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The next day, Wednesday, October 31st. No morning classes.
Ethan had fully intended to sleep in. But his so-called "son" had other plans.
"Get up. Get up, Ethan — we set the duel for ten o'clock!"
Ethan lay in bed, yanking the comforter back over himself after Jake pulled it away. "You didn't tell me it was at ten. If I'd known, I wouldn't have stayed up making cards."
"I forgot! Just get up and help me crush this guy!"
"Five more minutes. Five minutes, and I'll crush whoever you want."
"...Fine."
Five minutes later.
"Don't rush — three minutes. Just three more minutes."
Three minutes later.
"One minute. One minute!"
"Dude, stop stalling. We're gonna be late."
Dragged out of bed by sheer social pressure, Ethan speed-ran his morning routine — face, teeth, clothes — and walked out the door.
They arrived at the Training Hall at 9:55.
Everyone else had been there for a while, waiting at the entrance. Ethan didn't care in the slightest.
"See? Plenty of time. I told you five more minutes would've been fine."
Jake winced and tried to signal him to shut up.
Most people, when agreeing to meet at ten, arrive ten to twenty minutes early. That's basic courtesy.
Ethan operated by a different philosophy entirely. If work started at nine, he was clocking in at 8:59. Not 8:50. Not 8:55. 8:59 or exactly on the hour.
Ryan Castillo, who had been chatting with Lily near the entrance, overheard and went rigid with fury.
Are you serious right now?
He'd been pursuing Lily for months — gifts, attention, showing up to every event — and he'd arrived twenty minutes early for this duel without a single complaint.
And this guy shows up five minutes before start time, looking half-asleep, and has the nerve to complain about getting up?
What did this guy think a Card Master duel was?
Ryan strode forward and sized up Ethan.
"You're the fourth person on their team? Ethan Cole?"
"Hmm? What's up?" Only then did Ethan actually look at him.
Glasses. Decent looking. Clearly put effort into his appearance.
So why'd he decide to go the simp route?
Ethan glanced past Ryan. Two other guys stood behind him — friends, presumably.
"Do you even understand what a Card Master duel means?" Ryan said, dead serious. "How can you show up looking like that?"
"..." Ethan stared at him for two seconds, then slowly shook his head.
"Let me explain something." Ryan straightened up. "A Card Master duel is about dignity. Whether your opponent is strong or weak, you show respect. What kind of attitude is rolling out of bed five minutes before the match?"
Ethan didn't feel much about this speech. He took it as the unique intensity of college students — that earnest, almost theatrical passion for things that adults eventually learned to moderate.
In his previous life, there hadn't been Card Masters. But he'd grown indifferent to a lot of things over the years. Stuff he'd been obsessed with right after college graduation barely registered anymore.
He leaned slightly toward Jake and whispered: "Is he always like this? It's just a duel. Why's he giving a TED talk about dignity?"
It wasn't loud. But Ryan heard every word.
Before Jake could respond, Ryan pressed on: "You don't take Card Master duels seriously at all. What is this to you? A joke? You have zero passion."
"In the Combat Department, people like you would be used as a cautionary tale."
"But since you're from the Card Making Department, I'll leave it there." His expression hardened. "Let's duel. If you lose, Lily leaves your team and joins mine."
Today was the last day for registration. If they didn't submit by tonight, they'd lose their slot.
Ryan needed to settle this now.
His speech stirred something unexpected in Ethan. Not anger — nostalgia.
Ryan reminded him of his younger self. That almost embarrassing level of passion he'd had for competitive gaming. The way every ranked match felt like life or death. The trash talk, the rituals, the belief that this mattered.
There was a difference, of course. Games were games. Card Master duels were a legitimate career. The champion of this year's Low-Tier Training Tournament won 100,000 Spirit Crystals — that was real, life-changing money.
Ethan took a breath. A focused expression settled over his face.
He decided to take this seriously.
Ryan was arrogant, sure. But there was something genuine underneath it. And the man hadn't done anything wrong — he was fighting for what he wanted.
Well, except for the simping. Ethan had never done that.
"Alright," Ethan said. "Let's go."
"Good!" Ryan's face showed visible relief.
He turned to one of the guys behind him. "Danny, go book an Intermediate Room."
The one called Danny jogged inside. By the time Ethan, Jake, and Sophie caught up, he'd already gotten the room set up.
Ethan was mildly impressed when he walked in.
The Intermediate Room was significantly larger than the Basic one. Better equipment, more stations. If the Basic Room handled four people, this one was built for eight. Four separate duel devices — the same kind used in official competitions — lined the walls.
Three Spirit Crystals per hour. Nicer furniture. Even a mini-fridge stocked with drinks.
"Random map?" Ryan walked straight to the console.
"Whatever works." Ethan had no preference.
The Basic Room only had one map. The Intermediate Room offered random or selected maps — the same format as official tournaments.
"Then let's begin." Ryan loaded his deck and initiated the link. Ethan did the same.
[Map: Jungle]
Both players materialized above their respective Crystals. Below them stretched dense forest — thick canopy, limited visibility. From up here, most of the terrain was obscured.
In other words, this scenario favored cards with high combat awareness. Independent thinking. Self-direction.
On the spectator platform, Jake and Sophie stood a couple of spots away from Danny and the other friend. Close enough to hear each other.
Danny started trash-talking immediately: "Card Making students barely ever duel. You definitely don't have a Jungle strategy. This match is already over."
Jake bristled. "We'll see who's crying when it's done."
"Jungle isn't like an open plain," Danny continued. "White and Blue cards are practically useless here. Only Purple cards perform at full power. With the decks you guys run?" He smirked. "Just forfeit."
Jake knew, annoyingly, that Danny had a point. But he wasn't about to admit it. "Wait till you see my boy's cards. You'll feel real stupid."
While the two guys sniped at each other, Sophie and Lily were studying the battlefield projection.
"Ethan has plenty of Purple cards," Sophie murmured, "but he's not from the Combat Department. This kind of map requires real tactical thinking..."
If it were a plain, grassland, or mountains — at least you'd have clear sightlines. The Jungle was a different beast. It demanded strategy.
And where would a Card Making student practice strategy?
"I believe in Ethan," Lily said quietly. She'd thought about it, couldn't quite work out how he'd handle it, and decided that was fine.
She'd just trust him.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.