Upgrading the Little Legion.
For Alice, it was a pretty straightforward affair—just a bit costly, that's all.
The armor and weapons for the two knight dolls set her back thirty thousand valis.
The bows for the three archer dolls came to forty thousand valis. Thankfully, the arrows they shot were formed from Alice's own magic; otherwise, stocking enough arrows for three archers would've been a massive expense. The magic dolls were the most budget-friendly—just their core units needed replacing, and that was it.
The cores of the knight and archer dolls were also upgraded.
All eight cores for the dolls totaled eighty thousand valis.
All in all, enhancing the Little Legion cost Alice a hundred and fifty thousand valis. And she'd only just made three hundred thousand from her three-day dive into the Dungeon.
Just like that, half was gone.
Still, for Alice, it was worth every coin.
She'd spent it where it counted. With the Little Legion's current strength, she estimated they could sweep through everything up to the seventeenth floor—right before the Floor Boss.
If she added Shanghai and Hourai to the mix, they might even stand a chance against the Floor Boss itself. And with Alice joining in? They could probably take it down.
Of course, that was all in her head.
She'd never actually seen a Floor Boss in action. Based on the adventurers she'd encountered in the Dungeon, she guessed her own strength was near the peak of Level 2, but not quite Level 3.
After upgrading the Litt;e Legion, along with Hourai and Shanghai…
Her dolls alone could defeat a Level 3 adventurer. With her magic backing them, even a seasoned Level 4 might not be a match for her.
But against a Floor Boss? Probably still not enough.
And when it came down to it, adventurers in Orario—even at the same level, with the same stats—could vary widely depending on how well they'd built their foundation in earlier levels. Exceptional adventurers who pushed their abilities to the limit could even fight above their level. So judging strength by adventurer rank was pretty unreliable.
With the Little Legion's upgrades done…
Now came the main event: enhancing Shanghai and Hourai.
Compared to the Legion, these two were the real priority. If their upgrades went as smoothly as Alice hoped…
Then if she faced that werewolf again now…
Well, she might still lose.
But catching her? That'd be wishful thinking. After boosting Shanghai and Hourai, even without using [Gap], that werewolf from Loki Familia wouldn't lay a finger on her, whether she could beat him or not.
And in a battle of attrition? She'd outlast him for sure.
Shanghai was designed as an all-rounder in close combat.
Her knight lance definitely needed an upgrade, but she wasn't limited to just that. How Shanghai fought depended entirely on Alice's own skills.
Any ability Alice possessed, Shanghai and Hourai could use too—she just had to encode the relevant skills into their cores.
So, within the [Gap], aside from the knight lance, Alice had also prepared two swords: one long, one short, both katana.
Hmm…
In her [Knowledge Repository], Alice recalled that gardener from the Netherworld whose sword skills were seriously impressive. She figured it was worth studying and encoding into Shanghai's core.
As for Hourai, her upgrade was simpler. After expanding her core, Alice also integrated some magic from that black-and-white magician—though only the artillery spells.
But firepower was what mattered, right?
By the time she finished upgrading Shanghai and Hourai, it was already late into the night.
"That Divine Script Asfi mentioned… I'm really curious about it. Wonder where I can learn it? Does the Guild have a library or something…"
Alice leaned back in her chair, gazing up at the ceiling.
Though Shanghai and Hourai were now upgraded, the materials' limitations meant their improvement wasn't as dramatic as she'd hoped.
Still, they were definitely stronger.
By a conservative estimate, with Alice's magic support, the two of them together could take down a Level 3 adventurer.
"Divine Script… Do I have to go ask Loki?" Alice frowned.
Honestly, after three days in the Dungeon, she felt like she could already hold her own.
Throughout Orario, aside from Loki Familia and Freya Familia, adventurers from other factions were doing well if they reached Level 4. Levels 3 and 4 were considered the solid core of Orario's adventurers.
Alice was undoubtedly at that level now. But for her, it still wasn't enough.
Not that she had to worry about others picking on her—she could handle herself fine at this stage.
"Well, for now, it's manageable. But for future growth, I'll need to do more research. Maybe make some other types of dolls?"
"The deeper you go in the Dungeon, the bigger the monsters seem to get. The Little Legion dolls are a bit too small, and their abilities are kinda limited."
"A giant doll… Like a Goliath doll?"
"Now that I think about it, that princess at the Eternal Palace has a lot of weird memories in her head—something about Rozen Maiden or mechanical dolls? I'll look into it when I have time."
"And that shrine maiden at Moriya Shrine who's into giant robots—not really my style, but I can take some pointers from it."
Alice pushed away from her workbench and headed toward the bathroom.
As she walked, she began stripping off her dress, dropping it on the floor.
On the table, Shanghai and Hourai's eyes began to glow with life. Their reboot was complete, their upgrades installed, and their cores enhanced.
So they activated on their own.
Watching Alice's behavior, the clothes scattered everywhere, and the messy workbench, Shanghai and Hourai exchanged a glance. Then, like two little adults, they sighed in resignation.
Floating into the air, they got to work.
Time to clean up…
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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