Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint

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Just as the two were about to unleash their spells, Ross suddenly said, "Don't move, don't defend, let them gather."

Celia was startled and quickly grabbed Elena, "Don't move, don't resist."

Elena was taken aback: "Why?"

“Trust me,” Celia said earnestly.

Elena looked at her, hesitated for a long time, and then nodded, "Okay."

At this moment, the magic condensed by the statues was completed, and two red beams of light shot out from their eyes.

Celia and Elena felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

The inherent sense of crisis among sorcerers makes them instinctively defensive.

But Celia held Elena still, preventing her from moving.

Because of the passive nature of danger perception, no warning was issued.

Sure enough, the beam of light, though seemingly aimed at them, actually condensed slowly in the empty space next to the plate, forming the last plate.

If they block it, the plate will not be able to coalesce.

By then, perhaps all we'll have left is to fight those two statues.

When the last bowl was placed on top, the whole earth shook.

The castle gate, even taller than the outer stone gate, slowly opened.

Immediately afterwards, two faint orbs of light appeared from the statue on the last plate and slowly descended in front of the two people.

As the light dissipated, two plaques, resembling carvings of magic crystals, appeared, and a cold voice entered their minds: "Congratulations on completing the initial trial. You are qualified to enter the castle. These are your credentials. With these credentials, you will be able to appear directly inside the castle next time."

Although they didn't know if the voice was telling the truth, the two still smiled happily when they saw the door open.

"So we've been wandering around outside the ruins all this time, and haven't even gone inside yet," Celia exclaimed.

“This ruin is a little different from the ones I’ve encountered before,” Elena said, tossing her hair. “I’ve never seen such a malicious ruin.”

"Were the puzzle-solving ruins you encountered in the past not malicious?"

"Yes, but the malice of other ruins is obvious. The traps are right in front of you. If you step on them, you're doomed; if you notice them, you're doomed. Unlike this one, the traps are deliberately set when you're about to succeed, in places that are hard to notice."

Elena looked up at the statue: "Who would have thought that wasn't an attack, but rather a way to give us the last door-opening item? If you hadn't reminded me, I would have blocked it."

Celia glanced at Ross secretly and said with a smile, "I received a hint from the gods."

"I also want to receive guidance from our goddess, but she has already disappeared."

Elena clearly took Celia's honest statement as a mere exclamation and didn't take it seriously, only feeling a little envious.

"If that's the case, then humanity's gods have also disappeared."

"Besides the evil god," the girl added in her mind.

“It’s different.” Elena shook her head. “Human gods are still traceable, but the Elf God disappeared long before the Age of Calamity. If it’s not… never mind, there’s no point in talking about this.”

“If it’s not what?” Celia pressed.

She hates people who only say half of what they mean.

"It's just some conflict between elves and humans, it has nothing to do with our generation anymore, it all happened hundreds of years ago."

"Several hundred years ago...you mean, right after the end of the Age of Calamity, when the Holy Court built a temple among the elves?"

Elena nodded.

"really?"

Celia was a little skeptical.

Elena pouted and said, "I was just a child back then and didn't understand those things. Later I learned that the Holy Court built a temple within the Elven race, which shook the foundation of the Elven God's revival and caused the Elven race to be confined to a corner of the world, with their territory shrinking year by year."

"If you insist on asking, then I'll tell you. The Elven race's territory is now only half of what it was before the Age of Calamity. The Elven God's revival ceremony has been delayed until now, all because the Holy Court built the temple."

"Anyway, I really dislike the Holy Court... Of course, this doesn't mean I dislike Celia. After all, Celia just came from a remote temple, a temple far from Shining City. Most of the people there were recruited and assimilated by the Holy Court, just like us."

"Huh? Uh, that's true."

So you didn't know I was a prospective saintess of the Holy Court...

Still writer's block, taking forever to write a single chapter.

Chapter 222 The Holy Maiden Sets Her Sights on the Royal Mercenary Group

Celia did not choose to continue the expedition.

Because the "initial trial" had already taken them nearly ten hours, and it was already late afternoon outside, they all needed to rest.

After discussing it, the two decided to return.

They didn't use the teleportation scroll to return to camp; after all, it was only for emergencies. If it was safe to do so, they would use the old method—

walking back.

After solving the maze, the path ahead was very straight, without any multi-level roads. The two arrived at the end without any three-way intersections. Instead, the path returned to its initial state, a place shrouded in shadow and mist.

After passing through the mist, the two successfully arrived outside the stone gate.

As soon as she came out, Celia noticed that things were very different outside.

Countless mercenaries gathered here, witnessing them become the first adventurers to enter this ruin and return.

Of course, they had anticipated this, and it wasn't a big problem.

The difference was discovered on the stone gate.

The stone door, which was originally opened by Celia with her staff and would close as long as no magic power was continuously inputted, was now open.

Among the mercenaries watching, some would occasionally come over and enter through the stone gate.

Just as Celia was wondering why the stone door was open, the mercenaries around her surrounded her.

Before she could react, she was already enchanted with elven magic, and then Elena dragged her away.

She seemed quite experienced in getting away from crowds, quickly pulling Celia away from the onlookers and then running towards the camp.

Behind them, the shouts of a large number of mercenaries came: "Beautiful lady, please tell us what's inside the ruins!"

Elena breathed a sigh of relief after successfully running back to camp. Celia asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why did you run?"

"Being surrounded by so many people, it's terrifying to even think about!" Elena said, still shaken.

"What's there to be afraid of? Are you afraid they'll attack you? Or are you afraid someone will take advantage of the chaos to grope you?"

"Both, but I dislike being the center of attention."

"Why... Oh, I see."

Celia's curiosity didn't last more than two seconds before she remembered what Ross had said earlier: Elena liked to 'borrow' money from others.

Doing that kind of thing, I really don't like being the center of attention.

"Celia, starting tomorrow, shall we disguise ourselves a little?"

“No need,” Celia waved her hand. “We’re planning to set up a camp rescue team to exorcise curses and make money. What if people don’t recognize us if we’re disguised?”

Elena hesitated, but after thinking it over, she decided that the gold coins were more important, so she held back.

Celia smiled and said, "Those people just want to know what's going on inside the secret realm so they can explore it. They have no ill intentions. Just let me know."

Elena said, "Exploring knowledge is invaluable, Celia. This experience and knowledge is gained at the risk of one's life. If you want to know it, you should pay for it. You shouldn't tell others for free."

"I see." Celia was puzzled.

Elena nodded: "Especially for non-combat type ruins, telling others means that they no longer need to put in the effort to get through the same traps, allowing them to easily obtain the treasure, which is detrimental to themselves and beneficial to others."

"For example, the labyrinth that the voice calls the 'First Trial,' if we knew before entering that we needed to find 11 magic crystals and 11 bowls to combine into a main path, then go back to find the 12th bowl and magic crystal, and finally offer sacrifices to the statue, and not defend against or resist the attacks shot by the statue, in order to prevent the 12th bowl from being attacked, we could save at least half the time by going through this trial process. Such valuable strategy knowledge, is it okay to charge for it?"

"Okay, no problem."

"Many beginner's guides are quite expensive. This one, which uses pure magic crystals as bait, makes everyone even more eager for the treasure inside, so it should be even more expensive."

Celia didn't speak.

She knew Elena was right, but she felt that something that could prevent many people from continuing to risk their lives with just a few words should be offered free of charge, so that everyone could work together, help each other, and successfully pass the test...

She felt like she was the other way around, just like Elena.

Elves are perceived as beautiful and kind by humans, while humans are often seen as selfish and self-serving among elves. However, Elena displays human selfishness while embodying the beauty and kindness of an elf.

The girl chose to seek help from Ross.

Ross said calmly, "When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when prosperous, one should benefit all under heaven. Whether you offer the relics free of charge depends on your current mindset and whether you have the ability to offer them free of charge."

"If not, paying is also a good option. A small amount of money can be exchanged for valuable life-saving information, which is a worthwhile deal for mercenaries."

As he spoke, he chuckled and said, "However, selling information is time-limited. Many people went in to explore today, and before long, others will find out too. If you sell it to someone, they will secretly tell others or act as a middleman."

“Right now…” Celia thought about her financial situation and felt no pressure at all: “We should pay for knowledge!”

So Celia quickly consulted with the experienced Elena about how to conduct the Ruins Trial teaching.

According to Elena, there are two approaches.

One approach is to cast a wide net, directly recruiting a group of mercenaries, making them pay a relatively small amount of money, and then collectively informing them of the information about the ruins.

Secondly, only tell the large mercenary groups and extort a large sum of money from them.

Elena said, "Large mercenary groups have a lot of gold coins. Like the Eternal Night Mercenary Group yesterday, they gave us two gold coins without even blinking an eye."

"Instead of letting all the mercenaries know, and having dozens of people pool their money to send one person to gather intelligence and share it back, it's better to specifically inform the large mercenary groups, take advantage of their eagerness to seize the initiative, and squeeze them for a hefty sum!"

Celia listened to Elena's words like a student absorbing knowledge, nodding repeatedly.

Soon, a simple money-making plan came to her mind.

"This ancient ruin has produced two well-known mercenary groups: the Eternal Night Mercenary Group, which likes to dig tunnels, and the Royal Mercenary Group."

"The Eternal Night Mercenary Group earned its reputation entirely through its own hard work, so they probably don't have much gold. But this Royal Mercenary Group..."

Celia didn't know how much of what the mercenaries said was true.

But it's impossible for a mercenary group that can be named "Royal" to say that it has no connection with the Ishtar royal family.

The Holy See and the Royal Family have always had conflicts.

And she now represents the Holy Court, and is the Holy Maiden of the Holy Court in the future...

It's not unreasonable to try and steal some gold from the royal family, right?

The girl immediately made a decision and called to Elena, "Let's go... oh no, let's go sell information about the ancient ruins to the Royal Mercenary Group."

I went out to play yesterday, so

Chapter 223 A prince? What a miser!

Everyone says the Royal Mercenary Group was formed by members of the royal family. Celia doesn't know if it's true or not. To avoid being recognized by the royal family, she disguised herself well before going to sell her mercenaries... oh no, she dressed up a bit.

Soon, Celia became a different person.

Elena looked at the completely unfamiliar Celia with a strange expression.

She suddenly asked a question—

Which appearance is Celia's true face?

Was the person who was with me before really her true self?

Seeing her doubt, Celia smiled and said, "Don't worry, since we left Southern City, I've only shown you my true self."

Elena couldn't help but ask, "Everyone knows we're on the same team now, so what's the point of changing your appearance?"

Celia retorted, "How do you know that what others see of me is the same as what you see of me?"

Elena: “…”

The elven girl suddenly felt a little terrified.

"Just kidding. Maintaining the disguise also consumes magic power. I wouldn't normally do that. Anyway, let's go."

"..."