46
Chapter 46
The Baby Doll began to move.
It wriggled its hands and feet a little at first, and then, as if it had gotten the hang of it, slowly pushed itself off the ground and stood up.
The reason it could suddenly move.
It was probably thanks to Luck Breath.
Unlike Ailee and Tosuni, the bottom of the Baby Doll's information didn't display the text 'Luck Breath Active'.
This clearly meant that Luck had occurred immediately.
But should this be classified as Great Luck?
Hmm. I suppose so.
It's hard to consider gaining an Action skill as just Small Luck.
Of course.
Maybe some completely unnoticeable Small Luck happened, and it just coincidentally learned an Action skill separately from the Luck. The probability would be extremely low, but a low chance doesn't mean such a coincidence is impossible.
Still, I decided to just simply believe it was thanks to the Luck Breath.
No need to overcomplicate things, right?
"Baby...!"
As the Baby Doll stood up,
Ailee witnessed the scene and covered her mouth with both hands.
Was she overwhelmed with emotion?
Small tears welled up in her eyes.
One step, two steps.
Ailee slowly approached the Baby Doll.
"My baby... you can finally move."
After crouching down on the ground.
Ailee held out both hands to the Baby Doll, as if urging it to come into her arms.
"Come here, baby. I'm your mommy."
The Baby Doll's body was swaying.
More precisely, it was struggling to balance with its arms spread wide.
Let alone walking, it looked like just standing properly was too much for it.
It looked a bit precarious.
I wondered if it was going to fall over.
At that moment, as I was watching the Baby Doll with concern.
Thud-
As expected, the Baby Doll fell over.
So it ended up like that after all.
"Baby! Are you okay!?"
Startled, Ailee tried to reach out to the Baby Doll.
However, she was stopped by Tosuni.
"Wooo, woooo."
"...I shouldn't help it?"
"Woooo, woooooo."
"I-I see. It's my first time raising a child, so I didn't know... Okay, like you said, I'll trust our baby and watch until it can walk on its own."
This Tosuni.
Pretending to be a parenting expert.
Ailee didn't help the Baby Doll, doing exactly as Tosuni instructed.
Naturally, she couldn't stay calm.
She was incredibly fidgety.
She looked like she was trying her best to suppress the urge to help.
With my heart also pounding in suspense, I stepped next to Ailee and Tosuni and watched the Baby Doll's recovery.
"Woooooo, woooo!"
"Huh? We shouldn't help, but we still need to cheer for it?"
"Wooo. Woooooo!"
"...Go baby! You can do it!"
I also cheered enthusiastically.
Since I couldn't make a sound, I just flailed my arms wildly.
Did our cheers reach it?
The Baby Doll succeeded in pushing off the ground and standing up again.
And standing firmly in place.
It began to balance itself by spreading its arms wide.
It was unstable at first, but it gradually assumed a stable posture.
It seemed to have quickly gotten the hang of it this time.
Swoosh.
The Baby Doll lowered its arms.
It was now standing straight up, keeping its balance without stretching its arms to the sides.
"Woooo!"
"Good job, baby! Now try walking over here!"
The Baby Doll reached its arms forward.
It seemed to be a posture for moving forward.
Tremble, tremble.
The Baby Doll carefully extended one foot forward while its legs shook.
We held our breath and watched the scene.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
The Baby Doll succeeded in moving its foot forward.
It was the moment it took its first steps.
Soon, the Baby Doll began to toddle awkwardly toward us.
"Yes, just walk like that! There's no need to rush, so come slowly!"
"Woooooo!"
For a baby to start taking Action,
and to be able to walk from the start instead of crawling.
Perhaps because it was of the Doll Tribe, it was quite an amazing little one.
Well, I was much more amazing though. Hehe.
"Baby, come here into mommy's arms."
The Baby Doll briefly stopped walking.
And it looked around.
Then it looked at the three of us in turn.
"B-baby? What's wrong? You don't happen to not recognize your mommy, right?"
"Woooo?"
Ailee, Tosuni, and me.
The figures of the three of us were captured in the Baby Doll's eyes.
Ailee was also holding out her arms,
but Tosuni and I were also reaching out toward the Baby Doll.
Whose arms would it run into!
What is the Baby Doll's choice?
Thump, thump, thump!
"...!"
The Baby Doll's eyes flashed.
It started to take steps again.
Waddle, waddle, waddle.
The one the Baby Doll chose was none other than Ailee.
"Baby!"
"...!"
The Baby Doll leaped into its mother's arms.
Squeeze. Ailee gently hugged the Baby Doll.
Delicately, as if handling the most precious treasure in the world.
It was the expected result.
It was also the desired result.
Unless it was an unfilial child, it should naturally go to its mother's arms first, of course.
I was a little worried just now that it might not recognize its mother.
Because it had stood there blankly contemplating for a moment.
Perhaps Ailee had worried about that too, as she swept her hand over her chest and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness... I was worried what I'd do if my baby didn't recognize me, but you knew I was your mommy...."
Of course it should know.
Wouldn't it be trash if it didn't?
You've been taking care of it ever since it was born.
It must have been conscious all this time, so not recognizing you would make no sense.
If it hadn't recognized you, or if it refused to accept you as its mother, I would have severely scolded it.
Even if it hadn't been conscious.
It should instinctively recognize its own mother.
"But it seems our baby can't make sounds just like the Bear Baby."
Ailee said while stroking the Baby Doll's head.
The Baby Doll's expressions were more colorful than mine, but its inability to speak was exactly the same.
"Is it normal for the Doll Tribe to be unable to speak?"
It seems pureblood Doll Tribe members are like that.
No, it seems pure Doll Tribe members who are dolls from birth are like that.
Of course, it might become possible to speak someday.
Because there is such a thing as achieving achievements.
Tosuni was a special case.
Because she originally wasn't a doll, but was reborn into the Doll Tribe through Limit Breakthrough and Evolution.
"Will it be able to speak once it grows more later? Well, it doesn't matter if it can't. I'm just happy enough that it can move."
Ailee stroked the Baby Doll with a bright smile blooming on her face.
She then shifted her gaze to us and asked.
"Bear Baby, baby Tosuni. Do you want to hold it too?"
"Wooo!"
Nod, nod.
Tosuni and I nodded our heads at the same time.
Ailee gently placed the Baby Doll down on the floor.
"Baby, try walking to the other doll babies on your own. You can walk and move again, right?"
"...!"
The Baby Doll moved its head left and right.
It was looking back and forth between Tosuni and me standing in front of it.
Was it contemplating who it should hug first?
What is there to think about?
Of course it should come to my arms first.
It met me before Tosuni.
I stretched out both my hands.
Now, hurry and jump into my arms!
Waddle, waddle, waddle.
The Baby Doll started taking steps again, and then,
"...!"
"Woohoohoo."
It threw itself into Tosuni's arms.
...This girl?
A truly shocking result.
As I glared at the Baby Doll with a look full of disappointment, it belatedly waddled over toward me and threw itself into my arms.
I'm not happy at all.
Coming to me after Tosuni is just plain wrong.
You bad Baby Doll.
"...!"
The Baby Doll, held in my arms, looked up at me with a bright smile.
...Mmm.
It's a kid with a really pretty smile.
It's definitely different from when it was expressionless.
Seeing that smile, my heart completely melted.
Ahem.
Since I am the last one, I will specially forgive you after seeing that smile.
***
I had a lot of things I wanted to ask the Baby Doll.
Did you also undergo Reincarnation?
Do you possess an Evolution skill or a Helper skill?
What were you thinking about to pass the time when you couldn't move?
And so on. I wanted to ask it various questions.
But it was impossible.
Because, of course, neither I nor that little one could speak.
There was a limit to body language.
So I put off my curious questions for now.
Promising myself to ask them later.
"Woooo, wooo."
"...!"
"Good job, you're walking so well!"
Keeping my eyes on the Baby Doll as it continued to practice walking, I briefly checked my Mana reserves.
[Consumption Mana: 6,147/10,520]
My currently remaining Mana was 6,147.
About 3 was drained due to the Action skill, and 4,000 was consumed by using Luck Breath.
I used Luck Breath a total of four times.
I shot one more at Tosuni, you see.
Anyway, this let me know that Luck Breath consumes 1,000 Mana.
Ah, for reference.
When two or more Luck Breath effects are applied,
[Devoted Rabbit Doll lv.14]
┗Pw.42
┗Rnk.Superior
<Luck Breath Active - 23:30:55>
<Luck Breath Active - 23:57:41>
It gets displayed like that.
More importantly,
Tosuni and Ailee's Luck still hasn't occurred yet.
I don't know when the Luck will happen.
I only know that it happens randomly within that remaining time.
If it were Great Luck, it would be obvious whenever it happened, but to catch the occurrence of Small Luck, I had to keep my eyes glued to their information. The moment the floating time disappeared from the information was exactly when the Luck occurred.
If I looked away for even a second.
I might not even realize it if Small Luck occurred.
The only way to roughly guess what the Small Luck was, was to keep watching that information.
But I couldn't keep staring at it forever.
Therefore, I decided not to worry too much about Small Luck.
I'll just catch it if I'm lucky.
If I noticed the time had disappeared belatedly, I could just recall what had happened before that and make a guess.
Just as I was organizing my thoughts in my head like this.
"Wooooo?!"
"B-baby? What skill is that?"
Suddenly, Tosuni and Ailee's flustered voices could be heard.
The reason they were surprised was because of the Baby Doll.
"...!"
The Baby Doll was wildly waving its hands in the air.
The space its hands touched was slowly distorting.
And then,
The twisted space swirled like a vortex, and soon, a small Portal was created right there.
What is that?
Is it a Dungeon?