Modena City was destroyed in Karmic Fire.
Even though Shen Sui had not witnessed Modena City's destruction firsthand, he still felt somewhat saddened.
In his previous life, Shen Sui had put quite a bit of effort into Modena City in the game. As one of Dawn Link's core gameplay mechanics, city-building and farming became a choice for many players in the midgame, who would pour massive amounts of resources into it.
More than a thousand years had passed since his account had last been active. The traces of his farming efforts from back then had long since vanished, and now the final city had been destroyed by his own hand.
Alice looked at Modena City burning in Karmic Fire, feeling lost and empty.
Anna had already been rescued. What was she supposed to do next?
The village was gone. She could not go back.
Thinking over the past sixteen years, Alice realized that the only thing she knew how to do was probably farm.
Then inspiration suddenly struck Alice: Perhaps I can try to find Twilight City, the city where Miss Vivian made her name, the one Mr. Claude mentioned.
Alice touched Vivian's Match against her chest. Without it, she would probably have become a servant of sin by now.
Alice asked you for information about Twilight City.
You roughly recalled what you knew. Alice set off on her little horse with Anna.
Alice was traveling.
First stop: Emerald City. She wanted to sell the gems from the treasure chest.
At last, that was settled for the time being.
Shen Sui stretched lazily.
He looked up at the window. It had only been noon when he started the storyline, yet the sky was already faintly bright. Without realizing it, an entire day had passed.
Time really flew.
Shen Sui used the Time Regulator to adjust the flow of time to 1:1. Though it still could not stop Alice from courting death, it at least gave Shen Sui enough time to react.
By comparison, Revival being disabled by the Sin Grail was not much of a problem. Although Shen Sui's skill library did not contain a similar resurrection spell, he had more than enough defensive spells that could activate automatically.
Of course, Shen Sui had learned his lesson this time. To keep Alice from detecting traces of the spell, he adjusted the activation timing of the Star Super Magic Array. This defensive spell would only activate when Alice was in the greatest danger.
Shen Sui slept until the afternoon of the next day.
When he picked up his phone, he discovered that Xin Yuan Tanchun had actually sent him a message.
It was about the PK Competition and the Heaven's Chosen Cup.
Aside from their mandatory academic classes, first- and second-year students at the academy had free time for most of the year. Those two years happened to be when students were at their most confident, and most duel academy students focused their energy on the monthly Academy PK Competition, striving to gain recognition early and enter the Ranking Tournament.
By their third year, some students had given up on becoming professional Soul Card Masters after repeated setbacks. They would submit applications to the academy and begin studying specialized knowledge related to the Life Card industry.
After graduation, these students would become ordinary staff at the Soul Card Association, Soul Card Shops, and duel events.
As a newly established duel academy, Tianyi Academy did not have upperclassmen accumulated from previous years competing for professional careers. Freshmen only had students from their own year as opponents, so the PK Competition was not yet overly intense. It was not so cutthroat that newcomers could not make a name for themselves at all. Perhaps that was why Tianyi Academy could use money to attract those star examinees.
What Tianyi Academy had not expected was that the most sensational star examinee in this year's Duel Exam had come from their own academy.
Defeating a Third-Order Soul Card Master in the Duel Exam happened from time to time at other duel academies, but defeating a Fifth-Order Soul Card Master was unprecedented.
Xin Yuan Ying Xue's ability to defeat a Fifth-Order Soul Card Master without a rank was the result of the Xin Yuan Family pouring resources into her and investing tremendous effort into her upbringing.
But what did Shen Sui have?
After the video of that duel spread across the internet, Shen Sui's information was quickly dug up by some netizens.
An orphan.
He had attempted suicide after performing poorly on the theory exam.
His Soul Card World was suspected to be Dawn Continent.
Whether by background or experience, no one could connect Shen Sui with the scions of wealthy families who possessed complete inheritances.
That victory was practically a miracle.
Many people were looking forward to Shen Sui's future performance, though many were pessimistic. After all, if his Soul Card World really was Dawn Continent in World Number One, the next news they heard about him might be that his Life Card had died and he had been forced to abandon his studies.
Not to mention obtaining a complete forty-card deck in World Number One.
"Why do you look so listless?" When Shen Sui met Xin Yuan Tanchun, he found her even more slovenly and casual than before, her face full of exhaustion.
"Don't even mention it. Something huge happened in the Soul Card World last night. I've been watching the Duel Instrument for gossip the whole time." Xin Yuan Tanchun sighed.
"Something huge? What happened?" Shen Sui was confused. Had something major happened on Dawn Continent last night?
"City of Sin was destroyed by Karmic Fire falling from the sky, and the God of Sin was slain." Xin Yuan Tanchun said excitedly. "Even Isabella was scared. What do you think? Holy crap, who knows what incredible expert came out of nowhere and did something so earth-shattering."
"Ah, was that such a big deal?" said the perpetrator blankly. It had only taken some keyboard input.
"Of course it was! I heard the God of Sin has been completely eradicated. All those gods have been alarmed and are issuing Divine Decrees to have their followers search for the culprit." Xin Yuan Tanchun said. "Isabella was furious last night. She said she was going to check out the ruins of City of Sin."
"Why was she angry?"
"She said that city held special significance. She had regretted for hundreds of years that she could not kill the God of Sin and reclaim it back then. Now it had even been burned to the ground by someone else. It sounds like she plans to settle the score with the culprit." Xin Yuan Tanchun rubbed her chin. "Seeing how furious she was, it almost felt like that city was connected to her sweetheart."
"Ah, really? If she's that angry, won't it affect her judgment?"
"Exactly. So I tried my best to persuade her to relax first. We're planning to go to Emerald City to buy some jewelry over the next few days."
"Oh."
"Enough of that. Your Life Card is only a Novice Magician, so this kind of thing is completely beyond your reach. Let's talk business. The academy's first PK Competition starts in two weeks." Xin Yuan Tanchun had mainly called Shen Sui over to recommend that he participate in the Heaven's Chosen Cup and gain some experience for the upcoming Academy PK Competition. "I hope you'll play a few matches before then and hone the bond between yourself and your deck. Here is the information for the Heaven's Chosen Cup. I've already registered you. You can go if you want, or skip it if you don't."
Shen Sui casually picked up the information.
He was not a professional player, so the cup competition Xin Yuan Tanchun recommended was naturally not a professional event. The Heaven's Chosen Cup was an amateur tournament hosted by a Life Card-themed park under Tianyi Group. Its high prize money attracted a large number of unranked Soul Card Masters.
"A duel, huh?" Shen Sui wanted to test the strength of his deck. "I can give it a try."
"Five hundred thousand?!" The moment Shen Sui saw the champion's prize, his eyes widened.
"Yeah. The champion gets five hundred thousand, which is why so many amateur players enter." Xin Yuan Tanchun explained. "There are plenty of duel academy students like you among them as well."
"But don't put too much pressure on yourself. You're just going to get used to your deck. There's no need to—"
"No! From now on, my goal is to win the championship." Shen Sui spoke with complete seriousness.
Five hundred thousand! If he got that prize money, he would be flush with cash in an instant.
Even an ordinarily well-off family might not be able to produce five hundred thousand all at once.
"Uh..." Xin Yuan Tanchun wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. It was common for beginners to become overconfident and think they could defeat every opponent. People like that just needed to lose a few more duels to learn their lesson.
Fine. She would use the Heaven's Chosen Cup to temper this guy's arrogance.
"Do you have enough cards in your deck?" Xin Yuan Tanchun asked. "The Heaven's Chosen Cup uses tournament rules, which require a forty-card deck. If you don't have enough, I have some unused cards here."
"It's fine. I've already farmed enough." Shen Sui said. "A complete deck? More than enough."
"Huh?" Xin Yuan Tanchun's hand froze halfway through reaching into her pocket for cards.
Before you continue