"I believe every character in Honkai Impact 3rd is unique and irreplaceable."
Hokuto calmly expressed his opinion when Tesla got stuck.
"So, there's never any such thing as replacing one character with another. If Tesla isn't willing, I'll find a way to convince her."
Einstein & Tesla: "..."
Einstein glanced at Tesla. For someone with Tesla's personality, that sentence was basically a critical hit, wasn't it?
Tesla had already stepped into miHoYo and turned around to glare at the two still dawdling by the door.
"What are you standing there for? Move it! Replace that low-quality synthesized voice and let the players hear the brilliance of the genius Tesla!"
"Spoken like a true scholar, Miss Tesla."
Hokuto responded as he quickly stepped ahead to lead the way.
Einstein and Tesla followed behind, curiously examining the work environment at miHoYo.
Their eyes swept over the unfinished illustrations.
They didn't show it openly—but that didn't mean they weren't Honkai Impact 3rd fans.
"You two seem very curious?" Hokuto noticed the shift in atmosphere behind him.
"I'm quite concerned about Kiana's well-being," Einstein answered calmly. "Tesla too. She triple-S'ed Kiana."
Hokuto gave a faint smile. "Don't worry. Kiana will be fine. She'll carry on Himeko's spirit. The flame will never die."
"You're not very trustworthy right now—especially after saying something like that to mislead players."
"You mean when I said Honkai Impact 3rd is a healthy, positive, and uplifting game?"
"Exactly!" Tesla interjected. "I still don't know where you got the confidence to say something so outrageous. It was sheer delusional optimism!"
Hokuto thought back to Kiana's energetic lines back then, and her recent behavior.
"Though it might feel like a knife to most players, some were genuinely touched. So I wouldn't say it was completely wrong."
"Someone was actually moved by that kind of story? Was it a paramecium?" Tesla asked incredulously.
"Uh... actually, yes."
The three continued chatting as they arrived at the recording studio. Hokuto expertly adjusted the equipment and handed the script—left behind from before—to Einstein and Tesla.
The two "Doctors" were action-driven and quickly got into character.
Hearing their perfectly in-character voice acting—
Hokuto's mood gradually lifted.
This—this was Einstein and Tesla in Honkai Impact 3rd. That old synthetic voice had no soul.
This only further solidified his belief that he needed to bring the original cast back for Honkai Impact 3rd.
Since Einstein and Tesla were reliable scholar-type characters in the game, they didn't complain much about their roles in the script.
Well… Tesla might've had just a tiny bit of an issue?
"As one of the major organizations in the plot, Anti-Entropy's scientists should carry themselves with dignity. All this yelling and hollering—where's the decorum?"
"...Well, maybe that's just what a mad scientist is like?" Hokuto offered thoughtfully.
"Fine, I'll let that slide. But what's this here? Calling a welding torch the Flame Sword of Wrath?!"
Tesla's face turned red and then white. "What kind of childish chuunibyou nonsense is this?!"
"Don't 'maybe' me... uuuu~~"
Einstein once again reached out and covered Tesla's loud mouth, then turned to Hokuto and apologized:
"Sorry about that. Our idiot here forgets how to talk like a human when she gets agitated."
"Ei~n!" Tesla protested vaguely.
"No worries… Tesla is just straightforward."
Overall, the voice work went smoothly—if you ignored Tesla's occasional yelling.
A few days later, when Honkai Impact 3rd updated with the new main story, they could conveniently swap out the in-game voice lines for Tesla and Einstein.
"Great work today. I'll transfer your payment for the voiceover."
"There's no need. We volunteered—"
"Still, payment is due."
Hokuto paused, then asked, watching the two "Doctors" as they prepared to leave, "So… what do you think of miHoYo?"
Most people wouldn't catch the hidden meaning in that question—but these two certainly did.
Einstein shook her head. "We have our own work to do. Coming in occasionally to voice act is fine, but joining miHoYo? No thanks. Besides, we don't know a thing about game development."
"Unless miHoYo doesn't plan to make games anymore."
Hokuto gave it some thought. That actually made sense—he'd probably been acting on his collector's instinct just now.
"In the future, miHoYo might expand into light novels and manga, but yeah, probably not your thing."
"I'm planning to publish some Honkai Impact 3rd novels and manga soon, mainly to flesh out the world-building. Like, what exactly is Anti-Entropy as an organization?"
Einstein and Tesla exchanged glances. "Can we join in?"
"Eh?" Hokuto didn't quite catch that.
"We want to contribute our own interpretations of Anti-Entropy in Honkai Impact 3rd."
Einstein raised a finger and spoke in a robotic tone: "The fact that we came to miHoYo voluntarily should tell you how much we love Honkai Impact 3rd. Being able to contribute world-building to a game we love—any fan would be thrilled."
"...If you're willing to co-write Anti-Entropy with me, I'd be more than happy."
Hokuto saw no reason to refuse.
Anti-Entropy was meant to be a visual novel starring Einstein and Tesla.
A story full of female scientists.
Although now he planned to publish it as a short story series on the official forums...
Einstein and Tesla's visit had been a delightful surprise.
Hokuto still planned to update Honkai Impact 3rd at his own pace.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten to reach out to Welt.
Well… when Welt learned that he was miHoYo's scenario writer, the sheer resentment could practically be felt through the phone.
But strong resentment meant deep love for Honkai Impact 3rd, so convincing him to join the project went surprisingly well.
As for the little amusing incidents along the way—perhaps those could be saved for another time.
In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed.
Honkai Impact 3rd once again updated with two post-Chapter 9 interludes.
Naturally, a certain stream was going live to cover the new content.
Elysia: [Elysia and Eden have to deal with moving today. Anyone want to help stream and pad out the watch time?]
Elysia: [Elysia's Big Adventure begins now~♪]
Elysia: [I'll pick the last person to reply in the group chat.]
Elysia: [You two REALLY don't want to help, huh~]
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