Duel World

May 30, 2023.

The sports field of the Fourth High School in Zuili City was packed with people. These were all students who had decided to give up the regular college entrance examination and choose to participate in the duel examination. They were queuing up to draw their Soul Cards, which would be the most crucial cards in their future careers as Soul Card Masters, and also the key items that would determine their life and death in the duel examination seven days later.

In this world, Soul Card Masters were one of the most popular professions. The massive budget invested by the country each year to explore the Soul Card world injected sufficient funds into this industry. Just a first-tier professional Soul Card Master had a minimum monthly subsidy of five thousand, not to mention the prize money from various duel competitions.

This was a promising profession, and everyone who had the opportunity yearned for it.

Shen Sui was also among the queuing crowd.

The experiences of the past week still felt so surreal now that he thought about them.

He was a transmigrator from Earth, but during a walk after dinner, he inexplicably transmigrated to this modern society similar to Earth. His body was still the same body, but his age had returned to eighteen.

Didn't I just go out for a walk because I was angry that my niece deleted my max-level game save? Was that reason enough to transmigrate?

Without an identity, homeless, and without the currency of this world, Shen Sui was naturally taken back to the police station by patrolling police officers in the middle of the night.

Then... then he had an identity?

Looking at the ID card in his hand, looking at the photo on it that was exactly the same as himself, if it weren't for his clear, real, and continuous memories of Earth, Shen Sui would have almost believed that he was really the student who jumped into the river because his Soul Card Master theory exam results were unsatisfactory.

"Shen Sui, relax. Even if your theory results aren't ideal, as long as you defeat the instructor in the duel examination, you can still get into Magic City Tianyi Academy as you wished!" A beautiful older sister in a white dress ran over, handed Shen Sui a bottle of cola, and said to Shen Sui with a smile.

Her name was Lin Ke'er, she was Shen Sui's homeroom teacher in his third year of high school, and also the person who picked Shen Sui up and brought him back to school after receiving the police notification.

"Teacher Lin, thank you, but I don't really like drinking this." Shen Sui politely refused.

"Huh? Didn't you used to love drinking cola the most?"

"But this is sugar-free, it's not happy at all." Shen Sui expressed disdain, "You might as well have bought me Pepsi."

"Alright, alright." Lin Ke'er wasn't angry. Seeing the student in front of her regain his vitality, she was happy.

Shen Sui was the most special existence in her class. As an orphan, he was silent and withdrawn, yet exceptionally proud.

When Lin Ke'er learned that Shen Sui had failed the theory exam, she was worried that Shen Sui would do something irrational, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Therefore, when Shen Sui "came back to life" and stood in front of her, she was even more cautious.

"Although I've told you many times, I'll emphasize it again." Lin Ke'er once again talked to Shen Sui about the Soul Card drawing process. "The Soul Card is the most important item for a Soul Card Master, and the Soul Card's attendant is the only link between you and that other world. If the Soul Card attendant dies in that world, you will completely lose the ability to obtain new cards."

"There are a total of thirty-three Soul Card worlds, thirteen of which are peaceful worlds. The attendants in these worlds basically won't die due to factors like attacks or wars. I know you prefer fantasy worlds, but believe me, those worlds are really very dangerous. The attendant you draw could very likely encounter misfortune and die the next moment, especially the world called Dawn Continent!"

Lin Ke'er looked at Shen Sui with a little worry. In the past week, Shen Sui had consulted her many times about information regarding the Dawn Continent.

Among the thirty-three Soul Card worlds, the Dawn Continent was one of the top-tier Soul Card worlds in terms of combat power, but at the same time, it was also the most dangerous one. In this world, the war between gods had lasted for nearly a thousand years, and various religious factions attacked each other. The brutal suppression of heretics meant that everyone on the Dawn Continent had to face death at any moment from the moment they were born.

"I know you want to draw a powerful Soul Card to defeat the instructor in the duel examination, but there's no need to gamble your future! Everyone can only draw a Soul Card once in their lifetime. If your Soul Card attendant dies, you lose the qualification to become a Soul Card Master. If they die quickly, that's fine, you can repeat a year and participate in the regular college entrance examination, but what if your Soul Card attendant dies after a few years? Do you still have the courage to participate in the college entrance examination with a group of teenagers five or six years younger than you?"

"Shen Sui! I am your teacher, and I must be responsible for your future. You have seven days to cultivate your Soul Card attendant. There's no need to take the risk of drawing an attendant from such a dangerous world."

"Thank you for the reminder, Teacher, but I have already made my decision." Shen Sui showed Lin Ke'er a bright smile. "I am already an adult and have no family. I can be responsible for my choices."

"Number 88!"

"Here!" Shen Sui raised his hand.

"Then I'll go, Teacher." Shen Sui bowed to Lin Ke'er, "Thank you for the cola."

Shen Sui quickly walked into a temporary classroom set up in a tent. The walls of the classroom were covered with various posters, a total of thirty-three, each introducing one of the thirty-three Soul Card worlds.

Among them were sci-fi worlds with mechs and warships, modern cities with superpowers, Xianxia worlds with knights and sword immortals, and fantasy worlds with magic and witchcraft.

Some were peaceful, some were chaotic, forming beautiful landscapes on the Soul Card duel field.

Shen Sui's gaze lingered on the introduction of the Dawn Continent.

[Dawn Continent, a world full of fantasy colors. Strange and powerful forces fill this place with omnipresent danger.]

[In the 922nd year of the Silver Moon Calendar, Twilight Bishop Claude Moderna, who suppressed all gods in the world, mysteriously disappeared, and the believers of the gods in hidden corners once again raised their banners.]

[In the 923rd year of the Silver Moon Calendar, Twilight Saintess Vivian was burned to death by the populace in Modena City.]

[In the 950th year of the Silver Moon Calendar, the Goddess of Nature revived, and the gods began to return.]

[...]

The poster roughly described the history of the Dawn Continent for the next thousand years.

From the current perspective, this was a very cliché script for an ancient fantasy novel.

A hypocritical church and an evil empire.

The struggle between humans, elves, and orcs, and so on, not much different from the various fantasy novels Shen Sui had read before.

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

Claude Moderna was just the name given to him by the natives of the Dawn Continent, and what Shen Sui was more familiar with was Claude's nickname: [White Dragon Inside Warm].

Because this was his game ID.

And the mysterious disappearance of the Twilight Bishop was actually not that mysterious at all, it was entirely because our Bishop's game save was deleted by his niece.

Yes, this Dawn Continent was the game continent in Dawn Link, the 2D stitched-together monster 3A masterpiece whose save file was deleted in Shen Sui's previous life.

And the so-called Soul Card duels in this world were actually a small duel card game built into the game by the developers of Dawn Link. As a famous stitched-together monster in the gaming world, the rules of this Soul Card duel were full of déjà vu from turn-based card games like Yu-Gi-Oh and Shadowverse. As Shen Sui, who had completed this game on his second playthrough, he felt something was wrong when he saw the Soul Card duel system in this world. After some searching, he indeed found the familiar Dawn Continent.

Since his game character had appeared in the history of the Dawn Continent, the storage boxes he had left in various places on the continent when he played the game were likely to exist as well.

Although most of the storage boxes were used by Shen Sui to store various collected items, ores, and fish caught from various inexplicable bodies of water, some would also contain items and skill books he didn't need because his inventory was full.

In the game settings, storage boxes were indestructible and could only be opened with the owner's permission.

If they still existed on the Dawn Continent, Shen Sui was confident he could quickly train the Soul Card followers he drew into top-tier powerhouses.

He was currently penniless and had returned all his high school knowledge to his teachers. If he couldn't pass the duel exam, then without the ability to take the college entrance exam, he would likely be homeless and wandering the streets after graduating high school until he earned enough money by doing manual labor. Therefore, choosing a suitable and familiar world was extremely important.

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

"Dawn Continent!"

Shen Sui said decisively.