"You want to go to Duel Academy?"
Master Takeuchi was stunned.
Come to think of it, it seemed like it was almost time for Duel Academy's admissions to open.
For young duelists, Duel Academy was practically like a sacred place. Top students gathered there, and almost every graduate was guaranteed to become an elite. Moreover, under Seto Kaiba's management, no matter if you were a world-class tycoon's son or a second-generation official with a powerful family, if you didn't have the talent, no amount of wealth or background would matter.
What kind of person was Seto Kaiba?
Currently, the strongest duelist in the world, wielding the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," a dueling spirit comparable to the ancient Egyptian God cards. Rumor has it that he was even developing technology to traverse dimensions and time, intending to use scientific means to open the gates to the Underworld and find the long-dormant nameless Pharaoh to duel.
He was not only the richest man in the world but also a powerhouse standing at the dual peaks of supernatural ability and technology. After Yugi Muto retired from dueling, he was recognized as the strongest duelist of the era.
Moreover, he didn't care about anything but dueling skill.
So, if Seto Kaiba said that admissions were based solely on skill, then it truly was based solely on skill. No matter how wealthy or powerful you were, you had to obediently take the exam to get into his school; there was absolutely no room for behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Furthermore, he respected strength and valued elite education. This could be seen from the strict ranking system in Duel Academy in GX and the disdain that the teachers and students showed toward the lowest-ranking students.
Many dueling dojos provided subsidies for students applying to Duel Academy. Because once a student successfully got in, they would undoubtedly become a high-quality alumnus in the future, and it would also have a very good promotional effect for the dojo.
Master Takeuchi's dojo also provided this subsidy, but the annual quota was limited.
Considering that Yugen had defeated the entire dojo, including the master, in the past three days, he naturally qualified for the subsidy.
Students who passed the application not only received tuition subsidies, but the dojo would also provide a sum of money for deck building. The master would personally provide one-on-one guidance, helping the student buy new cards and optimize their deck.
Of course, in Yugen's case, the guidance phase could obviously be skipped; he just needed the money.
"Wait a moment."
Master Takeuchi, who had just agreed, suddenly remembered something.
"What's your duelist level?"
"...One star."
The master: "..."
To be honest, even though he had witnessed it firsthand, he still found it hard to understand how a one-star student had suddenly improved to such a level.
However, having personally experienced Yugen's dueling strength, he felt that Yugen had a very high chance of getting into the academy.
"Being one star doesn't meet the application requirements."
"I know," Yugen nodded, "So tomorrow I'm planning to try my luck at the dueling arena and rank up as soon as possible."
"Hmm... but the entrance exam is only a month away, so time is a bit tight," Master Takeuchi thought for a moment, "It would be much easier if you could get a good ranking in a public tournament."
Getting a good ranking in a public tournament would allow him to directly rise to a high star level, without having to slowly rank up in a normal arena match by match. Moreover, it would give him a tournament record, which would be beneficial for his future dueling career.
"How about this?" Master Takeuchi looked at Sato Koji, "I remember that Koji is preparing to participate in this year's Moonflower Cup tournament, right?
Although the registration window seems to have closed, I have friends among the organizers, and it shouldn't be a problem to squeeze in an extra person. The registration fee will be paid by the dojo. What do you think?"
This year, Koji was the only one in the entire dojo who had reached three stars, so he was naturally the only one planning to apply to Duel Academy. His participation in the Moonflower Cup was also intended to give him a better record before the entrance exam, and it would be even better if he could get a good ranking.
"Then I'll thank the master," Yugen said.
Sato Koji, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but take a deep breath.
This guy also wants to participate in the tournament?
What if I'm matched against him again on the tournament floor?
Imagining that scene, he immediately shuddered, feeling uncomfortable all over.
However, he then thought that there were so many participants, the probability of being matched against him wasn't high. Or rather, being on the tournament floor meant he had a chance to see more unsuspecting duelists experience the same agony that his junior apprentice had brought him.
Thinking of that image, he couldn't help but uncontrollably raise the corners of his mouth.
His smile gradually became twisted.
Indeed, dueling can still bring joy.
It just depends on who's experiencing the joy.
The first rays of morning light were as gentle as poetry, as if draping a layer of golden gauze over the quiet world. The darkness of the night was dispelled, replaced by a fresh and bright morning. The air was filled with a faint morning scent and the fragrance of flowers.
At 6:20 AM, Yugen lazily woke up from his comfortable bed. Sunlight filtered through the thin curtains, creating mottled patterns on the white sheets and soft quilt.
He had gone to bed late last night, and his sleep quality wasn't very good, having many dreams. He only vaguely remembered seeing Black and White Impermanence in his dream. The two of them first solemnly told him that his lifespan had ended and he should depart, but then they simultaneously spread out their duel disks, pulled out two decks, and said that as long as he won the duel, he could extend his life.
"Why would I have such a dream?" Yugen rubbed his temples.
It seemed that he had slowly begun to integrate into this dueling-centric worldview, where nothing couldn't be solved by dueling.
Yugen only rested for 5 minutes before shaking off his sleepiness, jumping out of bed, quickly changing and washing up, and beginning a new day of study and life.
You can never imagine how terrifying a self-restrained card game veteran can be.
With only one month left until the Duel Academy entrance exam, it was time to start preparing a bit.
Initially, he thought, what difficulty could a dueling exam have? Wasn't it just Konami language learning and application?
Like what kind of card effects target or don't target, the order of chain resolution, and advanced card timing.
None of the above.
Regarding those relatively abstruse and difficult Yu-Gi-Oh! special rules, there were none. The concept section only had basic questions like "Please explain Normal Spell Cards, Equip Spell Cards, and Field Spell Cards," similar to the questions that Professor Chronos asked in class in the GX anime.
Then it was the memorization of various card effects. In fact, Yugen quickly discovered that this part was unexpectedly difficult, because it was impossible for him to remember the classifications and effects of a bunch of ancient old cards that no one had used in the real card game environment for 20 years. Not to mention that this world also had a large number of anime and manga cards that had never been made into real cards.
He also quickly noticed that this place was quite different from the real card game environment 20 years ago. Many cards that were only made into real cards 20 years later already existed here.
Of course, thinking about it, it wasn't that strange. Even the key card of Jaden Yuki's Neo-Spacian deck, "Miracle Contact," was something that countless players had craved for years after it appeared in the anime, feeling like they had waited a lifetime for Konami to make it a real card.
So, naturally, many cards that didn't exist back then existed here.
Looking at the entire question bank, to Yugen, they were all content with no substance. The core concepts and techniques of dueling skill were completely absent.
This made him think of a fan theory he had seen online in his previous life. For many anime, the real world was a higher dimension, and in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, cards were the foundation of creation, and dueling represented the most fundamental laws of this world, rather than just being a card game like in the real world.
So, for people in the anime world, exploring the rules of dueling was like conducting the most advanced research in the real world, an exploration of truth. In the real world, learning to play cards wasn't that difficult, but in the anime world, understanding these rules required great talent and a lot of effort.
Yugen bought a set of "Basic Dueling Theory," "Duel Academy Past Exam Question Bank," and other textbooks, spending most of the day studying. At the same time, he also took the time to learn about the card crafting field.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series has always emphasized the stories of duelists, with only a brief description of the card crafting design. It was only known that Pegasus, known as the "Father of Duel Monsters," first discovered the ancient Duel Monsters tablets in Egypt and turned them into cards, thus creating the modern Duel Monsters card system.
Later, card crafting was mainly done by Pegasus's Industrial Illusions company, but it wasn't a complete monopoly. Companies like Kaiba Corporation also printed many cards, which were also circulated on the market.
Later, there were even duelists like Yugi Muto and Jaden Yuki, who all had a 16-level talent for creating cards on the spot based on the situation. When they got carried away, they would even directly print themselves and their dueling opponents into the card artwork, completely without restraint.
Obviously, these privately printed cards could also be recognized by the system and the dueling rules, and didn't count as breaking the rules.
After all, Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally a supernatural world, and dueling was a form of supernatural expression. So, for some duelists with "seafood heads" who would shout about friendship and bonds in front of their opponents and then pull out a blank card to print the card text and effects on the spot, it could even be said to be an application of the laws of this world, a manifestation of supernatural power.
How can the King of Games' actions be called hacking?
God-draws and card creation are all part of dueling. If you don't like it, don't play.
However, it was imaginable that card crafting in such a world couldn't be done arbitrarily. Even for designers at Industrial Illusions, newly designed cards had to meet certain rules and couldn't be made as they pleased.
And what Yugen was curious about was what kind of requirements were needed for card crafting, and what kind of cards would be recognized.
Assuming that all the cards that existed in the real card game pool in his previous life could be printed, then he, as a card crafter, could bring some modern Yu-Gi-Oh! shock to this overly "Yin" card game world.
Yugen also bought a series of reference books and teaching materials. It wasn't that he really expected to learn it so easily, but just to gain a rough understanding first.
"Basic Field Spell Structure: Introduction to Environment Modeling"
"Nine Common Mistakes in Monster Card Design"
Unsurprisingly, in this world, card crafting was a very profound field of study. Many university laboratories and cutting-edge research institutes were dedicated to the scientific research and development of Duel Monsters.
Even many old cards still had the potential for further development and design.
A representative example was the most famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon, which was being developed by a research team led by Seto Kaiba himself. It was the highest-level Duel Monsters research team in the world. Legend had it that they had developed forms like "Dragon Spirit of White," "Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon," and "Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon."
There was also Yami Yugi's Black Luster Soldier. When it was first made into a card from the tablet, it was just a blank eight-star, 3000 ATK monster. But now, "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" had been developed, which was the "Envoy" that real card game players talked about. It was a rare super-rare card and a legendary powerful monster in the eyes of duelists.
"It would be great if I could learn to craft my own cards," Yugen thought.
But for now, it was just a thought. He remembered that in the first season of the anime, Jaden Yuki's roommate, Syrus Truesdale, seemed to have joined Industrial Illusions after graduating from Duel Academy, specializing in card design. Yugen guessed that the academy might have a card crafting major.
If he had the chance, he would definitely want to learn more about it.
As for now, he would first set a new small goal.
To win the Moonflower Cup championship first.