Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint

Benovia blinked, wondering if she had misheard.

Just as he was about to ask, he saw that Celia had already left.

The girl fell into deep thought.

"As expected of Celia, she easily accomplished what others couldn't."

Once outside, Celia found her puppet, which the temple's acolyte placed in an empty room.

Except for the spine and the heart of the puppet, the rest of the puppet was completely disintegrated.

Celia went over to check and sighed, "It's hopeless. It seems that until we reach the fourth rank, we'll have to act alone."

After reaching the fourth tier, there is a reward from the Mage League: a specially customized, powerful magic puppet.

Because they haven't reached level four yet, the rewards haven't been realized.

Just as she was considering whether to just assemble it and make do, a voice came from outside: "Miss Celia, Duke Pharos wishes to see you."

Celia snapped out of her daze and nodded: "Okay, wait a moment, I'll be right there."

With that, Celia left the room, closed the door, and followed the deacon to the prayer hall of the temple.

Besides Duke Pharos, there were also clergy members such as Bishop Holder present.

Upon seeing Celia's arrival, Duke Pharos went to greet her and thanked her, saying, "Thank you very much, Miss Celia. If it weren't for you, I would have fallen into the trap, and we wouldn't be able to deal with the deep-sea monsters' invasion so easily as we are now."

Celia said, "You're welcome, Duke Pharos. I only did a trivial job. Are you here because the abyss monsters have been dealt with?"

Duke Pharos nodded: "I have dispersed the storm at sea, and the number of monsters has been greatly reduced. They are no longer a concern. Good news has also come from the Golden Apple Stone Forest."

Holder, standing nearby, said with a strange expression, "According to Archbishop Melina, the remaining deep-sea monsters, perhaps attracted by the pollution of the Golden Apple Stone Forest, all rushed in and began fighting amongst themselves with the members of the Deep Sea Aid Society. Many strongholds were destroyed, and some deep-sea monsters even stormed the Deep Sea Fortress."

Celia was stunned: "Really? Is it that intelligent? Could it be that they deliberately let the deep-sea monsters in to kill them and obtain something?"

Holder said, "I'm not sure. Miss Celia may need to go back to find out."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

Ross didn't tell Celia about the situation, and Celia didn't know the truth about the invasion of deep-sea monsters.

Duke Pharos said, "To express my gratitude to Miss Celia for her help, I have decided to hold a celebratory banquet at the castle tomorrow. Please..."

"I'm sorry, Duke Pharos, I'm returning to the Golden Apple Stone Forest tomorrow to continue my unfinished holiday trials, so I'm afraid I won't have time to come over."

She wouldn't have attended any of the previous parties unless it was Phil's birthday party.

Duke Pharos laughed and said, "The trial is only held during the day; you can come back to participate at night as well."

Celia mumbled, "We'll see when the time comes. Maybe I won't be able to come. Sorry."

"Alright then." Duke Pharos didn't press the matter. He asked, "Where is Phil now, and how is he?"

Celia said, "The situation is stable, but she is a little weak and needs to rest for a while."

Duke Pharos said, "That's good. Please, Miss Celia, show us around."

"Okay, come with me."

Thank you to "A Poem, a Wine, and a Sword for Wandering the World" for the generous donation!

Chapter 431 Source of Life

Celia led the way, followed by the others, as they arrived at Phil's room.

When he saw that Phil did not exhibit the symptoms Yu Jeria had described and that his vital signs were stable, Duke Pharos breathed a sigh of relief.

Celia said, "Phil's condition probably prevents him from continuing the holiday trials. I'll talk to Instructor Elena when I get back tomorrow, don't worry."

Duke Pharos nodded: "This is troublesome."

After chatting for a while, Duke Pharos ordered his men to take Phil back. Before leaving, he handed a dull crystal to Celia.

“Miss Celia, this is something I obtained from the deceased Yu Jeria. It may involve some secret of the Twilight Cult, but I don’t understand it. Please take it to Archbishop Melina for me; she might know something.”

Celia took the crystal and examined it closely.

The crystal is a regular polygon, and a strange feeling emanates from within. The energy inside has been almost completely consumed, and it is completely dim. There are also many cracks around it, as if it will shatter soon.

Touching it, the crystal gives a warm and comfortable feeling, which is not at all like what a heretic should have.

Celia looked at Benovia.

Benovia shook her head: "I don't know what this is either."

At that moment, Ross said, "This is the source of life."

"The source of life?"

"Or rather, the scraps of the source of life, when worn, will make you feel vibrant, but it has no auxiliary effect. Its effect is to protect the soul from dying with it at the time of death."

Celia blinked, not quite understanding.

"If the soul doesn't die with the body... it will become a ghost?"

"No, the Source of Life cannot be used alone. It needs to be used in conjunction with the authority of death and rebirth. At the time of death, the Source of Life protects the soul, and the authority of death and rebirth will transfer the soul into the reserved body to complete the reincarnation."

Ross looked at the dim life source in Celia's hand: "This is the authority of the God of Life and Death, a divine spell that transcends magic. Generally speaking, only the God of Life and Death can use it; it is a kind of blessing that grants immunity from death."

Celia's bewilderment deepened.

The god of life and death is one of the twelve Olympian gods.

Why would a heretic of the Twilight Cult receive the blessing of the god of life and death?

Seeing the lingering confusion on Celia's face, Ross smiled slightly: "Two possibilities: either the authority of the God of Life and Death has been stolen, or the God of Life and Death himself has bestowed the blessing."

Celia remained silent.

She thought of Jonathan's words about the invasion of the gods.

Of these two possibilities, there's a 90% chance it's the latter; the former is far too unlikely.

A sixth-tier mage cannot steal the authority of the god of life and death.

That's something only a Saint-level mage would have the opportunity to do.

Celia decided not to think about it.

She still couldn't quite accept it.

The girl put away the dim life essence. "Okay, I will take it to Bishop Melina."

Once the source of life has been used, it has no effect and can only serve as decoration.

Even decorations are impossible, because the cracks will increase over time and eventually the structure will crumble.

The reason it hasn't broken is because the magic of the source of life still remains inside.

Celia followed behind Duke Pharos and left the room with Benovia, watching Duke Pharos and the others depart.

A moment later, Benovia exclaimed, "Tonight has been an unforgettable night."

Celia nodded in deep agreement.

Just then, Anke rushed in from outside, saw the two of them, and shouted, "Where's Phil? Where's Phil?"

Celia said, "They've already been taken away by Duke Pharos."

Anke blinked: "So fast? I didn't even have time to see her one last time."

Celia rolled her eyes: "What are you talking about? Phil isn't dead."

Just then, Doris returned.

She saw the three chatting and walked over. "You're all here. Why aren't you helping the coast?"

As she spoke, she looked around and asked in confusion, "Where's Phil?"

Benovia said, "Phil has run into some trouble and has been taken away by Duke Pharos."

Doris frowned: "I told you, Phil only studies healing and support spells, he'll suffer a great loss sooner or later."

The three of them had strange expressions, and in the end, Benovia explained it to Doris, who knew nothing about it.

Doris's pupils widened: "What? I actually missed Phil's matter? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Benovia said, "Weren't you with Celia? I thought she said that."

Anko nodded.

Doris looked at Celia, who shrugged and said, "You didn't ask."

Doris: "..."

Who would have thought Phil would suddenly have an accident?

"So, it seems we won't be able to fight alongside Phil in the upcoming trials..."

"It's alright. Our holiday trial should end early after tonight."

When the monsters of the deep sea attacked the headquarters of the Deep Sea Aid Association, the Holy Lord himself arrived. When the Deep Sea Aid Association failed to relocate, the outcome was already predetermined.

The only thing to be careful about is uncovering the hidden headquarters of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association.

Celia was very confident about this, because the true headquarters of the Deep Sea Aid Society was hidden beneath the Deep Sea Fortress. She would be able to find it by following them there and observing the structure of the magic array.

The Holy Lord can discover it without even needing to do it himself.

"It's over. I'm going to get some sleep now. Bye."

Celia yawned, said goodbye to the others, and returned to her inn, only to find it closed. She then went back to the temple, applied for a room, and went to sleep.

At this moment, the sky begins to lighten, and a new day begins.

Outside the temple, in the noble district that Phil had extensively destroyed, the remaining survivors only dared to cautiously emerge after confirming that there was no further movement outside.

Meanwhile, the guards, exhausted from a whole night's work, returned to rest on the orders of Duke Pharos.

Duke Pharos did not rest; he, along with his steward and many surviving nobles, was taking stock of the losses and recovering the corpses of the deep-sea monsters.

Although the corpses of deep-sea monsters contain pollution, a small portion can be purified and used as food, and they taste quite good.

The bones, scales, and eyeballs of high-level monsters are also very valuable magical materials.

However, these tasks are no longer relevant to Celia.

When she woke up, it was already afternoon.

Hunger made her sit up quickly, roll over and get out of bed, feeling refreshed all over.

"No, this time it seems like we went too far."

Celia sensed something was amiss and turned her gaze to the source of the anomaly: a faintly glowing... Puppet Heart.

"This is... the life-attribute puppet heart that Lord Ross mentioned?"

Celia, remembering that her puppet was still made from the most worn-out water-type puppet heart, had a sudden thought and asked, "Lord Ross, may I use this puppet heart to make a puppet?"

Chapter 432: Pollution Spreads

In the evening, Celia returned to the camp outside the Golden Apple Stone Forest with Benovia and the others.

As soon as she entered, she sensed that something was off.

The city of Leites has weathered the storm, and Duke Pharos is leading his men to assess the losses and gains, repair the magic array, and destroy the hidden heretical magic array.

Overall, everyone was in a good mood.

Duke Pharos came over specifically to tell Celia before she left that he was busy with post-disaster work and couldn't give her a reward for the time being. He said he would have to wait until the post-disaster issues were resolved, and if she wasn't there then, he would have Phil deliver it to her.

Celia didn't seem to care about this.

The Puppet Heart obtained from destroying the sixth-tier mage, and the Puppet Heart obtained from dealing with the fourth-tier heretic, are enough to compensate for Celia's losses, and there's even a profit to be made.

She even looked down on her original puppet heart—if it hadn't been enhanced by Ross, she would have thrown it away.

Maybe it can fetch a good price... probably.

Celia has decided to rely solely on herself until she reaches Tier 4!

Upon seeing Celia and the others return, Elena approached them and asked, "You're back. How's the situation in Lights City?"

Celia said, "It's been resolved. The losses over there should be... within acceptable limits."