32
Chapter 32
Before attempting the Limit Breakthrough.
I handed the Baby Doll I was holding in my arms over to the Vampire.
"Hmm? You want me to hold the Baby Doll for a moment? Understood."
The Vampire, who had been looking puzzled, carefully took the Baby Doll.
She caught on pretty quickly this time.
Right after that.
Blue Mana flowed out from my body.
It soon began to form a Mana Orb that enveloped me.
"W-what... Are you undergoing a Limit Breakthrough too?"
The Vampire's eyes suddenly widened.
Hehe, are you surprised?
That's right. I can do a Limit Breakthrough now too!
Well then, Miss Vampire.
Please keep us safe until the Limit Breakthrough is over.
I'm counting on you!
Bye-bye.
Just as I was waving at the Vampire.
The Mana Orb completely covered my body.
[Attempting Limit Breakthrough.]
[[Helper lv.1] skill intervenes in the Limit Breakthrough.]
[The Limit Breakthrough will never fail.]
[Upon Limit Breakthrough, an Evolution of species will occur. You can choose from the available species for Evolution.]
The messages that appeared when I did my first Limit Breakthrough.
The exact same messages popped up in front of my eyes, one after another.
The Helper skill really is amazing.
To guarantee a successful Limit Breakthrough like this.
For reference.
There's a chance the Ghoul woman might fail her Limit Breakthrough.
Since she wouldn't have the Helper skill like I do.
Well, it's fine even if she fails.
Failing just means her level gets randomly reduced; there are no life-threatening risks involved.
And for the Ghoul woman, her Evolution would probably be random too.
Or perhaps only her grade would increase while her species remained the same.
Because it seems normal to not have a choice during a Limit Breakthrough.
Of course, I do have a choice.
Evolution is guaranteed, and I could even pick the species I wanted to evolve into.
This was also thanks to the Helper skill.
All hail the Helper.
[The list is displayed.]
While I was busy praising the Helper,
The Evolution list I briefly checked earlier was displayed again.
================
[Available Species for Evolution]
◎ Chaos Teddy Bear - Superior
◎ Cosmos Teddy Bear - Superior
◎ Flame Bear - Superior
◎ Dragon Teddy Bear - Superior
◎ Lucky Teddy Bear - Superior
◎ Gommun-gommun Teddy Bear - Superior
================
I still hadn't finished deliberating.
It was quite hard to decide which species to evolve into.
Alright, shall we take our time and think about it again?
First, let's start with the top two.
◎ Chaos Teddy Bear - Superior
◎ Cosmos Teddy Bear - Superior
Chaos and Cosmos.
These words probably meant Chaos and Order.
Two completely opposite species had appeared.
Why did these Evolution routes appear?
Could it be related to the black Mana Stone I ate earlier?
I didn't know the exact reason, but regardless, both names sounded incredibly powerful.
Hmm...
A bad Teddy Bear and a good Teddy Bear....
Honestly, neither option appealed to me.
I didn't really feel like leaning towards either Chaos or Order.
I just wanted to safely remain neutral.
Okay, decision made.
Chaos and Cosmos were excluded!
I hated belonging to a specific alignment, after all!
Now, what was the next species.
I immediately checked further down.
◎ Flame Bear - Superior
Flame Bear.
The same species as Jjokkomi, Urami, and the Mother Bear.
For the first time, a species outside the boundaries of a Doll appeared on the Evolution list.
I guess I wasn't bound to unconditionally evolve into a Doll.
But still, to think I could undergo an Evolution into a Flame Bear... My roots really were a Flame Bear after all.
I pondered for a moment here.
Should I take this chance to escape this inanimate pseudo-life and be reborn as a true living creature?
I thought Jjokkomi would be happy if I became a Flame Bear.
Since we would be the same species, I could even return to the Mother Bear's embrace.
Thoughts like these lingered in my head for a brief moment.
However, I quickly shook them off.
I didn't particularly want to return to the Mother Bear's side.
Why would I willingly crawl back into the arms of the bad bear that abandoned me?
Not only that, but I also didn't really like that brat of a brother, Urami.
And Jjokkomi might actually prefer me staying as a Doll rather than becoming her kin.
I quickly finalized my decision this time too.
Let's just stay as a Teddy Bear.
There were plenty of advantages to being an inanimate object, right?
Any disadvantages could simply be supplemented with skills.
I lowered my gaze without any lingering regrets.
◎ Dragon Teddy Bear - Superior
Hmm.
This name was incredibly tacky.
What on earth kind of species was a Dragon Teddy Bear?
Could it be a Synthesis of the words dragon and Teddy Bear?
No, that couldn't be it.
There was no way an Evolution route related to dragons would appear out of nowhere...
......
...Wait a minute.
Could the black Mana Stone I ate earlier have been a dragon species's Mana Stone?
Perhaps it really was.
If it was a dragon's Mana Stone, it could certainly be called the Mana Stone of a great lifeform.
I couldn't be completely sure.
If this was indeed a dragon species, I would choose it unconditionally, but it could also be a species completely unrelated to dragons.
Therefore, I decided to put it on hold for now.
I lowered my gaze once again.
◎ Lucky Teddy Bear - Superior
Lucky Teddy Bear?
I am already lucky enough as it is.
Still, there would not be any harm in getting even luckier from here.
I put this species on hold too.
After lowering my gaze again.
I took in the last remaining species.
◎ Gommun-gommun Teddy Bear - Superior
Oh!
Gommun-gommun Teddy Bear!
This is highly unappealing!
Looking at it twice, even three times, it is terrible.
Even after thinking deeply about it, it was incredibly terrible.
Is the character mun just gom flipped upside down?
It seemed to be a textual representation of a rolling Teddy Bear.
If I chose this route, I had a feeling it would just increase my Rolling skill by a mere level and be done with it.
There was no need to even think about it.
You are out.
***
If possible, I did not want to gamble.
However, the current situation forced me to gamble.
A Dragon Teddy Bear, a species of uncertain nature.
A Lucky Teddy Bear that seemed like it would resolve everything with sheer luck.
Whichever of the two I chose.
It would ultimately end up as a gamble.
But it could not be helped.
Because these were the only remaining options.
After pondering for a moment, I cleanly made a decision without any hesitation.
My choice is.
None other than!
The Dragon Teddy Bear!!!
[Undergoing Limit Breakthrough.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Reconstructing the physical body.]
[Reconstructing the internal Mana Stone.]
[Undergoing Limit Breakthrough.]
[Undergoing Limit Breakthrough.]
[Undergoing Limit Breakthrough.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Limit Breakthrough successful.]
[Dragon Teddy Bear lv.14]
┗Pw.42 (+8)
┗Rnk.Superior (Limit Breakthrough Unavailable)
[Skill]
[Helper lv.1], [Evolution lv.2], [Action lv.2], [Teddy Bear Camouflage lv.1], [Bloodsucking Enhancement lv.1], [Flame Manipulation lv.3], [Synthesis lv.1 (Unavailable state)], [Rolling lv.2], [Gourmet lv.1], [Dragon Mimicry lv.1]
Hiss-
The Mana Orb that had been enveloping me vanished.
Along with it, the warm sunlight gently descended and tickled my body.
The night had already passed.
Morning must have dawned a long time ago.
It's probably around the afternoon now.
I immediately checked my appearance first.
My exterior had changed back to looking like an ordinary Teddy Bear.
My enlarged front paws shrunk in size, my shell disappeared, and my skin color was a mix of dark and light brown patches.
What a shame.
I didn't turn into a Dragon-like form.
Next, I checked my level.
My level had become 14.
This was slightly unexpected.
Because I thought I would become level 13.
Back during my Uncommon grade days, my level was 20.
My basic power stat was 40.
The Superior grade cannot have a basic power of 40.
Because it gains 3 basic power per level.
So I expected it to deduct 1 power and make me level 13.
As if saying something like, since your species grade increased, you should bear with a slight loss in power!
That expectation missed the mark completely.
It gave me 2 extra basic power and made me level 14.
What a huge gain... no, a bear gain.
I checked my skills next.
Because it seemed like the only reward I got for becoming a Dragon Teddy Bear was a skill.
[Dragon Mimicry lv.1]
─Can transform one hand into a 'Dragon head' shaped Doll.
...Hey, are you kidding me right now?
This wasn't a Dragon species at all!!!
The gamble failed.
It completely backfired.
The skill is also ridiculous.
It's not even a transformation into a Dragon,
but what's with a transformation into a Dragon Doll?
On top of that, it's not even a full transformation, what's with only being able to transform one hand into a Dragon head!
Just when I was succumbing to disappointment and despair.
I belatedly realized that the Mana Orb of the Ghoul woman, who should have been next to me, had vanished.
What, where did she go?
Did she finish her Limit Breakthrough before me?
She didn't fail, did she?
Glance, glance.
After turning my head slightly, I discovered two women standing facing each other a short distance away.
One was the Vampire.
The other was the Ghoul woman.
No, she was no longer a Ghoul.
Having succeeded in her Limit Breakthrough.
And perhaps even achieved Evolution, the woman's appearance had completely changed from when she was a Ghoul.
[Servant Vampire lv.14]
┗Pw.42
┗Rnk.Superior
"To think I finally have a Servant Vampire subordinate of my own!"
"Ugh, urgh...."
The Vampire, with an incredibly joyful expression, was rubbing her face all over the woman's face.
Is that a huge success too?