Chapter 1170: High-Flying

"Ah, revived, revived."

Yuma, having eaten his fill, patted his chest, eating rice balls and drinking hot tea, looking blissful.

"Sure enough, you have to eat rice balls to have the energy to duel."

Yuma smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits.

The arithmetic student beside him rested his chin on his hand: "I always feel like this sounds so familiar..."

Several friends beside him nodded in agreement.

Everyone couldn't help but think of the jellyfish-headed boy who was brainless and had nothing but food and cards on his mind when he first enrolled.

That person was also the only one they knew who would get hungry and want to eat in the middle of a card game. According to Principal Jiaodao's speculation, it was rumored that some people in the world were good at thinking with their small intestines, and perhaps Yuma was such a rare oddity.

If this theory was true, then everyone probably should be considered to have seen Yuma's kind. This lobster-headed boy in front of them might also have an IQ in his small intestines that exceeded his brain.

Don't say it, it really made sense. Looking at the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yuma was probably the only oddity besides Judai Yuki who would suddenly eat in the middle of a card game. And if one had to say, Yuma could even be said to have surpassed his predecessor; after all, Judai's eating-during-a-card-game was a casual match against the graduate Ryo Marufuji, while Yuma's was a life-or-death card game, and it was a heavyweight BOSS battle against the Emperor in the early stages; when he was eating, he was even in the Saint Seiya state fused with Astral into ZEXAL.

Suddenly making the BOSS watch him eat in the middle of a BOSS battle, Yuma could not only be said to have no predecessor, but there would probably be few followers in the future.

By now, many people had heard that a lobster-headed boy who could eat a lot had appeared out of thin air at the academy, and they all crowded around to watch the fun.

Although it was a strange environment and surrounded by strange faces, Yuma, as the leader of the "High-Flying" cult, specialized in accepting everyone. Or to put it colloquially, he could also be said to have social anxiety's opposite—social butterfly syndrome.

In short, Yuma was definitely not the type to feel reserved; he could immediately get along with the people around him.

"My name? I'm Yuma, Tsukumo Yuma!" Yuma proudly puffed out his chest, "A duelist aiming to be the Duel Champion! High-flying, that's me!"

The academy students looked at each other.

Duel Champion? Did that mean a professional league champion? Or did it mean the Duel King?

"You just said high... what?" Asuka was confused.

As soon as this was mentioned, the leader wasn't sleepy anymore and immediately began to preach: "The so-called high-flying is the spirit of never giving up, believing in yourself, and insisting on continuing to challenge no matter how many times you fall!

This is the most important thing Dad taught me."

As he said this, he unconsciously gripped the golden pendant on his chest, that thing called the "Emperor's Key."

This was the most important treasure his father left him.

"Even now, I'm still moving forward without ever giving up." Yuma clenched his fists, "As long as you don't give up, you can overcome any predicament you encounter, and one day I will become the Duel Champion, the strongest and most amazing duelist. This is my high-flying!"

However, everyone listening at this moment just felt it was interesting. And seeing that Yuma wasn't very old, even if they had heard it, they just took it as hot-bloodedness with a bit of childishness and didn't take it too seriously.

Most people just hearing it like this would indeed find it hard to imagine how firm the leader's "high-flying" really was and what kind of astonishing willpower it gave him. It was precisely his firm determination that surpassed ordinary people that allowed him to successfully brainwash one teammate and villain after another in the anime, making them all willingly accept the leader's preaching and become firm followers of "high-flying."

Some fans said that if the protagonist of ZEXAL wasn't Tsukumo Yuma, but any generation of Duel King from the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, they might not have been able to clear the perfect ending in the anime. This statement might not necessarily be true, but it wasn't without reason.

Tsukumo Yuma naturally couldn't be said to be the strongest protagonist in history; there were plenty of people with stronger card skills and better luck than him. But even if someone with stronger strength came to the ZEXAL dungeon, even if they could sweep all the villains and win all the duels, they might not have been able to achieve a perfect ending.

It was precisely the leader's high-flying, his never-say-die attitude, that allowed him to save everyone in the end. He protected all his companions and even redeemed all the tragic villains. His world was cruel, so he rewrote the laws of the world. Fate toyed with him and his best partner, so he reversed this fate, allowing everyone to win a Happy Ending.

This was why it was said that the leader's high-flying wasn't just an empty slogan.

In terms of strength alone, he was probably the weakest protagonist at the start in history; before meeting Astral, let alone challenging top-tier experts, he hadn't even won a single card game against his own classmates, and his dueling level was even below the average level of the world.

So the leader couldn't be said to have the strongest card skills in history, but he could definitely be considered the protagonist with the most astonishing growth during the anime—after all, he started at the bottom, and his room for improvement was incomparable to any other generation. If other protagonists practiced from level 90 to level 100 from the beginning, then Yuma started from level 0 to level 100; his growth curve was naturally incomparable.

"..."

"Duel Academy?"

At this moment, Yuma was very interested after knowing his location.

"Oh, oh, an academy specifically for learning dueling? There's such a school, so amazing!"

The students around felt a bit strange.

Nowadays, anyone who had come into contact with card games, even children in preschool, regarded being able to enter Duel Academy as the ultimate dream. How could there still be someone who hadn't heard of Duel Academy?

"So it's a school specifically for learning dueling, wouldn't the duelists here all be super strong?"

Yuma was very excited.

"Then let's duel!"

Astral floated behind him, leisurely reminding: "Yuma, we still haven't figured out where we've come to. I think there's something wrong here, maybe we should investigate first..."

"I know, I know, but the opportunity to duel in such an interesting place might not exist in the future." Yuma pouted.

Asuka followed Yuma's gaze to the empty space in the room and asked strangely: "Who are you talking to?"

"Ahahaha, nothing, I'm just a person who sometimes likes to talk to myself." Yuma laughed and scratched his head.

Astral was attached to Yuma, and others besides him generally couldn't see Astral's existence.

"Alright, then let's duel, let's duel!"

Yuma was very excited.

"I can't wait!"

The students looked at each other, and no one spoke for a while.

A few seconds later, Manjoume Jun walked out from behind the crowd.

"Interesting... then let me try first." ===== CHAPTER 1171 =====