LotM: Surviving as a Marionette

It turns out that when a person reaches the ultimate level of speechlessness, they really will laugh out loud.

Don folded up this letter full of nonsense again, stuffed it into the warehouse, and then the Traveler marionette carried him away from the castle.

The Lamud family marionettes in the castle were still diligently doing their work as before.

These marionettes dispatched by borrowing the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw's authority through the Ring of the Curator were still under the control of the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, and the act of impersonating them was likewise part of Don's Marionettist potion digestion.

With the Ring of the Curator in hand and an entire theater serving as his 'marionettes,' even without actively role-playing, the Marionettist's potion digestion was steadily progressing. However, since the actual controller of these marionettes was the theater core, most of the spiritual feedback from digestion would go to the theater core. He was only able to catch a bit of spiritual feedback by riding on the coattails of theRing of the Curator.

Otherwise, after obtaining the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, if Don simply threw a few Beyonders inside, based on the number of marionettes the theater core could manipulate, his Marionettist potion digestion could be completed within a day.

After all, the number of marionettes and level of proficiency that a Sequence 2 could control was far beyond what a Sequence 5 Marionettist could participate in.

"Moreover, when I advance to Sequence 4, if there are no spectators around, I must sever the connection between the theater and myself. This way, I won't be able to use the Ring of the Curator to control the Theater of Eternal Night to participate in the battle for hunting Sequence 4."

Having a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker sealed artifact controlling a group of marionettes as spectators, while not as terrifying as Klein Moretti's nest of angels, was still sufficient for him to fulfill the ritual and advance to Bizarro Sorcerer.

"As for role-playing... I temporarily can't send marionettes out. There's an old grandpa in the territory, who knows if he'll discover problems and then follow the marionette thread to find the theater?"

In fact, at this point, Don was even considering recalling the marionettes from the castle side.

Not a single angel was simple. Even though the system and the power of the Darkness had provided some cover, with spirit threads floating outside, who knew if they would be discovered.

What if some old grandpa came to his door asking, "Did you forget your marionettes outside?" and then he cheerfully opened the door to thank this honest elder who returned lost property?

The honest old grandpa brings you your marionettes, then the old grandpa takes out a monocle and gives you an incomparably brilliant smile?

Oh, what a hellish joke.

Don amused himself with his own thoughts, then composed his expression and returned to the theater to continue his work.

The castle side had the system and theater core watching over it. If problems arose, the system and theater core would immediately warn him, so there wouldn't be issues for now.

Right now, he was formulating the relevant school rules for Miskatonic University, preparing to complete the side quest.

[Side Mission: Establish a Secret Organization (Second Phase)]

[You have already selected a fixed location for communication! Let me see, what? You actually chose a sealed artifact?! This is truly a bold decision. Oh, my friend, your courage is admirable, and your friends are equally respectable.]

[So, after establishing the prototype of a secret organization, you should formulate corresponding rules and regulations. Well, you understand—a secret organization without rules and regulations is like mysticism without Dwayne Morrison... You ask who Dwayne Morrison is? Oh, that's just an ordinary vagrant.]

[Please establish comprehensive rules and regulations for the secret organization!]

[Mission Progress: 71%]

[Mission Reward: Mystery Box ×1]

From the current situation, there was temporarily no requirement for active role-playing. Operating within Tingen would be dangerous instead, and both Amon and the old grandpa were still relatively well-behaved. The problems on the dark side of the universe were even more urgent and couldn't be rushed. He could only see if he could find another way out.

"The first Mystery Box produced the 'Astronomical Telescope for Stargazing.' What will the next Mystery Box produce?"

Although what he was thinking was that this thing should be under the control of the Knowledge Wilderness. What kind of Mystery Box that had everything? It was just the Knowledge Wilderness coordinating data and then stuffing golden fingers into his hands.

Whatever the Knowledge Moor stuffed, he would take. What else could he say?

[Host, don't say it like that. Our algorithm is very user-friendly, absolutely no shady dealings!]

"Really? I don't believe it," Don asked gently. "System, could you really produce some Old God's corpse for me to use as a marionette?"

[...Well, it's not impossible.] The system choked for a moment and said weakly: [I'll go discuss with the main system... ah no, I'll go ask the main system. There should be something there...]

Hmm, go throw a tantrum, say you won't live if you don't get it, then conveniently see what good stuff the main system has, pilfer some back to upgrade yourself, become a wealthy system, and lead the host to punch Amon and kick the old grandpa, reaching the peak of system life?

Emmm, inexplicably a bit tempting jpg.

"Then, go quickly and come back quickly."

Having said that, Don ignored the system's little schemes. Regardless of whether it was the 'Stargazing' set or other things, he would always have occasions to use them.

What he needed to do now was to specifically refine the rules he had formulated.

In the office where unique styling and modern-style decorations were mixed with medieval style, Don sat in the high-backed chair, holding parchment, his right hand with charcoal pencil writing and drawing on the lines of text that had obviously been revised many times.

School rules and such—picking and choosing, most of the rules could be recalled through dream divination based on memories from his previous life.

This part of the content had been perfected by so many people in his previous life that he didn't need to consider it himself. He just needed to borrow and slightly modify it to use it independently.

What he was currently considering was the problem between the surface and inner campus areas.

The rules for the surface campus were naturally simple: strive to be good students of the new era, study hard and improve daily, don't leave early or arrive late, and such things.

The rules for the inner campus leaned toward not harming people, not using companions to cultivate mushrooms, not randomly chanting mystical content like the True Creator, Amon, Adam, and such things, then there were daily behavioral norms.

Both of these were easy to resolve.

The surface campus rules were normal, the inner campus rules were mystical. As for the deep red campus? Ridiculous—it was full of mental pollution inside. Going in, you only needed to know one rule: "Fight desperately to survive."

"Rules for entering the inner campus from the surface campus—hmm, should I write them in the school rules? Or wait for people to discover them, like in Rules-based Weird Tale? For example, write something like 'There is no fourth floor in the library. If you encounter stairs leading to the fourth floor, please do not enter under any circumstances.'"

This was quite like rule-based horror, and rule-based horror was quite like Bizarro Sorcerer.

Don lightly tapped the desktop with his fingertip, put down the parchment in his hand, and took out a stack of sticky notes from the drawer.

Let's call it Miskatonic Rule-Based Weird Tale University.

That sounds better than something like Amon University...

(End of Chapter)