113: 【Cicada Wing Messenger】

【Winged Messenger】

Balance System, 30 points, One-star

Attack 30, 100/100

【Universal Characteristic】: When Winged Messenger is added to the deck, your score limit increases by 10.

【Momentum - Passive】: On the turn Winged Messenger is revealed, gain 10 【Encouragement】 (T0).

The Characteristic is a very common Balance System-exclusive Characteristic.

In reality, Balance System-exclusive Characteristics don't have a very deep 'exclusive' concept.

Because most Characteristics of Balance System cards can be equipped by cards of other systems, and most passive Characteristics of other systems can also be equipped by Balance System cards.

The key is this 【Characteristic】, +10 points to the score limit.

Here, 'added to the deck' refers to existing in the game in forms such as being face-down, revealed, or retired.

This is an extremely good effect, and it's exactly what Shi Li needs right now.

Because of its existence, it can perfectly solve the problem of Red Blade Maiden being 10 points above the average score.

With this Winged Messenger, he no longer needs to specifically equip his deck with 20-point low-score cards, or giant 2-slot cards like Rock Giant Centipede, for that matter.

"If this trend continues, I'll be able to field a deck full of Unique Character Cards one day.

How delightful."

Putting the card away, Shi Li glanced at his remaining funds.

He still had 13,000 cubic coins.

So he refreshed the Crimson Trial · True once more.

Naturally, he didn't succeed, but he further accumulated experience from trial and error.

He went home and rested well for two days, recuperating.

Then, on the third day, the College Entrance Examination Duel officially began.

To avoid unnecessary commotion, Shi Li had already informed the school and stayed at home to participate.

Since the previous stage was conducted in a virtual space, as long as he had a cubicle, it didn't matter where he took the exam.

Under various biometric technologies, cheating by proxy was absolutely impossible.

The first stage lasted for ten days, and for fairness and impartiality, the College Entrance Examination Duel adopted a relatively complex scoring mechanism.

The maximum score for the duel was 700 points, which meant dividing all third-year high school students in the province into 700 tiers.

The first place, naturally, received a full 700 points, and the second place received 699 points.

Further down to the 600-point mark, there would be situations where multiple people were in the same tier.

So even losing one card game wouldn't mean the end of everything.

Losers still needed to duel among themselves to ultimately determine which score tier they would remain in.

However, for Shi Li, he didn't need to pay attention to this complex mechanism.

Since his goal was to be the first in the province, there was only one path.

That was to win every match until the finals.

If viewed from this perspective, it was actually equivalent to a normal single-elimination tournament.

【Neural connection in progress...】

Shi Li lay down in the cubicle, and the tentacle-like wires began to connect to his skin.

【Consciousness solution injecting...】

Bronze-blue liquid was injected.

【Brain region connection officially starting...】

His consciousness was hazy for a few seconds, then Shi Li appeared in a pure white space.

"Hey, the one."

【I am here, please speak.】

the one was the name Shi Li gave to his exclusive space AI.

"Help me connect to the College Entrance Examination space."

【Okay, I guess you are referring to the Jiangnan Province Durian City College Entrance Examination Duel.

Please confirm if your examination admission ticket number is correct, your examination admission ticket number is XXXXXXX.

After confirmation, it will connect to that space.】

"That's right."

After Shi Li confirmed, the scene before him began to change.

It was still a pure white scene, with a card table made of blue light placed in the center of the venue.

【Neural frequency identification, complete.】

【Player wave identification, complete.】

【Welcome to this College Entrance Examination, student Shi Li.】

This was the College Entrance Examination space's AI, no longer the one.

【According to your rank and the application from your city's education bureau, you have been listed as Durian City's No. 1 seed player.】

【You will not encounter other seed players before the regional quarterfinals.】

【You will not encounter Pineapple City's No. 1 seed player before the regional finals.】

【You will not encounter Durian City's No. 2 seed player before the regional finals.】

This was the benefit of achieving good results in the city-wide mock unified examination.

According to the custom of their Durian City, unless there were special circumstances, the ranking of local seed players was determined by their unified examination results.

"So if Xiao Fang wants to get his revenge on me, he must first defeat Pineapple City's No. 1 seed."

Shi Li murmured.

【Your opponent will be randomly matched in 2:03.】

As the countdown ended, the two spaces began to overlap.

A figure flickered indistinctly across the card table, eventually solidifying.

"It's over!"

When he saw that his opponent was Shi Li, the face of this examinee, also from Durian City, greatly changed.

His rank was actually not bad, reaching Gold 3.

Don't let it seem like Shi Li was only Gold 3 in the city-wide mock unified examination; that was more than a month, almost two months, ago.

In previous years, at this time, to prepare for the College Entrance Examination Duel, the resources invested in third-year high school students would reach their peak.

Currently, within Durian City, there were nearly 50 people at Gold 3 alone.

More than a hundred people had reached the Gold rank.

But the current Shi Li was also not the Shi Li from before.

His progress speed would only be faster than others.

Platinum 1 against Gold 3 naturally had the advantage of one more card.

So there was no need for any elaborate tactics.

He relied on a combination of two-star regular cards: Jumping Guard + Crow Warrior + Thunderhorn Deer + Fluorescent Vine.

He completely routed his opponent, making him run for cover.

He even won without having to reveal his trump card.

Afterward, he continued to use this deck, dominating and winning all the way.

On the 5th day of the first stage, Shi Li officially entered the regional quarterfinals.

While other students were still struggling in the loser's bracket, just to get a higher score tier.

Shi Li, on the other hand, had only 3 matches left, if he kept winning.

After finishing today's duel, he was automatically ejected from the College Entrance Examination space.

He had intended to study new knowledge in the virtual library, but before he could even start, an external call came in.

"Teacher."

Seeing that it was his homeroom teacher Teacher Li, Shi Li immediately answered the call.

"You performed very well, successfully advancing to the regional quarterfinals without exposing new cards."

Teacher Li immediately affirmed his student.

Third-year homeroom teachers had permission to watch the College Entrance Examination Duels in real-time.

So Teacher Li had not missed any of Shi Li's card games.

"However, you cannot be careless with your next opponents."

Teacher Li said earnestly.

All 8 quarterfinalists of the region had been decided, and Durian City's students could be said to have performed a bit below expectations.

Shi Li and Fang Jinghai, naturally, secured their spots in the quarterfinals.

But there was also a more unexpected one: Gong Ping, with incredible luck, also made it into the quarterfinals.

The remaining 5 spots were all taken by Pineapple City.

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