Seven card tiers

By this time, the vast majority of examinees had already left the virtual realm. Nearly half of them succumbed to the initial debuffs and the subsequent battles against the alien beasts, while the remaining examinees mostly succeeded in crafting their cards and exited the star field. Only a dozen or so examinees remained steadfastly in the virtual realm. And they would all face their "timeout penalty."

[What?! A giant jungle python! Those who drew the forest room are in luck!]

The frail-looking examinee was on the verge of tears. His card-making skills were quite good, but he had been delayed too long by the initial poison, and had inadvertently exceeded the time limit. Fortunately, his first two cards were of high quality, and he managed to forcefully complete the third card as well.

He activated his cards, and several vines rose up, attempting to bind the giant python. But the python, as expected of the overlord of this jungle, quickly swatted away the vines with its tail, strangling the examinee.

[If a test taker is killed, will their score still be valid?]

[Of course it worked; this isn't a card master assessment. However, the timeout points will definitely be deducted.]

Based on the college's past assessment practices, even if you exceed the time limit, your score won't be reduced below the passing grade; it just won't look good in the rankings.

It seems Ning Xi has no chance of winning first place.

[She had no chance to begin with, okay? How can just anyone challenge for first place?]

Ning Xi's punishment for exceeding the time limit was a giant polar bear.

The beast merely stood up, and the shadow it cast overwhelmed Ning Xi.

Thick fur, a strong physique, and a pair of sharp, bloodstained claws. It will be a formidable foe.

Ning Xi waited intently.

Is Ning Xi not going to struggle anymore?

[She shouldn't struggle; if she accidentally runs out of card durability, she really won't pass the assessment.]

This beast possessed the strength of a high-ranking E-class creature, and its slashing claws carried a foul stench. Ning Xi acted decisively, activating both her summoning card and defense card simultaneously.

A sturdy ice shield blocked the polar bear's attack, while Ning Xi held a long spear made of ice and snow.

—【Spear of the Frost】!

Is she serious?

I can almost hear the sound of the card shattering... Even though it's virtual, it still breaks my heart!

During a lull in the polar bear's attack, Ning Xi extended her long sword and inserted it into its sturdy fur.

The bright red blood stained the pristine white snow.

Good news: Attack cards can break through the polar bear's defense.

Bad news: The Frost Spear is stuck inside the opponent's body and cannot be pulled out. To reuse it, the summon must be disbanded and then summoned again.

Doesn't that mean you have to use the card again?

Ning Xi only has one chance left. She shouldn't persist; she should leave the stage immediately!

Does she think she's a card master? Capable of instantly killing alien beasts?

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Ning Xi disbanded the Lance of the Wind and then summoned it again.

After the attack, she had completely figured out the polar bear's energy field. Its energy field was like a fog, blurry and extremely disruptive, but Ning Xi glimpsed its true weakness the moment the fog cleared.

In an instant, the frost shield she had summoned was destroyed. Ning Xi summoned it again, stepping onto the edge of the shield with her left leg and using it to flip herself upwards. At the same time, she summoned the Frost Spear and, from her elevated position, thrust it down at the polar bear!

[She...she killed him?]

[No, this person really is a potential Card Master, isn't he?]

[What's the point? Both of her cards are badly damaged, so it's hard to say if they count as a result... Wait, what is she doing?]

The corpses of the strange beasts wouldn't disappear quickly within the domain. Ning Xi reached out and grabbed two materials from the polar bear.

A tough, thick hide, a clump of hot, vibrant blood. As a top-tier E-grade material, this is basically the highest quality material she can handle.

Could it be that she...?

"Any other monsters spawning?"

Ning Xi looked left and right and found everything was normal. So she walked reassuredly to the ruins of the safe house, cleared out a card-making table, and began making cards.

This is E-rank high-level material. Would it be appropriate for her not to make two E-rank high-level cards?

...

"Brother Luo, how did you do this time?"

Luo Qing'an was slowly drinking the nutrient solution when he heard another person's question. He pondered for a moment and said, "Not bad. I managed to create a mid-level E-rank card."

"E-rank mid-tier?" a girl with braided pigtails exclaimed. "But we haven't found any material for E-rank mid-tier at all!"

A card's tier is closely related to the tier of its crafting materials. Higher-tier materials contain more powerful energy, resulting in stronger cards. However, only highly skilled card makers can effectively utilize high-tier materials.

A significant number of the candidates present believed they could only handle lower-tier E-rank materials, and even with higher-tier materials, they could only create low-level cards. A few believed they could handle mid-tier or high-tier materials, but they simply couldn't find them.

"Me neither," Luo Qing'an smiled. "I was just lucky; my card successfully upgraded."

The card he created is called "Lightning Chain".

[Lightning Chain] is a popular low-level area-of-effect card template, boasting high damage output, difficulty in dodging, and even minor control effects. Its standard template is a D-level card.

However, he used a large amount of low-grade and mid-grade E-level materials to recreate this card, and the card's level reached mid-grade E-level.

What is card upgrading?

As soon as Ning Xi stepped into the waiting room, she heard unfamiliar terms.

"You must be Ning Xi, the one with S-level mental strength!" A boy with medium-length hair greeted her. "Ning Xi, you know her, right? Besides materials, the completion level of a card also affects its level."

"It's said that when a card's completion level is high enough, it will trigger a card upgrade, increasing its rank by at least one small level. If you're lucky, it might even increase its rank by a large level!"

What he said might not be entirely correct. Card upgrades could also be due to the current tier's cards being unable to accommodate the existing card structure—like Luo Qing'an's case this time. [Lightning Chain Lock] can only be at least a mid-tier E-rank, not a lower-tier one.

If Luo Qing'an can really create a lower-tier card with the same name, Mingxin Academy will have to recruit him even if it means begging.

However, a high completion rate is indeed more common, especially since Luo Qing'an used the phrase "lucky," so the test takers all assumed that was the case and did not correct it.

"That's amazing." Ning Xi said sincerely, "I've never triggered a card upgrade before."

“Neither do we!” The boy sat down with a smile. “It seems that Luo Qing’an has the highest score this time—he has a mid-tier card! We can’t even find mid-tier materials, let alone mid-tier cards.”

“I still have the materials for higher-level exams,” said the thin candidate sitting in the corner. “Isn’t it the time-out penalty? My time-out penalty is a giant python of the E-rank.”

"Did you manage to snatch materials from the python's mouth in that forest?"

The thin student shook his head repeatedly: "Don't even mention it, I was strangled by it in the blink of an eye—thankfully, the virtual illusion only had 30% pain sensitivity enabled!"

"By the way, Ning Xi, you also went over time, didn't you? What was your penalty for going over time?"

The waiting room was full. A girl in the front row gave Ning Xi a folding stool. She sat down in the front row, facing the other candidates: "It's a polar bear. When it stands up, it's at least twice my height—"

"That's terrifying. If I were in that situation, I probably wouldn't dare to move."

"Did you kill Ning Xi?"

"How could that be?" Before Ning Xi could answer, the thin examinee interrupted, saying with a wry smile, "We're not card masters; we'd be lucky to withstand a few moves. Right, Ning Xi?"

“That’s true.” Ning Xi nodded. “Its attack power is extremely high; it can shatter a shield with a single slap, and its agility is also quite good. I can’t last more than a few moves against it.”

If she hadn't acted quickly.

“Oh dear,” the girl who gave her the stool patted her shoulder, “we’re not card masters anyway, so if we can’t beat them, there’s no need to belittle ourselves.”

"Passing is everything! Any more than that is a waste!"

Ning Xi was charmed by her smile: "Long live passing!"

Luo Qing'an covered his face with his hands, seemingly a little tired. But upon hearing these words, he still managed a slight smile.

His defensive and amplification cards were unremarkable, but certainly no worse than the other candidates. The advantage brought by his E-rank mid-tier card and [Lightning Chain Lock] was enough to secure him first place.

He will surely obtain whatever his family demands of him.

An hour later, the candidates received their practical exam results.

On the long list, Ning Xi's name was at the top, even ahead of Luo Qing'an by a full ten points.

Luo Qing'an: ...

He coughed softly, his already pale face becoming even more bloodless. The examinee beside him looked at him with concern: "Are you alright?"

"Should we apply to work at the school hospital? Your score is definitely high enough to get in anyway."

Luo Qing'an shook his head, his expression serious, and walked towards Ning Xi. She was sitting on a folding stool, chatting with the girl next to her, seemingly not caring at all.

Following his movement, the other examinees also began to move. Although he was in poor health, Luo Qing'an had some connections among his peers thanks to his family background and talent.

"Ning Xi, classmate."

The other person looked up at him, seemingly unsurprised.

"I'd like to know what cards you've made."

“I suspect there’s something wrong with the scoring this time.” Unlike Luo Qing’an’s serious attitude, the person behind him seemed a bit angry. “We all made low-tier E-rank cards, and only Luo Qing’an has a mid-tier E-rank card. Why isn’t he in first place, and you are? You even went over time, and you didn’t get any points deducted?”

Ning Xi raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Are you from the grading team? How can you be so sure that 'only Luo Qing'an has an E-level mid-level score'?"

"You don't even know how to upgrade cards, how could you possibly make a mid-tier E-rank card using low-grade materials?"

Ning Xi shrugged: "What if I use better materials?"

"Impossible, I've searched the entire virtual realm and couldn't find it—wait, are you talking about the timeout penalty?"

He clenched his fists: "You...you said it was very powerful, and that you couldn't last more than a few moves against it?"

“Yes, that’s why I killed it in just a few moves.” Ning Xi stood up, smiling, and looked at Luo Qing’an. “It’s alright, Luo Qing’an. I just took advantage of the materials. You are still the most skilled card maker among the candidates.”

Luo Qing'an took a deep breath, and some color returned to her face.

“Ning Xi,” he said solemnly, “I hope to compete against you in the card repair assessment.”