89: Competition begins

Ji Yun, is this delicious?" Liu Zhitao held a skewer of lamb roasted on a tree branch.

She didn't know what kind of tree branch it was, but the lamb had a hint of fresh leaves, making it incredibly delicious.

"Mm, it's very delicious."

"Hey, there seems to be some new and interesting food over there that I haven't tried."

After speaking, she pulled Ji Yun and walked towards the distance... July 4th, the competition began today.

Yesterday passed quickly; all the academies had arranged their students' entries and cardss, and today was the day for the judges to begin their evaluations.

At 8 AM, a red isolation tape had been set up in the central area, which was surrounded by the food street.

The four districts—East, South, West, and North—all quieted down, but the central area was packed with people.

Black, white, bright red, orange-red, yellow, fluorescent green, dark green, grass green, sky blue, grape purple... Xu Bai looked at the crowd wearing colorful cloaks and almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Why did it feel like everyone was dressed like a cult, and gathered here, if one didn't know, they'd think a cult was planning something big.

This was—walking the path of cults so cults have no path to walk.

Currently, the ratio of ordinary people to Card Makers is 1:1; Card Makers are not uncommon, but Higher Card Makers are relatively rare.

Among Card Makers, 70% are One-Star Card Makers, 10% are Two-Star Card Makers, 10% are Intermediate Card Makers (three- and four-star), and only 10% are Higher Card Makers, with a large portion of those being Five-Star, Six-Star, and Seven-Star Card Makers, and only a very small number of Eight-Star and Nine-Star cards Masters.

With a large number of Card Makers, there are many innovation competitions in society involving One-Star Card Makers. Although this Card Innovation Competition is only for students from elementary academies, it still attracts a lot of attention, especially since it's a competition jointly spearheaded by academies and the Government.

Even if the popularity isn't as high as the Higher Academy Innovation Competition, it's still worth giving it a dedicated page in the news.

So, newspapers from various provinces dispatched reporters to document it.

Currently, the opening ceremony of the competition is taking place in the central area, with speeches given by Government representative Governor Feng Zhiping of Province B, and judge representative cards Master Card Master Meng Nanxun.

After the two representatives finished speaking, the other 10 judges were also invited onto the stage one by one for interviews and speeches.

These procedural explanations lasted until 8:30 AM. Everyone was quite efficient.

After the ceremony, teachers from each academy returned to their respective exhibition areas, awaiting the arrival of the judges... The judges, as Yang Haoran said, began scoring from the East District.

The judges strolled along the stands, chatting casually with relaxed expressions:

"This pen is good; the material is very light."

"It's alright. I think this oil-based pen is good; the ink writes very smoothly without slipping. I like it a lot."

"This one is decent, but a bit similar to last year's No. 85. However, this one improved on the non-slip aspect, so it's better."

"This clip has some creativity; only two points act on the book, so it doesn't obstruct the part we want to read, and it opens effortlessly."

"I also think it's good; this clip is quite large, and even very thick books can be held firmly."

"This pair of scissors is very good." Card Master Meng Nanxun picked up the scissors in front of him and tried cutting a blank piece of paper placed nearby.