The puppets of Arad Continent are fundamentally made by combining a soul crystal with a body made of protein oil. The soul crystal provides the energy for movement and a certain degree of intelligence for activity. When the energy of the soul crystal is exhausted, the body made of protein oil also becomes unable to maintain its form and collapses.
However, the monsters of the Dungeon are different. They seem to generate their physical bodies through the energy in the magic stones. This part of the body rapidly collapses and disappears after detaching from the magic stone. However, their magic stones do not provide energy for movement; they are only responsible for maintaining the existence of the monster's physical body.
The energy for movement is generated by the circulation within the created body itself, which is why monsters in the Dungeon need to eat and strengthen themselves.
This is something Takatsuki's puppets cannot do; he can only strengthen the puppet and replenish its energy by reinforcing the soul crystal that serves as its core.
In this regard, the Dungeon is somewhat similar to the legendary creation of humans from clay, except that humans do not have such a core.
If humans were also considered puppets, then they would be the most perfect masterpieces. The pinnacle of puppetry should be to create a true life.
Leaving aside this so-called perfection, even the level of the Dungeon is unattainable within the Puppeteer's skill inheritance.
Not to mention Hilder's ability to create puppets from powerful mages without their knowledge.
So, although he was still only an apprentice, Takatsuki hoped that this expedition would help him perfect the puppet manufacturing process and create puppets that truly possessed consciousness, could grow on their own, and were not one-time consumables.
As he descended, Takatsuki also tried to collect the magic stones and dropped materials from each type of monster to try and strengthen this puppet core.
After no longer adventuring with Fu Hua, Takatsuki found that the drop rate of materials was not as ridiculously low as he had thought.
However, the Shadowkhan could no longer keep up with the monster levels in the Dungeon after crossing the Thirteenth Floor.
Just one monster required seven or eight ninja soldiers to deal with, and if their luck was bad, more than half of them would die.
However, the magic stones of the monsters on the Fifteenth Floor still showed no change, only being slightly larger than those on the upper floors.
"There's no need to add ordinary magic stones."
The core in Takatsuki's hand was made from pure magic stones combined with monster souls he had absorbed using the Puppeteer's special ability.
As a power source, the puppet core was already sufficient.
However, he found that the puppet's output was still not high, at most equivalent to an LV2 blank adventurer. If he wanted it to be stronger, he would have to continue filling it with energy and increasing the core's volume.
But doing so would be putting the cart before the horse.
To reduce the size of the core, one must improve refining techniques, but techniques are not achieved overnight, so Takatsuki wanted to take a shortcut by relying on special materials.
However, he still hasn't found suitable materials.
"Another adventurer who overestimates himself."
On the way to the Sixteenth Floor, Takatsuki often saw the remains of adventurers.
The Dungeon starts from the Thirteenth Floor, which is considered the middle level. Although it's only one floor away from the Twelfth Floor, it's a world of difference. Moreover, in the middle levels, one can encounter disasters like Monster Feasts, where even a well-coordinated team can perish.
Looking at the core in his hand, Takatsuki then looked at the bodies on the ground and had a new idea: "Let's try it."
Every time he reinforced the core along the way, Takatsuki would try to make a puppet to test its output, then disassemble it and recycle the core. Thus, the core in Takatsuki's hand was still the original one.
When he walked to the adventurer's corpse, Takatsuki sensed it. Perhaps because it had been dead for a long time, the soul was long gone. Feeling a bit regretful, Takatsuki once again took out the protein oil he had recycled many times and began to shape it.
However, this time, unlike the previous rough creations made only for testing, Takatsuki meticulously began to shape it, and the appearance he shaped was that of the adventurer's corpse on the ground.
"This can also be considered a test."
Monsters in the Dungeon can strengthen themselves by consuming magic stones. Takatsuki didn't know the principle, but he wanted to add a similar function to his puppet.
The energy stored in the puppet's core itself is limited; it becomes scrap after being used up. However, Takatsuki added a function that allows it to extract energy by consuming magic stones to replenish its own core.
Although it cannot be strengthened, it allows the puppet to be self-sufficient, maintaining its actions by acquiring magic stones.
And because all of the puppet's power comes from the core, as long as the puppet's core is not scrapped, it can continue to move, without limitations of stamina or fatigue.
"It's done!"
Looking at the puppet, which was identical in appearance and height to the adventurer on the ground, Takatsuki gave it instructions.
The puppet stripped all the equipment from the adventurer's corpse, then put it on itself, and began to slowly walk in another direction.
"Let it fend for itself. Perhaps there will be a surprise."
Watching the puppet disguised as an adventurer leave, Takatsuki also left the place. The adventurer's corpse would gradually be swallowed by the Dungeon, unless someone else was present. That's why many adventurers died in the Dungeon, but few bodies were brought up.
The last instruction Takatsuki gave the puppet was to wander on the current floor, preserve itself while hunting monsters and consuming magic stones to replenish its own consumption.
If it encountered adventurers in danger, it should go and help them.
As for whether the puppet could judge the definition of being in danger, Takatsuki didn't care. Anyway, he strictly limited the puppet to only attack monsters and not adventurers. Although the Dungeon had a rule against stealing kills, this was done by the puppet, what did it have to do with Takatsuki?
Moreover, the puppet's strength was only equivalent to a plain LV2 adventurer. Although Takatsuki was very serious about forging it this time, injecting all the skills and knowledge he knew, it wasn't very useful.
On one hand, Takatsuki knew too few skills; he had no weapon usage skills at all. On the other hand, Takatsuki still couldn't make the puppet use Hamon and Haki. The former was because the puppet didn't need to breathe and had no blood to generate Hamon. The latter was because the puppet had no aura; it didn't even have a fixed consciousness.
Takatsuki quickly crossed the remaining floors and arrived at the Eighteenth Floor.
The Goliath on the Seventeenth Floor had been killed by Takatsuki once and hadn't respawned, so he arrived here without any obstruction.
The Eighteenth Floor is one of the safe floors, and maps of the areas below the Eighteenth Floor can only be bought here.
Some large Familia might have them, but they wouldn't sell them to Takatsuki, so he could only purchase them at a high price in the Dungeon.
"It's almost night. Let's rest today."