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

　Furthermore, their research on magic cards and items far surpasses that of lower-grade students.

　The only fourth-year top student that Dark actually fought in a formal duel on the dueling stage was Angus Jeffrey, who was also a fourth-year student at the time.

　So he waved to his classmates, bent over and left from the front row seats, entering the contestant passage.

　This time, his opponent was a fourth-year student. But perhaps because he had already gotten used to it during last night's masquerade ball, he didn't feel much beyond excitement.

　Compared to the third grade, the fourth grade has more research on targeted training.

　At this time, they will also have the resources to specially craft magic cards for the purpose of winning the duel, and they can easily produce all kinds of magic cards that are only effective on the duel stage.

　The fourth-year students that Dak is about to face are basically this type of student.

　It's perfectly normal for him to be even stronger than Angus Jeffrey.

　However, while Angus Jeffrey possesses talent and resources, he clearly lacks the effort he puts in.

　He does not represent the top level of fourth-grade honor students.

　A true fourth-grade prodigy has already mastered targeted training in the third grade, built a complete system at the beginning of the fourth grade, and continues to refine their skills and master more complex techniques.

　Dak encountered a staff member waiting there, a third-year senior with an apple-shaped face and a cute smile.

　He nodded slightly to the senior student and prepared to wait until the fifth session ended before going on stage.

　But the senior student suddenly produced a Gatomon card from behind her back—a card for simulating a duel—and looked at him with shining eyes, asking eagerly, "Junior Dimon, my roommate wants me to get her an autograph!"

　It could even be said that Dark expected him to be even stronger than Angus Jeffrey!

　Enter from the passageway and then come to the other side of the passageway leading to the dueling arena.

　Of course, if the senior student wants, she can also get Gatomon to sign her autograph.

　This is not a troublesome matter.

　"I'm so envious!"

　Darko:

　After a brief silence, Darke smiled normally and said, "Of course, no problem."

　So he quickly wrote his name on the back of the card.

　Although this was his first time observing it up close, for some reason, Dak felt a strange sense of familiarity.

　He asked curiously, "Senior Harriman, have we met before?"

　Snake Harriman toyed with the little snake familiar in his hand and said with a smile, "Of course I've seen it. Don't we often bump into each other in the lounge inside the tower?"

　After Dak finished signing, a sour voice came from behind him.

　Without turning his head, he knew it must be Snake Harriman, the senior student who had come over.

　Snake Harriman was a slender, tall upperclassman. As a fellow member of the Noble House, he wore the standard uniform of a fourth-year Noble House student. Although his face was slightly long and narrow, it was not unattractive.

　Snake Harriman shook his head and said, "His Ancient Mech deck is too limited. If he can't find Ancient Mech-related resources in the dungeon or make groundbreaking research, it will be difficult for him to make any further progress. Unless he has the determination to abandon his already established Ancient Mech deck and take a better approach."

　Dak shook his head slightly, offering no comment.

　Snake Harriman immediately changed the subject, saying, "I see your deck is quite messy, with all sorts of magical spirits. While you can keep winning by relying on the strength of your deck for now, you'll eventually reach your limit. I think you should start thinking about building a deck around it."

　Dak glanced at the small white snake and then stopped asking questions.

　Snake Harriman leaned closer and said, "I saw your duel with Elsie Kevin. I never expected that even with Elsie Kevin summoning an eight-star magical spirit, he was still no match for you."

　Dark said, "Senior Elsieke? He must have just recently forged his mechanical core and lacks more ways to enhance it. With the mechanical core, he can enter deeper dungeons to obtain better resources and continuously improve his strength. Maybe next time we meet, I won't be a match for him."

　"Alright, it's your turn to go on stage. You can say what you have to say after you're up there," the round-faced senior student urged hurriedly.

　Dark and Snake Harriman walked out of the passage and soon arrived at the edge of the dueling arena, where they parted to the sides.

　Dark is still on the red side, while Snake Harriman is on the blue side.

　Darke then smiled and said, "Actually, I've been working on it, but mastering targeted refining isn't easy. Do you have any tips, senior?"

　Snake Harriman laughed and said, "There's no secret to targeted training. If I had to say, it's just reading books. A vast knowledge base will make the path to targeted training much smoother."

　"I've learned something." Dark nodded, finding Harriman's correct but meaningless statement amusing.

　However, his assessment of Elsie Kevin was quite insightful.

　Elsie Kevin's current deck is built around Ancient Mechs, but the Ancient Mech path is not easy.

　Because it's practically impossible for him to obtain a second mechanical core!

　After stepping onto the player's platform, Dark waved to Arvit and the others in the audience as usual before walking to the card table and activating the deck.

　His expression gradually became serious during this process.

　Snake Harriman's remarks just now actually revealed a slight disdain for Elsie Kevin.

　Dark's current deck is undoubtedly built around the card "Great Sin".

　He wants to keep moving forward on this path, and he can only rely on himself to explore and research.

　Unlike Elsie Kevin, who still had the possibility of changing his course, he could only go down a dead end!

　Resources and knowledge related to ancient machinery are also quite limited.

　He wants to continue down this path, but for now, he can only rely on himself to figure it out.

　In other words, Elsie Kevin's situation is actually very similar to Dark's situation at this moment.

　After taking their places on the podium, Dark and Elsie Kevin didn't say a word.

　Both of them were fully focused on their preparations.

　The commentator for this match, Jessica Gardner, gave a brief introduction to them.

　"Both players should prepare as soon as possible."

　The referee's whistle suddenly blew.

　Dark has been paying more and more attention to duels lately, and has learned that in today's dueling competitions, many duelists are very particular about the way they draw cards.

　For example, there are techniques like the "prayer-based card-drawing method," the "orchid finger card-drawing method," the "left hand hand gesture with right hand card drawing method," and the "three-fast-two-slow card-drawing method."

　Anyway, with all this cryptic talk, whether the card-drawing mechanics actually worked or not is unknown, but it certainly created entertaining moments.

　As if to warm up the audience, applause rang out as expected.

　Amid applause, as the duel entered the second half of the preparation phase, a countdown projection for the preparation phase appeared in the sky above the arena.

　Both players immediately drew their cards without saying a word!

　Fairy Puppet

　Trash Slime

　Elysium 3

　Of course, he simply drew five cards from the top of the deck and placed them in his left hand to examine them.

　壶壶

　Dark glanced at his hand and realized that there weren't many combos among the cards he had this time.

　Even if I draw Bliss 3, there is no matching magical spirit.

　However, it's not entirely true that one's luck with cards is bad.

　The original dragon egg

　"One item card, one magic card, and three magic spirit cards."

　At this point, there are generally two approaches.

　One of the simplest and most direct approaches is to summon the original dragon egg to disrupt the field.

　Another option is to consider whether the opponent has a way to instantly kill the dragon egg, or whether they have a starting trap, so let the pot go first to test the waters.

　The three stars of the pot are invincible.

　The fairy puppet can save your life.

　The Primal Dragon Egg is a Magical Spirit card that can turn the tide of battle right from the start!

　On the blue team's platform, Snake Harriman made little attempt to conceal his slightly effeminate smile.

　Then, after the thirty-second countdown has completely ended, both sides start summoning simultaneously!

　"In the name of Darkdemon, I summon the Primal Dragon Egg!"

　Dark frowned slightly, then chose the first method: summon directly!

　This time, however, his method of summoning was slightly more sophisticated.

　The 30-second countdown is about to end.

　In the red team's summoning zone, a giant white dragon egg quickly materialized. But unlike usual, Dark didn't choose to place the starting magic sprite directly in front of the magic orb; instead, he unexpectedly chose to place it behind it!

　"Use a magic ball to protect the magical spirit?"

　"In the name of Snake Harriman, Spellcasting - Serpent Cage in the Mist!"

　Three seconds later.

　Two beams of summoning light, slightly different in color, shone into each of their summoning zones.

　As she pondered this, Jessica couldn't help but look towards the blue team's summoning area.

　If Snake Harriman can't respond at the start, he'll likely be in trouble immediately.

　Commentator Jessica Gardner couldn't help but show a strange expression.

　This option is not common.

　However, upon closer examination, the Magic Ball Life Barrier has a magic power value of up to 8000 points, which seems to be able to protect key magical spirits from being instantly killed by ranged attacks.

　Snake Harriman's Fog Serpent Cage has also been summoned!

　It was a gourd-shaped bamboo cage about one meter high, with a spout-shaped protrusion on each side of the snake cage, from which white smoke was rapidly billowing out.

　But it's not a magical spirit; it's an item!

　But Snake Harriman himself didn't seem nervous at all; he even smiled.

　"As expected, Darkdemon's starting move is usually a magical spirit that needs to be activated. Although the activation time is very fast, that's enough time for me to complete my activation as well!"

　In the blue team's summoning zone.

　Three seconds later, Snake Harriman will begin his second summoning!

　The first round of summoning is always the fastest and most frequent.

　Snake Harris chose to summon items at the start!

　The white smoke rising from the spout of the fog-shrouded snake cage was spreading outwards at an extremely fast speed.

　Three or four seconds is enough time for the smoke to fill the entire blue team's half of the territory!

　Use the pot for defense, then let the hatched blue-eyed dragons launch the attack.

　If the opponent has no corresponding countermeasures, the first round can pronounce their death sentence.

　But Snake Harriman certainly couldn't be without a countermeasure.

　When the original dragon egg's shell cracked open, both players began the second round of summoning almost simultaneously.

　After confirming that the original dragon egg would not be attacked, Dark chose to summon Potpot.

　This is a very simple decision.

　After all, no one wants to imagine a battle inside a cloud of white mist.

　As a duelist in the arena, Dark also needs to consider whether the smoke contains toxins.

　Ordinary poisons are one thing, but paralyzing and hypnotic poisons are even more deadly.

　The smoke that, after covering the blue side's half of the map, continued to rapidly advance towards the red side's half, is clear evidence of this.

　The smoke reached a height of nearly three meters, completely obscuring the blue team's magic orb and the fog snake cage, making them impossible to see.

　This is clearly not a situation that the audience wants to see.

　Then it clasped its hands together, offering a prayer like a young girl.

　Gradually, the energy of the light attribute gathered above its head, and then it soared into the sky and exploded.