Duel World

May 30, 2023.

The playground of Zui Li City Fourth Senior High School was packed with people. They were all students preparing to give up the regular college entrance exam and take the Duel Exam instead. They stood in line to draw Soul Cards, which would be the most crucial cards of their future careers as Soul Card Masters—and the key tools that would determine whether they lived or died in the Duel Exam seven days later.

In this world, Soul Card Master was one of the most popular professions. Every year, the nation poured enormous budgets into exploring the Soul Card Worlds, injecting ample funding into the industry. Even a first-rank Soul Card Master received a guaranteed monthly subsidy of five thousand, not to mention the prize money from all kinds of dueling competitions.

It was a profession with a promising future, and everyone with the chance dreamed of it.

Shen Sui was among those waiting in line.

Even now, the events of the past week still felt surreal.

He was a transmigrator from Earth. During an ordinary walk after dinner, he had somehow crossed over into this modern society that resembled Earth. His body was still the same, but his age had reverted to eighteen.

I just got angry because my niece deleted my max-level game save and went out for a walk. Did that really warrant getting transmigrated?

Without an identity, a home, or any currency from this world, Shen Sui had naturally been taken to the police station by patrolling officers in the middle of the night.

Then... then he had an identity?

Looking at the ID card in his hand and the photo identical to himself on it, Shen Sui might have believed he truly was that student who had jumped into a river after doing poorly on the Soul Card Master theory exam—if his memories of Earth had not been so clear, real, and coherent.

"Shen Sui, relax. Even if your theory scores weren't ideal, you can still get into Magic City Tianyi Academy if you defeat the instructor in the Duel Exam!" A beautiful older woman in a white dress hurried over, handed Shen Sui a bottle of Coke, and smiled at him.

Her name was Lin Ke'er. She was Shen Sui's homeroom teacher in his senior year and the person who had brought him back to school after receiving the police notification.

"Thank you, Ms. Lin, but I don't really like drinking this." Shen Sui declined tactfully.

"Huh? Didn't you used to love Coke?"

"But this is sugar-free. It doesn't even taste like Coke." Shen Sui looked disdainful. "You might as well have bought me Pepsi."

"Fine, fine." Lin Ke'er was not angry. Seeing the student before her regain his vitality, she was happier than she could say.

Shen Sui was the most unusual student in her class. As an orphan, he was quiet and withdrawn, yet possessed an exceptionally strong sense of pride.

When Lin Ke'er learned that Shen Sui had failed the theory exam, she had worried that he might do something irrational. She had not expected it to happen so quickly. Thus, when Shen Sui "came back from the dead" and stood before her, she became even more cautious around him.

"Although I've told you many times already, I'm going to stress this again." Lin Ke'er once more brought up the matter of drawing Soul Cards. "Soul Cards are the most important tools of Soul Card Masters. Your Soul Card Follower is also the only bond between you and that other world. If your Soul Card Follower dies in that world, you will completely lose the ability to obtain new cards."

"There are thirty-three Life Card Worlds in total, thirteen of which are peaceful worlds. Followers in those worlds generally won't die from attacks, wars, or things like that. I know you prefer fantasy worlds, but believe me, those worlds are truly dangerous. The follower you draw might meet with disaster and die the very next moment—especially the world called Dawn Continent!"

Lin Ke'er glanced at Shen Sui with slight concern. Over the past week, Shen Sui had repeatedly asked her about Dawn Continent.

Among the thirty-three Life Card Worlds, Dawn Continent was one of the top Soul Card Worlds in terms of combat power, but it was also one of the most dangerous. Wars between gods had continued there for nearly a thousand years. Every religious faction fought the others, and the brutal suppression of heretics meant that everyone on Dawn Continent had to face death from the moment they were born.

"I know you want to draw a powerful Soul Card Follower to defeat the instructor in the Duel Exam, but there's no need to gamble your future! Everyone can only draw a Soul Card once in their lifetime. If your Soul Card Follower dies, you'll lose your qualifications to become a Soul Card Master. If it dies quickly, that's fine—you can repeat a year and take the regular college entrance exam. But what if your Soul Card Follower doesn't die until several years later? Would you still have the courage to take the college entrance exam alongside kids five or six years younger than you?"

"Shen Sui! I'm your teacher, and I have to be responsible for your future. You have seven days to raise your Soul Card Follower. There's no need to risk drawing a follower from such a dangerous world."

"Thank you for the reminder, Ms. Lin, but I've already made my decision." Shen Sui gave Lin Ke'er a bright smile. "I'm already an adult, and I have no family. I can take responsibility for my choice."

"Number 88!"

"Here!" Shen Sui raised his hand.

"I'm going now, Ms. Lin." Shen Sui gave Lin Ke'er a small bow. "Thank you for the Coke."

Shen Sui quickly entered a temporary classroom built from tents. The walls were covered in posters—thirty-three in total—each introducing one of the thirty-three Soul Card Worlds.

There were science-fiction worlds with mechs and warships, modern cities with superpowers, immortal martial arts worlds with wandering heroes and sword immortals, and fantasy worlds with magic and witchcraft.

Some were peaceful, while others were chaotic, creating striking scenery across the Soul Card Duel arena.

Shen Sui's gaze settled on the introduction to Dawn Continent.

Dawn Continent, a world steeped in fantasy, where strange and powerful forces filled every corner with ever-present danger.

Silver Moon Calendar, Year 922: Twilight Bishop Claude Moderna, who had suppressed all gods in the world, mysteriously vanished. The followers of gods hidden away in secret corners once again raised their banners.

Silver Moon Calendar, Year 923: Twilight Saintess Vivian was burned to death by the people in Modena City.

Silver Moon Calendar, Year 950: The Goddess of Nature awakened, and the gods began to return.

The poster gave a rough account of the following thousand years of Dawn Continent's history.

From a modern perspective, it was a thoroughly cliché ancient fantasy novel setup.

A hypocritical Holy Church and an evil empire.

Conflicts among humans, elves, and beastmen—things like that were not much different from the various fantasy novels Shen Sui had read before.

The reason Shen Sui had chosen this world was because he knew Twilight Bishop Claude Moderna.

Claude Moderna was merely what the natives of Dawn Continent called him. Shen Sui was more familiar with Claude's nickname: White Dragon Inside Warm.

Because that was his game ID.

And the Twilight Bishop's mysterious disappearance was not much of a mystery at all. It was entirely because the bishop's game save had been deleted by his niece.

Yes, this Dawn Continent was the game continent from Dawn Link, the mishmash 3A anime-style game from Shen Sui's previous life whose save file had been deleted.

And this world's so-called Soul Card Duels were actually a dueling card minigame built into Dawn Link by its developers. As a famously derivative game, the rules of its Soul Card Duels gave off a strong sense of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Shadowverse, and many other turn-based card games. Shen Sui had cleared the game on New Game Plus, so when he saw this world's Soul Card Duel system, he immediately felt that something was off. After investigating, he had indeed discovered the familiar Dawn Continent.

Since his game character had already appeared in the history of Dawn Continent, then the Storage Boxes he had left scattered across the continent while playing the game most likely still existed as well.

Most of those Storage Boxes had been used by Shen Sui to store gathered materials, ores, and fish caught from all sorts of inexplicable bodies of water. But some also contained items and skill books he did not need, because his inventory had been full.

According to the game's settings, Storage Boxes were indestructible and could only be opened with their owner's consent.

If they still existed on Dawn Continent, Shen Sui was confident that he could raise the Soul Card Follower he drew into one of the strongest in a short time.

He was penniless now, and he had already returned everything he had learned in high school to his teachers. If he could not pass the Duel Exam, then after graduating high school, he would likely become homeless and end up on the streets until he earned enough money hauling bricks. Choosing a suitable world that he knew well was therefore extremely important.

"Please choose the world from which you wish to draw a Soul Card," the guide asked Shen Sui.

"Dawn Continent!"

Shen Sui answered without the slightest hesitation.