The eternal sun hung high in the sky. Today's blue sky was cloudless, allowing its blazing rays to shimmer completely across the boundless azure sea.
This golden light illuminated the ocean, casting a golden path that stretched far into the distance.
Above this boundless sea, a ship sailed along this golden channel. The waves slashing through the water marked its direction.
The waves shone through the golden path, casting a scattering of golden dust under the sunlight.
The exceptional stern at the bow of this ship resembled a bird.
A beautiful song emanated from this bird's head, swaying around the entire vessel.
The golden compass on the sail, and the pupil within it, revealed the ship's owner.
Casting his gaze upon the deck, there lay a lawn, a kind of lawn unlike any other ship.
A massive tree unexpectedly grew in the central garden of the deck, crowned by fist-sized diamonds of various colors.
These diamonds were rhombus-shaped, dangling like plump fruits.
A dazzling light streaked across the sky.
A massive object, flapping its wings, descended. Bringing with it a powerful wind, the grass on the deck and the green leaves of the tree rustled.
Urulius landed on the deck, now even larger.
The ship's deck was already too narrow for her. To stretch herself aboard, Urulius's tail had to curl or dangle from the side into the water.
The columnar crystal tied to the tree had been moved to the center by Alka.
In the sunlight, it shone brilliantly.
Everyone except Alka had gathered there.
However, today's deck was much less bustling and lively than usual.
In the past, the deck was filled with music and dance, as well as the playful sounds of the puppet girls.
But now, clearly, none of that was left.
The source of the puppet girls' power and their leader remained sealed within the crystal, nurturing new life.
"Crack."
The cracking sound echoed in everyone's ears, and everyone immediately grew nervous.
They held their breath and gazed at the central crystal pillar.
Jason raised his hand slightly and nudged the dragon head next to his ear slightly.
Ululius's heavy breathing, now restrained, was a bit irritating.
If Jason had done this in the past, Ululius would have deliberately turned her head and blown hard on his neck.
But now, Urulius's attention was completely distracted. Her enormous dragon eyes gleamed with a crystal-clear light, and she stared nervously, just like everyone else.
Amidst the heavy breathing of the crowd,
The sound, like shattering glass, grew more frequent and louder. With a crackling sound, dense cracks began to appear throughout the crystal, and light even shone through it.
However, this light was no longer the dazzling radiance of sunlight, but rather blood, a light like blood.
Seeing the light, everyone wasn't too worried, for it was the inherent radiance of a treasure. As the light overflowed...
"Pop!"
With a crisp sound, the crystal exploded into tiny shards that scattered around, then immediately melted into the air, transforming into scattered dots of magic.
The fleshy ball, originally enveloped in a layer of magic within the crystal, was transformed within the blood-red light.
Plop!
Plop!
A sound like a heartbeat rang out.
The heartbeat-like sound grew more frequent and heavier.
It drove everyone's heartbeats along with it.
The red light began to converge.
The vast amount of red light converged into a single, glowing humanoid figure, but all anyone could see was a silhouette.
Only Alka could see Lucelia's thoughts glimmering within the silhouette.
"Huh!"
Luccelia's breath could be heard from the silhouette.
The light converged.
Luccelia's form was revealed.
Her once emerald green hair was now clearly streaked with blood-red strands.
The strangely incompatible red and green colors seemed to complement her hair perfectly.
Just like... just like the crimson roses dotting the blossoms, adding a touch of brilliance to her hair.
Lucelia's appearance remained the same, pure white as jade, stunningly beautiful.
But her eyes, once emerald green, had transformed into a hue dotted with crimson flowers.
Just like her hair.
Her clothing had transformed completely into a red dress, its draping drape dotted with green thorns.
What was striking was that Luelia's ears had become even sharper than before, even elongating slightly upwards.
On her back, a red aura transformed into wings, yet these wings, like lines, supported her flight.
Lucelia floated in front of Alka, then clung to his shoulders, letting out another heavy breath.
"Ah, so tired," came Lucilia's clear voice.
Arka lifted her from his shoulders and laid her in his arms.
Looking at Lucilia in his hands, Arka tilted his head from side to side, observing her closely.
His eyes saw something more.
"It's different. Are you sure you've perfectly merged with the divine essence?" Arka asked.
Yes, all they had done, all these preparations, was to allow Lucilia to merge perfectly with the divine essence.
To make Lucilia no longer a spirit that controlled a treasure, but to make her like those creatures of the mythical era.
To make her truly alive.
Like the crystal dragon Ululius.
To become a divine creature.
Arka had already seen the divinity emanating from Lucilia, just as he had seen Ululius before.
But he wasn't sure yet.
Lucille nodded. "Yes, I now have a real body, no longer a doll's shell.
It's like a new life, just like my old body, perfectly adapted to my soul.
My soul and body are inextricably linked."
With this, Luille stood up from Alka's grasp, then raised her hands and waved them.
A red light transformed into lines, swirling around her.
Like a wielding blade.
Originally, even if Luille had perfect control over the treasure, she could only transform the red light into a blade.
"I no longer need the treasure; it's like an innate instinct."
Upon hearing this, not only Alka but everyone around them smiled.
Simon immediately took out his notebook and began to record.
This was their first success. To prevent any accidents, they also placed heavy protections on Lusilia's soul to ensure a foolproof outcome.
Just as they had envisioned.
Lucilia had successfully become a divine being.
This way, she was no longer as deeply bound to the treasure as before, allowing her to more easily possess a treasure more suited to her.
Lucilia suddenly opened her arms.
Arka could sense something stirring within the vault guarded by the Voice of the Dawn.
"Let them out."
At Arka's command, the Voice of the Dawn opened the vault's doors.
One after another, crystals flew out of the vault in a long string, following the entrance to the deck below and landing in front of Lusilia. Like stars, they surrounded her; a closer look revealed a total of 73.
The number was exactly the same as the number of the puppet girls.
These star-like crystals, each only the size of a fingernail, flickered with tiny red lights.
These red lights had once been nonexistent.
"I can now reactivate them. They seem to be suffocating," Lucelia said.
Simon quickly pulled a large box from his pocket ring.
He lifted it with both hands and placed it heavily on the deck with a dull thud.
The box looked like a heavy wardrobe.
He opened the double doors.
Everyone looked in.
Inside the box lay neatly arranged rows and rows of puppet girls.
These were their new bodies, made from the various soul materials Alka and the others had retrieved from the island.
These soul materials were painstakingly obtained from the island's inhabitants.
They came in all shapes and sizes.
It could be a finger bone from a resident, the hem of a soul's clothing.
It could even be a ball or toy from a deceased child.
Tree roots, clods of mud, grass.
The search for enough materials nearly blinded Alka.
That's why they spent several days on the island.
At least the effort was worth it; at least they found enough.
Looking at the puppet girls, their appearance and clothing perfectly replicated their former selves.
"Come on, awaken them."
Lucelia nodded, controlling the floating crystals, dropping one by one into the pre-determined holes in the puppet girls' bodies.
Each crystal that floated in could form a deeper connection with the outside world.
With the core in place, they could truly possess a soul all their own.
Of course, this required growth.
The puppet girls opened their eyes one by one.
The first to open her eyes was Zero, just like the one they had been created to be.
The moment Zero opened his eyes, he seemed to be feeling his body, and then he quickly stood up.
The figure transformed into a flash of red light and disappeared.
Then she appeared behind Lucelia, floating with the same blood-red wings that Lucelia had grown from her back.
She still inherited the most power from Lucelia.
Watching this scene, Lucelia nodded.
Then, they awakened one by one according to their numbers.
Er rubbed her eyes dazedly and nearly fell while climbing over the boxes. Sofia quickly reached out to hold her.
"Hold me," Er mumbled, sensing Sofia.
Sofia gently lifted Er up and placed her on his shoulder.
The puppet girls could clearly sense something was different, but they couldn't pinpoint what. All of them were dazed.
"My head's spinning."
"My eyes are blurry. I'm going blind."
"Ah! My mouth's hanging open."
"My body feels so heavy. I just want to stay still."
"I just want to lie down. Forever."
A variety of mumbled words echoed.
Julia and the others walked over and picked up the puppet girls they had made from their hair, one by one.
Alka, Simon, and the others couldn't help but walk over, picking up each puppet girl one by one to examine them.
The puppet girls were dazed, clinging to the crowd.
The crowd had no choice but to gather around the box.
They began to comfort the puppet girls.
Alka could clearly sense that they had thoughts, something he had never seen before.
The puppet girls' minds were filled with panic, confusion, and doubt.
Everyone comforted the girls they were close to one by one, as if they were treating a group of emotionally unstable children.
It took a while for them to get used to their completely different bodies. Although they were still puppets as usual, capable of very human movements,
But their brains were different.
Their perception of the world was different too. They seemed to have developed a sense of smell and a deeper level of emotion.
Their perspective on the world had also changed. "It feels weird here," a puppet girl said, pressing her hands against her stomach.
"Hmm... It feels empty, and my body feels soft."
"That means I'm hungry," Sofia explained, rubbing her head.
The puppet girl groggily asked, "So this is what it feels like to be hungry?"
"Then I'm hungry too."
"Can I eat the things you guys ate before?"
"Are they delicious?"
"I want the white one with the flowers on it!"
"Then I'll eat that too..."
When they realized this feeling was hunger, the puppet girls, who had never experienced hunger or eating, cried out.
Looking at the large number of puppet girls,
Huanlu stood nearby, feeling out of place among the others.
He suddenly thought of a serious problem.
There are a total of 72 puppet girls here. If you count carefully, they must eat as much as seven people.
And their exact amounts are unknown; it might even be more.
This means his workload has increased.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but grab Simon by the collar and drag him over.
"Did you give them the ability to eat?"
Looking at Juanlu's expression, Simon nodded dazedly. "Of course, it's essential to make them eat like humans. So I used my genius invention, which can completely convert everything they eat into energy or magic. They don't even need to excrete.
But I think excretion is also an important part of being human, so I'm thinking about implementing this function someday."
He even felt a little proud at this point.
Their words were clearly heard by everyone around them.
Sofia rushed over without hesitation and punched Simon in the head.
Direct and violent attack.
"Please don't implement this feature. Give up this damn idea."
Simon rubbed his head, looking at Sofia in confusion, then at the hostile gazes of the crowd.
After a moment's thought, he relented, "Well, I actually think this feature is unnecessary. After all, I find it quite troublesome sometimes.
It would be great if we could just not object to it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Juanlu let him go, sighed, and patted his shoulder helplessly, "Let's keep this feature."
Alka saw Juanlu's predicament and said with a smile, "Believe me, there must be some of them who are very interested in cooking, like the one who had been peeking at me before.
"The ones you cook for."
Juanlu's eyes lit up at this, and he came over and patted Alka's shoulder.
"Excellent, a great idea. You're a genius."
Having a few puppet girls help him would surely speed up his cooking, and perhaps even spark some more interesting ideas.
Besides, teaching the Vastwa people to cook in that space had given him a long-awaited surge of interest.
Teaching people to cook gave him a great sense of accomplishment, especially when the dishes he trained came with their own unique twists.
The collision of inspiration could spark even more sparks.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of food the puppet girls, who had never touched food before, could create, or what kind of thoughts they might have about it.
"Juanlu, judging by his expression, thinks there's something a little off about your proposal," Lucilia whispered in Alka's ear, floating beside him.
"Yes, I do have that bad feeling." "
Because he was watching Juan Lu's unstoppable thoughts cascade out of him like crazy. Even without trying to focus, he could see them clearly.
Ever since he could see thoughts, the appearance of such thoughts meant Juan Lu was about to start cooking something bizarre.
He had relied on this ability to escape danger many times before.
It was over.
A bunch of weird culinary experts?