1: Shi Li

Durian City, Twenty-sixth High School.

The gentle breeze from outside the window billowed the curtains like sails, and the afternoon sun filtered through the gaps, making everything feel warm.

Books on the desks were piled high, forming walls.

"You are the worst class I have ever taught."

The homeroom teacher's gaze swept across the classroom, finally settling on the corner seat: "Shi Li is an exception."

The handsome, fair-skinned boy who had been called out was originally staring out the window in a lazy daze, but hearing this, he couldn't help but smile wryly.

"If only you had half his diligence and intelligence, I would be thanking my lucky stars."

Then, the homeroom teacher took out the monthly exam results.

"Shi Li, Card Game Combat, 1st place.

"Card Making Principles," 100 points.

"Circuit Drawing," 100 points.

"Monster Lore," 100 points.

"Exotic Geography," 100 points.

… …"

Every subject he mentioned received a perfect score.

"How does Shi Li even study? He's a monster."

"He's maintained these grades since his first year of high school."

"The key is, I've never seen him study particularly hard."

"Last time we skipped class to play basketball and got caught, the teacher only let him go."

Amidst the envious and jealous whispers of his classmates, Shi Li walked to the podium to collect his results.

"Keep up the good work; there's still hope before the college entrance exam."

The homeroom teacher patted Shi Li's shoulder, speaking with some earnestness.

In fact, more than envy and jealousy, the classmates' attitude towards Shi Li was one of regret and pity.

"With less than a semester until the college entrance exam, can Shi Li still successfully achieve Card Resonance?"

"Sigh, if he can't, it'll be incredibly difficult for him to get into a card-related university."

"Exactly, without the extra points from Card Resonance, even with his excellent grades, it probably won't be enough."

Shi Li, first in the entire grade for all subjects in this monthly exam, including Card Game Combat.

However, his future as a Card Player seemed bleak in the eyes of his classmates and teachers.

There was only one reason: he had not yet achieved Card Resonance.

The disadvantage of not having Resonance might not be apparent during the novice stage, but the gap would widen as personal development progressed.

Moreover, only by achieving Resonance before the college entrance exam could he receive extra points when applying to card-related universities.

One must know that the college entrance exam is like thousands of soldiers crossing a single-plank bridge; even a single point difference can block many people.

Shi Li had long grown accustomed to his classmates' words.

He simply walked back to his corner seat and sat down quietly.

This was a world where card playing was revered, and human survival was threatened by monsters and alien race.

They existed in the exotic realms on the other side of various spacetime rifts, and sometimes descended upon Blue Star.

The only ones who could contend with them were Card Players.

Therefore, the stronger the Card Player, the higher their status.

As long as Talent allowed, everyone wanted to apply to card-related universities.

Each city had its own card-related university, primarily recruiting local students.

Above city-level, there were also provincial key universities.

And above provincial-level were the Four Famous Universities of Xia Kingdom: Tsinghua University and Peking University.

"Now, let alone the Four Famous Universities, with my current situation, even getting into a provincial key university would be quite a struggle."

Thinking this, Shi Li pouted, "If my parents saw my current predicament, they'd probably be so angry they'd come back to life."

His parents' last wish was for both of their sons to become excellent Card Players.

However, to become an excellent Card Player, getting into a good card-related university was a necessary path.

Because the better the university, the better the teaching conditions it naturally possessed, and the more resources it poured into its students.

Of course, besides this, even from a personal perspective, Shi Li also had reasons to work hard.

That was, as a true card enthusiast, his heart could not refuse the desire to become a powerful Card Player.

For example, collecting a perfect deck, or obtaining a legendary full-star card—these were the aspirations of a card enthusiast.

"Listen up, everyone, I have something to say."

After distributing the results, the homeroom teacher announced, "In order to ensure you perform excellently in the city-wide mock unified exam at the end of next month,

the school has decided to distribute a batch of resources. The allocation of these resources will be determined by the all-grade card competition in two weeks.

The student who wins first place will have a very high chance of receiving a two-star card."

As soon as this was said, everyone cast envious glances at Shi Li.

Because in every monthly exam since the third year of high school, first place had always been taken by Shi Li.

"Two-star card..."

Shi Li's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

Cube Card character cards are divided into 6 levels.

No-star character cards can equip 0 entries, one-star character cards can equip 1 entry, and so on.

Similar to the level of character cards, a Card Player's personal rank is also correspondingly divided into six major tiers.

These are: Bronze - Silver - Gold - Platinum - Emerald - Diamond.

Currently, his rank was Silver 3, which meant he possessed 3 one-star cards.

One of the two key conditions for advancing from Silver to Gold rank was to obtain a two-star card.

So, this reward was exactly what he needed.

"I wonder if Gong Ping from the next class will participate this time."

"Yeah, I ran into him at the Card Hall last week, and he's already successfully advanced to Gold 1."

"Gold 1?! That's incredible!"

"If he participates..."

Someone secretly glanced at Shi Li, and Shi Li's attention was also drawn by their conversation.

Gong Ping, the only genius in the entire school who had achieved dual-system Card Resonance.

The combat card games organized by the school in his first and second years of high school were only held within the class.

So he had never had the opportunity to compete against him.

By the time he reached his third year of high school, Gong Ping had joined an outside Card Hall.

Since then, he rarely came to school and had never even participated in a monthly exam.

But this time might be different, because there was a tangible reward.

A two-star card was equally attractive to a Gold-ranked Card Player.

"If that guy also participates, my current deck definitely can't beat a Gold rank."

Shi Li frowned slightly.

He wasn't the type of person who liked to hand over the initiative to others.

Rather than hoping the other party wouldn't participate in this card competition, it was better to do something to make himself stronger.

And now there were only two weeks until the all-grade card competition.

At this moment, the dismissal bell rang, and with this matter on his mind, he left school and headed home.

His home was in a mid-to-high-end residential area, a small two-story house of modest size.

Although the property rights belonged to the government, the two brothers had ten years of residency rights.

"Hmm?"

Preoccupied with his thoughts, he returned to his doorstep, only to see something amiss in the yard.

Thick black smoke from a fire was rising from the yard.

… …

… …