Alice had money now.
So what was the first thing she ought to do?
The answer was simple: head to the Hephaestus Familia and buy some ores.
Even though making dolls didn't strictly require ores—she'd already gathered plenty of materials in the Dungeon to make cloth and stuffing—the weapons her Shanghai Dolls used were nothing more than hardened fabric, crafted using her doll-making techniques.
They'd been sufficient up through the 10th floor of the Dungeon, but their effectiveness was starting to wane compared to earlier levels. If Shanghai's gear was already struggling, then the weapons wielded by the [Little Legion] dolls were in even worse shape.
Forging weapons with quality ores would undoubtedly produce better results than the current cloth-and-filling toys.
So, after purchasing the necessary materials, Alice swung by the market to pick up some ingredients before heading straight home.
Returning to the nameless ruins of an abandoned Familia, she stepped into her little house and immediately shut herself inside her workshop, ready to dive into her real work.
She laid out Shanghai, Hourai, and every doll from the Little Legion, then got started on upgrading them.
At the core of each of Alice's dolls was something simple: a magic stone wrapped with a strand of her hair. But these magic stones weren't the kind dropped by monsters in the Dungeon—they were mana crystals she'd bought from a merchant guild.
Mana crystals were a common resource here in Orario, widely used as materials.
They were produced by purifying the volatile magic stones dropped by monsters, leaving behind crystals of pure mana. Whether for forging weapons, crafting items, or brewing potions, mana crystals were essential.
Many weapons here were enchanted in a fairly straightforward way—nothing like the method Asfi had told her about, which used Divine Script.
In Orario, the only people who could read Divine Script were mages highly skilled in magic—and even among them, few could decipher script meant for gods. Aside from talented elves, most races found it difficult to learn and use.
For adventurers who'd never had much formal education, just reading the common tongue was an accomplishment. Divine Script was both obscure and impractical for daily life, so hardly anyone bothered learning it.
Even among those who could read some Divine Script, true mastery was rare.
Weapons from the Hephaestus Familia were among the finest in Orario. They sold plenty of enchanted gear, but not even their smiths could produce boots like Asfi's that allowed the wearer to fly.
Their method of enchanting was simple: inlaying weapons with elemental mana crystals to grant magical attacks. That was it.
Mana crystals with elemental attributes were expensive on the market. Non-attributed crystals were cheaper—not because they were useless, but because they were plentiful.
Non-attributed crystals could be imbued with all sorts of non-elemental properties, like 'sharpness' or 'durability'. But since they were so common—making up about half of all purified magic stones—their price stayed low.
Alice's Little Legion was made using these crystals. Even the earlier sold dolls, like the 'Finn Doll' and 'Ais Doll', had mana crystal cores.
But Shanghai and Hourai were different. Their cores were formed from crystals condensed from Alice's own mana. That was probably why they stood apart from all the others.
Needle in hand, thread at the ready.
The needle was ordinary, just infused with a bit of Alice's magic. The thread, though, was anything but—it was spun from the silk of Dungeon spiders, of which she had over a dozen spools.
The silk was incredibly fine. Even though Dungeon spiders could grow as large as humans, their silk was only as thick as a strand of hair. Alice had to twist two or three strands together before she could use it to sew her dolls.
The magic of the Seven Stars was versatile. Even though Alice was still learning, she could easily melt ores with a controlled flame.
Her [Knowledge Repository] also held knowledge from the kappas of Youkai Mountain, including techniques for smelting and refining metal using magical energy. With focus and effort, she completely transformed several dolls from the Little Legion.
First, their appearance.
The two knight dolls now sported adorable little suits of armor. Instead of just shields, they now carried lances sized to match Shanghai's spear.
The archer dolls looked the same, but their bows were no longer wooden—they were now made of steel. Alice didn't know much about bow-making herself, but her [Knowledge Repository] contained expertise from a lunar doctor who did. The steel micro-bows used bowstrings Alice had bought from the Hephaestus Familia—durable, non-stretchable thread.
The only downside was the cost: each string cost her 10,000 valis, and she bought three—30,000 valis gone just like that.
There were only three archer dolls for now. She might expand their numbers later, but funds were tight at the moment.
The upgrades to the knights and archers were mostly visible from the outside.
The three mage dolls were different. Outwardly, Alice had only done some minor refurbishing—which was essentially all she did.
But for all eight dolls in the Little Legion, including the mages, Alice replaced their core mana crystals with higher-quality ones, each still connected by a strand of her hair.
Now, the Little Legion could handle far more of Alice's magic—making them at least five times stronger than before.
Alice felt confident that each doll in the Little Legion now possessed combat capabilities on par with what Shanghai and Hourai had previously demonstrated.
Stronger dolls meant a stronger Alice.
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