Judai and Manjome's tournament final concluded, and in the blink of an eye, the new semester was already halfway through. The academy quickly shifted into the preparatory phase for the league against Northern Academy, and Judai, being the hopeful representative, was granted permission to skip classes for the week.
Clearly, the academy hoped he would take advantage of the scarce free time to prepare well, adjusting his state for the upcoming representative match. Unfortunately, Judai lacked this awareness.
If left to his own devices, he would likely waste the week playing around.
But Youyu, as the teacher, wouldn't stand for that.
Want to slack off? Not happening!
Without a word, Youyu dragged Judai out of the dorm the very next day, arranging special training sessions and extracurricular homework!
Over the years, Judai's card-playing skills visibly improved under Youyu's guidance, but his performance in other subjects didn't fare as well, remaining at the bottom with no hope of rescue...
Of course, Youyu has always kept an eye on the students entrusted to the players. He noticed this educational model seemed to have some progress.
The most noticeable progress among the first batch might be Izayoi and Asuka. Regardless of their card skills and strategic awareness, their card deck construction was notably optimized compared to the original series.
This improvement was undoubtedly thanks to the diligent efforts of the Hanno Knight Guild members, especially the president, who was essentially a punching bag.
For characters like Asuka, who were part of the main group in the animation, card hand accidents were naturally nonexistent. However, when it comes to real skill in divine drawing, she's no match for true divine drawers like Judai, making deck construction optimization very necessary.
Similarly, among the tutors, there was the local rich kid, Nora Tatsu.
Nora Tatsu seemed determined to turn Marufuji Shou into something successful, dragging him through intensive training day and night.
Recently, he found a set of card-related professional knowledge test questions titled "K Language: From Beginner to Burial" from the forums and handed them to his student for training.
After tackling the set of questions, Marufuji Shou's state was as follows—
——Who am I? Where am I? Have I really played cards?
For example, there was a question like this.
"Given: The effect text of 'Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter' describes that when this card is flipped, you can activate its effect to choose a card on the field to destroy.
Question: Is this effect a 'target effect'?"
Marufuji Shou initially thought this was an introductory question to ease the test-takers, like a welcome gift from the examiner. After all, starting with a very difficult question might discourage the students.
He thought it was a given that "choose a card on the field to destroy" meant it was certainly a target effect!
Then his teacher indifferently gave him a big cross.
Marufuji Shou was dumbfounded.
What? It clearly says choose a card to destroy, why isn't it a target effect?
Then there were questions like this.
"Given: When 'Guardian Eatos' is summoned or successfully special summoned, you can discard 1 card to activate its effect, adding 1 'Fusion' Normal Magic Card from the deck to your hand.
Question: Which of the following cards can be searched by the effect of 'Guardian Eatos'?
A. Fusion B. Miracle Fusion C. Fusion Substitute D. Fusion Recovery"
Without thinking, Marufuji Shou chose A—it's clearly stated on the card face that it's searching for Fusion, how could there be any issues?
Soon he received another big "X" from his teacher. The teacher emotionlessly informed him that the correct answer is ABCD, all four can be searched...
Marufuji Shou's worldview was shattered.
Nani?
Have I been playing fake cards all these years?
Nora Tatsu sighed repeatedly, shaking his head and muttering something about how hopeless the mud wall is, claiming he's never met such a foolish student, nearly driving Marufuji Shou into depression...
In contrast to those players who drew rare character cards, Xue Lang was utterly unmotivated.
In fact, many other players were quite envious of Xue Lang. He drew a female student with mixed East-West features, sweet and gentle, obedient, with cute dimples when she smiled.
Her name was Mia, and she supposedly came from a Western country to study at Duel Academy, currently in her third year, set to graduate next year.
But Xue Lang's thoughts were simple.
Good looking? Can looks be eaten?
Unseen in animations or comics, clearly no prospects in card games!
Thus, Xue Lang couldn't muster any motivation for his female student.
Yet the girl was very enthusiastic about learning, popping in front of her tutor every few days to make herself known, more proactive than her tutor.
Whenever the teacher had something to do, she'd be there in a flash. Even when there was nothing, she'd search out things to do.
Last weekend, she lifted her white dress, exposing her equally white thighs, asking the teacher if she could do some advanced problem sets?
So Xue Lang searched the forums... then casually tossed her the set "K Language: From Beginner to Burial."
... Since then, the girl never mentioned wanting to do problem sets again.
This, of course, didn't affect her enthusiasm for making her presence known to her teacher.
They were originally discussing card deck construction that day, but somehow the conversation veered off-topic, and they started chatting about student campus life.
Suddenly, the girl asked as if possessed: "Teacher, have you ever considered... having a relationship or something?"
"Huh?" Xue Lang expressed confusion, "What's the point in that? It would affect my dueling skills!"
Mia was puzzled: "How does that relate to dueling skills?"
"Of course it does! Listen up, the supreme text of the Duelist, 'Exorcism Card Manual' mantra, is 'No woman in my heart, draws become divine!'"
Mia was even more puzzled: "There's such a thing?"
"Of course!" Xue Lang boasted halfway, recalling something, "Oh, right, I should tweak it for you: 'No man in my heart, draws become divine.' But the meaning is similar, as long as you understand.
In short, women only slow down my card drawing! Men are the same!"
But Mia didn't understand! What correlation exists between divine draws and relationships?
Or does a duelist have to achieve a state of forgetting oneself and harmonizing with the cards, to draw the desired cards?
That's way too hard!
"Well... actually, it's not that impossible to find someone..." Xue Lang muttered, stroking his chin.
After all, the above saying is just the principal mantra; there's actually more to it.
The card enthusiasts indeed say, women only affect my card drawing speed...
But a wealthy lady wouldn't.
Lolis wouldn't either.
Mia, clueless, perked up at this: "What kind of girls do you like, teacher?"
"Hmm, let me think..." Xue Lang pondered, "Perhaps... big-breasted ones?"
Mia (glancing at her own modest size):...
"Or... elder ones? I prefer mature ones."
Mia:......
"If neither, the card skills should be strong, right? Understanding the effect processing is essential, don't you think?"
Mia (recalling her failure in the 'K Language: From Beginner to Burial' test):.........
Hesitating for a moment, the girl nervously bit her lip: "But... reality isn't that idealistic! It's rare to find the perfect target. Have you ever considered... anyone around you, teacher?"
"Huh?" Xue Lang mused, "Hmm... Now that you mention it, with the girls around... seems there's no other choice..."
Mia held her breath, feeling a bit tense.
Xue Lang shook his head: "Never mind, Yue Hua wouldn't possibly... Hey, why are you falling over?"
Mia weakly got up, her face despairing: "Teacher, do you really not remember me?"
Xue Lang: "?"
Though apologetic saying so, he truly couldn't recall...
"Many years ago, when I was only fourteen, the street was chaotic. I lay on the ground, surrounded by terrifying monsters...
I thought I would die, but I didn't; teacher, you saved me. Later, I even wrote to you..."
Xue Lang frowned, the more he listened, the more familiar the story sounded, suddenly realizing.
"Oh, shit!" He almost jumped up, "It's you!?"