Folk Card Maker: Starting from Painted Skin

After listening to Xu Qiang's introduction, many people were astonished that such a terrifying organization existed around them.

So, besides the Curse Sect, could there be similar organizations?

After all, besides their Dragon Country, there are other factions.

It seems their enemies include not only the Scourge Legion but also various inhuman cults.

Zhang Jingtian looked at the newspaper in his hand, as if seeing ordinary people walking into department stores during a relatively peaceful time, buying things to improve their lives.

But they were burned alive by the card creators they trusted most, those with privileges.

How desperate they must have been, and how much resentment would they harbor after death!

"These people are so miserable," Zhang Jingtian said with a sigh.

But why specifically mention this incident in the museum?

Could it be hinting that the accident at Joy Lake was related to the Curse Sect?

The more Zhang Jingtian thought, the more dangerous his ideas became.

Just then, a change occurred in the tranquil museum.

A man walked into the museum.

This man wore a white suit and had a kind face, the kind that would make anyone want to get close to him.

He smiled slightly and nodded to the fifteen students present.

"Hello, everyone. Sorry for being late.

Let me introduce myself. I am the curator of the Joy Lake Museum and also an honorary member of the Card Creator Association."

As prospective card creators, they were all considered members of the Card Creator Association.

However, honorary membership was different; it required prestige.

Whether that prestige came from your fists, wealth, or background.

Zhang Jingtian didn't think the curator was merely late.

They had just finished interpreting the newspaper's information, and the curator appeared. His arrival was too coincidental.

The curator smiled slightly and said to them:

"I know you must all be confused right now. We agreed on joint training, but instead, I brought you here without giving you any information."

"I imagine you've already seen the newspaper on the table, right?"

Everyone nodded. Zhang Jingtian thought he was right; it was indeed related to the newspaper.

The curator continued, "The newspaper tells a tragic story. Most secret realms are brought about by the Scourge Legion. It's rare for one to appear because of card creators.

I was one of the members who cleared this secret realm back then, and I still remember the indescribable discomfort I felt when I first entered.

The reason I brought you here today is to let you experience this secret realm yourselves.

Its difficulty is just right for all of you at your current level.

At the same time, please rest assured that this is a副本 (fùběn, instance/copy), so you don't have to worry about dying inside. If an accident occurs, we will immediately stop it and bring you out."

They had guessed correctly; the simplest and most effective form of training was to have them enter an instance.

"The entrance to the Department Store instance is inside our museum. Please follow me."

The students all seemed excited.

None of them had ever been in an instance before.

Mainly because it was too expensive and not cost-effective for bronze card creators.

But now that there was a chance to experience an instance for free, everyone was looking forward to it.

As they walked, the curator explained the rules of this training.

"After entering the instance, you will all be randomly assigned different positions.

And you only need to remember that you represent your school."

This sentence made the fifteen people tacitly form three teams.

Sure enough, the so-called joint training was just to have the three schools compete against each other.

"That's good. After you enter the instance, your wristbands will display your progress.

When the progress reaches 100, the instance will be considered cleared. Then we will compare the total clearing progress of the three teams. The school with the highest score will be the winner of our first training session, and everyone will receive a bottle of beginner-level spirit recovery potion."

Zhang Jingtian was immediately excited upon hearing this. Recovery potions were very expensive and often hard to find!

These three schools were really investing heavily in nurturing them.

The newest chapters are on 69shuba!

However, he couldn't help but ask the curator, "Can we see the clearing progress while we're in the secret realm?"

"Of course not," the curator smiled. "Everything in the secret realm is unknown. So, it often happens that everyone thinks the secret realm is almost fully explored, but then an accident occurs, and all their efforts are in vain.

Children, secret realms are very dangerous. Even a secret realm like the Department Store requires gold card creators to participate in the clearing."

But it also meant rich rewards.

The curator didn't say this, but everyone knew it.

Zhang Jingtian nodded, still full of anticipation.

He was about to enter an instance!

When the group arrived in front of a device similar to a teleportation portal, the curator informed them that this was the entrance to the instance.

"Before you go in, you have ten minutes for strategic planning. The three of you can each choose a place to discuss."

While the students from the three schools were enthusiastically discussing, their every move was being closely watched by the principals of the three schools.

In the monitoring room, there were a total of four people.

The three principals were eagerly watching their respective students, while the fourth person was the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau.

He looked at the three teams of students, as if remembering his own past.

"I hope they can successfully clear it, otherwise, our city's college entrance examination results this year will probably be unsatisfactory again."

The principals instantly became anxious.

For the past five years, Lanruo City's college entrance examination results had almost always been at the bottom of the Ninth District.

Among their nine districts, apart from the First District where the capital was located and the Second District where the magic capital was located, there wasn't much difference in strength.

However, being at the bottom of a district did reflect many problems.

The deputy director continued to add fuel to the fire, revealing an internal piece of information: "I heard that the leader in charge of education in our Ninth District has already made harsh remarks that if Lanruo City is still at the bottom this year, all of you, including the director of the Education Bureau, will be dismissed."

The principal of Seventh High School smiled and said, "I think we definitely won't be at the bottom this year. Chen Haotian from our school is a silver card creator, and he will definitely shine in this year's college entrance examination."

The principal of First High School immediately retorted, unwilling to be outdone, "The average strength of our school's five people is not bad. They are all at the peak of bronze three-star, half-step four-star level. There are still a few months before the college entrance examination, so it is possible for them to break through to silver."

Only the principal of Experimental High School remained silent.