95
Chapter 95
After escaping the basement.
We chased the Puppeteer Doll up to the second floor.
The Puppeteer Doll, who had arrived on the second floor first, was currently being engulfed in blue Mana.
Soon, a Mana Orb formed, which would safely protect its body while undergoing Limit Breakthrough.
I wondered why it was in such a rush to run up there....
It seemed it just scrambled up to the second floor because it wanted to undergo Limit Breakthrough as quickly as possible.
Because the second floor had Fox's star Buff active, which allowed Limit Breakthrough to proceed safely.
"Yong-yong! The Doll Mama is also getting ready to become stronger, yong!"
"Ah... It came up in such a hurry to undergo Limit Breakthrough...."
Ailee let out a sigh of relief.
She had an expression that seemed to say she was glad it wasn't anything serious.
"Woong, woo-woong?"
"Kku-o, exactly. Why is it in such a rush to undergo Limit Breakthrough?"
Tosuni and Jjokkomi expressed their doubts.
Then Fox offered a simple guess.
"Didn't it just want to get stronger quickly?"
It was simple, but that was most likely the right answer.
I couldn't think of any other reason besides that guess either.
"...Is that so? I guess our baby is secretly quite ambitious when it comes to growth."
Ailee said, carefully stroking the Mana Orb.
I stood beside her and silently watched the Mana Orb wrapping around the Puppeteer Doll.
Then I slowly turned my head and checked the information of the other guys one by one.
Come to think of it.
Everyone except me is an entity capable of Limit Breakthrough.
Regardless of Luck, everyone is overflowing with talent.
I couldn't help but find it truly fascinating.
Most of the guys I met as enemies were entities incapable of Limit Breakthrough, after all.
Perhaps crossing paths with such talented guys is also a type of Luck.
Even before belonging to the Luck Domain, I was fairly lucky.
***
Second floor, in front of the Mana Orb.
Waiting for the Puppeteer Doll to finish its Limit Breakthrough, we began to chew and eat the tips of the remaining Scales.
The total number of Scales received as a gift from the frog was 42.
Excluding Fox, six of us including myself each received 7 in the basement, and there were currently 3 Scales remaining for each of us.
As a result of eating all the tips of those remaining Scales.
[Gom-gom! Talking Teddy Bear! lv.36]
[Rabbit Angel Doll lv.35]
[Dhampir lv.34]
[Inferno Bear lv.36]
[Little Yellow Dragon lv.20]
Ultimately.
Our levels achieved the figures shown above.
The levels didn't increase as drastically as expected.
The Scale I first ate as a taste contained a huge amount of Reinforcement, but the other Scales contained less Mana in comparison.
The Reinforcement Mana content varied for each Scale.
It seems my luck with the first draw was good thanks to the Luck Domain.
Of course.
Even the Scale with the lowest content definitely did not have a small amount of Reinforcement Mana.
It was only less compared to the first Scale, as it still held far more Reinforcement Mana than a Pink Mana Stone.
[Star Fox lv.35]
┗Pw.350
┗Rnk.Unique
For reference, Fox also grew.
Naturally, she didn't consume any Scales.
Her level went up from nibbling away at Pink Mana Stones right next to us.
After finishing our growth like this.
We stored the Scales that only had Consumption Mana left in the warehouse.
We didn't store all of them.
I planned to carry a few around with me.
Because they were much easier to carry around than white Mana Stones.
***
I took a seat near the Mana Orb.
And I was looking over the options again after bringing up the Evolution list.
"Gom-jjang, what are you thinking about again?"
Tap, tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
Fox kept touching my head while prowling around me.
"Stop thinking and play with me."
"Fox Mama. Papa is meditating, yong. You shouldn't disturb him, yong."
"Then you play with me!"
"Understood, yong."
Little Yellow Dragon tactfully dragged Fox away.
Thanks to that, I could focus on examining the options.
First, I looked over the special options again.
I had decided to exclude them earlier, but a shortcut suddenly came to mind.
If I chose a special option, I would receive a Level Up reward and surpass level 40.
The condition to reach the Elite rank was assumed to be level 40, so wouldn't it be fine if I went somewhere empty, underwent Special Evolution, and then immediately proceeded with Limit Breakthrough? As a way to skip the Otherworldly Taboo Predator Teddy Bear species?
.......
Hmm....
My contemplation dragged on.
But I eventually shook my head.
No matter how much I thought about it, this wasn't it.
It was way too dangerous of a method.
What if the Evolution options from Limit Breakthrough were only similar to the Otherworldly Taboo Predator Teddy Bear? What if, even after evolving through Limit Breakthrough, the habit of unconsciously preying on nearby lifeforms regardless of my will didn't disappear?
It was a highly possible future.
That was why I made up my mind to exclude the special options as originally decided.
It was too dangerous of a gamble to just trust in Luck.
Luck wasn't omnipotent.
It wasn't good to rely on luck when making such an important choice.
Okay.
I'll cleanly throw away any lingering regrets!
Now, shall I ponder over the remaining options?
Gift Bear Puppet.
Rabbit Summoner Teddy Bear.
Gentleman Teddy Bear.
I had already finished reading the descriptions.
Now I just had to worry about which one to choose.
Gift Bear Puppet.
Out of the three options, it was probably the best one.
Because the Random Gift skill would synergize well with the Luck Domain.
Rabbit Summoner Teddy Bear.
If I chose this, Tosuni would like it.
She seemed like she would be happy if I summoned rabbit friends for her.
Gentleman Teddy Bear.
It was an option with only one advantage.
An entity capable of Limit Breakthrough, it didn't seem to have any merits other than this.
However, I decided to choose the Gentleman Teddy Bear based solely on that single advantage of being capable of Limit Breakthrough.
You have to grab an opportunity when it comes.
How could I throw it away when I didn't know when another entity capable of Limit Breakthrough would appear?
Like I said before, it wasn't good to rely solely on luck for the future.
Unless it was an overwhelmingly superior option.
It was right to undergo Evolution into a species capable of Limit Breakthrough.
Also, right now was the perfect time to choose an entity capable of Limit Breakthrough.
The condition to reach the Elite rank was probably level 40.
Because there wasn't much left until the level where Limit Breakthrough was possible.
Alright.
It's nice and clean today without any decision paralysis.
Having made my decision, I made up my mind to proceed with the Evolution right away.
If I put the Evolution on hold to use as a Recovery Skill, I felt like decision paralysis would strike again someday.
In a tense situation, my judgment might get clouded and I could make a different choice.
So I should boldly undergo Evolution now while I can think rationally.
Thinking that I should save the Evolution skill for a Recovery Skill only when I absolutely couldn't choose one, I immediately used the Evolution skill.
[Will you choose [Gentleman Teddy Bear]?]
Go-go-gom!
***
[Gentleman Teddy Bear lv.35]
┗Pw.140 (+25)
┗Rnk.Rare (Limit Breakthrough possible upon reaching lv.40)
[Consumption Mana: 18,030/25,660]
[Domain: Luck]
┗Rank - Divine
┗Assimilation Rate - 2.05%
[Skill]
[Helper lv.3], [Evolution lv.4], [Action lv.3], [Teddy Bear Camouflage lv.2], [Bloodsucking Enhancement lv.2], [Flame Manipulation lv.4], [Synthesis lv.2], [Rolling lv.3], [Gourmet lv.2], [Dragon Mimicry lv.4], [Monster Common Language lv.1], [Cane lv.1]
I finished the Evolution in an instant.
Because of this Evolution, my appearance changed drastically.
I thought this was probably the Evolution that brought about the biggest change among all the Evolutions I had done so far.
"Woo-woong?!"
"Kku-o? Dongsaeng-Oppa's appearance changed!"
"Papa evolved, yong!!!"
"Wow, our Bear Baby looks really cool now? You look like a foreign noble I saw a few times during dispatch missions in the past."
To check the changes.
First, my skin color changed.
About half was the existing yellow skin, and the rest was brown skin.
The old brown skin had returned.
And the stitches became very dense.
It was to the point where the sewn parts weren't noticeable unless you looked closely.
The buttons had changed color from gold to brown.
A Monocle hanging over the button area also appeared,
a detachable white beard was attached to my nose,
and I was even wearing a Ribbon Necktie, a stylish Suit, and a Moja.
...Wait a minute.
But why are there no pants?
If it's like this, I'm not a gentleman but a perverted Teddy Bear missing its bottom half.
.......
Hmm, I should just pretend not to notice and look away.
I decided to try hard to stop caring about the fact that I wasn't wearing pants.
Well, I'm a Doll, so it's fine not to wear them.
Anyway.
For a Human, this change would be just putting on clothes, but for me, a Doll, my appearance had definitely changed drastically.
Because all the clothes I am currently wearing are part of my body.
Of course, even if they were part of my body, I could take them off.
Ah, for reference, this wasn't the end of the changes.
Because the Umbrella Magic Tool I was holding in my hand had turned into a Cane.
This was no longer a Magic Tool.
You could consider it my exclusive tool, created by a newly acquired skill.
It's a slight shame to have lost the Umbrella Magic Tool, but it can't be helped.
"Woo-woong...!"
I felt an intense gaze while I was checking my appearance.
Among the guys staring intently at me.
Tosuni's eyes were particularly sparkling.
Did you fall for me again?
Soon, Tosuni formed hearts with blood water.
No less than ten hearts.
"Woong, woong! Woo-woong!"
Hehe, even I have to admit it looks cool.
Because it's a sophisticated appearance that can't be compared to my Ragged Teddy Bear days.
I also really liked my current appearance.
To the point where I wouldn't want to evolve further and have my appearance change.
"The way Mama looks at Papa is unusual, yong... We might get a younger sibling tonight, yong...!"
"Eh? Why would we get a younger sibling?"
"Kku-o, Dongsaeng-Oppa. What is that thing you're holding used for?"
Just wait, Jjokkomi Dongsaeng-Noona.
I was just about to check that.
I immediately pulled up the description for the Cane skill.
[Cane lv.1]
─You can summon a Cane.
─If the summoned Cane leaves your hand, you can recall it back to your hand anytime, anywhere.
─The Cane will be Annihilated if it takes severe damage. However, a new Cane will be summoned again.
─Helper linked skill.
─When the Cane touches a living being, the living being's information appears. Anyone can view this information.
Anyone can view the information?
Reading the description, I immediately lifted the Cane.
And I lightly tapped the head of Fox, who was standing next to me, with the Cane.
Kong!
"Eh?"
Chijijik-
[Star Fox lv.35]
┗Pw.350
┗Rnk.Unique
[Domain: Star]
┗Rank - Legendary
Above Fox's head.
Fox's information, which I had been seeing all along, appeared.
It wasn't something only I could see.
Unlike the information brought up with Helper, the information brought up with the Cane seemed to be clearly visible to everyone's eyes.
"Yong-yong!? Everyone look above Fox Mama's head, yong!"
"Kku-o? Something weird appeared!"
"Woo-woong, woong?!"
"Oh my... Did you perhaps use an Appraisal skill?"
Everyone looked above Fox's head in unison with surprised expressions.
Even though I withdrew the Cane, the information that appeared remained.
It seemed like it wouldn't disappear for a certain period of time.
"Eeeh? What appeared?"
Fox tilted her head back and looked up.
"Ho-e-e-ek?! There's something weird floating there!!"
Fox, who checked her own information belatedly.
She flailed her arms in surprise and fell backward.
Her gaze was still fixed on the Information Window floating above.
"Star Fox...? What's a Star Fox?"