Chapter 23 : Promotion and Enhancement

The Mana Wyrm, like a rampaging transparent war chariot, swept across the ground, directly devouring Edward’s figure.

Along with it, the man’s wails were also swallowed.

It wasn’t until the duel completely ended, the minion’s projection disappeared, revealing Edward already lying unconscious on the ground, that everyone realized what had happened.

“Edward… lost?”

“Lost to that underachiever?”

The next moment, the audience below erupted.

“So strong! Ten attack power, can an E-rank duelist really stack up that much attack power?!”

“Hey hey, clearly that [Counterattack] is more worth paying attention to, that was a card played on the opponent’s turn! It took out [Volcanic Dragon Mother] for just one mana!”

“I think that [New Destiny] is also quite interesting, it’s the first time I’ve seen an effect that shuffles the opponent’s deck. I’ll try it out in a duel with a friend next time…”

“You just want to gross me out, Nite Cat, take this punch!”

Whether they were first-year students who had just enrolled or the older second and third-year students, heated discussions broke out.

Even Tivia let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s great, Sonia won.”

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen Sonia defeat D-rank duelists.

But when she saw Edward play [Volcanic Dragon Mother] just now, she couldn’t help but hold her breath for Sonia.

Fortunately, Sonia still won in the end.

This good friend, whom she once swore to protect, can now stand on her own…

Thinking of being able to go to school with Sonia again, Tivia felt genuinely happy.

But along with the happiness, the doubts buried in her heart after the last duel also grew deeper.

Why was this Sonia behaving differently again compared to the last duel?

“A wonderful duel.”

On the dueling stage, the teacher acting as the referee applauded.

After apologizing in his heart for his earlier judgment, he looked at the girl who was also patting her chest, as if relieved.

“Therefore, I announce that the winner of this duel is Sonia Seth!”

“As a reward for the winner, Edward Faulkner shall no longer obstruct Sonia Seth’s enrollment and must pay the opponent five refinement points.”

Hearing the referee teacher’s personal confirmation, Sonia finally couldn’t help but cheer happily in her heart.

“Mr. Yide, I won!”

“Mm, well done, Sonia.”

“Hehehe.”

Looking at the girl who was trying her best not to do anything out of line on the dueling stage, but whose whole body, including her ahoge, was already cheering, Yide couldn’t help but smile contentedly.

Fairly speaking, even he thought Sonia’s decisions in this duel were impeccable.

When she had [New Destiny] in hand, she was able to resist the urge to play it, choosing instead to deplete the opponent’s hand, reducing the probability of the opponent drawing [Dragon’s Breath Flame] back.

Then, when the opponent only had one card in hand and their minions on the field couldn’t be dealt with, she shuffled his key card back.

Finally, she could still show such a harmonious and loving smile.

This radiant duelist was finally on the right path.

Sonia also felt very happy at this moment.

Because another five refinement points had been added to her account.

There was a feeling of a bountiful harvest.

But just as she was about to ask Yide how to spend these five refinement points, she suddenly felt another strange sensation.

A mysterious aura rose from the girl’s body, and specks of light shone around her.

At the same time, the phantoms of three cards suddenly appeared in front of the girl.

Seeing this never-before-seen scene, Sonia couldn’t help but panic a little.

“Eh… what, what’s going on, Mr. Yide?”

“Don’t panic, it’s a good thing.”

Yide’s smiling voice rang out.

Sonia hadn’t seen this scene, but he had seen it too many times.

“This is a sign of your promotion, Sonia.”

“You are now a D-rank duelist.”

“Eh, me?”

Sonia fell into even greater panic.

Meanwhile, some keen-eyed people below the stage had already noticed Sonia’s anomaly and couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Sonia Seth has been promoted to D-rank duelist!”

“What, that fast?”

“How is that possible?”

A group of first-year students looked at the girl on stage, whose aura had already changed, in disbelief.

They certainly recognized these as the marks of a duelist’s promotion.

But why Sonia Seth?!

Hadn’t she been constantly losing in the academy?!

Promotion experience is entirely based on the duelist’s performance in a duel; the better a duelist performs, the more experience they accumulate in a duel.

At the same time, the stronger the opponent, the more experience gained.

They all knew this.

But even if Edward had pulled out a C-rank card, which the duel rules deemed as a cross-rank duel and awarded extra experience, it shouldn’t have been enough to jump directly to D-rank in just one match!

Edward, who was always winning and was among the top few in his grade, was still a bit short of D-rank; there must have been a mistake somewhere!

Everyone suspected that the duel rules were wrong.

Tivia, however, put her hands on her hips and said, “Hmph, if you only count this victory against Edward, the experience certainly isn’t enough.”

“But Sonia won more than just this one match.”

With that, Tivia left the crowd and went to wait for her best friend at the bottom of the stairs to the dueling stage.

But the first-year students around her were stunned.

More than just this one match?

Wait, could it be…

That rumor about Sonia defeating a D-rank duelist was true?

“Eh eh eh eh?!”

Sonia didn’t know that another burst of exclamations had erupted below the stage.

At this moment, she was tilting her head, looking at the three cards that appeared before her.

Mana Wyrm

Spell Deflection

Flame Juggler

“What do these three cards mean, Mr. Yide?”

“These are rewards for a duelist’s promotion.”

Yide smiled, explaining to the girl, “When every duelist promotes, the duel rules will randomly select three cards from their deck, and the duelist chooses one to enhance.”

“The enhanced card’s rank will increase by one level, and its attributes or effects will be strengthened based on their original state.”

This was also to ensure that the duelist’s experience after promotion wasn’t too bad.

After all, not every duelist would have refinement points saved up when they promoted.

If a duelist promoted but their deck couldn’t be strengthened, it would instead indirectly reduce their strength.

If everyone had to enter a period of self-isolation after promoting, then many people would be unwilling to promote or would become reclusive after promoting.

The duel rules certainly wouldn’t want to see such a thing.

“So, which card do you choose to enhance?”

“Which card do you think is good to enhance, Mr. Yide?”

(/^▽^)/ The girl chose to throw the question back at you.jpg

Yide already had an idea: “For me, I’d first rule out Spell Deflection.”

“Although this card can be frustrating for the opponent, its applicability is relatively narrow.”

“In other words, its strength entirely depends on the strength of the card it reflects. Even if you enhance it, you might not get much benefit.”

“So that means I have to choose between Flame Juggler and Mana Wyrm?”

Sonia looked curiously at the two cards beside her.

Yide nodded: “Yes, there’s not much to say about these two; choosing either one is pretty much the same.”

“Choose according to your own will.”

“My will, huh…”

Sonia looked at the two cards, somewhat lost in thought.

After a while, the girl asked another question.

“Mr. Yide, will tradable cards themselves also be enhanced?”

Yide couldn’t help but be slightly stunned: “Yes, but all cards can only be enhanced once. Even if a tradable card is transferred to another person after being enhanced, it cannot be enhanced again.”

“That’s enough then.”

The girl showed a brilliant smile.

“I’ve decided, Mr. Yide.”

“Although it might be a bit selfish, can I decide how one of those next five refinement points is used?”

“You can, but why are you suddenly bringing that up?”

Yide was a bit confused as to how the girl’s thoughts jumped to this.

Sonia put her hands behind her back and stated her reason: “Because I want to return the original Mana Wyrm card to Tivia.”