Chapter 52: Chapter 52: The Unlucky Perennial Runner-Up
Bu Pei was ready to say goodbye to Shen Sui and leave.
This rich man actually came over just to invite Shen Sui for a meal; he really has too much time on his hands.
Before leaving, Bu Pei handed Shen Sui a business card.
"This... the industry’s supply chain here is really complete." Shen Sui glanced at the business card Bu Pei gave him, which was from a PR company.
Bu Pei told Shen Sui that if his deck couldn’t function properly because a key card was banned, he could call this PR company. As long as he paid enough, they would find a way to lift the ban on his cards.
"I’ll cover this part of the cost; just make sure you keep your promise to give the professional scene a good shake-up!" Bu Pei said with a smile. Although he was bad at card games, he genuinely loved dueling. The Life Card Association had caught batch after batch of people, but as long as the dueling families controlled the resources for competitions, the domestic professional environment would never improve.
The professional competitions needed a hero to break the mold, and Bu Pei was also happy to support such a hero.
Moreover, Shen Sui was his friend.
The unbanning process was extremely complex, so often when cards were banned, it was assumed they couldn’t be used on the professional scene.
But it’s precisely because of this complexity that many companies emerged, especially in an environment like the domestic one where the banned card system was abused; helping to unban cards became a lucrative industry, much like accountants in the United States or real estate agents during the property boom.
Charge a fee for helping to ban cards.
Charge a fee for helping to unban cards.
Double-dipping.
What? You’re talking about a banned card compensation? The compensation doesn’t come from their own pockets; it’s public money.
"No need." Shen Sui shook his head and said, "If I really did that, it would only encourage this kind of atmosphere."
"But how many times can your deck withstand the banned card reviews?"
"Banned card reviews? Just a payout every six months." Shen Sui grinned, "A banned card review for the same Life Card Master has a six-month cooldown. In six months, I can easily print another deck. They want to play dirty with me? I want to see whether they can ban cards faster than I can print them. When the Forbidden Card List is released, the one who’s embarrassed won’t be me."
Actually, there was one thing Shen Sui didn’t say.
Bu Pei’s words about the Soul Card World reminded Shen Sui, raising questions about why Life Card Duels appeared here, and why there were no signs of Life Card Duels on the Dawn Continent. This made Shen Sui realize a certain connection between the Extraordinary World and the real world.
If he found the key to this connection, then Life Card Duels, with their Extraordinary Power value, would not only be a game, a sport, and an entertainment industry in the real world.
By then, the whole world would be turned upside down.
Of course, Shen Sui hadn’t had the leisure to make the world go through such a dramatic change. If he did find this connection, it would probably just be to bring his wife into the real world...
Damn it! Why am I thinking so far ahead when I haven’t even found Vivian yet?
"Uh... if anything comes up, just come to me. As long as it’s about money, it’s not a problem." Bu Pei patted his chest and said.
"Oh? Really? I need money right now, V-transfer me five hundred thousand."
"TM! Get out! Trade me a Forbidden Card for it." Bu Pei said, rolling his eyes.
With that, Bu Pei took off, as he needed to catch a flight to Jing City that night. He heard there was another Forbidden Card there.
Shen Sui tore the business card in his hand and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
Hmm?
Shen Sui looked at the phone, somewhat puzzled, and answered, "Aren’t you planning to break into the seventh tier? How do you have the time to call me?"
The call was from Xinyuan Tanchun.
"Have you seen the news? It’s about the recent Dragon-Tiger Cup news."
The Dragon-Tiger Cup is a domestic Class A competition, a national duel competition with considerable influence.
News? With some curiosity, Shen Sui checked it out: "Damn, Tan Song won? That’s rare. I thought this time’s champion would be You Wenqi again."
"Because the final didn’t even take place, You Wenqi forfeited." Xinyuan Tanchun’s voice was very anxious, "Hurry and come to me, this matter is closely related to you too."
Huh?
With a hint of curiosity, Shen Sui arrived at the place Xinyuan Tanchun had arranged.
"With that outfit, are you going out?" Shen Sui asked strangely, looking at the luggage beside Xinyuan Tanchun.
"Yeah, I need to go to the Duel Branch at Modu University to participate in the qualifying duel for the Ranking Tournament."
"Eh? Weren’t you supposed to approve me?" Shen Sui said in surprise. According to the original PK tournament rules, after winning three duels, he could duel with Xinyuan Tanchun. Once Xinyuan Tanchun acknowledged his professional level, he could apply for the Ranking Tournament.
"The rules were changed urgently, which is also why You Wenqi withdrew from the competition," Xinyuan Tanchun said. "Not long ago, the Duel Branch at Celestial University just finished a PK tournament, and a student directly submitted a report to the Exploration Bureau, claiming that Celestial University’s PK tournament and coach approvals showed significant fraud. By bribing students and coaches, specific students were allowed to pass the PK tournament and coach approval to gain eligibility for the Ranking Tournament. Although the Exploration Bureau doesn’t manage professional qualifications, they eagerly coordinated, bypassing the Life Card Association to form an investigation team, and then the matter with the You Family came to light, and even the current head of the You Family was sent in."
"Such a big commotion, it seems like the Exploration Bureau is quite proactive."
"Of course, many members of the Exploration Bureau are civilian Life Card Masters who were squeezed out by those families and couldn’t mix in the professional scene. Of course, they’ll seize this opportunity to settle the score," Xinyuan Tanchun gloated. "They thought they could act recklessly in the professional scene and everywhere else. They even dared to commit fraud on Life Card Master’s professional qualifications; you see, the iron fist of justice has come, right? Fortunately, You Wenqi has achieved some results in world competitions over the years, and he wasn’t involved in this matter. Otherwise, he’d probably have his professional qualifications revoked, along with a lifetime ban."
With such a big issue, of course, You Wenqi didn’t dare to continue the competition, at least for a while.
"I know this guy," Xinyuan Tanchun chuckled. "He’s only focused on dueling and is just a bit unlucky. It’s a shame; we won’t get to see him getting humiliated in world competitions for some time."
"Now, the whole nation is investigating the PK tournament processes at Duel Academies. It’s likely a large number of professional Life Card Master’s qualifications will be revoked," Xinyuan Tanchun said. "Our academy is lucky, as we haven’t held the first PK tournament yet. But the process to gain Ranking Tournament qualifications is about to change. The Exploration Bureau has taken over the professional ranking system overnight and issued a draft for the new exam process to all Duel Academies. Tomorrow’s PK tournament at our academy will follow this new process."
Saying so, Xinyuan Tanchun handed Shen Sui a procedure chart.
The PK tournament process hasn’t changed much; it’s still free duels between students. However, if multiple people initiate a duel invitation to the same person, the decision to match them won’t rest with the referee like before but will be randomly selected by the computer.
The qualification to duel with a coach for recognition has changed from three to ten. But instead of needing to win three consecutive matches, it’ll now be determined after the PK tournament concludes, ranking the top ten students by comprehensive points.
It also outlines the calculation method for comprehensive points, which relates to the number of duels, victories, and overall win rate. If students in the tenth position have the same score, it will be judged based on their win-loss relationship. If they haven’t dueled before, an extra duel will be conducted.
Also, the recognition duel with the coach will not be conducted by an academy coach but by a coach from an external school.
Once you pass the coach’s recognition duel, you’ll gain eligibility for the Ranking Tournament, and the subsequent process remains the same.
(Winning isn’t necessary in the recognition duel, but it’s essential to gain the coach’s approval of your skills.)
"In general, your skills should be more than enough. Do your best tomorrow," Xinyuan Tanchun said.
"Don’t worry. I actually prefer these rules," Shen Sui said with a smile. Tomorrow, this smile would be brought to many more people, "because I have many opponents with whom I want to have a good talk about life."