Ike held his breath. Staring at a hundred dolls, all lined up and perfectly still, he waited, watching them for any sign of movement.

Nothing. Not a twitch. Not so much as a blink or a breath. They stood, facing him, absolutely motionless.

He released his breath. Good. Just standing here won’t trigger them. Now to find out if there’s anything that will trigger them.

Because if not…

He crept toward the doll at the far right corner. Over his shoulder, he checked his escape route. The vines and roots were just as thick here. If he needed to make a quick escape, he could.

I’m not just hoping that the dolls can’t climb, or that they won’t chase me far. In the worst case, I’ll be able to scurry back up to the height advantage, and then… He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. In any case, I have an escape route all ready to go.

Ike bent and picked up a stick. He stood as far back as he could, close to the vines. Gingerly, he poked the corner doll.

It stood there, unresponsive.

Lowering the stick, he approached a little closer. Ike inched toward the doll, waiting between each step for a reaction. Still the doll stood there, no more than the inanimate object it appeared to be.

Ever so slowly, he drew up to the doll, until he was within arm’s reach of the thing. He lifted his hand toward the doll. It shook, and Ike snorted under his breath. The tension was palpable. He couldn’t deny it.

His hand touched fabric.

Instantly, Ike withdrew his hand, as if he’d been burned. The next instant, he chuckled at himself. He glanced at the doll. Still no motion or reaction. Lifting his hand again, he touched it again, grabbing its forearm this time. He felt the joint under the fabric, the hard, shiny doll body slipping against the uniform.

Still nothing. Completely inanimate, the doll stood as if sleeping.

Ike raised his eyebrows. He gave the shoulder a little shake. Moved the doll’s head around. Tugged it a little out of line. Nothing happened. The doll didn’t react at all.

He stepped back and put a hand on his chin. His brows raised. Well, well, well. If these dolls are like Rosamund, then they’re full of rich lunam-converting goop. And why wouldn’t they be? Rosamund was, and they appear to be the same build. In fact, I’m willing to bet they have the same constructor. If they really aren’t going to react at all, why don’t I borrow one and get all the goop out of it?

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It's hard to break them open, but I’m sure I can figure something out with enough time. I think I can categorically reject smashing them open like I did Rosamund. If these belong to the city lord—and they almost certainly belong to someone at least as powerful as the city lord—then he’d hunt me down and destroy me if I openly destroyed them. After all, he put them here for a reason. City domination, or something.

I honestly don’t give a fuck about the city lord’s plan. Inter-city politics is far over my pay grade. Let the city lord attack his fellow cities. Whatever. I don’t particularly like Brightbriar City. It’s never done anything for me. My uncle can die. Silver will escape on his own, and I’m sure Cara and Orin can get out safe from any battle.

What these dolls are to me is a giant lump of resources! I’d be a fool if I simply let them stand around and waste away, full of delicious lunam-to-mana goo. Ha! If all those failed mages in the city knew about this, they’d be green with envy. As for me, I’ll take advantage of it while I can, and Rank up quickly with this goo!

Ike sobered. He looked over the dolls again, a calculating gleam in his eye. In any case, the point is, I can’t simply crack these dolls open willy-nilly and spill their insides all over the floor. That’s a guaranteed way to get a very angry city lord on my ass. No. My play here is to extract the goo without anyone realizing it’s gone. Tap these dolls so I can remove their delicious insides, leaving just enough of the goo that they can still move when they’re ordered to. Besides, the goo regenerates! No harm, no foul. In fact, I’m doing the city lord a favor! He wouldn’t want his precious dolls to crack from the internal pressure of the goo, right?

Actually, if I could get a cutter that could slice into their porcelain, I could cut open their backs and extract that goo with no one the wiser. but what would cut through their bodies? Diamond?

Ike raised his brows. He grinned deviously. Or maybe… some kind of monster part?

He retreated back up the cliff and settled in the overgrowth to pull out Orin’s book. Skimming it, he searched for monsters with super-hard claws, fangs, or scales. Anything hard, that I could sharpen into a porcelain-cutting tool.

His eyes widened. He ran his finger down a page. …sharp beaks that even shatter steel. They nest… He caught his breath. Where? Where did they nest?

…near the east side of the city, so they might not last much longer.

Ike wrinkled his nose. Far away from the Abyss. What else?

…these cats can bite through trees.

Far to the north of the city. Useless.

…sharp, vicious fangs…

North, again.

Ike wrinkled his nose. He flipped through faster, searching for creatures in the Abyss with sharp, sturdy body parts.

…hard fangs that sliced through my shield with ease. Plate armor cannot hold against their vicious bite…

Ike’s eyes widened. He checked the location. Near the Abyss! Jackpot! What kind of creature is it? He flipped back to the page.

A bulbous, harry, eight-legged creature stared back at him. Black eyes gazed out over two enormous fangs. Disgust crawled over Ike’s skin, and he made a face. Ugh. Not spiders!