[Holy shit! 666, he only played one card, right?]
[That fish-farming noob got greedy. He dared to FTK without even checking the effect and got caught with a chance to turn it around.]
[Seriously, I'm stunned. If this card gets tossed into the graveyard, how are you even supposed to deal with it?]
[Wow! Such a beautiful nun! Evil yet holy—I want to confess to her and tell her all about me and the fish.]
[The guy above, elaborate! Elaborate!]
The comments flooded the screen like mad.
"You juniors really aren't to be underestimated." After both sides had sorted out their decks, Yuan Youxin walked over to Shen Sui. He looked Shen Sui up and down and said, "Maybe you really can make some waves in the professional circuit."
If you hadn't gotten greedy and insisted on pushing through my trap, this really would have been tough for me.
Thinking back on it now, if he hadn't drawn Anna in his opening hand, Shen Sui really would not have had any great way to deal with Yuan Youxin's setup. At most, he could have used the Fish King and the Flame Witch to force his way through it.
Soul Card Duels were sometimes like that. The two sides might have been ready to fight before the duel, yet after one match, they could calmly have a conversation instead.
After the award ceremony, Yuan Youxin invited Shen Sui to a restaurant for a meal.
Shen Sui naturally would not pass up a chance for a free meal. He was actually very curious about the professional Soul Card Duel scene in this world. Although Yuan Youxin was not a professional player, since he would rather stubbornly stay in amateur tournaments to crush weaker opponents than enter a Ranking Tournament, he definitely knew something about the professional scene.
Ordinary coaches generally would not tell their students about such matters. Even online, at most, he could find a few cryptic keywords written in initials, none of which made any sense.
Things only those in the know understood.
Someone familiar with the matter had gone anonymous.
You did not even know what they were talking about.
Therefore, Shen Sui wanted to take this opportunity to properly learn about the news within the industry.
Although Soul Card Duels were hugely popular in this world, Life Cards in reality did not possess Extraordinary Power. Thus, for most countries in this world, Soul Card Duels were simply a thriving industry, much like the entertainment and esports industries in his previous life.
This referred specifically to Soul Card Duels, not Soul Card Worlds.
Exploring Soul Card Worlds was what the upper echelons of nations truly cared about.
It had long been proven that Soul Card Worlds truly existed. Although the barrier of reality prevented worlds possessing Extraordinary Power from invading the real world—even seventeenth-rank powerhouses from the Second Soul Card World could not break through the world barrier—sometimes, one had to prepare for the worst, like nuclear missiles constantly aimed at other countries.
The upper levels also monitored the movements of every Soul Card World in real time.
Quite a few so-called duel clans had been sent in wholesale for attempting to bring the extraordinary into reality.
Then there were the sci-fi Soul Card Worlds whose technological development trees resembled reality's. They could also inspire and guide technological advancement in the real world. Much of reality's technological explosion over the past century had relied on knowledge and information from those Soul Card Worlds.
Perhaps these nations' vigorous support for the Soul Card Duel system was also partly meant to cultivate more talent to explore Soul Card Worlds, much like scientists using games to get players around the world to help decode DNA.
Furthermore, the inability of power to invade did not mean that ideas and malice could not seep into the real world.
If World Number One merely had an exceptionally high Soul Card death rate and was extremely unfriendly toward Soul Card Masters, then Soul Card Worlds like World Number Eight were taboo to all peaceful nations. In those countries, when drawing Soul Cards for the Duel Exam, one could not choose prohibited Soul Card Worlds such as World Number Eight.
World Number Eight was a world that used rituals and sacrifices to obtain bizarre power from unknowable entities. It was filled with strange and bloody religious rites and mysterious, powerful unknown beings. Naturally, such power could not seep into reality, but Soul Card Masters infected by its ideology would imitate the rituals from the Soul Card World in reality, attempting to sacrifice to their faith. This led to several horrific incidents, after which the world was prohibited by most countries.
Shen Sui actually wanted to point out that there were quite a few similar rituals on the Dawn Continent. After all, that famous mishmash game crammed in every popular element it possibly could—Cultist Simulator, Cthulhu, and all sorts of things. Within the Dawn Continent's setting, these were collectively called Evil Gods—but that portion of the content had been censored in a certain game update.
"So, once you achieve good results in Soul Card Duel tournaments, the Exploration Bureau might approach you and ask you to help with some tasks to better understand the Soul Card World you chose," Yuan Youxin explained. "Of course, you can also apply to become a full-time Exploration Bureau member. But since you'd be handling classified information, national regulations would prevent you from participating in duel tournaments, because some of the Life Cards you use might involve state secrets."
"Oh? Are there many people who switch careers and become Exploration Bureau members?"
"Not many. How can that paltry salary compare to the prize money from duel tournaments? Still, people apply every year, especially when their professional careers are not going well. It's an iron rice bowl, after all. Even if their Soul Cards die, they'll be assigned to another position. Oh, and this job comes with an official establishment. The Exploration Bureau exam is far easier than civil service and public institution exams." Of course, Yuan Youxin did not mention that the Duel Exam was much harder than the civil service exam.
Well then, no matter what world he ended up in, there was no escaping civil service exams and official positions.
Shen Sui swirled the glass in his hand, then suddenly asked, "So, if I help the Exploration Bureau with exploration assignments, what rewards are there?"
"Under normal circumstances, these assignments are only given to relatively famous Soul Card Masters. After all, a strong deck means their Soul Cards are doing quite well in their Soul Card World—unless your Soul Card World only has a few Soul Card Masters," Yuan Youxin said, glancing at Shen Sui. "Looks like you're very confident you'll make a name for yourself."
"I think beating you this time will make me somewhat famous for a while."
"News like yours usually fades as quickly as it appears. Those people at the Exploration Bureau are old-fashioned and rigid; they only recognize results in professional tournaments," Yuan Youxin said. "As for the task rewards you mentioned, sorry, there aren't any."
"Volunteer labor?"
"They definitely won't give you any rewards. No prizes or anything."
"And people still do these tasks?"
"In fact, professional players often can't wait for the Exploration Bureau to come knocking and ask them to take on assignments," Yuan Youxin said with a smile.
Shen Sui was somewhat surprised. Were people in this world really so noble?
Yuan Youxin seemed to see through Shen Sui's thoughts. "Don't think too highly of people. Not many are willing to do things without any benefit."
"Then do these exploration assignments have some hidden benefit?"
"They do." Yuan Youxin nodded and said enviously, "Tax deductions."
Shen Sui sucked in a sharp breath.
Prize money from Soul Card Duel tournaments was subject to a twenty percent income tax.
Of Shen Sui's five hundred thousand yuan prize, he received four hundred thousand after taxes. A full hundred thousand had been deducted.
And professional tournaments had even higher prize money, meaning even more would be withheld in taxes.
Shen Sui clasped his hands beneath his chin and had to admit, "That really is an offer no one could refuse."
Before you continue