Chapter 15
Practical lesson.
Song Shichun stood on the podium after a long absence. Her gaze swept over the faces that were either tired, lacking confidence, or expressionless.
"The semester is already halfway through, and I hope everyone has achieved satisfactory results."
"Now, it's time for you to submit your first assignment for this course."
The practical class lasts four hours. Students need to create a card within four hours that uses the "card exchange law" and is no higher than level E, based on their learning and practice results.
For a skilled card maker, this is plenty of time.
Within two hours, someone stood up and submitted their card.
Song Shichun looked up and saw that the card did indeed use the exchange law, but the materials were quite precious, which directly raised its level to the middle of D rank.
"Student, it seems you're using materials that weren't brought to the classroom."
"Teacher Song, this exam didn't restrict the scope of the materials, did it?" The student shrugged innocently.
Song Shichun lowered his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and simply typed out the rating: "C, passed."
The student left the classroom with an air of nonchalance. Before leaving, he glanced at the classmates who remained on the field.
Some students were sweating profusely and frantically trying to pass the exam, while others appeared relaxed and confident. Clearly, students with family support had a greater chance of succeeding.
His gaze fell on Ning Xi. She was calm, engrossed in refining materials. He had witnessed a piece of material in her hands turn to ashes in no time, completely losing its purpose.
He couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Ning Xi's "first place" should be broken.
One after another, people submitted cards. These submitted cards either used excellent materials, resulting in exceeding the required rank, or were incomplete. Song Shichun accurately judged that most of them were approved.
To be fair, these students weren't bad, and their performance under high-pressure teaching was passable. Song Shichun didn't want to make things difficult for them.
Zhang Min also submitted her card. Her card wasn't completed, but she had clearly entered the final stage. Song Shichun raised an eyebrow: "Why don't you try again?"
Zhang Min shook her head: "I've tried many times already."
"Score B, passed." Song Shichun nodded and lowered his voice, "Let's schedule a time to talk later."
She paused, then said, "Teacher Zou likes you very much too."
The mere mention of Zou Yuan caused Zhang Min's face to contort in a grimace. Song Shichun smiled and let her go.
There weren't many people left in the classroom.
Luo Qing'an prepared ten portions of Kamo for himself—which was within his mental capacity to sustain. However, it was probably still a bit too much for his physical condition.
He glanced at Ning Xi out of the corner of his eye and saw her pouring the burnt ashes into the Camo base liquid, as if she had given up on herself.
He breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a vague sense of unease.
Soon, Ning Xi also finished preparing the camo. She also prepared multiple portions of camo, seemingly ready to fight to the very last moment.
Luo Qing'an's pen never stops.
His senses were exceptionally sharp, allowing him to hear everything happening in the classroom. Students would occasionally finish their cards or completely break down and be taken away by Song Shichun. This year, "Great Philanthropist Song" seemed less forceful; even with students who ultimately broke down, she would find their strengths and affirm them.
If only I could end it like this...
Luo Qing'an's pen slanted, and he instinctively closed his eyes, unwilling to face the failure brought about by distraction. But the flow of his mental energy did not stagnate; instead, it became even smoother.
Could it be?
Luo Qing'an suppressed his excitement. Everything outside became blurry, and only this card remained in his world.
One stroke, two strokes, connection, composition, ending...
It was a success!
A perfect E-rank high-level card, with two opposing yet complementary card patterns. Indeed, Father was right; the luck he lost at some times would surely be returned at others.
He stood up and rushed over to Song Shichun's side.
At this moment, a student was submitting a card. He explained in a low voice that he had failed to make the card due to insufficient mental strength. Song Shichun listened quietly.
He glanced at the student, who didn't dare linger any longer and left immediately.
Song Shichun shook his head: "Next?"
Luo Qing'an respectfully handed over the card with both hands.
"Please have the teacher check it."
"Sleep and wakefulness? That's right." Song Shichun nodded repeatedly, a kind smile on her face. "Could you tell me your production process?"
“Of course.” Luo Qing’an gave a very measured smile.
He spoke eloquently, explaining the card's design concept with great familiarity, but Song Shichun simply smiled quietly, offering no opinion. Finally, she delivered her verdict: "Your card deserves an A-."
Luo Qing'an's eyes lit up.
This was his first A in this assessment, albeit only an A-. But a hint of disappointment quickly followed: with his exceptional performance, he could only get an A-? What about higher grades? Could someone possibly create better cards than him?
"teacher……"
"Excuse me, could you please move aside?" Ning Xi's voice came from behind. "I'm in a hurry to eat."
She stepped forward and handed over a card.
Luo Qing'an glanced over instinctively and saw red and blue card patterns, their colors so bright they were almost blinding. The cards had many intricate, invalid patterns, making it difficult for him to discern their structure at first glance.
What kind of card is this? Getting an Ace is impossible.
Ning Xi has never succeeded in class before; her success this time must have been just an accident!
“The ultimate expression of ice and fire…” Song Shichun said with emotion, “Ning Xi, you have finally succeeded.”
"Tell me about your production process?"
Ning Xi pondered for a moment.
Unlike Luo Qing'an, she didn't speak eloquently, and the young woman's eloquence wasn't particularly outstanding. Therefore, she simply mentioned two points.
"First, ice-type materials and fire-type materials are difficult to reconcile, especially under the influence of my mental power. Therefore, I used the energy extraction method."
Song Shichun nodded approvingly: "Continue?"
"Secondly, ice and fire are a broad category of qualities, which contains many smaller qualities. For example, fire includes qualities such as combustion, high temperature, and explosion. I only extracted one pair of qualities. Ice represents extreme stagnation; fire represents extreme change. When an object is at a low temperature, the molecular motion will be greatly reduced; while combustion is a violent activity that releases energy. These two qualities seem to be completely different, but in fact, the patterns used are basically the same."
"Well said, this is what cards you design yourself."
Luo Qing'an bit his lower lip. He heard Song Shichun say, "Ning Xi, I'm going to give you an A+."
...
On the day the results were officially released, Luo Chengsi rushed to Mingxin Academy overnight.
"Professor Song, I need an explanation."
He was travel-worn, but his authority as a superior remained undiminished.
Song Shichun sat at his desk, looking surprised: "I never expected that the dignified head of the Luo family would grace our humble card-making department with his presence."
The Luo family is capable of using natural cards, so theoretically they shouldn't need to care too much about the card maker. She was indeed very surprised.
"How come my son's cards are inferior to that unregistered player's?"
“Ning Xi is no longer an unregistered resident,” Song Shichun corrected her. “She has obtained a new identity certificate and her household registration is now with our San Thirty-Three Stars.”
“I heard you admire her a lot,” Luo Chengsi’s tone became flat, but beneath this flatness were deeper waves. “You logged into the card maker forum and gave her a lot of extra guidance.”
“There was no extra guidance.” Song Shichun shook his head. “All I gave her was something insignificant—star coins. It’s not that I favor her; I’ve sent high-priced card-making commissions to many students, and there are three or four in this year alone.”
"As for the cards for this exam, Luo Qing'an's idea is great, but is it really his idea?"
“Professor Song, as a scholar, you must speak with evidence.” Luo Chengsi stepped forward. “You are very famous, and many people are eyeing your position.”
Song Shichun let out a sigh.
“When a card maker designs a card from scratch, what impresses him most are naturally the difficult details. Luo Qing’an’s description is comprehensive and complete, but I don’t see any bias in it.”
"I didn't forbid hiring outside help—that's a skill in itself. But I can't give this kind of card a high score."
“My son has always admired you,” Luo Chengsi said. “He has been in poor health since childhood, and your thesis opened up a new world for him. It’s normal for him to be excited and a little confused about priorities when facing a teacher he admires. Professor Song is being too arbitrary.”
"Ultimately, the results will depend on the cards themselves."
"Is this all you asked for?" Song Shichun smiled, then stood up. "Let's go."
The Royal Card Training Hall is always bustling. Song and Luo arrived at the simulated combat hall, where a melee class was in session.
Luo Chengsi frowned; he disliked the students' clamor. Song Shichun smiled and approached one of the students: "Could you help me test these two cards?"
"Song Da..." The student realized something was wrong and immediately covered his mouth, "Yes, yes, it's possible! But how do we test it?"
"Let's use your training program."
The first card tested was Ning Xi's. It was a weapon card called [Ice and Fire Twin Blades]. Its manifested form was a pair of short swords surrounded by ice and fire.
The students entered the training program, and the objective was quickly displayed: kill fifty simulated alien beasts.
Luo Chengsi raised an eyebrow: "This project... seems to be more beneficial to my son's cards."
Ning Xi's card is a weapon card, and it is obvious that it does not have any group skills, while Luo Qing'an's card is a large-area debuff card.
Song Shichun said, "No, let's use this project."
The simulation began, and several strange beasts attacked him. Wielding dual blades of ice and fire, the student took the initiative, killing several monsters. However, he himself was struggling, clearly having expended a lot of energy.
But he quickly became familiar with the card—the ice blade was used to slow down enemies, and the fire blade was used to kill them in one hit. The card was not only novel, but also felt great to use, making it very suitable for combat training.
Ten minutes later, he killed all the monsters and was panting heavily.
"Take a rest for a while." Song Shichun used the healing card, and a pale green light appeared, but it was difficult to relieve the student's fatigue.
“No need.” Luo Chengsi shook his head, revealing a confident smile. “Using my son’s cards, it won’t require much stamina at all.”
"Really? Thank you for your help, classmate."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
