At Lin Yuan's question, everyone's eyes once again turned in unison toward the steel plate he had kicked aside.
Beneath that plate lay the Dean Puppet that had been chasing and attacking them earlier.
The poor Dean Puppet was so short that, pinned beneath the steel plate, it was completely hidden from view.
Lin Yuan followed their gazes, but misunderstood what they meant:
"Sorry, sorry. My strength just went up a bit, and I didn't control it properly when I kicked the door."
After crafting Explore the Sea, his strength had increased six- or sevenfold, and that kick had sent the steel plate a little too far.
"It didn't land on any of you, or any flowers or plants, did it?"
Lin Yuan asked with concern.
Everyone hurriedly shook their heads.
"Good. Looks like I still need to get more familiar with my new strength..."
Before he finished speaking, the steel plate was suddenly shoved into the air with a bang.
The Dean Puppet crawled out from beneath it.
It was now covered in dirt, half its glasses had been crushed, and the gun in its hand had been flattened into scrap metal.
"%￥...￥%..."
Whether its language module had been damaged by the weight or something else had happened, the Dean Puppet opened its mouth and let out a string of incomprehensible words.
Still, its exasperated tone gave them a rough idea of what it was saying.
"￥#%￥#... Transform!"
Its language module seemed to have repaired itself, as that final word came out perfectly clearly. This time, everyone understood.
The next instant, the space around the Dean Puppet rippled, and a huge suit of exoskeleton armor that looked like a muscular hulk materialized out of thin air and fitted itself around the Dean Puppet.
"This thing has a second phase!"