The guide glanced at Shen Sui in surprise.
Dawn Continent!
No one had chosen this Soul Card World in many years.
Someone had once described this Soul Card World this way: Followers from Dawn Continent either died immediately or were already on the road to death.
In professional Soul Card Duel arenas, there were almost no Soul Cards from Dawn Continent.
Countless Soul Card Master candidates who had chosen Dawn Continent in hopes of drawing powerful, invincible Soul Card Followers had permanently lost their qualifications to become Soul Card Masters when their followers died.
"Student, I need to remind you that among all Soul Card Masters who chose Dawn Continent, the follower who lived the longest belonged to a Sixth-Order Soul Card Master. His Soul Card Follower died in the war between Lady of Daybreak and the Lord of the Blazing Sun over the authority of the sun. He was directly burned to ashes by divine radiance and lived for only two and a half years in total."
Becoming a Sixth-Order Soul Card Master in two and a half years made him one of the best talents around, yet he had been forced into retirement because his Soul Card Follower died. It was indeed a loss.
"If you want to survive in the Soul Card Duel industry for a long time, it would be best not to choose Dawn Continent. Why not think it over again?"
"No, there's no need to think it over." Shen Sui spoke firmly.
The pretty female guide hesitated, then finally sighed. She rummaged beneath the desk for a long time before pulling out a dust-covered metal box.
Shen Sui was very familiar with this box. It had appeared in Lin Ke'er's lesson-plan PPT. This was the box used to draw Soul Cards.
A mysterious magic circle was painted on the box, with the words "Dawn Continent" written in its center.
"Please sign here and leave your fingerprint." The guide wrote "Dawn Continent" on Shen Sui's card-drawing application form. "Are you really not going to reconsider?"
Shen Sui swiftly signed his name and pressed down his fingerprint. "Done."
The guide sighed, stamped the ID photo on the application form with a steel seal, and placed an official seal over Shen Sui's signature. "All right, you can draw your card now. You'd better prepare yourself mentally. Even in Dawn Continent, the Soul Card Follower you draw is very likely to be an ordinary commoner..."
Before the guide could finish speaking, Shen Sui had already pressed his hand against the metal box. He had clearly rehearsed this countless times in his mind and did not need the guide to teach him how to use the card-drawing device.
"Beep! Soul Card draw in progress..."
"Beep! Congratulations. You have obtained the Follower Card: Country Girl Alice."
A card then popped out of the card-drawing device, and Shen Sui took it into his hand. The card carried a faint metallic sheen and felt slightly cool.
The back of the card depicted stars, with a black hole at their center, like a fate one was destined never to escape.
On the front was an image of a beautiful young girl standing in a flower field.
She was an exceptionally beautiful girl. Even a farm woman's outfit could not conceal her peerless looks.
Her appearance was almost on par with Vivian's.
Still, Vivian was a little better.
Shen Sui liked big breasts.
Card Name: Country Girl Alice Category: Follower Card Star Rating: 1 Star Effect: None Spirit Value: 9
Seeing the Soul Card in Shen Sui's hand, the guide revealed a pitying expression. A Follower Card like this could not possibly be any more worthless. It seemed the young man before her had no affinity with being a Soul Card Master. Even if his follower somehow avoided an untimely death, there was little chance of her rising in the strictly hierarchical Dawn Continent.
"This is your Duel Instrument. You can insert your Soul Card into it and observe your Soul Card Follower's movements in the Soul Card World. Well, when necessary, you can also guide your follower's choices, provided you have a reasonable identity set up and your follower is willing to listen to you." Even though she had already passed judgment on Shen Sui's fate, the guide still dutifully explained the precautions to him.
"Your follower's growth and choices may allow you to obtain Life Cards. Life Cards are divided into Follower Cards and Spell Cards. You learned all this in theory class, so I won't go into detail."
The guide looked at Shen Sui. Shen Sui nodded, indicating that he did not need her explanation.
Follower Cards in Soul Card Duels were similar to monster cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!, while Spell Cards were a collective term for every other type of card besides monster cards. In Soul Card Duels, there were five Follower Card slots and five Spell Card slots. It could only be said that the system had been copied, but not completely.
Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh!, however, using cards in Soul Card Duels required paying a cost called Soul Points. The number of Soul Points usable in a turn depended on the rules. Tournament rules allowed sixteen points, while unlimited brawl rules had no Soul Point limit.
Without any special effects, the Soul Point cost required to use a card was equal to its star rating.
The guide nodded and continued, "The Duel Exam will take place in seven days, on June 6. During those seven days, you must guide and assist your Soul Card Follower in obtaining at least twenty Life Cards to qualify for the Duel Exam. Otherwise, you will be judged defeated immediately. Next are the matters related to the exam."
The guide roughly explained the exam arrangements to Shen Sui. As for how to guide his Soul Card Follower to obtain enough Life Cards over the next seven days, that was something his school teachers should have already taught him.
The Duel Exam differed from the college entrance examination. Candidates had to choose a suitable Duel Academy to apply to after their theory exam results were released, then travel to the academy for the Duel Exam. If they failed, they could only take the ordinary college entrance examination the next day and would be cut off from becoming Soul Card Masters forever.
Thus, the pressure of the Duel Exam was far greater than that of the college entrance examination. There was only one chance in a lifetime. Control over one's choices, tests of ability, the random drawing of Soul Card Followers... many people had been crushed by such immense pressure.
Shen Sui's theory exam score was poor, barely passing. There was no need to even think about China's top Duel Academies. After Shen Sui had "come back from the dead," Lin Ke'er spent several days researching before finally helping him settle on a newly established Duel Academy—Magic City Tianyi Academy.
It was a youth training academy newly founded by the professional club Tianyi Club. It had no restrictions on theory exam scores, and even students who failed the theory exam could apply. As long as they passed the Duel Exam, they could enroll. Moreover, all academy fees were waived. There was only one requirement: Tianyi Club held priority signing rights over graduates.
These terms perfectly suited Shen Sui, a penniless student with poor theory exam grades.
Shen Sui was still very grateful to Lin Ke'er for this. She truly had been thinking about him.
After listening to the guide's entire explanation, Shen Sui inserted the Follower Card in his hand into his Duel Instrument. In an instant, information about Alice appeared before his eyes.
Alice Hozeville, an ordinary girl from a village in Andrew City of the Rowling Empire.
At sixteen, she was full of dreams for the future. She wanted to become a powerful mage, travel across Dawn Continent to punish evil and uphold justice, and use her abilities to change the world.
Unfortunately, her parents had been burned to death as heretics by the Church of the Lord of Thunder. Alice was filled with disgust toward the gods and was unwilling to believe in any deity. As a result, she could not obtain any divine inheritance, and her life was essentially cut off from Extraordinary Power unless a miracle occurred.
She was troubled now. She needed to harvest another acre of wheat, or her aunt would not give her dinner tonight.
Immediately afterward, the Duel Instrument displayed Alice's attributes.
Name: Alice Hozeville Level: 1 (Order 0) Health: 9/9 Strength: 3 Defense: 1 Spirit: 5 Agility: 9
She was a completely ordinary, even somewhat weak, girl.
Shen Sui thought to himself that his luck truly was terrible. Fiddling with the Duel Instrument in his hand, he planned to first create a role for himself to guide Alice's future actions.
However, when he entered the role creation interface, a prompt popped up:
An existing role has been detected in Dawn Continent. Activate it?
Huh? Shen Sui's mind stirred, and he immediately tapped activate. The Duel Instrument began operating on its own again and displayed Claude's attribute screen.
Name: Claude Modena Nickname: White Dragon Inside Warm Level: 169 (Order 16) Health: 114514/114514 Strength: 9999 Defense: 9999 Spirit: 9999 Agility: 9999 Titles: Twilight Bishop, God Slayer, Slayer of Gods... Skills: Twilight Symphony, Death Poem, Revival, Greater Healing Spell, Fireball Spell... Inventory: Fireball Spell Skill Book, Magic Tome of Naive Hatred, Star Magic Tome...
Your name was Lorende Modena, the legendary Twilight Bishop. You had mysteriously vanished in the year 922 of the Silver Moon Calendar and had now returned. The World Consciousness of Dawn Continent sensed your presence and humbly came to ask the reason for your visit.
If I remember correctly, the World Consciousness was that unreliable little girl who went offline every now and then, right? Her authority had been crazily stolen by the gods, yet she foolishly knew nothing about it. She was the cute mascot in the game, the chief culprit behind Dawn Continent's chaos, and her only use in the game was giving players quest rewards.
You expressed interest in Alice Hozeville. The World Consciousness indicated that she understood.
Ding! Alice found a mage's ring in the wheat field and obtained the inheritance of an unknown mage. Alice became a First-Order mage. Your Soul Card has transformed into: Magic Apprentice Alice.
Ding! You have obtained the Equipment Spell Card: Magic Ring.
Card Name: Magic Apprentice Alice Category: Follower Card Star Rating: 1 Star Effect: None Spirit Value: 100 Card Name: Magic Ring Category: Equipment Spell Card Star Rating: 1 Star Effect: As long as the equipped follower remains on the field, gain 3 Soul Points at the start of your Main Phase.
In Dawn Continent, strength ranged from the First Order of mortals to the Fifteenth Order of gods, corresponding to the star ratings on Life Cards. In the game, however, each order was further divided into levels. Roughly every ten levels corresponded to one order. Alice had actually risen to Level 9 after becoming a Magic Apprentice, but because she was still First Order, the card's star rating had not changed.
Still too weak! The next moment, new text appeared on the Duel Instrument:
You expressed dissatisfaction with Alice's card effect. The World Consciousness immediately stated that, with your strength, you could freely modify card effects in this world.
The next moment, an interface popped up. It was the card for Magic Apprentice Alice.
Please note: Card effects must match the card's star-rating strength. Effects that are too powerful will cause modification to fail.
Huh? Did this mean he could print cards according to his own wishes? Shen Sui's eyes flashed brightly as countless card effects from his previous life surfaced in his mind.
Raigeki, Skill Drain, Vanity's Emptiness...
Ash Blossom, Maxx "C," Infinite Impermanence, Nibiru...
Should he occasionally give his opponents one or two eight-star monsters in the future?
Ah, should he try printing Victory Dragon?
If he had known, he would have memorized the Forbidden Card list before transmigrating.
Shen Sui's thoughts churned, but he quickly calmed down. The Soul Card Duel system also had Forbidden Cards. Aside from Soul Cards, which could not be banned, if an opponent reported any other card and more than ten people did so, the Soul Card Association would genuinely review the card and decide whether it should become a Forbidden Card. Here, Forbidden Card meant a card prohibited from use in professional competitions recognized by the Soul Card Association.
Since he could write effects himself, he needed to carefully consider the upcoming Duel Exam.
After thinking for a long time, Shen Sui wrote an effect onto the card.
Card Name: Magic Apprentice Alice Category: Follower Card Star Rating: 1 Star Effect: When your opponent successfully Normal Summons or Special Summons a follower, you may target one follower on each side of the field and activate this effect; destroy the targeted followers. If the follower destroyed on your side was Magic Apprentice Alice, after she enters the Graveyard, you may select and activate one Spell Card from your deck. Spirit Value: 100
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