[Mitsuzawa, LP 0]
With his life points at zero, Mitsuzawa lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling of the arena, as if pondering over his life's choices.
He reflected on the preparations he made for this duel over the past few days, wondering if he had overlooked something, or if his strategy was flawed, or perhaps something else...
...but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like none of those were the problem.
If he had to say what his biggest mistake was, it would probably be that humans shouldn't duel with dogs.
In fact, Mitsuzawa wasn't the type to fear failure. If it were a duel with Judai, even if he lost, he'd feel a bit frustrated, but the process of dueling would still be enjoyable. He'd bounce back, ready to research new tactics for a comeback next time.
He hadn't given up on the idea of researching and reclaiming his prestige in the future either, but that was more out of the duelist's dignity and resilience. However, thinking back to the moment he was fired up and summoned his trump card to decide the match, only to strike the "Interdimensional Warrior," he couldn't help but feel he wouldn't want to touch a card for days...
If he had a choice, he'd rather be kicked to death by the Flame Winged People.
The practical exam continued, but the remaining duels lost their heat and attention. Long after both players left the stage, everyone was still reminiscing about this match.
The freshmen of the Yellow Dormitory felt a mix of emotions. This duel not only officially determined who was this year's absolute king of the Yellow Dormitory, but it also symbolized the fall of the last "Anti-Yin Warrior," Mitsuzawa, who was highly anticipated by the entire dorm.
It was a milestone defeat, indicating this year's Winged Dragon of Ra was plunging deeper into an abyss of darkness...
Not everyone in the Blue and Red Dormitories recognized Yugen yet. But the freshmen who happened to witness the duel all had expressions of "I don't get it, but I'm shocked," wondering if the Yellow Dormitory's ace was really this strong.
However, Yugen felt pretty good about himself.
If he had to say, he felt like this was the true tradition of the Sun God. Didn't everyone know that the legendary Malik from Duel City was the one who wielded the Winged Divine Dragon of Ra?
And how did Mr. Malik's cards play?
Were they not those kinds of odd, underworld combinations like Lava Demon God Torture Wheel, bringing such joy to the dueling!
So our Yellow Dormitory, as the heir of the Sun God, should carry forward this traditional thinking, insisting on bringing smiles through dueling. Isn't that the true tradition of the Sun God?
After watching the entire practical exam, Principal Jiaodao nodded approvingly, feeling that he really hadn't misjudged. This Yugen was indeed a talent. Given time, when he leaves the Academy and enters the Dueling Realm, he'd likely become a prominent figure...
Having just watched the duel, Chazz also sat back in his seat with a satisfied look.
Now that's what I'm talking about, this is the taste.
Though he disliked Fujiki Yugen, he couldn't forgive him for easily losing to anyone but himself.
At this time, he heard one of his underlings whisper: "Boss looks really happy, even though he lost today's exam..."
Underling B: "Shh~ Keep your voice down, don't let the boss hear you..."
Chazz's smile immediately disappeared.
And he unconsciously clenched his fist.
"That wretched Ju↑dai↓, he's unforgivable too!" Chazz gritted his teeth.
An underworld dog or a drawing dog, both were equally detestable in his eyes.
The two underlings looked at each other, not daring to speak.
But they had a premonition that the boss was in for a tough three years ahead...
The phase test ended, and Yugen smoothly received a new wave of credit rewards.
According to the agreement with Professor Chronos, if Judai wins against Chazz, he could be promoted early to the Yellow Dormitory. But Judai voluntarily gave up this opportunity.
"Fiery Red! Full of Passion Red! That's my color, how could I possibly give up!"
That's what he said in his own words.
But this was also expected. After all, in the original story, Judai had numerous opportunities to leave the Red Dormitory, but he chose to stay.
Judai might be the only truly passionate student for Osiris Red in history.
From the start of the new week, the card-making courses that Yugen had been eagerly anticipating finally began.
Duel Academy is committed to nurturing talents in all aspects related to the Dueling Domain, not just playing cards. In his first year, the dorm mate Hayato Koarago, who had repeated a few years with low grades, eventually chose to abandon the duelist path and became a card maker.
So the academy pays significant attention to developing these related skills.
The course naturally starts from the basics. The initial lessons are theory explanations, followed by practical operations starting with "cloning."
That means before students design new cards themselves, the first step for beginners is always imitation, trying to clone existing cards.
Only after countless cloning attempts and familiarizing oneself with the card-making process can they begin to innovate.
Moreover, cloning cards isn't necessarily easier than creating originals. Some cards are easy to clone, like commonly less effective magic traps, and these are usually arranged for students as practice.
But the stronger the card—especially Monster Cards—the harder it is to clone, which is why many famous monsters in the world are unique.
After the card-making course began, Yugen frequently visited Teacher Dade Temple, often asking about design-related questions.
Soon Yugen realized his guess was right. Though Teacher Dade Temple specialized in alchemy, he was also a master at ordinary card design, maybe because there was more connection between alchemy and card-making than he had previously let on.
After several visits, Teacher Dade Temple eventually opened the alchemy laboratory assigned to him by the academy to Yugen—since Teacher Dade Temple usually slacked off and didn't use it much anyway.
Although Teacher Dade Temple was usually lazy and indifferent to absentees or going out of bounds, no teacher dislikes good students.
Teacher Dade Temple gradually and unintentionally began sharing content not typically taught in class, occasionally demonstrating himself when in a good mood, or standing beside, petting a cat while correcting Yugen's improper techniques.
Meanwhile, Yugen didn't miss a day of drawing card training. Admittedly, the more he practiced, the more envious he felt of that Jellyfish Head, who, besides skipping the first class, never attended, yet still drew better than anyone else.
It can only be said, some are born with a frightening card aura...
Practical dueling aside, attending the academy, Yugen could clearly feel that purely in terms of drawing card skills, the academy students were truly elites compared to the duelists he met before entering.
At least in the classroom, under the condition of purely comparing divine draw skills, Yugen estimated himself to be only slightly above average among his peers. Meaning if everyone had mere Mortal Bone mirror image card stacks slashing at each other, many students he likely wouldn't be able to beat.
But it's not a big deal. Yugen maintained a calm demeanor and deeply understood the principle of practice makes perfect. He had only been practicing for a short time, with ample room for improvement by playing and training more in the future.
For instance, the Dueling Department seemed to be organizing a new round of intra-member exchange battles, which sounded enticing.
It seemed like Chazz had joined the Dueling Department too, so if things went well, there might be a rematch with him.
It wasn't only a great practice opportunity but also a way to speed up making friends with more freshmen.
Therefore, there's no way he'd miss it.