Crack, crack, crack!
Ruger rolled his shoulders and neck. Every transformation left his whole body aching, but it was still bearable, hardly what he would call suffering.
As he stretched, he began trying to communicate with the Blood Curse Doll. The little thing had fallen asleep again. Its presence greatly supplemented the Hourglass Furs, which were weaker than the original Bloodline Hourglass. With the Blood Curse Doll stabilizing them, the fickle hourglasses had proved less unruly than he had imagined. After all this time spent adapting, Ruger had decided to take things a step further. The Blood Curse Doll had always been intended as an additional aid in purifying his bloodline. It was time to officially begin his planned two-pronged approach.
While trying to communicate with it, Ruger recalled the notes he had obtained from that little shorty, Nana Erz.
The notes mentioned that, as the master of a Magic Puppet, if one was highly compatible with their Blood Curse Doll and had nurtured it properly, they could try letting it stay on their body for extended periods. First, they would reduce its usual diet of resentment-laden blood, then let it feed on its master's blood while scorching it with its own invisible Curseflame, slowly refining the master's bloodline. This secret method carried two risks: first, the master had to bear part of the Blood Curse Doll's curse during the process; second, a poorly nurtured doll could easily lose itself or even turn on its master.
For a dim-witted Magic Puppet, its master's blood was naturally more likely to make it lose itself.
Ruger's first task was to have the Blood Curse Doll, which had been accumulating curse power for a long time, try igniting the so-called Curseflame. The flame's intensity was not particularly important. This secret method relied more