A few days later.
"Excuse me, has anyone seen student Tetsuya?"
Yugen began searching for his next opponent in the exchange tournament.
Currently, his record in the exchange tournament was flawless, and he gained immense joy from each duel. Cultivating while also enjoying himself—Yugen felt his current learning state was ideal.
But now, he had a small problem; he couldn't seem to find his next duel opponent.
After asking around for a while, a kind passerby said, "Oh, you mean Tetsuya? I think I saw him go to the rooftop earlier."
Yugen thanked them and immediately headed to the rooftop.
Sure enough, in a small, hidden corner of the rooftop, he found student Tetsuya, still somewhat concealed.
"Student Tetsuya, I finally found you," Yugen said with a chuckle. "I'm Yugen. Are we supposed to duel this round? You haven't forgotten, have you?"
The moment student Tetsuya on the rooftop saw him, his whole body stiffened. He immediately wanted to burst into tears, thinking to himself, "Remember? Of course I remember! Otherwise, why the hell do you think I'd hide in a place like this?"
"Then let's have a fun duel together," Yugen said with a grin, setting up his duel disk.
Tetsuya nodded gloomily, reluctantly setting up his own duel disk.
"Duel!" x2
"..."
"Activate 'The Forceful Sentry' to look at your opponent's hand and return one card to the Deck!"
"..."
"Trap card 'Trap Dustshoot'! When the opponent has four or more cards in their hand, look at their hand and return one monster card to the Deck!"
"..."
"Trap card 'Time Seal' to skip your opponent's next Draw Phase!"
"Equip 'Spell Striker' with 'Power of the Guardians,' then use Spell Striker to directly attack the opponent! At this instant, Power of the Guardians increases Spell Striker's ATK..."
"..."
A few minutes later.
Student Tetsuya stared blankly at the sky, beginning to ponder why people live, and why, with nothing better to do, they'd want to duel a dog.
He also started wondering if the path of dueling wasn't suited for him, and if he should consider dropping out and finding a different class...
Afterward, Yugen put away his duel disk, having thoroughly enjoyed his day, and happily left the rooftop.
On the same day, another student from Yellow Dorm, after completing their round of the freshman exchange duel, opened their student terminal to check their next opponent.
When the name "Fujiki Yugen" appeared on the screen, the student's facial muscles twitched. They stared blankly at their companion beside them.
"...I'm matched against 'Him'."
The several people nearby, who had been laughing and talking, froze. The atmosphere was stiff for a few seconds. Then, they all sobered up, showing expressions of sorrow. They patted him on the shoulder, shaking their heads regretfully.
Their reaction was as if to say, "Such a young man, what a pity..."
Having earned quite a few extra credits in just a few days of enrollment and enjoying the thrill of dueling, Yugen was in a good mood. He felt that his performance in the exchange tournament should be considered very successful. By the end of the first day, everyone in the Yellow Dorm should have recognized him.
Becoming the most famous person in the entire dorm in just one day—could anyone else do that?
However, recently, some strange phenomena had gradually begun to appear among the students in Yellow Dorm.
It was said that some people started developing an inexplicable psychological conflict with themselves when running. Some students even screamed inexplicably when suddenly encountering a bicycle at a turn at night, yelling things like "Don't come here!"
Today was also the first official day of classes at the academy.
Yugen wasn't interested in most of the other classes. During lessons, he was mostly busy researching his existing card inventory, thinking about how to optimize and adjust his decks. He was still learning to adapt to the structure of the anime world, as many long-standing habits were difficult to change quickly.
The class he paid the most attention to on the first day was the afternoon Practical Draw Class.
In the original work, the most representative character who achieved a "God Draw" through cultivation was Damon, an Obelisk Blue student. This person spent a year in seclusion in the mountains, living like a wild man, claiming to have comprehended the truth of drawing cards, which was hidden within the laws of nature.
After a year of training, his "God Draw" reached a profound state. He even specifically built a deck entirely based on "drawing tactics," making people believe he could achieve a state similar to Yami Yugi, where he could "call for anything and it would come." He could even declare what card his opponent would draw.
However, it was later discovered that he couldn't completely control what he drew; he could only predict the next card he was about to draw. After his duel with Jaden, it was proven that acquired training ultimately couldn't compare to an innate "God Draw." In terms of mastery, he was still a level below Jaden.
But he at least proved that draw card training was indeed effective.
"Every card draw for a duelist is sacred."
The instructor responsible for practical combat instruction walked back and forth on the training ground, hands clasped behind their back.
"Every card draw is a deep communion with your deck; every card draw is creating the future."
"Most importantly, you must stabilize your 'momentum' (勢)."
"A powerful duelist will use their 'momentum' to overwhelm their opponent, and a true duelist must be able to maintain their 'momentum' no matter what immense pressure they face in a duel."
"If you can't even maintain your own rhythm and pace, your deck won't respond to you. In that case, before the duel even begins, you've already lost in terms of momentum."
The instructor said a lot, but in the end, it all boiled down to one word: practice.
No amount of experience or techniques could replace practice.
For this reason, the instructor recommended some of the most suitable practice structures summarized by the academy, requiring students to draw specific combinations from them with the shortest possible number of draws. The structures were also divided into beginner, intermediate, and elite stages based on difficulty.
"This is just the first round of class," the instructor said.
"Our goal for the first semester is only to complete the 'beginner' assessment. If there are those with faster progress and higher talent, perhaps in the second semester, they can challenge the 'elite' structures.
The 'elite' structure requires being able to consistently draw the specified combination from a forty-card deck to be considered合格 (qualified).
Also, this is just practice against a wall; it's still different from actual combat. In the next semester, we will begin intensified training to be able to perform normally even under the opponent's 'momentum' suppression..."
"Success!"
The instructor was still talking when they saw a student with jellyfish-like hair in the back row jump up excitedly.
"'Elite' challenge wasn't difficult at all, Sensei!" the jellyfish-haired student said with a laugh, showing five cards he had drawn in one go. "I succeeded in one try!"
Instructor: "???"
The instructor pushed up their glasses, which almost fell off their nose, looking incredulously at the proud jellyfish-haired student, who was grinning and making a V-sign to the surrounding classmates.
Completing the elite challenge directly in the first class? And in one try?
What is this? Is it an innate card-body?
Oh, well...
Perhaps, Sensei, you should teach this class, and I'll listen?