29: Chapter 29 A-Rank Rating? Fire Phoenix Dragon Rider Card

"Huh?" Zhao Dahai's voice cracked.

"No—me—me???"

"You." Li Qingyue said.

"With Li Haoran?!"

"Is there a problem?"

"There's a huge problem, okay!!!"

Zhao Dahai felt his entire face twitching. "He is the top of the class!! I'm the second to last!! No—if Su Bai is stronger than me this time, then I'm the last!! You want me to go up on stage with him?! What is this?! A public execution?!"

"The last?" That pair of crimson eyes in the sky narrowed slightly.

"Then it's even more interesting. The universal balance does not lie. In the basic circuit screening, the reaction of your card's Space Folding stability is in the same tier as his."

At this moment, not only was Vice President Wu Molin stunned, but Deputy Commander Zhou Mu's eyes widened.

The basic circuits of these two people are actually in the same tier?

What is going on?

At the same time, Li Haoran frowned slightly and couldn't help but glance at Zhao Dahai.

Did this fatty also use top-tier materials just like him? That shouldn't be right...

Zhao Dahai was still in a daze.

And even more shocked than them were the observers from various chambers of commerce and families in the outside stands.

The same tier?

The last place and the top-ranked noble of the class are in the same tier?

The few students still standing nearby began to whisper to each other.

"Zhao Dahai? That fatty? He can be compared to Li Haoran?"

"That's impossible, did the universal balance make a mistake..."

"Don't question the universal balance!"

"But Li Haoran used a Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Blood Marrow! The cost of the entire card is in the tens of millions! I'm afraid Zhao Dahai's material costs don't even amount to a fraction of his—"

Zhao Dahai was also stunned at this moment.

"Um, is it really me? I'm a bit unsure..."

"It is you." Li Qingyue said concisely.

Li Haoran glanced at Zhao Dahai.

That look could neither be called angry nor contemptuous.

—It was confusion.

It was like passing by a wet market and discovering that the vegetable vendor at your doorstep had suddenly made it onto the Forbes list.

Su Bai patted Zhao Dahai's shoulder.

"Go. Don't be nervous."

"Easy for you to say!!"

"My back doesn't hurt. My legs are a bit sore. But your mace..." Su Bai paused and lowered his voice, "The core is Space Folding; everything else is irrelevant. Li Qingyue just said she is looking at the Card Creator's own level. So don't think about how to compare materials with Li Haoran. Just think about how to land that hammer strike well."

Zhao Dahai gritted his teeth and nodded heavily.

He stepped out of the queue.

Li Haoran was already standing in the center of the test area.

He stood at the feet of the giant Stone Demon, his cloak fluttering gently in the magical fluctuations radiating from the Stone Demon.

He raised his head.

He looked straight at the "giants" in the sky.

"Li Haoran. From Class 1, Year 2 of the Jinghai Card Creator Academy." His voice was neither servile nor overbearing, his tone as composed as if he were attending a banquet.

"My Armament Card—"

He raised his right hand.

A crimson magic card was held between his fingers. The moment it was activated, the card erupted with blinding golden lightning, intertwined with scorching flames.

A dragon's roar.

This was no metaphor.

A real dragon's roar exploded from the card.

Immediately after, an armored knight over three meters tall materialized from the thunder and fire. Its entire body was covered in dark golden adamantite armor, and a Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Blood Marrow was embedded in the breastplate—after being activated, that blood marrow emitted a scorching fire phoenix phantom that circled around the armor.

The armored knight held a dragon spear in its right hand. The spear shaft was wrapped in dual-element thunder and fire enchantment patterns.

"—[Fire Phoenix Dragon Rider Card]." Li Haoran said indifferently.

"Accommodating a Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Blood Marrow and adamantite armor with the magic circuits of a Tier 1 Card Creator. Pushing both Space Folding stability and weapon power to the theoretical limit at this stage."

The entire audience gasped.

Not because of what he said.

But because what he said was the truth.

A Tier 1 card.

Integrated with Tier 9 materials!

Just achieving the point of "the card surface not collapsing" is enough to make the vast majority of instructors kneel.

And now, that materialized dragon cavalry stood before the Stone Demon. The three-meter-tall armored knight stood in confrontation with the five-meter-tall Stone Demon, thunder and fire weaving into a blinding curtain of light in the air.

The live stream chat went completely insane.

[Li Haoran!! Li Haoran!!]

[Holy shit, Fire Phoenix Dragon Rider!! That's the light of the Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Blood Marrow!! I recognize it!! I've seen it at an auction!! One piece costs tens of millions!!]

[So cool!! So fucking cool!!]

[This is a noble!! This is the power of money!!]

[Go up and fuck it up!! Li Haoran!!]

On the high platform outside.

Vice President Wu Molin nodded slightly; this was the pride of his school!

"Haoran, this child, has indeed not been lazy. To be able to successfully embed Tier 9 materials into a Tier 1 circuit in the second year, the required magic control precision and spatial stability are not simple."

"Hmm." Li Qingyue only said one word.

Then she raised her hand.

The universal balance lowered golden light.

"Appraise." The golden light enveloped the dragon cavalry armor.

The Truth Panel appeared—

[Name: Fire Phoenix Dragon Rider Card]

[Type: Physical Armament · Semi-Armor]

[Space Folding Stability: 82% (Excellent)]

[Armament Level: A-]

[Traits: Dual-element Thunder/Fire Enchantment, High-Tier Dragon Clan Pressure, Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Resonance]

[Appraisal Evaluation: The quality of the materials is extremely high, rigidly boosting the absolute strength and magic conductivity of the armament.]

Eighty-two.

Eighty-two percent Space Folding stability!

A-!

The entire venue erupted in thunderous cheers.

At the second-year stage, being able to make an A- grade Armament Card is no longer human—it's a monster!

It's the kind of monster that can be specially recruited by the Abyss Legion after graduation, skipping all internship periods, and directly receiving a Tier 3 Card Creator certificate!

Several other survivors turned pale.

The C-grade and D-grade cards in their hands were like bicycles parked next to a fighter jet compared to the Dragon Rider card.

And Li Haoran just slightly tilted his head back.

There was no ecstasy or pride on that face.

Only a composure of "this is just a normal performance."

Then Li Qingyue spoke.

"Test. Destroy the target."

Li Haoran activated the Fire Phoenix Dragon Rider.

That three-meter-tall armored knight raised the dragon spear, and the dual-element thunder and fire patterns on the spear shaft lit up simultaneously. Thunder and fire converged on the tip of the spear, forming a violently rotating energy vortex.

Then—he thrust the spear.

Boom!!! The moment the dragon spear pierced into the Stone Demon's chest, the accumulated thunder and fire energy exploded directly. That five-meter-tall Stone Demon began to disintegrate from the inside in the shockwave of the explosion. Rock fragments flew in all directions like cannonballs. The magic core shattered, emitting a harsh wail.

One second!

The Stone Demon's upper body was blasted to pieces!

The shattered rocks crashed to the ground.

The dust settled, leaving only a pile of debris.

The scene was quiet for a second.

Then—

"Ooooooh!!!"

"Awesome!! Li Haoran is awesome!!!"

"Shattered it head-on!! It shattered it in one strike!!!"

The surviving students on the field erupted in fanatical cheers.

The live stream chat exploded directly.

[Holy shit!! Holy shit!!]

[A- grade!! One shot to shatter the Stone Demon!!]

[Is this the effect of piling up tens of millions worth of Tier 9 materials!! That's too terrifying!!]

[Li Haoran, I love you!!]

[You in front, are you worthy of him!!]

Amidst the earth-shattering cheers, Li Haoran turned around calmly.

He bowed slightly towards the sky.

Like a pianist who had just finished playing a piano concerto.

Then.

Li Qingyue in the sky spoke.

Her tone was very flat.

"You used extremely rare Tier 9 Phoenix Pattern Blood Marrow and adamantite, forcibly piling up the A- value through materials."

The cheers froze instantly.

"The power is indeed good. It is more than enough to deal with an Abyss Stone Demon that is not even Tier 3."

Li Qingyue's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of her chair.

"However."

When these two words fell, even the sound of the wind in the air disappeared.

"The Space Folding technique is crude. The construction logic of the circuit is mediocre, without any personal innovation. The distribution of the magic conduction nodes is completely a standard template from a textbook. The reason you were able to embed the Tier 9 materials is not because of your design ability, but because of the high-priced stabilizing liquid your family customized for you."

She paused.

"The price of each bottle of those stabilizing liquids is roughly equal to one year of living expenses for an ordinary student. Without them, your circuit would have collapsed the very first moment you embedded the Tier 9 materials."

"So—"

She lifted her eyes.

In those crimson pupils, there was no appreciation, nor regret.

Only the fairness of looking at a commodity.

"Your achievement is the achievement of money. Not the achievement of a Card Creator."

"Final grade—C-."

Li Haoran was dumbfounded.