Chapter 158 Bring a smile to the duel
***edited by x10***
Dueling arena ①.
Professor Jones glanced at the children at Noble House, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
Among the four houses of the first year, Noble House had the smallest number, with only thirty-seven people.
Thirty-seven was a prime number.
It was actually quite troublesome to set up a tournament format to decide four people from these thirty-seven people.
So she decided to use a little trick.
"Dark Demon, step out!"
"Yes!"
Dark stepped out of the formation with his back straight, quite imposing.
Professor Jones nodded with satisfaction and said, "You don't have to participate in the first round for the time being."
Dark: "Huh?"
Professor Jones: "As the defending champion, you have the right to go straight to the second round."
Dark: "Uh."
Although Dark would actually prefer to experience the joy of a formal duel, Professor Jones obviously wouldn't change her mind easily.
The students of Noble House were surprised, but it didn't seem so hard to accept as the privileged person was Dark Demon.
Even if someone was envious, they could only grit their teeth and endure.
So Dark temporarily changed from a contestant to Professor Jones' assistant.
After the students finished drawing the number cards one after another, the in-class competition of the first-year students began.
...
The first game: No. ① VS No. ②.
The two players who drew the corresponding number cards had to climb to the stage.
Overlooking the large 30X20 field from the five-meter-high player platform was a little overwhelming and difficult to handle for some.
But that was just the size of the venue for a normal match.
The venues of the large-scale competition were much larger and they started with a field size of at least 120X80.
Therefore, high-level duels also had corresponding requirements for the dueler's own physical fitness, especially in terms of vision.
Three months after the start of the academy, the little magisters were already very familiar with the rules of the official duel.
The two players on the player's platform put the prepared card deck in the groove on the right side of the "card table" according to the rules, and then injected magic energy.
The magic projection mechanism was activated.
The huge projection of the "card table" was rapidly unfolding right in front of the player's table.
...
"Put the Magic Ball on the field."
At the instruction of Professor Jones, Dark picked up the Magic Ball and walked to the summoning area of the venue.
There was a circular fixed point in the summoning area of the regular venue, which was specially used to place the Magic Ball.
Magic Ball's life barrier had five levels, and the magic energy value corresponding to each level was 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, and 16000.
This competition continued to use the scale of the New Star competition, so the first-level life barrier was used.
Dark inserted his thumb, index finger, and middle finger into the three holes of the Magic Ball and injected a small amount of magic energy to activate the life barrier.
The life barrier was a layer of transparent barrier composed of multiple hexagons.
As the life barrier unfolded, the inside of the Magic Ball was illuminated with luminous numbers representing the magic energy value.
Magic Ball was divided into red and blue, distinguished by the color of the luminous numbers.
Dark placed the Magic Ball about one meter above the circular fixed point in the air and exited after feeling the strength of the life barrier.
On the other side, Professor Jones had also placed a Magic Ball.
In addition to playing, watching the whole game from the referee's point of view was also of great help to familiarize oneself with the rules of the game.
Professor Jones would also be ready to explain some details of the rules at any time, which benefited Dark a lot.
Since the quality and quantity of cards of the first-year students were not high, the games progressed very quickly.
The fastest matches lasted between three and five minutes while the slowest ones took around eight or nine minutes.
The first round, 36 to 18, was over by half past ten.
The second round, 18 to 9, also took just over an hour.
For the third round, 9 to 5, Dark came in to fill in under the instruction of Professor Jones.
...
Dark was surprised by this.
But he couldn't help but feel a little excited in his heart as he was finally able to play!
How could watching people play cards be more exciting than playing cards himself?
He didn't care much about the duel in class at first, but he couldn't help feeling excited when he saw the duels.
"Is this the charm of a duel?"
...
The person who was also surprised was his opponent.
The first-year student from Noble House originally thought that he would have advanced to the next round without competing in this round, but the appearance of the "fill" caught him by surprise.
"Don't be nervous, Siegward, you can do it!"
Encouraged by his friend Roentgen, Siegward climbed onto the stage with a dark face.
...
Dark was already waiting on the stage.
He observed the "card table", put the card deck into the card slot on the right, and injected magic energy.
A bit of information came back.
It let him know that this table not only had a projection mechanism, but also functions such as "amplification".
Voice amplification was necessary to ensure that the dueler's roar would not be drowned in the shouts of the audience In a formal duel venue.
"Beep-"
[Preparation Phase][30s]
The above words were displayed directly above the table.
Next to it was a [30s] countdown.
On the upper left of the card table, the remaining magic energy value of the Magic Ball was displayed simultaneously.
That was "1000".
The countdown to the preparation phase would start after the "Shuffle" and "Exchange" were over.
Dueler had 30 seconds to draw cards and think tactically.
Dark looked at Siegward and said, "Hello, Siegward."
Siegward had short brown hair, an aquiline nose, thick lips, and a few pimples on his face, which were highly recognizable.
Facing Dark's greetings, Siegward suddenly said with a sad face: "Dark, please go easy on me."
Dark comforted: "Don't be nervous, the biggest charm of duels is their unlimited possibilities. Believe in yourself and believe in your magic cards."
Siegward's tension eased slightly: "mhm, thanks!"
As the "Auto Shuffle" ended,
Professor Jones whistled: "Beep - get ready!"
At the same time, the card table entered the 30s countdown stage.
Reaching out his hand to draw cards with a serious look on his face, Dark drew five magic cards from the top of the deck.
▼
[Pride II]
[Phantom Magic Beast: Eevee]
[Pride I]
[Magic Bullet Spell]
[Gatomon]
▲
"Not too bad."
The moment Dark saw Eevee, he was slightly relieved.
He didn't want to fall into a difficult situation because he couldn't draw a magical spirit card of the first tier.
After drawing cards, there was less than 30s of thinking time.
His mind turned quickly.
After a while, Professor Jones' whistle sounded again.
The words displayed directly above the table became:
[Battle Phase][30s]
The official duel game would take 30 seconds as a round. Except for the first round, two magic cards could be drawn in succession in each subsequent round to replenish the cards in hand.
→ Having no cards left in the deck was equal to losing.
During this round, the dueler could play however he wanted to play.
"I choose you, Eevee!"
In Just a little over 4 seconds,
Dark completed the normal summon of the first magic card.
Compared with the 8 seconds of the first in-class competition, it was directly shortened by half!
As long as he could shorten one more second, he would reach the theoretical limit of the Normal Summoning Technique.
"Vee~"
Eevee-chan landed in the light.
After another eight seconds, a dark golden brilliance fell on Eevee.
Bathed in the brilliance of [Pride Ⅱ], Eevee's cute eyes became sharp.
It held its head high, its eyes full of pride.
▼
[Card Name: Phantom Magic Beast: Eevee (Pride II)]
[Level: ✪✪]
[Race: Bird & Beast-type]
[Attribute: normal]
[Magic Energy: 500]
[Attack: 700]
[Defense: 300]
[Ultimate: Copycat, Baby-Doll Eyes]
▲
By the time Dark finished evolving Eevee, Siegward had just summoned the first magical spirit!
It was a magical spirit in the shape of a rhinoceros beetle, apparently the result of gambling cards.
The 30-meter-long field made the quick-attack tactics that Dark used in his first in-class match no longer useful.
So he promptly abandoned it and chose to break through from the front!
Eevee-chan glanced at the opposite side with disdain, and ran with all her strength.
Siegward also immediately issued an order to his rhinoceros beetle.
"Thunder Beetle, Power Charge!"
The rhinoceros beetle with an intelligence level of only 2.0 did not move until it received the order.
It lowered its head sharply, and the top of the horn on its head suddenly gathered electric light into a ball, and the electric ball gradually became larger while making a crackling sound.
It was a magical spirit with electrical attributes!
...
Dark took a glance at the opponent's magical spirit and he saw through it immediately.
Thunder Beetle was a relatively common first tier inspect-type magical spirit with electric attributes.
If one was lucky enough to get a purple card, one would have a high probability of obtaining the two ultimates of [Power Charge] and [Power Release].
Through [Power Charge], the attack power of the [Power Release] could be increased and converted from a single attack into an area attack!
Under the massive electric shock, Eevee would have nowhere to run!
"The key is not to let it release Power Release?"
"Eevee, Baby-Doll Eyes!"
A slightly indifferent voice spread throughout the venue.
Eevee responded to her master's command, her eyes widening suddenly as she ran.
A dazzling dark golden brilliance burst out from her big black eyes,
A condescending arrogance penetrated Thunder Beetle's mind.
That moment.
The arrogance that was like sitting on the top of the stars overlooking the world caused great pressure in Thunder Beetle's mind.
It instantly lost the desire to attack.
The electric power accumulated in the horn even started showing signs of becoming out of control.
Eevee seized the opportunity, leaped up, and directly knocked the Thunder Beetle out!
"Vee!"
Eevee-chan landed calmly, and saw the lightning ball on the horn of the Thunder Beetle suddenly explode. The dazzling lightning fell on Thunder Beetle itself, causing its magic energy to plummet.
Eevee-chan shook her head slightly. Just as she was about to express a superior's pity, she sensed the energy fluctuations above her head.
This made her jump aside immediately, dodging Siegward's [Magic Bullet Spell].
At this time, the duel entered the second round.
But Dark didn't draw two magic cards.
Because he found that Siegward's card deck was empty.
Obviously, this classmate did not have a sixth magic card.
In this case, Dark did not feel too good about drawing additional cards.
When Siegward once again summoned a second magical spirit - his Phantom Magic Beast, Dark fired a [Magic Bullet] from a distance, knocking it into the sky!
