The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　He has to seize this opportunity.

　Moreover, striving to advance from the preliminary rounds is the right thing to do. Therefore, Dark stopped paying much attention to the students of the Ocean Magic Academy.

　If the Sea Clan truly wants to perform well in this World Cup, they cannot possibly place their hopes on these young students.

　As you can see, one of the top ten in the rankings is a member of the sea tribe. This is probably why students at the Ocean Magic Academy can play with such freedom.

　Since the sea creatures didn't set KPIs for them, they naturally didn't need to be "utilitarian."

　When Dark arrived at the water-themed competition area, he saw "Mermaid" Carola Marjorie and "Naga" Tim Doris from the Ocean Magic Academy frolicking in the water—they looked exactly like tourists. But that was later.

　He is currently in the Ice-type competition area, where he has encountered not only sea-type players but also students from several other academies.

　It's clear that the ice-themed competition is extremely popular.

　This ice-themed competition area is basically a huge ski resort, with a large, perfectly round ice lake in the center where many spectators and competitors skate.

　Skiing and ice skating are the main themes of this competition area.

　He even saw Diana and Rose holding hands as they sped down the ski slope.

　But of course, he pretended not to see it and ran away quickly.

　But after that, he took the initiative to suggest temporarily disbanding the group so that Sofia could also experience the fun of skiing.

　Sophia was torn between wanting to go and not wanting to go, but Dak's suggestion finally made her decide not to go.

　But he was subsequently driven away by Dark.

　3pm.

　Dak and Sofia reunited.

　Sofia's face was flushed, clearly still feeling a bit unsatisfied. As soon as they reunited, she began excitedly recounting her skiing experience.

　Dark slowed down, chatting as he walked, and it took him quite some time to arrive at the next competition area—the Grass-type competition area.

　The Grass-type arena was designed by the Elf race, and it's lush with vegetation and filled with birdsong. While there are insects, thankfully there aren't any giant insects crawling around freely. Furthermore, because it was designed by the Elf race, the Grass-type arena also features many giant trees.

　The trunks of those giant trees were exceptionally thick, and their canopies were lush with sturdy branches and leaves, with a circular platform at the very top—a platform large enough to accommodate two people in a duel.

　There are many treehouses in the Grass-type area, some built inside the tree trunks and others hanging on the branches.

　Around those dueling platforms in the treetops, there are many treehouses where spectators can drink tea and watch the duels on the platforms.

　After Dark entered the Grass-type zone, he climbed up to the treehouse and watched a treetop duel.

　To be honest, that feeling was really great.

　Therefore, after watching the duel, he went up to one of the canopy duel platforms and challenged the winner of the previous match.

　This canopy duel arena has its own set of rules, much like a fighting ring: the loser must leave the stage, while the winner can remain and continue to accept challenges. However, standing at the highest point to accept challenges is actually a very strenuous and thankless task.

　The Grass-type region is very popular because of its beautiful environment and the authentic Elf culture it offers.

　There are many duelists and spectators here. Many spectators come to the Grass-type area to rest after getting tired of playing in the Ice-type area.

　Therefore, standing on the canopy duel platform makes it very easy to encounter strong opponents. Moreover, there is no "rest time" on the canopy duel platform, requiring continuous acceptance of challenges.

　Once the stage stops and someone goes up, you must make way.

　Therefore, the duels on the canopy arena are almost non-stop, extremely intense, and very entertaining.

　Instead of being like the "Dragon King" arena, which can always be occupied by one "Dragon King".

　After all, a player's stamina, magic power, and magic cards are always limited, and they always need to rest.

　Even so, the canopy duel arena can significantly improve the scoring efficiency of players.

　Dark regretted not having taken the torch and pressed Jo to step onto the dueling platform to challenge the previous winner.

　The opponent is an elf, specifically a forest elf. Forest elves are highly efficient at utilizing the forest environment. They will also choose magical elves that can be specially summoned in the forest to ensure an early advantage.

　Dark's opponent was a middle-aged elf with a weathered look in his eyes and a dignified demeanor, clearly possessing extremely rich combat experience.

　When facing this type of opponent, the most important thing is not to let your guard down and never give him the slightest opening, otherwise you will be relentlessly pursued.

　Dark relied on his own strength to fight him on the canopy duel stage, and finally summoned "BlackWarGreymon" to deliver a fatal blow.

　Ever since using "BlackWarGreymon" in his duel with Raikiroth, Dark has no longer shied away from using this magical creature and has won many battles with it.

　BlackWarGreymon's power is the key to his long-term victory. It has now become the second most popular magical creature in his arsenal.

　First, it's still the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"!

　In the world of magical elves, strength still reigns supreme. But appearance and faith can also be very important at times.

　While "BlackWarGreymon" is both powerful and cool, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is equally formidable among the nine-star magical monsters. Especially since it shares many similarities with "Sky Dragon," it has also gained some of the popularity of "Sky Dragon."

　As a result, many fans speculate whether "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" can also fuse and evolve into a three-headed Ultimate Dragon.

　What surprised Dark was that there were actually people shipping "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Sky White Dragon," which he found incredibly absurd.

　He wouldn't be surprised at all if someone shipped him with Pandora.

　But the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Celestial White Dragon...

　In short, let's get back to the game.

　After Dark defeated the forest elf, someone else immediately stepped onto the canopy duel platform—another elf.

　However, this is a grassland spirit.

　This Grass-type battle zone features a simulated grassland area. However, the difference between Grassland Pokémon and Forest Pokémon is actually minimal. Even in forest areas, you can utilize the ubiquitous Grass-type elements to enhance your combat power.

　However, to Dak's slight surprise, this grassland elf was actually a "grassland knight"!

　His fighting style was quite interesting; he rode on the back of a magical spirit like a knight and fought alongside it.

　Moreover, the magical spirits he chose to ride were all flying-type! "No wonder he chose the canopy duel arena."

　Dark immediately realized what was happening and changed tactics.

　He successfully summoned Charizard in this duel, and then, imitating his opponent, rode Charizard in a thrilling riding duel. In the end, he won the riding duel by taking advantage of the Fire-type's superpower over the Grass-type.

　But after this duel, Dark suddenly found himself somewhat fond of this style of dueling, and couldn't help but develop feelings for things other than dueling.

　After adjusting his deck, he used Mount Duel again in the next duel and won!

　Mounted combat is a form of combat that presents both advantages and disadvantages.

　The mage rides on the back of a flying-type magical spirit. This not only grants them a superior view of the entire battlefield, but also allows them to summon magical spirits reliably from their backs, unaffected by enemy attacks.

　It's important to understand that not everyone can master the skill of movement and summoning, and simultaneously command and evade.

　The high speed of flying-type magical spirits is very helpful in helping mages dodge enemy attacks.

　This is a completely different tactic compared to the mage who stands still like a wooden stake to defend the city.

　However, another aspect of mounted duels is that they place extremely high demands on the archmage's own riding skills.

　Furthermore, since they need to participate in battles, the archmage himself must also have a certain level of combat ability.

　Among the elves, especially the grassland elves and forest elves who are very good at long-distance raids, their physical strength is generally not weak, they all have combat skills, and they also have a talent for long-range shooting.

　It is indeed quite suitable for this kind of mounted combat tactic.

　However, these points also apply to Darko.

　He only tried it once and found that this fighting method suited him better than standing still and casting spells.

　The only problem is that he doesn't have many rideable flying magical spirits, nor has he received the corresponding training.

　But maybe…

　Can be used as training

　This tactic is not considered a core tactic, but rather an option to be used when appropriate.

　That way, he could be more at ease in the duels that followed. So, after that, Dark tried to use mounted combat tactics in his duels as much as possible, gradually becoming familiar with the rhythm of aerial mounted combat.

　However, he did not stay on the same canopy duel platform for a long time. Instead, he would take a break temporarily and then continue on a different canopy duel platform.

　He was acutely aware that he was now attracting attention like a light bulb. But his "Black WarGreymon," capable of defeating the "God Cards," was a crucial deterrent for duelists who wanted to conceal their trump cards.

　Therefore, players who are determined to make it to the main team will intentionally avoid dueling with him.

　This, combined with his unique skill in selecting opponents, allowed him to progress smoothly through the preliminary rounds.

　But the most important thing for a person is to be true to themselves.

　There is a correct understanding. Duck is accustomed to suppressing "arrogance" and will not allow himself to always stand at the top of the forest.

　Later, the duelists in this region clearly realized that he was practicing mounted duels. So, some other duelists who also wanted to practice mounted duels approached him.

　This slightly improved his practice efficiency.

　Then I gradually came to understand another key point of riding duels - aerial transfer!

　In-flight transfers are key to mounted combat tactics.

　After all, it's relatively rare to see a battle fought to the very end while riding only one magical spirit.

　Mages must learn to switch mounts; after a magical spirit they are riding is defeated, they must immediately switch to another magical spirit.

　If not done swiftly or at the wrong time, it will become a fatal flaw in the duel.

　Dark trained for a while and even learned a two-horse cavalry tactic. However, this tactic doesn't seem to be very practical at the moment.

　After spending some time in the Grass-type region, Dark finally arrived in the Electric-type region.

　Then he encountered Quintina in this competition area. This girl, who possessed the "spirit of Zeus," performed exceptionally well in this preliminary round.

　Her growth rate was among the best, even among all the mages that Dark had ever seen.

　The experience of fighting in the academy championship had a great impact on her, making her more mature.

　With the support of the royal faction and the guidance of fragments of Zeus's consciousness, she collected many fragments of Zeus's soul.

　She absorbed a small portion of these fragments of divine souls, while the rest were undoubtedly transformed into "Cards of God" under the control of "Zeus".

　However, this intelligence all came from Duke Dumont's mansion, and not from what Dark obtained during the duel.

　After arriving at the Electric-type competition area, Dark simply asked a random audience member who was also an Electric-type enthusiast, and learned a great deal of information about it.

　First of all, Quintina has been active in the Electric category since the beginning of the qualifiers and is already a celebrity in this category.

　Secondly, Quintina's strength has improved significantly, and she ranks very high on the points leaderboard.

　Then, Quintina did not show any "abnormality".

　In other words, she did not use anything particularly obvious related to "Zeus" in the audition.

　Dak had already noticed her points ranking.

　After seeing it with my own eyes this time, I immediately realized that her strength had greatly increased and that she had the potential to become a formidable opponent.

Chapter 1518 Darkdemon secures qualification (4k)

　Quintina can be considered a "godsend" of open secrets, and her performance in the Academy Championship has already attracted a lot of attention.

　Moreover, like Rachel Hodge, she also possesses the power of Thor.

　If the two of them were to meet on the field, we might witness a unique battle between Thors.

　However, Quintina has never used the "God Card" in public. For a mage, even if they are possessed by Thor, without the corresponding "God Card," they are merely a swordsman lacking a sword, unable to fully unleash the power of Thor.

　Therefore, she is not yet as highly regarded as Rachel Hodge.

　Moreover, it's quite obvious that her abilities are slightly inferior to those of Rachel Hodge.

　However, those who know her well will know that the thunder god possessing her is Zeus, one of the twelve Phoebus gods, a figure far beyond the reach of any other minor deity.

　If Quintina can summon "Zeus", defeating Raqi will not be difficult.

　Therefore, she is definitely a strong contender for a starting spot in this World Cup.

　Audrey Joan of Arc's situation was somewhat similar to Quintina's.

　However, Audrey's ranking on the leaderboard is not high, and she operates very discreetly within the Holy Church, with almost no useful information leaked. Dark speculates that she has not yet transformed the divine power of "Ares, the God of War" into "God Cards".

　—Even though the "soul of the God of War" possessing her accounted for a full third of her body.

　If Audrey doesn't have the "God Card" from the God of War, then she will be very uncompetitive in this World Cup Duel Challenge.

　It can basically be seen as giving up the competition for the title of "King of Duels".