke was suddenly so fired up.
"Good. Keep going," Luke said, withdrawing his hands so he wouldn't scare her.
Mechs were still a long way off, anyway. The urgent priority was getting printing underway.
Navis quickly got busy.
Not long after, Luke discovered another fascinating little invention.
A chair.
A chair he sat in and immediately didn't want to leave.
It was like a modern gaming chair: it could swivel, roll, recline, and even extend back far enough to lie down.
On both sides were two cord-like pulls. If you pulled them all the way out, it drove internal gears and generated kinetic energy.
Two small hammers on the back would then tap-tap-tap against the chair's backrest, creating a comfortable vibrating sensation.
"This chair is yours too?" Luke asked with his eyes closed, lounging in it like he'd found paradise.
Navis looked up from whatever she was adjusting and nodded. "Yes. But a lot of people say it's useless."
"Normally, it is pretty useless," Luke commented. Who spends time researching something like this?
Navis lowered her head, not expecting praise.
But then she heard Luke add, "For me, though, it's extremely useful."
Navis's head snapped back up.
"Nice. Really nice," Luke praised, clearly delighted. He loved people who spent their time inventing "pointless" things.
This was basically the prototype of a massage chair.
Still reclining, enjoying the rhythmic vibration, Luke couldn't even be bothered to lift his hands as he said, "Great. This chair is your fourth task. Improve it—there's real potential here."
"Oh."
Navis lowered her head again and continued working.
She realized she was starting to go numb.
She hadn't done anything today—yet somehow her entire schedule for the foreseeable future had been packed full.
But… she didn't hate the feeling.
She stole a glance at Luke relaxing with his eyes closed, then quickly looked away.
Navis let out a quiet breath. She'd never received this many compliments from one person—three, four times in a row.
Or rather… she'd never been acknowledged at all.
Today was the day she'd been acknowledged the most in her life.
Pulling on her protective gloves, Navis's movements unconsciously grew more careful, more devoted.
To avoid disturbing her—and to help Miss Crownguard fully cool off—the four of them temporarily left, deciding to go have some fun on the street outside House Menck's grounds.
Luke had to be physically dragged away from the chair, even though he resisted the whole time.
The street outside had plenty of interesting things, but halfway through, Luke claimed he had no energy—and that he could "sense" Navis needed help—so he turned back.
Lux rolled her eyes. The three girls didn't bother stopping him.
Luke didn't expect it… but he'd accidentally guessed right. Navis really did need help.
Walking back at an easy pace, he returned to the workshop entrance—and saw what was happening inside.
Two young men and women were blocking Navis.
The man had hair shaved and combed out to both sides, and his build didn't look particularly strong.
The woman beside him had wavy curled hair and a nice figure.
Judging by their expensive clothes, they seemed to be members of House Menck.
Navis, voice weak, greeted them timidly. "Maylee, Korsen… good morning."
The two looked surprised to see her.
Maylee stepped forward two paces, sizing Navis up with a smiling gaze. "Little sister, huh? Feels like it's been ages since I've seen you."
Navis lowered her head. "We saw each other a week ago."
"Did we?" Maylee didn't care and kept talking. "What are you doing here?"
Navis answered softly, "I have some new research."
"Oh?" Korsen burst into loud laughter. "Did you think up another useless invention? What is it this time? Say it—let me laugh."
In truth, he and Maylee were already laughing in her face.
Navis kept her head down and didn't answer.
Maylee reached out, grabbed one of Navis's braids, glanced at it, then let it go with a look of disgust. "How long has it been since you washed your hair?"
"Yesterday," Navis replied, still in that small voice.
"Your hair looks awful." Maylee chuckled. "Not like mine—soft, shiny, perfect curls."
Korsen spotted the training dummy nearby and walked over. He kicked it twice, amused. "Haha—why haven't you thrown this scrap heap out yet?"
Navis gathered her courage and protested, "It's not scrap."
"A pile of junk parts bolted together—if that isn't scrap, what is?" Korsen sneered and kicked the training dummy over.
Maylee added with a scornful tone, "I'm just saying, Navis—you're not suited for this line of work. Give up already. Stop wasting the family's resources."
Navis kept her head down, fingers twisting her clothes, her eyes full of inferiority.
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