CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51: FRIENDSHIP FORGED THROUGH DUEL

When Shen Sui stepped out of the dormitory once again, he felt as if a lifetime had passed.

Alice was now on her way to Paiyiga City. He calculated the time on the road, and it should be enough for him to finish the PK match and the recognition duel, so he didn’t open the Regulator and simply went out since someone invited him to dinner.

Five consecutive days of seclusion almost made Shen Sui forget he was still studying at the academy.

The first and second years of Duel Academy were so free because sometimes they couldn’t extricate themselves from matters in the Soul Card World, so it was normal for students not to go out for several days. Therefore, Duel Academy was very lenient towards first and second-year students skipping classes.

Fortunately, the results were good. Alice still maintained a sufficient standard. Although this time did not produce a large number of Spell Cards like in the City of Sin, from Alice’s actions, it was estimated that in the battle back in Paiyiga City, there would be a large number of cards coming in.

Moreover, Shen Sui also managed to obtain a Terminal Card and a large number of Follower Cards this time.

The only pity was that Anlud City was not a place where Elemental Creatures frequently appeared, so he couldn’t complete Yue Tao’s commission. However, according to Yue Tao, this commission was long-term. His card set really lacks Follower Cards.

"I didn’t expect you to invite me to dinner." Shen Sui looked somewhat surprised at the man sitting across from him.

"Come on, aren’t we friends?"

"Huh? When did we become friends?" Shen Sui looked at Bu Pei across from him in astonishment.

Are we that familiar?

"Didn’t we duel before?" Bu Pei said, patting his chest.

"Ah?" Shen Sui still couldn’t understand.

"In typical plots, no matter how much students dislike each other, they can become good friends with just one duel."

"What kind of anime plot is that? It can’t happen in reality." Shen Sui retorted.

"This meal’s on me."

"Right, we are indeed friends." Shen Sui shamelessly accepted.

As long as you treat me to food, let alone friends, even a godfather is fine.

Bu Pei ordered a lot of dishes, all the most exquisite ones.

Shen Sui didn’t dislike Bu Pei much. Apart from not being very good at playing cards and disliking checking card effects, he was quite an easy-going person.

Even if Bu Pei was an ordinary person, this kind of personality was someone Shen Sui was willing to associate with.

"So, don’t bother trying to get promoted in a profession." The two unknowingly talked about professional competitions. Bu Pei slapped the table and said to Shen Sui, "In that stinky environment, no matter how strong you are, there’s no room to perform. It’s better to fish in amateur competitions, where you can earn a lot of prizes."

"Once you’re in Duel Academy, you definitely aim to become a professional." Shen Sui actually understood the domestic professional arena’s environment.

Originally, the Forbidden Card system was a good system to balance players’ strength and should be used cautiously. In other countries, they would only use the Forbidden Card system on specific cards if a card or system was too ridiculously strong, making it impossible for other duelists to play.

However, in the country, the Forbidden Card system has been completely abused, turning into a tool for those dueling families to manipulate the competition. Any emerging civilian duelist showing signs of potentially winning the national duel championship would surely receive a forbidden card notice before the game.

Global forbidden card lists have a cap of fifty cards each month, yet Huaxia’s forbidden cards can often occupy half.

It’s also fortunate that the Life Cards in Life Card Duels currently don’t possess any extraordinary power in the real world, otherwise, those family scions would probably have their heads torn off by the enraged civilian duelists.

In such an environment, if it weren’t for the fact that professional Life Card Masters receive extremely tempting monthly state subsidies, people in this industry would have long left. Although my chance of winning a championship prize is small, as long as I become a professional Life Card Master, even as a first-level Life Card Master, a monthly subsidy of 5,000 yuan surpasses most industries. I could even find another job, as long as I participate in one professional duel annually, my professional qualifications won’t be revoked.

——Those who decide to rely on the minimum guarantee usually choose Peaceful World as their Soul Card World because, in this way, their Soul Cards won’t have unforeseen life risks, and inducing Soul Card actions to obtain Life Cards won’t pose significant death risks.

Many also view being a professional Life Card Master as a stepping stone into the system.

"If other countries weren’t prohibiting Huaxia Life Card Masters from joining their leagues, domestic professional Life Card Masters would have long left; who would still play with them?" Bu Pei complained bitterly about this stinky professional environment, saying many duel-loving audiences would spray at the Huaxia Life Card Association.

Shen Sui thought about the reason foreign countries banned Huaxia Life Card Masters from entering their leagues. He couldn’t help but laugh: Huaxia Life Card Masters could acquire a large amount of cheap high-star Life Cards, which was unfair to their local Life Card Masters, hence the ban.

Yes, domestic Life Cards are relatively cheap because the state is worried about capital hot money pouring into the Life Card industry that doesn’t create actual entity value, directly intervening with an iron fist to limit card prices.

In the country, a 10-star Life Card is officially priced at around ten thousand, while abroad, cards of the same star level can range from fifty thousand to twenty million depending on their strength, leading to a significant cost difference in card banning and making a card set’s price exorbitant, with Life Card Duels generally being rich kids’ games.

Abroad, they don’t randomly ban cards either, because if they were too random, their Life Card Associations couldn’t afford such high card banning compensations. The domestic Life Card Association had no such worries.

The massive price difference also led to rampant Life Card smuggling, with many people personally carrying cards across borders to sell on the black market.

Previously, the enthusiasm for domestic Life Card Masters to enter world competitions was high because they could take cards abroad to sell, earning more than the championship prize—of course, this operation was later banned by various countries.

Speaking of it, card price control caused the Life Card Association to lose most of their income, and watching their counterparts outside make money was more painful than death, so they tried every possible way to make up for this "loss," with the money-for-card ban trades and high costs of the Time Regulator being products of such "efforts."

Especially the Time Regulator, once a membership service with no usage limit during subscription, was ridiculously turned into a pay-per-hour service, akin to something a mindless company would do.

This indirectly led to a population bifurcation in the domestic Soul Card World.

Students from ordinary backgrounds were more inclined to choose sectors like Sci-Fi, Superpowers, and Reality Worlds where Regulator acceleration wouldn’t significantly affect Soul Card strength, while wealthy students leaned towards Xianxia, Fantasy, and Mythical Worlds where Regulator acceleration could assist Soul Card cultivation.

As for Shen Sui, because of Alice’s trouble-loving nature, he used the Time Regulator as a fast-acting cardiovascular cure, lest his heart couldn’t take it.

"Damn, how did duel competitions become like this?" Shen Sui was also infuriated, "This environment isn’t just a cesspool; it requires harsh measures. I entered the profession to let those bastards know what a true duelist is!"

"Great! I support you!" Bu Pei gave a thumbs up, saying, "Whenever your cards get banned, I’ll buy them at ten times the price, according to foreign prices!"

Hearing Bu Pei’s words, Shen Sui was taken aback: "Wait, what does your family do to be so wealthy, operating what company?"

"No company at all." Bu Pei blinked, "My dad is just a scientific researcher."

"Researcher? How can that be so rich?"

"Come on, don’t always hold on to the stereotype that scientists must be frugal." Bu Pei shrugged, "My dad is responsible for converting technology obtained from the Soul Card World into real-world technology. The benefits are great, and the state is very generous with the funding. If successfully converted, five percent of the patent income goes to my dad. Many of the technologies of the Dueling Device, like the built-in Holographic Duel Plugin, are my dad’s patents."

"Then you use this money to buy banned cards?"

"My dad supports me buying them; I like them too, so that’s that." Bu Pei said, "He always says the barrier between the Soul Card World and reality isn’t as solid as imagined. These Life Cards will definitely be of great use in the future, and even if banned, they shouldn’t flow abroad or something. So he supports my acquisition of forbidden cards. In fact, various countries are also wary of this, otherwise, they wouldn’t prohibit their Life Cards from circulating abroad, and the Exploration Bureau wouldn’t monitor each Soul Card World in real-time."

"This barrier, isn’t it impenetrable even by a 17th-level expert in the Mythical World?" Shen Sui was just a weak 16th level.

The Mythical World he referred to was Soul Card World No. 2, where Huaxia Mythology, Norse Mythology, and Theis’s Indian Mythical Card Sets originated from.

However, for Life Card Duels, there was no difference between 16th and 17th levels, as neither could be printed into dueling Life Cards since the Dueling Device’s recognition limit was a 15-star Life Card.

Bu Pei didn’t say much, only pointed to the Dueling Device.

This thing, in a certain sense, also counts as breaking through the world’s barrier.

Looking at the Dueling Device in Bu Pei’s hand, Shen Sui suddenly thought of something.

Life Card Duel, isn’t that the built-in card game in "Dawn Link"? Why did it appear in this world?

And after operating in the Dawn Continent for so long, why have I not seen any traces of Life Card Duel’s existence in the Dawn Continent?