62
Chapter 62
The last page of the Doll Encyclopedia.
The human who had been an Astral Slayer, the Old Man, was registered here.
Why was he registered in the Encyclopedia?
I could roughly guess the reason.
Before the Puppeteer Doll underwent Limit Breakthrough, it must have absorbed the Old Man into itself or the Dungeon, naturally registering him in the Encyclopedia in the process.
Anyway.
The Old Man perfectly matched the conditions I wanted.
Since he was of Uncommon rank, the Mana required to generate him was relatively low, and given his incredibly high level in life, there was a high chance he would be reborn as a powerful Doll.
Wasn't his level 85?
And his base power, excluding the power of his Soul Weapon, was 170.
In other words, even without a Soul Weapon, he was a much stronger human than us.
[Successfully summoned a Doll from the Doll Encyclopedia.]
Just like that, I pulled out a Fake Doll from the Encyclopedia.
A human-shaped Doll with exposed joints connected by round nodes.
Its eyes showed only the whites with no pupils, and its appearance closely resembled the Old Man from when he was alive.
The guy was arrogantly standing with his hands clasped behind his back.
Hey! Unclasp your hands right now!
As I glared at him with a fierce expression and issued a mental command, the Old Man Doll quickly unclasped his hands.
Like the other Fake Dolls, he was an obedient guy.
What a relief.
I was worried he might try to start a mutiny.
By the way, Old Man Doll.
Do you have an ego?
Fake Dolls don't possess egos, but I asked just in case.
The Old Man Doll didn't answer.
No, he couldn't answer.
Like the other Dolls, he was incapable of speech.
He merely shook his head from side to side.
Hey punk, are you sure you don't have an ego?
You really don't have any memories from your past life either, right?
If you do, I'll teach you a lesson.
One, two! One, two, three!
Thwack, thwack! Thwack, thwack, thwack!
I indiscriminately unleashed a flurry of Bear-Bear Punches onto his body.
I figured if he had even a shred of an ego, he would show some signs of annoyance.
Anyone would be upset if they were suddenly beaten up for no reason, right?
"...!"
Smack! Whack!
The Puppeteer Doll standing next to me also started kicking the Old Man.
Why are you hitting him?
Did it look fun?
In the blink of an eye, a scene of a gang assault on an Old Man unfolded.
Doing this kind of makes us feel like trash.
After that.
The beating continued for over ten minutes, but...
The Old Man Doll didn't put up any kind of resistance, silently taking our beating.
Good, he definitely doesn't have an ego.
The reason I went out of my way to confirm this was simple.
If he had even a little bit of his memories or ego left from when he was alive, he might resent us for killing him.
We couldn't possibly make a guy with animosity towards us a Gatekeeper.
***
Morning dawned.
Jjokkomi woke up and flinched in surprise upon seeing the Old Man Doll.
"Kk-Kkuo?"
Was she seeing things?
Jjokkomi rubbed her eyes furiously, doubting what she saw.
Soon, she accepted the fact that the Old Man Doll standing in front of her was not an illusion.
After a moment,
"Kkuooooo!!!"
Jjokkomi let out a sharp roar.
It was an expected reaction.
The enemy of her family had come back to life and appeared right before her eyes, so it was only natural for anger to well up inside her.
Trauma is something that must be overcome.
Don't run away and face it head-on, Jjokkomi!
"Kkuo, kkuoo!!!"
Jjokkomi started pouring out murderous attacks.
Yes, good job!
Hit him as much as you want until you feel better.
Because his role is both a Gatekeeper and a Sandbag.
I had created the Old Man Doll to act as a Gatekeeper, but
he was also a small gift prepared for Jjokkomi.
Even after making the graves for the Mother Bear and Urami, Jjokkomi continued to look down, so I wanted to make her a Sandbag to freely vent her suppressed, gloomy feelings on.
In other words, that guy also had to take on the role of being Jjokkomi's personal stress-relief Sandbag from now on.
Smack, whack! Fwoosh! Crash!
Jjokkomi's earnest attacks continued endlessly.
Against all of those attacks, the Old Man Doll didn't suffer any damage.
He took every blow, standing perfectly fine as if the hits meant nothing.
It seems he was made even sturdier than I thought.
It isn't just his body that's sturdy; his combat abilities must be excellent too, right?
Just how strong is the Old Man Doll?
It was impossible to guess just from the Mana flowing through his body.
That was because we were the ones supplying the Fake Doll with Mana.
Phew. It's a bit frustrating not having the information pop up.
I wonder if the world other creatures see is this frustrating too.
It seems I've become way too accustomed to the information the Helper displays.
I couldn't even imagine a world without the Helper's assistance anymore.
Well, anyway.
It's reassuring that he's an ally now instead of an enemy.
Please take good care of our Dungeon's entrance from now on, Old Man Doll!
After Jjokkomi's beating came to an end.
I stationed the Old Man Doll near the Portal.
Naturally, not outside the Dungeon, but near the Portal inside the Dungeon.
***
We needed a massive amount of Mana.
To create many more powerful Fake Dolls, to construct various buildings, to improve the Dungeon's structure, to make diverse toys, to build the second floor of the Dungeon that the Helper had hinted at, and so on.
To develop the Dungeon further than it is now, we had to consume an unimaginable amount of Mana.
The Mana we currently possess would be woefully insufficient.
Even if we used all the blood contained in the jar gifted by Tosun's Mom, we would still lack Mana.
So, what should we do?
What do you mean, what should we do?
We have to go outside the Dungeon and constantly replenish our Mana.
Of course, no matter how diligently we replenished it, I figured it would take at least a few months, or at most a few years, to reach the level of development I had envisioned.
Currently, there was only one way to shorten this period.
It was to find out the source of the white Natural Mana Stones the Fox possessed.
Squeak, squeak.
The Star Fox, perched on top of the bed,
was diligently rubbing the white Natural Mana Stones.
I approached her and pointed at those Mana Stones.
"Eh? You want me to hand all these over? No way, I can't give you all of them! These are my emergency rations, I tell you! You greedy Teddy Bear!"
No, you punk.
I'm asking where you got them.
No matter how shameless I am, I wouldn't ask for all of them.
Even if I received all the white Mana Stones the Fox had, the Mana would still be insufficient anyway. So, I had to find out the source of those Mana Stones and replenish them in greater quantities.
I moved my body this way and that to explain my intentions.
However, my body language didn't get through to her.
"Even if you dance such a passionate mating dance, it's hard to give you all the Mana Stones... What am I supposed to eat to survive if I give them all to you..."
I can't communicate with her at all.
Is it because she's stupid?
The Fox couldn't understand my intentions at all.
As I was looking at the Fox with a frustrated expression.
"What do you mean, what are you supposed to eat to survive without them? There's plenty of food in the storage. Baby Fox, since you're part of our family now, you can take out and eat whatever you want, whenever you want."
Ailee quietly approached and spoke to the Fox.
"I don't eat meat! I don't eat Mana Stones that belonged to someone else either!"
"Huh? Does that mean you only eat Natural Mana Stones?"
"That's right!"
That was news to me.
No wonder she would just stare blankly at us when we were having our meals.
"I didn't know... Then do you not eat vegetables either?"
"I do eat vegetables! If you give them to me, I'll gobble them up!"
"Wooung?"
Tosuni, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, approached.
Tosuni took out a Carrot and offered it to the Fox.
Just where does she keep getting those Carrots from?
"Ah! I'll eat this!"
"Wooung, wooung."
"Thanks! I will gladly enjoy this meal!"
The Fox wagged her tail as she received the Carrot.
And she shoved the Carrot into her mouth, chewing it in a sloppy manner.
This Fox has slightly messy eating habits.
Tosuni, who had gifted the Carrot, naturally picked up one of the Fox's white Mana Stones.
"Eh? Why are you taking that!"
"Wooung? Woowooung."
"Wh-Whaaat? You were exchanging that Mana Stone for the Carrot? I didn't hear anything about that beforehand!"
"Woowooung, wooung!"
"That makes no sense! The values don't match at all!"
"Wooung."
Tosuni puffed up her cheeks.
She put the Mana Stone back down with a sullen expression.
"Uh... I didn't mean you had to give it back... Don't pout, you can just have it......."
The Fox became incredibly flustered, picking the Mana Stone back up and holding it out to Tosuni.
By the looks of it, she seemed worried that Tosuni would end up hating her because of what just happened.
Is it a trauma for her to have someone hate her?
Seeing her fidgeting so anxiously made me feel a bit bad for her.
Perhaps a bit taken aback by the Fox's reaction, Tosuni scratched her head and put on an apologetic expression.
"Wooung, woowooung."
"No! You can really have it! And I'll apologize for getting mad just now, so please don't hate me!"
"Woowooung, woowooung......."
Tosuni was forcefully handed the Mana Stone.
However, she placed it back down on the bed.
When the Fox's eyes welled up with tears at that sight, Tosuni immediately said something to her.
"Woowooung, wooung, woowoowooung."
"Eh? You just want me to tell you where I got these? Th-That much is easy! I can totally tell you!"
Oh, Tosuni.
You asked about the source of the Mana Stones?
Nice question!
Our Tosuni really is smart, I must say.
***
We formed a Natural Mana Stone Mining Team.
Me, the leader of the group.
The Star Fox, who knows the location where the Natural Mana Stones grow.
And Tosuni, the Fox's personal enforcer.
The members consisted of these three in total.
We decided to leave the rest behind in the Dungeon.
Since we were just going to mine, there was no need for all of us to swarm there together.
Moreover, one Owner had to remain in the Dungeon anyway.
But since it would be lonely for the Owner to stay in the Dungeon all alone, we decided to leave three of them behind to keep each other company.
Ah, for reference.
We aren't planning to set off right away.
Our departure is tomorrow.
Today, I plan to consume as many of the Mana Stones stored in the warehouse as possible.
I should go after becoming even a little bit stronger.
Because you never know what kind of enemies you might encounter on the way.