Chapter 158: Bringing Smiles Through Duels
#1 Field.
Professor Jones glanced at the students from the Noble Academy, her lips curling slightly upward.
Among the four first-year houses, the Noble Academy had the fewest number of students—only thirty-seven in total.
Thirty-seven was a prime number.
Selecting four participants out of these thirty-seven was quite troublesome.
So she decided to use a small trick.
“Dark Demon, step forward!”
“Yes!”
Dark straightened his back and stepped forward with considerable presence.
Professor Jones nodded approvingly and said, “For the first round, you won’t need to participate.”
Dark: “Ah?”
Professor Jones: “As the reigning champion, you have the direct qualification to advance to the second round.”
Dark: “Uh.”
Although Dark actually preferred experiencing the joy of a formal duel, Professor Jones clearly wouldn’t easily change her mind.
The students from the Noble Academy were surprised, but since the privilege belonged to Dark Demon, this didn’t seem so difficult to accept.
Even if someone was envious, no one spoke up.
Thus, Dark temporarily became Professor Jones’s assistant instead of a competitor.
Once all the students had drawn their number cards, the classroom competition for the first-year students’ semester grades began.
…
First Match:
#1 vs #2.
The two contestants who drew the corresponding number cards had to face the pressure and climb onto the Competitors’ Platform.
From the five-meter-high platform, looking down at the 30×20 field felt enormous, almost giving a sense of uncontrollable floating.
However, this was just the scale of a regular event’s field.
Large-scale events usually started at 120×80 meters.
Therefore, high-level duels also required the duelists to have the appropriate physical fitness, especially in terms of vision.
After three months of school, the young magi were already very familiar with the rules of formal duels.
The two contestants on the platform placed their prepared decks in the card slots on the right side of the Spellboard and then injected mana.
The mana projection mechanism activated.
The huge projection of the Spellboard rapidly unfolded directly in front of the platform.
…
“Place the Mana Guidance Ball into the field.”
Following Professor Jones’s gesture, Dark picked up the Mana Guidance Ball and walked towards the Summoning Area of the field.
In a standard field, there was a circular mark in the Summoning Area specifically for placing the Mana Guidance Ball.
The Life Barrier of the Mana Guidance Ball had five levels, each corresponding to mana values of 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, and 16000.
This match followed the scale of the Nova event, so they used a Level One Life Barrier.
Dark inserted his thumb, index finger, and middle finger into the three holes of the Mana Guidance Ball, injecting a little mana to activate the Life Barrier.
It was a transparent barrier made up of multiple hexagonal sections.
As the Life Barrier unfolded, the Mana Guidance Ball lit up with glowing digits representing the mana value inside.
The Mana Guidance Ball was divided into red and blue sides, distinguished by the color of the glowing digits.
Dark placed the Mana Guidance Ball above the circular mark about one meter high in the air, then quickly withdrew after feeling the strength of the Life Barrier.
On the other side, Professor Jones had already placed another Mana Guidance Ball.
Observing the entire match from the referee’s perspective greatly helped in becoming more familiar with the rules.
Professor Jones would also explain various rule details at any time, greatly benefiting Dark.
Since the first-year students’ card strengths weren’t particularly high, the match progressed quickly.
It could take as little as three to five minutes, or up to eight to nine minutes, before starting the next duel.
In the first round, 36 reduced to 18, ending around ten-thirty.
In the second round, 18 reduced to 9, taking a bit over an hour.
Immediately following, in the third round, 9 reduced to 5. Under Professor Jones’s instruction, Dark entered the field to fill in.
…
Dark felt extremely surprised.
But deep down, he couldn’t help feeling excited; finally, he could get on the field!
Watching others play cards was nowhere near as satisfying as playing yourself.
He originally wasn’t too concerned about this classroom duel, but watching made him increasingly eager.
“Is this the charm of dueling?”
…
His opponent was equally surprised.
That first-year student from the Noble Academy had thought he might skip this round, but the sudden appearance of “filling in” caught him off guard.
“Don’t be nervous, Shiweite, you can do it!”
Encouraged by his friend Lentchen, Shiweite blackened his face and climbed onto the Competitors’ Platform.
…
Dark was already waiting on the platform.
He observed the Spellboard, placing his prepared deck into the card slot on the right and then injecting mana.
A hint of information returned to him.
He realized that this Spellboard not only had a projection mechanism but also had functions like “amplification.”
In official dueling venues, the duelists’ roars always pierced through the clouds, overwhelming the audience’s cheers, though not because of volume alone.
“Beeep —”
“Standby Phase” [30s]
Above the Spellboard appeared the aforementioned text.
Beside it was a countdown of “30s.”
On the upper left corner of the Spellboard, the remaining mana value of the Mana Guidance Ball was displayed simultaneously.
It read “1000.”
The countdown for the Standby Phase would start after the shuffling and communication ended.
Duellists had 30 seconds to draw cards and think of tactics.
Dark looked up at Shiweite opposite him and said, “Hello, Shiweite.”
Shiweite had short brown hair, a hooked nose, thick lips, and several acne spots, making him easy to recognize.
Facing Dark’s greeting, Shiweite immediately frowned and said, “Dark, go easy on me later.”
Dark comforted him, “Don’t be nervous. The biggest charm of dueling lies in its infinite possibilities. Believe in yourself and your Mana Spirit Card.”
Shiweite’s tension eased slightly, “Yeah, I know!”
At the same time, the automatic shuffling ended.
Professor Jones blew her whistle, “Beeep — Start preparing!”
The Spellboard simultaneously entered the 30-second countdown phase.
Draw Cards!
Dark’s expression turned slightly serious, and he immediately drew five Mana Spirit Cards from the top of his deck.
[Arrogance II]
[Magic Beast: Eevee]
[Arrogance I]
[Magic Bullet Spell]
[Deoxys]
“Not too bad luck.”
Seeing Eevee instantly, Dark let out a slight sigh of relief.
He didn’t want to be in trouble due to drawing no Mana Spirit Cards of the first tier at the start.
After drawing cards, he had less than 30 seconds to think.
His mind raced.
Just a moment later, Professor Jones’s whistle sounded again.
The text above the Spellboard changed to:
“Battle Phase” [30s]
Official dueling matches proceeded in rounds of 30 seconds. Except for the first round, each subsequent round allowed for drawing two Mana Spirit Cards consecutively to replenish the hand.
– There was no losing due to an empty deck.
During this round, duelists could freely act.
“Decided, it’s you, Eevee!”
In just over 4 seconds,
Dark completed his first Normal Summon of a Mana Spirit Card.
Compared to the 8 seconds in the first classroom match, this was halved!
If he compressed another second, he could reach the theoretical limit of a Normal Summon.
“Gooey —”
Eevee landed amidst the glow.
Eight seconds later, a dark golden light descended.
Bathed in the light of “Arrogance II,” Eevee’s innocent eyes became sharp.
It raised its head proudly, its brows filled with arrogance.
[Card Name: Magic Beast: Eevee (Arrogance II)]
[Level: ??]
[Race: Avian-beast Kin]
[Attribute: General]
[Mana: 500]
[Attack: 700]
[Defense: 300]
[Ultimate Skills: Mimic, Full Moon]
At this moment, Shiweite had just summoned his first Mana Spirit.
It was a独角仙 (rhinoceros beetle) type Mana Spirit, obviously the result of a lucky draw.
The 30-meter-long field made the quick attack tactics used in the first classroom match ineffective.
Therefore, he decisively abandoned them and chose to break through from the front!
Eevee disdainfully glanced at the opponent, then forcefully ran forward.
Shiweite immediately gave orders to his rhinoceros beetle.
“Thunder Beetle, charge!”
The rhinoceros beetle, with an intelligence level of only 2.0, only moved after receiving the command.
It lowered its head sharply, and electricity gathered at the tip of its horn, forming a ball that gradually grew larger, emitting crackling sounds.
Clearly, it was an electric-type Mana Spirit!
…
Dark’s heart stirred, recognizing it immediately.
The Thunder Beetle was a common insect-type electric Mana Spirit in the first tier.
If fortunate enough to refine it to the purple level, it had a high chance of obtaining the ultimate skills “Charge” and “Electricity Generation.”
By charging, it could transform single-target attacks into area-of-effect attacks!
Under such wide-ranging electric attacks, Eevee would have no place to escape!
“The key is preventing it from releasing Electricity?”
“Eevee, Full Moon!”
A slightly indifferent voice echoed across the field.
Eevee responded to its owner’s command, suddenly widening its eyes while running.
Its pitch-black eyes emitted a dazzling dark gold light,
a sense of superiority penetrated the beetle’s soul through the eye contact.
In that instant,
the arrogance of sitting high above the stars and overlooking the world caused the beetle’s spirit to feel immense defeat.
It instantly lost the desire to attack.
The electricity accumulated on its horn even became chaotic.
Eevee seized the opportunity, leaping up and directly knocking the beetle away!
“Gooey!”
Eevee landed gracefully, seeing the electricity ball on the beetle’s horn suddenly explode, striking the beetle itself with dazzling lightning, causing its mana to plummet.
It shook its head slightly, about to express the pity of the arrogant one, when it suddenly sensed energy fluctuations above its head.
This allowed it to leap in time, avoiding Shiweite’s “Magic Bullet Spell.”
At this point, the duel had entered the second round.
But Dark did not draw two Mana Spirit Cards.
Because he noticed that Shiweite’s card slot was already empty.
Obviously, this student did not have a sixth Mana Spirit Card.
Since then, Dark did not push too hard.
When Shiweite summoned his second Mana Spirit—the Magic Beast—he launched a “Mana Bomb” from afar, destroying it!
