At Fusion Academy, a practical test is held every week. Students who win receive a basic reward of 30 credits. Additionally, extra credits are awarded based on the overall strength of the duel opponent.
These credits can be converted at a 1:1 ratio into spell points, which are used to craft magic and trap cards. Therefore, the practical test is an essential way for students to earn credits and convert them into spell points to craft cards.
Under normal circumstances, unless faced with an expulsion crisis like Aisha's, most students would go all out during the practical test. However, even knowing that Aisha would be expelled if she lost, not all students were willing to throw the match for her sake.
For example, Kevin Seto was the type of person who would never intentionally lose a practical test just to save Aisha from expulsion. As the son of a duke, he had maintained a 100% win rate in practical tests since the start of the semester. He rarely interacted with others and considered himself a duel elite. There was no way he would compromise his perfect win rate for someone as insignificant as Aisha.
"Moshi moshi, Little Ai, are you okay?"
Ilin waved her five fingers in front of Aisha Yuna Carlos's face, trying to snap her out of the dazed state she had been in since learning about her upcoming duel opponent.
"I finally..." Aisha muttered softly.
"What do you mean, 'finally'?" Ilin asked.
Aisha wanted to say that she had finally gained someone like You Ling, a "ring with an old master," and thought her protagonist-like life was about to begin. But she never expected that the most critical duel would pit her against Kevin Seto—right after he had summoned the legendary Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
"There's no hope for me," Aisha said.
"Yeah, there's no hope," Ilin nodded helplessly. "Your luck is just too bad, Little Ai. Even with my connections, there's no way I can get Kevin Seto to go easy on you."
"Wuwuwu, as my childhood friend, shouldn't you be saying something to comfort me right now?"
"Sorry, I really don't know how to comfort you," Ilin replied, giving Aisha a hug.
As the two childhood friends wallowed in despair, a familiar voice called out from behind them.
"Aisha Yuna, wait a moment."
Teacher Erin, with a cigarette in her mouth, jogged over to the two of them.
Although Teacher Erin was known as one of Fusion Academy's most beautiful teachers and was highly professional and responsible in her teaching, she had one well-known flaw...
Her love for smoking and drinking, and her smoking habit was so severe that she would light up a cigarette as soon as class ended. This was probably the reason why Teacher Erin, nearing 30, was still unmarried.
"Good afternoon, Teacher Erin," the two greeted their homeroom teacher politely.
Ilin added, "Teacher Erin, you're smoking again. You should cut back; it's not good for your health."
"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Teacher?" Aisha asked.
Ignoring Ilin's advice, Teacher Erin took a deep drag from her cigarette and smiled. "Aisha, I assume you already know about the practical test. Honestly, there's no need to be so upset."
"Does that mean you have a solution, Teacher?" Aisha asked eagerly, as if grasping at a lifeline.
"No, I was thinking we could throw you a grand farewell party to send you off happily. Yeah, don't be sad."
"..."
Aisha was left speechless.
"That won't be necessary, Teacher!"
For some reason, as if stirred by a deep-seated sense of defiance, Aisha's eyes suddenly became serious.
"I might not be expelled yet. Let's wait until after tomorrow's practical test to make any conclusions!"
With that, Aisha quickly walked away, heading toward Fusion Academy's library, leaving Teacher Erin and Ilin standing in the hallway, bewildered.
"Ilin, did you understand what Aisha Yuna just said?" Teacher Erin asked, taking another deep drag from her cigarette.
Ilin was equally stunned. "Little Ai... she can't possibly think she has a chance of beating Kevin Seto, right? ...Cough, cough, this smoke is killing me! Stop smoking in the hallway, Teacher Erin!"
Walking alone toward the academy library, Aisha, who had just made her bold declaration, was actually quite nervous inside. However, the only thing that gave her the courage to say those words was You Ling, who resided within the Millennium Puzzle.
"Please, Mr. You Ling, you're my only hope now. You did say I might have a chance to beat Kevin Seto, right?"
"I did say that, but that was before I saw your deck. My dear Aisha..." You Ling sighed helplessly.
Although Kevin Seto had summoned the Red-Eyes Black Dragon during the midterm test, based on You Ling's rudimentary understanding of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, a single Red-Eyes Black Dragon didn't seem particularly powerful.
However, after seeing Aisha's deck, You Ling's perspective completely changed—or rather, was completely overturned.
Aisha's deck consisted only of 1-star and 2-star weak monsters. What was even more shocking was that it didn't contain a single magic or trap card.
You Ling's understanding of this world's duel system wasn't thorough enough. If most people's decks were like Aisha's, then without a doubt, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon with 2400 attack points would be an invincible presence.
The only hope now was the magic and trap card crafting that Aisha had mentioned.
In the Elven Continent, duel monsters were summoned by the duelists themselves, and this couldn't be changed. However, magic and trap cards were different. Through the mana of those who possessed the Spirit Eye, magic and trap cards could be crafted through targeted creation.
Unlike the randomness of monster summoning, targeted creation allowed you to choose which magic or trap card you wanted to craft.
But the prerequisite was that you had to have enough "spell points" to support the crafting process.
Aside from using Fusion Academy's mana to convert credits into spell points at a 1:1 ratio, those who possessed the Spirit Eye could also gain spell points through personal growth.
However, "growth" was too abstract, and the concept of growth as defined by the Spirit Eye varied from person to person. Therefore, students studying at the duel academy still relied on credits to exchange for spell points.
Of course, our Aisha Yuna Carlos, the academy's rookie who couldn't win a single duel, had already lost the most important way to earn credits—practical duels.
The pitifully small number of spell points Aisha had were basically earned through her diligent studying and decent written exam results, barely scraping together the most basic credits.
Even so, in a duel academy that primarily focused on dueling, Aisha, who had lost every practical duel, couldn't even manage to craft a single D-rank magic or trap card with the credits she earned from written exams over half a semester.
"So, Aisha, which card are you currently crafting?"
Arriving at Fusion Academy's library, You Ling asked the question he was most concerned about.
"You'd better see for yourself, Mr. You Ling."
Fusion Academy's library was enormous, filled with countless books of all kinds. However, compared to most of the dusty books, the most important and irreplaceable book for students was the Spell Catalog.
Only with the Spell Catalog in hand could a duelist choose which magic or trap card they wanted to craft.
Aisha closed her eyes, somewhat ashamed, and opened the Spell Catalog in her hands.
When a Spirit Eye holder touches the Spell Catalog, the catalog automatically displays the current user's card crafting progress.
[D-Rank Magic Card: "Card Exchange"]
[Crafting Progress: 8/10]
"You spent half a semester crafting this?"
The situation might be even more dire than You Ling had imagined.