I wasn't going to go outside without preparation though. I didn't know know how dangerous my surroundings were, so I wasn't going to chance it. It'd be like going into a raid boss blind and Noel was definitely not built for a fight at all. I'd get wiped!

  But Kuch was different. Kuch could fight for me.

  "Okay," I muttered to both them and myself. "Took the stuff that you chopped up from the trees and enhanced your body with them. You're definitely more of a wood golem now than a stick one."

  They said nothing, just staring. Unsurprising, given their head was basically a reinforced box. Even if they speak, I knew that they probably would just be speaking back with my own own thoughts, being just an extension of me with [Doll Maker]. Hm, that'd be a curious exercise to see if I could divide multiple versions of myself to keep myself company.

  ...I feel like all of Lighthouse would be hysterically laughing themselves silly if they ever found out. I'll need to be probably keep tabs on my mental state if I do stay in this prolonged isolation. But well, I've gone solo adventuring before, I can do this.

  Tree Branch (Item Quality: 14) (Infused Level: 43)

  I did also upgrade Kuch's weapon from a stick sword to a giant branch, something that now resembled an unwieldy club more than anything. It wasn't great, but it would suffice for now. I did promise to my minion (and thus myself) that once I was sure of more things, I'd knuckle down and make something far more proper. Less crude.

  Doing anything less felt like an insult to Noel's abilities.

  But for now, it'd do. I did a final check of everything and gave one last round of appraisal, comparing Kuch's current capabilities to where they would have been in FLOW. I think they'd definitely have a good chance at clearing some of the game's very first dungeons back when things had such low stakes. Though any complication or prolonged engagement would definitely wear down the body quickly.

  That was something important I made sure to stress to myself. I can't take chances, not when my current material quality was so low. I couldn't risk losing the dark crystal I invested into my ability.

  Right, I've told myself of the danger enough. Time to send Kuch out. I took a seat in my workshop and closed my eyes, focusing the majority of my attention now on [Doll Maker]. The string that linked my construct to me pulsed, and I could now sense through them.

  They were slow. Lumbering. Clumsy. As expected of a body that was made unfortunately of rather low quality resources. But there still was a powerful underlying strength, something that likely came from the crystal powering it all. Hopefully, that would be enough to deal with whatever woodland critter came my way.

  The forest around my manor was definitely something new that hadn't been there when the servers had been shutdown. The rolling hills were gone, and so was the nearby mountain that had been my greatest hope for a resource mine. I'm sure my real body- Noel's- wrinkled their nose upon nearly stumbling into the swamp the forest transformed into some ways out to the south. Plenty of organic ingredients that I supposed would be of aid someday, but definitely not the stuff I wanted for the moment.

  Well, at least not without going back into my vault and breaking apart old trophies and memories. Something I honestly didn't want to do- they were the memories of Lighthouse if this was a world without them. Proof that the Ten Lights had lived. So unless I was absolutely in a do or die scenario, I wanted to leave them be.

  Hopefully it wouldn't come to using [Recycle] on them.

  I cycled around to check the other cardinal directions, stopping Kuch from going too far. Both the west and north was even deeper forest. The trees did thin slightly out to the east, but that was only comparatively to where I currently was. It looked like I really was someplace so far removed from civilization that nobody would stumble across it.

  Unsurprising, given how the riches of my home had thankfully remained unlooted. But a definite complication that had me chewing my slightly malleable lips in thought. There went any hope that I could find some nearby village to try trading for things.

  Calling Kuch back, I was about to mutter about the game's ridiculous difficulty when they nearly tripped and fell into a creek! Ah, it appeared to sprout from some natural spring and then run down south to that swamp. I supposed I made a mistake of not checking from where all that moisture had come from. But fresh spring water, thank goodness, that was something that would surely be of great aid for potions and cooking.

  I directed Kuch to go along the length of the flow, noticing how it definitely widened into being a river just before entering the swampland. There, at that boundary, I think I found something finally useful along the banks. Kuch shakily reached their lumbering hand out and scooped up a fat chunk of the sloppy material, confirming my hopes.

  Clay.

  Heck. Yes.

  Never thought I'd hear myself squealing like an excited girl, but well, that was how Noel sounded. And myself now, I guess. But it was hard to understate just how big this discovery was for enabling my crafts!

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  In the real world, porcelain wasn't actually made from clay. It came from an entirely different material, one that the developers for FLOW had taken a look at, said 'nope,' and made their own magical method and definitions. They did make it quite laborious and time consuming to compensate, making it more than just firing up the forge to make a puppet. Quality especially matter most of all, requiring only the best mined clay to create something on the level of what actual puppet character used.

  But aiming a bit lower for the moment, clay was useful. I could even make cups and pitchers with for my potions. Though if memory serves me right, there actually was a lore-reason why glass was used instead. Something about the earth impurities contaminating the solution. So my acquisition priority hadn't shifted at all, just simply adjusted.

  I could probably make do with brewing a large vat of middling mana potions and then just putting it in a jug, sipping it through the day like it was lemonade while I worked.

  Again, not optimal, but given the limited resources that surrounded me for the moment, it would suffice.

  Kuch came back with as much clay as they could scoop up, and I deposited it at the edge of the clearing where my manor was. Very far away from the flowers. Next I ordered them to grab that bucket I found and start bringing water to fill up a barrel. It had been the one with old water, I didn't waste a single drop and used it all to make some more tainted potions.

  While they worked at transporting, I immediately got my hands dirty with clay. Porcelain fingers kneaded and rolled the material into rough balls that I gathered, then then fed mana into. The resulting information told me much.

  Swamp Clay (Item Quality: 19) (Infused Level: 53)

  Yeah, there was no way this wasn't going to taint my potions. Just like I'd figured. I looked through and frowned, noticing none of them had anything than the high twenties figure for quality. In FLOW, I think that would've been sturdy enough for commoner dinnerware grade. My [Infuse] made it something that would actually appear at the feasts of fancy merchants or poor nobles NPCs.

  In player homes, you'd be mocked at for serving anything lower than a simple hundred figure. It absolutely wouldn't survive a food fight beneath that level. For puppets, it had to break at least four times that value to be considered sufficient for their body. So what I had was just barely workable.

  Good enough for me right now.

  But before I could get any deeper into the matter, a sudden tug on the bond from [Doll Maker] had me freeze in place. Kuch was in danger! I immediately dove into the bond and focused on what they had encountered, finding the warning quite well justified.

  There was a snarling wolf right next to where my construct had been collecting water. If I had to guess, the animal was likely hydrating itself when Kuch had autonomously approached and didn't take kindly to what was a perceived invasion into its territory. I directed Kuch to begin stepping away, trying to stress I wasn't interested in picking a fight.

  Unfortunately, the wolf apparently was and kept approaching. Grimly, I had Kuch heft their club, hoping that the show of force would finally dissuade it. When those hunches raised even further up, I resigned myself to a fight and locked in for my first fight in this world.

  The wolf struck first, being faster than Kuch with their poor construction. Their jaws snapped up and latched onto one of the legs, trying to dig into the material. But as it was all wood instead of flesh, the fangs failed to do anything than rip out strips of bark.

  Meanwhile, I didn't hesitate and brought the club down on the wolf's head with all of Kuch's strength. I think I might have overdone it when I crushed through the skull, brain, and jaw in a single motion. Oh, and the arm broke too. Again.

  I blinked and stared blankly at the results of this very quick fight. One wolf, sans the head, and one golem, sans the arm. But given Kuch was still standing, I called that a victory. With a sigh, I directed my minion to begin dragged the animal corpse home- waste not, want not. Maybe it had been just a low leveled wild encounter? I wouldn't put it past that.

  But even then, the lack of being able to withstand that strength exerted by the core was a thoroughly recurring problem that I was quite fed up with. Not to mention, what if I'd miss and broke the arm while the wolf was still alive? I guess I could resort to throwing a singular hand, but I didn't want to take that risk.

  What else lurked out there too? I couldn't say I mapped out my entire surroundings in specific detail. It wouldn't be surprising if I directed another expedition and found something I missed in the first sweep, like the source of the water for the swamp the first time. Maybe I'd even miss an entire tribe of elves, though I imagine that'd be ridiculous. But what if next time, Kuch ran into something like a basilisk or a hydra?

  Guess I was going to fulfill that promise of properly outfitting my doll first before I started messing with ceramics. Upgrades, people!

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