Chapter 6: The Family Elder

After the duel ended, the barrier covering the area disappeared.

Yan Youhuan put away his duel disk, quickly walked to the yellow-brown remains, and extended his hand.

With the power of his mental strength, several pieces of white broken bones and three attribute orbs filled with rich dark purple fell into his hand.

"Materials from the most common undead monsters in the [Bone Land], and dark attribute orbs. It wasn't a waste of effort!" Yan Youhuan played with the white bones in his hand for a moment, then put them into the backpack on his back.

After putting on his backpack again, Yan Youhuan looked ahead.

Once he crossed this [Bone Land], he would officially enter the territory of Diyazhen.

"Just in case, it's time to put on the family badge!"

Yan Youhuan took a red badge out of his pocket and pinned it to his chest, where a sword emblem pierced through the entire badge.

At the border of the East and South regions, there were three large human towns like Diyazhen. The other two were Guixuzhen and Baixizhen.

On the surface, the three towns were harmonious, but privately, they were constantly at odds.

If a lone duelist encountered danger outside the towns, they might be rescued by people from these towns. But if they encountered duelists from other towns, seeing their family badge, the best outcome would be being ignored.

Once entering their own town's territory, they must wear the family badge.

Monster territories had many monsters, making them forbidden zones for humans. Only resource collection teams and lone duelists would venture in for survival.

In the safe zones outside towns, there were some greedy individuals who didn't want to be bound by town rules and lacked the courage to go to monster territories. They became bandits, barely surviving by robbing others.

Yan Youhuan crossed the [Bone Land], and the path under his feet changed from a weedy wilderness to a wide, smooth, man-made road.

He stopped, looked at the large city gate, the crowded high buildings, and the queue of people at the gate, and felt relieved.

At this moment, his gaze was drawn to a convoy next to the crowd.

Two black off-road vehicles were parked by the roadside. Seven people stood around the vehicles, five of them in gray uniforms, wearing duel disks on their wrists, and with alert expressions.

They were guarding a teenager about Yan Youhuan's age and a strong middle-aged man. 

Both the teenager and the middle-aged man had the same family badge on their chests as Yan Youhuan.

Seeing this team, Yan Youhuan frowned, and a flash of disgust crossed his face.

He removed his badge, pulled up his hood to cover his face, and joined the queue.

"Mm?" The middle-aged man near the convoy seemed to sense something, turning to look at the crowd entering the city.

"What's wrong, Family Elder?" The teenager beside him asked, with a proud and excited look on his face.

"Just now, I sensed a malicious presence towards me from the crowd, seemingly from someone of the same level."

"4-star mental power?" The teenager smiled, "Maybe it's an elder from another family. It's normal for them to dislike us, the Yan family."

"Family Elder, thanks for your trouble. Let's go!"

Following the crowd, Yan Youhuan entered Diyazhen.

In front of him were clean, wide streets with people coming and going. Tall buildings and colorful flags lined both sides.

Having lived in this town for ten years, Yan Youhuan didn't look around but walked slowly in a specific direction, thinking about the convoy he saw outside the city.

That team was one of the Yan family's guard squads, responsible for collecting resources and providing protection. The two leading members were Yan Banyu, the Yan family's second young master with 2-star mental power, and a middle-aged man, a 4-star mental power family elder.

Yan Banyu was arrogant and used power and money to gather a group of followers. He bullied and suppressed family peers who opposed him, and Yan Youhuan was one of his victims.

The family elder was one of the Yan family's six elders, managing the guard squad and ensuring the family's safety.

In the Yan family, once someone's mental power reached 4 stars, they could apply to become a family elder candidate. When a current elder retired or died unexpectedly, the candidate could become a formal elder, taking part in family management.

After becoming a formal elder, they lost their original names and were called by their roles: Internal Affairs Elder, Finance Elder, Guard Elder, Diplomatic Elder, Academy Elder, and Trade Elder, managing family affairs, finances, security, diplomacy, education, and trade.

The requirement for 4-star mental power was because people with this power level could withstand gunfire, making them hard to kill.

Before the monsters appeared, this world followed a technological path, equivalent to Earth's technology 200 years ago.

Now, humans mainly studied mental power, but those without dueling talent slowly advanced technology.

Monsters were similar to humans.

Monsters from 1-star to 3-star could be defeated by physical means, which was how monsters were initially handled and is still a main method for collecting card-making resources.

However, lone duelists didn't have these means.

Overusing guns could provoke monsters, potentially attracting high-level monsters immune to gunfire.

In such cases, family resource teams could retreat by car, but lone duelists faced high-level monsters with a final duel for dignity and often died.

Of course, forming a team of like-minded people was different, involving the distribution of loot.

Walking through the busy streets, Yan Youhuan arrived at a tall building complex, the Yan family's territory in Diyazhen.

After putting on his family badge and identifying himself to the guards, Yan Youhuan entered the building and followed a guard to a tall building.

After walking through some stairs and rows of luxurious doors, he entered an office.

The room was spacious and elegantly decorated. At the far end sat an old man in a gray robe with a calm expression.

The old man looked up, his face calm, "Yan Youhuan, what brings you here?"

"Internal Affairs Elder!" Yan Youhuan slightly bowed his head, releasing his mental power.

He raised his right hand, and a card began to materialize above his palm, showing its full appearance.

A 4-star Earth attribute monster, [Warrior Woman of the Wild].

"My mental power has reached 4 stars. I'm here to apply as a family elder candidate..." Yan Youhuan looked up, "And to request family arbitration to reclaim my parents' inheritance from Yan Xiaohua."