A small puppet about the size of an adult's hand moved jerkily. Nearby, a human-sized puppet resembling a teenager stood with a furrowed brow, concentrated on something.
"This isn't as easy as I thought," muttered Vale, struggling to control the small puppet in front of him.
A thin blue aura surrounded Vale's hand and extended through the teenager's fingers, forming five threads, each controlled by a different finger. Each thread was connected to the small puppet in front of Vale.
This [Basic Puppet Control Technique] magic technique did not require verbal casting, meaning Vale only needed to recite the spell in his mind. This was possible because the technique had low requirements for activation. Instead, the technique prioritized control over activation.
After activation, the magic technique would remain active for three to six minutes, depending on its efficiency. Essentially, the more movements the controlled puppet made, the more mana it consumed, and the shorter the duration of the magic technique.
Fortunately, Vale could immediately reactivate the technique as soon as the previous usage period expired.
In the past hour, Vale had used this technique 15 times. To master it, Vale needed to use it 150 times, which would take around 7.5 to 15 hours.
As Vale concentrated, he heard a knocking at the door. He paused his activity and approached the bedroom door. Vale opened it to see a puppet maid standing stiffly in front of him. The maid bowed slightly and signaled for Vale to follow her.
"Did Lily call for me?" Vale asked.
The maid nodded.
Vale glanced at Brenda, who was still asleep. He decided not to wake her up. Although their puppet bodies didn't require sleep anymore, but sleep could relieve the burden on a person's mind, especially someone like Brenda who Vale believed was still stressed about her current situation.
"Please lead the way," Vale said to the maid.
Vale followed the maid from behind to a room, where the maid stopped at the entrance and gestured for Vale to enter alone.
"Okay, thank you for showing me the way," Vale said.
The maid puppet bowed and walked away.
Meanwhile, Vale opened the entrance to the room. Inside, he saw a large crystal ball displaying an image on its surface. In front of the crystal ball, Lily was biting her finger with a frustrated expression on her cute face. She was focused on the image displayed on the crystal ball.
"How could she defeat my clone puppet? Uh, the clone puppet is very valuable. Father only left 10 clone puppets, and now there are only 9 left," complained Lily, still focused on the image on the crystal ball.
'Frida?' thought Vale, realizing that the image on the crystal ball was of Frida.
She was wandering in a cave, her body still not fully recovered from her fight with the Impersonator. Although some time had passed since she killed Alex, her wounds required serious treatment to fully heal.
"Brother, do you know this girl?" Lily turned to Vale, who had just arrived.
"She is Frida. Without a doubt, she is the strongest student among all the students in this dimensional fragment," replied Vale.
"Is she your friend?" Lily's innocent gaze disappeared, and now the puppet girl was looking at Vale with a blank expression. The rapid change in expression surprised Vale.
"I didn't know her before the exam. We just met a few days ago." There was no lie in Vale's words, but of course, the teenager had no intention of telling Lily about his cooperation with Frida.
"In that case, Brother can sit here and watch Lily fight." Lily said this with a smiling expression, but it was clearly a hidden command.
"Alright," Vale replied shortly. Vale knew very well that he could not defeat Lily right now. This was the perfect time to measure the true strength of the puppet girl.
After receiving a reply from Vale, Lily emitted a very thick red aura around her body. Her body then floated a few centimeters from the floor. She then flew out of the room.
***
"This place is very cramped."
Where Frida was now, together with the maze and Lily's dwelling, were all located under the island. The narrow airway made the place oxygen deficient.
"Where is the way out?" Frida tried to remain positive, but after walking for hours, she still could not find the end of the corridor.
At that moment, Frida heard a strange sound. Then a group of wooden puppets flew quickly towards her. She quickly drew her sword while reciting a spell.
"—The Fall of the Moon."
She swiftly swung her sword, unleashing a crescent-shaped energy that destroyed several wooden puppets moving towards her. However, there were still many wooden puppets that continued to pursue her.
Frida ran towards the wall beside her and used it as leverage to jump towards the dozens of wooden puppets that flew towards her.
"—Sinking the Red Sun."
With her sword surrounded by a red aura, she effortlessly crushed the wooden puppets, as though they were mere toys. As soon as she landed on the ground, Frida employed another magic technique.
"—Slashing the Sky."
Frida leapt towards the remaining wooden puppets and slashed through them. Within seconds, all the remaining wooden puppets were reduced to fragments by Frida.
Frida's movement was halted by the sound of footsteps. Lily, who was shrouded in a red aura, approached her from the end of the corridor. Frida instinctively took a defensive stance, feeling the ominous aura emanating from the puppet-like girl.
"Impressive, but your power is not enough to defeat this princess's clone puppet. The Impersonator cannot be defeated by level 0 magic techniques. Even some level 0.5 magic techniques will not be enough to defeat it."
Lily paused before continuing, "Enough, let this princess avenge her precious puppet by killing you."
Lily directed her hand forward, and hundreds of red threads emerged from her fingers. The threads attached to the pieces of wooden puppet destroyed by Frida. Hundreds of pieces of wooden puppet flew and gradually merged, forming a giant monster puppet.
The monster puppet was not only large, but it was also enveloped by Lily's red aura.
"Try to defeat this princess's masterpiece, warrior girl," Lily said with a wide grin.