Let them print cards, not slay gods 11

Chapter 11: Sky One Academy, the Magic Capital

June’s weather was already quite hot.

But it couldn’t diminish the enthusiasm of the examinees heading to Sky One Academy in the Magic Capital. As one of the few duel academies that didn’t require theoretical exam scores, focusing solely on whether the duel exam was passed, this newly established academy became a safety net for many aspiring Fate Card Masters.

All examinees who felt they possessed a talent for dueling came to try their luck.

However, these examinees soon learned that a low entry barrier didn’t mean a low passing barrier.

“Are they crazy?! It’s just a duel exam! Do they need to have Seventh Rank professional players as examiners?!”

The moment Sky One Academy officially announced the list of duel exam examiners, the internet exploded. Many people thought it was a rumor, stubbornly insisting on going to Sky One Academy to see for themselves.

But reality can be cruel.

“This is clearly a survival of the fittest! This academy doesn’t treat the examinees like human beings! It’s completely worthless to apply here, I’m not taking the exam!”

“Yeah, yeah! Me neither!” another person angrily commented.

“Fellow sufferers! May I ask your theoretical exam score, sir?”

“56!” the person proudly replied.

The Fate Card Duel theoretical exam had a perfect score of one hundred.

“Goodbye!” The first commenter instantly deleted their comment; their theoretical exam score was a measly 9.

Many applicants to Sky One Academy were like this. Their theoretical exam scores were abysmal, yet they wanted to become Fate Card Masters, a lucrative profession. Other duel academies had restrictive entry requirements, leaving Sky One Academy as their only option.

Upon learning that the examiners were Third Rank Fate Card Masters, some examinees who had traveled great distances to try their luck at Sky One Academy even suffered mental breakdowns. They had applied with a sliver of hope, barely meeting the exam requirements, only to find that they, who weren’t even duel academy students, had to face a Third Rank professional Fate Card Master in this crucial duel exam.

When Shen Sui got off the bus, he saw many students sitting at the academy gate, experiencing mental breakdowns.

The atmosphere at the school gate almost made Shen Sui think he had miscalculated the time; how could there be failing candidates before the exam even started?

“Excuse me, is this Sky One Academy?” Shen Sui stopped a slightly overweight boy, pulling his suitcase.

Everyone around cast surprised glances at him.

Shen Sui then realized that he was the only one with a huge suitcase, making him stand out awkwardly.

“Yes.” The boy, though dejected, was still friendly. “You’re here for the duel exam, right? I advise you not to have high expectations. Sky One Academy’s examiners are all professional Fate Card Masters from the Sky One Club, and they’re all Third Rank or above.”

Professional Fate Card Masters were divided into nine ranks, similar to the ranks in various professions in his past life.

In the Fate Card Association’s professional competitions, different levels of competitions had requirements for the Fate Card Master’s rank. First to Third Rank Fate Card Masters could only participate in C-class competitions, while the most eye-catching world-class events in Fate Card duels were all A-class competitions; one needed to be at least Seventh Rank to be eligible to participate.

Because the Fate Card duel industry was incredibly prosperous, attracting a massive influx of talent, the Fate Card Association set extremely strict promotion rules. Only by accumulating enough points in competitions could one apply to the Fate Card Association for a total of five promotion tournaments. Winning at least three duels would grant them the next rank.

The reason for such strictness was that the outcome of Fate Card duels was sometimes closely related to luck.

With good luck, even a low-rank Fate Card Master could defeat a high-rank one.

With bad luck, even a Ninth Rank powerhouse might have three turns without being able to play a single card.

“Third Rank Fate Card Masters? As examiners? That’s extravagant.” Shen Sui couldn’t help but frown.

This kind of news should have been announced online long ago; otherwise, it could be reported to the Fate Card Association for irregularities in the duel exam.

However, Shen Sui had been entangled with Alice these past few days, and he hadn’t had time to check the examiner information.

When Sky One Academy announced they didn’t require theoretical exam scores, Shen Sui guessed they would likely increase the difficulty of the duel exam to limit the number of entrants. But he never expected the difficulty to be a Third Rank examiner.

Even considering that most candidates were novices, the examiners wouldn’t use their full strength. However, just the title of “Third Rank” alone was enough to increase the psychological pressure on many people.

“Your suitcase…” the overweight boy finally spoke.

“Oh, I plan to move into the dorm after the exam,” Shen Sui said. To maintain the number of cards in his deck, he hadn’t sold any Fate Cards in the past few days, and therefore didn’t have much money, so he had come to Sky One Academy just in time. Once he passed the duel exam today, he could move into the dorm immediately.

Scoffs immediately filled the air.

Shen Sui’s appearance didn’t seem like he had family support; yet, he was so arrogant.

Fate Card dueling had existed in this world for a long time, becoming a very mature system. And in a mature system, many “following in the footsteps of the father” traditional families naturally emerged. These families often chose a specific Soul Card world, and the older generation of Fate Card Masters would guide their Soul Card followers to help their younger family members’ Soul Card followers, commonly known as “feeding cards.”

Children from these wealthy families could often obtain many powerful cards in a short time through legitimate means, easily passing the duel exams.

Shen Sui smiled, ignoring the attitude of these “failed examinees” who lacked the spirit of dueling.

He was still worried about Alice’s accident-prone nature.

This mischievous girl was using every opportunity to practice her fireballs.

Since becoming a mage, only a little over a month had passed on the Dawn Continent, yet Alice could already skillfully use and control fireballs, even creating a Second Rank spell.

Although still only a Second Rank mage, Alice’s control over fire was already superb. Her future advancements to higher-rank fire magic would likely be very rapid.

Shen Sui was certainly pleased with Alice’s efforts, but he didn’t approve of her way of burning everything along the way.

However, she seemed to have a certain constitution; whenever she wanted to be peaceful, someone would always cause trouble for her.

For example, during the bus ride just now, Alice had encountered twelve robberies, including three robberies and nine attempted assaults. The closer they got to Lake Paynga, the more accidents she encountered, as if they hadn’t even reached the Sinful City yet but had already stumbled into the lair of villains.

Shen Sui was also helpless. It couldn’t be blamed on Alice. She had been forced to fight back. Facing those villains, using arson and a crushing blow to the groin was perfectly reasonable.

He was worried that Alice, the girl who had been repeatedly hurt by the church, might suddenly become overconfident and go burn down the Thunderbolt Lord Church. Although he didn’t have any affection for any gods or churches, one needed sufficient strength to cause trouble.

Because of this constant dealing with incidents, he hadn’t had time to pay attention to the exam information.

Even if Shen Sui had known the information about the examiners, he probably wouldn’t have been as depressed as the other examinees.

Crying and wailing upon seeing a Third Rank Fate Card Master?

I’m going to be a Ninth Rank duel master in the future, reaching the top of the world championship, so how could I be afraid of such difficulties?

“You’re very confident!” The overweight boy didn’t mock Shen Sui but enthusiastically extended his hand, saying, “My name is Yue Tao. I hope to become your classmate.”

Shen Sui and Yue Tao shook hands.

At this moment, the commotion in the distance interrupted their conversation.

The moment the academy gates opened, the group who had just said they wouldn’t take the exam rushed into the examination hall first. With more people arriving one after another, there were probably a few thousand people. In the end, Shen Sui could only move with the flow, with no room for independent movement.

Considering that this was only the first day of the exam, and there were two more days to go, the number of students applying to Sky One Academy must be at least eight thousand, possibly even ten thousand. Yet, Sky One Academy only planned to recruit three hundred students this year, which explained why they set such a high barrier.

(End of Chapter)

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