Chapter 153: A Whimsical Attempt

The Chariot: "You should have more of these Humanoid Magic Puppets, right? I can see splicing marks on the puppets in the photos, and they haven't been derusted."

The Tower: "I do, but they are all incomplete. I originally harvested over a hundred units, but in the end, I only managed to piece together twenty-one."

Since she was looking to place an order with him, Lan Qingyou did not lie about the exact numbers. There was no need.

The Chariot: "Then I want the leftover parts from five units."

The Tower: "That's too many. Three units at most."

The Chariot: "Five units, and I'll help you once for free later."

The Tower: "Fine, since you are so insistent."

The Chariot: "Don't worry, I already have a plan in mind. I'll definitely make them look beautiful for you this time. By the way, do you have any favorite patterns or designs?"

The Tower: "What do you mean?"

The Tower: "No."

The Chariot: "Then you can think of one."

Lan Qingyou frowned slightly, not quite understanding what the Chariot was talking about.

But since the other party had made the request, it probably involved the design this time, right?

After all, to save herself some effort and ensure she could wake up early tomorrow to search for the potentially surviving ancient ancestors, she had tossed all these tedious tasks to someone else.

So after mulling it over, an idea struck her when she saw Steel Wool playing with Little Spoon.

The Tower: "Let's go with an owl then. Just a silhouette of an owl's head or a simple sketch."

The Chariot: "Alright, I got it. Just wait for the good news."

With Lan Qingyou's promise, Orff happily received the parts for the five units and began to burn the midnight oil.

This kind of all-nighter was completely normal for him, or rather, for everyone in Tarot Manor.

Seeing the transaction between Lan Qingyou and the Chariot, the others were also itching to act.

One by one, they came up to ask about the Humanoid Magic Puppets.

The Tower: "If you all want to study things like the magic runes, Magic Circuits, and command lines, you can try buying one or two units to take a look. I've indeed learned quite a lot from them."

Ultimately, persuaded by Lan Qingyou's words, the Magician David, the High Priestess Vivian, the Pope Nemo, the Star Ruan Qingyi, and even the Empress Jiang Lan who focused on agriculture, each bought two or three units to take back.

For no reason other than to observe and learn how the magic runes of this "prehistoric civilization" were carved.

Because of this, Lan Qingyou made a huge profit.

Of course, this "profit" did not refer to supplies, nor the currency that the Supreme Council had already designed but had yet to issue.

Instead, it was their promises, or rather, some new inventions down the line that might catch Lan Qingyou's eye.

Do not underestimate these things. For Lan Qingyou, and even for a Supreme Council member like the Judgment Chu Yuan, these were the most valuable assets.

After sorting all this out, Lan Qingyou boiled some snow from outside the tent to take a bath, let the magic puppets out to stand guard, and prepared to go to sleep.

But just a moment after lying down, she suddenly opened her eyes.

Because just now, as she cleared her mind for sleep, she had thought of a very interesting subject.

'What would happen if I inserted a Soul Crystal into a magic puppet?'

Exactly.

It was the combination of a Soul Crystal and a magic puppet.

'Since magic puppets can already run on things like Magic Crystals, what would it look like if I added a Soul Crystal?'

With this intriguing train of thought, Lan Qingyou simply abandoned sleep. She got straight up and began experimenting with the Horned Lion Beast she had created.

After all, she had made it herself. Unlike those Humanoid Magic Puppets, she would know exactly how to repair it and re-carve the runes if it broke.

And so, Lan Qingyou tinkered away for another two hours before she finally finished the first magic puppet equipped with a Soul Crystal.

The reason she used the Horned Lion Beast was that it most closely resembled a wild beast, making it the form where the effects could be observed most intuitively.

"Phew..."

Letting out a long breath, Lan Qingyou wiped the sweat from her forehead, then injected her magic power to activate the Horned Lion Beast.

Click-clack...

Thud!

As a burst of grinding steel rang out, Lan Qingyou was left dumbfounded.

She watched the Horned Lion Beast drop to its belly on the ground, before slowly squirming around the tent in an unimaginable manner.

"This..."

Watching the Horned Lion Beast's actions, Lan Qingyou did not even know what to say.

'It's a beast-shaped magic puppet, for crying out loud, and the one that looks the most like a real wild beast at that. Yet here it is, wriggling on the floor like a maggot?'

'Wait...'

'This squirming motion...'

'Why does it feel so much like a Slime?'

Suddenly, struck by the intense familiarity, Lan Qingyou's eyes lit up.

It was a success, but not completely.

It was a success because the Soul Crystal was indeed working.

It was not completely successful because Lan Qingyou had used a Slime's Soul Crystal.

She could not help it; she had never really gone out of her way to hunt monsters.

If it had not been for the fact that she needed magical soil to create her medicinal fields, she probably would not have even bothered fighting those few monsters.

Because she had used a Slime's Soul Crystal, the Horned Lion Beast's behavioral patterns had turned into those of a Slime, relying entirely on squirming to move.

Even the magical commands carved into it had to serve this base instinct.

"It really is..."

Thinking of this, Lan Qingyou could only smile wryly.

'What else could I do? I can't exactly rush out now to find and kill a wolf-type monster. It's pitch black outside, and I don't have the capability anyway.'

However, it was not a total loss.

At the very least, Lan Qingyou had figured out a prerequisite and the logic of the hierarchy.

Namely, the behavioral patterns of the soul within the Soul Crystal took precedence over the magical commands she carved.

Or rather, those magical commands were more inclined to first execute the actions of the soul inside the crystal.

This was actually excellent news for Lan Qingyou.

After all, if this was the case, it meant she could potentially use fewer magical commands to achieve her desired behavioral patterns in the future.

Of course, this would require her to first thoroughly study the habits of the monster whose Soul Crystal she was using.

'Forget it...'

"Since it has come to this, I'll just go to sleep first."

Knowing she had no other alternatives on hand right now, Lan Qingyou shook her head. She dismantled the squirming Horned Lion Beast, removed the Soul Crystal, and washed up again before finally closing her eyes and going to sleep for real.

While Lan Qingyou was sleeping, far away in the mass grave of the Abandoned Ruins at the foot of the mountain, a pile of mangled flesh was rapidly reassembling.

Eventually, this crushed meat gradually converged and formed a humanoid shape.

This person was none other than Sherlock, who had previously been blown up by Lan Qingyou, hacked to pieces by the furious mob, and ultimately discarded haphazardly in the mass grave.

"Tower Witch, I, Sherlock Claude, will remember this score. One day, I will make you pay an unimaginable price."

Having just regenerated, before even finding the time to put on pants, Sherlock prioritized spitting out a line of trash talk.

Under the bright, pale moonlight, his expression at this moment looked incomparably hideous.