When You Ye heard her words, his expression turned to one of pain and disappointment.
"So that's how you think… Then go."
"I had wanted to show you what true swordsmanship is—to help you become a Duel King, a King-class duelist."
"But if you insist on leaving, then it seems our fates simply don't align. I'll just have to wait for the next destined pupil."
Seeing his look of heartbreak, Bai Yuner suddenly realized she might have said the wrong thing.
It was said that Heaven-class and King-class duelists often behaved mysteriously, toying with mortals for amusement. What if You Ye really was one of them? If she walked away now, she might be throwing away the chance of a lifetime!
Just in case, she quickly bowed.
"I do believe you, Senior. It's just… what you said about Tenyi Swordsoul is so hard to believe."
"How about this—duel me once. If you can defeat me easily, I'll accept your words without question!"
Lowering her head, she waited for his reply.
The corners of You Ye's lips curled upward. What did he fear most? People who ran off before he could show off. As long as he had a chance to demonstrate, no client could escape!
Still, he didn't answer right away. He put on a thoughtful face, letting the silence stretch before sighing with theatrical regret.
"…Very well, very well. To let a future King-class duelist's potential fade away would be a tragedy. I'll grant you this chance."
He walked to the shop's computer area and said, "Pick any terminal you like. We'll duel online first so you can see my strength."
"Huh? We're dueling on Master Duel?"
Bai Yuner froze, half-pulling her foldable Duel Disk from her bag.
Every Earth-class duelist she'd met preferred live duels with physical cards. Using Master Duel was a first.
"What's the problem? Master Duel follows the same rules as a normal duel. Anything wrong with that?"
You Ye's calm gaze met hers. He had his reasons.
A real-card duel? He didn't even own forty cards—how was that supposed to work?
As for why Master Duel was better, the answer was simple:
As long as you knew a card's details and the system recognized it as legal, you could reproduce it in Master Duel.
In this world, the ban list wasn't public knowledge. If someone happened to know it, they could even recreate cards that were forbidden in his previous life. Because of that, You Ye's Master Duel card pool was nearly complete—he even had access to full-power Tearlaments and Spright decks.
Ever since he'd become eligible for Master Duel at sixteen, he'd held first place every season, and that was while using Source Numbers, one of the simplest autopilot decks. He hadn't even bothered with his Tenyi Swordsoul engine.
"…Fair enough," Bai Yuner thought. What he said made sense: if someone owned the cards in Master Duel, they'd naturally have the physical ones too.
She sat at the computer beside him and logged in.
You Ye logged in as well—on a smurf account. His main role was too high-profile; a modest rank would look more believable.
Once she connected, her eyes drifted to his screen. His rank read Platinum III.
Her brows twitched. That wasn't bad. Most so-called "Master Duelists" of the Earth tier lingered around Platinum V at best; Heaven-tier duelists fought in Diamond.
So he was a solid Earth-tier duelist—not weak, but not elite either. Slight disappointment crept in. Her family had already hired over twenty Earth-tier duelists to adjust her builds, and none had succeeded.
A middle-tier duelist claiming to spot a King-class prodigy? That cow was bragging so hard it might fly to the moon.
Still, an Earth-tier duelist tutoring a Yellow-tier rookie like her… For 999,999, maybe that was worth it.
You Ye, pretending not to notice her skepticism, sent the duel invite and said, "For the first round, let's set LP to 4000 instead of 8000. I'll use a random deck against you. After that, I'll show you a ladder match using Tenyi Swordsoul. Sound fair?"
"I don't mind. But—you'll really use Tenyi Swordsoul on the ladder? At Platinum III rank?"
Her surprise was genuine.
Master Duel matches were strictly personal—no one could play on someone else's account. Every win and loss mattered. If he was willing to risk his rank just to demonstrate the deck's power… That was unexpectedly touching.
"No problem," he said lightly. "Just watch carefully. Now then—first game. You go first. Show me how well you've grasped Swordsoul."
He waved dismissively. To him, losing on Master Duel was practically impossible unless he tried.
"Alright!"
Bai Yuner nodded seriously. A spar with an Earth-tier duelist—her family only allowed her one per month.
"Then let's begin!"
"Let's," You Ye said, choosing his 'Noob-Crusher Dragon Fist' deck.
You Ye (4000 LP) vs Bai Yuner (4000 LP)
Bai Yuner took the first turn. Both drew five cards. The duel began!
"I activate the Spell Card Swordsoul Emergence! Its effect lets me add one 'Swordsoul' card from my Deck to my hand. I choose Swordsoul Strategist Longyuan!"
"Now, I activate Longyuan's effect! I discard another 'Swordsoul' card or a Wyrm-type monster from my hand—so I discard Swordsoul of Mo Ye to Special Summon Longyuan in Attack Position! Then I summon one Level 4 Wyrm Tuner Token with 0 ATK and 0 DEF!"
"Next, I tribute Longyuan and the Token to summon our Bai Family's honor! Our ultimate ace monster!"
"I tribute-summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
As she shouted, the iconic white dragon materialized on her Master Duel field.
You Ye: ???
Even if this were pure Swordsoul, that opening—Emergence + Mo Ye—was an auto-win combo! Any duelist from his past life could turn that into an 8 + 10 Synchro setup blindfolded!
And yet… she'd used it to tribute-summon a 3000-ATK Normal Monster!?
For a long moment, You Ye was completely speechless. Any sane duelist would be—seeing such a sight was both shocking and painful.