Caesar looked at the automaton laying on his bathtub. It was unmoving like a corpse, but with one small input from Caesar, it moved as if it had life.
[Automaton 1]
[Code: Stand up.]
And with that, the automaton's limbs moved like a human, using its hands to prop itself up from the bathtub. Its movements mimicked a human's, but it somehow looked strange; its movements were too perfect.
Caesar changed the input.
[Code: Clean up the mess and then destroy this chair.]
As soon as he input those commands, Caesar heard a horrifying low-sound.
[Error! Only one command is possible]
"Hmmm…" Caesar uttered. It looked like the automaton cannot fulfill two commands at the same time. So, Caesar changed the input to only the first command
[Code: Clean up the mess.]
His input was succeeded by a pleasant-sounding ring from his head.
[Input successful. Automaton currently following commands.]
The automaton then walked with its two legs and picked up the broom and started to clean the dust off the ceramic tiles in the bathroom. Caesar continued to watch its movements.
Once the floor was spotless, the automaton then picked up a rag from the cabinet and scrubbed the remaining Immortal Jellyfish blood off the bathtub.
It did all these commands flawlessly without mistakes, except it was doing it very slowly. It took the automaton almost an hour to clean the whole bathroom.
And once it was done cleaning, it just stood there lifelessly waiting for its next command.
"Interesting…"
Caesar's command of 'clean up the mess' was vague, which Caesar intentionally phrased to see if the automaton would be able to execute his commands.
He was glad to see that the automaton could follow even the most complex and vague commands. However, the caveat in this case would be that it would only be able to follow one command at a time.
This was acceptable for Caesar because for the time being, he would be using these automatons to craft Joy for him endlessly. He wondered if he would be able to upgrade these automatons once he leveled up.
As he was thinking that, someone knocked on his door. At this time of night, Caesar already knew who it was.
"Come in."
The door opened and Silas once again bowed towards Caesar. "Good evening, sir. It has–"
"What are you doing? Come in, don't be shy," interrupted Caesar.
Silas looked a bit surprised at Caesar's words, but he soon collected himself and went inside Caesar's house. He didn't forget to rub his shoes on the doormat to remove dirt.
"Excuse me, sir. The preparations for the laboratory have been completed. The equipment and the ingredients have all been transferred."
It seemed that Erica was true to her words. The laboratory equipment that he requested was quickly given to him in the span of a few hours. This was the power of connections.
The ingredients were the leftover items that he left in his old laboratory down in the sewers. There were still 9kg worth of Joy ingredients there, so he had Silas retrieve it for him. Although he received these ingredients from Boban for free, doesn't mean he was willing to waste it.
"Good work. I have one thing left that I need you to do," Caesar said as he pointed towards the automaton standing in the bathroom.
Silas saw the humanoid thing and was a little bit surprised. He didn't think that his employer was an enthusiast of dolls.
"Deliver this thing to the new laboratory, and leave it alone."
Caesar had already pre-input the command on the automaton to create the pure Joy. Right now, there were no ingredients or equipment around, so the automaton was just standing still.
But as soon as it reached the new laboratory, it would start working on a new pure Joy batch. The automaton would continue to craft until it was out of ingredients or the equipment was damaged.
A full day of work from an automaton would lead to 1 kilogram a day! This was a lot, and considering that the automaton produced Joy automatically, it was a definite huge win.
And with 5 automatons working continuously everyday, he would have a yield of 5 kilograms per day or 35 kilograms per week.
That was a profit of 35 million Parou per week! This was pure profit since he didn't pay for labor and the ingredients. And with those 35 million capital, he could further expand his operation with more automatons, and more profit!
"Understood, sir." Silas knew better than to ask meaningless questions, so he just trusted his employer.
Silas got behind the automaton and pushed it towards the carriage outside. When he accidentally touched its arm, he found out that it was easily movable like it was a real arm.
This was convenient for Silas as he could fold the automaton's body to fit into the carriage as if it were a real person. He thought that it was rigid and couldn't be moved, so he prepared it to be strapped down to the carriage's ceiling.
Once the preparations were done, Silas moved out under the light of the moon. Caesar saw them off and quickly got back to creating the next 4 automatons.
This process took him about 10 hours and the sun was already up and running as he finished his last automaton. Now, he had 5 automatons at his disposal.
Caesar stretched his whole body after 10 hours straight of work. Feeling dirty, Caesar took a bath and got rid of the lingering smell of the Immortal Jellyfish blood.
Once refreshed, he went outside and checked the newspaper on his porch. The news was nothing important, with just standard news of rise of unemployment and rise on drugs–nothing special.
After waiting for a few more minutes, Silas came with his carriage on time. He once again bowed to Caesar.
"Where are we off to today, sir?"
"Back at the new laboratory. I have something to deliver there," Caesar said as he stood to the side and showed Silas four new automatons standing side by side.
Thinking that his employer had a weird hobby, Silas nodded and started to pack the automatons in the carriage. Two of the automatons were placed inside, while the other two were tied down on top of the ceiling.
As they traveled, the carriage didn't get much attention. No one knew about the automaton, so everyone assumed it was only a doll. It was also commonplace to see bags on top of carriages so no one questioned it.
They reached the new laboratory after a few minutes of travel. Silas dropped off Caesar and the automatons in the shed, just like Caesar ordered him to.
As he turned around, he saw a glimpse of the automatons walking down to the basement from the door slit. He quickly shook his head and dismissed it as nothing more than his brain playing tricks on him.
Last night too, when he dropped off the automaton at the shed, he thought he heard footsteps when he turned around. But Caesar ordered him to leave it alone, so he didn't investigate further.
But, could there be ghosts inside those dolls, Silas thought.
—-----------------------------
Caesar went down the basement with the 4 automatons walking behind him. He saw that automaton 1 was currently mixing a chemical concoction using a long metal ladle.
Although there was little light in this room, the automaton was perfectly able to complete its job. It didn't stop its job even though Caesar, its owner, had appeared in the basement. As long as it had a command, it would follow it relentlessly, no exception.
To the side, Caesar saw a small mountain of pure Joy laid out on the table. This was the product that the automaton was able to produce in 10 hours.
This was more than 400 grams of Joy, 417 grams to be precise. Automaton 1 won't stop cooking the Joy, and with the addition of four more, the problem of production was quickly solved.
He would no longer have to worry about his supply running out. If everything went well, he would have 5 kilograms of supply everyday.
The problem next that Caesar had to tackle was where to sell it.
Right now, he has 400 grams of Joy. But he had to take out 100 grams to pay Erica for her services, so that left him with 300 grams of Joy.
It was easy to sell 300 grams of Joy anywhere. He could set up a stall like the one in Trough street and sell it out quickly, but that was only feasible because he only has a small quantity to sell.
What would happen tomorrow when he had 5 kilograms of Joy to sell? Selling it himself would be impossible, and if some people saw him selling that much Pure Joy, even the other recluse underground organizations would have to stop him.
He had to get someone else to distribute it for him. He needed someone knowledgeable in the field, had a lot of connections, and most of all, they needed someone he can control.
One person came to mind. To be exact, her and her little group. Rola, the former drug dealer for the Capo gang, will be the perfect candidate for this job.