Chapter 34: Wan Wan Zhangmu Lightning

The written exam lasted three days, and over these days, Tiancheng Guang felt his condition was excellent.

Most of the questions had been covered in class; the few "out-of-syllabus" ones were merely rephrased versions of old problems, and for Tiancheng Guang, a student shaped by the Chinese education system, once familiar with these questions, they were simple and effortless.

Although he could guarantee that even a Yu-Gi-Oh! referee might get confused by many Yu-Gi-Oh! card rules, there were no such things in the Duel Academy's exam questions.

Beyond that, there was also the "Alchemy" course. Not to mention he himself had a natural talent for Alchemy—even without such talent, Tiancheng Guang could secretly ask Jin Shi; but if caught doing this, it would definitely be counted as cheating, and he wasn't foolish enough to cheat just for grades, yet he still felt a quiet sense of security.

After finishing several days of written exams, Tiancheng Guang rubbed his deck, thinking about today's practical exam.

Although the written exam was important, in Duel Academy, practical performance was naturally more important and carried higher bonus points; if his goal was top of the year, he obviously needed to win as much as possible.

And his opponent, without exception, would surely be Wan Wan Zhangmu.

Although the school was generally "fair" in most cases, sometimes certain students were even fairer.

In the anime, Wan Wan Zhangmu was tolerable—he got expelled if caught cheating—but in this world, Wan Wan Zhangmu was the disciple of Kaiba Rensei; if he truly wanted to face Tiancheng Guang in the practical exam, the teachers wouldn't mind granting him this favor.

To be honest, if it were the original timeline's Wan Wan Zhangmu, facing him would've been quite good.

First, as a duelist, his "energy" was naturally high, making him a worthy daily opponent.

In the original story, although he was positioned as the second male lead, he was consistently overshadowed by other characters: early on by Marufuji Ryo, mid-story by Ed Phoenix, and later by John; despite being the second male lead, most of the work was done by others.

Therefore, as an opponent, Tiancheng Guang's probability of victory was certainly higher, making it easier to secure a scholarship—but in this world, Wan Wan Zhangmu, due to different historical development, had become Kaiba Rensei's disciple, just like in the manga.

He rubbed his main deck and extra deck.

First, the main deck: after two months of iteration, he had removed all the fusion cards that were just filler; the remaining cards were primarily Simple Fusion, Basic Fusion, Fusion Warrior, and Gladiator Beast series cards. Although the number of monsters still lagged behind others' main decks, he no longer worried about lacking monsters. Added to this were Cannon Soldier, High-Tech Wolf, and Winged Beast Hot Lady, which had remained in his deck without being fused—this deck was, in a sense, already "half" monsters.

However, there were still some "abstract" cards in the deck that were relatively hard to use.

Beyond that, the extra deck had become far more luxurious than at the start. Removing Armored Dragon and Golden Magic Elephant, which he'd used as Simple Fusion fodder, Tiancheng Guang had essentially replaced his entire extra deck: its "core" now consisted of two Flame Swordsman, one Flame Knight, plus Flame Yu Yi Ren, Inferno Fire Demon, and Ancient Mechanical Ultimate Giant; additionally, there were sudden high-quality results—Ice Blade Hand and Thousand-Eyed Offering God—and even a card he couldn't yet use but found exciting to keep: Super Magical Warrior—Chaos Tamer.

And this brought along some new problems.

That was, his extra deck was about to overflow—he had to remove some fusion monsters left over from earlier versions.

Tiancheng Guang hadn't considered this issue before, because in his memory, anime extra decks could be stuffed with as many cards as you wanted; only after his teacher reminded him of the extra deck limit did he recall that in the original story, Judai had once struggled over which card to remove to make room for Flash Flame Yu Yi Ren.

He rubbed his extra deck—it was still "about to overflow," but hadn't yet burst, because even after adding the newly acquired Re-Refined Warrior—Molten Alchemist, his extra deck still wasn't full; even counting the Electronic Dragon fusion monster the Super Fusion had produced for him after that duel, he still had room.

But he must plan ahead.

"Next match: Oberisq Blue—Wan Wan Zhangmu versus Solis Yellow—Tiancheng Guang! Both candidates, please proceed to your designated dueling arena and prepare!"

Hearing his name, Tiancheng Guang quickly tucked away his deck and headed to the arena.

On the other side, Wan Wan Zhangmu had been waiting for a long time.

"Ah, Tiancheng's opponent is Wan Wan Zhangmu? Go for it, Wan Wan Zhangmu!"

"Why are you cheering for me, you jerk!"

"Then… Tiancheng, go for it!"

"You wait—" Wan Wan Zhangmu shouted angrily toward the audience.

Then he turned back and looked at Tiancheng Guang.

To be honest, Tiancheng Guang's appearance always made him uneasy.

Students in purple uniforms were members of the Fusion Department; their reputation among regular students was terrible—they were generally considered lunatics.

Behind Tiancheng Guang, several Fusion Department students followed him; seeing his opponent, they couldn't help whispering among themselves.

"Is Tiancheng's opponent that Wan Wan Zhangmu?" "Isn't that the guy who got in through back channels?"

"I heard he ran away after losing to Yusei Judai—how does he still have the nerve to come back?"

"It's painful to be in the same school as someone like him—thank goodness I switched to purple."

"Light Brother, go for it!" "Go, Tiancheng! Show that guy what for!"

Wan Wan Zhangmu's face was cold, fists clenched, yet he said nothing in rebuttal.

Tiancheng Guang's expression immediately fell. He shouted to the students behind him: "Don't make me look like the villain!"

These Fusion Department students were still too influenced by the Activity Club's atmosphere.

He turned back, smiling warmly at Wan Wan Zhangmu: "Wan Wan Zhangmu, long time no see. I'm Tiancheng Guang, first-year of the Fusion Department!"

Though still annoyed, seeing Tiancheng Guang like this, he felt slightly better: "Don't call me Wan Wan Zhangmu—

I am, one, ten, hundred, thousand—Wan Wan Zhangmu Lightning!"

He raised his hand and roared toward the students behind Tiancheng Guang.

"Uh… okay?"

Tiancheng Guang hadn't expected that, despite the altered timeline, Wan Wan Zhangmu's otaku intensity remained unchanged.

"Duel!" ×2

"My turn!" Wan Wan Zhangmu eagerly wanted to show off, so he immediately drew a card.

He called it so fast!

Tiancheng Guang marveled.

"Normal Summon: Armored Dragon—"

A dragon warrior covered in verdigris and crimson armor flew out from the card.

"Armored Dragon?" He'd thought Wan Wan Zhangmu in this world wouldn't use Armored Dragon, since the Northern Academy still used it; he hadn't expected there was another series.

Armored Dragon—Level 4, Wind Attribute, Dragon-Type, ATK 1900.

"A Level-4 monster with 1900 ATK?"

"Of course—that guy used Kaiba Corp's influence—how else could he get such a rare card so easily?"

The crowd began murmuring again.

This made Wan Wan Zhangmu even more irritated.

But—

At that moment,

Tiancheng Guang took a deep breath, raised his dueling disk, and shouted: "I've fusion cards you don't have!"

"The key is, whether you use them well!"

"Otherwise, everyone will end up like that Liu senior—holding powerful cards but not knowing how to use them."

These Fusion Department students came to watch him—whether they saw him as an idol or just wanted to learn techniques—since they came, he owed them some responsibility.

He looked at the slightly bewildered Wan Wan Zhangmu and snapped his fingers lightly: "Come on, Wan Wan Zhangmu, let me see your duel."

Wan Wan Zhangmu froze with the card in hand for a long time, then took a deep breath.

He now understood why Judai had lost to Tiancheng Guang without being discouraged—why he'd even looked happy.

So there were people like this in the Fusion Department?

"Hmph—it's Wan Wan Zhangmu Lightning!"

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(End of Chapter)