Six practical exams
"Look! The results are in."
Mingxin Academy is exceptionally efficient. The results of the first exam were released before the second exam even began.
More than half of the test takers scored below 60 points, far exceeding one-third of last year's figure.
Luo Qing'an took a sip of the special nutrient solution, and a trace of color returned to his pale face. Perhaps because the taste was too bitter, he ate a piece of candy.
[Luo Qing'an, first place, 87 points.]
“Don’t worry, cousin.” His smile remained unchanged, conveying a sense of reassurance. “Card making is, after all, an experience-based discipline; you can’t get anywhere with just mental strength.”
"Luo Qing'an is indeed extraordinary; he has left the third-place player by a full four points!"
"Who is this Ning Xi? She scored 86.5 points, only slightly lower than Luo Qing'an."
“You’re right, that Ning Xi…”
Luo Xian intended to offer a few words of flattery, but instead overheard the other examinees' comments.
"86.5 points?" Luo Qing'an asked, somewhat puzzled. "Was there any question where the score wasn't a whole number?"
“It’s alright.” He closed his eyes. “Theory and practice are two different things. Being able to recite a text doesn’t mean you can make a card. Once the practice is over, she’ll just be another ordinary person.”
Meanwhile, the teachers in the card-making department were also paying attention to this assessment.
After they expelled a third of the freshmen last year, the college finally agreed to their request, allowing them to set their own exam questions and difficulty levels.
"Luo Qing'an is indeed a promising talent."
Song Shichun, the head of the Card Making Department, is a gentle and kind person. But anyone who knows how she expelled the previous year's students will put "gentle and kind" in quotation marks.
"Not enough." Someone shook their head. "There were more than ten students in the senior year who scored above 80, but only three this time. As for Ning Xi, some people say she got lucky. What do you guys think?"
"Her domain knowledge is stronger than Luo Qing'an's, but her knowledge of array diagrams is relatively weak. But that's not entirely her fault." The thin man with black-rimmed glasses asked, "Do you know how she lost that 0.5 points?"
"I've been wanting to ask this for a while... are there any questions in this test paper with non-integer marks?"
“It’s a cartography question,” he answered. “She made many formatting errors in her cartography drawing, so I deducted 1.5 points from her score. If she had formal cartography training, her final score would be higher than Luo Qing’an’s.”
“Not bad.” Song Shichun nodded. “In the study of diagrams and arrays, we are not afraid of unorthodox methods, but of stupid people. After she comes in, we will give her ten sets of diagram and array problems to help her improve.”
“However,” a baby-faced teacher spoke up, “does everyone know about her mental strength? I feel that the format of the next assessment will be very disadvantageous for her.”
...
[Dear candidates, the practical assessment portion of the Card Making Department's entrance examination will begin shortly.]
In the upcoming assessment, you will enter a virtual realm to collect materials and create cards. The virtual realm is level E, and the materials are of an abundance level. We will provide each student with a safe room and ten blank cards. Candidates need to create three different types of cards, and examiners will score them based on card quality, diversity, material abundance, and innovation.
"What the heck? We're taking the card-making exam, right? To get into the virtual world."
“It’s definitely the Card Making Department,” the proctor said. “The Card Control Department next door is in the D-level Illusory Realm, where everyone was chased by D-level monsters for at least fifteen minutes. If anyone wants to increase the difficulty, that’s fine too.”
The candidates all lowered their heads, afraid of being chosen by him.
The comments section became active.
[The most interesting part of the entire assessment has arrived.]
[Mingxin Academy is treating its students somewhat like dirt. The student in room number 22 was assigned to the edge of lava; he looked like he was about to shatter.]
Room 50 opened up a forest, which looked good at first glance, until that poisonous snake darted out. By the way, are there any antidote cards among the E-rank cards?
[To be honest, don't you guys think the assessment format is very unfriendly to Luo Qing'an? If he had the physical abilities of someone in the exploration field, he wouldn't have come to the card-making department in the first place.]
Luo Qing'an was teleported to a desolate wasteland, surrounded by withered vegetation. In the distance, under the dark sky, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed wildly. The lightning illuminated him, making his already pale face appear even more ashen.
He took a deep breath, picked up the charred, withered grass beside him, and quickly entered the safe house.
[There's always a way out; the materials he had on hand were just enough to craft a body enhancement card.]
[Speaking of unfriendly behavior, I think Ning Xi is better.]
Ning Xi stepped into a vast, white snowfield.
Here, the sunlight is icy cold, the wind is biting, and the snowfield is vast and boundless, a dazzling expanse of white.
...Oh no. She rubbed her eyes, realizing something: prolonged searching for materials in the snowy plains could lead to snow blindness.
She needs eye protection—specifically, goggles.
Ning Xi lowered her head and quickly found suitable summoning card materials from the lichen and moss under her before entering the safe house.
She has passed the first hurdle.
The student assigned to the lava pool suffered heatstroke and had to finish the exam because they didn't make a cooling card in time.
Last year's exam question required choosing one of seven card types to create. This year's question was significantly more difficult and required greater flexibility.
[Yeah, she gathered way too many materials! Enough to make ten cards. But there are only ten blank cards.]
Is her success rate with card acquisition really that low?
Ning Xi quickly gave them an answer.
She crushed and pressed the materials to extract the juice, then dripped it into the kamo base liquid provided by the academy, and stirred it with her mental power.
What happened? Did it explode?
This is the first time I've ever seen someone's E-grade caramel explode.
As expected, without proficiency in card making, even high mental strength is of little use.
[Don't speak too soon. Ning Xi seems very calm. What if she's just not good at mixing ink?]
By the time Ning Xi finished preparing the ink, more than half of the materials on the table had already been used up.
Even in the freezing cold, she was covered in sweat.
Next, the restoration, card production, and finishing were all completed in one go, without the slightest hesitation.
Is the color of her khaki ink a little off?
[Ignore the ink color; just focus on how smoothly she processes the cards.]
Ning Xi is still a step behind the others; Luo Qing'an has already gone out to explore. And I have a feeling... the longer you stay in this virtual realm, the greater the danger.
Luo Qing'an walked out of the safe house.
He held a card between two fingers, and with a flick of his wrists, the metallic card flew into the distance.
A clap of thunder sounded, and lightning struck the card.
The [Lightning Rod] functions similarly to a lightning rod and is very useful in thunderstorm areas, provided it is not carried on your person.
Luo Qing'an walked away in the opposite direction of the card without looking back.
Ning Xi looked at the card in her hand with a pained expression.
She was busy making cards and hadn't thought about it too much. Now that she thinks about it, this assessment method isn't very friendly to her.
Infused with spiritual power, a pair of multifunctional goggles materialized.
At the same time, a noticeable crack appeared on the card.
Without the card reader's intervention, the card's durability dropped by more than forty points!
Hahahaha
[A scene from the underworld has appeared!]
[This is too targeted. How is she supposed to use cards to fight the monsters and obtain materials?]
Perhaps, we don't even need to deal with the monsters; just collecting three cards should be enough to pass? After all, this is a card-making test.
Ning Xi put on her goggles.
This equipment not only protected her eyes but also incorporated thermal imaging. Through this feature, Ning Xi discovered the bizarre and varied E-class beasts hidden beneath its snow-white camouflage.
[Normally, she should create an attack card to hunt these monsters.]
[Haha, just thinking about how she had to use cards that shattered at the slightest touch to chase after the monster makes me laugh.]
Ning Xi found an ice hole, squatted down, and with the help of her goggles, she "saw" the shadows moving underwater.
Is she going to use a fishing rod holder to fish? That's not bad; the materialized fishing rod should last a long time.
It's easy for the market to go short.
Ning Xi revealed a sinister smile. She broke off an ice stalagmite from the edge of the ice layer with her bare hands.
Then, with a "whoosh," it pierced down. After repeating this several times, a large, fresh fish was skewered onto the ice sponge.
【？】
[Sis, why don't you go participate in the survival livestream on the desolate planet? I'll definitely support you!]
[How could such a skilled person appear in the card maker assessment? Why doesn't she go to the Royal Card Department? Oh right, she can't go.]
[The case is solved. She only applied to the Card Making Department because the Imperial Card Department wouldn't accept her. But her training won't disappear.]
Before long, all sorts of things began to be strung on Ningxi's ice bamboo shoots.
Fish, snow hares, polar insects, and even mimicking plants.
Ning Xi has an uncanny knack for finding plants that mimic human features, as if she has a grudge against them.
After a bountiful harvest of materials, she returned to the safe house, rubbed her hands, which were red from the cold, and began to devise her next card.
According to the logic of the assessment, she should first make an attack card and then hunt the snowfield beasts.
Let's make an attack card then.
Snow spirits possess the power of ice and snow within their bodies. They are suitable for crafting various ice-based spell cards and summoning cards (weapon type).
As for enhancement cards and martial arts cards, they are not very suitable. Although summoning cards can accommodate ice-type, E-grade summoning cards are too difficult to make, so Ning Xi automatically ruled out this option.
Thinking back to her experience of randomly poking at ice bamboo shoots, Ning Xi's mind conjured up an image of a long, icy spear.
Sharp spearhead, chilling aura, swift as the wind...
By the way, the snowfields aren't just about snow; they also have endless north winds!
After thinking it through, she began to prepare the caramel.
[The cards Ningxi made are so beautiful!]
She seems to have a bit of a maximalist streak; the cards she creates are covered in invalid card patterns.
[Invalid card pattern? Will it affect my assessment score?]
[This shouldn't have much of an impact, since almost all invalid card patterns are added after the card is created. Theoretically, it shouldn't affect the card's quality. It just looks a bit flashy.]
While the comments were still going on, Ning Xi had already completed the Ice and Wind dual-element summoning cards and started making defense cards.
Ning Xi's progress is a bit slow; Luo Qing'an has already left.
I have a bad feeling; is she about to trigger the timeout penalty?
Ning Xi finished the last stroke, and the three cards were complete.
At the same time, a loud bang was heard outside the safe house, and the safe house collapsed!
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