In fact, it wasn't just Audrey who was shocked. At this moment, Noelle Rose was also completely flabbergasted. Her squinty eyes were wide open as she rubbed her eight eyes one by one, wondering if she had squinted for too long, causing her eyes to go bad.
Worried about her young niece, she had watched the entire exam process without leaving her side.
At first, she focused solely on Audrey, and her niece's performance indeed did not disappoint her.
She actually managed to answer more than half of the questions correctly.
This was no easy feat considering the full score for this test paper was 100. Scoring 10 points was already normal for a student, 20 points meant being a top student, 30 points labeled one as a prodigy, and Audrey's performance looked to be around 60 points, barely reaching the passing mark.
For a 16-year-old little witch, this was already a terrifyingly high level. Audrey truly lived up to her family's reputation as the first genius in nearly a thousand years. Her knowledge reserve was already comparable to some of the outstanding graduates from past years.
However...Nôv(el)B\\jnn
It wasn't until Audrey was almost done with her paper that Noelle Rose remembered that there was another student also taking the exam. Acting on her scant sense of teacherly duty, she glanced over, only to find that she couldn't take her eyes off him after that. She completely forgot about her niece afterward.
It couldn't be helped, how could she not be terrified by such a delinquent student?
When Noelle Rose looked over, she happened to see this delinquent student starting to make puppets. It wasn't alarming until she did; those components were too familiar to her—this was precisely the technique she used for creating the Giant God Puppet prototypes displayed on the first floor.
Although those Giant God Puppets were failures for her as a master puppeteer, even these failures were hot commodities outside, definitely high-end and rare.
Each year, just by handling these "failures" that she deemed unsatisfactory, the school generated a massive amount of revenue, which was why the school tolerated her as a tenured teacher who took funding but accepted no students; she earned much more than she took, otherwise, nobody would really keep a freeloader.
But now what did she see? A 16-year-old little witch who had just joined the school had merely passed by her storage, and she had mastered this puppet-making technique instantly?
My god, where did this wild monster come from, could she possibly have some unique Magic Eye?
Noelle Rose thought to herself.
In the Witch World, some witches with exceptional talents could awaken a powerful talent called Magic Eye. These magical eyes came with a variety of functions, some incredibly powerful, almost like cheats, like her niece Audrey who possessed a Magic Eye called "Domination."
Noelle Rose had heard rumors that some Magic Eyes could unreasonably steal others' research findings. Like how the painstakingly researched spells of one could become another's just by being looked at, which was indeed very shameful.
Now she suspected that this little witch also possessed such a freeload Magic Eye that allowed her to effortlessly master her puppet-making skills just by looking.
Find your next read at empire
Fortunately, after watching more, she was relieved because although the similar techniques were initially the same in appearance and basic structure, the core of the puppet, the Heart of Puppetry, was created with a completely different technique by this little witch.
(It's just background, meant to enrich the world-building; this book isn't supposed to delve into the Eastern Universe. I'm just setting up a plot hole for future wuxia-themed stories.)
Overall, the more Noelle Rose saw, the more she liked this rebellious girl. Even the heavy makeup, which she once found distasteful, now seemed to her a charming part of the little witch's personality.
Well, young people, eh? What's wrong with a bit of personality? If such a talented youth only wears heavy makeup, even if she went out without clothes, that would just be setting the trend.
The Spider Witch thought to herself.
Alright, she admitted that was a bit of a double standard, but so what if the Demon Witch was hypocritical? She simply despised mediocrity and adored genius. If you can't accept that, fight me!
"Teacher, I'm done, here's my exam,"
said the dear beloved disciple, interrupting the Spider Witch's thoughts. Noelle Rose approached with a genuinely gentle smile, taking the test paper and even momentarily forgetting that her cute little niece had already finished as well.
"Let's see,"
Since she hadn't paid attention to the written portion of her precious disciple's exam, Noelle Rose didn't know how well she had done with the theory questions.
But that doesn't matter.
With such craftsmanship, even if she handed in a blank theory paper, it wouldn't be a big deal, since practice is the only criterion to test truth.
However...
"Uh..."
Looking at the densely written exam in her hands, the Spider Witch's hands trembled. Her eight eyes widened again, not with murderous intent and coldness this time, but shock and confusion. And she probably looked less terrifying and more adorably surprised because her eyes were so round.
After checking the exam repeatedly for a long while, Noelle Rose forced herself to calm down.
Oh dear, a perfect score! Where did this monster come from? Could it be some old geezer playing tricks, pretending to be young just to tease me?
How could a little witch possibly score perfect on a Devil Difficulty? It's not like she has been studying non-stop from birth without eating, drinking, sleeping, or resting!
"Master, please take back your Divine Skills, stop joking with me. I really am not slacking off this year, I truly am recruiting seriously,"
the Spider Witch carefully said, looking at the cute, black-skinned girl in front of her.
.....Spider Witch in ambivalence.....