Chapter 647 Pandora’s Card Luck Is Not Ideal (5k)
When Pandora Dragon and Noah Sharp slowly walked onto the competitor’s platform, the audience’s cheers rose to such a high level that it seemed they could pierce through the night sky.
The fan base accumulated by these two over time was naturally incomparable to someone just starting out.
Among the audience outside the arena, there were even groups of people dressed in white and black uniforms, holding reflective colored sticks, dancing as if at an idol concert.
Members of the Saint Church occasionally saw such scenes and couldn’t help but frown.
But the development of duels and the formation of this kind of fan economy were driven by the times.
The public needed entertainment and寄托.
“Let us warmly welcome ‘Silver Dragon Maiden’ and ‘Night Baron’ to the stage!”
Announcer Jessica Gardner’s voice instantly became passionate.
Regardless of her inner feelings, she appeared very excited on the surface.
Dark stopped his quiet conversation with his neighbor, slightly raising his head to look at the field.
Floating light spheres illuminated the night sky.
The two figures on the competitor’s platform were clearly visible under the glow.
Duels at night always felt more intense than those during the day. When various magics and ultimate skills tore through the night sky, it gave one a sense of breaking free from confinement.
Pandora had black hair and red eyes, with a white scale-like mark resembling a teardrop at the bottom of her eyes.
Her crimson eyes undoubtedly inherited the traits of her mother, Hefestus Dragon, while her black hair came from her deceased human father.
However, Dark recalled that when she activated her Draconic bloodline, her long black hair would turn silver, just like Hefestus’.
Similarly,
Aurora Montiel Farley’s mother had red hair and red eyes. She only inherited part of her mother’s eye color, and her hair color came from her father.
But after activating the “Sun Giant” bloodline, her hair turned a fiery red.
This change in hair color based on power properties was actually quite common.
However, it was indeed fashionable.
…
Standing on the red side’s competitor platform, Pandora Dragon adjusted her disheveled hair with the wind, her gaze sweeping past the circular belt, pausing slightly at the position where her mother and junior were seated, before refocusing on the duel.
She needed to give it her all for this duel; her opponent was no easy target.
Noah Sharp’s expression was even more serious.
Last night, he had narrowly lost the “Platinum Star” in the final battle against “Behemoth.”
Today, standing again on the duel stage, he wanted nothing more than to win!
The two had been fierce rivals since the year before, having dueled many times, each winning some matches.
He wasn’t the type to keep track of the number of victories or defeats.
As a senior from a higher grade, failing to achieve complete victory was also considered a failure.
“Night Baron,” although gentle and steady like a knight, also exuded the pride of a “Dragon” Magus.
…
Both quickly shut out the surrounding noise, focusing entirely on the duel.
There were duelists who relied on external factors to boost morale and ultimately enhance their combat power.
But Saint Maryann Academy rarely produced such热血 duelists.
Their well-established systems and meticulous thinking were their consistent winning strategies.
“Beeep—”
The whistle sounded, signaling the start of the thirty-second countdown to the preparation phase!
As both players drew their cards simultaneously, Dark focused intently.
The height of the circular belt’s spectator seats was generally slightly lower than the first row of seats outside the arena but still higher than the duel stage.
Special barriers cast outside the duel stage allowed spectators to see the players’ hand cards from every angle.
However, before summoning, the cards were shown face down.
Dark now had considerable experience observing duels. During the thirty-second countdown of the preparation phase, the most interesting thing was the expressions of the players.
By reading the subtle changes in their expressions, one could gauge their satisfaction with their hand cards and predict the outcome of the duel—a very enjoyable experience.
However, Dark heard that professional duelists were excellent at managing their expressions, and skilled duelists could use these expressions to mislead opponents, making them hesitant to play cards.
The core purpose of Saint Maryann Academy students participating in duels was to hone their mana technology, not just dueling techniques, so they didn’t delve deeply into this aspect.
Most of them prevented their expressions from changing to avoid being read.
However, Pandora Senior and Noah Sharp had very expressive faces.
“It seems Pandora Senior’s starting luck isn’t very good,” Dark said, squinting his eyes.
His companion Tudor immediately asked curiously, “Isn’t she smiling?”
Dark nodded and said matter-of-factly, “Yes, she’s smiling because the difficulty of winning has increased.”
Tudor’s tone stuttered, wondering what was funny about that…
The thirty-second countdown passed in an instant. Both players simultaneously drew their first mana spirit card from their hands and immediately summoned them.
The mana spirit cards they summoned first were also revealed in the projection.
Dark glanced quickly, unable to help but squint his eyes.
These were mana spirit cards he had never seen before!
But the beauty of watching mana duels was that even if one didn’t recognize the mana spirit card, they could infer its effects from the card name and pattern. The displayed stats on the mana spirit cards allowed the audience to quickly understand their basic strength.
Pandora Dragon summoned a mana spirit card named “Four Seals Sword”!
The card’s image depicted four floating light swords forming a light barrier, immediately reminding him of “Light Seal Blade” from “Yu-Gi-Oh.”
Noah Sharp, on the other hand, summoned a mana spirit card named “Dark Night Dragon Magus”!
Both players’ usual summoning techniques had been compressed to a three-second limit.
Almost immediately after the three seconds elapsed, the two mana spirit cards instantly activated!
Dark’s pupils contracted, suddenly noticing something abnormal!
Neither Pandora Dragon nor Noah Sharp showed any significant light effects after completing their summons.
Pandora’s “Four Seals Sword” directly appeared above the red summoning zone, forming a ten-by-ten square barrier.
Noah Sharp’s “Dark Night Dragon Magus” barely showed any summoning light, only a one-meter diameter summoning circle appearing in the blue summoning zone, from which a human-shaped mana spirit clad in a dark magic robe emerged.
During this process, the “materialization” was almost imperceptible!
They not only compressed their usual summoning technique to the extreme of three seconds but also suppressed the entire process from summoning success to materialization!
Such a small time difference might not be significant in low-level duels, but in high-level duels, it could change the course of the match.
Dark couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
“How did they do it?”
This was a high-level skill beyond his current capabilities.
However, the situation on the field was already clear from their initial summoning choices.
Pandora likely didn’t draw ideal cards. At the beginning of the first round, she took a defensive stance.
Noah Sharp, on the contrary, adopted an aggressive strategy!
“Dragon Breath Magic Spear!”
Noah Sharp’s voice echoed throughout the arena at that moment!
“Dark Night Dragon Magus” raised his staff, and a pitch-black magic spear formed like a dragon’s breath appeared in the air.
“Split into two.”
Then, the black magic spear split into two, shooting out!
In the blink of an eye, the split “Dragon Breath Magic Spear” pierced two of the four light swords of “Four Seals Sword.”
These light swords had fixed mana values and defenses, both at 1000 points.
Only by destroying all four light swords could the defense barrier of “Four Seals Sword” be broken!
The defense barrier itself had a defense value of 4000, with the total mana of the four light swords combined.
Each destroyed light sword reduced the barrier’s mana by 1000 points.
For those unfamiliar with the mechanism of “Four Seals Sword,” facing a defense barrier with 4000 points was daunting.
However, Noah Sharp clearly wasn’t among those people.
The “Dragon Breath Magic Spear” of “Dark Night Dragon Magus” had a six-second cooldown, capable of splitting into two or four spears upon attack. Splitting into two maintained the original power, while splitting into four halved the power.
The basic power of “Dragon Breath Magic Spear” was equivalent to the attack power of “Dark Night Dragon Magus,” which was 2000 points!
And it was only a three-star mana spirit.
…
After firing “Dragon Breath Magic Spear,” “Dark Night Dragon Magus” spontaneously summoned a semi-transparent dark barrier, protecting itself and the blue mana guidance ball.
This “Black Dragon Barrier” doubled its defense value from 1000 to 2000, linking its mana.
Apart from these two offensive and defensive ultimate skills, “Dark Night Dragon Magus” also had an ultimate skill called “Dark Night Dragon Summon”—able to directly summon the “Dark Night Dragon”!
Attack, defense, summon.
“Dark Night Dragon Magus” triggered all three ultimate skills within three seconds!
The same three-star dark dragon species—”Dark Night Dragon”—was specially summoned from the deck!
…
Compared to “Dark Night Dragon Magus,” “Dark Night Dragon” was much simpler.
Although it also had top-tier strength at three stars, it had only one notable ultimate skill: “Dark Night Clone,” which created a clone for sacrifice without ultimate skills!
While lacking a second-tier mana spirit, it couldn’t directly summon a nine-star mana spirit through sacrifice.
But it could easily summon a six-star mana spirit without sacrificing the powerful “Dark Night Dragon Magus”—even without consuming cards!
Thus, by the seventh second of the battle, Noah Sharp had already begun summoning a six-star mana spirit!
…
On the contrary, Pandora’s luck wasn’t ideal.
After activating “Four Seals Sword,” she summoned a three-star mana spirit—”Merciful Dragon”!
But Noah Sharp couldn’t help but change his expression when he saw her summon “Merciful Dragon.”
“Merciful Dragon” was a pure dragon of the light attribute.
Its card depicted an aged white dragon.
Having reached the limit of its lifespan, it had almost lost the ability to move, but its draconic constitution still endowed it with high mana and defense.
[Card Name: Merciful Dragon]
[Type: Elemental Card]
[Level: ???]
[Race: Dragon]
[Attribute: Light]
[Mana: 2000]
[Attack: 0]
[Defense: 2000]
[Ultimate Skills: Merciful Heart, White Dragon’s Vigil]
Although it was only a purple card with two ultimate skills,
“Merciful Dragon’s” two ultimate skills were very special.
“Merciful Heart” was a光环技 (aura skill) centered around it. Any light elemental mana spirits or light attribute mana凝聚物 (mana condensation) within its aura received mana recovery every thirty seconds.
Even though “Merciful Heart” consumed an equal amount of mana from “Merciful Dragon” each time it activated,
its mana recovery was a group recovery over a range!
The other ultimate skill, “White Dragon’s Vigil,” had a similar effect to the “Light Hall,” prolonging life.
As long as “Merciful Dragon” existed, any white dragons within the aura of “Merciful Heart” could transform into spirits after death—lasting only one-sixth of the duration of the “Light Hall,” but still thirty seconds!
…
Of course, none of these were crucial.
What truly mattered was that it was also a white dragon!
Pandora’s white dragon deck was extremely pure.
Where there was one white dragon, there would be a second.
Where there was a second, there would be a third.
If not timely contained, countless white dragons would surge toward you!
But with “White Dragon’s Vigil,” it was impossible to eliminate all the white dragons!
Therefore, how to eliminate “Merciful Dragon” was the key to victory!
Noah Sharp looked at his summoning zone.
After offering up “Dark Night Dragon” and its copy as sacrifices, he successfully summoned a six-star mana spirit from his hand.
It was a dragon of the dragon and dark attributes—”Shadow Dragon”!
The entire summoning process took only three seconds and skipped the drawing of the summoning circle.
As the two sacrificial offerings vanished in a flash of light, a completed summoning circle appeared mid-air in the blue summoning zone.
“Shadow Dragon” shot out from the summoning circle, swiftly diving into the shadow of the blue mana guidance ball.
From there, the dark dragon shadow rapidly spread across half the field.
A terrifying aura spread as the shadow invaded.
At this moment, “Dark Night Dragon Magus” had already reformed two “Dragon Breath Magic Spears”!
To eliminate “Merciful Dragon,” one must first break the barrier of “Four Seals Sword”!
These two “Dragon Breath Magic Spears” shot out, consuming another 200 mana points from “Dark Night Dragon Magus.”
Adding the 200 mana points consumed during the first shot, the 200 mana points for the “Black Dragon Barrier,” and the 200 mana points for summoning “Dark Night Dragon,” its original 1600 mana points were now reduced to 800!
But as the “Dragon Breath Magic Spears” crossed space, shattering the remaining two light swords of “Four Seals Sword,” the light barrier… did not vanish!
With the mournful roar of “Merciful Dragon,” four light swords instantly gathered at the corners of the light barrier, supporting the crumbling barrier!
And “Merciful Dragon” only lost 1000 mana points!
This was the synergy between “Merciful Dragon” and “Four Seals Sword”!
…
The cheers of the audience outside the arena surged.
But Noah Sharp had anticipated this result.
He calmly drew his third mana spirit card and quickly summoned it.
Still within the three-second limit, he successfully summoned the mana spirit card!
Instantly, a black light column shot out from the center of the shadow formed by “Shadow Dragon,” rising into the sky and exploding like a meteor shower, a black light sphere falling toward the “Four Seals Sword” barrier!
Magic Card—”Falling Stars of Darkness”!
This large-scale attack magic could only be used when there was a second-tier or higher dark mana spirit present on the field!
With the meteoric fall, the four light swords of “Four Seals Sword” reformed were all shattered by the black light sphere.
The light barrier with a defense of 4000 finally shattered.
“Shadow Dragon,” poised to strike!
However, on its path of infiltration, a delicate white boot suddenly stomped down, precisely landing on its head!
Energy from the light attribute released from the foot pinned the shadow of “Shadow Dragon’s” head firmly.
“Pure White Dragon Princess,” with a cold expression, looked down at the “Shadow Dragon” summoned due to the presence of “Merciful Dragon.”
She raised her hand, slowly pulling out a cherry-red lance from her back, flames boiling at the tip.
“Ultimate Skill—’Dragon Lance: World’!”
Pandora Dragon’s voice slowly echoed.
“Pure White Dragon Princess” thrust the dragon lance deeply into the ground’s shadow.
Strong light attribute flames, starting from the tip of the lance, instantly ignited the vast black shadows covering the field.
In a blink, the entire field was engulfed in flames.
The roar of “Shadow Dragon” erupted from beneath the shadow!
Whether it was “Shadow Dragon’s” “Shadow Invasion” or “Pure White Dragon Princess’s” “Dragon Lance: World,” both were ultimate skills with partial field effects. Using them normally would dispel or cover other field effects.
Seeing this, Noah Sharp urgently ordered, “Shadow Dragon, Shadow Curse!”
With the rage of “Shadow Dragon,” the shadows under “Pure White Dragon Princess’s” feet violently boiled, like ink spreading over her feet, dyeing the pure white black.
At this moment, the first round of the duel was coming to an end.
