Chapter 91: Making Friends Through Duels

【Sanzo, LP0】

Sanzo lay on his back, life points at zero, staring at the arena ceiling as if pondering his life for a long while.

He reflected on the preparations he’d made for this duel these past days, wondering if he’d missed something, if his strategy had gone wrong, or if something else was at fault.

But the more he thought, the more he felt none of it was true.

If he had to name his greatest mistake, it was surely this: one should never duel a dog.

Sanzo wasn’t the type to fear defeat. If he’d lost to Jidai, he might have felt frustrated, but the duel itself would still have been a pleasure. He’d pick himself up quickly, study new strategies, and prepare for his next counterattack.

He hadn’t abandoned the idea of working harder in the future to reclaim his honor—but that came from a duelist’s dignity and resilience. Yet the moment he recalled how, in the heat of battle, he’d summoned his ace and swung his sword—only to strike the “Dimensional Warrior”—he immediately decided he didn’t want to touch cards for days.

If he had a choice, he’d rather be kicked to death by Flame Wingman.

The practical exam continued, but the remaining duels had lost all heat and attention. Long after the two had left the stage, everyone was still savoring that card.

The new students of the Yellow Dorm felt a complex mix of emotions. This duel had officially crowned the absolute king of this year’s Yellow Dorm—and symbolized the fall of Sanzo, the last hope of the Yellow Dorm’s “Anti-Yin Warriors.”

It was a milestone defeat, signaling that this year’s La-Yellow was hurtling deeper into boundless darkness.

Blue and Red Dorm students didn’t yet all know You Xuan—but those who’d witnessed the duel wore expressions of “I don’t understand, but I’m stunned,” wondering if this year’s Yellow Dorm ace was really this strong.

But You Xuan felt great about himself.

In his view, this was the true Sun God orthodoxy. Didn’t everyone know that in Duel City, the user of the Winged Dragon of Ra was the legendary Ma Like?

How did Mr. Ma play his cards?

Weren’t they all those hellish combos—Lava Demon’s Torture Wheel, all kinds of kimoji-style joyful duels?

Then isn’t it the Sun God orthodoxy for us, the heirs of the Sun God in Yellow Dorm, to carry on this tradition and bring laughter through duels?

Headmaster Jiao Dao nodded in satisfaction after watching the entire practical duel. He’d been right all along—this year, You Xuan was truly a talent. Given time, once he left the academy and entered the dueling world, he’d surely become a major figure.

Banjōmoku, having just watched the duel, sat back in his seat with a satisfied expression.

That’s the spirit. That’s the flavor I wanted.

Though You Xuan was detestable, he couldn’t forgive anyone else for defeating him so easily.

At that moment, his junior, Brother A, whispered: “Big Brother seems so happy, even though he lost today’s exam.”

Brother B: “Shhh~ Quiet, don’t let Big Brother hear.”

Banjōmoku’s smile vanished instantly.

Without realizing it, he clenched his fists tighter.

“Damn You↑Cheng↓Shi↑Dai↓, equally unforgivable!” Banjōmoku gritted his teeth.

One hellish dog, one card-pulling dog—in his eyes, equally detestable.

The two juniors exchanged glances, saying nothing.

But they both sensed that Big Brother’s next three years were going to be very hard.

The interim assessment ended, and You Xuan successfully received his new batch of credit rewards.

According to his agreement with Professor Chronos, after defeating Banjōmoku, Jidai was eligible for an exception to transfer early into Yellow Dorm. But Jidai voluntarily gave up the opportunity.

“Fiery red! Passionate red! This is my color! How could I ever abandon it?”

That’s what the participant himself said.

But this was expected. After all, in the original story, Jidai had countless chances to leave Red Dorm—but he chose to stay.

Jidai might be the only truly passionate student in Osiris Red’s history.

Starting this new week, You Xuan’s long-awaited card-design course finally began.

The Duel Academy trained talent across all areas related to dueling—not just those who had to play cards. In Jidai’s first-year dorm, Kōra Kujirabito had flunked for years, ranked last, and eventually abandoned the duelist path to become a card designer.

So the academy placed great emphasis on cultivating these related skills.

Naturally, the course started from the basics. The first few lessons were theoretical lectures, followed by hands-on practice beginning with “replication.”

That is, before designing new cards themselves, every beginner’s first step was always imitation—trying to replicate existing cards.

Only after countless replications had familiarized them with the card-design process could they begin to speak of innovation.

Moreover, replicating cards wasn’t necessarily easier than creating original ones. Some cards were easy to replicate—for instance, common weak magic or trap cards with little utility were the easiest to succeed at, and were typically assigned to students for practice.

But the stronger the card—especially monster cards—the harder it was to replicate. That’s why many famous monsters in the world were unique, existing as only a single copy.

After the card-design course began, You Xuan frequently visited Teacher Dade Temple, often asking questions about design.

Soon, You Xuan realized his suspicion was correct: Teacher Dade Temple, though specializing in alchemy, was also an expert in ordinary card design—or perhaps the connection between alchemy and card design was even deeper than he’d let on.

As visits increased, Dade Temple opened his assigned alchemy lab to You Xuan—since he barely used it anyway, always slacking off.

Though Teacher Dade Temple was usually lazy, never caring about absences or skipping class, no teacher disliked a good student.

Slowly, Dade Temple began, intentionally or not, to mention content rarely taught in class. On good days, he’d even demonstrate techniques himself—or stand beside You Xuan, stroking his cat, correcting his improper movements.

Meanwhile, You Xuan never skipped his card-drawing training. But honestly, the more he trained, the more he envied that jellyfish-headed guy—who skipped every class after the first, never trained, yet still drew better than anyone else.

One can only say: his innate card-drawing talent is terrifying.

Leaving aside actual duels, since arriving at the academy, You Xuan could clearly sense that the students’ card-drawing skills were elite compared to most duelist he’d met before.

At least in classroom settings where only raw draw skill was tested, You Xuan estimated his level was only slightly above average among his peers. That meant, if everyone used decks full of common cards and clashed with Axe King, he’d likely lose to many of them.

But it didn’t matter. You Xuan remained calm, deeply understanding that if you’re weak, you train more. He’d only trained for a short while—there was still vast room for improvement ahead.

For instance, the Duel Club seemed to be organizing a new-member exchange and competition soon—sounded quite promising.

By the way, Banjōmoku had also joined the Duel Club. If things went well, he might even get a rematch with Banjōmoku.

Not only a great training opportunity, but also a faster way to make friends with more new students.

He absolutely wouldn’t miss it.

Yesterday, I accidentally messed up the update time, and many readers commented that they preferred noon updates.

So I’ll go with the mistake and try changing the update time to noon :)



(End of Chapter)