Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Hello, Underworld! Shen! Sui!
That night, Shen Sui had a good sleep.
When time synchronized, Alice behaved much more quietly, and nothing happened even at night.
However, the Time Regulator, as a convenient tool for Life Card Masters, is not necessarily a good thing for Soul Cards.
The Soul Card World is a real world where multiple Soul Cards can exist. If every Soul Card’s Life Card Master activates the Time Regulator, then the time in the Soul Card World would become chaotic. Therefore, under the self-compensation of the Soul Card World, the regulating effect of the Time Regulator only works within a certain range around the Soul Card. In different Soul Card Worlds, this mysterious space-time anomaly has different names.
In the Fantasy World, it’s called Space-Time Alteration.
In the Science Fiction World, it’s called Space-Time Turbulence.
In the Immortal World, it’s called the Space-Time Secret Realm.
This also leads to the phenomenon of the Soul Card’s own time being inconsistent with the time of the world it resides in. If the switch is used too frequently, it might cause the Soul Card’s perception to collapse.
Of course, in the hands of some wealthy Life Card Masters, this Time Regulator is just used for cheating, especially in the Immortal World. They constantly accelerate their Soul Cards, quickly enhancing their capabilities. From the perspective of the Soul Card, it feels like having a cheat accelerator, allowing them more training time than those around them.
The next day, Shen Sui once again arrived at the Life Card Theme Park.
Today, he is set to compete in the quarter-finals. If victorious, the semi-finals will be in the afternoon.
Then the finals, which will be broadcast live across the internet, will be in the evening.
Finishing all in one day is in line with the tradition of most amateur competitions. After all, amateur players don’t have that much time to wait for the game to start.
"Hey, isn’t this classmate Shen Sui?" A strange voice emerged behind Shen Sui.
Shen Sui turned around to see a quiet boy wearing glasses.
"Hello, my name is Yu Wenyuan, also a freshman at Tianyi Academy. I’ve watched your duel exam video, truly impressive." Yu Wenyuan said enthusiastically.
Yu Wenyuan...
Among those Yue Tao mentioned who reported his card, wasn’t there someone named Yu Wenyuan?
Looking at the smiling Yu Wenyuan in front of him, Shen Sui recalled.
"Looks like in this duel, I’m your opponent then." Yu Wenyuan always wore a gentle smile, exuding a familiar vibe.
He stood opposite Shen Sui, patted the Dueling Device, and the deck started shuffling automatically.
"Then let’s begin." Shen Sui didn’t say much more.
"It seems you underestimate me a bit, classmate Shen Sui." Yu Wenyuan adjusted his glasses, the sunlight reflecting off them formed a white glow, "I’m quite strong."
"Wow, my first move, let me begin." Shen Sui ignored Yu Wenyuan.
"As your future competitor, I’ve thoroughly studied your deck. Your combo is nothing in front of my invincible Mechanical Tyrannosaurus, a mere 1-star Soul Card. My dinosaur can swallow it in one bite!" Yu Wenyuan’s lips curled upwards, "However, I heard your Permanent Spell Card seems to be banned, ah, looks like you won’t be able to use this card in future professional matches."
"Which card?" Shen Sui glanced at his hand, drew one of them, and asked, "Is it this one?"
"Pay 13 Soul Points, activate the Permanent Spell Card [Star Magic Array]."
Shen Sui directly activated [Star Magic Array], then pulled out another card: "Then pay 1 Soul Point to normally summon [Magic Apprentice Alice] from my hand."
The adorable Alice took the stage, causing the spectators to cheer.
This beautiful lady instantly won them over.
"Pay 2 Soul Points, set a Spell Card."
"Alright, my turn ends."
This duel environment without trap cards is so pleasant.
Shen Sui looked up at Yu Wenyuan, raised his hand with the palm up, and said very politely to Yu Wenyuan:
"Please start your turn."
Shen Sui looked at Yu Wenyuan in a friendly manner.
He wasn’t too angry, after all, being reported for using banned cards is a necessary experience on the road to fame.
But that doesn’t mean Shen Sui would just laugh it off knowing that someone reported him. Although he wasn’t going to use fists, a duel as psychological therapy for the opponent was still viable.
Trying to defeat a strong classmate with such means, this is no ordinary psychological issue.
It’s necessary to hit hard.
"Hahaha." Yu Wenyuan suddenly burst into laughter, as if he thought of something funny.
Shen Sui looked at this smile, somewhat familiar.
In his past life, when playing cards in the shop, his opponents would laugh like this when they thought they caught him out.
"Don’t assume your combo is invincible just because you defeated an incomplete Xu Tianzhi." Yu Wenyuan drew a card from the deck, "There are many ways to counter your Soul Card in this world. I only need a small Spell Card to directly counter your Soul Card."
Yu Wenyuan flipped over a Soul Points Card, announcing his main phase start.
"At this moment." Shen Sui pressed his hand onto his face-down card, saying, "Flip up the face-down card, activate the Spell Card."
"It’s useless." Yu Wenyuan grinned, "A 2-star Spell Card can’t do anything. To defeat you, I only need one round."
Yu Wenyuan was confident because he had a perfect opening hand in this duel.
The key card from his deck was already in his hand.
What a shame there wasn’t any livestream for the preliminaries. Otherwise, I could’ve used Shen Sui’s fame to make a splash.
What’s so great about defeating a fifth-tier Life Card Master? Didn’t I just crush him?
"Oh? Let me try then." Shen Sui tilted his head, looking at Yu Wenyuan with a half-smile.
If it were Shen Sui’s card friends from his past life, seeing Shen Sui smile like this, they’d probably shiver, because when this guy smiled like that, he was likely planning something sinister.
Shen Sui flipped open the face-down card. Before the two of them appeared a 2-star Spell Card [Air Force].
"Activate the effect of the Spell Card [Air Force]." Shen Sui drew a card from his hand, "Activate at the start of the opponent’s main phase, placing a card from my hand on the top of the deck."
******
Card Name: [Air Force]
Category: Spell Card
Star Level: 2-star
Effect: At the beginning of the opponent’s main phase, you can place a card from your hand on the top of your deck to activate. If the opponent uses the first Life Card during that main phase, you can turn over the top card of your deck to determine:
〇 If the two Life Cards are of the same category, negate and destroy the Life Card used by the opponent, and they cannot use the same type of Life Card until the end of the turn;
〇 If the two Life Cards are of different categories, discard all cards in your hand.
******
Upon hearing this effect, Yu Wenyuan was immediately stunned.
What card did Shen Sui put back on the top of the deck? There’s no need to guess, because with [Magic Apprentice Alice] on the field, any followers he summons will be immediately blown away.
Alright, now the most awkward situation has occurred.
If he activates the spell card in his hand to deal with Alice first, Shen Sui can counter it with the effect of [Air Force], and then prohibit him from using spells this turn, which means he won’t be able to complete the surefire setup this turn.
And this use of Life Cards includes paying Soul Points to cover the spell card, so he can’t bypass the effect of [Air Force] this way, and might even have his spell trap directly resolved by the opponent.
After weighing his options, Yu Wenyuan simply chose to pass.
"My turn ends." Yu Wenyuan snorted coldly, discarded a card, and said, "I’ll let you live one more turn."
In a Life Card Duel, the starting hand is five cards, and the hand limit is also five cards, so Yu Wenyuan needs to discard a card at the end of the turn.
Shen Sui’s follower’s Spirit Value isn’t high, so there’s no need to panic, at most he’ll lose a bit of Life Value.
"Oh? So you’re ending your turn?" Shen Sui asked with a smile, "Are you sure?"
"Hurry up, hurry up." Watching Shen Sui’s smile, Yu Wenyuan inexplicably felt annoyed, as if a chill was surrounding him.
"Alright." Shen Sui drew back the card he just activated from his deck.
He smoothly activated the card: "Pay 5 Soul Points, activate the spell card [Malicious Gift], choose a Life Card from my deck to add to your hand, then you can choose one effect to activate."
Shen Sui showed Yu Wenyuan the effect of [Malicious Gift].
Let me draw two cards.
Or let me counter.
Of course Yu Wenyuan wouldn’t let Shen Sui get two cards for free, he chose the second option without hesitation.
"Wow! You have quite the cards!" Shen Sui exclaimed, seeing Yu Wenyuan’s hand, eyes wide.
"Hmph! Take back your card." Yu Wenyuan snorted coldly, these cards in his hand were very useful to him, enough to form a surefire setup, but completely useless to Shen Sui, as they belong to two entirely different Soul Card systems.
With a smile, Shen Sui took back the Life Card he had slipped into Yu Wenyuan’s hand.
Hehe, this time it’s just an ordinary Life Card, believe me, next time I’ll slip a big useless artifact into your hand that you can’t discard or use.
The Life Card Shen Sui searched from his deck was [Luring].
"Pay 5 Soul Points, activate the effect of [Luring]."
******
Card Name: [Luring]
Category: Spell Card
Star Level: 5 Stars
Effect: Once per turn, you can have your opponent draw up to five cards in their hand, and then choose one of the following effects to activate:
① Select a follower on your field as a target; until the duel ends, that follower cannot be targeted by effects and will not be destroyed by effects;
② Discard all cards in your hand, then draw two cards from your deck.
******
"Damn!" The effect of [Luring] was too fast to see clearly, and when Yu Wenyuan saw the specific effect, he cursed, "What the hell kind of Underworld card is this?!"
Since he passed last turn, Yu Wenyuan’s hand was already at five cards, so the effect of [Luring] gave him no benefit.
Shen Sui had only one follower card on his field, which was Alice. If Alice gained such resistance, there would be no way for Yu Wenyuan to deal with her.
But if he didn’t give Alice resistance, all of his godlike starting hand that could perform a surefire setup would have to be discarded.
Shen——Sui——!
How conniving you are!
How could there be such an Underworld Life Card in this world?!
"Pick one." Shen Sui urged Yu Wenyuan with a smiling face.
Yu Wenyuan raised his hand, glaring at Shen Sui’s smiling face, and felt the urge to summon his fist.
He gritted his teeth and reluctantly discarded all his cards, then drew two cards from his deck.
"Pay 5 Soul Points, normally summon [Silver Moon Wolf King Hali] from my hand." Shen Sui played his last card.
"Activate the effect of [Silver Moon Wolf King Hali], which can be activated only once per duel, select an equipment spell card from the deck when it is normally summoned."
Shen Sui retrieved [Primary Storage Ring] from his deck.
"Activate the effect of [Primary Storage Ring], which can be activated when it equips a follower, select a Life Card of 8 stars or less from the deck and stack it under this card, then increase the Spirit Value of the equipped follower by 100 times the star value of the stacked Life Card."
Shen Sui placed the 8-star [Kiss of Death] under the Primary Storage Ring card.
As calculated, Hali’s Spirit Value reached 2400.
Afterward, Shen Sui entered the battle phase.
Since Yu Wenyuan had no followers on the field, Alice and Hali directly attacked.
2400+100 damage was directly dealt to Yu Wenyuan.
Even though it’s a tabletop duel without special effects, the damage still made Yu Wenyuan’s face look very unpleasant.
Frustrated, truly frustrated.
From the beginning of the duel to now, he hasn’t played a single card.
{Yu Wenyuan, Life Value 6000→3500}
"My turn ends." Shen Sui clapped his empty hand and said.