Shen Ye was flustered.
Why am I so annoying!
What method can be used to subdue myself?
A series of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.
“Shen Ye, you’ve officially become a One-Star rookie?”
Qian Rushan burst in, his face beaming with excitement.
“Ah, yes. President Qian, I was just warming up here, and the card seemed to change its evaluation of me,” Shen Ye explained.
“Hahaha, that’s fantastic! As long as you’ve been on the rankings even once, even if you get knocked down later, it’s enough to draw attention!” Qian Rushan said happily.
“Hey, why do you sound like you’re expecting me to be knocked down?” Shen Ye was a little annoyed.
“This year, out of more than three thousand examinees, only 54 can obtain official rookie status. Just making it once is the greatest recognition!”
Qian Rushan’s face was glowing, as if he was already more than satisfied with this result.
“Is that so…” Shen Ye was somewhat uncertain.
“Trust me, it is.”
…
Twenty minutes later.
Shen Ye looked out the window.
“We’re still not there? Looks like we’re late.”
“No, we’re almost there,” Qian Rushan replied.
“Huh? Already?”
“Yes. I don’t know if you have a fear of heights, but if you do, I hope you overcome it soon.”
The cabin door opened.
Before them was a city floating in the azure sky.
Skyscrapers stood in dense clusters.
The streets were bustling with endless streams of vehicles.
Various flying crafts zipped back and forth, creating a scene of intense activity.
“Wait, that’s not right… I’ve never heard of a city like this before.”
Shen Ye muttered to himself.
“You definitely know its name, but you just don’t know its location.”
“This is a fully excavated sky ruin. Now, it’s a major entry point—welcome to Yunshan Port.”
Qian Rushan extended his hand, pointing further into the depths of the sky.
“And beyond that, even more ancient ruins lie just above our heads.”
Shen Ye followed his direction and murmured in disbelief,
“This is unreal…”
In the deep blue sky, countless shattered, ancient pavilions and jade palaces stood silently, as if whispering the mysteries of a lost civilization.
“Do you see that cluster of red-walled, green-tiled palaces on the left?” Qian Rushan asked.
“I see it,” Shen Ye replied.
“That is one of the world’s three most prestigious high schools—Jialan.”
“A school… inside ancient ruins in the sky?” Shen Ye asked in amazement.
“Otherwise, how could it be one of the top three high schools?” Qian Rushan chuckled.
“But… have these ruins been fully excavated?” Shen Ye couldn’t help but ask.
“Of course not—some places are too dangerous, and some dangers are invisible,” Qian Rushan said.
“Invisible?” Shen Ye echoed.
“Even professionals can only see those dangers after truly stepping into the path.”
“But Jialan High School will always remain here. Its faculty and students are responsible for researching the sky ruins, seeking out lost inheritances and history.”
Qian Rushan seemed deeply invested as he continued,
“Human elites bear the responsibility of uncovering history—”
“One day, history will reveal the true nature of the world and where humanity truly came from.”
Shen Ye asked, “What about the other two academies?”
“One is in the ocean, the other underground,” Qian Rushan replied.
“They’re also located near ruins?”
“Yes, Guixu High School is under the sea, and Xirang High School is underground.”
Jialan, Guixu, Xirang.
So those were the names of the three great high schools?
Why had these names appeared in our world’s myths and legends?
Shen Ye felt an indescribable sense of awe, as if everything before him was too surreal to be real.
Suddenly.
A streak of light shot across the sky and landed right in front of him in an instant.
Shen Ye jumped, staring intently at the object—
It was a small, rectangular card.
Roughly half the size of a palm, it emitted a soft, glowing white light and floated in the air motionless.
“Take it—it’s yours,” Qian Rushan said.
“You have one too?” Shen Ye asked.
“Every student participating in the entrance exams for the three high schools gets one. I just got yours approved yesterday.”
Shen Ye reached out and grabbed the card.
The card trembled slightly, revealing three characters: “Examinee Pass.” Then, another line of small text appeared:
“You are now part of the ‘Rookie’ deck. Initiating fusion.”
The rookie card floated out of Shen Ye’s hand and merged with the examinee pass.
The front of the card still depicted Shen Ye holding a skull, but new lines of text appeared on the back:
“First mission: Take the Azure Dragon on a joyride to the South Sea, soaring a hundred thousand miles before returning.”
“If you wish to forfeit this mission, swipe your finger across the card.”
A dragon…
A hundred thousand miles…
Shen Ye turned to look at Qian Rushan.
“This is an ancient mission from the Tower of Tarot. Most of the missions inside are impossible to complete, so just ignore them.”
Qian Rushan explained.
“Most are impossible? Meaning some can be completed?” Shen Ye asked.
“Those missions are only doable by children from powerful families. With their vast resources, they can complete a few and improve their evaluation.”
“What’s the point of the evaluation?” Shen Ye asked.
“Every examinee who enters Yunshan Port is given an examinee pass and is placed under observation by the sky ruins. After tomorrow night’s banquet, they’ll receive their final evaluation,” Qian Rushan explained.
Shen Ye stared at the card, an uneasy feeling growing in his heart.
If the missions were like this, then what about the exams?
“President Qian, uh… this joint entrance exam for the three schools… how hard is it?” Shen Ye asked cautiously.
“That’s hard to say.”
“And how long does it last?”
“That’s also hard to say,” Qian Rushan thought for a moment. “One year, it lasted 45 minutes. Another year, it lasted three months.”
Shen Ye’s mouth twitched.
Three months…
Looks like I need to prepare extra food.
Noticing Shen Ye’s grim expression, Qian Rushan softened his tone:
“Of course, since you’re part of the ‘Rookie’ deck, you’ll have some extra benefits during the exam.”
Extra benefits?
Shen Ye asked, “Doesn’t that make it unfair to those who didn’t become ‘Rookies’?”
“Becoming an official member of the ‘Rookie’ deck is part of the exam itself—don’t be naive, your evaluation has already begun,” Qian Rushan said seriously.
Shen Ye nodded silently.
“Also, the cards will evaluate you—the higher the evaluation, the more assistance and rewards you’ll receive in the exam,” Qian Rushan added.
“How useful are those rewards?” Shen Ye asked.
“Very!”
Qian Rushan said, “After tomorrow night’s banquet, you’ll all be teleported to the exam site.”
“An exam… at night?” Shen Ye was stunned.
“Not sure. It changes every year, but once you enter, the exam begins,” Qian Rushan said.
Shen Ye fell silent.
In his past life, exams meant sitting in a brightly lit classroom, with words like “Maintain Exam Integrity, Observe Discipline” written on the blackboard while everyone quietly answered their papers.
Now, that entire concept had been turned on its head.
—This world’s exams were utterly absurd!
Just then, Qian Rushan’s phone rang. He stood up and stepped aside to take the call.
Shen Ye looked down and flipped over his card.
On the back, a long evaluation appeared:
“Drowner.”
“You are in a situation where you could be killed at any moment, yet you remain completely unaware—this is what is called a drowning person.”
Shen Ye’s heart skipped a beat.
This evaluation sounded just like his own evaluation entry.
Evaluation entries were abilities attached to the card.
Could it be that these abilities were interconnected…?
But he had just arrived at Yunshan Port—how could the card already know about his situation?
Shen Ye fell silent for a moment.
—That meant that from the very moment he set foot in Yunshan Port, he was already in extreme danger.
How could that be…?
Instinctively, Shen Ye flipped the card over and swiped his finger across it.
A new task appeared:
“Exterminate demons and monsters, return only after ten years, with no fewer than three thousand heads as trophies.”
Three thousand demon heads?
Ten years?
Yeah, no thanks.
Shen Ye swiped the card again.
“Copy eight hundred thousand volumes of the Scripture Pavilion archives.”
Back in school, I was too lazy to copy my homework, and now you want me to copy this?
Though… if these were all martial arts inheritances…
“Five expedition teams have gone missing in the Scripture Pavilion, with no survivors.”
Qian Rushan had finished his call and returned, glancing at the tiny text on the card.
Without hesitation, Shen Ye swiped again.
A new task appeared:
“Engage in a sparring match and achieve victory.”
“—This task cannot be refused and will rapidly increase your star ranking.”
“Only by using star-level privileges can any battle be declined.”
Huh?
This one actually seemed doable.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Qian Rushan said, walking back over after hanging up. “This mission is designed for the elite family heirs—they come equipped with their family’s finest weapons and the strongest armor, just waiting to use you newcomers as stepping stones to boost their evaluations.”
As he spoke, he casually pointed toward something.
On a road in the distance, a bloodied student lay sprawled.
A group of medics was attending to him, performing emergency treatment on-site.
Several students around his age stood nearby, looking anxious and on the verge of tears.
It was Ayi, one of his card-playing companions.
Standing nearby was a young man clad in chainmail, wielding a massive shield and a longsword. With a face full of disdain, he muttered:
“What a joke, not even worth calling a ‘rookie.’ My evaluation score didn’t go up at all.”
“What a waste of time.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
The surrounding crowd merely watched in silence.
No one intervened.
“He got beaten up this badly? And no one’s stepping in?”
Shen Ye couldn’t help but ask.
Qian Rushan replied, “Of course not. The heirs of the noble families have been trained in various combat techniques from a young age. They just wait for opportunities like this to farm evaluation points and raise their star rankings—”
“If it weren’t for the fact that someone is hunting you, I wouldn’t have brought you here this early.”
Shen Ye nodded in understanding.
This was just like a game.
The veteran players had already leveled up dozens of times, and for them, taking down newcomers was as easy as cutting grass.
Best to avoid them if possible.
Qian Rushan continued:
“But they do have limits—killing someone results in immediate disqualification from the exam, and they’d even face jail time.”
“The medical teams are always on standby, so most injuries get treated quickly.”
“It just hurts like hell for a while.”
Shen Ye nodded, then shook his head.
“I don’t get it—this is just a card. How does it know whether I’ve completed a task or not?”
“The card is issued by an artifact from the Tower of Tarot—don’t ask too many questions. It doesn’t like being discussed. If it gets annoyed, it might lower your star ranking.”
Qian Rushan shot him a meaningful glance, making it clear he wasn’t joking.
“But at least take comfort in this—at least you won’t die here. This site is strictly monitored by Kunlun, The Government A.I.”
Shen Ye shut his mouth.
He lowered his head, staring at the card in his hand.
Lines of tiny text kept appearing.
Suddenly.
All the text stopped, rearranging itself into three neat lines:
“Someone has challenged you:”
“Xiao Mengyu.”
“—Cannot be refused.”
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