Touko's level of expertise in making dolls was beyond question. Anyone who knew her wouldn't doubt her abilities; instead, they would highly praise her, considering her skills sufficient to usher in a new era in doll Magecraft.
This was also believed by her disciple, Naoki. Therefore, when Touko said she would help him make a doll, he was overjoyed. Because this meant the difficulty in achieving his goal would be drastically reduced, possibly even creating a doll that exceeded his expectations.
After all, he himself, no matter how hard he studied and researched, in terms of dolls he could not possibly surpass Touko.
However—
"Impossible."
Three days later, looking at the sixty-second edition doll design that Naoki showed her, Touko sighed wearily.
"Young man, you really have no artistic talent whatsoever. You dare to call this scribbling like an elementary school kid a doll design? How about you start learning to draw from the basics?"
"Sorry if I can't draw!"
Due to Naoki's overly embarrassing drawing skills, the doll-making process was still stuck in the initial stages to this day.
Touko was indeed willing to help, but this was, after all, the research result that Naoki needed to advance to the 'Festival' rank, so Naoki had to be the leader, and Touko could at most play the role of an assistant.
Throwing the design, which was no different from a child's scribble, into the trash, Touko sighed helplessly, "If this continues, who knows when we can start... Anyway, the requirements you set for yourself are too high."
"Eh? Really?"
"Personality programs that can mimic all kinds, artificial intelligence that can evolve on its own, a body that can change at any time according to needs... besides doll-making techniques, I think you also need to learn alchemy."
"Why?"
"Still asking why... [Able to change body structure according to your wishes] this is clearly human body transmutation, which is the realm of alchemy!"
Touko sighed, "By the way, if this doll is really made by you, even for promotional material to the 'Color' rank it's more than enough... this is truly an incredible idea."
Body transformation, self-evolution, personality simulation, high-level magic adaptability, medium properties...
Even for Touko, to make a doll with these requirements would take a very long time, not just a technical issue, but also a material issue.
"Making a doll like this... you said you were making a doll to satisfy a man's desires, right? What kind of desires exactly?"
"Well, satisfying my own desires is indeed the main reason, part of the other reason is because of another type of Magecraft I'm learning." Naoki thought for a moment and then decided to say everything, "I once killed a Dead Apostle, received his inheritance, and in his inheritance, I found a special type of spirit summoning ritual that he created himself. It seems to be called [Summoning Magic]."
Summoning Magic?
Touko frowned, "What kind of magic is that?"
"Specifically, it's opening a gap to the Reverse Side of the World, which is the world of fairies, summoning fairies from there, and combining them with prepared magic catalysts to create fairy variants."
"Hoo... there's such magic, indeed, in nature it's similar to spirit summoning rituals. But fairies... the Dead Apostle who built this magic system was truly bold and had many ideas—can you do it?"
This question directly hit the core issue.
Remaining silent for a moment, Naoki raised his hand slightly, "A little bit of his skin... I understand almost all the theoretical knowledge, but I've never actually practiced it, after all, there hasn't been an opportunity all this time."
"How about we try it now?" Touko suggested, "For the location, just choose the outskirts of the city, anyway there aren't many people there, and if I set up a barrier, definitely no one will interfere. Even if there's a problem, you and I can solve it directly."
"That works... but the magic catalyst is the problem."
Fairies themselves are one form of the sense of the stars, which is what is called natural phenomena, while fairy variants are products of the distortion of their form. If they are not stabilized through magic catalysts, they will soon be corrected and disappear. And the longer the fairy variant exists, the greater the damage to the magic catalyst used to stabilize it.
The reason why Naoki hadn't practiced Summoning Magic all this time, the absence of a standard magic catalyst was also a very important reason.
"Catalyst... ah, so that's why you plan to make a doll."
Touko only now understood Naoki's intention.
If it was a doll with power beyond the standard, then it could indeed be used as a catalyst to use Summoning Magic, after all, the doll itself was made of various magic materials. And as long as one understood how to make the doll, then through a reproduction device, the cost could be ignored and dolls that met the requirements could be directly made.
Similarly, because it was fundamentally made of Philosopher's Stones, even if damage occurred, the reproduction device could directly replicate and cover the loss.
The perfect Summoning Magic vessel.
And besides that, because the doll's form was entirely designed by Naoki, he could make a doll that suited all his sexual orientations.
"You plan to make your own wife doll?"
"W-what—how did you know?!"
"You've said so much, the rest is just a little guess and I already know." Touko laughed, "No wonder you never had any thoughts of looking for a girlfriend, that's right, if you make your own, you can make a 'girlfriend' that truly satisfies you."
"It's not all that."
Taking the Logos React out of his pocket, Naoki looked at it seriously, "The reason why I had this idea, how... simply put, it's just to satisfy myself, like otaku shouting 'waifu' at anime characters."
"Hee~~ so the reason you're not looking for a girlfriend isn't—"
"I told you I don't have any thoughts in that direction before Gray can be independent!"
With a slightly flushed face, cutting off Touko's teasing, Naoki put away the reproduction device, "Then do you want to try? Summoning Magic, although I myself am not very sure."
"Hmm. I can prepare the magic catalyst, but if it breaks, you have to pay me back."
"I've already been working like a slave for you, Master, be a little human."