"Takatsuki, are you really going on an expedition alone? If it's too much, let Fu Hua go with you."
Early the next morning, the members of the Hestia Familia gathered at the entrance of the Dungeon. Takatsuki, carrying a huge backpack larger than himself, looked at the people in front of him and said,
"Don't worry, Hestia, I'll be fine alone. Or rather, precisely because I'm alone, I can act freely and retreat safely. Don't worry, and I've brought so many supplies, there's no need to be concerned."
After resolving Bell's matter, Takatsuki decided to go on an expedition alone. The purpose of this expedition was to collect the materials for the potions Fu Hua needed. For this, he even borrowed books from the main god Miach to quickly learn how to identify those materials.
All so that he wouldn't miss any materials when he went on his expedition.
"Takatsuki, please be careful. If there's any danger, come back quickly."
Mei said worriedly. Although she knew Takatsuki had an immortal physique, no one could guarantee that there wouldn't be an accident. Then she handed over a small parcel she was carrying: "This is the bento I prepared. Keep it to eat on the way."
Taking Mei's bento, Takatsuki nodded, then looked at the others. Seeing that they had nothing else to say, he waved and entered the Dungeon.
Upon entering the Dungeon, Takatsuki stored the large backpack in his system backpack. Although his system backpack was already filled with various sundries and consumables, he had specifically left two slots empty.
"Although blasting my way through would be good, attracting too much attention isn't. good."
Moreover, Takatsuki remembered something he had seen online these past two days: the Dungeon was alive. If large-scale destruction was caused in the Dungeon, it might trigger a counterattack from the Dungeon.
Takatsuki hadn't remembered this on the first day, and although he hadn't encountered a counterattack from the Dungeon, he couldn't guarantee it would always be this way.
Takatsuki followed the map all the way to the Thirteenth Floor. While on the upper floors, he often encountered adventurers, but on the Thirteenth Floor, the number of people he met was much smaller.
Dozens of black figures emerged from the surrounding shadows, transforming into the Shadowkhan, clad in black clothes with green skin and red eyes.
"Go catch some monsters."
Takatsuki gave instructions to the Shadowkhan while continuing towards the passage to the next floor.
Not long after, several Shadowkhan members arrived at Takatsuki's side, carrying a monster that had already been subdued.
In the Dungeon, after a monster dies, its corpse shatters into dust and is reabsorbed by the Dungeon, leaving only magic stones. Occasionally, they leave behind some parts of their body tissue, which are called materials.
These materials were more valuable than the magic stones themselves.
Takatsuki grabbed the rabbit-like monster in front of him and sensed it with his newly acquired ability.
"Indeed, although the body structure is very similar to normal creatures, it's more like a puppet."
After obtaining the Puppeteer profession, Takatsuki's mind gained some skill usage methods and knowledge of puppets.
Puppets and monsters have great similarities in their composition, as puppets also disappear after death.
If these monsters were to be evaluated at the level of puppets, then this Dungeon would be the highest-level puppeteer.
After all, these monsters truly possessed souls.
Killing the monster in his hand, Takatsuki looked at the magic stone in his hand. Takatsuki could feel a soul energy rapidly flowing out of the magic stone.
"Using magic stones to store souls, but after death, they quickly dissipate and turn into pure power crystals?"
The method of creating puppets is the same as monsters: a core is needed to store the soul. However, in Puppeteer terminology, this is called a soul crystal, and it is quite difficult to obtain.
After Takatsuki discovered the similar forms of monsters and puppets, he planned to use monster magic stones to replace the necessary soul crystals. After his own modifications, they could directly serve as the core of a puppet.
However, if the souls in the magic stones rapidly dissipated, then new souls would have to be found to fill them.
Looking at the Shadowkhan returning one after another and the captured monsters, Takatsuki smiled.
Fortunately, there were many test subjects here.
The Shadowkhan's strength was not strong, but they were agile in their movements, had excellent teamwork, and were fearless of death. If a Shadowkhan member was dispersed, they would be re-summoned by Takatsuki.
Sitting on the ground, after finishing the bento prepared by Mei, the ready Shadowkhan immediately brought a monster to Takatsuki's front.
He stretched out his hand and pressed it on the monster's head.
"It's amazing. The soul doesn't reside in the body, but in the magic stone, and the magic stone is also the basis for their body construction. If the soul quickly disappears after death, then solidify the soul within it before death."
He poured his magic power into the monster's body, then the Shadowkhan killed the monster and extracted the magic stone, handing it to Takatsuki.
Looking at the magic stone in his hand, Takatsuki smiled.
"Success, a magic stone imbued with a soul."
Looking at the tiny magic stone in his hand, Takatsuki still frowned, because as a soul crystal, this magic stone was too small.
Taking out a large piece of meat from his backpack that he had prepared, Takatsuki refined it into a protein oil using the Puppeteer's special technique. Then, following the same pattern, he turned the captured monsters around him into magic stones one by one. After that, Takatsuki began the work of integrating the fragmented magic stones.
As it was his first attempt, it took him three or four hours to finish everything.
"Last step…"
He inserted the spherical object, which had been continuously refined by him and was completely different from a magic stone, into the protein oil. Takatsuki controlled the power within his body to knead and shape it. Soon, a humanoid object appeared before Takatsuki.
As it was his first attempt, Takatsuki didn't put any effort into the details. The puppet that appeared was bald, with only plain eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and no gender characteristics on its body.
Looking at the puppet with dull eyes, Takatsuki gave a command.
"Fight him."
He summoned a Shadowkhan, and Takatsuki gave the command for the two to fight. Soon, the puppet and the Shadowkhan were entangled in battle.
The individual combat power of the ninja soldiers was not strong. During the creation, Takatsuki tried to infuse the relevant combat knowledge he had acquired into the puppet's body. During the battle, it perfectly reproduced the techniques.
Watching the puppet use Snake Technique to instantly kill the ninja soldier, Takatsuki nodded. It seemed that recording moves was not an issue.
After giving several more commands, the puppet still perfectly replicated them, but since the puppet itself showed no intelligence, Takatsuki waved his hand and had the Shadowkhan kill the puppet.
Looking at the core that the ninja soldier brought to him, Takatsuki put it away.