"Azhun, are you coming tomorrow? Let's duel again!"
"I told you not to call me Azhun! Are we that familiar? Also, unlike you, I'm very busy." Manjoume said impatiently, crossing his arms.
"Then I'll find others to duel tomorrow."
Youmu felt a pang of disappointment. He hadn't dueled anyone else at the Duel Center, but from what he'd seen, Manjoume was probably the most skilled duelist there. Youmu's priority was passing the exam, so he wanted to spar with stronger opponents as much as possible — but he couldn't force someone who didn't have time.
"…You? How could those people compare to me! Tomorrow at 10 AM, I'll be waiting on the second floor."
Hearing Youmu give up so easily, Manjoume bristled. "Huh, really? Fine — I'll leave it to you, Azhun!"
"I told you not to call me Azhun!"
Satisfied, Youmu waved and left. Manjoume watched his back until he disappeared.
(This guy's clearly a beginner. He had some weird plays early on, but he picked things up fast in the later turns… Qin Youmu — I'll remember that name.)
Youmu was walking home when his phone buzzed.
"[Actively learning Duel Monsters–related knowledge] completed. Living expenses issued. Please return home to collect them. [First Duel] completed. Reward: ¥100,000 issued. Please return home to collect it."
Hidden missions? With ¥100,000 he could buy more than food — daily necessities, a change of clothes, and black contact lenses all cost money.
Beep beep beep.
"Daily mission activated: [Daily Duel]. Before entering the Academy, duel at least two matches per day. Reward: ¥2,000 per match; daily cap ¥10,000."
Not bad — basic living expenses covered, no need for a part-time job. But if the system's goal was to make him a Duel Master, why were the rewards just money? Shouldn't he get a deck or cards? He still didn't have his own deck.
"Mission activated: [Pass the Written Exam]. Please pass the Duel Academy's written exam. Reward: a deck that transcends the era."
Youmu stopped in his tracks.
Now that sounded like a proper system reward. Strengthen the deck by completing missions, clear challenges, and become a Duel Master — that made sense. A deck that "transcends the era" sounded like a time-traveler's benefit.
Still, Youmu didn't celebrate. "Transcends the era" was vague; it didn't promise power or rarity — only that it'd be advanced in some sense. In his favorite game back home, each new generation added many stronger entries but also plenty of filler. A fourth‑generation Kricketune wouldn't dominate a first‑generation metagame. He prepared himself for the initial deck not being overwhelmingly strong.
After passing the exam and enrolling, with his current skill level he wouldn't face overly powerful opponents right away. Step by step.
At home he found an envelope on the table containing ¥105,000 — the system's reward. He used the money for a simple meal, bought black contact lenses at an optical shop, and picked up daily necessities. That should be enough.
First: study the written exam.
Youmu opened his computer and searched for Duel Academy exam details.
The written exam is two parts in one day: a cultural test in the morning and a Duel knowledge test in the afternoon. The cultural test is pass/fail — simply passing is enough; that score doesn't factor into later stages. The Duel knowledge test is selective: the top 120 candidates advance to the practical exam. If any of those 120 fail the cultural test, their spots are filled by the next candidates. The written and practical scores are combined at a 40:60 ratio.
The cultural test covers three subjects — Chinese, Math, and English — each scored out of 100, with a passing mark of 30.
Thirty to pass? Youmu was surprised; he'd always assumed 60 was the pass line. He pulled up past papers and relaxed — the difficulty was about first‑year junior high level. It made sense: Duel Academy cultivates duelists, not academics, so the cultural threshold was low to avoid excluding talented duelists while ensuring basic competence.
So he didn't need to spend much time on the cultural test. He should focus on the Duel knowledge test.
Youmu read on. The top 120 from the written exam draw numbers and take a practical test judged by an instructor and four observers; their average score is taken. After combining with the written score, the top 60 are admitted. The top 30 go to the Yellow Dorm, the next 30 to the Red Dorm. Duel Academy junior‑high graduates have a separate graduation exam: the top 30 there can enter the Blue Dorm directly. Others must take the joint entrance exam.
He mostly understood — and the exam date was next Saturday.
Are you kidding me? Today was already Sunday. That left less than a week to prepare.
He had to organize his knowledge in a week and score well: the written score would be combined with the practical test, so to be safe he needed to be at least above average.
What if the mission failed?
System: "The host will disappear from this world."
Disappear. His original self had already met an accident; if his self here disappeared too… Youmu shook his head. He couldn't dwell on it.
It's just an exam. He'd never feared exams — his family had always used rewards as motivation, so he actually liked them. Fired up, Youmu grabbed the mouse, eyes burning, and began searching past Duel Academy exam papers.