The test venue was located at a high school equidistant from the ten major universities.

Zhang Yu was led into a sealed room to await the start of the test.

During this period, not only did he not see any judges, but he didn’t even see a single other participant.

It wasn’t until the test officially began, as the test content and rules appeared in his mind’s eye, that Zhang Yu felt his connection to the Lingjie suddenly severed.

“Is the internet required to be disconnected during the test?”

Zhang Yu looked at the test rules, and indeed, it stated that he would not be able to connect to the Lingjie public network during the test.

However, the competition organizers provided a local Lingjie network for use, where participants could access reference materials prepared by the organizers.

After scanning the test rules, Zhang Yu looked at the specific test content.

He summarized it in his mind, thinking, “Hmm, so I need to design a magical artifact that can search for items, collect items, pick up items, and transport items in a complex terrain where lightning and fire constantly fall…”

“After the design blueprint is completed, a simulated test of the magical artifact will be conducted in the Lingjie.”

“The more items picked up and transported within the allotted time, the better the score.”

Zhang Yu’s gaze shifted slightly, and he looked at the introduction of the test venue in the Lingjie simulation.

It was a simulated area in the Lingjie, approximately 10 square kilometers, including various terrains such as sand, forests, and lakes.

The magical artifact designed by the participants would have to search for designated items in this complex terrain and transport them to different designated locations.

Zhang Yu looked at the items that needed to be searched for and transported. In addition to spheres, cubes, cylinders, and cones of various colors scattered throughout the test environment, there were also designated plants, bamboo, stones, various medicinal herbs, minerals, plants, and even liquids and gases from specific locations.

Looking at these specific requirements, Zhang Yu thought to himself, “This magical artifact must have the ability to resist lightning and fire.”

“It must have the ability to move at high speed in a complex environment.”

“It also needs to be able to retrieve items of different colors, different shapes, and various appearances from a complex background.”

“And then it must be able to pick up and transport items of various shapes, and even liquid and gaseous items…”

The more Zhang Yu read these requirements, the more serious his gaze became: “Finally, and most crucially, the cost must be controlled below 30 Lingbi.”

After summarizing these requirements in his mind, Zhang Yu mused, “This test is practically an assessment of the test-takers’ fundamental skills in magical artifact refining.”

“The magical artifact’s movement, detection, load-bearing capacity, transportation, durability, cost… if any aspect is lacking, the score will be very poor.”

“Even for me, it’s quite challenging.”

Zhang Yu did not immediately start designing the magical artifact, but instead mentally constructed his work plan.

He understood that relying solely on his existing basic abilities might not guarantee a top ten finish.

“But thankfully, I have exceptional talent, aided by Tiangong Kaiwu and Lingyun Qixin, which are perfectly suited for this.”

As Zhang Yu pondered, he flipped through the reference materials provided by the organizers, finding not only information on various refining techniques but also blueprints of various magical artifacts for reference.

“From the reference materials provided by the organizers, it seems they encourage participants to learn while competing; they don’t expect us to rely entirely on what we’ve accumulated in our minds from start to finish.”

Zhang Yu’s ideas gradually formed: “First, I’ll filter the blueprints, find various magical artifact blueprints that meet the test requirements, then use Lingyun Qixin to fuse the blueprints to get one that is most likely to achieve a good score in the test.”

“Then I’ll use Tiangong Kaiwu for optimization, improving any design flaws.”

Thinking this, Zhang Yu nodded slightly: “So now, the most important thing is the selection of the blueprints.”

Zhang Yu understood that Lingyun Qixin also had an upper limit on its usage frequency within a certain period.

After all, each use of this talent consumed inspiration from his brain.

According to his own attempts, he could use it at most a dozen times within a period. The more he used it, the more his mind would feel stiff, making it difficult to operate Lingyun Qixin, often requiring several weeks of rest to fully recover.

“Since the design of the Fengshen Ban Fahai-style work power boots, I haven’t used Lingyun Qixin again.”

“Using it ten times now should be no problem.”

Zhang Yu understood that since Lingyun Qixin had usage limits, the selection of blueprints for fusion was very particular.

“Blueprints of similar types are more likely to yield good results.”

“But if they are too similar, what’s the point of fusing them?”

Zhang Yu understood that he needed to grasp the subtle balance in this.

In a blink of an eye, six hours passed, and Zhang Yu finally completed the design blueprint at the last minute.

He rubbed his somewhat swollen and dizzy head, a satisfied smile gradually appearing on his lips.

In a meeting room in the Lingjie.

Xianyin Zhenjun’s figure appeared, and before him, the Lingjie projections of the other judges also descended one by one.

Nie Lian Zhenjun of Tianmo University said indifferently, “Everyone, the design blueprints of all 15 participants have been completed and recorded one by one.”

“Next, the Zheng Shen will conduct Lingjie simulations, completing simulated tests of the 15 magical artifacts in the Lingjie environment.”

“This test will be conducted strictly according to the test rules, adhering to the principles of fairness, justice, and transparency.”

“From beginning to end, both the students’ design process and all the judges’ conversations and scores will be fully recorded.”

“I hope everyone can do their best to select excellent talents for Kunxu.”

“I also want to state here that no matter what the students’ performance is, no matter what influential figures support them, if it’s good, it’s good; if it’s not, it’s not. With me here today, no one should even think of causing trouble in this design competition.”

Listening to Nie Lian Zhenjun’s words, Xianyin Zhenjun always felt that the other party was hinting at something, perhaps regarding Ciji Zhenjun and Zhang Yu.

However, Xianyin Zhenjun currently had no confidence in Zhang Yu, and with an unknown number of Zheng Shen recording from various angles, he dared not speak carelessly.

Xianyin Zhenjun could only think to himself, “Ciji, you’d better have given Zhang Yu good tutoring. At least he should get into the top 10, otherwise, we’ll lose a lot of face in front of other universities and the Heavenly Court this time.”

The next moment, with a flash of light and shadow in the meeting room, the simulated test officially began.

The entire meeting room in the Lingjie seemed to teleport instantly, arriving above a mountain forest in the blink of an eye.

Xianyin Zhenjun looked down and saw a sandy area not far outside the forest, and then a lake not far from the sandy area…

This ten-kilometer complex terrain was the simulated test environment in the Lingjie.

At the same time, Nie Lian Zhenjun said, “The first magical artifact to be tested was designed by Leng Wuya of Tianjian University.”

Before the many judges, Leng Wuya’s design blueprints appeared one by one.

Xianyin Zhenjun’s gaze swept over them, thinking, “A flying sword?”

The next moment, countless materials appeared out of thin air above the test venue.

Then, as if accelerated hundreds or thousands of times, the refining process was completed at an incredible speed, presenting the flying sword from the design blueprint to everyone.

With a soft whoosh, the flying sword broke through layers of sound barriers, carrying a roaring thunderclap, and glided across the sky above the test venue.

Although lightning and fire occasionally fell from the sky, the flying sword easily dodged them.

Tianzhi Zhenjun from Jingang University commented, “With multiple layered restrictions, and the design of a sky-breaking sword edge and electromagnetic thrust, this flying sword can maintain supersonic cruising for a long time.”

At the same time, the flying sword swooped down towards the ground, beginning high-speed flight at low altitude.

Xianyin Zhenjun praised, “Anti-gravity design, coupled with adaptive flight control, its dodging ability is very strong. It can fly close to the ground in complex terrain and retrieve target objects.”

The next moment, streaks of sword Qi shot out from the flying sword, engulfing clusters of cubes.

Watching the sword Qi, after carrying a large number of cubes, suddenly decelerate and fly towards the target location, Xuepu Zhenjun of Youming University said indifferently, “Sword Qi and body combined, isn’t this manned technology? It’s completely uneconomical for cargo transportation.”

Shi Sui Zhenjun of Baigu University next to him shook his head and said, “Ultimately, a flying sword is good for reconnaissance, but not for transporting goods this way.”

Tianzhi Zhenjun speculated, “It’s probably intended to transport items frequently by relying on speed. However, he didn’t design terrain memory, so each time it’s re-detected, making the transportation frequency too low.”

Xianyin Zhenjun thought to himself, “Although the transportation aspect isn’t excellent, at least all functions are completed. A passing score is no problem.”

As the test ended, the judges scored one by one. There were five judges in total, each able to award a maximum of 100 points, so the maximum combined score was 500 points.

The total score for this flying sword was 322 points.

Next, a student work from Jingang University appeared.

A large battle tank crashed through the test ground, activating gangqi to break through obstacles, collecting target items, and finally delivering them to the designated location.

Nie Lian Zhenjun commented, “Using high-strength materials to resist lightning and fire, using maximum capacity and load-bearing ability to collect as many items as possible, and then transporting them to the designated location.”

“A good idea.”

“But it’s too slow, and its adaptability to terrain is too poor.”

Nie Lian Zhenjun shook his head, “It collected a lot of things, but less than a third were delivered before time ran out… 65 points.”

As the five judges scored one by one, the final score for this tank was 329 points.

After a few more participants, the work of Zang Xingye, a student from Youming University, appeared.

Looking at the content of the design blueprint, Xianyin Zhenjun’s heart stirred: “Demonic Beast Biomorphic Technology?”