Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 577: Requirements To Become A Puppet Artisan

Han Yu listened intently to the clerk's words.

"You will be asked to create a basic functioning puppet. Nothing advanced. Nothing dangerous. A simple movement puppet with basic command runes. Most disciples take several tries. Each attempt costs merit points."

Han Yu nodded.

The man continued.

"Once you pass, you will get the rank of Novice Puppet Artisan. From there, you can study under the Puppet Peak and gain access to restricted libraries and manuals."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice.

And if you get good enough, you might even be invited to the zombie refinement workshops. Tough work. But worth it. They pay the most."

Han Yu suppressed a shiver.

He needed puppetry for Xuan Qing. But the idea of working with corpses was something he would need to mentally prepare for.

The clerk leaned back, picked up his chariot puppet, watched it spin, and sighed with disappointment.

"You can take the exam today if you want. Just tap your token on the door to the test chambers."

Han Yu bowed slightly.

"Thank you."

He turned to leave.

His path was clear. His next step was set.

He would take the Novice Puppet Examination.

And this would be the first step toward breaking the Doll Seal that imprisoned Xuan Qing's mind.

A while later Han Yu stood inside the Puppet Testing Chamber as the stone doors slid shut behind him. The room was almost identical to the alchemy testing rooms he had used months ago, though the atmosphere felt different.

This place carried the faint earthy scent of wood, resin, and old metals. Rows of compact compartments lined the walls containing parts for the test, and a large crystalline display occupied the opposite wall, ready to give instructions the moment the challenge began.

He still had a little under eight hundred merit points remaining, which meant he had enough for a handful of attempts. If he failed, he would not have enough left to justify another try.

The thought was annoying. He had spent so many months building his wealth only to lose most of it in a single day to buy Xuan Qing. Yet he would do it again without hesitation. Her safety mattered more.

But now that he needed access to the deeper secrets of the Puppet Peak, he could not afford to be careless. He had to pass this test on the first try.

The formation screen lit up when his presence was registered. Neutral blue light washed over him, swirling briefly before settling down. The script appeared plainly across the glowing surface.

Basic Puppet Assembly ExaminationRequirement: Create a functioning basic puppet that is capable of independent movement when controlled through spirit senseRestrictions: Do not break the provided parts. Do not remove materials from the chamber. Return unused items.

The walls hummed lightly and a soft click repeated down the rows of compartments. The parts were now unlocked.

Han Yu looked around the room and thought back to the two manuals he had read earlier.

Basic Puppet Manufacturing and Basic Puppet Control.

Both were thin books and felt more like a short course than a proper study. Thankfully, they assumed that the reader already understood formations, and that worked perfectly for him. He had read through them for an hour and memorized the methods.

A basic puppet was fairly simple.

The puppet parts already came with preset Qi channels inscribed inside them, so he did not need to make any channels himself. He only needed to connect them using link runes and then create a central control array that would allow him to direct simple movements.

He moved to the compartments and opened them one by one.

Inside each was a neatly arranged set of puppet components. Some were carved wood segments, others were small metal pieces that would form joints or connectors. There were also crystals of various sizes which were intended to hold formations.

Most disciples would choose the humanoid puppet since it was the standard basic type. But humanoid puppets needed to balance on two legs, and the test required smooth movement. That made balance a big risk, especially for someone taking the test for the first time.

Han Yu did not like risks that served no purpose.

So he took a different set of parts.

Simple wooden segments, each shaped like a curved cylinder. There were eight pieces for the body and one slightly larger piece for the head. He picked up the parts and set them on the table in the center of the room.

A worm puppet.

It was not elegant, but it worked. A worm puppet only needed to contract and extend. No balancing, no complicated limb alignment, no complex moving joints. Just a smooth sequence of compressions. If it could wiggle forward without stopping, he would pass.

He sat down and inspected the parts closely with his spirit sense. Each segment had two Qi channels carved within it, one for contraction and one for extension. The ends of every segment had small grooves where runes could be connected to link the Qi channels.

This really was easy.

He used a thin brush dipped in Qi infused ink and drew the linking runes between the segments.

Each link connected the contraction channel of one piece to the contraction channel of the next, and the same for the extension channels. It took him ten minutes to connect the segments into a single flexible body.

The puppet now resembled a crude wooden caterpillar.

Next he opened another compartment and took out a small translucent crystal. The crystal was barely the size of his fingernail and had a smooth surface perfect for inscribing a compact array.

The control array was the heart of the puppet. Without it, it would just be a wooden toy.

Han Yu closed his eyes and let Spirit Qi flow into his fingertips. He used his spirit sense to guide the runes, carving the microscopic lines inside the crystal. The runes were basic commands.

Contract. Extend. Pause. Repeat.

These were the instructions that allowed the puppet to mimic the movement of a worm.