Vid smiled but said nothing, yet suddenly a voice came from beside him:
"The greatest distance in the world is not between life and death; it's that I'm right in front of you, yet you don't see me, meow."
Machioni looked over in surprise, only to see a small white-furred, green-eyed cat with a long tail emerging from Vid's back, sitting on his shoulder, and licking its paw.
This cat was only slightly bigger than an egg, with slightly curly white fur draping over its head in a charming way, and eyes like sapphires, extremely adorable.
Machioni looked at Vid, then at the cat, and asked, "Is it this?"
"How rude, it's me, talking to you, meow!" The cat said, quite displeased.
"As you see, I'm Vid's new creation, named Alice, meow, a palm-sized poppet pet, and the future trend of the world, meow."
The cat jumped down from Vid's shoulder, walked around the table, and said, "I don't need a bath, don't need feeding, always clean and pretty, and can provide friendly companionship. Isn't that great, meow?"
"Of course... uh..."
Machioni's gaze flickered between the person and the cat and eventually chose to chat with Alice: "Why are you introducing yourself?"
"Vid is practicing being an animagus, meow!" Alice patted Vid's arm with its paw and said, "He's not in a position to speak right now, I can speak for him, meow."
Alice spoke with a meow in between, pulling at the threads on Machioni's sleeve with its paw.
Machioni asked, "What you're saying, is it Vid telling you to say it, or is it something you want to say yourself?"
"The owner can control to some extent, meow~" Alice said: "But the initially inputted traits influence expression and behavior, meow~"
"What else can you do?" Machioni asked with interest.
"Oh, there's so much I can tell you, meow! I can explain to you slowly, meow..."
Vid pressed a finger to the cat's head, and its triumphant posture instantly vanished, transitioning to a composed sitting position on the table, only its tail lightly swayed.
Vid drew out his magic wand, and lines of text formed in the air.
[I don't know why, but when I was making it, I didn't give it a talkative personality, yet it talks a lot.]
[This guy is too noisy, I'll explain things myself instead.]
[The palm-sized poppet pet can be seen as an upgrade from Wizard's Chess. It mainly offers companionship, can converse with the owner, and also check for typos in articles—something I referenced from the Automatic Error-Correcting Quill's function.]
[My ideal poppet should provide the weather, obtain routes, remind of schedules, alert to time, assist in sending and receiving messages from the Friendship Book, play music, and more.]
[Currently, this is an unfinished version, primarily focused on chatting. I hope they can offer emotional value to the owner like family or friends. However, due to the subtleties of magic, each poppet's personality is entirely different.]
"Though I've said it many times, Vid, I must say it again!" Machioni said excitedly: "Your envisioned creations are always so amazing! They definitely can bring us unimaginable wealth!"
Vid: [I must remind you, poppets are costly, and the difficulty of making them is high.]
"As long as they can win buyers' hearts, none of that will be a problem." Machioni smiled and said, "Someone will surely pay for our costs... Have you made other poppets?"
Vid: [Yes.]
"Alice is a proud yet gentle little princess, so what are the personalities of the other poppets?" Machioni asked curiously.
Vid took out a dragon leather bag from his backpack, which Machioni saw was constantly wriggling, as if there was something alive inside.
Vid opened the bag and took out poppet after poppet.
A fiery red fox, arrogantly raised its head: "A filthy bag, how can it match my noble status?"
The fluffy large tail spread out behind it, its slender charming eyes full of disdain.
A silver-gray hamster silently moved to the table's edge, clutching a biscuit to munch.
But it actually didn't have an eating function, scattering biscuit crumbs all over the table.
Next was a golden lion.
Stretching its elegantly lined body, it said to Machioni, "Do you have anything sad? Say it out, make me happy!"
Machioni: "..."
Lastly was a handsome black leopard, holding a bright red rose in its mouth, prancing over and placing it before Machioni.
"Before I met you, my life was like a black-and-white movie. Until you appeared, adding color to my world. I want to protect, care for you, make you happy, I'll only do what you desire."
Machioni was stunned for a while before asking Vid: "Is it... perhaps a Casanova?"
Vid's face was filled with an indescribable expression, as text appeared: [Feel free to laugh, these are all quirky ones.]
"No, not funny at all, Vid." Machioni's eyes sparkled with that familiar, money-minded glow: "Precisely because of the diverse personalities, poppet pets have more market potential!"
Machioni pointedly looked at the last black leopard and asked, "What influences their personalities?"
Vid thought for a while before answering: [I don't know... It might be a subconscious thought when embedding the mind, maybe ideas at the time of creation, perhaps even influenced by materials and appearance...]
[Without extensive experimentation and comparison, I'm afraid it's hard to pinpoint.]