So far his record in the Exchange Duel Tournament was a perfect run, and every Duel had brought him a great deal of enjoyment. Being able to train while having fun felt like an ideal learning state to Yugen. The only problem now was that he could not find his next opponent at all.
After asking around for quite a while, a kind passerby finally said, "Oh, you mean Tetsuya? I think I saw him head to the Rooftop earlier." Yugen thanked them and immediately hurried over to the Rooftop.
Sure enough, in a small and rather hidden corner of the Rooftop, he found Tetsuya trying hard to stay out of sight. The boy looked like he wished the corner would swallow him whole.
"Tetsuya, I finally found you," Yugen said with a cheerful smile. "I'm Yugen. We're opponents this round, right? You did not forget, did you?"
The moment Tetsuya saw him, his whole body jerked. He almost wanted to cry on the spot, thinking that of course he remembered, otherwise why would he hide in a place like this.
"Then let's have a pleasant Duel," Yugen said as he cheerfully unfolded his Duel Disk. Tetsuya nodded dully and, with obvious reluctance, unfolded his own Duel Disk.
"Duel!" x2
"."
"I activate 'Dragged Down into the Grave', look at the opponent's hand and return one card to the Deck!" (ANIME EFFECT)
"."
"Trap Card 'Mind Crush'! When the opponent has four or more cards in hand, look at their hand and return one monster card to the Deck!" (ANIME EFFECT)
"."
"Trap Card 'Time Seal', skip the opponent's next Card Draw phase!"
"I equip 'Power of the Guardians' to 'Magical Something', then have Magical Something attack directly! At this moment, Power of the Guardians increases Magical Something's ATK!"
"."
A few minutes later, Tetsuya lay back and stared at the sky, quietly wondering why people lived at all. He also wondered why someone would challenge a monster to a Duel after eating their fill. He even started to think that maybe this path was not for him and that dropping out to find a regular job might be wiser.
After finishing up, Yugen put away his Duel Disk. He left the Rooftop with a satisfied smile, having collected his share of happiness for the day.
On the same day, another student in the Yellow Dormitory finished his own round of the freshman exchange Duel. He opened his Student Terminal to check his next opponent.
When the name "Yugen Fujiki" appeared on the screen, his facial muscles twitched. He stared blankly at the companions beside him and muttered, "I got matched with him."
The group that had been chatting and laughing froze for a few seconds. They then dropped their smiles, patted his shoulder with solemn expressions, and shook their heads in regret. Their reaction clearly said that such a young fellow was already doomed.
"."
Having gained plenty of extra credits and enjoyed the fun of Duel within just a few days of enrollment, Yugen was in an excellent mood. He felt his performance in the Exchange Duel Tournament was quite successful, and by the end of the first day almost everyone in the Yellow Dormitory seemed to know him. Becoming the most famous person in the whole dorm in a single day was not something just anyone could do.
Recently, however, some strange phenomena had begun to appear among the students of the Yellow Dormitory. It was said that some people had developed an inexplicable aversion to bicycles. There were even students who would scream meaningless words like "do not come any closer" when they suddenly encountered a bicycle at night.
"."
Today was also the official first day of classes at Duel Academy. Yugen was not very interested in his other courses and mostly spent the time examining his existing card pool, thinking about how to optimize it further. He was still adapting to deck construction in this world, and many habits formed over years were not easy to change.
The class he cared about most on the first day was the afternoon Card Draw practical course. In the original stories, the most representative figure who trained to achieve miraculous draws was a student from Obelisk Blue named Oyama Taira. He had lived like a wild man in the mountains for a year, claiming to have realized that the essence of Card Draw lay in the natural order of all things.
After that year of training, his draws became almost mystical. He even built a Deck that relied entirely on Card Draw tactics, making people think he had reached the level of calling any card he wanted like Yami Yugi. He could even predict what card his opponent would draw.
Later it was discovered that he could not fully control what he drew, only foresee the next card in advance. After his duel with Judai Yuki, it became clear that acquired training could not surpass innate talent, and he still fell short of Judai Yuki. Even so, he proved that training Card Draw was indeed effective.
"."
"Every Card Draw of a Duelist is sacred," the instructor said while pacing across the field with his hands behind his back. "Each Card Draw is a deep exchange with your Deck, and each one opens a path to the future."
"The most important thing is to stabilize your momentum," he continued. "A powerful Duelist overwhelms the opponent with their momentum, and a true Duelist must maintain it no matter how much pressure they face in a Duel."
"If you cannot keep your own rhythm and pace, your Deck will not respond to you," the instructor said. "Before the Duel even begins, that already counts as a loss."
"."
The instructor said a lot, but in the end it came down to one thing, practice. No amount of experience or technique could replace repetition.
To that end, he recommended several practice deck builds summarized by Duel Academy. Students were required to draw specific combinations from them in as few Card Draw as possible, with the builds divided into beginner, intermediate, and elite levels by difficulty.
"This is only the first stage," the instructor said. "Our goal for the first semester is just to complete the beginner test, and those with faster progress and higher talent might challenge the elite builds in the second semester."
"The elite builds require you to reliably draw the designated combination from a forty card Deck to pass," he continued. "And this is only wall practice, still different from real combat. Next semester we will strengthen training so you can perform normally even under the opponent's momentum."
"Success!"
Before the instructor finished speaking, a Jellyfish Hair student in the back row jumped up excitedly. "The elite challenge is not that hard at all, teacher!" the Jellyfish Hair student laughed, showing the five cards he had drawn at once. "I cleared it in one go!"
The instructor stared in disbelief. He pushed up his glasses that were about to slip off his nose and looked at the grinning Jellyfish Hair flashing a V sign at the surrounding students.
Clearing the elite challenge on the very first class, and doing it in a single attempt, was this Innate Card Affinity? The instructor could only wonder if perhaps the student should be teaching the class instead.
Yugen had an enjoyable and very full first week at Duel Academy.
His interactions with the new classmates in the Yellow Dormitory went smoothly, and a full week of nonstop wins without a single loss earned him plenty of extra credits. Added to the points he gained by actively answering questions in class, Yugen cashed in everything he earned by the end of the week and exchanged it all for cards.
The card inventory of Duel Academy changed almost every day, with cards constantly being bought and new ones restocked. Checking the inventory several times a day had already become part of his routine. Of course, the purchase system allowed students to mark cards in advance, and once an out of stock Rare Card was restocked, their personal terminals would immediately send a notification.
If too many people were watching the same card, then getting it depended entirely on speed and luck. This time, Yugen mainly redeemed two cards.