[Misawa, LP 0]
With his LP hitting zero, Misawa lay on his back on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling of the dueling arena, seemingly contemplating the meaning of life for a long time.
He reflected on his preparations for this duel over the past few days, wondering if he hadn't done enough in some areas, if there was a problem with his thought process, or something else entirely.
But the more he thought, the more he felt like none of that was it.
If he had to pinpoint his biggest mistake, it was probably still, one should never duel a dog.
Misawa wasn't actually the kind of person who feared failure. If he dueled Judai and lost, even though there would be a sense of defeat, the dueling process itself was still a kind of enjoyment. At the same time, he would constantly strive to improve, quickly recover, and research new countermeasures to prepare for the next comeback.
He certainly didn't give up on the idea of working hard to research and reclaim his honor later, but that was more out of the dignity and resilience of a duelist. But thinking about the situation where he was fighting with fiery enthusiasm, called out his trump card ready to decide the victory, only to have it be one-shotted by a sword aimed at "D.D. Warrior," immediately made him feel like he didn't want to touch his cards for the next few days.
If given a choice, he still would have preferred to be kicked to death by Flame Wingman.
The practical skill test was still ongoing, but the remaining duels had lost their excitement and attention. Even long after the two combatants' duel ended, everyone was still savoring the aftertaste of this match.
The new students of the Yellow dorm only felt complex emotions. This duel not only officially determined who was the absolute strongest in the Yellow dorm this year but also symbolized the fall of Misawa, the last hope of the entire Yellow dorm who was entrusted with the expectation of "resisting the dark duelist."
This was a decisive loss in an important event, symbolizing that Ra - Yellow this year was heading further and further into the bottomless abyss of darkness.
On the other hand, the Blue and Red dorms didn't all recognize Yugen yet. But the new students who had just witnessed this duel all showed expressions like "I don't understand what's happening but I'm deeply shocked," wondering if this year's Yellow dorm ace was this powerful?
However, Yugen himself felt pretty good about it.
If he were to say it himself, he felt that this was the authentic Sun God. Who didn't know that the user of The Winged Dragon of Ra in the Battle City back then was the legendary Mariku-senpai?
How did that Mr. Ma duel?
Weren't they all things like the Lava Golem Nightmare Wheel underworld combo, all sorts of duels that made people feel kimoji and happy?
So wouldn't their Yellow dorm, as descendants of the Sun God, be considered the authentic Sun God for carrying forward this traditional line of thought and insisting on using duels to bring everyone roaring joy?
Principal Samejima, who had watched the entire practical skill test, nodded in satisfaction, feeling that he had indeed not misjudged. This year's student Yugen was truly a talent. Given some time, once he left the academy and entered the dueling world, he would likely become a leading figure.
Manjome, who had also watched the duel, sat back in his seat with a satisfied expression.
This was the way it should be, this was the flavor he wanted.
Although this Fujiki Yugen was annoying, he wouldn't forgive anyone else easily defeating someone outside of himself.
At this moment, he heard his little follower A whisper beside him, "Big brother looks really happy, even though he clearly lost the test today..."
Little follower B: "Shhh~ Keep it down, don't let big brother hear you."
Manjome's smile immediately disappeared.
His fist clenched involuntarily once more.
"That damn Yuki Judai, also unforgivable!" Manjome gritted his teeth.
An underworld dog, a hook-nosed dog, in his eyes they were equally hateful.
The two little followers looked at each other, not daring to speak.
But they both had a premonition that their big brother's next three years were likely going to be very difficult...
The mid-term exam ended, and Yugen successfully obtained a new batch of course credit rewards.
According to the agreement with Professor Cronos, Judai, after defeating Manjome, could have been specially promoted to the Yellow dorm ahead of time. But Judai himself主动放弃了这个机会 (主动放弃了这个机会 - actively gave up this opportunity).
"Burning red! Overflowing with passion red! This is my color! How could I give it up!"
That's what the person involved said himself.
However, this was also within expectations. After all, in the original work, if Judai wanted to, he actually had countless opportunities to leave the Red dorm, but he himself chose to stay.
Student Judai was probably the most unique student in Osiris Red history who genuinely loved this dorm.
From the moment he arrived a week ago, Yugen's long-awaited card creation curriculum could finally be considered starting.
Duel Academy was dedicated to nurturing talent in various aspects related to the dueling field, and it wasn't limited to only those who absolutely had to duel. In Judai's first year, his dorm mate Hayato was always failing the tests and had the worst grades for many years. In the end, he chose to give up the path of a duelist and become a card creator.
Therefore, the academy also attached great importance to cultivating these related skills.
The curriculum naturally started from the very basics. The previous few classes were theoretical explanations, striving to guide them to hands-on practice starting with "replication."
That is to say, before designing their own new cards, the first step for newcomers was always imitation, which was to try and replicate some existing cards.
Only after familiarizing themselves with the card creation process through countless replications could they begin to talk about creating something new themselves.
Moreover, replicating cards wasn't necessarily easier than the original. Some cards were very easy to replicate, such as some common, weak-effect, and ineffective magic and trap cards which were the easiest to succeed and were also the learning targets arranged for students to practice.
But the stronger the card—especially monster cards—the harder they were to replicate. This was also why many famous monsters in the world were unique, with only one original copy.
After the card creation curriculum opened, Yugen would often run to Professor Daitokuji, frequently inquiring about various design-related issues.
Very quickly, Yugen discovered that his guess was indeed correct. Although Professor Daitokuji's specialty was Alchemy, he was also a master at designing ordinary cards. Or rather, the connection between Alchemy and the card creation field was possibly even greater than he had previously realized.
After several times, Daitokuji simply opened his alchemy laboratory, which the academy had allocated to him, to Yugen—after all, Daitokuji was usually slacking off and basically didn't use it.
Although Professor Daitokuji was usually very laid-back in class and never cared about being absent from work or playing games, no teacher would dislike a good student.
Daitokuji would slowly and intentionally start talking to him about some content that wouldn't be taught in regular classes. Occasionally, when in a good mood, he would personally demonstrate operations for him, or stand beside him while peeling a tangerine and correcting his non-standard operations.
At the same time, Yugen's card drawing training hadn't skipped a single day. But to be honest, the more he practiced, the more he envied that certain jellyfish head (Muto Yugi). That guy, apart from the first class, basically skipped the entire curriculum and never trained, but even so, he could still draw better than anyone else.
One could only say that his natural card drawing talent was terrifying.
Not to mention actual dueling, but since coming to the academy, he could clearly feel that the pure card drawing level of the academy students compared to the majority of duelists he had encountered before was truly elite.
At least in class, under the situation where only the card drawing skill was compared without actual dueling, Yugen estimated that his own level was probably just slightly above average among the students of the same year. In other words, if everyone was using decks full of common monster cards and swinging their heavy hitters at each other, he probably wouldn't win against eight out of ten students.
But it wasn't a big problem. Yugen had a very calm mindset and deeply understood the principle of practicing one dish many times. He had only been practicing for a short time now, and later on, with more practice and more duels, he would have a lot of room for improvement.
For example, the Duel Club seemed to be organizing some kind of exchange duel for new members recently, which sounded pretty good.
Speaking of which, student Manjome seemed to have also joined the Duel Club, so if things went smoothly, there might even be a rematch with student Manjome.
Not only was it a good training opportunity, but it could also allow him to make friends with more new students faster.
He certainly couldn't miss that.