55
Chapter 55
Inside the dungeon made of toy blocks.
Aside from the sun beads embedded in the ceiling for lighting, there were no other structures here.
Thanks to that, I spotted the mana orb at a glance.
There were no obstacles, so the view was completely open.
"...Is that our baby?"
Nod, nod.
It's probably for sure.
There were no other monsters in the dungeon besides the baby doll.
The chances of some monster sneaking into the dungeon while we weren't looking, eating the baby doll, and undergoing a limit breakthrough completely defenseless right here were incredibly slim.
"Is that form... is it undergoing a limit breakthrough?"
We stepped right up to the mana orb and stopped.
The inside of the orb couldn't be seen.
It was thickly coated with mana.
Ailee carefully stroked the mana orb.
"Our baby could undergo a limit breakthrough too, I had no idea...."
I didn't know either.
Was it originally an entity capable of a limit breakthrough?
My memory is hazy.
I slowly retraced my memories.
Hmm.
When I checked its species name and level.
I think I briefly saw that it was an entity incapable of a limit breakthrough.
It wasn't a clear memory, though.
Still, the chances of it being naturally capable of a limit breakthrough were low.
Tosun's Mom had the ability to recognize entities capable of a limit breakthrough, but she hadn't said anything upon seeing the baby doll.
So it was highly likely that it was originally incapable of a limit breakthrough.
Then how in the world was it undergoing a limit breakthrough?
The reason was easy to guess.
The unique grade soul weapon I had entrusted to the baby doll.
It must have swallowed it whole and been reborn as a limit breakthrough entity, beating the extremely low odds.
Because there was no sign of that soul weapon here right now.
It seems it managed to eat that huge thing somehow.
I wonder if its level went up a lot too.
Information isn't visible while a limit breakthrough is in progress.
"Woong, woong."
"Kuooh."
"The kids say they're excited to see what kind of form our baby will take after evolution."
Anyway.
The little guy must have been really lucky too.
I heard that no matter how high a grade of mana stone you eat, the chances of being reborn as a limit breakthrough entity are incredibly slim.
Maybe the luck buff I cast on it kicked in.
By the way, I had no intention of giving it the unique soul weapon....
The soul weapon wasn't given as a gift.
It was just too cumbersome to carry around, so I merely entrusted it for a bit.
It seems the baby doll must have misunderstood.
It probably thought it was a gift for itself and ate it.
If it had known it was mine, it wouldn't have eaten it.
Because our baby doll wouldn't be such a bad kid.
Anyway, the baby doll is not at fault.
It was a situation that left plenty of room for misunderstanding.
This was merely a communication error caused by our inability to speak to each other.
Whatever, it can't be helped.
Let's just consider it a gift.
I didn't particularly feel it was a waste.
Because the results aren't bad.
The dungeon has gotten huge, and the baby doll is now able to grow.
***
Near the mana orb.
I put down the sack containing the mana stones.
We don't have a storage room yet, so I decided to temporarily leave it here.
Afterwards.
We didn't leave the dungeon right away.
We decided to look around the newly changed dungeon for a while.
There wasn't really much to look at.
Since there were no structures placed around.
It was a wide-open, completely empty dungeon interior.
So we were just casually looking at the sun bead lighting embedded in the high ceiling and checking how spacious the dungeon was.
The end of the dungeon was blocked by a wall.
The wall was also made of toy blocks, and it was incredibly sturdy to the point that no attacks would work on it.
Then again, there's no way this could be breached.
Breaking through the wall would mean leaving this dimension.
After quickly looking around the dungeon.
We returned to the vicinity of the mana orb.
Before the dungeon changed.
Some of the existing items were still there.
The jar filled with blood hadn't disappeared, and the original mana stones were still placed there without any issues.
However, not everything was left perfectly intact.
Besides the unique soul weapon, there was one more thing missing.
I realized it a bit late,
The old man's corpse had disappeared.
The human who was the owner of the soul weapon and an Astral Slayer.
I wandered around the dungeon, but the old man's corpse was nowhere to be found.
What happened?
Did the baby doll perhaps eat it?
Or was it absorbed into the dungeon?
If it's either of those two, it actually turned out well.
Because I was worried about how to dispose of the old man's corpse.
I can eat soul weapons without a second thought, but eating a human is a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps it's because of my memories of being a human in my past life, but I was reluctant. Ailee probably felt the same way.
Throwing it away felt like a waste.
Humans are creatures without mana stones in their bodies.
Unlike monsters whose reinforcement mana is concentrated in their mana stones, it was highly likely that humans had both reinforcement mana and consumption mana evenly spread throughout their bodies.
In other words, it was speculated that eating the corpse of a high-level human would allow for explosive growth.
That's why I had also considered giving it to Tosuni or Jjokkomi.
Because those guys would tear, chew, and taste it without any problems.
Well, it seems the baby doll has already taken care of it, so I can't give it to them even if I wanted to.
As a side note.
Recalling what Ailee had told me, humans can level up through killing, but unlike humans, we monsters cannot grow through the act of killing.
Judging from my experience so far.
It seems that we can only grow by unconditionally consuming mana stones.
Through that action, we take away a portion of the power the opponent possessed.
I carefully speculate that the reason humans can level up through killing is perhaps because they cannot consume mana stones. After all, mana stones do not exist inside a human's body.
And at a glance, a human's method of growth might look more efficient than a monster's, but the reality was different.
They say growth through killing is very slow.
Thinking about it logically.
Directly eating the source of power is bound to result in faster growth.
Since growth through consuming mana stones feels like absorbing the essence or concentrate of power.
Growth through killing could be called indirect absorption.
I think it's closer to absorbing diluted power very little by little.
The method is convenient, but it's slow and inefficient.
After learning this.
I also came to have the same thought as Ailee.
That monsters are indeed superior creatures to humans.
***
We exited outside the dungeon again.
Deciding to end our break here and continue with the remaining work.
As we came out like that,
"Oh, you came out!"
Star Fox, who had been waiting near the portal, welcomed us.
What, she was outside.
I guess she didn't follow us into the dungeon.
Come to think of it, I hadn't seen the fox inside the dungeon.
I only noticed it just now.
"Hehe."
The fox smiled brightly and mingled among us.
Looking at the fox, Ailee spoke to her.
"Little fox, were you waiting outside?"
"That's right."
"Why didn't you follow us in?"
"Eh? Was I allowed to go in too? I didn't know...."
The fox's eyes widened.
It seems she didn't go in because we hadn't explicitly invited her.
I suppose trespassing into someone else's house isn't polite.
She was a kid who would arbitrarily invade someone else's private property, yet pointlessly adhere to things like this.
"Come visit next time."
"Ah, got it! I'll definitely go visit! Don't change your words then!"
She can just go in with us later.
Why is she making such a grand promise?
I shook my head and approached the fox.
And grabbed her hand and pulled her.
"Eh?"
I pointed to where the monster corpses were piled up with my other hand.
You help with the work too.
You just need to dismantle the corpses that are mainly hard.
We decided to leave the corpses that were too tough for us to dismantle to the fox.
There's obviously no pay.
Because she's our comrade from now on. Ahem.
"Can I do what you guys are doing too?"
The fox smiled brightly.
Soon, the fox trotted over to the corpse I had pointed out.
"Hehehe."
What's this, why is she happy?
This is work...
Did she mistake it for playing with us?
Whatever the reason may be.
It's nice that she's easy to put to work.
"Eeeek, eeeeeek...!"
Struggle, struggle.
The fox grabbed the corpse with both hands and desperately tried to tear it apart.
However, she wasn't able to dismantle it at all.
What is she doing?
Don't pretend to be weak.
I clearly know your rank and level, so why are you acting all fragile?
When I stood next to the fox and glared at her with a fierce expression, she sneaked a glance at my face, jumped in surprise, and got scared.
"Eek?!"
Only then did the fox start dismantling it properly.
As expected, she does it well when she sets her mind to it.
"The teddy bear is scary... but still cute...."
Like this.
Thanks to the fox joining in, the work speed noticeably increased.
***
[Dirty Doll lv.40]
┗Pw.40
┗Rnk.Normal
While everyone was continuing the monster dismantling work.
Inside the dungeon, the mana orb slowly began to scatter.
Soon, the baby doll revealed itself, having safely finished its limit breakthrough.
[Doll lv.20]
┗Pw.40
┗Rnk.Uncommon (Limit Breakthrough possible upon reaching lv.20)
Unlike the other monsters,
the doll's limit breakthrough finished very quickly.
This was thanks to the special effect of the dungeon the doll had created.
It was a special effect that accelerated the progress speed of a limit breakthrough.
"...!"
Right after the limit breakthrough ended.
Once again, a mana orb wrapped around the doll's body.
It had consecutively entered a state of attempting a limit breakthrough.
As more time passed like that,
and even before the teddy bear's group outside finished their work.
[Puppeteer Doll lv.14]
┗Pw.42
┗Rnk.Superior (Limit Breakthrough possible upon reaching lv.30)
"...!"
The baby doll finished its second limit breakthrough.