-.-.-Chapter 7-.-.-

It was only half an hour later that Jin stepped out of the taxi, after paying the driver, and gazed up at the large dome-like building and the line of people, other applicants like him, that were making their way through registration before they would go in to take their practical exam.

Making his way over Jin joined the line as he pulled his bag around and fished out his deck box from within. From what he’d read from the papers that came with Jin’s exam results all applicants would need to submit their decks to be examined on the day of the practical at the registration desk to ensure that it complied with the current ban list.

He had no worries that his desk would pass, he’d made sure to build it with the ban list in mind, as much as it removed a handful of cards he had wanted to add, there had been plenty of substitutes that he could put in that filled similar roles.

Fortunately he only had to wait ten or so minutes for the line to move forward before it was his turn at the registration desk.

“Name?” the man next to the desk asked as he held a clipboard in his hand.

“Jin Yu,” he replied, deck in hand.

The man took a second to look over the list on his clipboard before nodding, “please hand your deck to one of the young lady on the right to check it meets ban list compliance, if it dose you can take it back and the young lady on the left will hand you your duel number and arena information”

Jin nodded and handed his desk over as instructed. The girl smiled as she took his deck and began to flip through his cards, nodding as she went, and checking a list she had on the table and checking things off. When she got through half of his deck to one card in particular her eyes widened and she instantly looked at him in shock.

Jin just smiled back at her, having a good idea what card it was that she was looking at, it had been one of the ones that he had been grateful the previous Jin had, because no matter how many packs he had bought the day before he had never found a repeat of it, not that it was much of a shock really considered it was the king of Games Ace monster after all.

“Problem Amanada?” The man asked, having seen the look.

The girl gave a little jump at being addressed and shook her head, “no sir,” she said as she quickly went through the last half of Jin's deck before nodding, “everything checks out,” she said as she handed Jin his deck back.

Jin nodded as he took his deck back before taking a slip of paper from the other girl with his exam information on it.

“Alright head on in, when your duel number is called head down to the lift area to be taken to the duel field” the man instructed as Jin did just that walking down the hallway and into the building proper.

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After a minute or so he found himself in the stands on one side of the building that looked down onto the indoor court yard that had been dug deep into the ground, the courtyard had been sectioned off into four different areas that were all marked out for duels to happen in them.

It only took him a second to orientate himself before he went to take a seat and wait for his name to be called. Putting his bag at his feet as he pulled out his old generation duel disk and setting it on his lap as he sat back to wait.

As he did so he couldn’t help himself but steal some subtle glances at the others sitting in his area of the stands, making out a couple of familiar faces. The short build and spiky blue hair of one was a dead ringer for Syrus Truesdale. Who was currently sitting a few rows away from him, shaking like a leaf as he clutched his duel disk in his arms.

Then about a dozen seats further away from him was the calm figure of Bastion Misawa, who was sitting straight back and cool as a cucumber. Expected really, for someone who had scored the highest marks in the written exam. Though Jin half suspected that if he himself had actually taken the exam he would have gotten full marks as well, after all it would have been about duel monsters and tactics something he knew quite a bit about.

Seeing two of the main cast members in the flesh really drove it home for Jin just how much this was all real. He was really in the world of GX and he would soon be dueling for his chance to get into the Duel Academy.

‘And me with the last name Yu, yeah like that isn’t a sign that I’m going to be a trouble magnet’ Jin thought to himself with a mental chuckle.

He was pulled from his thoughts however as he heard the first names for the exams being called, and everyone turned their attentions down to the duel areas as things got underway.

…

Ten minutes later Jin only found himself disappointed by the duels he had been watching take place. The number of misplays he was seeing only grew more and more and he found himself being annoyed at their supposed pride and the reactions of those watching alongside him.

‘For the love of, they’re all fucking impressed when someone plays a spell or pulls of a trap successfully, like it’s some big achievement in doing so’ he mentally groaned to himself.

He didn’t see what the big deal was at all, it was all standard stuff as far as he was concerned, the bread and butter basics.

‘If these idiots are acting this way now, I bet their brains would melt if someone used one of the later game techniques like a synchro summon or better’ he mentally chuckled.

Though Jin had to admit that the duels, lacking in skill as they were, were still something to watch, with how realistic the holograms looked, and it had him really excited to see just how some of his cards would look being used.

That was then the speakers bleeped and caught Jin’s attention before checking his duel slip to confirm he had just heard his duel number called out.

With a grin he stood up and pulled his duel disk on, the metallic clasp clamping shut around his wrist with a satisfying click as he began to make his way down to the duel fields.

‘Well let’s see if I can’t blow their minds with what my deck can do’ Jin thought to himself as he began to shuffle his cards as he went.

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Chapter word Count: 1162