Chapter 1 Monday Morning

The first rays of sunlight fell on the campus of Yikellite Academy. Golden light slanted, illuminating the red brick walls of the ancient buildings, making them sparkle with crystalline light.

Yikellite's native plants swayed in the morning breeze. Trees and grass were covered in morning dew, and the air was filled with a fresh fragrance.

Accompanying the chirping of birds, the grand doors of the main library slowly opened. Students gradually appeared on campus, some rushing to their early classes, others leisurely enjoying their breakfast. Laughter occasionally drifted through the air.

Passing through the green lawn bordering the old liberal arts building near the Institute of Magical Engineering, a few more minutes' walk would reveal an artistic, iron-tower-style glass curtain wall building. Sunlight reflected off its surface, making it appear tall and bright.

This was the fifth floor of the main building of the Institute of Magical Engineering.

Inside the Dean's office.

Professor Polao was sitting at his desk, surrounded by blueprints, parts, and various mechanical tools.

He hadn't been in the office long, but he was already holding a mechanical pencil, quickly sketching on a translucent blue blueprint, occasionally pausing to inspect the small, intricate components placed beside the drawing with his magical engineering glasses.

His slightly upturned, pale hair gleamed in the office lights. His eyes were focused, completely absorbed in the work at hand.

Just then.

Two cautious and light knocks sounded from outside the door, as if trying not to disturb Professor Polao, but the matter was truly important.

"Come in."

Polao didn't look up. His low voice was calm and strong, evidently accustomed to being interrupted during his work by various people requesting help.

The door slowly opened, a beam of light flooding in from the crack. A young magical engineering teacher entered, gently turning to close the door behind him, and then greeted Polao:

"Professor Polao, good morning. We received a communication from the Card Maker Association. A student was ranked in the Registered Card Maker Exam on Saturday as…"

The young magical engineering teacher's hesitant voice echoed in the spacious room filled with innovative blueprints and magical devices, as if he was still unsure of the contents of the document in his hand, wanting to take one last look.

"Silver grade?"

Professor Polao asked absently, staring at the blueprint on his desk. Clearly, he preferred to invest his time and energy in his research rather than such trivial matters.

"No… it says platinum grade."

The young magical engineering teacher's voice was full of disbelief.

"Oh."

Professor Polao replied with the same indifference.

"Huh? Platinum?"

Then he looked up, took off the silver-framed glasses perched on his nose and placed them on the desk, gazing at the young magical engineering teacher with a puzzled expression.

In all his years, he had never heard of a student being directly ranked as platinum.

Advancement from the gold grade usually required accumulating a large amount of research achievements, patent approvals, product sales, industry reputation, and other comprehensive standards before one even qualified to participate in the promotion assessment.

Similarly, possessing an epic-level work was the most difficult prerequisite for obtaining platinum grade qualification.

To bypass all of that and reach platinum grade in one step, one could only create an orange epic card on the Registered Card Maker Exam.

"Did he create an orange epic on the Registered Card Maker Exam?"

Professor Polao's question carried a tone of certainty.

His most outstanding student, Mi Gaia, had once created spell cards, summoning cards, and equipment cards in the registration exam, all three being different types of pink holy grade cards, a testament to the ultimate stability and all-around coverage, and was only ranked as gold grade, very close to platinum.

"Yes, he created one orange epic and three white common cards. Because the single card rating of that orange epic was extremely exaggerated, he was ultimately ranked as platinum grade."

The young magical engineering teacher nodded and stepped forward to hand Professor Polao all the documents from the Yikellite Card Maker Association.

Much of the important information required Professor Polao, as the Dean of the Institute of Magical Engineering, to review and sign, and may also require communication with the Dean of the Sage Institute.

Polao took the heavy brown leather file bag, directly found the page with the detailed finished card evaluation table, and began to read.

Being able to create a Tier 3 epic card in the Card Maker Exam was something Polao also found a bit unbelievable.

Almost no card maker would have the ability to create an orange epic so early.

Even with extremely rare materials and the best perfect performance, a genius should only be able to produce a pink holy grade card.

"It shouldn't be, it shouldn't be."

Polao stared at the production process and detailed analysis of the epic-level work [Radiant Virtue], muttering to himself.

Each epic card possessed uniqueness, anchoring the world and running through history. The person who could create such a card would also possess a bit of legendary color themselves, which a teenager could never have.

"Do we really have such an amazing student?"

Professor Polao didn't think there was such a prodigy among the new or old students of the Institute of Magical Engineering.

He knew each student's capabilities very well.

Although, to be precise, directly being ranked platinum was currently still gold grade, as long as this qualification was obtained, completing the approval process and becoming platinum grade was only a matter of time. Quickly, it would take a few months, slowly, a year, and a student would become a formal platinum grade card maker.

"…He's from the Sage Institute, named Lan Qi, Wilfred."

The magical engineering teacher, standing in front of the desk like a servant waiting for instructions, saw that Professor Polao was still focused on the epic card analysis report and could only awkwardly prompt him.

"!"

Professor Polao heard the name, and the veins on his forehead twitched. He slowly put down the documents in his hand.

He had a vivid memory of this name.

"Truly the rising sun…"

Polao looked at the morning sun outside the window, muttering to himself.

That was the guy who had broken the artificial shadow world launch terminal, forcing him to set aside his research project at Dean Loren's request and rush to repair it overnight.

Most importantly, the huge amount of research funding advanced by their Institute of Magical Engineering still hadn't been approved for reimbursement!

"Because the handover work from the Card Maker Association is basically done with our Institute of Magical Engineering, and the Sage Institute is not familiar with these matters, Dean Loren has made an appointment to visit you later, and will bring Lan Qi, Wilfred, to see you."

The young magical engineering teacher sensed the ominous atmosphere in the Dean's office, quickly saluted Professor Polao, and prepared to leave.

He knew that last year, when the Kingdom of Hutton's finances were not good and the Institute of Magical Engineering's funding was cut by one hundred pounds per month, Professor Polao was quite angry, let alone this time when Lan Qi had caused a astronomical loss of eight thousand pounds before the start of the semester.

"I see, let Loren come directly."

Polao said through gritted teeth, his murderous intent unhidden.

(End of chapter)