Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint

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 we can defeat Celia from another angle.

With this in mind, Doris came over and first threw 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!

Chapter 129 Doris is opening champagne

If we use plants as an analogy for the linking mechanism between natural and artificial puppet hearts.

The former is like a wild plant, which can grow tenaciously no matter how harsh the environment, even on cliffs, and can survive with just a little water.

The latter is like a flower in a greenhouse; if you forget to water it, water it too much, or fertilize it incorrectly, it will immediately wither and die.

That's how the Natural Puppet Heart works. You can draw any runes you want, as long as you can extract it, I'll give you 100% performance. It all depends on whether you can use it.

The artificial puppet heart is like a delicate little princess; the connecting device cannot be weak or too forceful, or it will faint.

Once the Puppet Heart is created, its performance is already determined, but whether it can reach 100% performance depends on the performance of the connecting device.

"I remember the book saying that the connection device for the artificial puppet heart needs to take into account the stability of the puppet heart, the computing power capacity, the chaos value, and the stability and capacity limit of the magic input..."

Celia tapped the table and closed her eyes.

Just as Celia was pondering how to draw the runes for the linking device, the proctor spoke up again: "This exam does not restrict the use of spell rings, and the mechanical engraving runes made by the Maria Merchant Guild for this product will be published to all candidates. You can directly use the engraving runes they specifically use for machinery, or you can design them according to your own knowledge."

When Celia opened her eyes, she saw a light screen projection in front of her, displaying the extraction runes used by the Maria Merchant Guild on this artificial puppet heart.

It's not very complicated.

However, after simulating it in her mind, Celia discovered that this set of runes could only achieve 50% of the current Arcane Furnace's efficiency. To overclock, she would need to add additional runes herself.

50% is only 10% away from the required 60% for the exam, but that 10% is not so easy to achieve.

After taking a look, Celia decided to relegate this set of runes to oblivion.

But suddenly, a bold idea popped into her head.

"If I modify this rune to increase its efficiency while minimizing the loss of the Puppet Heart, could I get a higher score?"

Celia felt that the exam question, which specifically pointed out the standard runes used by others, was definitely not unfounded.

"Then let's do it this way!"

Celia began to study the principles behind this set of standardized runes.

The principle is simple: reserve the magic power to activate the Puppet Heart in the runes. The magic power follows the specific patterns to activate the pre-programmed program of the Puppet Heart and charge it.

The pre-programmed program sends a request for magical power to the Arcane Furnace through the runes of the linking device. After being weakened by the runes, a large amount of magical power enters the heart of the golem. The golem then continues to send requests to the Arcane Furnace to enhance its effectiveness, and so on, until the runes reach their limit.

Celia couldn't help but complain, "The artificial puppet heart is too delicate. Even the princesses of the empire aren't this delicate."

Hearing her complaints, Ross couldn't help but think of Benovia.

Benovia is by no means delicate.

"It's already quite impressive that people dare to create artificial puppet hearts. It's just that the technology isn't mature yet. Once the technology is mature enough to replace natural puppet hearts, perhaps we can set sail for the stars."

Elsewhere, Ross has always looked down on modern technology.

But he highly approves of the puppetry technique.

The artificial puppet heart, which is also an artificial godhood, is an even better thing for generations to come.

What a wonderful scenario it would be if artificially created deities could achieve the abilities of gods.

Now Rose has only one thing to worry about.

These artificial golem hearts were made from substances extracted from the reborn Protoss Tree.

He strongly supports it, as long as it's not true.

After carefully studying the standard runes, Celia began to sketch the runes on draft paper.

About half an hour later, she picked up the carving knife.

She was one of the last to have surgery.

Some people had already finished the exam by this time.

Celia paid special attention to the student who handed in his paper first and found that he hadn't made any changes; he had simply copied the standard runes onto the linking device.

Is this a specialized exam?

Celia gave him a thumbs up.

After that, she stopped paying attention to other people's situations.

Only Doris kept an eye on Celia's situation.

Instead of using standard runes, she rewrote them, referencing runes from various linking devices.

At this point, we've completed about half of it.

She wasn't stumped by it at all, and even had the leisure to observe Celia's condition while making it.

Seeing her go from looking worried at the beginning to studying the standard runes seriously, and then drawing the outline of the standard runes on the draft paper, Doris couldn't help but frown.

"This set of runes is clearly designed to make those who are not skilled enough score low. Is Celia just here to get low marks?"

However, she was relieved to see that Celia had not copied it verbatim but had made modifications.

"I see. The plan is to modify the existing runes. However, modifying the existing runes is not so easy. They were researched and modified by generations of sorcerers of the Maria Merchant Guild and have reached the optimal effect in all aspects. Rather than modifying them and causing various problems, it is better to create an original one."

Doris understood that modifying the existing runes was feasible, because the Maria Merchant Guild had reserved space for modifications, specifically for sorcerers who liked to modify and improve the performance of the Puppet Heart.

However, there is an upper limit to the transformation; it can only achieve a maximum of 80% effectiveness, and it is almost impossible to achieve more than 90% and get good results.

Doris was initially worried that Celia might pull off some amazing feat, but now that she saw Celia modifying the existing standard runes just like those overclocking mages, she immediately felt relieved.

"Hmph, for this level, prepare to be my sparring partner for three months!"

Doris's mood brightened.

She couldn't help but think of something else.

"Speaking of which, I've been busy conquering the ancient ruins for a while and haven't paid attention to Celia's situation. I only know that she's advanced to the second tier, but I don't know anything else. I need to take advantage of these three months of training with her to get to know her better and make her a devoted follower of mine!"

The puppet exam lasted three hours. Time passed quietly, and when the exam ended, the proctor rang the bell to hand in the papers, and most candidates stopped what they were doing.

Some people looked relieved, while others looked anxious. The carving knife left afterimages, but they accidentally carved the wrong lines, causing them to fail at the last minute.

Others were already looking around, clearly having finished making their creations.

Celia is the last type.

She stretched and slowly stood up when she heard the bell.

"It's finally over."

Chapter 130 Ancient Ruins

Celia looked at the finished product in her hand, feeling a little regretful.

"The artificial puppet heart cannot make the arcane furnace reach 100% efficiency. The limitations of this standard rune are too great. Even with all our efforts, we can only reach 95%. Fortunately, the wear and tear of the puppet heart has been reduced by another 90% on the original basis, so we should be able to get a passing grade."

The efficiency of the Arcane Furnace is important, but the wear and tear on the Puppet Heart is also important. Artificial Puppet Hearts are not like natural ones that can last a long time; a person might die and the Puppet Heart can still be used.

Judging from its operation, the lifespan of this artificial puppet heart used for the exam is approximately 10 years.

Celia felt that the reduced damage would extend the lifespan of the Puppet Heart by at least 10 years.

The only thing to consider is that generally no one uses a car for ten years; most people replace it after a few years.

"That should be enough, right?"