As the morning glow grew brighter, Hutton Pedestrian Plaza gradually bustled with activity. The glass display windows of large department stores, elaborately arranged, caught the eyes of passersby, filling this Saturday morning with lively energy.
On the second-floor glass curtain wall of the Card Makers Association, the seamless, colossal magic screen had switched from the association's looped advertisements to a promotional pre-broadcast of the upcoming registered card maker examination.
Families walked through the pedestrian plaza with laughing, energetic children, couples smiled at each other while enjoying the leisurely weekend, and the outdoor seating areas of cafes and restaurants held many patrons.
Now, people gradually began looking up from the busy street scene toward the association's giant glass screen.
On the fifth floor of the Card Makers Association.
Looking down through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the open view of the plaza below, Lanqi and Hyperion chatted leisurely.
According to the guide signs, heading toward the atrium in a little while would lead straight to the registered card maker exam area.
"I feel like I'm in great form today!"
Lanqi checked the time; it was almost time to enter the exam room and wait, so he bid Hyperion farewell for now.
Having just performed a good deed of accumulating virtue today, Lanqi was in high spirits, feeling even more confident about his card crafting.
"...Lanqi, do your best."
Although Hyperion felt that Lanqi being on fire was definitely not good news for Sophia, she would still wish him well with all her heart.
Hyperion could hardly say whether Lanqi would pour all his lifelong skill into making cards today just for the sake of having fun.
Whatever, she was already used to it.
Her feelings were very complicated.
She hoped Lanqi would pass and achieve a good placement rank, yet she worried he would overdo it, leaving Sophia emotionally unable to cope later.
Still, it shouldn't be too big of an issue.
Hyperion had looked into the procedure for the registered card maker exam.
Generally speaking, skipping the first tier, Iron rank, to place directly into the second tier, Bronze rank, was already very difficult.
Examinees had five chances to craft cards, needing at least three successes to pass, and those three had to cover three distinct categories: spell card, equipment card, and summon card.
This was why passing the registered card maker exam on luck alone was nearly impossible.
On top of passing, the association scored the finished magic cards.
The combined score of all finished cards determined the final result.
To reach the threshold score for initial Bronze rank, if all three finished cards were of Blue Precious quality, their total would barely make it.
Anyone with that level of foundation already possessed the strength of a Bronze-rank card maker.
Reaching Silver rank above that was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Hyperion had discussed this with Lanqi long ago, knowing that his card-making skill had a high ceiling but a low floor; what he lacked most was consistency in quality, and he could only ensure a high success rate when crafting seal-type cards.
As for the epic card Poet of Great Love, it was the masterpiece of his teacher, and he had never crafted a Pink Sacred card himself.
Thus, Hyperion felt that if Lanqi performed normally today, crafting one purple and two whites to place at Bronze rank would already be quite remarkable.
"Well then, Lanqi, I'll probably wait for you on the third floor later."
Hyperion waved to Lanqi, gesturing for him to hurry into the exam hall.
She planned to check on the situation on the third floor; if Ainuoer and Sophia were getting along fine, she would likely stay with them and watch the registered card maker exam via the floor's magic screen.
"Yeah, I'll find you after the exam."
Lanqi nodded, then turned and walked toward the examination area.
...
More than ten minutes later.
The spacious atrium hall of the registered card maker examination.
Natural light spilled inside through the expansive rose windows set into the vaulted ceiling.
By this time, Lanqi had passed his admission verification and sat quietly in the waiting area, awaiting the start of the exam.
Several massive magical apparatuses stood along the hall's walls like a group of silent giants, the faint light shining on them reflecting mysterious, magnificent gleams.
These colossal magic engineering components connected in winding patterns, their bodies of mithril and mana crystals conveying a cold hue that delivered a striking visual impact.
In the waiting area, many visiting card maker examinees seeing such large-scale magical machinery for the first time couldn't help marveling at one of magic engineering's crowning masterpieces.
However, Lanqi had long grown accustomed to it.
During his entrance exam for Ikerite Academy, an "artificial Shadow World activation terminal" just like this had been used.
In recent years, the registered card maker exam had shifted from ordinary exam rooms to an artificial Shadow World format.
Once the exam began, examinees would carry the "portable card-making toolkit" magic card set and enter a harmless, solitary, Tier 1 artificial Shadow World.
Isolated single-person Shadow Worlds ensured that examinees remained entirely unaffected by external factors while crafting cards and would not interfere with one another, while also allowing the association to record and evaluate the exam process with great ease.
The entire exam was not only transmitted to the headquarters of the Card Makers Association, but also broadcast locally on the giant screen on the exterior wall of the royal capital Ikerite's Card Makers Association and the magic screens on every floor.
Typically, once the card-making exam began, visitors coming to the Card Makers Association to conduct business or trade would watch the exam on the side as entertainment.
On Hutton Pedestrian Plaza, a few citizens would also find a decorative planter bench or the stone steps around a tree bed to sit down, rest, and watch.
Consequently, many first-time examinees—and even those who had failed several times before—grew quite nervous.
Compared to the uneasy card makers around him, Lanqi appeared remarkably calm.
His steady composure made him seem not like someone here to take a card-crafting exam, but rather like an invigilator.
Having taken two artificial Shadow World exams plus a real Shadow World, his heart was completely untroubled.
Ever since returning from that dreamlike demon academy last time, Lanqi felt that his heart had been taken by the Demon Realm, and that this life would perhaps know neither sorrow nor joy again.
Lanqi waited in such tranquil peace.
At some point, measured footsteps echoed across the hall into the examinees' ears.
The unmistakable sense of an examiner's entrance naturally quieted the exam hall, which had carried a slight murmur of chatter.
Lanqi looked toward where the examinees' gazes converged.
A figure walked in from the entrance side of the hall, dressed in a dark suit with accessories pinned to his outer pocket and collar signifying his status as a registered card maker and a senior examiner of the Card Makers Association.
He was a well-dressed middle-aged man in his forties, with a hint of drowsiness lingering at the corners of his eyes.
He walked swiftly to the front of the waiting area and surveyed the examinees.
There was no shortage of young people in the waiting area; these young card makers were almost all students from Ikerite Academy or schools in other cities, such as the Holy Church Research Society and Sacred Craft Academy, who had come to take this registration exam.
Although other major cities in the Hutton Kingdom also offered registered card maker examinations, test slots were scarce and held on different cycles. At times, to catch an exam as quickly as possible, many examinees took mana rail trains to the royal capital of Ikerite.
Most teachers and students at Ikerite Academy did not care about such registered card maker exams; usually, only the School of Magic Engineering paid attention.
If a student performed exceptionally well in the registered card maker exam, the association would report the good news to Professor Borao, the Dean of the School of Magic Engineering at Ikerite Academy.
On days when the registered card maker exam was held, whenever a promising student from the School of Magic Engineering participated, the professors of the school would look forward to good news.
However, today there didn't seem to be any promising freshmen from the School of Magic Engineering taking part, so the professors likely hadn't paid much attention to this exam.
The middle-aged man mused idly to himself, then spoke up:
"I am today's chief examiner, Lawrence."
Even without introducing himself further, the middle-aged man's identity as a Gold-rank card maker carried ample authority.
"Each of you will enter an individual, harmless Shadow World where you may freely choose your environment. The maximum exam duration is five hours. Once the exam starts, you will have thirty minutes of preparation time to read the detailed exam rules and purchase card-making materials.
"The exam will officially begin at nine o'clock and conclude at two-thirty in the afternoon. In addition, if you get hungry during the exam, you may also purchase lunch within the artificial Shadow World."
After Lawrence briefly explained the process, he slotted a secret key shimmering with a flawed white luminescence into the artificial Shadow World activation terminal.
Immediately afterward, the space directly in front of the magical machinery seemed to warp, its color shifting from transparent to dark until it fully took shape, revealing an artificially created Void Gate.
Other Card Makers Association staff then began guiding the examinees into the artificial Shadow Worlds.
Meanwhile, on the glass curtain wall of the entire Ikerite Card Makers Association branch, the broadcast finally switched over to the registered card maker exam!
Chapter 111