CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 11: TIANYI ACADEMY OF MODU

The weather in June was already quite hot.

But it couldn’t diminish the enthusiasm of the examinees heading to Tianyi Academy in Modu.

As one of the few duel academies that didn’t require theoretical exam scores and only focused on whether one passed the duel exam, this newly established academy had become a fallback option for many aspiring Life Card Masters.

All examinees who believed they had a talent for dueling would come and try their luck.

But soon, these examinees realized that a low entry barrier didn’t mean a low passing threshold.

"Are you crazy?! It’s just a duel exam! Do you really need to have profession-level Three or above as examiners?!"

After Tianyi Academy announced the list of duel examiners according to regulations, the internet exploded, with many people thinking it was a rumor and insisted on personally checking out Tianyi Academy.

However, reality can be harsh sometimes.

"Are they raising Gu here?! This is clearly just raising Gu! This academy doesn’t even treat examinees as humans! It’s worthless to enroll, I’m not taking it!"

"Yeah, yeah! I’m not taking it either!" another person commented indignantly.

"A kindred spirit! Dare I ask how you scored on the theoretical exam?"

"56 points!" the person replied proudly.

The theoretical exam for the Life Card Duel had a total score of 100.

"Goodbye!" The one who started the conversation deleted his comment instantly, he himself had scored only 9 points on the exam.

Many of those applying to Tianyi Academy were such examinees, who had poor theoretical scores but wanted to pursue the lucrative profession of a Life Card Master. Other duel academies had set entry barriers, and only Tianyi Academy was accessible for them.

When they learned that the examiners were Third Rank Life Card Masters, some examinees who traveled long distances to try their luck at Tianyi Academy even had a mental breakdown. With a sliver of hope, they applied to Tianyi Academy, but reality told them that they would face a professional Third Rank Life Card Master in such an important duel exam, even though they weren’t even students of a duel academy yet.

When Shen Sui got off the bus, he saw many students sitting outside the academy who seemed mentally broken.

The atmosphere at the gate almost made Shen Sui think he got the time wrong. How were there already failed candidates when the exam hadn’t even started yet?

"Excuse me, is this Tianyi Academy?" Shen Sui stopped a slightly chubby male student while pulling a suitcase.

People around gave him surprised looks.

Shen Sui realized that among these people, he was the only one dragging a huge suitcase, making him seem out of place.

"Yes." The boy, though dejected, was still very friendly, "You’re also here for the duel exam, right? I advise you not to have too high hopes. The examiners at Tianyi Academy are all professional Life Card Masters from the Tianyi Club, and they’re all Third Rank or above."

Professional Life Card Masters are divided into nine ranks, much like the tiers in various professions from past lives.

In the professional competitions held by the Life Card Association, different levels of competition require specific ranks, with First to Third Rank Life Card Masters only being able to participate in Class C competitions, while the most prestigious world-class events in Life Card Duels are all Class A, requiring at least Seventh Rank to qualify.

Due to the flourishing Life Card Duel industry attracting a large influx of talent, the Life Card Association has set strict rules for rank advancement. Only by accumulating enough points in matches can you apply for a total of five Promotion Tournament matches from the Life Card Association, and winning three of those duels will grant you the next rank.

The reason for being so stringent is because the outcome of Life Card Duels can often be closely tied to luck.

With good luck, even a lower-ranked Life Card Master might defeat a higher-ranked one.

With bad luck, even a Ninth Rank expert might be stuck for three turns without drawing a single card.

"A Third Rank Life Card Master? Serving as an examiner? How extravagant." Shen Sui couldn’t help but frown.

This kind of information should have been posted online early, otherwise, people could report the duel exam as non-compliant to the Life Card Association.

But Shen Sui had been busy with Alice these past days and hadn’t looked into the examiners’ details.

When Tianyi Academy didn’t ask for theoretical exam scores, Shen Sui guessed they might increase the difficulty in the duel exam to limit the number of incoming students, but he never expected that the difficulty would jump right to Third Rank.

Even considering that most examinees are beginners, the mere title of Third Rank is enough to psych out many people.

"What’s with the suitcase, student..." the boy couldn’t help but ask.

"Oh, I plan to move into the dormitory as soon as the exam’s over," Shen Sui said. To maintain his deck’s number, he hadn’t sold any Life Cards recently. Therefore, his funds were scarce, and he timed his arrival to coincide with the exam start. Once he passed today’s duel exam, he could immediately move into the dormitory.

Sneers and giggles came from the surroundings.

Shen Sui’s appearance didn’t seem like he had any elders feeding him cards, yet such arrogance.

Life Card Duels have been in this world for a long time and had become a very mature system. Naturally, with a mature system, there would be many family legacies, where entire families would choose a Soul Card World. The older generation of Life Card Masters would guide their Soul Card Followers in supporting the new generations, colloquially known as "feeding cards."

Those from wealthy families often could acquire many powerful cards in a short time, passing the duel exam with ease.

Shen Sui chuckled, disregarding the attitude of these "failed students" with no soul of duels.

He was more troubled by Alice’s predilection for causing trouble.

This mischief-loving girl was exploiting every opportunity to practice her Fireball Technique.

From when she became a Mage, in just over a month on the Dawn Continent, Alice had already mastered and perfected Fireball Technique, even creating a Tier Two magic of her own.

Though still just a Tier Two Mage, Alice’s control over fire was exceptional, quickly mastering future higher-tier Fire Magic.

Shen Sui was genuinely pleased with Alice’s efforts, but he didn’t approve of her method of burning things along her path.

But she seemed to have a knack for attracting trouble whenever she wanted to be at peace.

For instance, during their bus ride, Alice encountered twelve instances of road robbery, three being theft of money, and nine targeting her virtue. The closer they got to Lake Paiyiga, the more incidents they encountered, as if she were already in the heart of the City of Sin.

Shen Sui felt helpless, since it wasn’t really Alice’s fault as she was always forced into counterattacking. Against those thugs, the use of arson and a targeted crushing blow to the groin was very reasonable.

What worried him was whether Alice, harmed multiple times by the Church, would suddenly become overly self-confident and attempt to burn down the chapel of the Master of Thunder.

Though he harbored no affection for any Gods and the Church, he believed that causing trouble required adequate strength first.

Thus entangled, he didn’t have time to focus on exam info.

Even if Shen Sui knew about the examiners, he probably wouldn’t react as dejectedly as the other examinees.

Cry out just by seeing a Third Rank Life Card Master?

I’m going to become a Ninth Rank Duel Grandmaster in the future, reaching the top in the World Championships—how could I fear such challenges?

"Confident student!" the slightly chubby boy didn’t mock Shen Sui but warmly extended his hand, "I’m Yue Tao, I hope we can become classmates."

Shen Sui shook hands with Yue Tao.

At this moment, distant commotion broke off their conversation.

Once the academy’s gates opened, the group who had just said they wouldn’t take the exam was the first to rush into the examination hall. With others trickling in afterward, it was roughly estimated that the crowd reached thousands in size, and in the end, Shen Sui could only move with the crowd, lacking the freedom to move independently.

Considering this was just the first day of exams, with two more days to go, the number of students applying to Tianyi Academy might not be less than eight thousand, possibly even hitting ten thousand. Yet, Tianyi Academy only planned to enroll three hundred students this year, explaining why they set such high thresholds.