Soul Card Shop

Waking up, Shen Sui felt refreshed.

Opening the Duel Instrument, he found that Alice was still on her way to Pa Yin Jia Lake.

He took out all his current Soul Cards from the Duel Instrument.

In this world, the Soul Card duel industry had developed very comprehensively, with a well-established Soul Card trading system. However, the Duel Exam did not allow candidates to use externally purchased Soul Cards; before the exam, cards had to be checked for transaction codes.

Therefore, twenty Soul Cards were a hard requirement for the exam, an ultimate test of the candidate's ability.

Shen Sui planned to visit a Soul Card Shop today to handle card trading, but not to buy cards—to sell them.

[Fireball Spell], as a direct-damage Spell Card, didn't fit Shen Sui's current deck style, and he needed some funds to cover the series of expenses for his upcoming trip to Magic City for the Duel Exam.

Lin Ke'er was a good teacher, but ultimately not family, and Shen Sui wasn't thick-skinned enough to keep freeloading off her every day.

In this world, Soul Card Shops were more numerous than lottery stores. These shops were directly operated by the Soul Card Association, designed to help Soul Card Masters trade cards more conveniently.

There was one on campus. Some wealthy students aiming for the Duel Exam would buy cards in advance to train their duel skills. Although these externally purchased cards couldn't be used in the exam, the duel ability honed from them still made them stronger than ordinary students.

Of course, ordinary students weren't without ways to train their duel skills—they could make their own training cards out of playing cards.

Maybe because the Duel Exam was approaching, the Soul Card Shop wasn't very crowded, aside from a few first- and second-year students getting familiar with the cards early.

The Soul Card Shop looked more like an internet café, with rows of computers neatly arranged inside.

Lin Ke'er had once said that in this age of advanced networks, many card transactions could already be done online. But the Soul Card Shops were "the livelihood of a million workers" and would never be easily abolished.

Shen Sui took a number and walked to an empty computer.

Unlike a regular internet café, the computers in the Soul Card Shop had a card-reading device attached. A Soul Card Master could insert a card they wanted to sell into it; the system would wipe the card's data, upload it to the shop's online marketplace, and the card in the master's hand would become a Blank Card.

If you decided not to sell, you could download your card's data back from the marketplace.

If you wanted to buy someone else's card at the shop, you'd insert a Blank Card into the device, purchase the desired card online, and the system would print the purchased card's data onto your Blank Card, completing the transaction.

Shen Sui logged into the online marketplace and registered his account.

His account nickname was naturally the one he was most familiar with: White Dragon Inside is Warm.

After completing real-name verification and entering a pre-prepared bank account number, Shen Sui obtained a Soul Card Master account for trading.

Transactions at the Soul Card Shop were completely anonymous; only the Soul Card Association knew who the seller and buyer were, which was very safe for both parties.

Shen Sui inserted [Fireball Spell] into the device beside him, and the computer instantly read the card's data.

Clicking "sell," the system popped up an input box for the price, with a suggested selling price below.

The suggested price for selling a Soul Card was generally the card's star rating multiplied by 1000, with a 10% margin up or down. That meant a 1-star card's suggested price was around 1000 yuan.

The scarcity of sources should have made Soul Cards very expensive. But due to the vast number of Soul Card Masters in Huaxia, and many choosing the peaceful Soul Card World where cards posed no life-threatening danger, a flood of cards had entered the market.

The main reason, however, was that Soul Cards in this world had yet to display the characteristics of Extraordinary Power. From the state's perspective, allowing capital to pour into a speculative card industry that couldn't generate tangible value was unacceptable, so domestic card prices were capped.

Abroad, card prices rose exponentially with star rating and power; there was even a case where a Sapphire Dragon sold for 400,000 yuan.

This price difference had also spawned some black-market industries.

Of course, suggestions were just suggestions. If you had enough confidence in your card, you could ignore the system's advice and set a high price for a low-star card. But domestic consumers might not necessarily bite.

For example, Shen Sui's 5-star Spell Card [Feigned Weakness] was definitely not something you could get for 5500 yuan—the price would at least need to double.

[Fireball Spell] dealt 500 damage. For a 1-star Spell Card, that direct damage was already quite impressive. But considering that in current Soul Card duels, few decks used straightforward direct-damage systems, its liquidity was relatively low.

After thinking it over, Shen Sui entered a price: 900.

That amount would roughly cover his round-trip travel expenses and living and accommodation costs during the exam in Magic City.

[Ding! Transaction successful. 900 yuan has been credited to your account.]

Unexpectedly, the system notified him of a successful sale the moment he uploaded the card's data.

Damn! I undersold it!

Shen Sui immediately realized he'd sold it too cheap at 900 yuan, and a wave of regret washed over him.

But there was no helping it. Card trading was a matter of "buyer beware, no take-backs." Once the transaction was successful, there was absolutely no room for regret.

Letting out a sigh, Shen Sui began browsing the Soul Card Shop.

Although the cards in the shop weren't necessarily the strongest in the world, they still reflected the trends of the current duel environment to some extent.

Clearly, the current Soul Card environment was very "wholesome"—everyone was legitimately competing with Follower Cards.

Boring! Too boring!

Wholesome duels could never bring smiles to people's faces!

Then let me change this world!

Let the people of this world know what true dueling really means!

After silently venting a burst of bold ambition, Shen Sui shut down the computer, pulled the Blank Card out of the device, and casually inserted it into his Duel Instrument.

The Duel Instrument came with twenty Blank Cards gifted by the Soul Card Association, but a standard deck usually consisted of around forty Soul Cards. The shortfall in Blank Cards would have to be paid for out of pocket.

Shen Sui was dirt poor, and at least for now, he had no plans to replenish his Blank Cards.

A single Blank Card costing 500 yuan was not something he could afford at the moment.

In just a short while, earning 900 yuan gave Shen Sui the illusion that money seemed incredibly easy to make.

This was probably why so many people wanted to become Soul Card Masters.

Mm, I hope Alice pulls through and grinds out a bunch of cards for me. That way, without relying on tournament prize money, just Soul Card trading alone would be enough for Shen Sui to rake in a huge sum.

Of course, Shen Sui wasn't selling cards blindly—he wouldn't sell any cards that were useful to him.

Shen Sui returned to the dormitory. During the seven days of waiting for the Duel Exam, all Soul Card Master examinees were essentially on break—you could go wherever you wanted. As a result, the campus suddenly emptied out, with many people choosing to go home to prepare for the exam.

Shen Sui had nowhere to go, so he could only head back to the dormitory. At least it was peaceful.

Alright, let's see where our Miss Alice has gotten to now.

Shen Sui opened the Duel Instrument and entered the main page to check the Soul Card Follower's deeds.

[Alice passed through Pa Yin Jia City. Her beauty drew the covetous gaze of Fern Ze Lai, who ordered his 3rd-rank butler, Zod, to capture Alice.]

[Alice sensed the danger and circled around to launch a sneak attack.]

[Alice killed Fern.]

[Ding! You have obtained a Spell Card: Crushing Blow Targeting the Groin]

[Alice looted all of Fern's assets, obtaining 3 Intermediate Magic Crystals. She absorbed the crystals' magic and advanced to become a 2nd-rank Magician. Your Soul Card Follower has gained a new form: Novice Magician. You may pay the corresponding star-level Soul Points to switch the Follower Card's form.]

[Alice set fire to Fern's mansion.]

[Ding! You have obtained a Spell Card: Arson]

[Alice's actions drew Zod's attention, and she engaged in a fearless battle.]

[Alice activated Feigned Weakness. Alice activated Desperate Resolve. Alice activated Crushing Blow Targeting the Groin.]

[Alice was severely injured, but she successfully killed Zod.]

[Alice's Little Mare carried Alice away from the scene, continuing onward toward Pa Yin Jia Lake.]

[Ding! You have obtained a Spell Card: Little Pony Knows the Way]

[6th-rank Magician Rhine Ze Lai expressed fury over his grandson's death and swore to kill the murderer of his own flesh and blood.]

???

Wait! I was only gone for a moment—how did you get into trouble again?

And what the hell is this [Crushing Blow Targeting the Groin]! Just what kind of method did you use to counterattack and kill the enemy?