That was how Underworld Deck duels were. Every spectator loved watching them; only one person did not—the one facing them.
"Thanks for letting me win, thanks for letting me win!! Principal Chen, I'm truly sorry."
"You let your guard down."
"Next time, I suggest your analysts analyze things a little more accurately."
Principal Hua was practically beaming with pride, her brows nearly flying into the sky. She could not hide the smugness in her voice.
"Hmph!" Principal Chen snorted.
Xiao Shan wore a faint smile, his aged eyes filled with approval.
After watching these duels, You Chen's was undoubtedly the most unique and brilliant.
For Xiao Shan, these past few duels had undoubtedly been the most enjoyable.
After all, middle school students generally dueled at a far lower level than college students. The gap was practically a dividing line.
Not to mention that Higher Academy students were even stronger. There was an enormous disparity between them and these students.
Thus, Xiao Shan had naturally come without expecting to see any particularly exciting duels, yet they had turned out to be unexpectedly entertaining.
He had grown used to passionate, hot-blooded duels.
Now, these Underworld Deck duels felt truly fresh and unconventional.
Xiao Shan loved them, and they gave him even more ideas for creating new builds.
He had to find some time to have a proper talk with him.
After the duel ended,
You Chen had already packed up his things. The Collegiate League duel had only been an appetizer; it was not even as good as that rat from the underground duels.
At the very least, he had been an arena champion. Though his deck's power level had been average, he at least knew how to employ plenty of practical tactics.
"Let's go. I'll treat you to dinner."
"Today's duel really made me like these decks more and more."
After this duel, Hua Ningning smiled in satisfaction. She felt more and more that having You Chen build her an Underworld Deck had been an exceptionally wise choice.
"No need. I have something to do."
You Chen waved his hand and firmly refused.
It would have been fine if he had nothing going on, but when there was serious business to handle, women were too much of a distraction.
Hua Ningning blinked and froze where she stood.
"I offered to treat a guy to dinner, and he actually turned me down?"
In the past, countless guys had racked their brains trying to get her to treat them to a meal.
Forget treating them—so long as they could sit down and eat with her, plenty of people would have gladly paid the bill.
It sounded exaggerated, but that was indeed the truth.
That had made her think that as long as she offered to treat someone to a meal, they would inevitably agree. It had become a foregone conclusion in her mind.
Yet even so, she had never eaten with another guy before.
Only now did she realize that the other party had the right to refuse.
"Hmm, interesting!" Hua Ningning smiled instead.
Just as You Chen stepped out the door, a figure blocked his path.
"Hmm?"
You Chen wondered whether someone had come to summon their fists for revenge.
He had seen it before—Tearlaments Deck players getting stabbed to death.
That showed that you should never provoke card players.
He figured his current strength was decent enough. Surely no one would stab him, right?
Looking up, he saw a bodyguard in sunglasses and a black suit. With an expressionless face, the man said, "Kid, Elder Xiao wants to see you."
Hearing that, You Chen finally let out a breath of relief.
He knew it. It could not be that serious.
As for this Elder Xiao, he was a major figure no matter what. You Chen also wanted to see how someone like that understood the principles of deck building.
And while he was at it, learn about Thunder Academy!
You Chen did not refuse and let the man lead the way. Of course, he could not have refused even if he wanted to.
The administrative office of the Duel Arena.
Xiao Shan was inside.
You Chen did not say much. He knocked on the door, then pushed it open and entered.
"Elder Xiao, were you looking for me?"
You Chen walked in without being overly reserved, but neither did he casually sit down. He still needed to show the proper respect.
Worth mentioning was the tall, cold-looking man standing beside Xiao Shan. He looked like a student as well, likely a college student from Thunder Academy.
When You Chen entered, the man raised his calm gaze toward him.
Their gazes met, but neither said a word.
This man had a powerful presence.
That was You Chen's conclusion.
"Yes. I'm taking up a little of your time. Have a seat first."
Xiao Shan looked up and gave You Chen a gentle smile.
You Chen did not rush to respond. He sat down and waited to hear what came next.
"Actually, I wanted to ask—who taught you these deck-building ideas?"
After thinking for a long time, Xiao Shan believed these deck-building ideas could not have come solely from You Chen himself. Or rather, someone must have been guiding him from behind the scenes.
After all, without sufficient practical experience, it was difficult to make so many builds work together so reasonably and smoothly.
At that, You Chen's eyes flickered. He had already realized something.
Xiao Shan was probing whether someone had been guiding his deck-building mindset.
Clearly, he believed You Chen's practical experience was insufficient to reach this level.
You Chen pondered for a moment before answering honestly, "Uh, no one has really been guiding me."
"These builds are really just basics. They aren't difficult."
Not difficult.
When those two words came out, why did Xiao Shan feel like he was being shown off to?
You Chen felt that this world's duelists had been misled in their dueling mindset by a bunch of stubborn experts with outdated ideas.
Take Kaiba Magazine, for example. The papers in it were generally textbook-level explanations of simple foundational theories, while the deeper material merely explained how to operate decks.
As for deck building, they kept repeating the same things over and over, never introducing anything new.
As a result, from elementary school to college and then into society, duelists had absorbed those ideas until they became deeply entrenched and difficult to change.
It was not as though there had been no one trying to change things. Either they did not know how to build decks and gave up halfway through, or they were regarded as unstable oddities and gave up as well.
Over time, this world's duelists had become trapped in outdated dueling ideas.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural for them to regard builds like You Chen's as aberrations.
But once an aberration won enough, it became unique! It became a style!
That was the difference between being an oddity and having a distinctive style.
So, put simply, You Chen believed this world's experts had harmed its duelists.
They were unwilling to make mistakes, afraid of making mistakes, and built decks and dueled conservatively.
Hadn't the previous world been the same? How many people had been harmed by experts?
"So you created all these decks entirely on your own?" Xiao Shan asked.
"Yes," You Chen replied.
"How long did it take?" Xiao Shan asked.
"About half an hour per deck," You Chen said after thinking about it. If he said ten minutes, would they think he was getting too full of himself?
Forget it. Better to be conservative.
Keep a low profile.
Little did he know, half an hour had already left Xiao Shan greatly astonished.
Students generally took around three hours to come up with a deck build.
One hour was already considered outstanding.
Underworld Decks were so unique that they naturally required even more time.
Could this kid be getting carried away?
Thanks to Wang Xiyan, The Beginning of Time Remains Unchanged, 4541, Immortal Demon Weeps Blood, the Seventh Crow, Long Kui's Flowing Immortal Dress, Dragon Knight of the End, 2516, Chaotic Moon Rain, Free Westerly Wind, Toma Kamijou, Return by the Earth Road, God April, 7913, Medicine Moon, Black Moon Ninja, and If There Is Love. Thank you, readers, for your recommendation votes!!
Please send some votes my way. I've noticed you readers have been incredibly supportive. Once this goes premium, I'll definitely give you a satisfying read.
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