"Splat!"
With a dull thud.
The clear water ball, propelled into the air by a rope, exploded in midair.
It had been neatly pierced by a bullet.
Jason lowered the long-armed pistol he held in his hand, which had been shaking the rocks—the Emerald Shooter.
He had been practicing shooting, and had been doing so for quite some time now, wiping sweat from his brow.
The sky was incredibly dazzling at the time, and he was practicing his marksmanship techniques under the blazing sun.
He touched his belt pouch and discovered that the ammunition he'd been using for practice was out again.
He sat on the deck, holding the Emerald Shooter.
He patted the main mast: "Thank you."
It was Dawn Sound who had been training with him, helping him throw various small objects with ropes.
The voyage grows longer and longer, and with Alka's enlightenment, the wisdom of the Gulf of Down, now a ghost ship, grows ever greater.
Since the ship already has three treasures, their energy will influence it.
This allows him to accurately understand the crowd's words and commands, as well as manipulate the ship's ropes, helping Jason throw objects.
Jason huddled in the shade of the main mast, avoiding the scorching sun. Various simple maintenance tools appeared in his hands, and he began to maintain the guns.
After completing the simple maintenance, he placed the Emerald Shooter in his pocket ring.
The entire man leaned against the mast and began to do nothing.
"Aaah! How boring!"
Jason couldn't help but cry out; they were still sailing along the forward channel at the edge of the sea of living creatures.
But the forward channel was truly too deserted.
Since leaving the Home Sea, they've been following a direct route for almost two months.
With the exception of the ships that sailed away with them, pursued by silvery sea monsters when they were on Shipwreck Island, they've never encountered any other ships.
Firstly, they were the fastest of their party, significantly outpacing the other ships that left with them.
Secondly, this is because the world rift in the Sea of Life isn't open.
After all, there are only four seas, and the interval between the opening of each sea is typically 10 years, sometimes more.
Not every sea opens at the same time.
Because of this, it's extremely rare to encounter people from other seas along the route.
Almost impossible.
Not to mention that there are few fish in this sea and almost no birds.
I heard Jason scream.
In the observation room on the mast, Huanglu craned his neck and looked at him.
"Jason's gone crazy again," he muttered under his breath and threw his head back.
The open deck was empty except for the two of them.
Sofia and three other women were busy in Lucilia's room.
Alka went back to the production hall, thinking about something—it seemed to be the new girl doll.
As for Pororo, he seemed to be fishing in the sea.
"Jason... Jason!"
Alka's voice came from the lower deck. Hearing it, he remembered what he was about to do.
He immediately ran to the hut and answered as he ran, "Coming, coming."
Come to the Alka Company production hall.
As soon as he entered, he heard Alka admonishing him: "Didn't I tell you? Be on time, your bullet carving isn't up to par."
Jason nodded and smiled, but at that moment his attention was drawn to his surroundings.
At that moment, the production floor was filled with silver threads hanging everywhere. Clearly, the source of these threads was an ordinary doll with no appearance.
Jason surveyed the situation, pointed at the doll, and asked, "Is this doll the new puppet girl you want to create? These silk threads are the same silver ones we collected on the deck earlier. Will you allow this doll to use them?"
Hearing Jason's question, Alka turned his head to look, nodded, and said, "Yes, these silver silk threads are special functions prepared for the next puppet girl. I have a good idea to try out. I'll implement it soon." After I teach you, I'll move on to the final stage."
Hearing that only the final step remained, Jason smiled and said, "Why don't you finish that first and forget about it for now?"
"No, I'll train you one last time today, and you'll almost be able to become a master. I feel uneasy thinking about training you tomorrow. Let's settle this today."
Alka waved his hand and declined.
Hearing Alka's words, Jason chuckled.
"What do you mean? Am I a slow learner?"
"No, your hands are too clumsy. You need to practice steadier hands for more precise manipulation."
When Jason was shooting or sniping, his hands were very steady.
But it was too difficult for him to pick up a small chisel and draw patterns on an object the size of a fingernail. His fingers always trembled in situations like these.
If only he could improve the stability of his hands and...
Altsev, that would be very good.
Then, without waiting for Jason's rebuttal, he immediately said, "Okay, go ahead."
After that, Alka began teaching Jason his final lesson.
This continued until noon.
Alka finally sighed with relief.
"Okay, you've finally become a teacher, but your chances of success won't be too high. You need to be mentally prepared, but practice makes perfect."
Jason nodded and was forced to admit that Alka really couldn't be considered a good teacher.
The quality of her teaching was much worse than Lucilia's.
It wasn't all that difficult to be with Sofia and the others in Lucilia's language classes.
Alka didn't deny it; he knew he wasn't much of a teacher, unless he was the only one on the ship who knew how to do it.
If he hadn't trained Jason, he'd have to supply him with all of Jason's specialized ammunition in the future, and that would be a real hassle.
He could accept more advanced ammunition, but he had no interest in regular, consumable ammunition.
The poor student and the poor teacher eventually got rid of each other.
"When you get up, call Lucilia for me and tell her we have a new doll."
Hearing this, Jason looked interested, turned around, and ran.
"Okay, I'll call her right now."
They quickly ascended to the deck. Meanwhile, on the open deck, Lucilia had already begun combat training with Zero and Odin.
Julia and Sofia gave instructions off to the side, while Pororo, with nothing better to do, also commented off to the side.
"Lucilia, Alka was calling for you."
Hearing someone calling her name, Lucilia used her shield to deflect the steel needle fired by the First.
She then turned and saw Jason calling her name and just rising from the deck.
"Okay, I'll be right there." Lucilia seemed to have something in mind, and a smile appeared on her face. She immediately leaped a few times and landed directly on the deck below.
Seeing Lucilia's excitement, Sofia glanced at Jason and asked, "What's wrong? She's so excited."
"New doll girls."
Hearing this, Sofia nodded, suddenly realizing it. She crouched down, smiled at Zero and One on the deck, and asked, "Are you happy? Will you have new sisters soon?"
In response to her question, Zero merely nodded curtly, while One remained impassive and motionless, very calm.
Sofia, seemingly accustomed to this, extended two fingers and tapped them on her head before standing.
"What will the new girl dolls look like?" There was anticipation in his tone.
Sophia likes these girl dolls, which are only 30 cm tall; they're fragile and can move just like humans.
And he especially enjoys dressing them. Has his childhood passion carried over into adulthood?
Meanwhile, in the production hall.
Lucilia ran in like a stream of light and landed right on the table.
We examine the silk threads throughout the room and the dolls at the source of the silk threads.
"Is this a new girl doll? Does it use silk threads as a weapon?"
Alka nodded, then said bluntly, "Go ahead, the last step is to activate it."
Lucilia nodded without hesitation, and her soul left her body to control the fluttering flag.
The two then repeated the process they had performed twice before and began to enlighten the new girl puppet.
The two were already skilled at this process, and Lucilia could also control the flag better.
There was no longer a need to be as timid and cautious as the first time, which also meant that Lucilia's control over the flag was becoming stronger and stronger.
With the enlightenment, the ordinary doll began to transform and change into the appearance of a girl puppet.
The girl puppet's hair color this time had changed from the previous two to silver, very similar to Sofia's, and even her appearance was somewhat similar.
After the enlightenment process was complete, Lucilia took the flag and, looking at the doll, involuntarily tilted her head and asked in confusion, "Why does she look so much like Sofia?"
Although there is a clear difference between her face and Sofia's, they seem to have a similar charm, and the details are very similar.
Especially with her bright silver hair, she resembles Sofia's sister.
However, Sofia has short silver hair, while the doll girl's hair reaches her heels, the same length as her height.
Alka herself has her doubts. Yes, why does she look like Sofia?
If you don't redraw the doll's appearance, she would look more like Lucilia.
However, in appearance, he is more human-like, except for his pointed ears and emerald-green hair, so at first glance, he doesn't resemble her.
This is also due to some materials. For example, the skin color of these doll girls will change depending on the materials, although the changes are very subtle.
Yi's skin, for example, is not as fair as Lin's. Although it is still white, it appears very dark.
Even when exposed to sunlight, he seems to absorb the light.
And the skin color of the second one in front of him is still very similar to Sofia's.
Alka shook his head because he couldn't understand it.
Tsk.
This time, the doll girl was clearly different from the previous two. Lucilia's soul body crouched next to her and looked around curiously.
"Why is her hair so long? Will it affect the battle?"
"No," Alka said with a smile on his face, and even replied, as if boasting, "This silver hair is made of silk thread, and that's her main feature. She can use her silver hair to attack or control her movements."
"So that's how it is. How interesting."
According to her, the doll girl standing before her opened her eyes, and her pupils weren't quite like Sophia's, but copper-yellow.
"From now on, your name will be Er, and your profession...sewing master."
Lucilia said this because this doll girl uses silk thread.
The two brought the newest member of the puppet army onto the deck.
Everyone waited for a long time.
"Your hair color is the same as mine," Sofia said, looking at Er standing before her.
"Not only the color, but also the appearance are very similar," Julia said, looking around carefully.
"Really?" Sofia couldn't tell if they were alike or not.
She crouched down, tilted her head, looked at Er in front of her, and asked, "What's your name? What's your profession? What are your abilities?"
Er looked at her, stunned for a moment, and then said, "My name is Er. I'm a master tailor and I know how to control my hair."
"So."
As she spoke, the silver hair on her head stretched out, fluttered, and wrapped around Sofia's arm.
This silver hair grew longer with the influx of magical power, and it was extremely elastic, and the conductivity of magical power was also very strong.
Then Er swept his hand through his hair twice and landed on Sofia's shoulder.
Looking at the short silver hair on Sofia's head, which was the same color as her own, she reached out and touched it.
Looking at this situation, Alka narrowed her eyes slightly.
Er had made an unwise move, and the words she had just used to answer Sofia's question were also very clever,
showing that she was closer to Sofia.
Why did this happen?
Other people knew little about this and noticed nothing unusual. They looked at Er and asked about various situations.
But such a change would be too strange.
So why?
Alka recalled the entire process of Er's creation in his imagination.
I wanted to find out what unusual steps I'd taken during the process that were causing Er to behave differently from the other puppet girls.
More intelligent, more lifelike.
That's good. Alka wants to know the rules so the puppet girls she'll make later will be more expressive.
Basically, the flesh-and-blood enchantment, the treasure enlightenment, and the changes in the puppet girl's sense of touch are beyond Alka's control.
It's impossible to even imitate or understand.
The same process produces different effects, so there must be something he can control.
However, he stood there pondering this for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what the problem was.
There was nothing unusual about his production process.
"You seem upset? What are you thinking about?"
Yulia stood next to Alka, looking at her dumbfounded figure, and asked with some confusion:
What's there to be upset about in this situation? Shouldn't you be happy?
Hearing this question, Alka directly voiced his doubts.
Alka's words were heard by others as well.
Everyone turned their heads.
"Yes, if you think about it, Er really is different from the other girl dolls."
Sofia said this and nodded to Er, resting her head on his shoulder.
Er even reacted.
"She smiled?" Jason rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
Er smiled at Sofia's behavior.
Jason couldn't resist reaching out and touching her head, but Er leaned toward Sofia's.
Although she didn't take any further action, she was clearly a little indignant at Jason's actions.
Seeing this, Sofia waved her hand as if swatting a fly: "Go away, go away, I don't want you to bother me."
Jason also noticed Er's indignant demeanor and couldn't help but scratch his forehead.
"Why?"
Everyone saw that Er's peculiarity was so unique that even Lucilia couldn't understand it.
"So which link went wrong?" Lucilia couldn't help but ask.
"Or has your technique improved? Do it more often, and practice makes perfect?"
Seeing the question and confusion in Lucilia's eyes, Alka shook his head.
"This isn't a repetitive task. How can knowledge improve through practice?"
"And I don't know; I don't think I did anything special during the creation process."
"The material, is it a material issue?"
Julia thought about it and offered an alternative.
"If there's any difference in this material, it's the silver silk thread left over from the death of the thread balls thrown by the Silver Lion sea monster."
"But the problem is, Er is obviously close to Sophia. Is there any connection between this and the silver-silk sea monster?"
he asked.
And Alka.
"They all have silver hair, silver hair," Porro suddenly said next to him.
"...That possibility is relatively low."
Sophia scratched her smooth silver hair and looked at Er, standing by her head, and at his smiling expression directed at her.
She began to remember the day she had fought the silver sea monster, two weeks ago.
They were about to leave the forward channel at the edge of the Sea of All Living Things.
"Could it be... my hair?" Sofia suddenly thought and said.
She remembered that day because her head was covered in silver hair, the same color as her own; Lucilia had occasionally tugged at her hair as she and Zero said goodbye.
Is it possible that she added her own hair, mixed it with this silver hair, and gave it to Alka, so that she would be so close to her?
And more human.
Lucille also recalled what happened that day and said, "I pulled out Sofia's hair several times that day."
"Did you separate the hair?" Jason asked, looking at her.
"I..."
Lucille began to recall her behavior that day.
Since Sofia had too many silver threads on her head, she found a silver thread and placed it in her hand.
As soon as she recognized it, she grabbed it and placed it in her hand.
Amid Sofia's screams, he tore her hair out.
Apologize, and then place the hair... in his hand.
"Ah, I also wove a silver thread into my hair."
The case was solved.
The hair was actually mixed with the silver thread.
Hearing Lucilia's words, Jason turned his head and looked at Alka: "You can't tell them apart?"
Alka looked at him and said flippantly: "There are thousands of silk threads of varying lengths, and among them, there are just one or two hairs. How can you tell them apart?"
"Okay." It seemed Alka was partly to blame.
So was it really the hair?
It was just hair.
Alka couldn't understand.