The Xinyuan Family's Ambition

"World Number One Soul Card World?" In the office, the staff member handling the enrollment procedures looked somewhat surprised at the content filled in on Shen Sui's information form.

The Thirty-Three Soul Card Worlds each had their own numbers. As one of the earliest Soul Card Worlds to appear, Dawn Continent had secured the top spot with its unparalleled and extreme difficulty.

"Yes." Shen Sui nodded in reply.

After defeating Xu Tianzhi and passing the Duel Exam, he had followed the procedures to register for enrollment here.

"Newcomers these days are really something." The staff member sighed, then kindly reminded him, "Tianyi Academy divides its Youth Training Classes based on Soul Card Worlds, and the coaches assigned to you will also be professional Soul Card Masters from the same Soul Card World. But Dawn Continent... to be honest, there aren't many Soul Card Masters who use this as their Soul Card World. You should be prepared to be reassigned to another youth training group."

Shen Sui had already mentally prepared himself for this.

"Alright. All registered." The staff member uploaded Shen Sui's information, then pulled a card with a beautiful gold trim from the Card Slot Device—this was Shen Sui's Student Card. "Go back, pack your luggage, and you can officially enter the school."

"No need."

"Hm?" The staff member's eyes immediately turned wary. Students who passed the Duel Exam could be poached if another Duel Academy was willing to accept them—this was exactly what they wanted to do, so they were very sharp about it.

Were other Duel Academies moving this fast?

"I mean, no need to go home." Shen Sui pointed at the large suitcase by the door. "I've already brought my daily necessities and clothes."

"..." The staff member was a bit speechless. "Did you already know you'd pass the Duel Exam? Even knowing the examiner's rank?"

"Actually, I didn't." Shen Sui glanced down at his Duel Instrument. The exam was over, and he finally had time to check on Alice's status. "But I thought I could win."

The staff member instinctively felt this young man was a bit arrogant, but recalling that he had just decisively defeated a Fifth-Order Soul Card Master, he quickly retracted that thought. "Alright, I'll have someone come to take you to the dormitory."

Shen Sui nodded, but his gaze didn't leave the Duel Instrument:

[Alice has successfully arrived at Pa Yin Jia Lake.]

[The fulfilling journey along the way made her very happy.]

Fulfilling your journey, sure—I almost couldn't handle it, you know.

Shen Sui grumbled inwardly.

"Looking at your Soul Card Follower?" The staff member glanced at Shen Sui.

Shen Sui nodded. The staff member chuckled. "The time flow difference between reality and the Soul Card World is really a headache. Many newcomers get tormented by their Soul Card Followers at the start."

"And without any warning." Shen Sui complained.

That was the most frustrating part. Right now, Shen Sui was both afraid that Alice would die and he'd lose the Soul Card, and also thinking that if Alice stayed well-behaved, he might not have as many Life Cards to farm.

"I heard the Soul Card Association recently introduced a new technology." Seeing that no one had come to enroll for a while and the person he called hadn't arrived yet, the staff member decided to chat with Shen Sui. "When you obtain a new Life Card in the Soul Card World, your Duel Instrument will emit a notification sound."

Wait, shouldn't this be a basic feature?

Shen Sui had wanted to complain about this for a long time. In normal games, shouldn't there be a reminder when you get a new item? They just wrote a "ding!" with no sound effect—what was that about?

And Alice was highly likely to gain new Life Cards whenever she encountered major events or stirred up big trouble. If there was a notification, Shen Sui wouldn't have to be on edge all day.

"Oh?" But better late than never. Shen Sui asked with interest, "Can I use it?"

"Yes. Just go to the Soul Card Shop and install a program on your Duel Instrument. Monthly subscription, ten thousand per month." The staff member gestured with his fingers.

"No thanks!" As soon as Shen Sui heard the price, he lost all interest.

Ten thousand a month for a feature that users would disable anywhere else—how dare they?

With his humble family background, Shen Sui couldn't afford such a steep fee. He'd stick with manual monitoring for now. Tiring, but it would have to do.

******

Jing City, Xin Yuan Ying Xue let out a sigh and closed the laptop in front of her.

This genius girl, praised by all who knew her, still looked exquisitely beautiful even at home.

Her jet-black hair cascaded smoothly down to her thighs, like a waterfall.

Her delicate, fair face carried a hint of coldness, but her slightly furrowed brows brought a touch of humanity to this beauty. She seemed to still be replaying the duel she had just watched.

It was a recorded broadcast of a live Duel Exam from Magic City Tianyi Academy.

The examiner for the exam was a Fifth-Order Soul Card Master named Xu Tianzhi, who had recently defeated a Seventh-Order Soul Card Master and won the Ze Tian Cup championship. The ZeTian Cup was a small regional cup, but as a B-Class Competition, it had some recognition.

"How is it?" Sitting beside Xin Yuan Ying Xue was a glamorously dressed professional woman, equally beautiful but with a hint of allure, bearing a slight resemblance to Xin Yuan Ying Xue. She was Xin Yuan Ying Xue's mother, Wang Chunxue.

"Strong." Xin Yuan Ying Xue spoke slowly. "Very strong."

"His deck only has twenty cards." Wang Chunxue said.

Xin Yuan Ying Xue shook her head. "It has nothing to do with the number of cards in his deck. The core of his deck is just three cards. The extra cards only serve those three. Whether it's twenty cards or forty cards, as long as he gathers those three cards, his means of victory are already in his hands."

"Is there a way to counter it with Life Cards?"

"Didn't you notice he still has a Follower on the field that hasn't activated any effects? That's probably prepared to negate the opponent's effects." Xin Yuan Ying Xue said.

"Damn it. We had everything planned out, the promotional blitz was all ready, and then this guy pops up." Wang Chunxue frowned in disgust. "A no-rank defeating a Fifth-Order newcomer—Xiao Xue, you should be the only one!"

Thinking of this, Wang Chunxue suddenly had an idea and asked, "What do you think about us finding someone to review him and get his cards banned?"

Xin Yuan Ying Xue's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, a trace of disgust flickering at the corner of her mouth before quickly vanishing.

The Forbidden Card system, as a mechanism to maintain balance in competitions, had good intentions, but its use should be restrained. Abroad, due to the high cost of Life Cards, the compensation for banned cards was also very high. With insufficient funds from Soul Card Associations and the influence of capital groups selling Life Cards, the review process for Forbidden Cards was very cautious—only a few cards were banned each month.

But domestically, this Forbidden Card system had shown a trend of being abused. It was true that the low price of domestic Life Cards allowed all Soul Card Masters the opportunity to buy high-star cards and build powerful decks, but the low price also significantly lowered the cost of banning cards.

Domestic Soul Card price caps meant the Soul Card Association, having lost such a major revenue source, used their Forbidden Card review authority for power-for-money deals. No matter how many times the state cracked down, it never stopped.

The global monthly Forbidden Card list had a cap of fifty cards at most. Yet Huaxia consistently occupied over half of those slots—even during the Dongye Youzai Forbidden Card incident that month, when half his deck was banned, Huaxia's Forbidden Card count still outstripped his.

The abuse of the Forbidden Card system had poisoned the domestic competition environment. The great families used Forbidden Cards to crush rising opponents, securing their place on the championship podium. Just as the audience member earlier said, they'd rather watch foreign matches. For domestic A-Class and B-Class competitions, one glance at the roster told you roughly who the champion would be. Only C-Class competitions were worth watching, because the Soul Card Association still had some face left—they wouldn't ban the cards of low-rank professional Soul Card Masters.

In this environment, whether spectators or ordinary Soul Card Masters, everyone was waiting for a hero to punch through this stinking cesspool.

But no matter how strong the hero, could they really withstand several rounds of Forbidden Card reviews?

She withdrew her gaze from her mother and looked at the Duel Instrument on her own table.

A soft, warm embrace wrapped around her from behind. "Mom knows you hate these methods, but Mom is doing this for your own good, Xiao Xue. Don't you want to become a Ninth-Order Soul Card Master? Don't you want to become the world champion? Mom is just clearing the obstacles along your path."

Xin Yuan Ying Xue remained silent, saying nothing.

"Mom only has you left, Xiao Xue. Don't you abandon Mom."

Wang Chunxue's icy voice came through. Xin Yuan Ying Xue closed her eyes. Before her mind's eye appeared the figure of that sister who had abandoned them and run away from home.

"Sis, Sis, why did you leave?"

"She's insulting me! I'm a duelist! I'm not a TM idol! Dueling is pure—it's not her money-making tool! One day you'll understand, Xiao Xue. If you truly want to become a Ninth-Order Soul Card Master."

Regarding the explanations for Forbidden Cards, the Time Regulator, and Extraordinary Power, I've pinned them in the comments section. Too many words to put in a single chapter.