What Do You Mean by Genius, Leaning Back.jpg

What Do You Mean by Genius, Leaning Back.jpg

The preliminaries passed quickly. Over the next few days, Lu Su did not encounter any particularly powerful opponents. The strongest contestant he faced only had a Black Iron Grade Blue Card.

Forget Luffy—even Kaneki had never taken the field.

There were sixty-four contestants in the main tournament. However, from the brackets Lu Su had seen, none of the seeded contestants who had shone brightly during the preliminaries had been matched against one another. Lu Su did not believe there was no shady manipulation involved.

At this moment, the guest section was already full.

It contained not only representatives from the Card Master Association and Jincai Credit executives, but also several notable figures from society.

Clearly, Shanghai City attached great importance to this Talent Cup.

That had been true before, at least. As for what they valued now, that was hard to say.

"Director Jiang, I never expected the Card Master Association to send you as its representative. You really think highly of us at Jincai Credit."

In the guest section of the stands, a Jincai Credit executive said with a genial smile.

The Card Master Association's representative was someone Lu Su knew—Jiang Wang.

That was perfectly normal, though. The fewer people who knew about the Spirit Summoning Society, the better.

Having Jiang Wang, who was already informed, serve as the representative was instead the most reasonable choice.

"Hello, viewers! This is your commentator, Xiao Mo. Welcome to the Talent Cup, exclusively title-sponsored by Jincai Credit!"

At that moment, an energetic voice rang out across the venue, drawing wave after wave of whistles from the audience.

Lu Su knew Xiao Mo. He was a major online streamer whose usual content consisted of Card Master duels.

He had not expected Jincai Credit to invite him this time.

Amid Xiao Mo's banter, the Talent Cup's main tournament officially began.

Lu Su was in the seventh match, so it would still be a while before his turn.

"We are now entering the first match. The contestant on the left is Lin Jiānián from Shanghai University Affiliated High School. As you can see, our student Lin has dyed his hair gold—quite the personality."

Hearing the name of someone he knew from backstage, Lu Su opened his eyes. Sure enough, the television showed Lin Jiānián, that chuunibyou teenager, currently waving both arms as he greeted the audience.

"According to Student Lin himself, his card is the Black Iron Grade Gold Quality Sea Patrol General · Yaksha. What a young hero!"

Same old recipe, same old flavor.

Lu Su was not surprised in the slightest that Lin Jiānián had revealed his own card.

"There's nothing worth watching after this." Lu Su closed his eyes and continued meditating.

"The seventh duel will begin shortly. Contestants, please make your preparations."

The backstage broadcast announced the match information.

Lu Su exhaled softly, ending his brief meditation.

Recently, as his meditation deepened, he had increasingly felt that his talent in Spiritual Power was monstrously good.

After straightening his clothes, Lu Su headed to the waiting area.

As the doors to the waiting area slowly opened, sunlight instantly stabbed into Lu Su's eyes.

The roar of the crowd began to pour into his ears as well.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Su strode firmly toward the battle area.

"As we can see, walking toward us from the right is Student Lu Su from Shanghai City No. 1 High School."

"Student Lu Su performed exceptionally well in the preliminaries. We can look forward to a strong showing from him in the main tournament."

As Xiao Mo commentated, the giant floating screen above the center of the arena began playing footage of Lu Su's preliminary matches.

The image showed Tsugikuni Yoriichi holding a Katana and cutting down a large golden retriever with a single strike.

"Golden retrievers—what did the Howling Pack ever do to deserve this? Why would you treat the Howling Pack like this?"

"Seriously powerful. He actually beheaded my Golden Retriever Emperor in one slash. I'm convinced."

The audience could not help laughing when they saw the footage on the screen.

After all, many ordinary people made Howling Pack cards to guard their homes, but no one had expected someone to actually use one in a competition.

At this moment, Lu Su's opponent also stepped into position across from him, and Xiao Mo's voice rang out at just the right time.

"And on our left is Han Yingying from Jiaotong University Affiliated High School."

As Xiao Mo gave his introduction, the referee had already arrived in the center of the arena.

The whistle signaling the start of the match sounded. Lu Su's thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Since the Association needs me to take first place, it's obvious they want me to draw as much attention from Jincai Credit and the Spirit Summoning Society as possible.

In that case...

A Black-haired Youth wearing a straw hat and red vest instantly appeared before Lu Su.

That was right. Lu Su chose to send Luffy out immediately.

Bronze Grade Red Quality Luffy was enough to attract the Spirit Summoning Society's attention.

This time, he was using himself as bait.

Sure enough, Xiao Mo at the commentator's desk froze the moment he saw Luffy. But as a renowned streamer, he quickly regained his composure.

"We can see that Classmate Luo has summoned a card completely different from the one he used in the preliminaries."

"This means Classmate Luo has at least two cards available for use in a duel."

"It looks like Classmate Han is going to have a rough time."

From Xiao Mo's professional perspective, regardless of Kaneki's quality, it was two against one. Lu Su held the advantage!

However, the audience had somewhat different opinions.

"A scouting hand, huh? Heh."

"Damn, an intel card."

"Scouting hand" was what young people jokingly called cards in Card Master duels that were obviously sent out to die.

But in the next moment, as Luffy flexed his right arm, a sky-filling barrage of fist shadows blanketed the battlefield.

Seeing Luffy's imposing presence, the entire venue fell silent.

No one doubted Luffy's strength anymore, especially since the director tactfully gave the field a close-up.

Looking at the ravaged ground, no one in the audience thought their faces were tougher than the arena.

Meanwhile, Han Yingying, standing opposite Lu Su, had gone pale.

As a flower raised in a greenhouse, she had never seen such a terrifying card.

Her own card had long since vanished beneath Luffy's fists.

"Lu Su wins!"

The referee's announcement instantly shattered the pin-drop silence in the arena.

"Holy crap, what did I just see? A Purple Card got one-shot?!"

"I take back what I said about it being an intel card. Lu Su's card is at least Gold Quality, right?"

"Does anyone know where this card came from? Why haven't I seen it in the Mythology Compendium?"

"So cool. I want one so badly."

The audience was utterly shocked by Luffy's power. This was the most one-sided match of the main tournament so far.

Naturally, the guests in the VIP section could tell that Luffy was a Bronze Grade card.

"A monster."

Someone could not help muttering.

The executives from Jincai Credit had shock written all over their faces. After a moment, one of them casually turned to Jiang Wang beside him and asked, "Director Jiang, if I remember correctly, your daughter attends Shanghai City No. 1 High School, right?"

Hearing that, Jiang Wang glanced at him and said with a faintly amused smile, "That's right. This Lu Su is Nanxi's classmate."

After a pause, Jiang Wang sighed. "He's really made something of himself. For an orphan to come this far..."

The Jincai Credit executive froze for a moment, then immediately revealed an excited smile. "Then he truly is..."

"...a genius with limitless potential."