"…"
(No… Not good…Good…Better…Worse.)
Mannequin Noble was currently in the process of learning and developing its core engravement coding.
However, things weren't looking good.
The art of the core engraving coding wasn't really something easy.
When doing a core engraving coding, you need to focus the entire body.
Every joint.
Every special part.
Every connection.
Every order of the action.
Every single detail needs to be written.
And the biggest problem for all those who wish to learn the core engraving crafting art is the time.
Learning how to do the most basic command, a command that would make a simple movement, isn't easy.
There is also the problem that the bodies of the puppets need their own coding to suit their bodies.
In a nutshell, this is a lot of work, even before you can even make functional core engraving coding.
And even after learning it, you need to learn other forms of coding and get used to adapting the code.
However, even though the dungeon master has not yet made proper coding for his, he was making slow progress, as his commands were causing the wooden mannequin to somewhat react in a positive way.
They were not ready to be used, but still, the progress was visible and steady.
"…"
The dungeon master pointed with his finger, making the wooden mannequin somewhat walk slowly.
(Walking, accomplished…. But too slow…. Safe? Good? Bad? Unstable? Need more data. Needs more time.)
(Progress made. Progress possible.)
(Continue research.)
(Seek wanted results.)
(…)
(Miasma, resupplied…. Can make wooden mannequin… Should?) – though the dungeon master while checking the current dungeon status.
"…"
(No… Too weak… Too useless. Die without doing anything…. Wait… Make sure they are good enough… To the point where weak enemies will be defeated.) – though the dungeon master before then returned back to his research and training.
However, while the dungeon master was still focusing only on learning the code engraving coding, a lone adventurer was wandering around in the forest.
He walked.
He swung his blade.
He killed the monster.
He walked.
He swung his blade.
He killed the monster.
He walked.
He swung his blade.
He killed the monster.
The man repeated this process over and over while wandering around.
However, he wasn't in a good state.
He was covered in dirt, and it was visible that the men had not slept at all recently.
"…"
"Adam…. Are you alright?" – asked the young voice.
"Hm? Yeah, yeah. I'm alright." – replied Adam's voice.
"…"
"…"
"?"
"Arthur? Is something wrong?" – asked Adam's voice.
"…"
"I finished my adventurer registering, and I'm an official adventurer starting today." – said the young boy's voice.
"!?"
"What?! Why! I told you—"
"You are doing too much!" – shouted the young voice.
"You are the only family I have, and you are always doing everything!"
"Let me help you for crying out loud!"
"I trained! I've also formed a solid party!"
"I will show you that I'm fit to be an adventurer and that I'm strong enough to stand by your side and help you!"
"Even if I'm not strong enough yet, then I will just train and grow!"
"So please, bro, trust me. I will help you out so you won't have to carry all the burdens by yourself."
"…"
(I should have said no)—thought tired Arthur, who wandered through the forest.
(I should have said no!)
(But is he really dead?)
(NO!)
(There was no evidence or anything yet! He may still be alive!
(If some monsters had killed him, then we would have found remains or traces… The dungeons are also out of the question…. But then, where is he?)
…
Despair and desperation.
The young man was completely broke.
He was desperately searching around for his little brother, without even paying attention to his own health any longer. He had been searching for hours and was dealing with the monsters nonstop.
He only ate the rations he had on him and only took a short rest, but he neither ate enough nor went and took a proper nap.
The logical move would be to give up and rest for a moment in order to recover, but the man's desperation and despair were too much for him.
He was on his own, searching for his brother.
He even deceived his friends, saying that he will go back to the town, while in reality continuing searching, which he did in order to make sure that they would stop him.
However, in that desperation and despair was a small light called hope.
He did not find tracks.
He did not find any body remains.
He did not find any items that belonged to Arthur or his party.
There was nothing.
And that was a small light of hope. A hope that there was a chance that his little brother was still alive out there.
"…"
"?"
Horned rabbits.
A common type of monster that can be found anywhere in this forest.
They are usually more easily found on the other side of the forest, but by the looks of things, Adam had found a group there… But a very small one.
But he didn't care.
He found the monsters that his little brother was hunting…. A small chance at finding the clue.
So, he approached the rabbits without care, not even trying to hide or startle them.
The rabbit monsters instantly noticed the man and started charging at him, but he just swung around his sword, cutting two of the rabbits and killing them.
"?!"
However, the man did not spot the third rabbit with a missing eye, who came at him from the other side, stabbing him in the foot with its horn, but not deep enough to cause any serious wound thanks to the man's protective gear.
The man just stepped on the rabbit's neck with full force, snapping it, terrifying the fourth rabbit that started running away and then going straight towards the small hill nearby.
"…"
After dealing with the small group of the rabbits, the man instantly started walking forward, trying to find anything, while also looking in the direction where the rabbit ran away…
"?"
And as he walked, he noticed something.
In the small hill, there was something, a path beneath the hill that stretched downwards.
"?"
(A cave? So that rabbit went into it…Huh?)
(Wait… What… What if they chased the rabbits into the cave?) - thought the man as he stared at the cave where the rabbit escaped.
"…"
The man's exhausted mind couldn't think straight, to the point he started making random assumptions…. Which led to him checking the cave.
The theory in the man's head was this.
"What if they were hunting rabbits, but then they started running away, which resulted in them going inside, trying to hunt down the runaway rabbit?"
A somewhat random theory and stuff…. But the current state wasn't the best.
Desperation.
Despair.
Exhaustion of body.
Exhaustion of mind.
…
But a small shine of possible hope is shining.
Simply put, the young man wasn't thinking straight anymore at this point.
Which resulted in the young man just walking into the cave, entering it.
However, what the young man did not know was that this wasn't just a cave… It was a dungeon.
The very same dungeon that had claimed the life of his little brother.
"…"
(Intruder.) – The dungeon master found out that somebody had entered the dungeon and instantly used its authority to see who it was…. With surprised the dungeon master as it saw an single horned rabbit.
It wasn't just an evolved version, just a lone weak rabbit.
At first the dungeon master thought of it as a false alarm…. But then it found out about the second intruder.
The human intruder.
"…"
(Different…Not the same…Danger?) – The dungeon master was unsure if the new human was just as dangerous as the first one it saw. Or is he stronger than them?
"…"
The dungeon master started preparing himself for the combat, but as it was about to start, he saw that the adventurer was using a weapon, a long sword…. This made the dungeon master curious.
(Is it better if I use this?)
The dungeon master got curious about an option of using a weapon himself that was not his claws or anything like that….. And so, he went to the core room and picked a weapon that he thought he could use.
A sword.
The dagger was too short and wasn't good at all for the monster, since it knew its claws were a better option, while it also didn't know how to properly use a bow yet…. That left only the sword as the option; however, it wasn't bad, as the dungeon master didn't see any too big or annoying problems, which resulted in the dungeon master making up its mind to pick and wield the sword in order to "test out" how the fight will go while using it.
"…"
(Weird… Isn't this cave too long?) thought Adam, who was holding a small lantern and looking around.
(…. Is this by any chance some monster nest or something? Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me at this point….. Should I go back?)
"…"
(No… I need to check this place, just in case…)—though the man before then noticed that the path in front of him had somewhat changed, alarming him as he put the small lantern on his belt before then drawing his long sword.
The man entered the different part of the cave…. And then he instantly saw it.
The tall humanoid figure made out of wood was standing in the middle of the room where the corpse of a freshly killed horned rabbit was lying.
"…"—the puppet looked at the man.
"!?"
(What the hell is that?!)—thought the man, who was completely caught off guard by the bizarre creature in front of him.
(Monster?)
(Wait… Puppet?)
(But why is…Wait…)
"…"
The man stared at the creature, trying to understand what the being right in front of him was… And then he saw it.
It saw the sword that the creature was holding in its hand.
"…"
"Why do you have that..."
"WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE MY BROTHER'S SWORD!?"