The Strongest Curse Master - Chapter 180

Chapter 180: Cursed Doll Experiment Chapter 180: Cursed Doll Experiment “How many did you catch?” Ace asked Emi as she pulled another trout from her storage talisman, preparing it for her senpai to grill using her laser.

“Enough, Master,” Emi replied, avoiding specifics about how she had likely reduced the trout population in the nearby creek to single digits.

Her barrier talisman had allowed her to catch more than enough to satisfy her master’s appetite.

Ace frowned but chose not to press further.

If Emi had wanted to elaborate, she would have done so before he asked.

His gaze shifted to the assortment of herbs and spices Dame Wasp had gathered from the hill for marinating the fish.

Shaking his head, he wondered if he even wanted to know how she had managed to procure such a variety within a mile radius of the hot spring.

Deep down, Ace feared he wouldn’t like the answers from either of them.

Rather than ruin the moment with questions, he decided to enjoy the grilled fish and the luxury of soaking in the hot spring, letting the girls treat him like a king.

He was certain he wouldn’t receive such royal treatment anywhere else.

Yes, he worried that their actions might be damaging the delicate ecosystem of this paradise, but it didn’t stop him from indulging.

He reassured himself with the thought that soon he would animate his fourth toy summon, Doctor Druid.

With her powers, restoring this place would be a simple task.

“Emi, how is the progress on turning Doctor Druid’s doll and accessories into cursed items?” Ace inquired, steering the conversation back to their primary objective.

There was a reason Ace hadn’t immediately fed the Doctor Druid doll to the cursed toy box along with the changeling curse core to animate it.

After learning that his toy summons could use their curse energy to imbue objects and transform them into cursed items, he wanted to experiment.

He hoped to test whether a cursed doll of Doctor Druid combined with the changeling curse core would result in higher compatibility.

If successful, he intended to adopt this method for animating future toy summons.

However, Ace was hoping for more than just improved compatibility.

He anticipated unique enhancements that might arise from using a cursed doll instead of a standard one in the animation process.

“Master, a few more minutes,” Emi replied, handing him a wooden tray shaped like a canoe, which held the grilled steelhead trout.

Dame Wasp had skillfully deboned and cut the trout for her master, even crafting the curved canoe tray so it could float on the spring water, leaving both of Ace’s hands-free to enjoy the meal.

“Girls, you’ve outdone yourselves with this one,” Ace praised his toy summons as he bit into a juicy piece of trout.

He couldn’t help but lick his fingers-it was simply too delicious.

Turning to Emi, he instructed, “Feed the curse core of the curseling from the first curse slave killed to the cursed toy box.” His curiosity about the loot from the winery made him eager to inventory its contents, wondering if it held any surprises.

Following her master’s orders, Emi placed the curse core of the first curse slave killed that day into the cursed toy box, waiting for it to analyze and deliver its report through the status screen.

“Master, if you allow me to go a little farther, I can catch a boar.

I spotted one just outside the mile-radius range,” Dame Wasp proposed.

Her laser braid danced in the air, emitting a conical beam to grill the trout evenly.

She couldn’t help but recall one particularly lucky boar that had lingered near the edge of her operational range before abruptly turning and fleeing as if sensing its impending doom.

“Rose, let’s finish the trout Emi has already caught.

I don’t want them to go to waste,” Ace said, his appetite waning despite his initial enthusiasm.

His stomach was already full, yet Emi showed no sign of running out of trout.

The gentle smile that appeared on her face each time he requested another serving filled him with unease, as it hinted at just how many trout might have been sacrificed.

He also couldn’t ignore the sheer quantity of herbs and other species Dame Wasp had gathered.

Their actions had likely wreaked havoc on the ecosystem of this serene paradise, but for now, Ace decided to focus on enjoying the moment.

“Master, you don’t have to do that.

The trout won’t spoil and will remain fresh for another decade or two as I used my preservation talisman on them before storing them in my storage talisman.

So, if you’re full, you don’t need to force yourself,” Emi said, as though she had read her master’s mind and introduced her new preservation talisman to him, which could keep a corpse from rotting or prevent food from spoiling.

“Oh my god, thank you.

I reached my limit two trout ago,” Ace confessed with a sigh of relief.

He admitted that he had been forcing himself to eat the grilled trout to show appreciation for their efforts and avoid wasting food.

His father would have been furious if he found out Ace had caught more fish than he could eat and left the rest to go to waste.

“Master, you can be so silly sometimes, you know that?” Dame Wasp said with a giggle, amused by her master’s exaggerated struggle to finish the last trout.

“Make sure to clean up the area and leave it more beautiful than we found it,” Ace instructed his toy summons.

As for the trout population in the nearby creek, he could only silently pray that the remaining trout would be particularly virile and repopulate the creek swiftly.

Both Emi and Dame Wasp nodded.

Emi used a preservation talisman on the unused herbs and stored them in her storage talisman, while Dame Wasp carefully incinerated the fish bones, scales, and other waste from the grilling process.

She used her laser with precision, ensuring the ashes didn’t spread and cause a forest fire.

It didn’t take long for the pair to clean up their waste and restore the area to its pristine state.

Going a step further, they sowed seeds from the harvested herbs in the surrounding area, placing them farther from the spring so they could grow undisturbed.

They hoped these herbs would be ready to use during their master’s next visit to the hot spring.

Just as they finished, the trio received a status screen report on the curse core they had fed to the cursed toy box: [- Status screen- – Curse core analyzed and is determined to be of Slimoid Form belonging to Mudwax curseling.  > Curse core: Mudwax (Slimoid Form) > Class: Mortal-Tier > Title: MudWeaver Note:  i) Source: Dame Wasp.]  “Rose, it seems your efforts did not go to waste,” Ace remarked to Dame Wasp, observing that the cursed toy box was now capable of not only analyzing the curses fed to it but also providing more detailed information about them.

This improvement was possible because Dame Wasp had used the Status Screen to update the cursed toy box with a list of curselings she had compiled from the S.S.S.

and C.I.B.

archives.

She wasn’t certain the cursed toy box could store this information in its memory and learn to utilize it, but her gamble had paid off.

Dame Wasp had suspected it might succeed, given how the cursed toy box had previously demonstrated its ability to process curse cores to enhance the curse core it and Ace shared, and as a result, he no longer needed to cultivate or recharge his curse energy manually.

He simply fed curse cores to the cursed toy box, it took care of the rest.

This wasn’t the only instance of the cursed toy box displaying its capabilities.

Emi had used the Status Screen to teach it basic curse crafting, which it employed to transform the cursed item Modified Sharper Rifle into the curse tool Rail Rifle.

Time and again, the cursed toy box had proven its intelligence was highly advanced and capable of learning new skills.

Still, Dame Wasp hadn’t been entirely certain the cursed tool’s consciousness could handle the vast amount of data she was painstakingly inputting.

The S.S.S.

and C.I.B.

archives contained an overwhelming number of curselings-far more than even a human mind could memorize, let alone a cursed tool.

Even if it could store the data, there was the issue of processing.

Would the cursed tool be able to sift through all that information effectively?

If so, how long would it take to make use of it?

Yet the cursed toy box exceeded her expectations, overcoming all these challenges.

It demonstrated its newfound capability by providing a more detailed analysis of the curse core that had been fed to it.

“Yes, Master.

It seems your innate curse tool is more complex and capable than we previously believed,” Dame Wasp said, her intrigue growing as she considered the cursed toy box’s potential.

“No, Senpai.

It’s Master’s innate curse art, the Status Screen, that is more than meets the eye,” Emi interjected.

“The only reason the cursed toy box can understand what we’re trying to convey to it is because of the Status Screen.

Its existence allows our master to utilize his innate curse tool in ways that other curse masters can only dream of.”