The snowmelt on the dome had completely thawed. The freshly cleared sky was crystalline and transparent, sunlight sliding down the glass atop the walls and scattering specks of light across the hall.
The Scales of Order's voice echoed through the hall once more.
All examinees, please note.
The Exam Instructions have been revised again.
The Scales of Order's voice was cold and composed, yet it stirred up a tremendous uproar among the examinees.
The Exam Rules had changed again!
In all the years of the Saint Trial, the rules had never changed. Such was the meaning of ancestral laws being inviolable. Yet today, they had been altered twice in succession—enough to make the monthly headlines of the Imperial Capital Gazette.
Original Exam Instructions:
You must equip four Magic Books, and each Magic Book must contain an "offensive spell." Your spell selection must follow conventional magical combinations. You are allotted ten Mana Points.
Nudity is prohibited in the examination hall. You must carry a staff, and the staff must be made of wood.
May not be used.
Several new clauses had been added.
Before the examination, examinees must use the restroom to resolve all personal matters and completely empty themselves. Otherwise, it will be considered cheating.
Any behavior damaging to conventional morality is prohibited.
Why were these Exam Instructions getting more and more bizarre? That was what most examinees were thinking.
What kind of bizarre cheating was that?
The whole Church's style had been led astray!
Ansu, however, was neither surprised nor taken aback. He had long grown accustomed to the authorities patching things up.
But no matter how the Church patched things or refined the rules, they had overlooked one crucial detail.
That was the extent of what a person's mental state could endure.
Ashley's mindset had already been tortured to the brink of collapse.
Once someone's mentality was broken, no patch would be of any use.
Attacking the mind was always the best strategy.
Examinee Ansu Morningstar, please enter.
He rose lightly to his feet, revealing a slightly bashful smile. His blue-green eyes were as clean as the azure sky. Seeing what a fine young man Ansu appeared to be, the female examinees around him thought that he surely would not be as outrageous as the previous two.
Ansu walked toward the examination grounds, first heading naturally toward the restroom.
He looked mentally normal.
A clean and handsome young man.
But Ashley did not think so.
This was the leader of the Three Borderlands Departments!
After the groundwork laid by the previous two borderland perverts, she had long been filled with vigilance—deep vigilance—toward this so-called Brother Ansu and Brother Ansu.
Especially after Liszt's examination, where he had been controlled to death from the very beginning. It had all been designed by the young man before her.
She could not help feeling deeply worried.
And terrified from the depths of her soul.
She did not know how many times she had checked the spell combinations, yet they all seemed perfectly reasonable and normal. The supportive Low-tier Magic Interference Resonance paired with the Earth Element spell Great Tremor could produce additional shockwaves.
Although there was still the light-element spell Sensory Blessing, it could be used in conjunction with Arrow Shot this time, improving shooting accuracy.
They were all perfectly normal tactics.
No matter how many times she checked, she still Could not find anything outrageous about them.
Yet the more normal they seemed, the more suspicious she became.
The more normal it was, the more uneasy she felt!
The more terrified she became!
How could someone from the borderlands possibly be a Normal Person?
And he was Ansu, leader of the Three Borderlands Departments!
At that moment, Ansu returned from the restroom, having spent rather a long time there.
He briskly picked up the pen and signed his name on the authorization form.
Being able to sign that authorization form meant he had passed the Scales of Order's review.
Ashley finally noticed something strange. She watched Ansu and asked, "Where is your staff?"
Ansu held no staff. His hands were completely empty, yet the rules required him to carry one.
And yet he had still passed the Scales of Order's review.
"The staff I brought is a custom-made miniature wooden staff." Ansu still wore that clean smile.
"Where did you hide your staff?"
"Examiner Ashley, are you going to sign this authorization or not?"
Ansu said calmly, "I have already signed the authorization. If you refuse to sign, then according to the rules, you will be deemed to have forfeited."
"Tell me first," the sense of foreboding in Ashley's heart reaching its peak, "where did you hide your staff?"
She stared fixedly at the The Newborn title above Ansu's head.
"Once you sign the authorization, you will know where the staff is."
Ansu spoke softly, his tone still clean and natural. "Please use your wisdom to think. Please understand it carefully. Please think seriously and discern it."
Should she sign this authorization?
Arthur had been a normal human before signing the authorization, but after signing it, he had streaked naked. Liszt had also been fairly human before signing it, but after signing, he had wet his pants.
Should she sign it?
The person in front of her was Ansu Morningstar, leader of the Three Borderlands Departments!
Ashley was lost.
The previous two men's antics had gradually led her train of thought astray as well.
Wait, he said it was a miniature staff.
Ansu had just gone to the restroom, and he had spent a long time there.
Why had he spent so long in there?
Could going to the restroom also have been a tactic he deliberately designed?
The foreboding in her heart instantly intensified.
What had he done in the restroom? Could it be...
Ashley's pupils contracted slightly. Why had it needed to be a custom-made miniature staff?
Because the antics of those two borderland men had both focused below the belt, Ashley's imagination began drifting in that direction too.
How would this leader of The Newborn torment her?
What exactly had he done during that long time in the restroom?
Could it be...
Could it be that he had shoved the staff... into that place?
That place!
Ashley looked up in disbelief, staring directly at Ansu as her pupils contracted violently.
Yet he still looked as bright and sunny as ever.
But Liszt had worn a calm and elegant expression when he was holding in his urine too!
If it had been before, she never would have entertained such a deranged thought.
But after being successively Baptized by Greasy Louse and Mother God's Bladder, Ashley had been left with an enormous psychological shadow. Her worldview had been thoroughly warped.
Although the Exam Instructions prohibited any behavior damaging to conventional morality, Article Two of Chapter Three in the holy canon also stated that sex was sacred, blessed and recognized by God—even in public.
Because Narak's population birth rate was low.
And ordinary citizens had few forms of entertainment. They had to be allowed some outlet for their energy; idle people were prone to rebellion.
"Priestess Ashley."
Ansu's cool voice rang out. "The examination is about to begin. Please sign the authorization."
Ashley stared at the authorization form before her, both hands trembling slightly.
Did she dare sign it?
Or rather, did she dare gamble?
Did she have the courage to sign it?
It was only an examiner's job. Was it worth gambling away her lifelong honor?
She had already forfeited once anyway...
Did she possess the wisdom to see through Ansu's plan?
Ansu had already signed the authorization. At this point, it was impossible to revise the Exam Rules again at the last minute.
She thought again of Ansu's spell combinations.
Ashley was an intelligent genius, a genius who learned everything quickly. Thus, with her thoughts thoroughly led astray, she began considering other possibilities for those spell combinations.
Below-the-belt possibilities.
The effect of Interference Resonance was to disrupt an enemy staff's casting frequency, thereby having a certain chance of interfering with spellcasting.
In other words, Interference Resonance could make an enemy's staff vibrate.
And Great Tremor likewise created rippling vibrations.
Then there was Sensory Blessing.
It could double all the body's senses.
And finally, Arrow Shot.
Imagining that possibility, Ashley's pupils shook violently, and even her cheeks began to flush.
That would surely break completely in an instant.
Doing that before everyone's eyes would be the ultimate torment, beyond nudity and wetting oneself!
"Examiner Ashley, please sign the authorization." Observing Ashley's expression, Ansu found it rather interesting. He calmly added, "Time is up."
This was precisely a battle of wits.
In truth, the miniature staff was in his inner coat pocket.
It was not hidden anywhere strange.
He had merely deliberately stayed in the restroom for a long time.
He was only guiding Ashley to think in that direction—that inspiration had come from Miss Enya.
It was all Miss Enya's fault for saying that the staff Luojia had given him looked like a Purple Myrtle Staff.
Under normal circumstances, his guidance would never have worked. But after being Baptized by Liszt and Arthur's two Dirty Bombs, Ashley's thoughts had been completely warped.
She had already been successfully conditioned.
That was the groundwork laid by Good Brothers!
He knew Ashley was intelligent, a genius capable of drawing inferences from one example. That was why cleverness would be her undoing.
Good young Ansu had not done anything bad. This was all because you, Priest Older Sister, had such filthy thoughts.
He, Ansu Morningstar, was an upright and honorable man of righteousness.
The morally corrupt Newborn now was you, Ashley!
At the same time, even if Ashley still signed the authorization, Ansu did not care—using those four spells, he could still win through normal reasoning.
But from the looks of it now...
Ashley's shoulders trembled slightly, her ears red as sunset glow. "Bastard... you can't, you can't do this..."
Before you continue