Chapter 245

"Welcome to the Link Arena."

Saito Tomoki stepped on the light blue data stream and came to the circular arena. The azure ripples like water flowing turned into a duel field, and Tomoki came to the center of this virtual field full of expectations.

Next week will be his first battle to enter the professional circle.

Professional Duelist League, the dream stage for countless duelists around the world. After years of unremitting efforts, Tomoki finally arrived on this broadest stage and was about to start a new life as a professional duelist.

The status of a professional duelist often means fame, fortune, status, and a large amount of money and power that ordinary people cannot imagine.

As a player born from a certain duel dojo, Tomoki now feels that the people around him cannot satisfy him.

He needs pressure and challenges!

The online competition of the Link System of Kaiba Corporation he just got recently is his excellent opportunity. He hopes to find motivation in this online venue, and it would be best to meet other professional circle seniors who also got the internal test qualification.

In fact, his most wanted target to fight is the shining newcomer in the professional league, "Edo Phoenix," a super big shot who uses the Hero deck and has maintained an all-win record so far. Only by confronting masters of that level can he better promote his own improvement.

Otherwise, Tomoki feels that he, as a genius newcomer, is hard to lose.

Link Arena matching completed. Tomoki queries opponent ID...

Happy Dueling?

In Tomoki's mind, the image of a hot-blooded teenager who was young and ignorant and had full enthusiasm for dueling immediately emerged.

Must be a hot-blooded duelist who loves dueling, right?

Online IDs are of course virtual, but Tomoki, as a professional player, used his real name as his ID. For no other reason, it highlights the confidence of a genius newcomer.

The virtual images came to the arena, and Tomoki got straight to the point: "Professional circle?"

Fujiki You Xuan, who had just logged in, was stunned, then smiled and confessed honestly: "No."

Tomoki was a little disappointed: "Amateur player?"

"Yes, yes, pure amateur."

"Alright."

Eh, it looks like another bullying game, it should be very boring.

Tomoki unfolded his duel disk: "Then come on, no need to be polite. Let me test your strength."

If you let an expert like me give you a pointer or two, you will benefit for life, Tomoki thought.

At the same time, Keipa also came to the sidelines to watch.

"Well, the opponent is a professional player right from the start... Semi-professional."

Keipa queried the opponent's information.

Saito Tomoki, a signed newcomer in the professional circle, next week is his professional circle debut.

After reading, Keipa suddenly looked at Tomoki with a complicated expression.

Speaking of which, this person is going to compete next week. Won't his mentality collapse today...

"Duel!" x2

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP4000】

【Tomoki, LP4000】

The duel disk indicator light lit up, indicating that Tomoki had obtained the right to choose the first or second turn.

The genius teenager looked at the duel disk and said: "I won't slack off just because the opponent is an amateur. My turn, draw!"

"Activate the Magic Card 'Ancient Rules' from my hand, Special Summon a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster from my hand!"

An ancient scroll appeared on the field in front of him, and the image of "Electric Lizard" was drawn on the scroll in an ancient style, with golden light surging on the scroll.

"Special Summon a Level 6 Normal Monster from my hand!"

"The strongest of the Fiend race, the King of Fiends controlled by the Duel King—"

"——Summoned Skull!"

Dark clouds churned, like a huge vortex stirred by invisible hands. Lightning flashed in the clouds, like a silver giant dragon shuttling through.

The giant Fiend's body appeared from the dark clouds, its body covered with white bones, looking ferocious and terrifying under the reflection of lightning. Every bone seemed to tell of endless slaughter and blood.

【Summoned Skull, ATK 2500】

"Yugi's monster," Keipa muttered.

Summoned Skull, Level 6 only needs one tribute to summon, but has 2500 ATK, is also a favored hitter, and is still a rare card. And now it has been developed into a new evolutionary form and is recognized by professional teams as having the potential for further evolution.

Of course, most of the trump cards used by Yugi back then have now been proven to have the potential for evolutionary development.

"Then set one card in the back row, turn ends," Tomoki said.

"Then my turn, draw," Fujiki You Xuan drew two cards, "Set one monster in the front row, set one card in the back row. Turn ends."

Hmm?

Tomoki raised his eyebrows, with a hint of disdain in his eyes.

That's it?

"Such a lukewarm duel will be taught a lesson in the cruel professional world. Let me teach you the cruelty of the professional world."

Tomoki smiled confidently.

"Then I'll trouble the senior for pointers," Fujiki You Xuan also said politely.

"That's natural. My turn, draw!"

Tomoki drew a card, then immediately drew two cards from his hand. One was discarded to the graveyard, and one was played directly.

"Magic Card 'Cost Down'! Discard one card from your hand to reduce the level of all monsters in your hand by 2 stars."

"Therefore, the Level 6 'Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend' in my hand is reduced by 2 stars to become Level 4, and can be Normal Summoned directly without tribute!"

Tomoki held the card in his hand high.

"The King of Fiends transforms into a new posture after a long evolution, becoming the King who controls thunder. Descend—"

"——Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend, summon!"

Ten thousand thunderbolts fell from the dark clouds and exploded on the field. The shape was almost carved from the same mold as Summoned Skull, but the whole body was entangled with terrifying thunder. The bones were like armor on its body, and the roar was like thunder.

【Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend, ATK 2500】

"Sure enough, it appeared, the evolutionary posture of Summoned Skull," Keipa pondered, "Summoning two great Fiends on the field at once, this newcomer is not bad."

It's a pity he met the wrong opponent.

I hope today's duel won't affect his state in next week's first battle...

"Then activate the set card," Tomoki said in a deep voice, "Equip Magic 'Rare Metal Armor'!"

"As long as the monster equipped with this card exists on the field, all card effects of the opponent can only choose the equipped monster as the target of the effect."

"I equip 'Rare Metal Armor' to 'Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend'!"

"Oh?" Fujiki You Xuan supported his chin and nodded, "This move is a bit interesting."

"The scope of Rare Metal Armor is not limited to monsters on the field," Tomoki sneered, "Including the monsters in both our graveyards and those removed from play, you cannot choose any of them as the target of the effect now."

"And activating Equip Magic on monsters on your own field is also an action of 'taking targets,' which cannot be done either. Even if you want to use Equip Magic, you can only equip it to my 'Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend'."

"Even if you want to activate 'Monster Reborn', you can't, because Monster Reborn also activates by 'targeting' monsters in the graveyard."

Tomoki's mouth raised, revealing a sneer.

Fujiki You Xuan nodded: "And 'Archfiend of Lightning - Skull Archfiend' will also trigger additional effects when it becomes the target of an effect, right?"

"Heh, your knowledge reserve is quite rich," Tomoki said confidently, "Not bad! When Skull Archfiend becomes the target of an opponent's effect, you can roll a die once."

"If you roll a 1, 3, or 6, that effect is negated and destroyed."

"So there is only a one-half probability of success," Fujiki You Xuan understood.

"Huo, this newcomer has something,"

Keipa began to look at Tomoki with admiration.

"In this way, aren't a large number of Fujiki You Xuan's card uses sealed?"

(End of this chapter)