CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER 15: A DUEL? THE KIND THAT BRINGS SMILES

The turn marker flipped, indicating that Xu Tianzhi’s turn could begin.

Xu Tianzhi glanced warily at the two spells in Shen Sui’s backfield.

Although only one turn had passed, Xu Tianzhi already knew that the opponent in front of him was definitely not some simple novice.

If a spell can be activated during the opponent’s turn, there will be a fleeting moment of lag when it’s the time to activate it.

Xu Tianzhi thought to himself that this turn he must always be alert to the momentary lag.

"My turn." Xu Tianzhi declared the start of his turn, and then he immediately sensed the lag.

What?

He was slightly startled, then heard Shen Sui’s voice from the opposite side: "At this moment! Flip the face-down card, activate the spell card [Show Weakness]!"

Shen Sui flipped the 5-star face-down card, which turned out to be the spell card [Show Weakness].

"Pay half of your life value, and discard a card from your hand, then select [Alice’s Little Mare] on my field as the target to activate, until the end of the duel, reduce its spirit value to 0, and after that until the end of this turn, you cannot activate the effects of cards of the same category as the discarded card!" Shen Sui explained the effect of [Show Weakness].

As he spoke, Shen Sui’s life value began to rapidly decline, dropping from 1000 to 500.

Then, Shen Sui drew a card from his hand.

The card was revealed as the follower card [Silver Moon Wolf King Hali].

"Discard [Silver Moon Wolf King Hali], until the end of the turn, you cannot use the effects of follower cards!"

Shen Sui’s words landed like a hammer of winter on Xu Tianzhi’s heart.

What?!!

His pupils contracted slightly, experiencing a momentary distraction.

You should know, a large portion of his card set’s strategy relies on the effects of follower cards.

Things were getting difficult.

"Next, activate the effect of the permanent spell card [Star Magic Array]." The magic array beside Shen Sui lit up, "When my spell card is resolved and sent to the graveyard outside of my turn, I can return it to the deck."

The [Show Weakness] that just entered the graveyard was bounced back to the deck.

[Wow, a counter move! This newcomer seems really impressive!]

[Will there be another Xinyuan Yingxue? Beating a level five without being ranked.]

[But my dear Xue is awesome, she defeated a complete form level five Life Card Master, you know.]

[Damn! Nonsense! Xue is obviously mine!]

The bullet screen instantly turned into a chaotic debate.

"My turn, draw a card." Xu Tianzhi drew a card from his deck.

However, when he entered the main phase, the familiar lag reappeared.

Hmm?

Xu Tianzhi was startled, but found that Shen Sui showed no intention of taking any action.

There’s a signal, got to be careful.

Xu Tianzhi silently reminded himself, but when he saw the card he had drawn, he finally breathed a sigh of relief; with this card in hand, he absolutely wouldn’t lose!

"Pay 12 Soul Points!" Xu Tianzhi almost without hesitation activated the card from his hand, "Activate from my hand! Permanent spell card [Intelligent Mechanic Crisis]!"

Accompanied by the glow of the spell card, layers of metallic sheen appeared on Xu Tianzhi’s field, swirling metal parts, and jumping program codes; in that moment, he seemed to be in a wondrous sci-fi era.

[It’s here! It’s here! Xu Tianzhi’s trump card, the invincible Intelligent Mechanic Crisis is here!]

[Come on! Let the newcomer feel the terror of a level five professional Life Card Master!]

[Your field containment and limitation abilities are indeed very strong, but if, I mean if, if I used the core spell card of the Intelligent Mechanism Card Set [Intelligent Mechanic Crisis], I wonder how you would respond?]

However, the next moment, before Xu Tianzhi could announce the effect of [Intelligent Mechanic Crisis], Shen Sui slowly opened the spell in the backfield: "At this moment! Flip the face-down card, activate the spell card [Accidental Injury]!"

"Can only be activated during the main phase of both parties; destroy one of my followers and then activate a spell card from the graveyard or deck."

"I choose to destroy [Intermediate Mage Alice] on my field, and activate the spell card [Recovery] from the graveyard!"

"Select a follower in your graveyard as a target for activation and special summon it to your field."

"I choose to special summon [Silver Moon Wolf King Hali] from the graveyard to the field!"

[Silver Moon Wolf King Hali], spirit value 1600.

"Then!" Shen Sui raised his hand, the Star Magic Array beside him lit up, "Activate the effect of the Star Magic Array to return [Recovery] and [Accidental Injury] to the deck."

Xu Tianzhi’s mouth twitched, I say, isn’t this supposed to be my turn? Is it really appropriate for you to narrate like this?

But what made him feel despair was that Shen Sui’s narration was clearly not finished yet.

"At this moment, activate the effect of the [Intermediate Mage Alice] that entered the graveyard! Once per turn, when she is destroyed by an effect and sent to the graveyard, I can pay half of my life value to special summon her to the field." Shen Sui paid half of his life value, which then dropped to 250, "Then, she transforms into [Magic Apprentice Alice]."

"At this moment! [Intermediate Mage Alice]’s effect activates! When she leaves the field due to transformation, destroy one life card on the opponent’s field! I choose to destroy [Intelligent Mechanic Crisis] on your field!"

With a crisp sound, the just-activated [Intelligent Mechanic Crisis] instantly shattered into fragments and entered the graveyard.

"..." Xu Tianzhi fell into a brief silence.

[???]

[666]

[Hahaha, absolutely brilliant!]

[This guy’s amazing.]

[Is Intelligent Mechanic Crisis really amazing? Why don’t I feel it?]

[Keep your storytelling to yourself, let me have a go!]

[Hahaha! Xu Tianzhi must be feeling frustrated to death.]

[I’m new here, can’t understand, can someone tell me whose turn it is now?]

The bullet screen was going crazy, even the audience felt the frustration for Xu Tianzhi.

Who’s really the professional Life Card Master here? Why does it feel like Xu Tianzhi is the one getting thrashed?

[It’s over, a low-rank player encountering a whale. What to do? Waiting online for urgent advice!]

[Everyone, look at the dean’s face, it looks like he’s constipated, I’m dying of laughter!]

Liang Hui’s expression indeed wasn’t very good.

He was proud that the academy could recruit such a powerful student.

But realizing that this student’s Soul Card World was the Dawn Continent, he could potentially leave the Life Card industry anytime due to soul card death.

At the same time, he felt deeply regretful. He had intended for the club’s new star Xu Tianzhi to uphold the reputation of Tianyi Academy, but instead, Xu Tianzhi ended up embarrassing himself on the internet.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have brought journalists and the live broadcast team to the third examination hall.

In the dueling field, Xu Tianzhi felt his blood boiling. Fortunately, with his experience, he still had the ability to withstand pressure. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm the blood in his chest and drew another card from his hand: "Pay 2 Soul Points, and normally summon from my hand, [Intelligent Mechanism No. 3 - Ai Ken]."

However, just as his summon was completed, the disturbing timing resurfaced.

"At this moment, I activate the effect of my [Magic Apprentice Alice] on the field. When you successfully summon a follower, I can target one follower on each side of the field to activate and destroy the chosen followers."

"I choose to destroy your follower and my [Magic Apprentice Alice]."

Bam!

The just-summoned Ai Ken didn’t have time to transform and was destroyed alongside Alice into the graveyard.

But that was not all, and then Shen Sui said:

"According to the effect of [Magic Apprentice Alice], if the destroyed follower by this method was her, I can select a spell card from my deck to activate after she enters the graveyard."

Shen Sui’s deck slowly opened.

"I choose to activate the spell card [Recovery]."

"Special summon [Magic Apprentice Alice] from the graveyard back to the field."

The resurrecting glow accompanied Alice back to the field after just entering the graveyard.

Her smile was still lively and cute, but in Xu Tianzhi’s eyes, it was filled with coldness.

"Then, activate the effect of [Star Magic Array] to return [Recovery] that resolved into the graveyard back to the deck."

It’s useless! The expansion of the Intelligent Mechanism Card Set is unstoppable!

"Pay 1 Soul Point, and normally summon from my hand, [Regular Power Mechanism No. 28011]!"

"This time!" Before Xu Tianzhi’s follower could finish deploying, Shen Sui’s voice rang out, "Activate [Magic Apprentice Alice]’s effect..."

"Doesn’t this thing have a once-per-turn limit?!" Even with Xu Tianzhi’s good temperament, seeing Shen Sui activate the effect once more, he was a bit on edge.

Then he watched as Alice was destroyed and then activated the effect to return to the field via [Recovery].

"I think so," Shen Sui replied.

Infinite chain! As long as I don’t have a way to remove that follower or the permanent spell card, I can never summon even a single follower.

This card set is so damn underworld-like!

Xu Tianzhi struggled to hold down the rising blood in his chest again, feeling the urge to kill the opponent. If he weren’t usually in good health, his brain would probably have hemorrhaged by now.

Damn, I really want to beat the other side to death.

His eyes continuously searched the examination arena, hoping to find even a single weapon.

Unfortunately, considering the emotional fluctuations candidates might experience after failure, the dueling exam arena never held anything that could harm others or themselves.

Xu Tianzhi slightly regretfully withdrew his gaze and began to think about what to do next.

Is there a way in my card set to deal with those two cards of the opponent?

Or a means to deal a direct hit to take out Shen Sui’s remaining 250 Life Points in one blow?

Xu Tianzhi knew very well: No!

He never encountered such an opponent before, making it impossible to include cards with direct damage effects in his deck to take up slots.

The opponent’s follower on the field didn’t have high spirit values, yet round after round, it was enough to wear him down to death.

There’s no point in holding on; dragging a game you’re destined to lose will only make others look down on you as a professional Life Card Master.

Xu Tianzhi calculated for a while, took a couple of deep breaths, finally accepted reality, and embraced the future of being crazily ridiculed, saying through gritted teeth: "I concede."

[Damn? Actually won.]

[Who says underachievers aren’t powerful? Didn’t he just thrash a Rank Five Life Card Master?]

[Damn! How did this guy win?! I wanted to snatch that catgirl!]

[This chain is too damn underworld-like? Xu Tianzhi’s eyes seemed full of murderous intent.]

[Of course, I’d also want to beat this guy up; what’s with playing such an underworld card set!]

Xu Tianzhi retracted his Life Card into his dueling device, walked towards Shen Sui, and announced his concession: "You’re really skillful, congratulations. Hope to meet in the arena in the future."

Shen Sui’s eyes lit up, passed!

"Thank you." He stepped forward to shake hands with Xu Tianzhi, "Today I was lucky to win; if your deck were complete, I might not have won."

Xu Tianzhi forcibly resisted the urge to knock out the other, squeezing out a very forced smile: "No need to be modest, with your skills, you will surely shine brightly in the future."