"Congratulations," the doll's voice said. "You've defeated me. Now I'll tell you my name, and then I'll take you to your character."
Itinit looked at the head of his opponent, which lay at the edge of the arena and smiled, and then became convinced that the voice really belonged to her.
"My name is…" the head said. "I'll recover now and tell you."
Itinit turned his gaze to the doll's body, which was still standing on its feet. Now it was without a head, and therefore without the hair that covered its chest and crotch, which meant...
...that Itinit was looking at something he had only seen on the network.
"Why aren't real human girls like this? Where are these dolls made?"
But soon the spectacle ceased. The head stood on the neck, and the hair partially covered it. Itinit imagined Halankuo in the place of the doll and quickly discovered that it was not much different from it.
Tuot watched this spectacle with his mouth open and even envied his friend. Of course, he did not understand why Itinit admired the dolls. They interested the dinosaur only from a gastronomic point of view.
"I'm Kitachi," the doll said. "Now I will give you a pass to the hall where your character is."
The doll extended her hand forward. A clot of blue energy appeared in her palm, which then turned into an energy memory card with a small black wrench inside.
"You have to attach this thing to the slot in the wall," Kitachi explained. "You're smart, so you can do it."
The memory card moved to Itinit, who moved it into his inventory with a wave of his hand.
"Now it's the dinosaur's turn," Kitachi looked at Tuot, who was sitting on the stands.
Itinit disappeared. The next moment, Tuot found himself standing in the arena opposite the doll.
"You are stupid, but dangerous," Kitachi said. "I know you will try to cut off my head with your tail."
"She almost guessed," Tuot was frightened. "It's good that she can't read minds."
"I have an important advantage," Kitachi continued. "I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of anything at all, because I'm a doll. But you're afraid of me, judging by your appearance."
A wrench appeared in the doll's hand. Tuot immediately remembered the man with the carrot nose who was able to stop the dinosaur's tail. Tuot was finally convinced of the correctness of his plan, but then accidentally looked at the face of his opponent...
"This doll looks like a non-living Halankuo. But it can't be her. Halankuo is in a different place now. But where, I don't know. Maybe while I didn't write to her, Halankuo became a doll. This explains why this doll knows so much about me. I'll have to check this out."
"Do you know what I like the most?" Tuot asked.
"Eat dogs," Kitachi answered. "Dinosaurs eat dogs."
"This isn't Halankuo," Tuot instantly felt better.
***
The cold white fog gradually cleared. An arena appeared, covered with a layer of ice, like a skating rink, which was very noticeable with gray stone stands along the edges.
An arctic fox girl in a winter form, surrounded by a white and blue elemental aura, sank onto the back of the ice beetle statue.
"This place is so beautiful," Etinnei pressed her palms to her cheeks. "Did I do this or Minniges?"
The brain neighbor did not answer. Etinnei took a step forward and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the passive skill worked, and the arctic fox girl landed on a specially created ice floe.
The fog continued to clear. Etinnei saw the ice statue on the opposite side of the arena and took a step towards it.
This time, the passive skill didn't work. Etinnei's feet were too close to the floor, so they simply landed on it and then began to slide until they reached the edge of the arena.
An energy barrier that suddenly appeared from the fog prevented her from going any further. The vibration pushed Etinnei towards the center of the arena.
"It's so strange to walk on ice. I wish I hadn't used that skill. It froze everything here. It froze…"
Suddenly, the arctic fox girl remembered what had happened, and then turned around to see an ice statue of a beetle the size of a large deer.
"It's a robot. I'm not done yet."
An electrical bolt appeared in Etinnei's hand. A few moments later, the ice statue cracked and fell apart.
"Now I have to find these other things."
... There was almost nothing left of the fog. Etinnei's gaze took in the entire arena and noticed five ice statues.
"There are too many of them," the arctic fox girl sighed and saw her own fumes.
The icy aura around Etinnei changed to an electric one. The arctic fox spirit's hair turned black, and the white-blue fur jacket was replaced by a gray-purple top.
The electric clot in Etinnei's hand grew larger and soon turned into a ball. Now it no longer fit in the small hand of the arctic fox girl...
A sharp pain made Etinnei's ears twitch and her mouth let out a groan, similar to the groan of a wounded dog. Despite this, the Arctic fox girl stood on her feet.
An electric thread was emitted from the aura on the palm, which fed a ball of white-blue lightning. It hung directly above the character and quickly grew larger.
"Oh…" Etinnei looked at her skill in fear. "It's going to…"
The arctic fox girl clenched her fist, and this broke the electric thread. The ball stopped growing…
The air was filled with a crackling sound, but to Etinnei's arctic fox ears it was thunder. Numerous bolts of lightning flew out of the ball in different directions. The ice statues were shattered in the first few moments, and then the ice crust that covered the arena began to crumble.
Chunks of ice rose into the air, but, like the lightning, they did not hit Etinnei, although they flew very close.
"I thought it was just a skill with a big icon," the arctic fox girl knelt down and pulled her hood over her eyes. "I didn't know it was so powerful. I should have read those symbols."
The ball gradually lost its lightning and became smaller. Soon it became a barely noticeable electric clot that made a slight crackling sound...
Etinnei heard that the "thunderstorm" was over and threw back her hood. The arena completely lost its ice and returned to its previous stone state.
The energy barrier that surrounded the arena disappeared. The arctic fox girl deactivated her aura and slowly walked towards the stands.
"There was an exit somewhere around here. The doll said she would let me go if I destroyed the robots."
It didn't take long to find a way out. A bright flash of fire flew past Etinnei and landed on one of the stone seats.
"You already..." the Arctic fox girl wanted to say, but didn't have time.
"I burned them."
Noru was sitting on the stands. The fire around her had already gone out, but her hair was still smoking.
"For some reason, on this continent, robots burn better than trees," Noru looked at her friend, puzzled. "No wonder my master doesn't like them."
"Robots burn…" Etinnei couldn't understand.
"I'm talking about trees. They don't burn at all. If you blow them up, they just smoke. They're kind of weird."
"Yup, you haven't seen what kind of animals there are here. They don't talk. When you ask them something, they don't answer, or they answer something incomprehensible."
"Yup, we need to make them talk. I even know how to do it."
"How?"
"You have to catch the animal and then tell it: "If you don't talk, I'll burn you."
Etinnei looked at the floor and wiggled her ears. Noru walked up to her friend and patted her head.
"What's wrong?" the dog girl asked.
"I think it would hurt the animals if you burned them," Etinnei answered. "The fire is hot."
Noru looked at her free hand and noticed a small flame. The dog girl raised her hand to her face and then extinguished the flame on her cheek.
"The fire is not hot," Noru said.
"He's hot," Etinnei answered. "You're just too hot and you don't feel the fire."
"Itinit said something like that. I didn't listen to him because he often said something boring."
"I don't always understand him either. He is an animal of a different species."
By the way, why can't wild animals speak, but we can?
"I don't know. I could always speak. And wild animals can too, but it's not clear."
"I met wolves on the island of mushrooms, and they spoke to me. I understood them a little, but these animals were not real. It was at the mushroom spirit's residence. Everything there is not real. And on the island itself there were no animals."
Etinnei remembered the Island of Energy Mushrooms, and could not remember a single wild animal.
"Yup, for some reason there were no animals there," the Arctic fox girl said. "Only mushrooms."
"I only saw real animals on the shore," Noru admitted. "They were like that."
The dog girl slapped her hand on her belly, and then puffed out her cheeks.
"They didn't have arms or legs," Noru continued. "Instead, they had these... The dog girl lay down on her stomach, or rather, on her chest, and then waved her arms a few times."
"I know such creatures," Etinnei lowered her tail, arctic fox ears and bowed her head. "They live in the sea, lie on the shore and do nothing. They can't speak at all, not even in their own language."
"Unhappy animals..." Noru sat down on her knees and spread her legs in opposite directions. "We need to help them. Maybe we can teach them our language, and they will be able to talk to us!"
"Wild animals don't speak normally."
"They don't speak because they have their own language. These unhappy animals have nothing. Maybe they want something, but they can't say it."
"Eeeh..."
"Let's get out of here," Noru grabbed her friend's hand. "The unhappy animals are waiting for us on the shore!"
Etinnei tried to object, but didn't have time. A few moments later, she was already flying astride a large burning dog...
***
Halankuo woke up from a strong pain in her leg and immediately began to scream. The girl did not notice the creature with gray hair and metal horns on its head next to her, although she saw it.
"Creator, I'm not finished yet. You woke up early."
The creature turned its head to the girl. The gray hair was thrown to the sides, and Halankuo saw the face of her character in front of her.
"Kyotyoryon," the pain was replaced by anxiety.
"What are you doing?" Halankuo asked.
Kyotyoryon raised one of her arms, bent at the elbow. A short, bloody blade protruded from the bracelet.
"I'm cutting you," the metal spirit answered. "There is something hard in your leg, soft on top, but hard underneath. I cannot cut it."
"Bone," Halankuo thought.
Soon the pain returned, and with it a cry similar to the roar of a large wild animal. But her character did not seem to be bothered by it at all. Kyotyoryon tried to return to her task, but fortunately her hand with the blade at the last moment deviated from her bloody thigh and twisted in the opposite direction.
"It's you, evil doll," Kyotyoryon looked at the bushes. "This is my creator. Only I can cut her."
Sitihi came out of the bushes with an outstretched hand, holding a wrench.
"This is my big sis," the doll said. "You mustn't cut her."
"Why?" Kyotyoryon released the blade from the bracelet on her other hand.
"Because..."
Sitihi looked at Halankuo with her eyes wide and motionless, and lowered her hand with the wrench. Kyotyoryon immediately took advantage of the moment and plunged the blade into the creator's thigh.
Halankuo looked at Sitihi with eyes that were almost indistinguishable from the doll's eyes. The screams turned into groans. Now the girl did not understand what was happening. For a moment, the "sisters'" gazes met, after which Halankuo fell to the ground.
Sitihi pointed the wrench at Kyotyoryon and "threw" her into the bushes. Then the doll walked up to Halankuo and looked at her face.
"Big sis, you've become like me," Sitihi fell to her knees and blinked first one eye, then the other.
Halankuo lay on the ground with her eyes open and didn't move.
***
Unana was lying on the bed in her room, drawing on the virtual screen with her finger. Her school uniform was lying on the floor nearby, and the only clothes she had on were her headphones.
"I'll finish this now and show it to Yueret. He'll like it."
The screen showed a girl who looked very much like Unana, but in a bear costume.
Yueret entered the room.
"Unana, I found something..."
The sister didn't notice her brother right away, as she was so engrossed in drawing. Yueret sat down on the bed, saw the drawing and shuddered.
"I hope this isn't Unana, who became a bear girl."
"What is this?" Yueret asked.
After this phrase, Unana finally noticed her brother, quickly minimized the screen, and then rolled over onto her back.
"Did you see it?"
"Yeah," Yueret answered. "But I didn't understand what it was."
"That's because I haven't finished yet. When I finish, I'll show you."
Yueret noticed the school uniform lying on the floor, and only now noticed that his little sister was wearing nothing but headphones.
"Unana has become the same as before. Maybe I shouldn't have made her go to school?"
Unana grabbed a pillow that was almost big enough for her, placed it in front of her, and then laid her head on it, reminding Yueret of the dog girl.
"Why did you come? Kimchan got lost again?"
"No," Yueret shuddered, as he imagined dog ears on his sister's head. "This is much more serious."
"Speak. I want to draw."
"Unana is so serious. She has changed after all. Before, she just wanted to eat."
"I was able to get into dad's room," Yueret said. "There was something important in the vault."
Yueret summoned a virtual screen, and then clicked on the square icon. Another one opened on top of the screen...
"Yueret, why are there two of you..." Unana asked in a whisper.
"That's because it's not me. It's our dad and his little brother."
"How can you be so sure? The only difference between the two is their height and age."
"Look at the date."
Yueret pointed his finger at the bottom of the screen, causing a few blue symbols to appear.
"It can't be you," Unana agreed. "You were too young to even look like this child."
"This child is the same uncle," Yueret said.
"What?"
Unana stared at the photo. A brown-haired boy who looked exactly like Yueret was sitting on a wooden bench at a train station that seemed familiar to the archer. Next to him sat a smaller version of himself. The boy was holding a squirrel by the tail in one hand and a slingshot with an energy bowstring in the other.
"This is definitely not you?" Unana pointed at the squirrel. "You caught them to teach them to fly."
"I felt sorry for them," Yueret explained. "I thought squirrels had trouble climbing trees. They were trying so hard..."
"He also has some kind of small bow. You didn't have it."
"It's some kind of mixture of me and you."
"Yeah, it's probably just our relative. Maybe you're right. It's our uncle. But how do we find him?"
"I found the login details for an online account in the storage. It doesn't exist anymore because the app where it's registered no longer exists."
"And then you extracted energy from the data?"
"It's like you read my thoughts."
"I'm your little sister. That's how it should be."
"Yeah, I extracted the energy from the data and then read it using a special energy skill."
Unana raised her head and looked at her brother with her mouth open. Her breasts rose along with their owner and partially appeared from behind the pillow.
Yueret closed the screen with the photo, and then opened another screen with a table filled with different symbols.
"What is this?" Unana asked. "I don't understand half the symbols here."
"You should have gone to school," Yueret joked. "Actually, I don't understand some of the characters either. This is a code obtained from extracting energy. Some symbols may be incorrectly converted. But even from this text, it is clear that the owner of the account lived in Yenekit and went to school there."
"Is there a name here?"
"Yeah, but it is not real. People often sign up with a fake name online so that no one will find out."
"That's right."
Unana lowered her head onto the pillow and buried her face in it.
"What's happened?" Yueret looked at his sister, from whom only hair and headphones "remained".
"I signed with my real name..." Unana hid behind the pillow and opened the virtual screen. "I need to change it. Dolls can find me on the network."