"I-I Summon Harpie Harpist!"
"Alright, I flip my set card—Bottomless Trap Hole! When a monster with 1500 or more Attack is Summoned: destroy it, and banish it."
"Uuuuh… I-I Link Summon Harpie Conductor…"
"Then I flip my other set card—Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare! When a monster that was Special Summoned this turn activates its effect: negate it, and destroy that card."
"Waaahhh! I-I'm done playing!"
Jade slammed her hand onto the table, her voice choked with frustration. The Deck Morgan was using now was even more oppressive than her burn Deck. Tears streamed down Jade's cheeks in anger.
Every monster she Summoned was either interrupted or hit by a trap… she had no gameplay experience at all.
Morgan smiled as she gathered up the cards from the table. After careful thought, she had chosen to spend Duel Points to redeem a new Deck—after all, in this world, hard power was everything. Spirit Sight could wait for another time.
The reason she chose a Traptrix Deck came from her Duel with Kairos.
The card she used for her comeback, Trap Trick, was also a Traptrix archetype card. Since fate had brought her to it, she decided to run a Traptrix Deck.
"Now you see? Many Trap Cards are only useful in specific Decks. Just run Harpie archetype cards for your Harpie Deck… you don't need to add so many unrelated Traps."
Jade nodded miserably, realizing she'd never be a proper Underworld player.
Still, with Morgan's help, she now had a better understanding of her Deck.
She felt confident she could pass the school's practical exam.
Yet, her joy was short-lived—a thick stack of textbooks landed in front of her, and Isla peeked out from behind them.
"Since your practical training is done, it's time for the written portion. Advanced Chain Theory, Advanced Summon Theory, Graveyard Utilization—these are all key points, and you must memorize them all."
Jade froze. Faced with such a massive workload, she found herself longing for the days when she could slack off.
"Can I rest a little first? My head hurts from Morgan's Underworld torture."
She gave a pitiful look.
Isla expressionlessly nodded.
Jade brightened, ready to lie down—only to hear Isla glance at her watch and say:
"Alright, break's over. Let's start studying."
"Eh?"
Jade was dumbfounded. She hadn't even done anything… how was break time already over?
"Giving you one second to rest was already generous. Now you must make every second count!"
Isla's tone was stern.
Hearing that, Jade's jaw dropped. She slumped forward, her rosy cheeks flattened like a melted rice cake stuck to the desk.
"Uuugh… I just want to slack off…"
…
The next day, after Isla's cram-style teaching, Jade finally caught up to the teacher's pace, giving her some security for the upcoming exam.
But just as the second year was coming to a close, a transfer student arrived in Morgan's class—and Morgan actually knew her. It was none other than Rowe, the Team Predator rookie duelist she had faced in a match.
"This is Rowe. Starting today, she's one of us, so get along with her!"
The teacher smiled from the podium. "Now then, Rowe, your seat will be—"
Before he could finish, Rowe pointed to the empty seat behind Morgan.
"Teacher, I want to sit there!"
"Uh… oh, sure, that's fine."
The teacher's words were interrupted, and he smiled awkwardly, but didn't mind—strong duelists always got some leeway.
Rowe lifted her cute face and walked down from the podium, taking the empty seat beside Morgan.
She wasn't dressed up with the cute accessories she wore on the stage. Instead, she was plainly dressed, with minimal makeup, her fair face looking naturally beautiful.
"Isn't that Rowe, the rookie from Team Predator? What's she doing at our school?"
"Do you even need to ask? It's obviously because of Morgan! Which club doesn't want her right now? Sending someone to cozy up to her is the easiest way to get her."
"As expected of Morgan… so popular that clubs have to resort to this!"
"That Rowe is really cute, but still not as cute as my goddess."
The students had all seen the match, so they recognized Rowe immediately and began speculating about her reason for being here.
Before long, the conversation turned into a debate over who was cuter—Morgan or Rowe. Unsurprisingly, Morgan won unanimously.
Rowe, who cared deeply about such things, instantly darkened, letting out a dissatisfied huff.
After class, Morgan went to the rooftop to eat bread as usual. Rowe followed her, glancing at Morgan's buttered bread with disdain.
"Didn't expect our cute League Champion to hide on the rooftop eating bread."
She opened her lunchbox—inside were savory dishes: sweet-and-sour pork ribs, braised lion's head meatballs, kung pao chicken…
"Hmph. If you beg me and tell me I'm cute, maybe I'll share some—"
Before she could finish, Morgan snatched it away. In a flash, she'd eaten it all and returned the now-empty box.
"If you beg me, I might give you the other half of my bread."
Rowe stared at the empty box for a long moment before yelling, "Morgan, I'm going to kill you!"
Morgan ignored her, wiping her mouth with the bread before eating the rest. Clapping her hands, she said:
"Before you kill me, tell me what you came for. And let's be clear—joining your club is off the table."
Rowe calmed herself with effort and said irritably:
"I know. You've made it clear enough that no club will invite you for now."
"But our boss hasn't given up. That's why I transferred here. If you join Team Predator, it'll be way better than now."
Rowe's gaze was steady. The clubs had only temporarily backed off; none had truly given up. Her arrival was Nerissa's preemptive move, and there would be more honeyed offers to come.
"If that's all you came to say, I'm leaving. By the way, the lion's head was a bit salty."
"You—huff."
Rowe took a deep breath to steady herself before speaking with a somber face:
"Actually, Nerissa has always wanted to apologize for the information auction incident. But the club's been in chaos, and she hasn't had time. So she asked me to apologize in her place."
"Also, she told me to give you a message."
"The League has decided to restart the Duel King selection tournament."
...
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