They're All Pretty Good

In the administration building, in the principal's office.

The office door was ajar, and seven or eight people had gathered inside.

Principal Zhao Jianguo sat behind his desk, facing a giant observation screen set into the wall.

The screen was divided into dozens of smaller windows, monitoring the awakening students' dungeon construction in each classroom in real time.

Seated around him were the vice principal, the dean of studies, and several instructors responsible for teaching dungeon design.

"Switch the screen to Class Seven," Zhao Jianguo said.

The image enlarged, displaying real-time data for the dozens of students in Class Seven.

Beside each student's portrait were their awakened core card's grade, their dungeon theme's name, their current soul power consumption, and their dungeon combat power index.

Zhao Jianguo glanced over it and frowned.

"The awakening grades really are higher this year than in previous years."

He pointed to the statistics at the bottom of the screen. "The average core card grade is almost a whole tier higher than last year's. Eleven are A-grade or above, and four are S-grade or above. That's more than half again as many as in previous years."

"It really is a bumper year."

The dean nodded in agreement. "Especially Ye Qingxue. An SSS-grade core card paired with an SSS-grade theme—that kind of combination has rarely been seen since our school was founded."

Zhao Jianguo's expression eased, but soon darkened again.

"Good awakenings are good, but this standard of design..."

He reached out and tapped a student's image on the screen. "This one has an earth-attribute dungeon theme and the Rock Lord as his core card, but he designed forest terrain. Huge swaths of trees, and he even put together a plant-type construction plan. Earth is countered by wood, and he hasn't even grasped the basic rules of attribute counters."

He paused, then spoke more emphatically. "That's two elementary mistakes. First, the core card's attribute conflicts with the environment's attribute, directly reducing the core card's bonus by more than thirty percent.

"Second, he's spending a huge amount of extra soul power to form plants that have nothing to do with the theme. His resource efficiency is ridiculously low. They're making even these elementary mistakes. With no teacher beside them to guide them in the exam, how much trouble will they run into later?"

Several instructors exchanged looks, and someone nodded with a wry smile.

"Principal Zhao is right."

A male teacher wearing glasses picked up the thread. "I've found several basic problems on my side too. Some students are too cautious and hold back in their designs. They don't spend soul power where they should, and squander it where they shouldn't. They open up only the bare minimum of dungeon space, and once they put their core card inside, it fills the place completely, leaving no room to maneuver."

"Some are even more outrageous."

Another teacher, a woman, sighed. "One of my students dumped eighty percent of his soul power into opening up dungeon space. Two square kilometers. Impressive, sure, but what happened? His core card wasn't reinforced enough, he couldn't equip any creature cards, and he didn't place a single trap card. A space that big is just a racetrack for monsters."

"There are students like that every year."

The dean shook his head. "Their ambitions are high, but their abilities are low. They always think the bigger the space, the better. What they don't realize is that a dungeon's combat power depends on its rules and construction density, not its area. In two square kilometers of open terrain, monsters can find the core card in under three minutes."

"In the end, they simply don't have enough hands-on experience."

The vice principal summed it up. "In previous years, the awakening grades weren't as high as this year's, but at least the students were familiar with the construction process. This year's batch has good soul power and good awakenings, but there are too many problems with their designs."

Zhao Jianguo said nothing and continued browsing the student data on the screen.

"Still, that said, there are a few promising talents this year." Seeing the principal's grim expression, an elderly instructor took the initiative to steer the conversation in a more positive direction. "Take Ye Qingxue, for example. Look, she's already started constructing her ice and snow domain."

A corner of the screen switched to a view of Ye Qingxue's dungeon.

A world of icy blue.

A translucent layer of ice covered the ground, and fine snowflakes drifted through the air.

Icebergs, pillars of ice, and trees like ice crystals filled the scene, which shimmered with a dreamlike glow.

At the heart of the frozen world, in the center of an ice lake as still as a mirror, the Ice Queen core card floated above a platform of ice, radiating a biting chill.

"A 3S-grade core card with a 3S-grade theme. The compatibility is nearly perfect."

The elderly instructor's voice held satisfaction. "Her use of soul power is textbook. First she built the ice and snow domain, then placed the core card, and finally used an ice-crystal maze to delay the enemy.

"Look at her terrain layout. The ice crystals form three corridors from the outside in, each with different frost traps. Even if monsters break through, they'll be continually slowed and weakened in the maze. By the time they reach the queen, they'll have long since lost their combat power. This is a design with ideas of her own behind it."

Zhao Jianguo nodded, his expression easing slightly.

"Very good indeed. She got a hundred points' worth of effect out of seventy points of soul power, and she still has plenty left for further reinforcement."

"Another student is good too," the teacher with glasses interjected. "Wang Hao from Class Seven. A martial soul theme, with the S-grade core card Chaotic Hair Cloak Hammer."

The screen switched to Wang Hao's dungeon.

A scorching wave of heat filled the entire space. Bluestone slabs covered the ground, with a huge training arena in the center and wooden training dummies standing all around it.

Most eye-catching of all was a silver-glinting card floating above the center of the arena. On its face was a giant hammer covered in wild patterns, with faint cloaklike markings reflected on its striking surface.

"His is a material-type core card, so instead of prioritizing the formation of expansive terrain, he spent his soul power on fusing creature cards."

The teacher with glasses continued, "Look, he's already placed six F-grade creature cards around the arena, all fighting-type humanoid cards. Their individual grades aren't high, but every card has formed a 'martial soul resonance' link with the Chaotic Hair Cloak Hammer card.

"This approach of pairing a material core with creature cards is very clear. In battle, a creature card can wield the core card's hammer, unleashing combat power far greater than either could achieve alone. His grasp of the fundamentals is extremely solid."

"Li Ming's biowarfare is good too," the female teacher added. "The construction framework for his technological civilization system is very mature. He followed the standard procedure to establish a biowarfare mothership core, then built three barracks areas around it. He hasn't placed any creature cards yet, but the framework is very well laid out. Once he puts the creature cards in, it'll be ready for combat immediately."

As Zhao Jianguo listened, his expression gradually softened.

"This year's top students are pretty good after all..."

He had only just finished speaking.

A teacher who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke up. "But speaking of it, Su Mu was always the best with dungeon themes. It's just a pity..."

The atmosphere in the office suddenly grew awkward.

Everyone looked at the teacher. Of all the sore spots to bring up, he had picked that one.

The teacher also seemed to realize he had said the wrong thing and immediately fell silent.

They all knew, of course, that Su Mu had awakened an F-grade stone card.

Given Su Mu's dungeon design results-good enough to take first place in a city-level dungeon design competition—and his terrifying soul power value,

If he had gotten even a B-grade core card, they all believed Su Mu could have gone further.

But who would have thought? A special dungeon would have been one thing.

He was exceptionally skilled at designing dungeons and had the ability to turn things around.

But who could have expected him to awaken an ordinary stone?

That was basically a death sentence.

As a result, everyone's attention had been scattered.

The principal fell silent for a moment. "Switch the screen over to him."