The Emergence of Mastermind Dr. Amadeus

From the perspective of the new character Salieri

In a dimly lit room, barely illuminated by magical lights, iron and wood materials, along with barrels, are haphazardly strewn about. Even walking here produces clinking metal sounds. There's a smoky scent, perhaps from a fire that had been stoked earlier.

Amidst the dusty air, an old man with a white beard appeared before me. It seems this is the man I wanted to meet.

"Are you Dr. Amadeus?"

"Indeed. I heard you're from Amina Village. What was your name?"

"Salieri."

"I see. Now, to the point, I've heard you volunteered to become a mechanical human. Is that true?"

"Skipping a lot in between, aren't we? Well, yes. I've grown sick of life."

"I see. Then, let's proceed with the surgical magic—"

"Hold on, hold on! Don't you have any kind of human conversation first? Like asking about my background?"

"I have no interest in your past. Only in the success or failure of the experiment."

"Ah, fine then. Do whatever you want! I'm desperate anyway!"

"A woman, is it?" the old man whispered.

"How did you know?"

"You were carefully touching a rocket pendant."

"Well, the woman I love, Narsha, got engaged to a man from the next village and it made me detest life."

"How trivial. Romantic entanglements are mere obstacles in life. They are nothing compared to my ultimate goal of developing a grand forbidden spell."

"Say whatever you want. To me, Narsha is everything."

"Indeed, an incomprehensible value system, but if you assist me with my goals, I'll permit your revenge for this love tragedy."

"Really?" I thought to myself, this old man is more understanding than I expected.

"So, what's this forbidden spell you want to experiment with?"

"Simply put, it involves transferring a human soul into a machine. We take a human's consciousness and transfer it into golems or robotic-like constructs, which can then be controlled precisely as weapons in battle."

"Isn't that ethically dubious, something the magic police won't just ignore?"

"I've bribed them to stay quiet, but they lack romance. They don't understand that with the ultimate weapon, we could easily defeat the demon tribes."

"Strange words to hear from a federal congressman rumored to be collecting money by sacrificing to the demons."

"That's merely unsubstantiated rumor."

"People believe you silenced a journalist to keep them quiet, and now you're after his daughter too, right? I believe her name was Elise?"

"Are you defying me?"

"No, I admire pure evil because it has no morals. Essentially, I'm asking you to quickly transform me so I can join in your misdeeds."

"Very well."

I closed my eyes, waiting for the old man to cast his spell.