“Right, right, Princess, the gift I promised you before—I’ve prepared it for you.”
With Dora’s shout, Liuli suddenly remembered.
She had indeed mentioned giving herself a gift.
But, how should she put it?
She felt that the previous gift was already enough, but Dora seemed to think otherwise.
She watched as Dora took a box from under her desk and placed it in her hand.
Liuli looked and found that it was actually a Neng Dai figure.
“Eh, it’s a Neng Dai figure?”
Neng Dai from Azur Lane was also one of her favorite characters as a figure-collecting Commander, even if she wasn’t the most prominent among the game’s many characters.
So, when Dora asked about her favorite characters, she hadn’t thought of Neng Dai right away.
But now, seeing Neng Dai appear before her in figure form still made her happy.
“Hehe, this is a limited edition Neng Dai figure, and look, Princess, it’s fully articulated.”
Wait, fully articulated? Really?
With a racing heart and trembling hands, she carefully fiddled with the figure.
Once, she’d thought figures were a scam, charging high prices for little plastic dolls, but now that the figure was truly in her hand, she realized how valuable it felt.
The emotional value packed in this little toy was enough to make anyone open their wallet.
“Such a precious gift… is it really okay to give it to me?”
“Actually, it’s not that precious. Like I told Aili before, Puppet Spells aren’t particularly difficult magic. As for figures, in a way, they’re also a kind of puppet. So, once the Princess masters Puppet Spells, you could even make the figure move on its own.”
How to say it—Dora’s words made Liuli’s heart skip a beat.
If she could really make figures move, what else could she achieve?
“Little Fox, are you tempted?”
“Mm, a little.”
After all, it’s nearly impossible for two-dimensional characters to appear in real life.
If she could really see her favorite characters right before her, how could she not be moved?
“It’s fine, if you feel tempted, just practice well. Once Little Fox learns Puppetry Magic, constructing a puppet of your own will be a piece of cake.”
It made sense.
And as Aili had said, Puppetry Magic wasn’t that difficult.
Thinking about it, did that mean her dream was easy to achieve?
“But if that’s the case, why don’t we see these articulated figures much on the market? It doesn’t sound all that difficult.”
“Because a Puppet Spell isn’t something you can activate just once and be done with. It usually needs long-term magic input to work properly. For those without magic talent, a puppet that can’t maintain energy is just a figure that can move a few days. There’s no real value in it.”
Hmm, alright.
Liuli figured there was no need to doubt someone else’s expertise just because of her random ideas.
If it was a real business opportunity, it wouldn’t be her place to criticize.
“So, Serveyia, you can make this figure move too?”
“I can, but Puppet Spells are deeply tied to the caster. That means if I use Manipulation Spell on the figure, the puppet would act exactly as I wish. Even so, Little Fox, do you really want me to cast the spell?”
“Also, if you want to learn, Puppet Spells aren’t that hard. You’ll master it soon, so is it really worth rushing?”
Fine, fine.
If her figure was always controlled by someone else, it would definitely feel weird.
“Anyway, thank you, Dora. I really like this gift.”
“No problem, no problem! As long as the Princess likes it. But, Princess, what made you want to visit the E-sports Club? Here to play games?”
“I was just curious, wanted to see what kinds of games the ladies were playing.”
“Ah, everyone plays everything. In here, Princess, you can easily find people who share your interests.”
Find people with shared interests?
She thought about how most of the two-dimensional games she played were single-player.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t find companions, but somehow, games like these always felt too personal.
A lot of the things she liked were impossible to share with others.
“So, Princess, do you want to look around and see what everyone’s playing with me?”
“Will there be a lot of people?”
“There’ll be quite a few, but it shouldn’t be too chaotic. As long as those playing don’t get more excited about the sudden appearance of the Princess than their games.”