CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER 2: SOUL CARD FOLLOWER ALICE

The guide glanced at Shen Sui with some shock.

Dawn Continent!

This Soul Card World has not been chosen for many years.

Once, someone commented on this Soul Card World: The followers from the Dawn Continent either die immediately or are on their way to death.

In the Life Card professional duel arena, there are almost no Soul Cards from the Dawn Continent.

Countless Life Card Master candidates who chose the Dawn Continent hoping to extract powerful and invincible Soul Card followers have lost their qualification to become a Life Card Master forever due to the death of their followers.

"Student, I must remind you that, so far, the follower who lived the longest after choosing the Dawn Continent was a sixth-tier Life Card Master. His Soul Card follower died in the battle between Lady of Daylight and Master of the Fierce Sun for the dominion of the sun, directly incinerated by the radiance of the gods, living a total of two and a half years."

Reaching the sixth-tier Life Card Master in two and a half years is indeed an exceptional talent, but being forced into retirement due to the death of the Soul Card follower is truly a loss.

"If you want to survive in the Life Card duel industry for a long time, it’s best not to choose the Dawn Continent. Would you like to reconsider?"

"No, there’s no need to consider further," Shen Sui said firmly.

The beautiful guide wanted to say more but ultimately sighed, rummaging under the table for a long time before finally taking out a dusty metal box.

Shen Sui was familiar with this box; it appeared in Lin Ke’Er’s lesson slides. This was the box for extracting Soul Cards.

On the box was drawn a mysterious array, with the words "Dawn Continent" written prominently in the center.

"Please sign and fingerprint on it." The guide wrote "Dawn Continent" on Shen Sui’s card drawing application form, "Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?"

Shen Sui quickly signed and printed: "Done."

The guide sighed again, embossed the application form’s ID photo with a steel stamp, and stamped Shen Sui’s signature: "Alright, you can draw your card now. You better prepare yourself mentally; even if it’s the Dawn Continent, your drawn Soul Card follower is likely to be an ordinary civilian..."

The guide hadn’t finished speaking when Shen Sui’s hand was already on the metal box, clearly he had practiced countless times silently in his heart and didn’t need the guide’s instructions on how to use the card extractor.

"Beep! Soul Card extraction in process..."

"Beep! Congratulations, you have obtained the Follower Card [Country Girl Alice]."

Subsequently, a card popped out from the card extractor. Shen Sui took it in hand. The card had a slight metallic sheen, feeling a bit cool to the touch.

The back of the card depicted a scene of stars, with a black hole at the center, as though representing an inescapable destiny.

The front of the card showed the image of a beautiful girl standing in a flower field.

This was an exceedingly beautiful girl, her farmer’s attire couldn’t conceal her exceptional beauty.

Her looks were nearly comparable to that of Vivian.

However, Vivian still held a slight edge.

Shen Sui preferred those with larger chests.

******

Card Name: [Country Girl Alice]

Category: Follower Card

Star Level: 1 Star

Effect: None

Spirit Value: 9

******

Seeing the Soul Card in Shen Sui’s hand, the guide showed a sympathetic expression; such a follower card was utter trash. It seemed the young fellow before her had no destiny with becoming a Life Card Master, even if his follower fortunately did not die unexpectedly, rising amidst the rigorously stratified Dawn Continent was quite a challenge.

"This is your Dueling Device, you can insert your Soul Card to observe the actions of your Soul Card follower in the Soul Card World, um, you may also guide your follower to make decisions if you have a rationally set identity and your follower is willing to heed your instructions." Though she already mentally decided Shen Sui’s fate, the guide still responsibly explained the precautions to Shen Sui.

"The progress and choices of your followers might help you obtain Life Cards, which are divided into Follower Cards and Spell Cards. You’ve already learned these in your theory classes, so I won’t elaborate."

The guide looked toward Shen Sui, who nodded to indicate that he didn’t need further explanation from the guide.

In Life Card Duel, Follower Cards are similar to Monster Cards in Yu-Gi-Oh, whereas Spell Cards include all other categories aside from Monster Cards. In Life Card Duel, there are five Follower Positions and five Spell Positions available, replicating but not entirely replicating.

Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh, utilizing a card in Life Card Duel requires a cost called Soul Points, with the number of Soul Points usable in a turn varying by rule, with tournament rules setting it at 16 points, though there’s also an unlimited brawl rule with no cap on Soul Points.

If no special effects apply, the Soul Point cost to use a card equals its star level.

The guide nodded slightly and continued, "The dueling exam will take place seven days later, on June 6th. You need to guide and help your Soul Card follower within these seven days to obtain at least twenty Life Cards to qualify for the duel exam; otherwise, you’ll be directly disqualified. Now, on to the exam-related details."

The guide roughly told Shen Sui about the exam details, as for how to guide the Soul Card followers to gain a sufficient amount of Life Cards, that was something that should have been taught by the school teachers.

The duel exam differed from the college entrance exam; candidates must enroll in a suitable Duel Academy after their theoretical exam results are released and then proceed to the academy for the duel exam. If they fail the exam, they can only participate in the regular college entrance exam the next day, forever cut off from becoming a Life Card Master.

Thus, the pressure of the duel exam is significantly greater than that of the college entrance exam, with only one life-time opportunity. The act of choice, the test of abilities, the random extraction of Soul Card followers... many are crushed under such tremendous stress.

Shen Sui’s theoretical exam performance wasn’t ideal, barely passing, the top Duel Academies in Hua Country were out of the question. After Shen Sui’s "resurrection," Lin Ke’Er researched for several days and finally helped Shen Sui settle on a newly established Duel Academy—Modu Tianyi Academy.

This was a youth training academy just founded by the Professional Club Tianyi Club, with no restrictions on the theoretical exam. Candidates who failed the theoretical exam could still enroll, as long as they passed the duel exam to gain admission, and all expenses were completely waived. There was only one requirement: Tianyi Club held priority signing rights for graduates.

These conditions perfectly matched Shen Sui’s situation as a penniless candidate with poor theoretical exam performance.

For this, Shen Sui was quite grateful to Lin Ke’Er; she truly considered Shen Sui’s circumstances.

After listening to the series of proceedings the guide announced, Shen Sui inserted the Follower Card into the Dueling Device in his hand, instantly bringing forth information about Alice to Shen Sui’s view.

[Alice Hozerville, an ordinary girl in the rural area of Andrew City within the Roland Empire.]

[At 16 years old, she was filled with fantasies about the future, wanting to become a powerful Mage, walking across the Dawn Continent to punish evil and celebrate goodness, using her abilities to change the world.]

[Unfortunately, because her parents were burned as heretics by the Church of the Master of Thunder, Alice held a great disdain for the gods, unwilling to believe in any god, and thus unable to receive any divine legacy, her life basically severed from extraordinary power, unless a miracle happened.]

[She is currently troubled, needing to harvest another acre of wheat, otherwise, her aunt would not give her dinner tonight.]

The Dueling Device then explored Alice’s attributes.

*****

Name: Alice Hozerville

Level: 1 (0 Tier)

Life Value: 9/9

Strength: 3

Defense: 1

Spirit: 5

Agility: 9

*****

A completely ordinary, even somewhat weak girl.

Shen Sui thought to himself, it seems like his luck isn’t great. He fiddled with the dueling device, planning to create a character for himself to guide Alice’s future actions.

However, when he entered the character creation interface, a prompt popped up:

[A character existing in the Dawn Continent has been detected, would you like to activate it?]

Hmm? Shen Sui’s mind stirred, and he immediately clicked activate. The dueling device started to operate on its own again and displayed Claude’s attribute interface.

*****

Name: Claude Modena

Nickname: Warm Inside the White Dragon

Level: 169 (16th tier)

Life Value: 114514/114514

Strength: 9999

Defense: 9999

Spirit: 9999

Agility: 9999

Titles: Twilight Bishop, Godslayer, Godslayer of the Gods...

Skills: Twilight Symphony, Death Ode, Recovery, Great Healing Art, Fireball Technique...

Backpack: [Fireball Skill Book], [Magic Guidebook: Blind Hatred], [Star Magic Guidebook]...

*****

[Your name is Lauren Modena, the legendary Twilight Bishop, who mysteriously disappeared in the Silver Moon Calendar 922 and now returns. The world consciousness of Dawn Continent has sensed your presence and humbly asks for the reason of your visit.]

World Will... If I remember correctly, it’s that unreliable loli that drops offline from time to time, with all permissions stolen madly by the gods, still clueless about anything, the cute mascot in the game who only gives players quest rewards, making her a top war criminal in the chaos of the Dawn Continent.

[You expressed interest in Alice Hozerville, and the world consciousness acknowledged it.]

[Ding! Alice found a Mage Ring in the wheat field and received the legacy of an unknown mage. Alice has become a Tier 1 Mage, and your Soul Card has transformed into: Magic Apprentice Alice]

[Ding! You obtained an Equipment Spell Card: Magic Ring]

******

Card Name: [Magic Apprentice Alice]

Category: Follower Card

Star Rating: 1 Star

Effect: None

Spirit Value: 100

******

Card Name: [Magic Ring]

Category: Equipment Spell Card

Star Rating: 1 Star

Effect: As long as the equipped follower is on the field, during your main phase, you gain 3 Soul Points.

******

In Dawn Continent, power ranges from Tier 1 of mortals to Tier 15 of gods, corresponding to the star levels on Life Cards. However, in the game, each tier is actually divided into levels, typically every 10 levels correspond to one tier. Alice becoming a Magic Apprentice actually means she reached Level 9, but since she’s still Tier 1, there is no change in the card’s star level.

Still too weak! The next moment, new text appeared on the dueling device:

[You expressed dissatisfaction with Alice’s card effect, and the world consciousness immediately stated that with your strength, you can freely modify card effects in this world.]

The next moment, an interface popped up, displaying the card of [Magic Apprentice Alice].

[Please note: Card effects need to match the star level strength; overly powerful effects will result in modification failure.]

Oh? Does this mean I can print cards according to my wishes? Shen Sui’s eyes gleamed, and countless card effects from his past life flooded his mind.

Mowing, Skill Draw, Void...

Ash Blossom, Maxx "C", Imperm, Nibiru...

Should I occasionally give the opponent an eight-star big monster or two?

Ah, should I try to print a Victory Dragon?

If only I had memorized the Forbidden Card List before crossing over.

Shen Sui’s thoughts surged, but he soon calmed down. In the Life Card duel system, there are forbidden cards after all, and aside from Soul Cards not being forbidden, if your opponent reports your other cards and more than ten people agree, the Life Card Association will genuinely review your cards and decide whether they become forbidden cards (meaning banned in professional matches recognized by the Life Card Association).

If I can write effects myself, then it’s time to seriously consider the upcoming duel exam.

After thinking for a long time, Shen Sui wrote down an effect on the card.

******

Card Name: [Magic Apprentice Alice]

Category: Follower Card

Star Rating: 1 Star

Effect: When your opponent successfully summons or special summons a follower, you can select one follower from each side on the field to activate an effect that destroys the selected followers. If the destroyed follower on your side is [Magic Apprentice Alice], you may choose a Spell Card from your deck to activate after it enters the graveyard.

Spirit Value: 100

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