Reiji Akai's premonition that Ryo Nakamuta might one day be his superior wasn't baseless.
Deep down, he knew all too well that a talent like Ryo would be snapped up by the academy's old fogeys and the Duel Alliance's higher-ups the moment he graduated.
And his rank wouldn't be low.
After all, Reiji himself had walked that path and felt it keenly.
"Ahem! Let's continue the test."
"Next! Ikeda Hiromu!"
As Ryo Nakamuta returned to his seat, Ikeda Hiromu, hearing his name called, wore a bitter expression.
He had a way to break through the five Blue-Eyes White Dragon monsters and could deal decent battle damage.
But the problem was, compared to Ryo's damage, the gap was massive!
"Ugh, Ryo-bro, here I go."
"You got this, you got this! I believe in you!"
Ryo noticed Ikeda's mood and offered encouragement.
It'd be one thing if he weren't right after Ryo, but following that overwhelming damage display?
2,885,000 battle damage!
The pressure was crushing!
Thankfully, Ikeda Hiromu quickly rallied, calmly selecting his five key cards for the test.
His first card, unsurprisingly, was Dark Hole.
Once activated, it destroyed all five Blue-Eyes White Dragon monsters, sending them to the graveyard.
What followed was a standard Salamangreat rollout: one card, Salamangreat Circle, fetched Salamangreat Spinny.
Normal summoning Armadillo Lizard led to Link-1 Salamangreat Balelynx.
Using Salamangreat Gazelle's effect in hand, he special summoned it and dumped the trap Salamangreat Roar to the graveyard.
…
A flurry of fierce moves, but the field ended with a Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf barely hitting 2000 ATK, plus a mishmash of other Salamangreat monsters.
The combined battle damage just scraped past 4000 points.
Ryo Nakamuta frowned slightly, now convinced Ikeda's dueling insight was lacking.
A test about dealing damage, and he focused on first-turn field control?
The recycled Roar wasn't even usable.
Reiji Akai said nothing, continuing to call the remaining students' names.
The next few duels produced no standout damage scores.
A hint of disappointment crept onto Reiji's face.
By noon, the entire class had finished testing.
Reiji Akai returned to the classroom, where Asuka took the test score sheet from him. A quick glance prompted a soft sigh.
Aside from Ryo Nakamuta's commanding 100 points, not a single student broke 80.
The highest score, 75, went to Kito Saku, whose evaluation noted his early attempt and discovery of the breakthrough strategy.
The rest hovered near passing, criticized for lacking innovation and mimicking others.
"Alright, the first lesson for freshmen."
"The Duel Alliance test is now successfully concluded."
"All duels have been recorded and sent to Duel Alliance headquarters."
"Rest assured, your scores will be comprehensively evaluated and graded by other Duel Alliance elders."
"I'll say a few words."
"As Phantom God Blue class freshmen, you can't just coast on the efforts of those before you."
"You knew there were ways beyond effect destruction to handle Blue-Eyes White Dragon, yet you chose to follow the crowd, showing no initiative."
"Is that right?"
"There are many ways to deal battle damage, but you all picked the mainstream Dark Hole or Raigeki."
"What, no banishing? No non-destruction removal? That's all you've got?"
"Think about it—will your scores be high?"
"What baffles me most is that not one of you thought of direct attacks."
"I'm wondering, are direct attacks that hard?"
"The test evaluates your adaptability and the uniqueness of your dueling mindset."
"In short, the entire Phantom God Blue class needs to study harder and learn more dueling techniques and strategies."
"That's all I'll say. Class dismissed."
Reiji Akai took back the score sheet from Asuka and left the classroom under everyone's gazes.
In the room, aside from Ryo Nakamuta, every student hung their head in silent shame.
Reiji's words left them mortified.
They were the Phantom God Blue class, after all.
The top class of Phantom God Dimension Academy!
Yet in one test, seventy or eighty percent of them copied a single strategy.
It was utterly embarrassing.
"You all heard him."
"Go back and reflect."
"I won't say more."
"If you don't understand something, ask the class president."
"I'm sure he'll explain."
Asuka scanned the room, her gaze lingering on Ryo Nakamuta before she turned and left.
The classroom remained still, with no one moving to leave. Ryo's lips twitched.
What, one test and the whole class was stunned silly?
Not even eager for lunch?
"Uh, I'm outta here."
"Fatty Fire, you coming?"
Ryo Nakamuta couldn't stay any longer. Without waiting for Ikeda Hiromu's agreement, he dragged him out the back door and left.
…
At the Duel Alliance, in the meeting room, three white-haired, suited old men were leisurely sipping tea, reviewing the freshman test recordings from Phantom God Dimension Academy.
"Old Liu, this Kito Saku kid's not bad."
"Cool-headed."
"And he found the rule's hidden trick."
"What do you think about boosting his score a bit?"
Sun Taihiroshi stroked his beard, eyes full of approval.
It'd been a while since he'd seen such a promising student.
"Sun, you old coot, he's decent enough."
"But the ones after him? Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"I can't even comment."
Liu Tenjo shook his head, his face radiating disdain as he looked at the later students.
"Hold on, you two geezers, don't rush to conclusions."
"Look at this Ryo Nakamuta!"
"What's he doing?"
At Gao Tianli's gesture, the other two turned to the screen he pointed at.
Another recording played Ryo Nakamuta's duel.
With one That Grass Looks Greener, his entire deck was sent to the graveyard.
Then came a seamless combo of spell and trap cards!
A 44,000 ATK Chimeratech Overdragon was successfully fusion summoned.
Seeing this familiar Cyber Dragon archetype ace monster, the three men's faces changed instantly!
Before they could react, the screen showed Chimeratech Overdragon attacking repeatedly, racking up massive battle damage!
The 55-attack flurry, though condensed for time, delivered an overwhelming shock!
Sun Taihiroshi, Liu Tenjo, and Gao Tianli were dumbfounded, nearly dropping their teacups!
What?! Who was this student?!
What kind of absurd test strategy was this?!
Was this ATK and attack frequency humanly possible?
Was he really just an ordinary college student, not a pro duelist?