CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43: ALICE LAUNCHES A SNEAK ATTACK

"Congratulations to my first student, Shen Sui, for winning the Chosen Cup!"

That night, Shen Sui sat helplessly on a chair in his dormitory, watching Xinyuan Tanchun open a Coke for himself.

"I have to say, as my coach, I didn’t see you at all during the competition, and once it ended, you’re here to open champagne for me, right?"

Xinyuan Tanchun really brought a bottle of champagne, but under Shen Sui’s strong opposition, she begrudgingly switched to Coke.

Of course, the champagne wasn’t wasted; she opened it and poured herself a full glass.

Shen Sui was already an adult and wasn’t averse to drinking. However, after the Chosen Cup ended, the first academy PK tournament of Tianyi Academy was next week. Shen Sui planned to use this time to strengthen his deck, especially to solve the problem of having too few Follower Cards in it.

The reason he was able to win against Yuan Youxin was purely due to his luck in drawing Anna at the start. Otherwise, with his deck of forty cards only having five Follower Cards, drawing five Spell Cards at the start was a regular thing. If he went first it was fine, as many of his Spell Cards had search effects, but against a deck like Yuan Youxin’s going first, bad luck really spelled trouble.

Should he buy some Follower Cards to fill the deck casually?

Shen Sui immediately dismissed the thought. Effective Follower Cards were generally expensive, and even if he bought them, they might not suit his deck’s characteristics.

At that point, it would really become a hand-stuck situation.

Therefore, on the way back to the academy, Shen Sui had already formulated his next plan.

First, he lifted the restriction of the Regulator, allowing the time flow rate on his Dueling Device to return to normal, meaning eight days pass on Alice’s side for one day on his.

With Alice’s ability to cause trouble, two months would be more than enough time for her to create a plethora of things for him. Coupled with his deliberate guidance, he should soon be able to acquire enough Follower Cards.

Since he needed to quickly collect Follower Cards in a short period, it was impossible to go the friendship-building route, so he decided to take the capture route.

However, the appearance of Xinyuan Tanchun interrupted Shen Sui’s plans.

Looking at Xinyuan Tanchun’s still chaotic outfit, Shen Sui got straight to the point: "So, what’s your purpose for coming? Given your character, you wouldn’t come all this way for a small Chosen Cup celebration, right?"

The Chosen Cup’s prize money was indeed generous, but it was ultimately just an amateur competition held in a park with promotional and performance aspects, not something that would catch the eye of a sixth-tier Life Card Master like Xinyuan Tanchun.

Xinyuan Tanchun was just two years older than Shen Sui, so Shen Sui naturally couldn’t treat her with the utmost respect as if she were a senior, and Xinyuan Tanchun wasn’t the type to care about hierarchical relationships, so she was quite accepting of the way Shen Sui spoke to her.

"You’ve seen through me." Xinyuan Tanchun scratched her messy hair and finally revealed her main purpose, "I’m here on behalf of someone else."

Saying this, she pulled out a card from her Dueling Device, placed it on the table, and continued, "My foolish sister in Jing City felt very guilty upon hearing that your Star Magic Array was listed in the Forbidden Card List. She asked me to bring a card to give to you."

"Oh... hmm?" Shen Sui frowned, instantly feeling something was off. The July Forbidden Card List hadn’t been released yet, so how did Xinyuan Tanchun’s sister in distant Jing City know that his Spell Card was going to be included in the list?

Shen Sui looked up at Xinyuan Tanchun, hoping she could give a reasonable explanation.

"It’s probably the old hag up to her dirty tricks again," Xinyuan Tanchun said disdainfully. "To make her daughter a national idol, she uses every method, both legitimate and illegitimate. Reporting your Life Card might be one of her many tactics. Otherwise, how could you, a newly enrolled student, undergo a Forbidden Card review by the Life Card Association? Even with numerous reports, they probably wouldn’t care."

"Oh~ Xinyuan Yingxue?" Shen Sui voiced the name, though he had already suspected it.

"Yes, a little fool, who will eventually drown in the false mother-daughter relationship," Xinyuan Tanchun said, pausing before continuing, "But don’t worry, the Xinyuan family can only accomplish this much. That old hag doesn’t have the power to direct the Life Card Association; these kinds of favors have likely been exhausted."

"Alright then." Shen Sui shrugged and then picked up the card Xinyuan Tanchun placed on the table.

It was a much-needed Follower Card for Shen Sui. Clearly, Xinyuan Yingxue also knew that the major pain point for most novice Life Card Masters was the lack of Follower Cards.

******

Card Name: [Lucky Puppet Shari]

Category: Follower Card

Star Rating: 4 stars

Effect: ① During the opponent’s main phase, when one of your Spell Cards resolves and is sent to the graveyard, you can discard this Follower from your hand to activate; select one Spell Card from your graveyard and return it to the deck;

② When a Follower on your field becomes the target of a card effect, you can activate by banishing this Follower in the graveyard, negating that effect.

Spirit Value: 0

******

This card was obviously carefully selected by Xinyuan Yingxue and wasn’t a product of her World No. 19; she probably traded it from somewhere else as a Magic System Follower Card.

On the card surface, a beautiful puppet lay quietly in a cabinet, seemingly waiting for its owner to arrive.

A very good card.

Although it couldn’t replace the permanent effectiveness of the Star Magic Array, it did have a unique grave trap.

Being able to use this card as a gift to himself, even if Shen Sui didn’t care in the first place, seeing such a gift was enough for him to forgive the never-met girl.

Of course, he still couldn’t forgive the main culprit.

Using connections to ban a freshman’s card.

Do you know what kind of psychological harm a banned card can do to this young, pitiful freshman?

"In that case, I forgive her," Shen Sui very readily slipped the card into his deck.

Xinyuan Tanchun rolled her eyes and said, "Look at you. You clearly had a part in reporting the card ban too, right? Alright, no more talking. This card has already been decrypted, so when you make a circuit at the Life Card Store, you can use it as your Life Card. I should probably get going."

After delivering the gift, Xinyuan Tanchun didn’t stay long with Shen Sui, and with a little champagne in tow, she bid farewell and left.

She was indeed very busy; the seventh-tier Promotion Tournament was not as simple as she imagined, and this visit was purely to help her sister hand over the Life Card.

Shen Sui rested on his bed for a while and brought the opened Coke back to his bedroom.

"Seriously, opening a Coke, can’t she buy her own? Says it’s to celebrate for me, yet she ended up opening the Coke from my fridge? What the heck is that?"

While talking, Shen Sui was already lying on his bed.

Despite the tiring day of dueling, the prize money had completely washed away his fatigue.

Great!

Soul Card World, activate!

Let’s see what Alice is up to.

[Alice encountered the Knight Order of the Master of Thunder.]

[Alice launched a sneak attack~]

[Anna unleashed her strength, and Alice managed to snatch a Treasure Box from the Knight Order.]

????

Were you not supposed to find my Treasure Box? How did you end up grabbing one instead?