Chapter 56: The Strongest Duelist (2)

"Pick the one I am best at?" Li Guanqi was slightly stunned upon hearing this.

It was his first time encountering someone so arrogant!

Yet strangely, he could not sense a shred of mockery; the voice was extremely calm, devoid of any emotion.

Just how many matches must one win to be able to utter such arrogant words in such a flat tone?

Frowning, Li Guanqi opened the black box and found a total of four cases inside, each bearing a label.

[Fiendsmith Yubel]
[R-ACE / Crimson Resonator (Red Dragon Archfiend)]
[Milling Infernity / Tearlaments (Lawnmowing Fiendsmith Infernaloid)]
[Side Deck]

Three deck boxes and one side deck box.

Li Guanqi was taken aback. After a brief hesitation, he took out the [Fiendsmith Yubel] deck, as this combination had the highest overall strength and was one he was relatively proficient with.

He opened the deck box and gave a violent start.

"Paper cards?!"

What filled the deck box were not crystal magic cards, but ordinary paper playing cards?

Li Guanqi never expected that upon transmigrating to another world, he would run into an old friend. Flipping through these paper cards, a familiar tactile sensation instantly welled up within him.

"Can paper cards be used in a dueling disk?" he asked out of curiosity, raising his head.

The robed woman softly replied, "Yes."

Hearing this, Li Guanqi immediately felt a twinge of regret. Had he known, he would have brought his deck to his hospital internship; that way, he could have brought it along with him across the world.

He carefully inspected the deck, and to describe it in one word—standard.

Hand traps, called-bys, and starter points were all maxed out. Useless bricks like [Dragon Lord of Reckless Greed] were absent, embodying a competitive mindset that pursued a high execution floor.

It was so standard that it looked as though it had been copied straight from a top-tier online meta deck. Both [Fiendsmith Engraver] and [Phantom Knights] were at three, and even [Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal] was included.

The side deck box lacked outdated banned cards like [Pot of Greed]; not a single card in this deck needed to be altered.

"Do we have to wager something on this duel?" Li Guanqi asked cautiously as he took out the deck and activated his dueling disk.

The robed woman's tone remained even: "No."

Regardless of victory or defeat, this duel would not cause any loss or injury to either party.

No burdens, no grudges, no past grievances.

The purest of duels.

"Since that's the case." Li Guanqi smiled faintly, placed the deck into the dueling disk, and said, "Let's end this!"

"Ding-ling-ling—"

The red side's dueling disk lit up, conducting a deck check, and the next second, with a click, it malfunctioned.

"See, paper cards really don't work after all," Li Guanqi remarked upon seeing this.

The robed woman furrowed her brow slightly, contemplated for a moment, and said, "Take out [Underworld Goddess of the Closed World]."

"Huh?" Li Guanqi was startled, but still followed her instructions and removed the [Goddess] from his extra deck.

The dueling disk reshuffled, verified, and finally popped up with a prompt: [Deck Verified].

"It actually works!"

A surge of fighting spirit welled up in Li Guanqi's heart, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes: "In that case, bring it on."

"Duel!" (X2)

With both decks verified, the red and blue smart judges floated into mid-air and issued a mechanical broadcast.

[Going first goes to]
[Red Side]
[Duel Start]

"Awesome!" Li Guanqi clenched his fist inwardly and drew his starting hand.

With [Fiendsmith Yubel] taking the first turn, he wouldn't be afraid even if his opponent was the world champion.

Yet when he looked at his starting hand, his brow involuntarily furrowed.

[Dark Beckoning Beast]
[Yubel - The Lovestruck Fiend]
[Chaos Summoning Beast]
[Maxx "C"]
[Called by the Grave]

"Ah, well—"

There were starters, protection, and hand traps.

And there were bricks.

This hand was actually quite good, easily scoring an 80 out of 100, a hand fully capable of winning.

However, having been spoiled by league matches where he consistently drew three copies of [Spirit of Yubel] and [Nightmare Throne], while drawing zero bricks like [The Lovestruck Fiend], [Opening of the Spirit Gates / Torture Golem], or [Dragon Lord], his palate had grown a bit pampered.

He remembered now: duels were supposed to be capable of bricking.

Switching to paper cards immediately brought two dead draws right to the top—what a damned sense of realism.

Where was his god-tier luck?

His imagined dream starting hand of [Spirit of Yubel], [Fiendsmith], [Throne], [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring], and [Called by the Grave] had failed to materialize.

Li Guanqi tried to sense the paper cards; indeed, they lacked the unique bond inherent to magic cards.

"No need to panic!"

Our [Fiendsmith Yubel] has a very powerful play!

A sharp glint arose in Li Guanqi's eyes as he revealed two cards from his hand and declared, "Returning [Chaos Summoning Beast] and [Yubel - The Lovestruck Fiend] to the deck."

"Special Summon!"

"Appear, [Yubel - Phantom]!"

He slammed the card heavily onto the dueling disk, kicking off a burst of golden light.

A demon-like woman materialized within the golden radiance, spreading her wings to wrap around Li Guanqi standing behind her.

The strength of [Yubel] lay precisely in its ability to turn two dead bricks into an interruption point.

Gazing at the back of [Phantom], Li Guanqi's eyes trembled, his expression somewhat moved.

The robed woman remained completely unfazed, whether because she had anticipated it long ago, knew no fear, or—was simply expressionless.

At the same time, thousands of miles away.

In a room full of feminine charm, several exquisite watercolor paintings hung on the soft pink walls.

In the corner of the room stood a small desk, its surface scattered with stationery and a few half-opened hardcover books.

Three dried rose petals pressed down upon a trembling, yellowed manuscript paper fluttering in the breeze.

A small vase held a few fresh sprigs of lavender, emitting a faint fragrance.

Beside the desk was a high-backed swivel chair with a soft knitted shawl draped over the backrest. The entire room was completely empty.

An exquisite fountain pen that had been resting motionlessly on the desk suddenly stood upright, automatically moving across a sheet of white paper as ink flowed to form a clear line of handwriting.

"A rare duel, isn't it?"

The room was dead silent, save for the rustling sound of the fountain pen writing upon the paper.

After [Yubel - Phantom] was successfully summoned, Li Guanqi let out a heavy sigh of relief, feeling considerably more calm inside.

"Summon [Dark Beckoning Beast]," he continued his combo, "and add [Opening of the Spirit Gates] to my hand."

"Activate the Continuous Spell [Opening of the Spirit Gates], search for [Chaos Summoning Beast]."

"Using the effect of [Dark Beckoning Beast], summon [Chaos Summoning Beast] once more."

Having successfully established a board of three monsters, the robed woman still made no move and showed no reaction whatsoever.

"No hand traps?" Li Guanqi began to mutter to himself, "She's this calm?"

In truth, he would have preferred to eat a few hand traps so he could make some reads and put his [Called by the Grave] to use.

Not only did she refuse to throw hand traps, but she also displayed no emotional fluctuations or changes in expression, nor did she utter any taunts.

She was completely unreadable, like a black hole.

A faint sense of fear crept over Li Guanqi, reminding him of a famous saying in the dueling community: "Guess why I'm not running?"

Did she not understand, or was she simply not afraid?

He decided to make her understand!

Li Guanqi abruptly stopped his card-flipping motion, his expression turning resolute: "Using [Dark Beckoning Beast] and [Chaos Summoning Beast] as two materials to build the guiding circuit."

"Link Summon!"

"Be born, Link-2, [S:P Little Knight / Moon of the Closed Heaven]!"

[Moon of the Closed Heaven], resembling a Gothic loli, made her entrance, waving the staff in her hand with a cold and aloof posture.

Surely she would understand now!

Li Guanqi looked up, hoping to catch the slightest change in expression on the robed woman's face.

To his astonishment, however, she still remained completely unresponsive.