Chapter 6: Win a Championship First

"You want to go to Duel Academy?"

Director Takeuchi paused in surprise.

Now that he thought about it, the enrollment period for Duel Academy was indeed approaching soon.

For young duelists, Duel Academy was akin to a holy land. It gathered top-tier students, and its graduates were almost invariably destined to become elites. Moreover, under Seto Kaiba's management, whether one was the scion of a global conglomerate or the child of an all-powerful official, if they lacked talent, no amount of wealth or background could gain them entry.

Who exactly was Seto Kaiba?

The number one duelist in the world, wielding the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," the strongest duel monster of the current era, comparable to the legendary Three God Cards. Rumor had it he was even developing technology to traverse dimensions and time, attempting to use scientific means to open a gateway to the underworld just to play cards with the nameless Pharaoh who had long since fallen into slumber.

Not only was he the richest man in the world, but he was also a powerhouse standing at the dual peaks of the supernatural and technological realms, recognized as the number one duelist of the age after Yugi Mutou retired his deck.

Furthermore, he recognized nothing but skill at cards.

Therefore, if Seto Kaiba said there would be no backdoor entries and only ability mattered, then truly only ability mattered. No matter how prestigious or powerful the noble, anyone wishing to enter his school had to take the exam obediently; there was absolutely no room for underhanded manipulation.

Moreover, he revered power and advocated for elite education. This was evident from the strict hierarchy within Duel Academy in GX and the disdain the entire faculty and student body held for the bottom-ranking failures.

Many duel dojos offered subsidies for students applying to Duel Academy. After all, once a student successfully gained admission, they would undoubtedly become a high-quality alumnus in the future, providing excellent promotional benefits for the dojo as well.

Master Takeuchi's dojo also offered such a subsidy, though the number of slots available each year was limited.

Considering that You Xuan had swept through the entire dojo, including the master himself, within the past three days, he naturally fell within the eligible category.

If the application was approved, the student would receive not only tuition assistance but also a fund for deck construction from the dojo. The director would provide one-on-one guidance to help the student purchase new cards and optimize their build.

Of course, in You Xuan's case, the guidance portion could clearly be waived; all he needed was the money.

"Wait."

Just as Director Takeuchi agreed, something suddenly occurred to him.

"What was your duelist rank again?"

"...One star."

The Director: "..."

Honestly, even though he had witnessed it with his own eyes, he still found it hard to comprehend how a one-star student could suddenly improve to such a level as if struck by sudden enlightenment.

However, having personally experienced You Xuan's current dueling prowess, he also felt that You Xuan had a very high chance of succeeding this time.

"But a one-star rank doesn't meet the registration threshold..."

"I know." You Xuan nodded. "That's why I plan to head to the arena tomorrow to try and climb the ranks as quickly as possible."

"Hmm, but there's only one month left until the entrance exam; time is a bit tight." Director Takeuchi pondered for a moment. "It would be much more convenient if you could secure a ranking in an open tournament."

Securing a ranking in an open tournament would allow one to jump directly to a high-star rank, avoiding the slow, match-by-match point accumulation in ordinary arenas, and would also provide a major tournament record, which would be beneficial for one's future duelist career.

"Tell you what." Director Takeuchi looked at Sato Koji. "I recall Koji is preparing to participate in this year's Moonlight Cup, correct?"

"Although the registration window seems to have closed, I have a friend among the organizers; slipping one extra person into the preliminary selection shouldn't be a problem. The dojo will cover the registration fee. What do you think?"

This year, Koji was the only person in the entire dojo who had reached three stars, so naturally, he was the only one originally scheduled to apply for Duel Academy. His participation in the Moonlight Cup was already intended to build up his resume before enrollment, and securing a ranking would be even better.

"Then thank you, Director," You Xuan said.

Hearing this, Sato Koji, standing nearby, couldn't help but inhale sharply.

This guy is going to compete too?

What if I get matched against him again in the tournament...

Just imagining that scene sent a shiver through him, making his whole body feel uncomfortable.

But then he thought again, with so many competitors, the probability of being matched was not high. Or rather, once at the tournament, there would be a chance to see more clueless duelists, just like himself, being brought to tears by his junior brother through duels.

Thinking of that scene, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

His smile gradually became perverted.

Indeed, dueling still brings happiness.

It just depends on who receives the happiness.

The first ray of morning sunlight fell like gentle verses of poetry, draping the tranquil world in a golden veil. The night was dispelled, replaced by a fresh and bright dawn, the air filled with a faint scent of early morning and the fragrance of flowers.

At 6:20 in the morning, You Xuan lazily woke from his comfortable bed. Sunlight filtered through the gauze-like curtains, casting mottled light and shadow upon the white sheets and soft bedding.

He had gone to bed late last night, and the quality of his sleep wasn't very good; he had many dreams. He only vaguely remembered dreaming of Heibei and Wuchang. The two had first spoken in a ghostly manner, saying his fate had ended and it was time to go, but immediately after, they snapped open duel disks on their left and right, drew two decks, and said that if he won the duel, his life would be extended.

"Why would I have such a dream?" You Xuan rubbed his temples.

It seemed he was indeed gradually adapting to the fundamental logic of this card-playing worldview: that there is nothing that cannot be resolved by playing cards.

You Xuan took only five minutes to shake off his sleepiness, jumped out of bed, quickly changed and washed up, and began his study routine for the new day.

You could never imagine how terrifying a self-disciplined card gamer could be.

With only one month left until the Duel Academy entrance exam, it was time to start some preliminary review.

Originally, he had wondered what could be difficult about a dueling exam? Wasn't it just about learning and applying Konami language?

Things like distinguishing whether a card effect targets or does not target, the order of chain resolution, or advanced lessons on timing...

None of the above existed.

Regarding these deeper and more difficult Yu-Gi-Oh! specific rules found in physical cards, there was nothing at all. The conceptual questions only covered basics like "Please explain what a Normal Spell Card, an Equip Spell Card, and a Field Spell Card are," just like Professor Cronos's questions in the GX anime.

Then there was the memorization of various card effects. In fact, You Xuan quickly discovered that this part was unexpectedly quite difficult, because it was impossible for him to remember the classifications and effects of a bunch of ancient cards from the physical card environment of twenty years ago that no one had used. Not to mention that this world also contained a vast number of anime and manga cards that had never been released as physical cards.

He also quickly noticed through this that there were many differences between here and the physical card environment of twenty years ago. Many cards that might only have been released physically twenty years later already existed here now.

Of course, upon reflection, there was nothing strange about it. Even that key card for Jaden's Neo-Spacian deck, "Miracle Contact," after appearing in the anime, had made hero players drool for who knows how many years, feeling as if they had waited a lifetime for Konami to finally release it as a physical card...

So it was only natural that many cards that didn't exist back then were present here.

Looking through the entire question bank, in You Xuan's opinion, it was all content lacking substance; the awareness and techniques that truly formed the core of card skill were not mentioned at all.

This reminded him of a fan-made explanation he had seen online in his previous life. For many movies and animations, reality is a higher dimension, while in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, cards are the foundation of creation, and dueling represents the most fundamental laws of this world, rather than being merely a card game as it is in reality.

Therefore, for people in the anime world, exploring the rules of dueling is akin to conducting cutting-edge research in reality; it is an exploration of truth. Learning to play cards isn't that difficult from the perspective of the real dimension, but in the anime world, understanding these things requires great talent and immense effort.

You Xuan bought a set of supplementary books like "Fundamentals of Duel Theory" and "Duel Academy Past Exam Question Bank," spending most of the day grinding through practice problems. At the same time, he took some time to learn about the field of card crafting.

Throughout the generations of Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, the focus was always on the stories of duelists, with the aspect of card design and crafting merely glossed over. All one knew was that Pegasus, known as the "Father of Duel Monsters," first discovered ancient Duel Monster stone tablets in Egypt and crafted them into cards, thus creating the modern Duel Monster card system.

Later, card production was mainly handled by Pegasus's Industrial Illusions, but it wasn't entirely a monopoly. Companies like Kaiba Corp had also printed many cards that circulated in the market.

Furthermore, later on, there were Yugi-generation players like Yugi Mutou and Jaden Yuki, each possessing the cheat-level talent to print cards on the spot according to the needs of the situation. Some were so arrogant in their printing that they would sometimes directly print themselves and their opponents into the card art, without any concealment whatsoever...

Clearly, these privately printed cards were also recognized by the system and duel rules, and did not count as violations.

After all, Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally a supernatural world, and card playing was the manifestation of the supernatural. So, when certain Yugi-generation players with seafood-style hair shouted about friendship and bonds in front of their opponents and pulled out a blank card to print text and effects on the spot, it could even be said to be an application of this world's laws, a display of supernatural power.

How could the matters of the King of Games be called cheating?

God draws and printing cards are all part of dueling; if you don't like it, don't play.

However, it was conceivable that in such a world, card printing couldn't be entirely arbitrary. Even for designers at Industrial Illusions, newly designed cards probably had to conform to the rules to some extent and couldn't be made whimsically.

What You Xuan was curious about was what thresholds were required for card crafting and what kind of cards would be recognized.

Assuming that cards existing in the physical card pool of his previous life could all be printed, then if he became a card crafter, he would at least have to bring a bit of modern Yu-Gi-Oh! combo shock to this overly wholesome card world...

Here, You Xuan first bought a series of reference books and textbooks. It wasn't that he truly expected to learn it so simply, but rather to gain a superficial understanding first.

"Foundations of Field Spell Construction: Introduction to Environment Modeling."

"Nine Common Misconceptions in Monster Card Design."

As expected, in this world, card crafting was a profoundly deep discipline. Currently, many university laboratories and advanced research institutes were specifically engaged in scientific research and development related to Duel Monsters.

Even many old cards still held potential for further development and design.

A representative example was the most famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon, which was being developed by an independent research team personally led by Seto Kaiba. This was the world's top-tier Duel Monster research team; rumors said they had developed various evolved forms of Blue-Eyes, such as "White Spirit Dragon," "Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon," and "Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon."

There was also Wang Yang's Chaos Soldier. In the early days, when it was first made into a card from a stone tablet, it was just an eight-star, 3000 ATK blank monster. But now, it had also been developed with the alias "Chaos Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning," known among physical card players as "Big Opener." It was a super-rare card rare in the current era and also a legendary powerful monster in the mouths of duelists.

"If only I could learn to craft cards myself..." You Xuan pondered.

But for now, it was just a thought. He recalled that Maeda Junman, the roommate who shared a dorm with Jaden Yuki in the first season of the anime, seemed to have joined Industrial Illusions as a full-time card designer after graduating from Duel Academy. You Xuan guessed that the academy might also have major-related courses on card crafting.

If there was an opportunity, he would definitely make sure to learn more about it then.

As for now, he had tentatively set a new small goal for himself.

Win a championship at the Moonlight Cup first.

(End of Chapter)