Dekan Begins to Bare His Fangs

By the time Dekan was nearly asleep,

the examiner finally reminded him that it was time to enter the Shadow World.

Dekan undid the top button of his shirt, rolled his neck, relaxed his shoulders, and followed the examiner to the Void Gate.

The instant he stepped through the Void Gate, he entered a pitch-black space where nothing could be seen.

It seemed to have become incredibly quiet here. Aside from Dekan's breathing,

every other sound seemed to have been completely blocked out.

Soon, the surroundings lit up, and he found himself in a different-dimensional space resembling a spacetime tunnel.

Prompts appeared before his eyes at the same time.

[Welcome to the artificial Shadow World, "Phantom Canyon."]

[This assessment is a simulated duel. There will be no risk to life.]

[Terrain is random. Pain is set to 1/4 of its true intensity.]

[If you are killed in Phantom Canyon, or completely lose consciousness and cannot recover, you will be transported out of Phantom Canyon.]

[Candidates may voluntarily choose to exit the Shadow World.]

[The examiner is the "Hunter," and the candidate is the "Prey." The examiner's strength will be restricted to Tier 4 and equipped with standardized Tier 4 White Common Equipment Cards.]

[The initial distance between candidate and examiner is 500 meters.]

[Candidates who persist in the canyon for over 10 minutes will pass. Exiting the Shadow World at that time will directly settle the results.]

[Lasting longer and dealing damage to the examiner will count as additional bonus points.]

[The time limit is 30 minutes, after which the Shadow World will close.]

[The above are the standardized settings for this examination.]

[This session's examiner is: Arnold Slet.]

[Your examination will officially begin in 30 seconds. Please prepare yourself.]

As the final prompt ended, the scenery around him changed accordingly.

He felt as if he had arrived in an entirely new world!

So this was what it meant to enter the Shadow World!

Dekan looked around.

Endless grasslands stretched out around him.

"Is someone messing with me?"

Dekan scratched his head.

Random terrain, and I get a plain.

And the examiner just had to be the vice dean.

I can even see him in the distance!

Whatever. It didn't make much difference.

"Real-time card battles really are terrifying."

Dekan sighed as he took out two Equipment Cards, infused them with magic power, and equipped them.

In Dekan's memories of his past life, card battles might have involved life-threatening danger, but they should at least have been turn-based.

The people of this world used Magic Cards as weapons, scrolls, and summoned beasts. It was truly far too dangerous.

The two cards turned into streams of light, condensed into tangible forms, and settled onto Dekan's body.

A crown woven from Cold Iron Thorn, emanating a dim, eerie glow.

And a Gothic Lolita Doll Glove Puppet that looked cute, yet brimmed with an ominous aura.

Outside the arena, quite a few spectators seemed to have noticed Dekan's situation.

"This kid is so unlucky! Everyone else got valleys, forests, or islands! Why did he get a plain?"

"How's he supposed to hide on a plain? Race a Tier 4 examiner in a straight line? Hahaha!"

"And none of the earlier candidates had Professor Arnold personally examining them!"

"Isn't it because of that accident last year... It's pretty obvious. The Knight Academy clearly doesn't want people like him to pass this year."

"To put it bluntly, they want to teach these self-important geniuses a lesson. No matter how talented you are, if you get reckless, you'll still die in the Shadow World—and drag your teammates down with you."

"Holy shit, this kid casually pulled out two Purple Rare Equipment Cards?"

Perhaps because so many people had begun paying attention to Dekan, the director switched the main screen to his side and thoughtfully displayed the appraisal information for his Equipment Cards.

[Cursed Doll]

[Category: Equipment Card]

[Rarity: Purple Rare]

[Tier: 2]

[Attack Bonus: 0]

[Effect: Returns 0.5% of damage received to the opponent, and transmits 200% true pain to the opponent.]

[Remark: I love Card Crafter big brothers the most!]

[Crown of Pain]

[Category: Equipment Card]

[Rarity: Purple Rare]

[Tier: 2]

[Defense Bonus: 0]

[Effect: While equipped, your own pain is multiplied by 300%. Gain one death-prevention effect. Cooldown: 720 hours.]

[Remark: Oshihetayo, shihetayo.]

Is this guy even a martial artist?

He looked exactly like some Cult Priest who had crawled out of nowhere!

Still, the audience was no longer surprised. A few oddballs appeared every year.

If you said he was breaking the rules, he really was following the requirements to the letter.

His registration information showed that he had only equipped two Equipment Cards and one Summon Card.

"Is he a martial artist going for a thorns-tank build? But why didn't he bring armor or a shield?"

"His build doesn't look like that of a heavy warrior either..."

"So they're those obscure Equipment Cards. They probably aren't much more expensive than blue cards."

"The advantage of Purple Rare cards is that they can allocate a greater total amount of power to special effects. Both of his cards sacrificed common attributes and concentrated their power in strange areas."

"Indeed. The first piece of equipment looks like the creator had something wrong with their brain. Counter-damage rate is clearly more important, yet they put all its power into feedback pain."

"The death-prevention effect on the second one is incredibly useful, but the cooldown is too long, and the downside is too severe. Who would want to keep wearing something that triples their pain just to get hit hard enough to trigger death prevention? ...They'd probably pass out from the pain before it even activated. And an accessory without any defense bonus at all..."

"Wait, how are pain-related attribute modifiers even constructed... Does any of you know?"

Several students from the Alchemy Academy analyzed the cards.

"But look at how those two pieces combine. In actual combat, they can inflict six times the pain back on an opponent. He must have deliberately built it this way."

"Disgusting! I wouldn't want to fight him, anyway!"

"What a pity. Phantom Canyon only has one-quarter pain, so he can't disgust the examiner at all."

Theresia was also watching Dekan's examination in the Alchemy Academy's broadcast hall.

When she saw Dekan's equipment, the corner of her eye twitched.

So all you wanted was to disgust your opponent, huh?

At last, she understood what Dekan had meant by the terms "Underworld" and "Living World."

But, little Dekan, you have to do your best!

I'm counting on you to make cards for me!