Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint.

Chapter 128 Puppet Test
The practical test on the second day allowed Celia to understand the fighting styles of the other four candidate saintesses.

Their specific abilities couldn't be determined. Because the highest test level for first-year students is Tier 1, the Holy Magic Academy doesn't rank students directly based on individual skill; instead, it uses a scoring system.

Once you exceed the upper limit of this system, no matter how much you exceed it, you will still get a perfect score.

Unfortunately, there's no way to know the specific abilities of the other people. Anyway, everyone was hiding their true strengths, aiming for full marks but not pushing their limits.

Seeing their reaction, Celia didn't push herself to the limit and simply got a perfect score and left.

As expected, everyone got a perfect score in the end.

The second day's exam included practical exercises as well as responses to various crises. Since the requirements were all geared towards Level 1, there was not much suspense in the end.

Until the specialized exam on the third day.

"Celia, are you sure you want to take the three specialized exams: puppetry, magic circles, and scrolls?"

Before the exam, Elena found Celia for a final check.

“The runes are interconnected, I can take the test,” Celia affirmed.

Elena hesitated, then, remembering her limited rune skills, said nothing.

Perhaps there are some commonalities among the three.

“Okay, I’ve already spoken to the school and they’ve staggered the three exams. The first one is for the Puppet Rune, the second is for the Scroll Rune, and the last one is for the Array Rune in the afternoon. I’ve sent you the exam room number; you can just go there.”

"Okay, thank you, Mentor Elena!"

Following the instructions, Celia arrived at the location of the first puppet exam.

She was a little nervous at the moment.

While rune proficiency is related to strength, the relationship isn't as deep as one might imagine.

Runes were created to achieve great results with little effort. They are best suited for low-level mages to create high-level scrolls/puppets/magic circles, allowing them to defeat mages of higher levels.

If you can't skip ranks, what's the point of runes?
The answer is civilian use.

"My research on puppet runes is only used when creating my own runes; I haven't used it at other times. I don't know if I'll pass," Celia said with great concern.

Ross has made it clear that he will not offer any assistance during the exam.

Celia wouldn't ask Ross for help with the exam.

So……

The girl mustered her courage and entered the examination room, which was located on the top floor of the school's experimental area, in a spacious puppet experiment hall.

As she went inside, Celia found that there were many people there, over a hundred.

This is the first batch of puppet-making exams; several more batches will follow.

Celia even saw Benovia and others inside; all the candidates for sainthood had arrived.

When Doris saw Celia arrive, she went straight to her.

“Celia, I admit that your combat talent is indeed quite strong, but when it comes to inscribing puppet runes, I don’t think you are stronger than me.”

Doris's desire has shifted from wanting Celia to become her follower sorceress to wanting to defeat Celia and prove her own strength.

Unfortunately, in that last battle, her Dao heart was shattered, and she almost had to use a desperate technique.

Although her mentor eventually stopped her, Doris remained resentful and wanted to find an opportunity to get revenge.

So, in addition to her cultivation, she also went to ancient ruins to hone her combat skills through various dangers.

Especially after hearing that Celia had broken through to the second tier, she was further spurred on. She ventured deep into the dungeon, completed her second-tier breakthrough while conquering the dungeon, and brought back countless lost artifacts.

During the final exams, her attention was diverted, and she didn't have a chance to cause trouble for Celia.

She had been waiting for the next Saintess mini-test.

But before the mini-test, perhaps there's another way to defeat Celia. With that in mind, Doris came over and started throwing a bunch of sarcastic remarks at Celia.

Unfortunately, Celia ignored her.

No matter how much she mocked her, Celia ignored her. Doris was a little annoyed and shouted directly, "Celia, let's make a bet. If your puppet inscription score is higher than mine, I'll give you second-tier ice puppet materials. If it's higher than yours, you'll train with me until the start of the second year."

Celia stopped in her tracks.

She turned around, a smile playing on her lips.

"You should have said so earlier. You could have just said you wanted to send me the materials, and we could still be good friends."

"Who said we're best friends?" Doris scoffed. "So confident? You'll be my sparring partner for five months!"

Celia didn't say anything offensive and went straight to her exam seat.

This puppet laboratory is very large, accommodating a hundred people, with each person having their own individual workbench.

The workbench area is larger than the dormitory kitchen, enough for the artist to freely display their skills.

Celia went to her workbench, patted her chest to calm herself down.

"It's been a while since I used the Puppet Rune, but I can't possibly lose to Doris, can I?"

The girl murmured to herself.

Ross said with a half-smile, "Not necessarily. Maybe he's a rune master too?"

"Then... I'll just have to train with her for three months."

Hearing Ross's words, Celia immediately tensed up.

On second thought, it was just three months of sparring.

At worst, I'll just torture her for three months!

With this thought in mind, Celia calmed down.

Before long, the proctor came to the front and announced the exam content to everyone.

"Before you is an Arcane Forge and an Advanced Type II Artificial Puppet Heart manufactured by the Maria Merchant Guild. The Puppet Heart's connecting device has been disassembled. Your test involves inscribing runes on the blank connecting device, assembling the Puppet Heart, and successfully activating the Arcane Forge. You need to increase the Arcane Forge's efficiency to at least 60%. The final score will be based on the final efficiency increase and the degree of damage to the Puppet Heart."

His words immediately triggered a murmur of excited gasps throughout the puppet laboratory.

Celia frowned as well.

"The content of this exam was a bit unexpected. I thought we would have to create the rune program for the puppet on the spot."

The linking device for a Puppet Heart is usually sold along with the Puppet. This is because in the early days before artificial Puppet Hearts existed, once the linking device for a natural Puppet Heart was installed, it could not be removed. Removing it would directly damage the linking device and might also affect the function of the Puppet Heart.

Most importantly, the Natural Puppet Heart has only one requirement for the linking device: uniqueness. It can only be made using specific materials, and cannot be made with other materials.

Moreover, this technology is not difficult; anyone can learn it by studying it carefully.

Therefore, early transactions involving Puppet Hearts included a connecting device, making it convenient for buyers to assemble and test the device.

But artificial puppet hearts are different. The linking device can be made from many materials, and the engraved runes will also affect the performance of the puppet heart.

This is one of the development directions for artificial puppet hearts.

Celia looked at the puppet heart and the materials for the linking device in front of her, feeling a little troubled.

She didn't know much about the Heart of the Artificial Puppet.

How can I get a high score?

　Thank you to reader 20210921101205007 for the 100 points of Evil God Offering!
　　Although I should have asked for leave since I was going out to play, I just didn't.

　　Three more chapters to go, keep writing!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)