Hellhound Special Flavor...?
Kaito blinked at the fine print on the Enlightenment Pill, puzzled for a few seconds before shrugging and opening his inventory. He tapped on the pill.
The next instant, his hand suddenly weighed down as a fist-sized, pitch-black pill materialized in his palm.
Before Kaito could even feel a flicker of joy, a stench like rotten eggs assaulted his nostrils, shooting straight to his brain.
"Guh—"
Despite gagging, Kaito didn't drop the pill. Instead, he held it as far away as possible, pinched his nose, and shouted at Sasuke through gritted teeth.
"Sasuke, come here..."
"I've got something good for you to eat."
Confused but obedient, Sasuke paused his training and stomped over impatiently.
But after just two steps, his nose twitched—then he immediately covered it and backed away.
"Kaito!!"
"Are you playing with crap?!"
"Throw that thing away—wait! You... stay the hell away from me!!"
Before Sasuke could finish, Kaito—still gagging—started shuffling toward him, clutching the blackened pill.
Terrified, the kid scrambled backward into the corner of the yard.
"Sasuke, eat this."
"It'll help your brain... guh—"
As an elder brother, Kaito truly cared for his little sibling. The moment he got something good, he immediately thought of Sasuke.It's a shame his foolish little brother couldn't understand him at all. Not only was there no sympathy, but he even stood there looking disgusted.
"You... have you even heard what you're saying?"
"That's disgusting! If you want to eat brains, eat them yourself!"
Sasuke was terrified, pinching his nose and curling up in the corner, eyes tightly shut, looking utterly helpless.
From his perspective...
Kaito was the one who needed brain supplements the most.
What kind of decent person would even think about eating this thing!?
Sasuke seriously suspected Kaito was trying to make a fool out of him.
"Really... ugh... Sasuke, trust me."
"If you eat this, you'll get stronger... ugh—"
Still refusing to give up, Kaito held the revolting thing at arm's length as he approached Sasuke, relentlessly trying to persuade him.
The standoff lasted half an hour, ending only when Sasuke finally vomited, cursing as he ran off to take a shower. With a sigh, Kaito regretfully put away the Soul Awakening Pill.
Seriously...
What kind of nonsense was this system pulling?
If only the Soul Awakening Pill weren't the size of a fist, he might have actually been able to trick—no, convince Sasuke to eat it willingly.
Left with no choice, he brought the pill over to the Puppet Dog.
Since the Puppet Dog was assembled from multiple humanoid puppets, it did technically have a mouth. But Kaito still doubted whether feeding it this thing would have any effect.
"Alright..."
"Guess we'll just have to try."
Holding his breath—he couldn't stand the stench much longer either—Kaito first removed the vocalizer from the Puppet Dog's mouth, then put on gloves and forcefully shoved the Soul Awakening Pill inside.
Whoosh—
About three seconds later, as Kaito was taking off his gloves, he noticed golden light flickering across the Puppet Dog's body.
"This... is way too unscientific!"
He had even considered feeding the pitch-black pill to an actual dog, but who would've thought it would actually work on a puppet?
Click... click-click-click...
As the golden light faded, the sound of grinding puppet joints filled the air. The previously motionless Puppet Dog on the floor began twitching erratically. The single eye Kaito had painted on it now glowed red, with an actual eyeball rolling inside.
"Hsss... ha!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Struggling to adjust to its new body, the Puppet Dog wagged the puppet arm serving as its tail and barked twice at Kaito in greeting.
"Runtu, sit!"
Kaito pointed at the ground, immediately moving on to the intelligence test.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The Puppet Dog glanced down at itself, let out a few dissatisfied barks as if ignoring Kaito's command, then turned and dashed toward the nearby blacksmith's shop.
"What the..."
Kaito watched as his Soul Pet charged into the blacksmith's, his eye twitching violently. "Seems a bit... dim-witted."
Sure, the fact that the Soul Awakening Pill made the Puppet Dog move was a small surprise.
But...
It shouldn't be so dumb that it couldn't even follow basic commands, right?
Any random dog he picked up off the street could be trained to play a full basketball game with just a little coercion and bribery.
"Whatever, being able to move is good enough for now."
Shaking his head, Kaito consoled himself before stepping forward to properly discipline this Soul Pet.
"Woof!"
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
From inside the blacksmith's, the dog's barks echoed as it first dragged out a crate of materials, then used its puppet arm to pick up a hammer.Under Kaito's astonished gaze, Hikari lit the fire and began forging...
What was even more frustrating was that during the forging process, the dog kept casting disdainful glances at Kaito.
At that moment, Kaito suddenly stopped in his tracks, standing there with a complex expression as he observed.
Alright, alright, alright...
So you're just annoyed by my superb puppet assembly skills, huh?
Ungrateful!
"Uchiha Kaito!!!"
"Didn't I tell you to keep the hammering noise down earlier?!"
Sasuke, who had just taken three baths, was about to explode upon hearing the clanging sounds of metalwork outside.
He hadn't even had time to put on his shirt, and with a hurried "thud thud thud," he rushed out of the bathroom, hurling a string of curses at Kaito in the courtyard.
But...
When Sasuke stood in front of the small courtyard, he first saw Kaito frozen in place, staring blankly, and a gigantic question mark popped into his mind.
A sudden doubt arose in his heart...
Wait... that's not Kaito???
Then who is hammering away!?
Realizing this, a wave of terror surged through Sasuke, making the hair on his body stand on end. He stiffly moved his feet, cautiously turning to look at the source of the hammering sound.
This feeling was eerily reminiscent of the scary bedtime stories Kaito used to tell.
It was... very frightening!
At that moment, the puppet dog was manipulating its five arms, each wielding a hammer, tongs, crucible, and so on.
The entire scene was incredibly shocking.
Sasuke was so scared that he plopped down on the floor, instinctively reaching for an explosive tag from his ninja tool pouch to blow that bizarre thing away.
But he forgot he had just come out of the bathroom, and all he could do was gasp in surprise and quickly run behind Kaito, clutching his shoulder.
"W-what... what is that...?"
"Why is your soul pet alive?!"
"Kaito, say something..."
Sasuke's face turned pale, his lips trembling in fear.
He swore he had never seen something so terrifying.
A puppet... in a blacksmith shop... hammering away.
Moreover, this broken thing had been talking about it for several days.
It truly shattered his preconceived notions.
Kaito looked at the hammering puppet dog, unsure of how to respond, but he still explained to his foolish little brother.
"Souls pets don't die..."
Sasuke was momentarily stunned, suddenly feeling there was some truth to that, but he still felt something was very off.
"Then... Runtu... what is it doing?"
At the mention of this, Kaito's expression darkened instantly as he glanced toward the puppet dog, his tone turning extremely mournful.
"It's dissatisfied with its puppet body and is preparing to make one for itself."
Sasuke turned to look at the hammering puppet dog, then at Kaito's darkened face, and his expression froze. He burst into laughter, clutching his stomach.
"Hahahahahaha!"
"The puppet you made... even a dog finds it unsatisfactory..."