In another world, Lu Mingfei is learning card making.

The next day, Tuesday, was the outdoor dueling class.

Today's class was also held indoors—more precisely, in St. Marian's own dueling arena.

When they received the news, many people were quite excited and overjoyed. Rong En even hugged Lu Mingfei's shoulder, wanting to jump up with him.

Lu Mingfei quickly pressed Rong En for an explanation for his agitation, and it wasn't until they were almost at the classroom that he finally received the answer:

"Because today's lesson is a practical lesson in dueling!"

—That's right, it's precisely because they need to use a more professional dueling venue that they chose the dueling arena as the location for their classes.

Although in terms of the development of duels, the so-called "street duel" was the first form of duel that allowed direct attacks on the summoner, with the development of the times, especially after the world was at peace after the hero slew the demon king, all competitions no longer recognize street duels.

Instead, a magical artifact is used to refer to the summoner, while the real summoner is required to engage in a "standard duel" outside the summoning arena.

A magical artifact is generally a spherical device that only has two stats: [Defense] and [Mana Reserve]. Mana Reserve can be abstractly understood as health points, which decrease with each attack.

"In a normal standard duel, the magical energy storage of the magical artifact is 5000, and some enhanced or limited-time events will have even higher levels." Professor Liss's voice echoed throughout the arena, where over two hundred students from the four academies were arranged in four square formations, listening to her lecture.

"For example, last week's Eternal Cup was a typical late-game enhancement tournament. The magic devices they used were designed to increase their magic power reserves in stages. They started with 5000 magic power, increased to 50,000 after half an hour, and finally reached 100,000, while the magic devices themselves also had 500 points of defense. It was because of this that Ser was ultimately able to summon the Golden Behemoth to win the championship—"

"At the end, he only had four hundred points of magic power left in his magic device, which was actually a rather alarming number..."

Lu Mingfei felt that Professor Liz shouldn't be teaching students here; she should be a commentator for this event.

Professor Liz was truly eloquent when she started talking, going on and on from beginning to end. She didn't just talk; she could also cite sources and analyze the origins of every single elf card and spell card used by both sides, explaining their modifications, the role of similar cards in other tournaments, and so on…

"It seems she and Rong En must get along very well."

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but drift off into daydreams, until Professor Liz clapped her hands, beginning the next part of the lesson:

"Alright, now that we're all here, I'm sure the upperclassmen have already told you what we're supposed to do..."

"Yes, the 13th St. Marian Freshman Cup has officially begun!"

"This match will be conducted according to the standards of a 'lightweight tournament.' Magical devices have no defense, and their initial magic power reserves are set at 300 points. Attacking the summoner is not allowed, summoning is not allowed outside the summoning area, and controlling magical devices to run out of the dueling area is not allowed—"

"Violating these three points will be considered 'disobeying dueling etiquette,' resulting in an immediate loss!"

"There are two ways to win this match: if the other side voluntarily concedes, they will automatically win; or you can win by destroying the enemy's magic device, reducing its magic power to zero."

"Now, students who have mastered at least one spirit card, please come forward and draw lots to determine your group assignments—"

The winner will receive a "Newcomer Cup Winner's Material Pack" provided by Traveler's Street; all participants will also receive prizes according to their ranking: either a "Newcomer Cup Top 8 Material Pack" or a "Newcomer Cup Regular Material Pack"!

Lu Mingfei and Rong En exchanged a glance, stepped forward, and took their numbers from the box in Professor Liz's hand. Of the four departments, roughly half the students also took numbers.

The final count showed exactly one hundred and eight people.

Professor Liz activated the magic array within the arena, and eight arenas appeared amidst the churning earth and rocks. Lu Mingfei unfolded the number slip in his hand; it was exactly 108.

"Number Seven versus Number Seventeen, in the first arena..."

The familiars inside the arena began announcing the matches. Students whose numbers were called didn't even need to move; the arena would automatically transport them to their seats. Rong En was number seventeen. He squeezed Lu Mingfei's hand tightly, seeking his friend's final support before the match, and then moved onto the arena.

Lu Mingfei also remembered the person he fought; it was Hannah Abbott, who was the first one called up during the Sorting Ceremony.

The two didn't have much interaction to begin with, so naturally they didn't have much in common during their pre-battle exchange. When the time came, they both simultaneously began casting their summons—

"In the name of the knight, I summon!"

In the end, Ron managed to summon his magical spirit first.

This is not surprising. Lu Mingfei knew Rong En's passion for dueling, and he must have practiced summoning magic diligently in private.

Well, it wasn't exactly "bitter" for him. Even if he didn't actually get to fight a duel, just shouting the word "summon" was enough to make Ron happy for a while.

"Come forth, Piper of Hamilen! Unleash the Rat Swarm on her magical artifact!"

The Piper of Hamilen

【✪】【100/100/200】

[Race: Human] [Attribute: Nature] [Special Ability: Agility]

[Ultimate Weapon: Rat Swarm]

[Rat Swarm: Initiates a summoning swarm, summoning two [Giant Rats] to attack a single target.]

[Large Rat]

【∅】【50/50/50】

[Race: Terrestrial] [Attribute: Psychic] [Special Ability: Deadly Poison]

(Poisonous: Grants the attacked a [Poisonous Indicator]. Once a certain number of Poisonous Indicators are accumulated, the attacked will die instantly. Two Poisonous Indicators are required for every 1000 mana. Any amount less than 1000 mana is counted as 1000.)

[Special Move: None]

Having only ever heard of venomous snakes, this was the first time Lu Mingfei had ever seen such a 'venomous rat'—

Although Lu Mingfei only wanted to complain about this strange thing, it didn't diminish the card's convenience in the current duel format. Even if he already knew the two rats' true nature, if Lu Mingfei were to defend against it, he could only imagine one way to handle it:

Before Ron's summoned creatures could be summoned, I pulled out my own magical spirit and killed one of the two poison rats, preventing them from immediately attaching the two poisonous markers to the magical artifact.

Even Lu Mingfei, who had several spirit cards, couldn't think of any other way to deal with it, let alone the relatively unknown Hannah Abbott. While two poison counters were being attached to her magical artifacts, this new student of the Fool's House was still reading the summoning spell...

Hannah looked at the magical artifact that had been stained emerald green, rubbed her nose hard, and tried to stop the tears from falling.