Ian grimaced as he tossed two cards into the Graveyard, his trembling fingers drawing two more from his Deck.
His Life Points instantly dropped another 3600.
And this wasn't even his turn. Which meant... the moment he drew on his next turn, his Life Points would keep plummeting.
At this rate, he only had enough LP to survive two more turns.
⟨This burn's insane... how many turns has it been?⟩
⟨Big Ian's smile left his face and landed on mine.⟩
⟨Reverse jinx! Classic Big Ian!⟩
⟨If you're bold enough, every match becomes your Waterloo.⟩
The chat was exploding, but Ian had no time to look—If he didn't focus now, his five-day Platinum climb challenge would be dead in the water.
Regardless, Morgan had no intention of giving him that chance.
That Set card from turn one? It was for this exact moment.
"I flip my Set card face-up! Trickstar Reincarnation!"
The card on Morgan's Field lifted slowly. Red flower petals filled the air.
"This card banishes all cards from my opponent's Hand, and they draw the same number from their Deck."
'Banish everything?!'
The moment he heard that effect, Ian's face turned ashen. He still had three cards left in his Hand. Banishing all three and drawing three more would deal another 5400 damage.
His remaining LP would hit zero.
With no other choice, Ian surrendered.
He'd been completely outplayed from start to finish, with zero room to fight back.
This round... this round he was the fish getting farmed.
⟨Fishing all day, only to get nuked by the fish themselves.⟩
⟨This match was pure comedy gold!⟩
⟨Though to be fair, the opponent was cracked... burning on draws like this is straight-up brutal sunshine burn.⟩
⟨His childhood probably had nothing but rainclouds.⟩
Ian stared speechlessly at the barrage of chat roasting him, then burst out laughing. After stewing for a bit, he still couldn't help but retort:
"Guys... honestly, this loss was understandable. That guy's plays were top-tier..."
"Thanks for the ship gift to 'Still Talking Big!' Thanks for calling me out!"
...
With the Duel over, Morgan retrieved her Deck and let out a long breath.
After all, she was still recovering from illness, and her stamina wasn't quite there yet.
Add to that her young body... just finishing one Duel left her feeling drowsy. A fine sheen of sweat already dotted her pale nose tip.
Morgan sighed helplessly as the system's voice echoed in her mind.
[Congratulations to the host for winning a Duel.]
⌜Received Duel EXP: 1000⌟
⌜Received Duel Points: 1000⌟
[Duel Talent: None]
'Whoa, a full 1000 Duel Points from this match?'
Was the opponent worth that much?
Wasn't this supposed to be a Bronze match?
Then again, thinking it over, Morgan remembered her opponent was playing Dragunity—a fairly strong archetype you rarely saw at low ranks, where most matches were just Axe Raider slap-fests between rookies.
This was probably a smurf from a higher rank Duelist.
She had no idea what rank he was, though.
Feeling motivated by the Duel Point reward, Morgan grabbed some fruit for a snack, then pulled herself together and hit the matchmaking button again.
"Damn! Where'd my LP go?!"
"Opponent's Monsters had such low Attack... how did I still lose?!"
"Drawing cards burns LP? What kind of cursed Deck has such a cheery name?!"
"Crap, I lost my promotion streak! Finally made it to promo, and this happens?!"
All across Bronze rank, Duelists roared at their screens.
And deep confusion about Dueling settled over them.
...
After battling through the entire afternoon, Morgan closed her eyes, stretched long, and let out a deep groan. Her young body was even more flexible than she expected.
"Mmm..."
At this point, she had climbed to Silver rank.
But her Duel Points weren't as high as she'd hoped. Even now, she only has 1200 points total.
Most of it had come from her very first Duel; since then, each win had barely earned her 10 points.
After tallying her progress, Morgan summoned the system.
"System, what Talents can I redeem right now?"
[With the host's current Duel Point balance, you can redeem the Calm Mind Talent.]
'...Calm Mind?'
Morgan froze. She hadn't expected that Talent to show up at all.
After all, Calm Mind was the key prerequisite for achieving Accel Synchro Summons!
Sure, she wasn't running a Synchro Deck right now, but in this world, Riding Duels were hugely popular. Even students without D-Wheels could substitute Duel Skateboards for high-speed Duels.
And what card player didn't dream of experiencing a true Riding Duel?
A hint of anticipation lit up Morgan's eyes. Even though countless memories of wiping out on a Duel Skateboard flashed through her mind, she would still jump back on without hesitation.
"System, I choose to redeem Calm Mind!"
[Redemption complete!]
[Congratulations to the host for acquiring Duel Talent: Calm Mind LV1]
...
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