Yugen slowly opened his eyes, blankly surveying the unfamiliar surroundings.
The room was unfamiliar, yet it carried a strange sense of familiarity. Sunlight streamed through the lattice windows, dappled on the soft floor, sparkling like stardust. Even the air seemed to become light and transparent under the warm glow of the sun.
A dull ache throbbed in his head, and strange images and unfamiliar fragments flashed across his mind. Some instinct seemed to be telling him about the extraordinary situation he was facing—
——He had transmigrated.
Yugen looked around his surroundings, his gaze quickly drawn to the computer on the desk.
The computer was on, displaying the page of a search engine, yet it was not any search engine he had been familiar with before.
The large characters marked on the search bar clearly read, "Kaiba Search."
What intrigued him more was the trending news below the search bar.
"East Capital University research team discovers new form of 'Demon's Summon,' Demon Card Deck may receive substantial enhancement!"
Yugen: "?"
Out of curiosity, he clicked on it to take a look. The report stated that the research team developed the new potential of the famous Demon Race monster "Demon's Summon" after working day and night, and had published a paper in the top authoritative Duel Monster journal internationally.
The team spokesperson said they had already talked with the CEO of the International Fantasy Company, Beckas J. Croverdo, and the Illusion Association was assisting them in developing new cards...
If he still couldn't recognize which world he'd transmigrated to, then all those years playing cards would have been in vain for Yugen.
This was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a realm widely known for its card-based supremacy, where the foundation and laws of the entire world were built upon dueling.
Below the trending search, there was something even more absurd.
"Middle East international conflict eased, two national leaders have decided to negotiate through a duel."
Yugen: "..."
Upon reading the title, a scene seemed to play out in his mind. On a smoky battlefield with two armies facing off, both sides armed to the teeth, pointing guns and cannons at each other.
At this moment, the generals from both armies stepped out of the frontlines, displaying the Duel Discs and card decks on their arms, deciding to resolve their territorial dispute with a tense and exciting game of Yu-Gi-Oh...
This was utterly ridiculous.
But this was exactly how this world operated.
Duel Monsters was the only way in this world to aspire to the extraordinary, to grasp godlike powers that transcend time and rewrite the laws of reality.
His mind gradually shook off its grogginess as new memories seemed to slowly absorb. Yugen quickly sorted out his identity in this world.
Fujiki Yugen, male, currently identified as... an apprentice at a Dueling Dojo?
Though called a dojo, it felt more like a social card-playing training class. Unlike the formal Duel Academy, the Dueling Dojo was a social training institution you could enter just by paying a registration fee.
In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, card games were naturally not considered unworthy tasks. On the contrary, if one could truly learn to play well, a bright future awaited.
Over time, Duel Monster Card development closely tied with almost every industry, this year even required companies to have a dedicated Duel agent to handle transactions involving card duels in commercial affairs. Allegedly, the City of Duels in Tongshiyi, under Kaiba Company's operations, even refused residency without registering a card deck...
But that didn't mean the path was easy. Although Yugen's predecessor worked hard, doing part-time jobs to earn tuition while studying at the dojo and striving to become a real duelist's path, both he and those around him knew his hopes were slim.
Because he sucked.
While a duelist's prospects were limitless, this career was too competitive. Unlike his previous life, this world recognized being a duelist as a talent-demanding profession, not everyone had the potential to become a master.
Putting aside other things, if someone couldn't even draw the cards they wanted, what was the point of being a duelist?
Yugen thought for a moment, feeling that his predecessor's persistence on this development route, despite the hardships, was not wrong.
In this world, whether seeking the extraordinary or striving for success in the city, Duel Monsters was the primary path.
So since he intended to follow this path, his greatest reliance was his accumulated experience from previous lives as a hardcore card player.
Thinking of this, Yugen immediately sat in front of the computer and searched online.
First, he needed to determine the era and background he transmigrated into. Yu-Gi-Oh! had many series, and the later animations went, the more they resembled the physical card environment. So the advantage as a transmigrator decreased in later environments.
After a simple search, he quickly obtained the information he needed.
This was the most classic Basic Dimension, where dreams began, the world of "Yu-Gi-Oh! DM" and "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX" story backgrounds.
The current timeline should be after the DM ended, either before GX started or during its early stories. This gave Yugen a general idea of the current Duel Card environment.
Now it was time to check his predecessor's card deck.
Yugen: (─??─)
No way... Were you serious with this card deck?
Upon spreading it out, it revealed a bloated sixty-card deck... No, this thing couldn't even be called a card deck, it was just a pile of cards.
To start with, there were a bunch of ordinary monsters with no effects—the kind card players typically liked to use the term President Kaiba often used, Mortal Bone.
Then the entire construct was like a group of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing off their abilities, with hardly any synergy between any two cards. Drawing six cards randomly was like a mess, and Yugen highly doubted these cards could amount to any fighting power.
But on a closer look, he seemed to grasp his predecessor's deck-building strategy.
It wasn't particularly useful, mainly just expensive...
That feeling resembled the episodes in the GX anime's storyline where Chazz's two money-stupid siblings appeared. Those rich fellows had money, but their card-playing skills were utterly disgraceful, yet they believed in the supremacy of money, insisting the pricier was the better.
So they desperately threw money, buying a bunch of the priciest rare cards to form a money-burning deck to challenge Chazz, only to be wrecked by a makeshift deck constructed from junk cards Chazz retrieved from a dry well behind the school...
Clearly, his predecessor had made the same mistake as those rich guys from the anime. Many cards in the deck might have been earned from his predecessor's hard work, seeing the absurd market prices, Yugen felt it was reasonable to suspect the predecessor might have transmigrated due to overworking and dying...
However, looking at these cards, supposedly ultra-rare but with unclear significance in his view, he couldn't help but feel it wasn't worth it for his predecessor.
In the world of card games, many powerful cards are indeed very expensive, but expensive doesn't mean good. Many cards in this world are pricey just because they are "rare." For instance, some cards are made from discovered relics, others from diamonds or gems.
There were even some simply adored universally because the summoned monsters looked attractive but were produced in limited quantities, driving the price up—especially those Female Bodhisattva type elves with abundant features yet scantily clad...
So after flipping through the entire deck, Yugen estimated there seemed to be a few expensive Traps that might be slightly useful.
It looked like the initial card deck had to be dismantled and rebuilt from scratch.
Yugen thought a bit, once again leveraging the internet, he searched for the match videos of current mainstream professional duelists, to roughly understand the current environment and mindset of the mainstream duelists.
As expected, just as depicted in the animations. The duelists of this era generally pursued strength dominance, striving to summon their high-attack, charismatic ace monsters to gain board control.
After watching several match videos, Yugen couldn't help but reflect.
What a simple and honest world...
In any case, it seemed most duelists currently shared a common problem—
——Too much sunshine here.
In this world, the underworld's index was eight-tenths, the former Duel King, Muto Yuugi, possessed one-tenth, leaving everyone else owing him two-tenths.
Now with Muto Yuugi withdrawing from the cards, the world's duelists all idolized the legend Seto Kaiba, who sought domination with phrases like "pulverize and crush," flooding the environment with sunshine.
Thus Yugen's construction strategy was decided.
He wanted to bring a little bit of underworld flair to this sunny card realm.