Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, and the Celestial Card just bought from the shop manager... Youyu sat cross-legged on the bed, looking at the nine cards in front of him, and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
The future looks promising!
In the end, Youyu didn't get the Celestial Cards for free, because truth be told, he doesn't really need to take advantage of petty bargains right now.
However, thanks to Chinai's insistence, Youyu didn't pay the outrageous price the shop manager had set but instead paid the market price for an ordinary R Card.
Nine god-level filtering cards added to the deck, and Youyu felt that even a purely entertainment-based stunt deck could potentially take off...
The spirit of the Dark Magician Girl appeared on his bed at some point. She lay sprawled out on the bed, knees bent, with her slender, white legs playfully swinging in the air like a mischievous child.
"Master, you seem to particularly like these cards that can speed up draws, huh?" She brushed her blonde hair to the side, bringing her curious little head closer.
Youyu glanced at her, his gaze lingering for a moment on a certain area pressed prominently due to her prostrate position.
Since she's a spirit, it shouldn't affect development, right...
...It shouldn't, right.
Dark Magician Girl: "?"
"Oh, yeah." Youyu coughed, pretending nothing had happened, "These cards might not be highly valued right now, but they're actually quite powerful."
"Is that so?"
The Dark Magician Girl tilted her head in confusion but didn't question her master.
Having been Youyu's spirit companion for some days now, she truly admired him from the bottom of her heart. In her view, she was quite lucky to be paired with a top-level Duelist as her master, so whatever he said must be right.
"Think about it, if I have a particularly powerful combo and only need a few cards to pull off an instant win," Youyu explained, "then if I only have those few cards in my deck, ensuring my starting hand is what I want, wouldn't I have an absolute advantage right from the start?"
"But according to the game rules, the deck must have at least 40 cards, right?" The Dark Magician Girl said, "With 40 cards, there's no way to guarantee that the starting hand will be precisely the six cards you want?"
"That's right, so the fewer cards you can have in your deck, the better. Keeping it just at 40 is the best strategy, as it increases the likelihood of drawing the cards you want."
He picked up a Pot of Greed from the bed.
"So if I include this card..."
The girl suddenly understood: "Ah, I see. If you draw it, you can immediately draw cards, which effectively compresses the space..."
"Exactly." Youyu smiled, "For example, if our deck's core is the legendary 'Dark Great Mage,' Exodia, and we only need to gather all five components of the Mage in our hand to win directly... then if the rest of our deck has 35 cards entirely made up of draw cards, with only five being the components of Exodia..."
(The Dark Great Mage, that is, Exodia, allows a player to declare victory upon assembling Exodia's five pieces—both arms, both legs, and the body—in their hand.)
"Awesome!" The magic girl's eyes sparkled, looking at Youyu with admiration in her big eyes.
Wow! To come up with such an awesome strategy!
My master is not only beautiful but also super skilled!
Indeed, if you could fill a deck with Forbidden Cards to play Old Exodia, it would truly be unbeatable...
But that's really overthinking it. The Dark Great Mage here is a unique Rare Card in the world, with only one set ever owned by Muto Yugi, but it was thrown into the sea by Insector Haga through deceit.
So, those five cards are considered discontinued in this world.
It seems there are many copies held by the Ghouls, but they're fake cards and unusable.
In fact, the power of these Divine Cards goes far beyond that, but Youyu's explanation was merely the concept of a "compressed deck."
If filled with Forbidden Cards, there would also be other classic instant win strategies to try. But right now, Youyu lacks too many cards, so they aren't being considered.
Explaining card earning or card gap closing is too complicated, and as a spirit, the Dark Magician Girl might not understand, so Youyu doesn't plan to mention it.
"Alright, it's getting late. I'm going to sleep." Youyu said, yawning and stretching comfortably.
Tomorrow, he still has to meet with the President of Kaiba Company, and who knows if the President will challenge him to a duel.
Dueling with President Kaiba is physically demanding, so Youyu decided to rest early and save energy.
"Okay!" The Dark Magician Girl showed a sweet smile, "Good night, Master!"
"Mm, good night."
Lights off, a moment later.
"...Um, Dark Magician Girl?"
"I'm here, Master."
"...I can't sleep with you here..."
"...Oh."
...
The Kaiba Group is one of the top conglomerates in the world.
Originally, the Kaiba Group was a world-class munitions giant, spearheading technological advancements globally with their weapons far ahead of their time. At that time, the Kaiba Company trademarks were seen widespread across battlefields worldwide.
Kaiba Gozaburo once helmed this massive entity, with Kaiba Seto as his adoptive son.
It's said that Gozaburo, the world chess champion back then, personally visited an orphanage during a charity event and was challenged to a chess match by a child there, with the condition that if the child won, both he and his brother would be adopted by Gozaburo.
That child was, of course, Kaiba Seto.
He won that chess game, securing his current status and rewriting the tragic fate of him and his brother.
After Kaiba Gozaburo passed away, Kaiba Seto immediately took over the Kaiba Group. Now, at just sixteen, with his own strength, Kaiba has completely transformed the world's top munitions manufacturing industry into an entertainment company, particularly focusing on developing the game business he cares most about...
This feels akin to Tony Stark declaring, "From now on, we'll switch to selling baby pacifiers."
It's said that Gozaburo even built a high-tech Demon Island, brimming with advanced weapons created with the world's top technology, which was the origin of Gozaburo's ambition to conquer the world through weapons manufacturing.
But that island has now been leveled by Kaiba Seto, who allegedly plans to convert it into a massive amusement center focused on gaming—it's basically a high-end card room...
If Gozaburo knew in the afterlife, he would surely...
...be so furious he'd spat blood?
Saturday, 9:00 AM, at this moment, Youyu had also arrived at the completely revamped Kaiba Company headquarters lobby.
Today's Kaiba Company retains not a trace of its weapon manufacturer past; it seems that every vestige of Kaiba Gozaburo has been deliberately erased from this place.
The most eye-catching electronic screen directly in front of the hall features the domineering figure of Kaiba Seto himself, backed by his loyal Blue-Eyes White Dragon. This way, everyone entering or exiting the lobby has to make eye contact with Kaiba on the display.
...Such a president scared of people not seeing his own awe-inspiring photo in the lobby must be one of a kind.
It seems Kaiba himself is particularly popular among the public too, especially among the girls. He's nicknamed "Domino's White Dragon," and his fan club boasts countless members. Many young girls dream of a romantic encounter with the domineering president, fantasizing about a chance encounter with Mr. President.
But there's nothing to be done, as he took over the Kaiba Group at sixteen, graced magazine covers, ranked as the second-best duelist globally, and is incredibly handsome. It would be hard for people not to fantasize.
However, his fans might end up disappointed.
The first reason being, President Kaiba is solely focused on dueling, with no interest in girls whatsoever. Comparatively, if forced to choose someone to spend his life with, he might choose Muto Yugi just because he can duel with him.
As for the second reason...
...Ha, thinking of subduing the President? You'd first need to withstand the wrath of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Youyu passed through the hall, entering the direct elevator, leaning against the metallic wall on its rear side, watching the numbers on the digital display climb to the top floor.
The next time the metal doors parted, the president's office lay ahead.
Kaiba Seto was leaning against the desk in an impressive pose, face showing, "I've been waiting for you."