People in Yu-Gi-Oh! The hyper-converged audience is also integrated

Chapter 218 Thanking the God of the Underworld for His Blessing

The examination hall after the written test is truly a microcosm of society.

Some were regretful, some were disheartened, some remained calm, and some were overjoyed. Li Guanqi belonged to the anxious category.

Please remain in your seats, do not move around, maintain exam room discipline, and wait for grading.

An electronic announcement began.

"It's being graded on the spot." Li Guanqi looked at the three-minute countdown on the tablet and sighed.

Biantana's AI is so advanced that it can grade hundreds of thousands of papers in just three minutes.

Li Guanqi picked up the paper test paper next to him, flipped to the last question, and was still wondering if Hubert could solve it.

To get full marks on this 10-point question, you either need to use a deck you're familiar with, or your solution only involves a few cards.

Because if you're not familiar with it, even if you can execute the move, you'll definitely lose points for the card name and stats. It's not difficult to solve with a single card like [Round Warrior], R4, Splash, Transcode, Color Fluid, but how many people can recite the full name of 'Color Fluid' from memory? Only electric fans have a slight chance.

But after going through his familiar decks, he couldn't find any high-powered single cards.

At a glance, all he could think of were [Sacrifice to the Demon Realm Lotus] (Nightmare Throne), [Carving Demon], [Guide], [Twins] (Half-Demon), and [Crimson Hell Land].

The options that best fit the requirements are 【Demon Lotus】 and 【Tour Guide】.

The [Guide] class has high potential for development, and can be upgraded to [Mechanical Destruction], [Hundred Ghosts], [Phantom Knights], [Crystal Mechanics], etc.

With limited time and unable to come up with anything, he could only switch to other unfamiliar series to get the points for the operation first, and had to give up the points for the paper presentation. Now that he has some free time, he has started to think about it again.

Then Li Guanqi realized that he was relying too much on the Magic Mark, and after limiting him to 4 extras, he felt like he didn't know how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore.

【Ding--】

The tablet lights up and a notification pops up.

[Correction Completed]

The examination room emitted a mechanical announcement: "[Please check your scores. Once you have confirmed they are correct, please click Submit]"

Li Guanqi took a deep breath, tapped the tablet, and a bright red notification popped up.

Your score on this written test is 258.

"Phew, I performed exceptionally well." Li Guanqi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly checked the test paper.

As expected, I got full marks on the history and humanities questions by rote memorization.

In the natural sciences category, I guessed correctly on all the general knowledge questions and left the calculation questions blank, which resulted in the most point deductions. Of my 42 points, 35 were deducted from the natural sciences category, and I only got 25 out of a total of 60 points. It's an inherently weak area, and I can't improve it by rote memorization.

The dueling category deducted 7 points. The first 5 points were fine, but the questions were too obscure. The examiner randomly picked a monster and asked what its type was, its attack power, or how to calculate it based on the monster's situation. How was he supposed to answer that? It's not like he has a deck-building machine installed in his brain.

If an unfamiliar card appears in a problem, you can only make a simple deduction to figure it out; there's no other way.

There's not much to say about the questions he guessed wrong, but he was quite surprised to lose two points on the last question. He originally thought he would only lose one point for neatness, but he was surprised to lose two.

Li Guanqi opened the details of the deductions and looked surprised.

The paper only received one point deducted for not writing the card name correctly and not filling in the key monster's attack power value.

The second point deduction surprised him a bit: [The monster grid was not written, and the operation description was somewhat ambiguous].

Simply put, you also need to specify the monster you summoned and which position it should be placed in.

"What position do I need to mark?" Li Guanqi frowned, clicked on the marked "Ambiguity" to view the details, and two lines of text popped up.

[Please note that if the Synchro Summoned Crystal Machine - Celestial Bone Crystal is placed in the Black Angel - Cherubim Link Zone, then the subsequent activation of the Graveyard Crystal Machine - Trinity Crystal's effect to destroy Crystal Machine - Celestial Bone Crystal and Special Summon a monster from the Deck will not be possible.]

Monsters in the Black Angel-Cherub link zone cannot be destroyed by effects; the placement of Crystal Machine - Celestial Skeleton Crystal must be emphasized.

"Oh, shit," Li Guanqi cursed under his breath.

He finally understood the difference between a casual player and a hardcore player. He was a casual player of Crystal Machines, only knowing the basic gameplay, unfamiliar with the card names, and unaware of some strange events.

It would be better to use [Round Warrior] and [Thunderfire], as you shouldn't need to worry about monster placement with those two.

"I hope this point won't be a foreshadowing of something else."

He spoke softly and clicked to submit his score.

Aside from this one point, there's not much that can be done about the other deductions.

After submitting your scores, you may leave the examination room. Please wait patiently for the scores to be tallied.

As soon as the announcement ended, the sound of chairs being pulled out echoed in the examination room. The candidates stood up as if relieved, yet with a sense of heaviness, a reflection of the diverse emotions of the examinees.

Different worlds, the same regret.

"How could I get such a basic question wrong? I'm really..."

"Stop talking, I was stumped by the first question. Ice Sword Dragon - Illusion Ice Dragon, such a cool name, how come it's not a dragon?"

"I feel that this year's questions are a bit more difficult than the previous two years."

"Difficult my foot! The guy at the next table was a complete mess, and he finished writing half an hour early. We're the only ones who are bad at it."

How many points did you get?

"I'm 262cm tall, it feels a bit risky."

"Don't worry, this year's competition is a bit harder than the last one. The minimum score should be around 260."

Li Guanqi's heart tightened when he heard the estimated score.

260? He scored 258 this time, barely passing? If the passing score is really around 260, then that one point deducted from the last question is a fatal mistake.

For the last question, I was aiming for at least 9 points and maybe 10, but I only got 8 points. I got into trouble because I was too greedy.

Listening to the surrounding chatter, Li Guanqi took a deep breath and followed the flow of people out of the examination room.

It was 5 p.m. outside the examination hall, and a crowd was waiting downstairs for the statistics to be tallied. The weather was a bit gloomy.

"Starling!"

A clear voice cut through the noisy crowd. Tang Xin jogged over and stopped in front of Li Guanqi. Her face was relaxed, but her eyes were filled with concern.

"How did you do on the exam this time?" She spoke softly, with a cautious reassurance, as if afraid of touching on any fragile emotions.

Li Guanqi turned his gaze from the distance to her face: "258, what about you?"

The sound was flat, making it impossible to tell whether it was good or bad.

“I…” Tang Xin hesitated for a moment, as if afraid that the number would upset him, and then said softly, “276.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Yimi, standing not far away, exclaimed with undisguised excitement: "Wow! 276? Xinbao, you've got some good stuff!"

Li Guanqi twitched the corner of his mouth but didn't say anything.

There was something stuck in my chest, a bit of a tightness, like... well, that little awkwardness that only test-takers have.

He was afraid that his brothers wouldn't make it to shore, and he was also afraid that his brothers would reach shore before him.

"It's okay!" Tang Xin quickly reassured her, her tone even gentler. "Scoring 258 on your first written test is already fantastic!"

Objectively speaking, a score of 258 on the first written test is indeed excellent. Li Guanqi himself is also aware that if he had another week to prepare, it would not be difficult to raise his score by another ten or so points.

Unfortunately... the assessment only happens once a year.

His supercomputing ring is only valid for six months. If he doesn't seize the opportunity to equip himself with the acquired resources within those six months, he'll face a host of problems once it expires.

"How long will it take to get these statistics?" Li Guanqi forced himself to pull back his chaotic thoughts and asked Tang Xin.

Tang Xin was taken aback by the question, but Yi Mi next to her reacted quickly and immediately replied, "Three to five minutes, it'll be quick."

"Oh well, we've done our best and left the rest to fate."

"Tell me what the last question is."

Immy changed the subject, saying she was quite curious about the last question on the written exam every year.

"That's right," Tang Xin recalled, "It lets you use one hand of cards, 4 extra cards to pass [Quick Attack Scarecrow] and kill 8000 people."

“It’s not difficult,” Immy said quickly. “[Guangba] has finished.”

“Longhua,” Li Guanqi nodded, “that’s definitely possible.”

"I used the [Crystal Machine]."

Immy pondered for a moment, then chimed in, "Crystal ingenuity...that seems like a good idea too."

"This young man has quite a broad perspective."

"What's wrong with you guys?" Tang Xin asked in surprise, "You all know these advanced card decks?"

Those decks that are considered pie chart decks on Earth are basically considered high-end decks in Biantana. Ordinary people know that these cards exist, but they have never encountered them, let alone played them.

If they encounter a finishing move problem, they won't think about these decks because they are unfamiliar with them, even if they know that these decks are strong and can finish the opponent.

"I have a good memory; I can remember the tactics after seeing them once," Li Guanqi casually made up an excuse.

Immy gave an awkward laugh and chimed in, "Oh yeah, me too."

"Tang Xin, how did you solve it?" she changed the subject.

Li Guanqi cast a curious glance; he also wanted to know how an ordinary person would solve this kind of killing puzzle.

Tang Xin blinked, recalled for a few seconds, and explained smoothly: "Normal Summon [The Proclaimer's Witch], and send [Three Holy Sovereigns] from the Deck to the Graveyard."

"【Three Holy Sovereigns】Tribute 【The Proclaimer's Witch】to Special Summon from the Graveyard. 【The Proclaimer's Witch】By its effect, Special Summon 【The Crimson Proclaimer】from the Deck."

"【The Proclaimer of Crimson Light】and 【The Three Holy Sovereigns】Synchronize to summon 【The Executioner of Psychic End】."

"Advanced to combat level. [Psychic Executioner] activated. Attack power increased by the difference between the base scores of both sides. Direct attack. Passed."

After Tang Xin finished speaking, she looked blankly at the two stunned people and said, "That's it? That's all."

"Just like that, it's over? Only four cards?" Immy said after a moment of surprise. "Wait a minute, isn't [Quick Attack Scarecrow] a truce-level card? It's an effect on the player, right?"

"Can't we stop [Psychic Executioner]?"

Li Guanqi was surprised that Yimi had asked him the question first, as they were thinking the same way.

"【Quick Attack Scarecrow】 first nullifies the attack and then stops the battle phase," Tang Xin corrected. "【Psychic Executioner】 has resistance, so 【Quick Attack Scarecrow】 cannot nullify its attack, and the subsequent skipping of the battle phase effect is not processed."

"Oh—" Immi exclaimed in realization, praising, "Amazing, you remember the effects so clearly."

Li Guanqi was speechless, but upon reflection, it was indeed true.

He and Imi both knew that [Quick Attack Scarecrow] had a truce phase effect, but they didn't know if it was an attack nullification phase followed by a truce phase.

In mainstream competitive play, almost no one uses this card; there aren't enough hand trap slots to even have [Grey G Bubble Meteor].

But the ordinary people in Biantana are different; they don't have Grey G-Bubble Meteor, and they really will play [Quick Attack Scarecrow]!
Even more terrifying, Li Guanqi discovered that Tang Xin could recite all the card names in their entirety. Is this the test-taking expert from Biantana? That's frightening.

When dueling is a hobby, Earthlings will give the card all sorts of nicknames, like Little Blue and Little Red.

When dueling is a profession, Biantana people can recite the card names word for word.

"Impressive." Li Guanqi couldn't help but applaud. "I've learned something new."

"The world of duels," Immy remarked, "is indeed vast."

"It's alright." Tang Xin blushed a little at the praise. "I was just lucky. I guessed all the answers correctly the first few times."

Upon hearing this, Li Guanqi suddenly remembered the top students in high school. He was one of the top students, scoring 260 out of 300 in the combined science exam, while the top students could score over 290 out of 300.

Academic geniuses always like to say they're lucky.

Just then, an excited voice broke through the noise and came from afar: "Look, the results are out!"

These words were like water thrown into a pot of oil, instantly causing an uproar among the crowd.

Li Guanqi, Tang Xin, and Yi Mi almost simultaneously felt a tightness in their chests and looked in the direction of the sound.

With a crisp "ding," several huge virtual projectors suddenly popped up above the open space in front of the examination building, displaying a dense list of names and scores.

At the same time, all candidates who took the written test received a synchronized push notification on their supercomputing rings.

"Holy crap! First place?!" An incredulous exclamation erupted from the crowd.

"Holy crap, 299 points?! Is this even a score a human could get? The full score is only 300!"

"Bian Yuelong-Xia Sheng... Our Bian Yuelong got first place in the written test!" Some people shared in the honor.

"Exam God!"

"I'm curious, which point was deducted?"

"The second place only scored 286 points."

"The minimum score for entry should be around 260?"

Countless gazes were cast toward the bottom of the leaderboard, with Li Guanqi and other marginalized individuals feeling the most anxious.

"258 points!"

"I'm on the line! Aaaaaah!"

"Sigh—it's hung up again."

As soon as the number was announced, cheers and various complex and indescribable sighs erupted from the crowd.

"The score is a full 14 points lower than last year! This year's questions are definitely difficult."

"Aaaaaah! I got 257! Just one point short! Why?!" One student broke down on the spot, grabbing his hair and letting out a desperate wail, "I shouldn't have gotten so hung up on the last question."

The joy of some and the sorrow of others are vividly displayed at this moment.

When Li Guanqi saw the number "258", his heart almost stopped. He quickly scanned the bottom of the list and finally saw his name near the end - Bian Yuelong - Li Guanqi, 258.

A tremendous sense of relaxation swept over him, and he let out a long, silent sigh, finally letting his nerves, which had been tense all afternoon, relax.

"Thank God for protecting me," he muttered unconsciously. "Thank goodness, there were no foreshadowing elements..."

"You passed! Brother Ba, you passed!" Tang Xin was even more excited than Li Guanqi himself. She grabbed his arm and jumped up and down with excitement, her bright smile undisguised.

"It's all over, it's all over!"

Her joy was genuine and pure, like winning a league championship.

(End of this chapter)