"Ro-Ro-Ro...Ross?"
Hilia blurted out.
Thankfully, Alina was busy directing a few student witnesses to escort the heretics and civilians out, and didn't notice Hilia deep in the cave.
The others were distracted by all the shouting and didn't hear it.
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap...
The girl was plunged into panic, all her previous calmness vanished.
I've really screwed up!
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!
"No need to freak out so much. I don't know how those gods slandered me, but trust me, I'm pretty easy to talk to."
Ross's voice came through. It wasn't nearly as scary as the legends where just hearing a word would kill dozens; instead, he sounded like any handsome, normal boy.
Um...why is the Evil God not a three-headed, six-armed monster, but a handsome human guy?
Seeing that Ross wasn't doing anything frightening, Hilia started to calm down.
"I..."
A thought popped into Hilia's mind—
Should she tell Ms. Alina?
As soon as it surfaced, she snuffed it out.
No way, can't tell her! What if Ross drops the act and slaughters them all?
The top priority is to stay calm and see if I can talk the Evil God out of this...
"Um, hi, my name is Hilia."
Hilia nervously introduced herself via mental voice, making Ross, who was observing the surroundings, chuckle.
"Hello, Hilia, my faithful believer. You summoned me here—are you in some kind of trouble?"
"I'm not your believer..." Hilia immediately objected, but when she saw Ross's smiling face, she instantly chickened out. "Okay, fine, let's just say I am."
I'd kill off every single sect that worships you and erase your existence. Comes from love turning to hate, yeah...that's it!
"I haven't run into any trouble, I'm sorry, Lord Ross, this summoning... was pure accident." Hilia couldn't bring herself to lie—according to the Holy Court's books, Evil God Ross was pretty much omniscient. She doubted she could fool him with any trick.
"Oh? I see. No worries, the Summoning Contract is already set. If you don't have any trouble, then make a wish. What do you wish for?" Ross smiled.
With Ross being so easygoing, Hilia's fear gradually faded. But she remembered that asking the Evil God for a wish always comes with an equal or higher price, so she didn't lose her head and started thinking about what wish would make the Evil God leave...hopefully.
Yet she couldn't think of a wish right away that wouldn't cost her dearly when Ross left.
"Uh, sorry, Lord Ross, I don't really have any wishes."
"No wish? Well, in that case," Ross switched gears, "you can help fulfill my wish and complete the Summoning Contract that way."
"Huh? Help you fulfill your wish? Me?"
"Of course. But you don't have the strength for it yet—maybe in the future."
"The future?"
"Right. Until you grant my wish... I'll be watching you."
"No! I just remembered what wish I want!"
The thought of having a creepy Evil God watching her every moment of study, mealtime—and maybe even in the shower or when she's asleep—made Hilia abandon her 'desireless' act, and all sorts of wants burst forth.
You can't just wish randomly—the harder the wish, the bigger the price. Recalling the lore about the Evil God, Hilia cautiously said, "I want to create a Magic Puppet before the final exams, so I can take part in the test."
"Interesting wish."
Hilia's mind snapped back to reality, but she didn't see any Magic Puppet appear.
"Where's my Magic Puppet?"
"Your wish was to make one before the finals, not for me to conjure it out of thin air." Ross said coolly.
The truth was, he couldn't just make a Magic Puppet appear.
Even if he was supposedly the strongest, the one and only Evil God.
The best thing about crossing over is landing in the game world you were playing, inheriting your max-level account.
Ross was just like that—he'd crossed into a world called Star Fall. Unfortunately, right before the crossover, he'd been using his max-level account to take on the final boss, on the hardest of hard modes: the 'Twelve Main Gods Killstreak.' He was hoping to pull off a slick, stylish twelve-god killstreak, upload it to B-site, and snag some likes. But just as the fight began, his vision blurred, keyboard and mouse control switched to reality, and the multi-boss battle became a justice-powered group beatdown.
The scene was so chaotic that Ross didn't get killed on the spot only thanks to the Star Fall game's stats being as grindable as the stars themselves, and the near-limit lifesteal, regen, defense, health bar, and other attributes he'd spent thousands of hours farming for.
In the end, the Twelve Main Gods realized they couldn't kill him, so they joined forces and sealed him away. He was stuck at the seal site learning to control his powers, up till now when he sensed someone summoning him and projected his consciousness onto the summoner.
He could only project his consciousness, so his body and power were still sealed. For now, he couldn't do much, afraid he might accidentally kill the little girl in front of him. He needed to figure out how much she could handle.
As for Magic Puppets—called 'puppets' in cultivation stories, 'robots' in modern times—they're one of the ways to boost combat power in Star Fall. They can fight alongside their controller, do Combination Skills, super useful in the early and mid game, but turn into decorations in late-game when their stats can't keep up.
This girl's wish is just to have a Magic Puppet?
"Just to confirm—your wish is to make a Magic Puppet before the finals and use it in the exam?"
Hilia hesitated for a moment, then nodded.