Chapter 59: The Scummy Teacher's Surprise and Shock

In fact, it wasn't just Audrey who was shocked; at this moment, Noerose was also completely bewildered. Her squinting eyes had opened wide, and she was reaching out to rub her eight eyes one by one, suspecting that perhaps she had squinted for too long, causing her eyes to break.

Because she was worried about her little niece, she hadn't left during the entire process and had been watching the exam unfold.

At first, she had been staring at Audrey the whole time, and the performance of this little niece indeed did not disappoint her.

She was actually able to answer more than half of the questions correctly.

This was no easy feat. After all, this test paper was worth 100 points; scoring 10 points was normal for a student, scoring 20 points was considered a top student, and scoring 30 points was considered a genius. Yet, Audrey's score was visually estimated to be around 60 points—she had actually managed to barely touch the passing line.

For a little witch who was only 16 years old, this was already a terrifying level. Audrey was worthy of the title of the first genius her family had seen in nearly a thousand years; such knowledge reserves were already on par with the level of some excellent graduates from previous years.

It's just that...

Noerose only remembered there was another student taking the exam after Audrey had almost finished her paper. Acting on the little bit of teacher responsibility she had, she took a casual glance. As a result, once she looked, she couldn't tear her eyes away, and instead, she completely forgot about her little niece afterward.

There was no helping it; who could blame her when this delinquent student was simply too terrifying?

When Noerose looked over, she happened to see this delinquent student starting to manufacture a puppet. As it turned out, it would have been better if she hadn't looked, because one look gave her a fright. There was no helping it; the structural components were simply too familiar to her. This was clearly the craftsmanship she had used when manufacturing that pile of Titan Puppet prototypes currently sitting on the first floor.

Although those Titan Puppets were failures to a puppet master like her, even those failed works were hot commodities if taken outside—they were absolutely high-end, rare manufactured goods.

Every year, just processing these "failed works" that she deemed subpar generated massive revenue for the school. This was also the reason why the school could tolerate her, a layabout teacher who only took funding but didn't accept students, for so long. The income she generated was far greater than the funding she requested; otherwise, no one would truly support a layabout.

But what was she seeing now? A 16-year-old little witch freshman who had just enrolled, who had merely passed by her warehouse, had directly learned these puppet-making techniques?

Damn, where did this wild monster come from? Could it be that she possessed some kind of peculiar Magic Eye?

Noerose thought to herself.

In the Witch World, some witches with excellent talent could awaken powerful talents known as Magic Eyes. These magical eyes had all sorts of functions, and some extremely powerful ones were even akin to cheats. For instance, her little niece Audrey possessed a Magic Eye known as "Domination."

Noerose had heard people say before that some Magic Eyes could unreasonably plagiarize others' research results directly—like how a spell you painstakingly researched would become theirs after they took one look at it. It was very enviable and hateful—ah, ptooey, that's not right, it was very shameless.

Now she suspected whether this little witch also possessed this kind of "freeloading" Magic Eye, capable of freeloading her puppet techniques just by looking at them.

Fortunately, as she watched, she set her mind at ease, because those similar techniques were only similar in external appearance and basic structure at the beginning. By the time they reached the core of the puppet—the Puppet Heart—the technique this little witch was using was already a completely different kind.

Hmm, so, the good news was that her core techniques hadn't been freeloaded, but the bad news was that the technique she had always been proud of had truly been seen through at a glance.

Damn, you'd be better off cheating with a Magic Eye, little classmate; you're making me, the teacher, look very stupid.

Realizing that the other party's handiwork wasn't actually stolen from her, Noerose averted her gaze and stopped peeking at this monster little witch's handiwork.

Witches had always attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property. Stealing and pirating others' research results was a great crime in the Witch World. Even as a proctor, she couldn't just watch others' techniques; this was a matter of principle.

Although she had never had much teacher ethics, that was because she had never considered herself a teacher to begin with. She had only accepted the invitation from Brewster Academy to hang her name there because being affiliated with the school made it more convenient to communicate with other academic bigwigs. At her core, she remained a puppeteer obsessed with puppet techniques, belonging to the category of researchers and scholars.

The pride of a scholar prevented her from doing something as low-class as peeking at a student's techniques, even if this student was currently displaying a brand-new technique she had never seen before, which made her very curious.

"Anyway, there's plenty of time in the future; I'll just find her to exchange techniques later."

The Spider Witch thought to herself.

At this moment, she had already acknowledged the ability of this seemingly delinquent witch student. Just based on this puppet technique alone, she was already qualified to pass the exam.

Such a good talent had already made her consider taking her as an apprentice. In a sense, she seemed more suitable to be her successor than her little niece, after all, her little niece was an artist and wasn't very suitable for her war-specialized puppet techniques.

Before, there was no choice, but now she wanted a better apprentice.

It was just that she didn't know which puppeteer family this delinquent girl came from; after all, taking an apprentice was something that definitely required notifying the parents.

As one of the top puppeteers of the current age, Noerose knew the ins and outs of other puppeteer families, but the technique this student had just displayed was not in her memory. Could it be that she was a disciple of one of those reclusive old fogies? That would be troublesome.

But whatever, I've decided on this student. If they don't give her to me, I'll just take her by force. Anyway, below the Grand Witch rank, my puppet army is invincible; they can do whatever they want.

Noa Rose thought to herself; the Demon Witch was just that willful.

However, it wasn't just the puppet technique; the architectural accomplishments the other party displayed afterward were what made Noerose feel even more surprised. Although this kind of complex architectural method was a bit too troublesome in the eyes of an architectural master like her, she had to admit that she was very satisfied with the final product.

Especially the styling design, which had a lot of flavor; it faintly had the style of a master. If she hadn't watched this little witch build it with her own eyes, she might have thought it was the work of some master.

However, this palace seemed to be in the style of those Eastern Immortals, which was rare.

The Witch World was only the hegemon of the Western Universe, and across the vast Sea of Nothingness, there was the Eastern Universe, which was dominated by Immortals. Those Immortals had created a powerful civilization even older and more prosperous than the Witch World. Legend had it that in the early days of the witches' rise, they had received help from Immortals who had wandered here.

But for tens of thousands of years, storms had been frequent in the Sea of Nothingness, and even powerful Immortals or witches found it difficult to cross. Therefore, there had been very little contact between the Eastern and Western worlds. If a witch didn't have enough knowledge, she might not even know of the existence of Immortals.

Sure enough, this little one's background was remarkable.

(It's just background, used to enrich the worldview. This book probably won't involve the Eastern Universe; it's just digging a hole to save for writing Xianxia themes in the future.)

In short, Noerose liked this delinquent girl more and more the more she looked at her. The heavy makeup she had been quite disgusted by earlier was now considered a part of the little witch's personality in her eyes.

Well, young people, what's wrong with having a little personality? Being so talented at such a young age, let alone just wearing heavy makeup, even if she went out without clothes, it would just be leading the trend of the era.

The Spider Witch thought to herself.

Fine, she admitted that this was indeed a bit of a double standard, but as a Demon Witch, what was wrong with double standards? She was just a person who looked down on trash and favored geniuses; if you're not convinced, come and hit me.

"Teacher, I'm done, handing in my paper."

The voice of her dear precious apprentice interrupted the Spider Witch's wild thoughts. Noerose walked up with a truly gentle smile and took the test paper; she even forgot for a moment that her cute little niece next to her had actually finished long ago.

"Let me see."

Because she hadn't paid attention to this precious apprentice's written test part before, Noerose didn't know how she had done on the theoretical questions.

But it didn't matter.

With that kind of handiwork, it wouldn't be a big deal even if she handed in a blank sheet for the theory; after all, practice was the only standard for testing truth.

However...

"Uh..."

Looking at the densely written test paper in her hand, the Spider Witch's hand trembled, and her eight eyes widened again. However, this time, what was revealed in them wasn't murderous intent or indifference, but shock and confusion. And perhaps because her eyes were widened too roundly, she didn't look terrifying anymore, but rather a bit cute.

After a long time, having checked the test paper repeatedly, Noerose forcibly regained her composure.

Oh my god, a perfect score. Where did this monster little one come from? Could it be that some old fogey is pretending to be young to tease me?

How could any little witch get a perfect score on this devilish difficulty? She couldn't have been studying without eating, drinking, sleeping, or resting since she was born, right?

"Master, please withdraw your supernatural powers; don't joke with me. I really don't plan on slacking off this year; I really am seriously recruiting students."

The Spider Witch looked at the obedient-looking dark-skinned spicy girl in front of her, then said cautiously.

... The Spider Witch is feeling uneasy... ===== CHAPTER 60 =====