This Trainer Has No Sportsmanship

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Pegasus, but you may be overestimating me. I'm just an ordinary Spirit Trainer. I don't even have a single Gym Badge, so I really don't think I'm qualified to teach Miss Phile. If you wish to repay me for saving Miss Phile, there's no need to go about it in such a roundabout way."

You Zhi was quite self-aware. He had been transported here for less than three days and still had not figured out all the duel rules. He only had two spirits, both left behind by the original owner of this body. Wouldn't becoming a teacher just lead others astray?

Compared to everyone else, his greatest advantage was his built-in "Yu-Gi-Oh!-Style Appraisal." It allowed him to indirectly learn the approximate abilities of an opponent's spirits, as well as the effects of Spell Cards they were about to use. But that was not an ability he could teach anyone else.

If he had spent three months getting by in this world, he would have been confident enough to tutor beginners. But for now, forget it. If they wanted to repay him, they could just give him money. He had a strong set of teeth and was not picky about food.

"You misunderstand, young man. What I hope you can teach Phile is not merely knowledge of Spirit Duels, but more importantly, the skills needed to survive outside." Pegasus glanced at his daughter, who was pretending to be well-behaved. "After July, Phile will graduate from middle school. According to our customs, she must pause her schooling and travel for a year to broaden her horizons. But as you saw yesterday, it is truly difficult for us to rest easy about letting her leave the shelter of her parents."

Cynthia added, "Of course, we could send people to protect her throughout the journey, keep her away from forests and wilderness areas, and only visit scenic destinations like a world tour. In fact, most families do that nowadays. But if possible, we still hope she can grow from the experience instead of merely going through the motions and adding a flashy but meaningless line to her personal record."

You Zhi fell silent for a while. When it came to wilderness survival alone, he truly excelled at it. In his previous life, in order to seek out legendary immortal masters, he had once taken advantage of summer vacation to carry a backpack into the deep mountains and ancient forests by himself, searching for immortals and asking after the Dao.

In the end, he found no immortal masters, only a group of reclusive cultivators living apart from the world. These cultivators neither pursued immortality nor practiced martial arts. They simply wished to escape the noise and dust of the secular world, living a green life far from modern technology. Among them, he had even encountered a fellow traveler who had fainted from hunger in a secluded hut and whom he had saved with military rations.

Of course, this world had spirits and spirit power. His previous-life experience certainly could not be applied wholesale, but some of it could still serve as a reference.

Seeing that You Zhi was tempted, Pegasus added, "Besides payment for your lessons, you may also read any of the books in the annex's collection."

Afraid that You Zhi did not understand their value, he added, "Quite a few are private collections unavailable on the market, including the habitats of rare spirits and the spirit traits of various Gym Leaders."

"Since you think so highly of me, I'll do my best and give it a try."

"Yay."

Phile let out a quiet cheer. Her mother glared at her, and she immediately sat up straight and resumed her ladylike posture. Yet her eyes still sparkled with eager excitement.

They got straight to work. After breakfast, You Zhi brought Phile to a training ground not far from the villa.

"Should I call you Teacher?" Phile asked impatiently.

"Whatever you like."

"Then I won't call you Teacher. You don't look that much older than me." Phile tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I've always wanted an older brother since I was little. Can I call you Brother You Zhi?"

"No problem."

As long as it was not an insulting form of address, You Zhi did not care what others called him. He immediately got to the point. "What do you think was the main reason you ended up in danger last time?"

Having changed into sportswear, Phile answered without hesitation, "A lack of courage."

She had clearly thought about it before. She was not some pretty empty-headed vase.

That was exactly why You Zhi had accepted the job. If she had been some noble young miss riddled with bad habits, he would not have bothered serving her.

"Then how do you think courage can be trained?"

Phile pressed a finger to her lower lip and thought for a while. "Go to those swaying suspension bridges with bottomless chasms beneath them. Walking across them many times will definitely increase your courage."

"What kind of nonsense is that? The best way to strengthen your nerve is to train your body. Only a strong body can nurture a firm will. If you could punch that mantis spirit to death, would you still have been afraid yesterday?"

"Um... I've always been scared of things like caterpillars. Even if I could crush one with a single step, I still wouldn't dare."

"That is disgust, not fear. If you were truly forced into a life-or-death situation, would you still be unable to bring your foot down?"

"I guess not."

"So we'll start with physical training. Before teaching you, I need to understand your situation. Do you usually do any sports?"

"Horseback riding, archery, and dancing."

"Then you have some foundation." Recalling that the average physique of people in this world far surpassed that of Earthlings, You Zhi decided to skip the basics. "First, run to warm up. Then I'll teach you a martial art. Remember, I'm not teaching you martial arts so you can fight spirits. I'm teaching you so you can gain the confidence that you aren't powerless to resist. When people encounter danger, how they react depends on whether they have that confidence."

As for the martial art he intended to teach, it naturally was not the invincible Tai Chi of another world, nor the Bajiquan that even Servants feared, but the plain and practical Sanshou.

You Zhi had been obsessed with martial arts in his previous life. He studied under masters everywhere, and after learning from countless schools, he came to one conclusion: Sanshou could truly fight, and wrestling could truly throw people. As for traditional martial arts such as Tai Chi, Xingyi Boxing, and Wing Chun, it was not that fancy forms were useless. In truth, as long as one trained up one's physique, any martial art could be deadly. The problem was that there were too many frauds and too many rotten rules, so it was best to keep a respectful distance.

Whether because Phile was exceptionally gifted or because of her daily spirit-power exercises, You Zhi only taught her for half a day before she was already performing with decent form. She still had no hope in actual combat, but being able to put on a convincing enough display to scare people was already quite good.

At the end of the day, no matter how strong a human body was, it could not compare to a spirit's. When danger came, as long as she did not lose her nerve, could calmly assess the situation, and decide whether to fight head-on or turn and run, that would be enough.

With the Crawford family's wealth, Phile would not lack powerful spirits when she traveled in the future. Naturally, she needed to make use of her own strengths when solving problems.

"Still, people in this world possess Duel Spirit Power, so I can't forcibly apply my previous-life experience. Perhaps traditional martial arts might display unexpected power..."

Seeing how quickly Phile learned, You Zhi changed his original teaching plan. Teaching her some traditional martial arts did not seem impossible either.

Ultimately, his purpose was to give Phile confidence, not to have her fight people to the death. Compared to the utterly ordinary name "Sanshou," names like "Tai Chi," "Bajiquan," and "Shaolin's Seventy-Two Ultimate Arts" clearly carried a more profound and unfathomable aura.

Thinking of this, You Zhi suddenly remembered the culprit behind his transportation here. That demonic art had made his body explode even in a world without spirit power!

What would happen if he used it in this world instead?

He knew perfectly well that this was extremely dangerous, but once the thought arose, it grew wildly like weeds.

"Brother You Zhi."

Phile suddenly spoke, interrupting You Zhi's wandering thoughts. Fear tinged her voice.

"What is it? Is there a move you can't remember?"

Phile shook her head. "It has nothing to do with practice. It's just that Brother You Zhi's expression just now was really scary. It was like you suddenly changed from a hero into a great Demon King."

"Was it?" You Zhi touched his face. "That was your imagination."

Phile stared carefully at You Zhi for a while. After confirming that nothing seemed different, she thought it really had been her imagination.

Scientific Divine Art

"Strength-Weakness Mimicry."

You Zhi looked at the nearly four thousand words he had copied down from memory, and his heart grew increasingly alarmed.

He had been an excellent student in his previous life, a top student in others' eyes, but he absolutely did not possess a photographic memory.

Yet the culprit that had caused his body to explode and transported him here seemed branded into his mind. He could clearly recall every single word without missing anything, making the entire matter all the more bizarre.

But it still could not stop his curiosity about cultivating it!

"I'll give it a try. At worst, my body explodes again and I get transported once more."

Rationally speaking, being transported after his body exploded and he died last time did not mean the same process could be repeated this time. It was entirely possible that his body would simply explode without transporting him anywhere. But while persuading others was difficult, persuading oneself was easy. Even logic riddled with holes could be accepted wholesale.

If You Zhi's friends from his previous life had been present, they would all have sighed in unison, "He's gone crazy again," then continued doing their own things. No one would have tried to persuade him otherwise, because it would have been meaningless.

After coming up with a hundred reasons to convince himself to take the risk, You Zhi mobilized the spirit power within his body and circulated it according to the formula of Strength-Weakness Mimicry.

"This cultivation method actually focuses on unleashing the weak interaction among the four fundamental forces. That's way too scientific! Just who was its creator? Could they have been the leader of the Scientific Divine Sect?"

Early the next morning, Phile got up early and arrived at the forest entrance to warm up. Strangely, You Zhi, who had agreed to do morning exercises with her yesterday, had still not appeared.

"Brother You Zhi doesn't seem like someone who would break an appointment for no reason. Could he have caught a cold and fallen ill?"

Just as Phile's thoughts began to run wild and she was considering asking the butler to check on him, she saw You Zhi running briskly over from the villa entrance. His running posture was extremely strange. He looked as though he was leisurely walking, yet he moved at an astonishing speed. Even the track-and-field students at school might not have been this fast.

But she was not particularly surprised. Maybe this was some miraculous martial art?

Although everything Brother You Zhi had taught yesterday had been quite ordinary, she had only just begun. He could not possibly teach her advanced techniques right away. It was like dancing; one had to start with the basics.

"Sorry. I stayed up practicing martial arts last night and lost track of time. I made you wait."

"It's fine. I haven't been here long either. If Brother You Zhi is tired, I can do morning exercises by myself..." As a girl who had been taught from childhood to pay attention to appearance and attire, Phile immediately noticed the change in him. "Brother You Zhi's skin seems smoother!"

"Is it? I hadn't noticed."

You Zhi looked at his arm.

"Of course it is, and it's really obvious!"

Phile nodded vigorously, then asked expectantly, "Is this the result of practicing martial arts? Can Brother You Zhi's martial arts improve skin quality too?"

"Maybe. I don't pay much attention to that sort of thing."

You Zhi cared more about improvements to his physical abilities, such as strength, speed, reactions, and flexibility. Half an hour earlier, he had tested himself. Every aspect had improved by a huge margin, and he could easily perform movements that had once required great effort.

Strength-Weakness Mimicry really had something to it. It was worthy of being a martial art capable of making someone's body explode!

"I'll definitely study hard from now on!"

Phile clenched her fists, feeling herself filled with motivation.

"By the way, do you know whether anyone in the world can defeat a spirit solely with physical strength, without using Spell Cards?"

"Yes. Not every spirit is powerful. Some are about as strong as ordinary pet cats and dogs."

"I don't mean those especially weak spirits. I mean... something like the Demon Lizard Yihao I summoned the day before yesterday. Can someone defeat it through martial skill alone?"

Phile tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I remember that A-Si, the Leader of Azure Gym, once subdued spirits through martial arts. He also encourages his disciples to spar with spirits, believing it can both improve the Trainer's and the spirit's strength and deepen their bond."

"Then that's good. It won't stand out."

You Zhi finally put his mind at ease. In his good mood, he decided to dangle a reward before Phile. "As long as you study diligently, once you have fully mastered Sanshou, I'll teach you its advanced martial art, 'Eight Sanshou Throws.'"

With Strength-Weakness Mimicry as a foundation and various martial arts techniques combined, creating a new martial art that circulated spirit power to strengthen the body was no longer difficult for You Zhi.

Although he vaguely felt that practicing martial arts in a world of Spirit Duels was stylistically rather strange, giving him the guilty feeling of walking an unorthodox path, as a transported person with no family to rely on who might very well be hunted by evil organizations in the future, there was nothing wrong with doing this to increase his sense of security.

Whether others believed that reason or not, You Zhi believed it himself!

Since Phile had school today, they only did morning exercises. Her martial arts lessons would have to wait until after school, depending on the amount of homework she had.

According to his original plan, You Zhi would have gone to the town library to continue gathering information. But Pegasus had personally promised that he could freely read the family's collection, so there was no need to seek what was distant when something was close at hand.

"This is the library. The master instructed us that guests may read any books inside and may take them back to their rooms, but they must not take them outside this building."

The butler led You Zhi into the basement and used a key to open a heavy door. Beyond it was an unexpectedly spacious room. It was filled with books, enough to rival a small library.

Furthermore, a bed and a refrigerator stood in one corner, along with all kinds of daily necessities. It resembled a shelter. You Zhi felt that even if a zombie apocalypse broke out outside, he would have no problem hiding in here for a month or two as long as he shut the basement door.

It was not unusual for wealthy people who lacked a sense of security to set up underground shelters in their estates. What was unusual was that they had combined the shelter with a study. This was the first time You Zhi had seen such a combination.

"Don't worry. I'll only read here."

You Zhi did not rush to find books. Instead, he first examined the numbering system and arrangement of the collection. He skipped the books that others would consider highly important, those specifically introducing spirit abilities and traits, and instead selected several books related to Spirit Duels and Spell Card crafting.

After reading attentively for an entire morning, he finally found an answer to the confusion he had previously encountered.

You Zhi had initially thought that this world's Spell Cards did not distinguish between Spell Cards and Trap Cards, that they were all one and the same. But that understanding was not entirely accurate. They simply did not call them spells and traps; in practice, Spell Cards were still divided into two major categories.

One kind was called an Instant-Activation Spell Card. Once crafted, it could be activated immediately, corresponding to a Spell Card.

The other kind was called a Spirit-Accumulating Spell Card. After being crafted, it needed to continue absorbing spiritual energy. It could only be activated after it was fully charged, corresponding to a Trap Card.

The latter seemed inferior to the former, but that was not the case. Once crafted, it could be set aside to absorb natural spiritual energy on its own, saving the Trainer's spirit power. Theoretically, it consumed less spirit power, but if the Trainer was in a hurry to activate it and had no time to wait, they would need to expend three times as much spirit power.

That was why You Zhi had been unable to activate "Final Assault Order" despite having clearly crafted it. It was not because he had misjudged his total spirit power.

Knowledge Monopoly

Spell Cards were divided by strength into six ranks: S, A, B, C, D, and E. Crafting a Spirit-Accumulating Spell Card of the same rank consumed half the spirit power required for an Instant-Activation Spell Card.

In short, if a Trainer had time to wait or prepared in advance, then using Spirit-Accumulating Spell Cards was more economical. But if they used a Spirit-Accumulating Spell Card as though it were an Instant-Activation Spell Card, it would consume spirit power equivalent to twice that of an Instant-Activation Spell Card of the same rank, making it a poor bargain.

Of course, the specific effect of the Spell Card still had to be considered. Many times, there was simply no choice.

You Zhi had always been someone capable of patience and quiet concentration, so he stayed in the study for an entire day. Yet as he read, a question gradually arose in his mind.

At first, it had merely been a vague suspicion, but the more books he read, the clearer that suspicion became.

"Mr. You Zhi, dinner is ready. Would you like to eat in the dining room now, or shall I have dinner brought here?"

Before he knew it, the sky had darkened, and the butler came to the basement to inform You Zhi that dinner was ready.

"Dinner can wait. Do you have a computer that can connect to the internet?"

"Would a laptop do?"

"As long as it can access the internet."

"This area blocks signals. Please wait in the guest room. I'll have a laptop delivered there immediately."

Not long after You Zhi returned to his guest room, a maid brought him a computer. Its software system was more or less the same as in his previous life. In any case, it was all foolproof, so it was easy to use.

He opened a browser and searched several keywords. Before long, he found the information that confirmed his suspicion.

"Spirit Information Protection Act: Those who disseminate information regarding spirits owned by others without the spirit owner's permission shall, where the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of no more than three years or criminal detention, and may also be fined; where the circumstances are especially serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and fined."

In this world, privately spreading information about spirits was illegal!

Unless one obtained permission from the person involved, or the spirit owner personally made the spirit's information public, it did not count. And merely claiming to own a particular spirit was not enough for others to believe it. One had to personally register at a Pokémon Center before the authorities would recognize the affiliation.