At ten sharp, the Tier Three certification exam officially began at the Magic Card Crafting Association.
The exam hall was spacious, with dozens of workstations equipped with complete card-making equipment, each marked with a number.
More than twenty Card Crafters had come to take the exam. Besides Royal Capital residents, many had traveled from nearby cities.
The audience seats were also filled with spectators, most of them merchants and Royal Capital residents looking for a bit of excitement.
Of course, some were there to support friends and family taking the exam.
Dekan stood out among the examinees in his Havenlit Knight Academy uniform.
That was because the examinees usually seen at Card Crafter certification exams were students from the Alchemy Academy.
Mage Academy and Summoning Academy students showed up now and then.
Knight Academy students were a rare sight.
The examiners began with a series of routine opening remarks.
Then they explained the rules.
The Association would provide basic materials such as blank cards, magic crystals, and monster core fluid, thereby setting a theme for the exam.
Each examinee was allotted only three cards.
There were no restrictions on what kind of card they made. They could freely choose whatever suited their strengths.
Making a White Common card meant passing and earning the rank of Third-Tier, Third-Class Card Crafter.
A Blue Precious card earned the rank of Third-Tier, Second-Class, while a Purple Rare card earned Third-Tier, First-Class.
Higher ranks represented greater potential, and the Card Maker Association would grant more privileges and benefits accordingly.
Depending on what they wanted to make, examinees might also need additional materials.
There was a shop inside the exam hall.
Examinees could take whatever additional materials they needed, as long as the total cost did not exceed ten Gold Coins.
Incidentally, the registration fee for the exam was fifteen Gold Coins.
The Association wasn't about to let you turn a profit.
After finding his workstation number,
Dekan stared at the basic materials laid out on the table, lost in thought.
Why had they given him a Tier Three holy-attribute magic crystal and a Holy Radiance Stone?
It looked like the theme for this exam was holy attributes.
That wasn't exactly his strong suit.
He rarely made healing or dispelling Magic Cards himself.
He'd done some research into Severe Injury and anti-Purification cards,
but those clearly couldn't be made using only a holy-attribute magic crystal as the base material.
"If they'd given me a light-attribute magic crystal, I could've made a Solar Fist, at least."
Dekan rubbed his head, feeling that he needed a little time to think.
The card-making techniques his master had taught him did include some related to holy attributes.
After all, his master had once devoted himself to researching ways to invert holy attributes.
"No problem. I've even learned number two. Why wouldn't I be able to make number one?"
Dekan gathered his thoughts, drafted a plan on paper, and calculated the material ratios.
Then he went to the exam hall shop and picked up Demon Blood, Purifying Holy Flame, and a Tier Three Purification spell scroll, among other materials.
He was ready to get to work.
Half an hour into the exam,
some examinees had already used up all their materials and left the hall in disappointment.
For most Card Crafters who had only just reached Tier Three, the challenge wasn't just the quality of their cards; even success was hard to guarantee.
Add in nerves and other factors, and three failures in a row were perfectly normal.
At the same time, though, an examinee finally succeeded in making a card, drawing gasps from the audience.
The blue glow radiating from the card proved he wasn't an ordinary Card Crafter.
He'd succeeded on his first try, and made a Blue Precious card at that!
The examinee quickly brought his finished card to the appraiser. After it was appraised, it was sent to the testing room.
The examiner then announced that he had passed and revealed the results to everyone.
[Holy Light Hammer]
[Category: Equipment Card]
[Quality: Blue Precious]
[Tier: 3]
[Effect: Deals 60% additional damage to enemies of evil alignment.]
[Note: The holy light will smash your head to pieces!]
"That's amazing! He went straight to Third-Tier, Second-Class."
"Third-Tier, Second-Class is basically the limit for an ordinary person. I bet only the few most talented students in Havenlit Academy's Alchemy Academy can get Third-Tier, First-Class each year."
"I heard a new student already got it this year."
"There's a Havenlit Academy student here too... but why is he wearing a red uniform?"
"Don't look down on red uniforms. Not many of them can make cards, but they're vicious in a fight. Just look at that Cult Priest and Valkyrie everyone's been talking about lately..."
"Wait, doesn't that guy in the red uniform look like... Dekan?!"
Apparently, a wealthy merchant in the audience had seen the edited video released by Havenlit Academy. With a gasp, he recognized Dekan.
"You're sure that's Dekan? Isn't Dekan a priest? How can he make cards?"
"Positive! I'm not mistaken! He was in Succubus form in the recording, but that's definitely him!"
The merchant circled around the audience seats, repeatedly studying Dekan's appearance, and spoke with complete certainty.
The audience erupted into chatter.
They'd thought this would be an entirely ordinary Tier Three Card Crafter exam.
Who would've expected to run into such a famous figure?
Whatever card Dekan ended up making, it would be a hot topic!
While the spectators discussed him excitedly, another flash of light signaled a finished card in the exam hall.
But whether it glowed blue or white, the audience barely paid attention anymore.
All they cared about was how skilled Dekan really was!
Another ten minutes passed.
The examinees who'd succeeded on their first try had all finished making their cards.
Almost everyone still at their workstation had made a mistake earlier and needed to start over.
Alice furrowed her brow.
"Dekan... he hasn't failed yet, but why is he taking so long?"
"I don't know. I don't understand you Card Crafters."
Theresia played dumb.
She silently prayed that Dekan wouldn't make anything too outrageous.
Otherwise, she could already picture how awkward Alice would look when she learned the truth: that Dekan was a Card-Making Master.
"Dekan looks like he's making a Spell Card. I wonder what kind of spell he's going for... I'm surprised he didn't choose to make an Equipment Card. He must have been inspired by watching me make my card earlier and decided to imitate me."
Alice continued to comment with an air of expertise.
Theresia grew more and more uneasy.
Another ten minutes passed.
Even the examinees who'd failed twice were close to finishing their final cards.
The audience, meanwhile, had grown rather than dwindled.
Quite a few staff members and customers from the first floor had heard the news and hurried up to the third floor to watch.
Every one of them was curious about what Dekan would make.
He seemed not to have failed once since the exam began; he'd simply spent a long time engraving a single card.
"What on earth is that kid doing?"
Even a few of the examiners couldn't help asking each other.
Unlike most of the audience, they'd known the examinees' names from the very beginning.
Dekan's name had been written plainly on his registration form.
They were just as surprised that he'd come to take the Tier Three Card Crafter exam.
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