006 Dekan Begins to Bare His Fangs
By the time Dekan was nearly asleep, he was finally reminded by the Examiner that it was time to enter the Shadow World.
Dekan undid the first button of his shirt collar, stretched his neck, relaxed his shoulders, and followed the Examiner to the Void Gate.
As he stepped into the Void Gate, there was a pitch-black space around him, where nothing could be seen.
It seemed to have become very quiet, and aside from Dekan’s own breathing, all other sounds appeared to have been blocked out.
Soon, the surroundings brightened, and it seemed he was in an alternate dimension space like a time tunnel.
Simultaneously, prompt messages appeared before his eyes.
【Welcome to the artificial Shadow World “Phantom Canyon.”】
【The test content for this session is a simulated duel, which will not pose any life-threatening danger.】
【Random terrain, pain sensation will be 1/4 of real.】
【If killed or completely lost consciousness and unable to recover within Phantom Canyon, you will be teleported out of Phantom Canyon.】
【The candidate may choose to exit the Shadow World at any time.】
【The Examiner will act as the “Hunter”, and the candidate as the “Prey.” The Examiner’s power will be restricted to rank four, and they will be equipped with a unified four-star white ordinary equipment card.】
【The initial distance between candidate and examiner will be 500 meters.】
【If the candidate can persist longer than 10 minutes within the Phantom Canyon, it will be considered passing, and at that time, the results will be calculated immediately upon exiting the Shadow World.】
【Persisting longer and dealing damage to the examiner will be considered extra points.】
【The upper limit is 30 minutes after which the Shadow World will close.】
【The above are the unified settings for this exam.】
【This round’s Examiner: Arno Surlet.】
【Your exam will officially begin in 30 seconds, please get ready.】
After the final message ended, the surrounding landscape transformed.
He felt as though he’d arrived in a completely new world!
Surely, this was the Shadow World.
Dekan looked around.
All around was an endless plain.
“Is someone messing with me?”
Dekan touched his head.
Random terrain, and I get a flat plain.
And it just happens that the examiner is the vice-dean.
I can even see his figure from afar!
Well, it doesn’t make too much of a difference.
“Non-turn-based card fights are indeed quite terrifying.”
Dekan sighed, took out two equipment cards, infused them with magic, and equipped them onto himself.
In Dekan’s past life, card games, while potentially life-threatening, were always turn-based.
The people of this world use magic cards as weapons, scrolls, and summoning beasts, which was dangerous indeed.
The two cards transformed into beams of light and solidified into entities on Dekan’s body.
A crown woven from cold iron thorns, emanating dark light.
And a seemingly cute but filled with ominous vibes Gothic Lolita doll glove puppet.
…
Outside the field, many onlookers seemed to have noticed Dekan’s situation.
“This guy is so unlucky! Others get mountains, jungles, islands as their grounds. Why is his a plain?”
“How can you hide on a plain? You’re just gonna race in a straight line with a rank-four examiner. Ahahaha!”
“Moreover, none of the previous candidates have had Professor Arno personally presiding as the examiner!”
“Clearly, the Knight Academy doesn’t want people like him to pass this year due to last year’s incident…”
“Simply put, they want to teach these arrogant ones a lesson. No matter the talent, they will end up dying in the Shadow World and putting their teammates at great risk.”
“Whoa, this kid just pulled out two purple equipment cards?”
Apparently, since many people started paying attention to Dekan, the director also switched the main screen content to Dekan, kindly overlaying the identification information of his equipment cards on the screen.
【Cursed Doll】
【Category: Equipment Card】
【Quality: Purple Rare】
【Rank: 2】
【Attack Bonus: 0】
【Effect: Returns 0.5% of received damage to the opponent, and transmits real pain sensation 200% to the opponent.】
【Note: She loves the cardmaker most of all!】
…
【Crown of Suffering】
【Category: Equipment Card】
【Quality: Purple Rare】
【Rank: 2】
【Defense Bonus: 0】
【Effect: Increases pain sensation by 300% while equipped, gains one blood lock effect. Cool-down time: 720 hours.】
【Note: Oh sweet iron, sweet iron.】
This is what a warrior looks like?
He looks more like a high priest of some weird sect!
But the audience were accustomed to it by now; every year there were a few oddballs.
If you say he broke the rules, he actually strictly followed the requirements.
The registration information showed that he only configured two equipment cards and one summon card.
“Is he a warrior focusing on counter-damage? But why not bring armor or a shield?”
“His build doesn’t look like a heavy warrior either…”
“Originally such niche equipment cards, they probably aren’t much more expensive than blue ones.”
“The advantage of purple cards is that they can allocate better special effects. Both of his cards sacrifice common attributes and concentrate these performances in strange areas.”
“Indeed, the first equipment seems like its maker had issues, focusing entirely on pain feedback while counter-damage ratio should be more important.”
“The blood lock function in the second equipment is very useful, but the cool-down is too long, and the negative effect is too severe. Who would wear something that triples sensation pain and risk being knocked unconscious? Moreover, the accessory doesn’t come with any defense bonus…”
“Wait, how are these pain-attribute entries constructed… does anyone here know?”
Several students from the Alchemy Academy were analyzing.
“But you see how his two pieces of equipment combined, they reflect six times the pain sensation to the opponent in combat—it must have been deliberately equipped this way.”
“Disgusting! There’s no way I’d want to fight him!”
“Unfortunately, in Phantom Canyon it’s only 1/4 of the real pain, so he won’t be able to upset the examiner.”
Trecia was watching Dekan’s exam in the broadcast hall of the Alchemy Academy.
When she saw Dekan’s equipment, she couldn’t help but twitch her eyes.
You’re all about making it difficult for your opponent, aren’t you?
At this moment, she finally understood what Dekan meant by the terms “nether” and “human.”
However, Dekan, keep going!
I’m counting on you to help me make cards!
