14: Competition Rewards

"You performed very well this time."

As soon as he sat down, Teacher Li first praised Shi Li.

"You didn't tell me that the one-star card you got was a Unique Character Card."

He then said with a hint of blame.

Mainly, his student didn't inform him in advance, causing him to miss an opportunity to show off in front of other teachers.

"Now you know, don't you?"

Shi Li smiled.

"Where did you get this card?"

Regarding the card's origin, Teacher Li expressed concern.

He was mainly worried that his student might go astray.

After all, he knew Shi Li's family background, and it was impossible for him to have the means to obtain a Unique Character Card.

"It's definitely not from cheating or trickery, Teacher, you can rest assured."

Shi Li briefly recounted his experience at the Show Card Hall.

Of course, he only mentioned that the token card was given by Xiu Qingshan, but he didn't say that the other party only gave one.

"A D-class contract, and a token card as a gift.

It seems Curator Xiu thinks highly of you."

After listening to him, Teacher Li showed a look of relief.

He had seen many Unique Character Cards, but few had as much potential as the Red Blade Maiden.

After all, many Unique Character Cards have negative inherent Traits; those cards are usually strong in their exclusive entries, and the inherent Characteristic is more like a regulator used to balance the strength of the entries.

However, the Red Blade Maiden comes with a high-strength inherent Characteristic like [Super Armor], which can be said to firmly suppress even two-star Character Cards.

"Given your current situation, even without the bonus from Card Resonance, there's a good chance you can get into a provincial key high school."

Teacher Li began to analyze for him: "The prerequisite is that you can get first place in the city's college entrance examination card duel. Each year, Jiangnan University gives one guaranteed admission slot to the first-place winner of each city's college entrance examination card duel."

Jiangnan is the provincial capital, and Jiangnan University is naturally the best provincial key Card University there.

"First place in the city..."

Shi Li fell into deep thought.

The college entrance examination is divided into three subjects: theoretical written test + card crafting skills + card duel.

If it were theoretical classes or card crafting skills, he still believed he had some hope of getting first place in the city.

But if it was a card duel, that would be very difficult.

Not to mention Second and Third High Schools, he might not even be able to defeat the top students from the other top ten high schools.

Currently, he even struggles to defeat Gong Ping.

"However, there's still some time until the college entrance examination, so you don't need to think that far ahead.

For now, let's focus on the city-wide mock unified exam. My expectation for you is to at least achieve the school's historical best result."

Teacher Li said.

"What's the school's historical best result?"

Shi Li was a little curious.

The mock unified exam is very important to him.

Because if nothing unexpected happens, these opponents in the unified exam will also be the opponents he will face in the college entrance examination.

"Our Twenty-sixth High School's best result in previous mock unified exams was reaching the top 16."

Teacher Li's expression wasn't too bright when he mentioned this.

Although in terms of teaching quality and school conditions, Twenty-sixth High School is among the top ten schools in the city.

Its disadvantage lies in having too few students.

For example, Fourth High School next door, which has similar strength and is closest to Twenty-sixth High School, has six to eight classes per grade, with more than twice their number of students.

If calculated by the ratio of one Gold rank player per two or three classes, the number of top students would also exceed Twenty-sixth High School.

When the base number of top students increases, the probability of achieving good results naturally becomes higher.

"Our principal is very concerned about his reputation. If you can make it into the top 16 or even top 8 in this mock unified exam, I believe the reward he gives will definitely be no less than this time's, only higher."

Teacher Li enticed him.

"What rank can someone like Gong Ping achieve in the city?"

However, compared to the enticement, Shi Li was more concerned about the strength of other schools.

"Hmm, that's hard to say.

Based on past experience, about sixty students in the city will reach the Gold rank during the mock unified exam.

And as the competition continues, the ranks of the advancing students often increase rapidly."

Teacher Li recalled for a moment, then answered.

By the time of the mock unified exam, the top ten schools would probably have forty to fifty Gold players.

Adding a few scattered ones from lower-ranked schools, having sixty people is quite normal.

"That many..."

Shi Li's eye twitched after hearing that.

This means that even reaching Gold 1 might not guarantee a spot in the top 64.

No wonder the school's best result was only the top 16.

"But there's no need to worry too much; I was talking about data from a month later.

There definitely aren't that many Gold-ranked third-year students in the city right now, so you still have plenty of time to improve yourself."

Teacher Li comforted him, then changed the subject: "Anyway, don't think so much. Let's claim your reward for this time."

"Now that you mention it, I'm not sleepy anymore."

Shi Li's eyes lit up.

"First, a bonus of five thousand cubic coins.

This money will be transferred to your account within 3 hours."

"Huh?"

Shi Li was pleasantly surprised.

This way, his savings would be nearly fifteen thousand.

And the class teacher hadn't mentioned anything about a bonus before.

"The second reward is the opportunity to acquire a two-star card."

Teacher Li held up two fingers: "Given your situation, I'll give you two choices.

First, a complete set of materials sufficient to upgrade a one-star card to two-star.

Second, a berserker-type star-up token card specifically for Unique Character Cards."

"I choose the second one."

Faced with these two options, Shi Li didn't hesitate at all.

There are only two ways for a Character Card to ascend in star rank.

One is through the assistance of material cards, upgrading the Character Card from a card structure level.

The other is by completing a star-up simulation quest to upgrade the Character Card.

The former has the advantage of high fault tolerance but is more expensive.

The latter has the advantage of low fault tolerance but is relatively cheaper.

However, Unique Character Cards are special; they can only ascend in star rank through a star-up simulation quest specifically for the [unique] series.

Not only is the fault tolerance low, but it's also expensive.

So, the two options Teacher Li provided were very similar in terms of cost.

In fact, for Shi Li, he wouldn't even have the means to find such a star-up token card.

"I can only wish you good luck."

Teacher Li curled his lips.

However, the success rate of star-up simulation quests is very low, and for Unique Character Cards, it's even lower.

Using material cards to upgrade other Character Cards has a relatively higher success rate.

And even if it fails, there's room for recovery, so the fault tolerance is high.

If a token card fails once, the entire card is Waste, which means it's a complete waste.

However, he understood Shi Li's personality, so he didn't try to dissuade him.

...