Kashtira-Activate!

After getting Youye's agreement, Sheng Ning hurried back to the Inspector Bureau. The moment she entered the office, a middle-aged man with a square face and a blue suit called out to her in surprise.

"Xiao Ning, you're back so soon? Huh, where's that person? Could he be some big shot with a fabricated background, running a shop for fun?"

"Hello, Bureau Chief!"

Upon hearing his voice, Sheng Ning immediately turned to look at the man. She gave a slight bow to Wang Cheng, the Inspector Bureau Chief, then answered excitedly, "Bureau Chief Wang, Youye didn't fabricate his background, and he isn't a fraud. He's the kind of genius you only see once in a thousand years!"

"Oh? Tell me more."

Wang Cheng's smile remained unchanged, but his eyes were filled with deep surprise.

Sheng Ning had been with the Inspector Bureau for three years. This was the first time she had spoken with such excitement about someone being a once-in-a-millennium genius.

For a moment, he became interested in Youye as well.

"Bureau Chief, you know Bai Yun'er, the Bai family's eldest legitimate daughter, right?"

Sheng Ning did not state it outright. To make Wang Cheng believe her, she intended to use Bai Yun'er as an example first.

"I know her. She awakened a new archetype called Swordsoul. Her father came to me and asked if I could help refine its build." Wang Cheng answered without hesitation. Once he finished speaking, the surprise in his eyes deepened.

Sheng Ning was a smart woman. Mentioning Bai Yun'er before him at a time like this clearly meant that the person she had gone to verify today had done something involving Bai Yun'er. And that something was most likely perfecting the Swordsoul build—and it had to be an extraordinary build, or Sheng Ning would not have called him a once-in-a-millennium genius Duelist.

He did not know Youye, but he knew about Bai Yun'er's Swordsoul. Back then, he and several Earth-level Duelists had accepted the Bai Family Head's invitation, yet after half a month of deliberation, they had still failed to devise a suitable build or playstyle.

So he asked curiously, "How many turns did it take him to beat you? Four? Or six?"

What he did not expect was for his question to leave Sheng Ning speechless. Four or six turns? Youye had OTKed her proud board as soon as his turn began, and he had done it with a half-finished deck.

Seeing that Sheng Ning said nothing, Wang Cheng's smile instantly vanished and his expression turned serious.

Even four or six turns had been a conservative estimate. Normally, even Earth-level Duelists could not withstand Ancient Gear for four to six turns. By phrasing it the other way around, he had already been giving Sheng Ning plenty of face.

Yet judging from Sheng Ning's expression, he realized that he truly had been too conservative. This time, Sheng Ning had encountered a genius—no, a monster! Youye had beaten her in three turns, perhaps even fewer, and the deck he had used was most likely a Swordsoul Deck!

"Bureau Chief, look."

Seeing Wang Cheng's serious expression, Sheng Ning found a device, logged into Master Duel, and began replaying the duel for him. Wang Cheng nodded and started watching.

Three minutes later.

"Tenyi Swordsoul! What an unprecedented idea. The Bai family has struck gold. Once Bai Yun'er completes this Tenyi Swordsoul deck, she'll at least reach the Heavenly level. If she goes a step further, even reaching King level won't be impossible!"

Wang Cheng was utterly shocked after watching it. His own supposedly overwhelmingly powerful Ancient Gear archetype looked little different from a toy in the hands of the person before him. The difference in level was simply too great!

"No, Bureau Chief. The truly impressive one is Youye, not Tenyi Swordsoul."

"When he summoned Chengying, he held something back. He had more suitable monsters but chose not to summon them. And it's not just that. According to my investigation, he has never used Tenyi Swordsoul when dueling customers; he uses other decks. The most terrifying part is that when he dueled me, despite only being Platinum Rank, he used Master Duel privileges that only Grandmasters and above possess!"

Just as Wang Cheng was sighing in admiration, Sheng Ning corrected him with complete seriousness.

She admitted that Tenyi Swordsoul was powerful. None of the decks she had ever seen could stand against it. But she had a feeling that Tenyi Swordsoul was definitely one of the least remarkable builds in Youye's hand. Otherwise, he would not have given it away so easily.

The final privilege was what she understood the least. Master Duel was part of the Dueling Rules. It should have been impossible to break. So why had Youye broken it?

"You're right." Wang Cheng nodded after hearing her words. He had been so shocked by the duel that he had overlooked another layer of the matter.

Sheng Ning was right. If he were Youye and Tenyi Swordsoul were the strongest build in his hand, would he use it himself or sell it off? Obviously, he would not. Feeding one's apprentice while starving oneself was something that happened all too often.

And then there were the Master Duel privileges. A Platinum Rank Duelist using privileges—he had been in the dueling world for forty years, yet he had never heard of such a thing.

As he pondered this, Sheng Ning spoke again. "Bureau Chief, seeing how talented Youye is but that he doesn't have a deck, I made the decision on my own to have him challenge the Runick spirit. Can we approve this?"

"Of course. Go speak with Munin right away. If Munin refuses, you may offer her some suitable conditions to make her agree!"

Wang Cheng agreed without the slightest hesitation, then earnestly instructed her, "Once you settle things with Munin, take our group's card list to him immediately. Try to get there before the Bai family does!"

"If our card list has any cards he wants, give him a thirty percent discount. If he can optimize the Inspector Bureau's Ancient Gear, give him a fifty percent discount. And if he joins the Inspector Bureau, let him duplicate everything for free. You'll have full authority over any other requests he makes. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility!"

"Remember, we have to recruit a monster like Youye as quickly as possible. Under no circumstances can we offend him!"

"Understood!"

Sheng Ning nodded seriously. She understood that the nature of the matter had changed. Just as she had returned to the Inspector Bureau, Bai Yun'er would return to the Bai family and do the same—no, they might try even more frantically to recruit him!

By evening, Sheng Ning returned to the entrance of Youye's shop. This time, she was not alone. Beside her stood a female spirit with pitch-black wings on her back, a crimson robe, and delicate features.

This female spirit was naturally Munin, the Runick archetype spirit who had been staying at the Hangzhou Inspector Bureau.

"Sheng Ning, you're here? Huh, Wings of Runick - Munin?"

The moment the two women entered the shop, Youye noticed them. His gaze rested on Munin, full of surprise.

When he heard that a Runick spirit had been staying at the Inspector Bureau, he had assumed it was Runick's dog, Hugin. He had not expected it to be her.

"Have we met, human? Or did you learn of my existence from another Runick spirit?"

Being recognized at a glance for the first time, Munin looked at Youye with curiosity in her eyes.

As for why she did not ask whether he had learned it from Sheng Ning, Sheng Ning had already told her on the way that she had not revealed anything beyond the archetype itself.

"We haven't met. I just know a tiny bit more about dueling than the people and spirits of this world."

Youye smiled slightly, not minding revealing a small secret.

As a card game enthusiast from his past life, he knew roughly ninety percent of the cards in the Card Pool, if not all of them.

"A tiny bit?" Munin murmured. She did not pursue the subject and instead looked at Youye curiously. "Sheng Ning told me you have a deck called Great Banisher. Would you be willing to show me what it can do?"

"I do, but it wouldn't be appropriate. I'll use Runick instead. Using Great Banisher against Runick would be a bit like bullying you."

Youye considered it and prepared to decline. Great Banisher, in other words Kashtira, would be somewhat excessive against Runick when Runick did not know its effects.

Of course, the main reason was that he was about to obtain the Runick archetype. To acquire cards in the future, he needed to maintain a good relationship with the Runick spirits. He planned to go easy on her, take it slow, and make it look like a narrow victory so Munin could feel more involved.

"You have Runick too?" Munin gave Youye a deep look. As far as she knew, no human Duelist currently possessed the Runick archetype. At most, they had learned what Runick cards existed through dueling her and obtained a few of them. It was not impossible to build a deck with those cards in Master Duel, but only a Duelist who knew her and had fought her many times could manage it. Youye clearly was not among them.

This made her even more curious about Youye. He had accomplished twice in a row things no human Duelist had ever done. She stared at him and said seriously, "Use the Great Banisher you mentioned. If you win, I'll give you the Runick archetype and guarantee that you'll have chances to obtain its future cards. If you lose, I'll give you three Runick Archetype Cards as a reward!"

"Fine." Since Munin insisted so strongly and it would not affect his ability to acquire cards later, Youye naturally had no reason to refuse.

Without further ado, Kashtira—Activate!