25: City-wide unified examination

It is clear that generating new entries is more difficult than optimizing existing ones.

Moreover, even among two-star cards, the main circuit complexity of Red Blade Maiden far exceeds that of Fluorescent Vine.

"No, this is a bit beyond my scope."

Shi Li knew that with his current high school knowledge, he would probably find it difficult to cope.

He felt that this level of card crafting belonged to the realm of university knowledge.

Fortunately, he was not entirely unprepared.

He had started self-studying first-year university courses several months ago.

So, Shi Li took out the first-year edition of "Circuit Drawing" from his desk.

After two hours of hard study, flipping through the book, he felt that he had basically grasped the key knowledge points.

The next step was to accumulate experience through practical operation.

Undoubtedly, the first attempt ended in failure.

[Detected circuit changes in the material card. This card will be destroyed after completion.]

[Yes/No to consume 1000 cubic coins to reset this card crafting attempt.]

"This... that's too expensive."

The high price made Shi Li somewhat hesitant.

It was more than three times the cost of Fluorescent Vine, almost equaling the refresh fee for Red Blade Maiden's two-star mission.

His current funds were only enough for one refresh.

"There are still two weeks until the city-wide unified exam. It looks like I'll have to go work at the training ground again."

After the second failure, Shi Li gave a wry smile.

So, his time was planned out: hunting for money during the day and tackling card crafting problems at night.

Two weeks later, at the Show Card Hall office building.

"I wonder how Shi Li is doing lately."

After finishing his tasks, Director Hou thought of Shi Li.

So, he clicked on the keyboard and entered the Card Hall's internal system.

As the deputy curator in charge of contract-related matters, he had the authority to check the activity records and other information of every contractor.

"Going to the training ground every day? It seems he is indeed very diligent."

Seeing Shi Li's almost daily punctual entry and exit times at the training ground, Director Hou couldn't help but nod.

He recalled that he too was once a passionate young man who worked tirelessly, forgetting to eat and sleep.

Next, he began to check Shi Li's transaction records within the Card Hall.

The result was no purchase information, only sales.

"It seems my previous judgment was correct."

Logically, as Curator Xiu's apprentice, resources should be in high demand.

However, if there was an unconditional supply, it would have an adverse effect on the card player's mental growth.

So, he hadn't given too many or too good items before.

"Hmm?"

But as Director Hou looked, he suddenly found a familiar name in the sales list.

June 15th, 17:38 Sold: life river water x2

"Sold? And two at once?"

Director Hou was dumbfounded.

A feeling of unrequited effort arose.

It seemed that it was just his wishful thinking; the other party didn't appreciate it.

"Wait a minute, something seems wrong."

He suddenly thought of something else.

He had clearly given three, so why were only two sold?

Could it be that...

Opening yesterday's surveillance video records, Director Hou quickly found Shi Li's figure in the two-star monster area.

He tracked him all the way until Shi Li encountered a monster and engaged in a card game.

And in the card game, Red Blade Maiden surprisingly had a brand new entry.

"I knew it, hahahaha!"

Director Hou laughed with relief.

No wonder he sold those two life river water.

He truly lived up to Curator Xiu's expectations.

His card crafting skills were solid; he succeeded on the first try!

At this very moment, Shi Li was not actually in the training ground.

Because today was the day the city-wide mock unified exam began.

This time, Shi Li was not late and arrived at school on time.

As soon as he walked into the classroom, his appearance attracted the attention of his classmates.

In just one month, he had risen from Silver 3 to Gold 2.

This progress was undeniably fast.

However, it was now the second semester of third year high school, and some students from well-off families were also increasing their resource investment.

Currently, apart from him and Gong Ping, there were two other students in the entire grade who had entered the Gold rank, both Gold 1.

At this time, all third-year high school students gathered in the cubic cabin, and Gong Ping stood next to Shi Li.

"Come on, you're catching up to me."

Gong Ping looked at Shi Li earnestly: "Only when you catch up to my rank can we fight fairly."

...

Shi Li was too lazy to even comment on this self-comforting method.

However, he knew that Gong Ping's rapid improvement was mostly due to the resonance of his dual-system cards.

After achieving card resonance, the corresponding trial dungeon could be unlocked.

Completing challenges in the dungeon would yield corresponding rewards.

He heard that the rewards included, but were not limited to, character cards, hand cards, various item cards, and so on.

In essence, this was equivalent to free and continuous simulated missions.

Shi Li originally thought that after Red Blade Maiden gained a new entry, his Berserk-type resonance should increase.

But the result remained at 40%. He guessed that the "weight" of this new entry was not enough.

Previously, the resonance increase came from acquiring Red Blade Maiden and its star-upgrades.

In short, he could only take it one step at a time.

To facilitate overall planning and deployment, the city-wide mock unified exam adopted an online format.

All examinees entered the cubic cabin and conducted card game duels through the online virtual world.

Under the teachers' arrangements, all students of Twenty-sixth High School orderly entered the cubic cabin.

[Neural connection in progress...]

Lying in the cubic cabin, Shi Li felt tiny, soft tentacle-like circuits connecting to his skin.

[Consciousness solution injecting...]

Next, the copper-blue oxygenated liquid began to fill the cabin.

[Brain region connection officially beginning...]

As the liquid submerged his nose, he felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

Like taking a nap, when he awoke, he was already standing inside a grand hall with a pure white theme.

The central expanse of the hall was wider than several football fields, and the surrounding stands could accommodate at least tens of thousands of people.

This was the virtual world where the unified exam card games would take place.

The next second, Gong Ping reappeared beside him.

"What's your number?"

Gong Ping asked immediately.

It turned out that the system automatically completed each person's draw number the moment they logged in.

"H-368."

Shi Li looked and reported his number.

"Then my G-001 isn't in the same session as yours. What a shame."

Gong Ping looked relaxed on the surface, but secretly gave a thumbs-up.

G-ticket and H-ticket, just a little bit different.

He didn't want to meet Shi Li in this round.

No, he didn't want to meet this guy at all.

This guy was definitely the great bringer of bad luck for this unified exam; any unlucky person who encountered him would surely suffer a great loss.

...

...