Chapter 63: Chiha's Point Fountain
"You've got to be kidding! You've GOT to be KIDDING!!"
Before the defeated Kaiba Chiha could even process her humiliation, her Eva terminal's displayed ranking points began changing with exaggerated magnitude.
When Academy City's tenth-ranked duelist got defeated by the 35,495th-ranked person—
Only one outcome awaited her.
—Point fountain!
For Kaiba Corporation, wealthy enough to rival the entire Tower, money was just numbers to Chiha.
But points were different.
Duel Academy ranking points symbolized status throughout Academy City—throughout all of Eden Tower—and couldn't be easily bought with money.
Especially upper-tier duelists—most didn't actually lack money. What they needed were those rare cards from the academy point shop that rarely appeared on the market.
In this world where card games were everything, the academy ranking's competitive intensity was self-evident.
Even with her deck stuffed full of rare cards, Chiha reaching tenth place had endured countless high-intensity duels.
Yet precisely because it was so difficult, precisely because money couldn't shortcut this—
When Kaiba Chiha watched her ranking points gush out like an opened floodgate, the pain made her roll on the ground.
"No! My points, MY POINTS!"
Normal entrance exam duels also counted toward ranking points, but as academy-provided welfare, even if upperclassmen with test decks lost duels, Eva system provided certain economic compensation.
Moreover, academies generally only assigned second-years with modest rankings to handle entrance exams and point welfare distribution.
But Kaiba Chiha's situation was obviously different. She'd forced herself into this role.
A tenth-ranked duelist defeated by rank 35,495—a pure newbie who'd just registered.
Looking through the academy's centuries of history, this was unprecedented.
Don't even dream the academy would compensate her lost points.
Point fluctuations were calculated by Eva system's backend. Though not transparent, it followed one rule:
The lower-ranked challenger who defeated higher-ranked opponents experienced larger point swings.
Like game mechanics for fighting higher-level monsters—killing Level 10 monsters at Level 10 might give 100 experience, but killing Level 10 monsters at Level 1 gave 500 experience.
And Amano—at the absolute lowest level of just registered, hadn't even passed entrance exams—had defeated tenth-ranked Kaiba Chiha.
[Total Points Gained: +120,592]
Finally, after Eva system calculations, the cross-level duel result—deducted 120,000 points from Kaiba Chiha, adding them to Amano's ranking points.
Directly equivalent to half a [Pot of Greed]'s worth. If exchanged for the equipment card [Rebellion] Amano had liked at 800 points, he could easily get three copies without regret.
[Kaiba Chiha] [Point Rank: 52]
[Amano Rei] [Point Rank: 1,120]
The 120,000-point swing made Chiha plummet from 10th to 52nd place.
Yet that same 120,000-point change rocketed Amano from 0 points at rank 35,495 straight to rank 1,000-something.
Though jumping straight to rank 1,000-plus after entrance exams exceeded Amano's expectations, having seen overall ranking distributions, he wasn't surprised.
The higher the ranking, the larger point gaps between individuals.
Though reaching 100,000 points squeezed you into the top 1,000—
Students below 10,000 points numbered a full 15,000.
With the academy's higher division totaling only 35,000 duelists, lower scores meant denser, more competitive populations.
"F-Fifty-second, you've GOT to be kidding, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!" Staring at her final ranking in disbelief, Chiha burst into tears again.
Every upward step in rankings was arduous. She'd spent a full year, countless money and effort, climbing from 50th to tenth place.
Only that status qualified her to represent Kaiba Corporation as second-in-command during Kaiba Chiaki's absence.
"Big Sister will kill me. Impossible, this isn't real." Eyes unfocused, Chiha's emotions approached collapse. Finally her secretary and Kaiba Corporation employees dragged her away.
This duel's impact on Kaiba Corporation exceeded imagination.
Even the president's personal secretary hadn't expected Kaiba Corporation stock to crash like a cliff immediately after the duel ended.
This was clearly an exam venue. Most witnesses were just students. Yet it caused such massive market fluctuation?
Well, though this was indeed an exam venue, academy students weren't the only ones watching this duel.
[Stream Viewers: 199,556]
Mizuki Mu was completely dumbfounded—not just by Amano's final Synchro finishing move, not just by flames destroying galaxies.
But by nearly 200,000 viewers in her livestream.
Had she blown up?
No—didn't seem like she was the one who blew up.
[First time I've seen Synchro Summon without a Tuner!]
[What Synchro Monster was that, annihilating three Blue-Eyes ATK-level monsters in one strike?!]
[Red Dragon Archfiend/Right Red Mark! Synchro Summons can be this cool?!]
[A pre-enrollment student defeated Kaiba Corporation's second-in-command. Such weird plotting—I couldn't dream this up.]
[Tried bullying a newbie and got counter-killed instead—utterly humiliating for Kaiba Corporation's number two.]
[Streamer, streamer, have your bro say a few words on stream! I'll gift you sports cars!]
Mizuki wanted to keep cozying up to Amano.
But this instant, after brief silence throughout the exam venue, mountain-and-tsunami-like cheers erupted, nearly engulfing Amano at the venue's center.
Underdog comeback victories were eternally students' favorite development.
Especially since this was Synchro Academy's home turf. Amano used the most ridiculous yet coolest double Synchro Summons to counter-kill Xyz Academy's top-tier powerhouse Kaiba Chiha.
This reversal gave Synchro Academy students tremendous satisfaction regarding their summoning method.
"He actually won..."
Nanki'in Sakuya's lips couldn't suppress an excited upward smile.
"Never expected Amano Rei to simultaneously master both Synchro and Fusion summoning methods!"
[Nanki'in Sakuya] [Affection +10]
[Nanki'in Sakuya] [Affection: 62]
Probably not just Sakuya alone gained +10 affection toward Amano. Every Synchro Academy student present now viewed Amano with newfound respect.
Amano Rei really brought honor to our Synchro Academy!
Conversely, his companions, though happy Amano won this entrance duel—
Faced an unavoidable reality.
"Rei's really joining Synchro Academy after all!"
Originally everyone should've happily joined Fusion Academy together, harmoniously exploring Fusion methods.
"No way, I'm transferring to Synchro Academy too!" Kikawayu started being unreasonable.
"But Kikawayu-kun, can you perform Synchro Summons?" Finesse asked doubtfully.
Her HERO deck definitely couldn't play Synchro. Though reluctant, Finesse accepted reality. Even in different academies, everyone's dorms were next door—they wouldn't completely separate.
"Maybe I can." Kikawayu clenched his fist.
"Impossible, Kikawayu-niisan." Shio waved quickly. "The Sacred Beasts are already Level 10—how would you Synchro? Summon Level 12?"
Besides, even wanting transfers, after passing academy entrance exams, applications required waiting one month.
"I definitely smelled correctly!"
Simultaneously, distant Rin Seiya—rooftop breeze blowing her long white hair like starry silver threads—stroked the faintly glowing Synchro card in her hand.
—Stardust Dragon.
"Amano Rei, you're my Jack Atlas in this world~"