A few days later.
"Excuse me, has anyone seen Tetsuya?"
Yugen began looking for his next opponent in the exchange match.
Currently, his record in the exchange match was flawless, and he had gained immense joy from every duel. He thought his current state of learning, where he could practice and have fun at the same time, was quite ideal.
However, he was now facing a small problem — he couldn't seem to find his next opponent for the match.
After asking around for quite a while, a passerby kindly said, "Oh, are you talking about Tetsuya? I think I saw him head up to the rooftop earlier..."
Yugen thanked him and immediately headed for the rooftop.
Sure enough, he found Tetsuya hiding in a rather secluded corner on the rooftop.
"Tetsuya, finally found you," Yugen said with a cheerful smile, "I'm Yugen, remember? We're supposed to duel this round? Surely you haven't forgotten?"
The moment Tetsuya on the rooftop saw him, he had a full-body shiver and felt like bursting into tears, thinking, of course, I remember. Why else would I be hiding in a place like this...
"Well then, let's duel happily," Yugen cheerfully suggested as he activated his Duel Disc.
Tetsuya nodded sullenly and reluctantly activated his own Duel Disc.
"Duel!" x2
"..."
"Activate 'Strongly Summoned Soldiers,' view the opponent's hand and return one card to the deck!"
"..."
"Trap Card 'Slide Slot'! When the opponent has four or more cards, view their hand and return one Monster Card to the deck!"
"..."
"Trap Card 'Seal of Engraving,' skip your opponent's next card-drawing phase!"
"Equip 'Power of the Guardian' to 'Magic Attacker,' and then have Magic Attacker attack the opponent directly! During this moment, Power of the Guardian increases Magic Attacker's Attack Power..."
"..."
A few minutes later.
Tetsuya gazed at the sky, pondering why people live, and why on earth he decided to duel in the first place.
He also started thinking that maybe the path of dueling wasn't for him, perhaps he should consider quitting school and finding a job...
Afterward, Yugen put away his Duel Disc, feeling satisfied with the joy he gained today, and left the rooftop.
On the same day, another student from Yellow Dormitory completed his round of the new student exchange duel and opened his student terminal to check his next opponent.
Upon seeing the name "Fujiki Yugen" on the screen, his facial muscles twitched, and he looked blankly at his companion beside him.
"... I got 'him' next."
The nearby group who were chatting and laughing was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, and the atmosphere froze for a few seconds. One by one, they put away their smiles, showed expressions of remorse, patted him on the shoulder, and shook their heads mournfully.
Their reaction was like saying, what a shame for such a young man...
"..."
Having entered the school for just a few days, gained a lot of extra credits, and enjoyed the fun of dueling, Yugen was in a great mood. He felt that his performance in the exchange match should be considered quite successful. By the end of the first day, everyone in the Yellow Dormitory probably recognized him.
Becoming the most famous one in the dormitory in just a day, could anyone else achieve that?
However, recently, some strange phenomena seemed to be emerging among the students in the Yellow Dormitory.
It's said that some have developed an inexplicable aversion to bicycles. Some students even let out weird screams at night when encountering a bicycle suddenly around the corner, shouting incomprehensible things like "Don't come near me!"
"..."
Today was also the official start of classes at the Academy.
Yugen wasn't particularly interested in the other classes of the day, mostly spending his time in class fiddling with and studying the card collection he already owned, pondering how he could optimize and adjust further. He's still adapting to the structure of decks in the anime world, finding it hard to change many habits developed over years.
The class he looked forward to most on the first day was the card drawing practice class in the afternoon.
In the original story, the most representative character who achieved the legendary Divine Draw through practice was Taira Oyama from Obelisk Blue. This individual secluded himself for a year in the mountain, living like a hermit, claiming to have discovered the essence of card drawing hidden in the natural order.
After a year of training, his Divine Draw reached a fantastical level. He even created a deck entirely relying on drawing strategy, making people believe he could call out any card like a king, even foretelling what cards his opponent would draw.
However, it was later discovered that he couldn't completely control what he would draw. He could only foresee the next card he would draw. Following a duel with Judai, it was proven that acquired training still couldn't surpass innate Divine Draw talents, and he was still a level below Judai in terms of realm.
But at least he proved the effectiveness of card-drawing training.
"..."
"Every card draw by a Duelist is sacred."
The instructor responsible for practical instruction walked back and forth on the playground with hands behind his back.
"Each draw is a deep exchange with your card deck, each draw is a step towards the future."
"The most important thing is to hold your 'momentum.'"
"A strong Duelist will use their 'momentum' to overpower their opponent, and a true Duelist must maintain their 'momentum' no matter how overwhelming the pressure during a duel."
"If you cannot maintain your own pace and rhythm, the deck will not respond to you. Therefore, losing your rhythm before the duel starts is equivalent to losing."
"..."
The instructor said a lot, but ultimately it boiled down to one word: practice.
No amount of experience or skill can replace practice.
For this, the instructor recommended some of the most suitable constructs for practice summarized by the Academy, requiring students to draw specific combinations in the minimum number of draws. The constructs are divided into beginners, advanced, and elite levels according to difficulty.
"This is just the first stage."
The instructor stated.
"Our goal for the first semester is to complete the 'beginner' test. If someone progresses quickly and has high talent, they might challenge the 'elite' construct in the second semester.
The 'elite' construct requires consistently drawing the specified combination from a forty-card deck to pass.
This is still just wall practice, different from actual combat. The next semester's stage will strengthen training to perform even under the pressure of the opponent's 'momentum'..."
"Success!"
The instructor was still speaking when a Jellyfish Head student excitedly jumped from the back row of the formation.
"The 'elite' challenge is not that difficult, teacher!" Jellyfish Head cheerfully bragged, displaying the five cards he drew in one go, "I succeeded on my first try!"
Instructor: "???"
The instructor adjusted his glasses, almost falling off the bridge of his nose, looking incredulously at the proud Jellyfish Head making V-signs at his surrounding classmates.
Completing the elite challenge on the first class? And in one go?
What's this? A born card master?
Umm...
Maybe you should let this student be the teacher for this class, and I'll listen?