If both sides agreed, they could end the procedure early and proceed directly to [Preparation Phase 2].
But at this moment, Dark only had a Golden Book in his hands. Even if he treated the Golden Book's pages as Magitech Cards, he had no way to tear the pages out and rearrange them.
So constructing and shuffling a deck were simply impossible.
"Hey!"
After repeated attempts yielded nothing, Dark abruptly looked up at the other side and spoke for the first time.
But after waiting several seconds, as expected, the shadow on the other side showed no reaction at all.
He opened his mouth again and shouted several loud calls.
But the shadow remained motionless, holding that pitch-black book. Even if he wanted to imitate it, he had no idea where to begin.
Time once again ran out amid his attempts at exploration.
The duel entered [Preparation Phase 2].
Unlike the relatively ample [Preparation Phase 1], [Preparation Phase 2] lasted only thirty seconds.
Within those thirty seconds, the duelists had to draw their initial hands and formulate their opening tactics.
Time suddenly became pressing.
Dark focused his gaze tightly on the shadow's movements. If he wanted the duel to continue, he had to learn how to "draw cards" from the shadow's actions.
The hourglass turned over, and the sand began to flow faster.
At last, the shadow moved.
It opened the black book in its hand, placed its hand on the first page, and then... stopped moving again!
"Got it!"
Dark copied its actions and placed his hand on the first page of the Golden Book. But nothing happened.
Growing somewhat anxious, he suddenly grabbed the page and tried to pull.
This time, the page that had previously been impossible to tear out came away with remarkable ease!
Dark froze