Chapter 179: Card Printing is an Important Part of the Yu-Gi-Oh Experience
"In the castle, someone attacked Pegasus, and his left eye was directly gouged out." Pulling out a chair, Chumley sat down, his gaze sweeping over the few people at the round table. "That person, it's highly possible, is among us."
As he spoke, Chumley's gaze shifted to Yugi, who was seated to his immediate right.
Noticing Chumley's gaze, Yugi couldn't help but feel a little nervous. "Chumley, you know me. I would never do something like that to hurt others."
"I'm usually more on the defensive."
Although I do use Shadow Games to punish others, those were all Yami Yugi's doing, and it was indeed reactive. What Yami Yugi does, what does that have to do with my pure and kind Yugi Muto?
Chumley nodded and looked at Bakura, who was seated to Yugi's right.
"Chumley, you know me. Given my habits, how could I do something so bloody?"
Hmm, Ryo Bakura, my little angel. Although you're highly suspicious, you're so cute, who could blame you? I'll tentatively believe you.
"Chumley, you know me," Joey quickly interjected before Chumley could even look his way. "Although I really want to teach Pegasus a lesson, I would never gouge out someone's eyes."
Tristan, seated next to Joey, said, "Chumley, you know me. Although I usually act like a delinquent—"
"Just 'act like'?"
"Don't interrupt," Tristan continued, ignoring Joey's retort. "Although I look like... fine, I am a delinquent, but I've turned over a new leaf and changed my ways. I couldn't possibly do something like that."
You call that turning over a new leaf? You just want to hit on Joey's sister.
Muttering a complaint inwardly, Chumley looked at Sheppard, who was seated to his left.
"Chumley, don't look at me, you know me," Sheppard said, rubbing the back of his head. "If it were me, it wouldn't be his left eye that was gouged out; it would be his Deck."
"Well, I get it now," Chumley said, leaning back strategically against the chair's backrest. "Every single one of you has a unique skill."
Proxy Dueling, sly schemers, gambling addicts, delinquents, and Duel fanatics – none of them are simple.
Just then, the door behind them opened, and Croquet entered, his face filled with sorrow. "Mr. Chumley."
"Mr. Croquet, how is Pegasus doing?"
"It's not Gates, it's Croquet," the old butler first corrected Chumley's address, then reported, "We've given Maximillion Pegasus's wound basic medical treatment. A medical helicopter just picked him up and took him to the nearest hospital off the island."
"Because Maximillion Pegasus's current condition is not good, I apologize, but he is unable to sign the share transfer agreement with you two. Additionally, Mr. Chumley, before Maximillion Pegasus left the island, he instructed me to give you this Card as compensation for the delayed delivery of the Duel's Stakes."
Looking at the Card in the box that Croquet held out, Chumley picked it up curiously. "What is this Card?"
On the Card in Chumley's hand was printed the Industrial Illusions logo—a pair of hands holding a face-down Duel Monster Card—along with the words "Card Power." Mr. Croquet explained, "As the publishing company for Duel Monsters, Industrial Illusions' largest department is called the Card Design Department, which is specifically responsible for designing Duel Monster Cards."
"And this Card that Maximillion Pegasus has given you grants the highest authority within the Card Design Department, allowing you to directly design and create new Cards without Maximillion Pegasus's permission."
Chumley raised an eyebrow. "So, as long as I have this Card, I can perform Card Creation for myself?"
Croquet offered further explanations, and only then did Chumley understand: while on the surface, the creation of Duel Monster Cards seemed not much different from a printing factory producing playing cards, in reality, there were many, many restrictions.
The origin of Duel Monsters dated back to ancient Egypt three thousand years ago. Back then, Duel Monsters also existed, but they weren't printed on paper Cards; rather, they were inscribed on heavy Stone Tablets and served as important Rituals. After his trip to Egypt, Pegasus brought back to America not only the Millennium Eye he gained but also inspiration provided by countless Stone Tablet Monsters.
Using the Monsters on the Stone Tablets as prototypes, Pegasus designed a large number of Duel Monsters. From (Skull Stalker) and (Millennium Shield) to (Dark Magician) and (Blue-Eyes White Dragon), each had its own Stone Tablet as a prototype. During the design process, Pegasus discovered something miraculous—that a certain spirituality existed within those Stone Tablets that had weathered a thousand years of time!
Cards imbued with spirituality could be easily created by Pegasus. For example, from Stone Tablets unearthed in a Pharaoh's tomb, depicting the (Dark Magician) and (Blue-Eyes White Dragon) surrounding the Pharaoh, Pegasus could easily create Cards using them as prototypes. However, at the same time, he would be bound by a mysterious "intuition."
Pegasus, possessing the Millennium Eye, knew that supernatural powers truly existed in the world, as he himself could freely read others' minds. Following the guidance of his intuition, Pegasus imposed many restrictions on the Cards he created—(Exodia), capable of ending a Duel in one blow, was split into five parts; the powerful (Blue-Eyes White Dragon) was limited to four copies; the strongest Spellcaster, (Dark Magician), required additional Cards to cast Spells, and so on.
After Pegasus transformed the Stone Tablets into Cards, he discovered that the same "spirituality" also resided within the Cards. He named these entities "Spirits." When dwelling in the Stone Tablets, they were Stone Tablet Spirits; now, with their home shifted to the Cards, they became "Card Spirits."
Although Chumley had obtained the authority to design and create Cards, he could not arbitrarily create Cards without the Spirits' approval. If no Spirit Power resided within them, the created Cards would merely be waste paper. This dashed Chumley's original idea of using Card Creation to get a set of (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring), (Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit), and (Effect Veiler) for himself.
However, the Card he received wasn't entirely useless. Spirits, huh? While Chumley might lack many things, Card Spirits were precisely what he had in abundance.
Although he had the System to perform super-convenient Card Creation anytime, anywhere, the System's "Miracles and Magic" weren't free, requiring Chumley to provide a large amount of DP Points. Although after his Duel with Pegasus, Chumley's DP Balance had recovered to over 2000, it still wasn't enough to buy any truly powerful Cards.
Since he could get free Cards from Pegasus, how could Chumley possibly miss this opportunity? Anyway, it would just require his Card Spirits to exert themselves a little more.
In Chumley's room, (Ojama Yellow) suddenly shivered, feeling as if it had been targeted by something. Beside it, (Gaia) remained silent, forcing itself to hold back a sneeze it almost let out.
(end of chapter)