After finishing the card game, You Xuan and Pegasus's twin brothers at Industrial Illusions had a meal together. During this time,
Yue Xing promised to list their laboratory as a key sponsored lab, granting them priority to purchase rare cards through Industrial Illusions' special channels and enjoying the same discounts as internal staff.
This further expanded You Xuan's card acquisition channels. Through Yue Xing's sharing, he specially downloaded Industrial Illusions' dedicated store onto the academy terminal. It seemed that in the future, besides frequenting the academy's store, checking new products at Industrial Illusions' store also became part of his daily routine.
This also included many of the seemingly good cards Yue Xing used in his recent duel.
Unlimited internal purchase rights from Industrial Illusions, the world's largest card printing manufacturer, would excite any other duelist, seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
But You Xuan's first reaction upon hearing this was, "Huh? I still have to pay?"
"I always get freebies from Kaiba."
But it didn't matter. He wasn't short on money right now anyway. Just selling off all the rare cards he picked up would be a huge sum, not to mention the rewards from President Kaiba he hadn't even spent much of yet.
It just goes to show how comfortable it is to have a strong backer.
After this fruitful and pleasant trip to Industrial Illusions, the three returned to the academy that evening.
As You Xuan expected, their small, newly established laboratory soon became famous in the academy.
This was only natural. A student-led research team, with a series of astonishing achievements, successively received sponsorship from two of the world's top giants, KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions. The mere description of this matter sounded somewhat absurd.
Initially, it circulated among teachers, and soon it spread among the students.
"Did you hear? Fujiki You Xuan—that annoying duelist from the Ra Yellow dorm—set up a lab, and even Kaiba and Pegasus invested!"
"What?! So strong? Then he must have quite a background?"
"Of course. I heard he and Seto Kaiba are like brothers, so close they'd share a pair of underwear."
"Nandato (What did you say)!? So is he taking advantage of the opportunity to latch onto a big shot for a good future after graduation?"
"..."
The rumors became increasingly outlandish.
When You Xuan heard these rumors from Bastion, he was utterly bewildered. He wondered when he and President Kaiba had become "so close they'd share a pair of underwear," considering they had only met a few times in total and exchanged no more than ten sentences.
Indeed, the ancients were right. Human nature loves gossip; people prefer stories to truth, which is why some things become so distorted when spread.
Never mind, it didn't matter. It just made it easier for them to recruit people.
After this meeting, the academy also paid more attention to their project, even transferring personnel from the research department to assist with You Xuan's development needs.
With funding from KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions in place, You Xuan's laboratory was officially launched, appearing quite professional. He only needed to control the general direction based on his memories of various card archetypes' future trends, and they should quickly achieve stable output.
This battle with Yue Xing, though a victory, still gave You Xuan some inspiration.
"Duel with your heart, huh..."
You Xuan reflected on himself.
But he felt that he had always been quite passionate about dueling.
Although he was different from most duelists in this world, he clearly always enjoyed the fun of dueling. Especially dedicating himself to sharing this fun with more people.
As the saying goes, "Bring smiles with duels." Shouldn't this be the eternal truth of Yu-Gi-Oh!?
There are many paths to Rome, and thousands of "Dao" for people to cultivate and become gods. There's no reason we can't do it with card games. If Jaden Yuki can become a god through passionate dueling, there's no reason we can't do it by bringing smiles with duels.
So he felt that, simply put, he needed more dueling, more practice, and more insight.
Thus, You Xuan further increased his daily practical training load.
The first choice for recruiting sparring partners was naturally the Dueling Club. For several days in a row, he would take time to stroll around the Dueling Club, and each time was accompanied by laughter and joy.
Next was, of course, the Student Council, which he had just joined not long ago. As a new member, he quickly blended in with the old members of the Student Council. After more than a week, almost everyone in the department had fallen victim to his "poisonous hand"—no, rather, they had all forged friendships through duels.
During this period, while practicing, he also helped Senior Sister Seika Konihata with some trivial Student Council affairs.
Apparently, the Academy Photography Club and Art Club simultaneously claimed the Academy Garden for the same day. One side said they needed to take photos for an exhibition at the Cultural Festival a week later, while the other said they had scheduled a sketching session for that day.
The presidents of both sides were reportedly arguing fiercely, neither willing to concede.
So, You Xuan, the golden mediator, stepped forward and cheerfully pulled out his Duel Disk: "I have a plan. How about you each duel me, and whoever wins gets priority? What do you think?"
Both presidents immediately fell silent.
After a moment of silence, the Photography Club President said, "I've thought about it. There's still time until the Cultural Festival starts. How about you sketch first? It's fine if we come back in a couple of days..."
"No, no, you first." The Art Club President also became humble and amiable. "Sketching can be done anytime; it wouldn't be good to delay the Cultural Festival exhibition."
"No, you go first."
"It's better if you go first..."
You Xuan smiled: "Then it's simple. I'll make a slight modification to the previous proposal. You each duel me, and whoever wins, the other side gets priority. Is that fine now?"
Both presidents: "..."
They seemed to understand something.
As for who won or lost their argument, that executive seemed uninterested and unconcerned.
He was simply there to duel.
"..."
In the end, You Xuan got the duels he wanted, and the conflict was resolved perfectly.
He felt that the Student Council members' earlier descriptions of both parties were a bit unfair. In his opinion, both sides were quite polite, modest, and reasonable.
And it seemed that from now on, whenever they had conflicts in club negotiation matters, they would be able to discuss things more calmly and reasonably.
Later, new rumors gradually spread throughout the academy.
Rumors about the Student Council acquiring a forbidden weapon.
If you violated regulations or disobeyed management, depending on the severity of the situation, the Student Council might deploy "that executive" to enforce compliance.
Suddenly, all the major clubs were filled with unease, feeling as if a dark cloud had enveloped the atmosphere of the club scene, much like the future of the Dueling World.
However, of course, in the subsequent process, the various clubs also discovered that "that executive" seemed to take on tasks depending on his mood; he didn't seem interested in interfering with everything.
Furthermore, the Student Council, in its management process, gradually reached a subtle consensus with the students.
As long as the violations weren't too excessive, they promised not to immediately use "that executive's" power.
However, from now on, anyone who received a warning from the Student Council would probably need to be more sensible and rein themselves in quickly.
This bizarre balance, once achieved, became known as "Yellow-Clothed Deterrence" in the latter half of the academic year.
You Xuan indeed went to the Student Council for things purely based on his mood. Earning extra credits and cards from the Student Council's inventory were secondary; the main goal was just to maintain his practice.
He didn't really care about the specifics of the missions; he only had one standard: to see if there were any duels to be had, if not, if he could find a way to create duels, and if the opponent was worth dueling.
After a few times, Senior Sister Seika Konihata had already figured out his selection criteria. So she would generally compile the tasks You Xuan might be interested in, and wouldn't even ask about those he clearly wouldn't take.
For example, today.
"So, You Xuan, what do you think of this one?"
Senior Sister Seika handed him a brief.
"Regarding the on-site inspection for the establishment of a new club. Of course, you can also require the registering president to undergo a duel for inspection."
You Xuan waved his hand, indicating he wasn't interested: "Anything else?"
Mainly, he had already dueled the applying president before, and there was no need for a rematch.
Senior Sister Seika put away the brief, a bit helpless.
Suddenly, it was hard to tell who the actual president was.
But there was nothing she could do. The laboratory of this person before her had not only received investments from both KaibaCorp and Industrial Illusions simultaneously but was also highly regarded by the academy's higher-ups. Not to mention the rumors that he had an unusually close relationship with President Kaiba.
And her? She was just a small student council president. What else could she do?
"Hmm? What's this?"
You Xuan had already picked up a report he noticed out of the corner of his eye.
"Oh, that. A student reported that a strange person has been wandering in the academy forest late at night recently," Senior Sister Seika said. "It is said that this person is very strong, and many Obelisk Blue students have been defeated by them.
And each time this strange person finishes a duel, they always take the opponent's rare cards as an insult, and sometimes, if the situation is serious, they might even take the Duel Disk as well."
You Xuan was startled.
Taking Duel Disks and rare cards?
There's actually such a vile person in this world!
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