Early the next morning, Yugen set off from the dojo, embarking on a journey to explore the ruins with the trainees.
To be honest, Yugen found the stone slabs in the ruins quite intriguing, especially knowing that there were things beyond them used for card creation.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, everything could be made into cards, not just stone slabs — gems, swords, and even humans at times...
In fact, turning stone slabs into cards was hardly "creation," but rather simple "transplantation."
After all, these slabs were ancient cards crafted by people thousands of years ago. What Beckas did back then was merely transplanting these ancient cards onto modern mediums. The ancient process of crafting these slabs was the true creation of the cards.
The ruins were located in the city's outskirts. After getting off the bus and walking a short distance, Yugen arrived near the excavation site, where he met Master Takeuchi's good friend, Uncle Saito.
"Hey, you're here."
Uncle Saito greeted them warmly, casting an extra glance at Yugen.
"That duel yesterday was impressive, little brother. Got anything good out of it?"
"Not bad," Yugen replied with a smile, "Thanks, Uncle Saito, for showing us around."
Uncle Saito waved his hand, "It's nothing. Really, I'm just giving you guys a preview by coming a few days early. The team decided that if nothing new is discovered in a couple of days, this site will be open to duelists Level 4 and above."
While leading them in, Uncle Saito explained,
"You might have heard the stories about spirits choosing duelists occasionally?"
"Yes," everyone nodded.
Yugen remembered, the most representative example in the original work was the Jade Beast. After Beckas created the Jade Beast Card Deck, one day during a tournament, he was watching the participant John Anderson's match when the deck in a box suddenly started to glow.
Thus, Beckas gifted the Jade Beast Deck to John, creating an unparalleled bond between him and his deck that regular duelists could not match. Many times, it wasn't the duelist choosing the card; instead, the spirit chose the duelist.
"Master Takeuchi also mentioned," recalled a dojo trainee. "He said, a duelist rejected by the card couldn't truly unleash the deck's power."
Yugen pondered, what does it mean to not unleash the deck's power?
Could it be that if the spirit dislikes you, it would flood your hand with useless cards, causing you to question your life?
Wow, that's quite terrifying...
"Indeed, some ruins are like that. Occasionally, a site's research makes no progress, but when a certain duelist arrives at the ruins, strange phenomena occur, as if he's been chosen..."
"But what the criteria are, I don't know."
Uncle Saito chuckled.
"After all, I'm just an old man moving bricks here, only hearing about these things."
Sato Koji asked, "So, can you tell us now what kind of ruins this is today? The master said it's impressive, but mysteriously didn't elaborate..."
Uncle Saito smiled enigmatically, "You'll find out once you go in."
"..."
Following the artificially excavated path, they soon arrived at a vast space. Around them, towering stone walls were engraved with complex patterns and mysterious symbols, which, while seemingly centuries old, remained clear.
At the center of the ruins stood a massive stone platform, upon it was a yellow and brown slab, untouched for countless years. In the center of the slab was drawn a warrior wielding a sword.
Though the ancient art style was abstract, everyone immediately recognized the figure, with some trainees exclaiming outright.
"Chaos Warrior!"
Archeological myths exaggeratedly describe this as the strongest warrior who divided chaos with his sword, creating light and darkness, opening up the sky and bringing forth creation. Although such descriptions are too outlandish, they're regarded merely as mythical background stories nowadays.
It is also one of King Muto Yuugi's signature Monster Spirits.
"Yes, Chaos Warrior. The legendary monster, since the emergence of 'Pioneer's Envoy,' has become a key subject for many teams. Unfortunately, despite its impact on the Dueling Realm when 'Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation' appeared, it also created a research bottleneck.
For many years, no team has managed to make breakthroughs. Some expert teams even claim they believe 'Pioneer's Envoy' was the full potential of Chaos Warrior, with no further advancement possible..."
Such a notion seems reasonable. Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation boasts extremely simple summoning conditions, 3000 Attack Power, and possesses powerful abilities like banishing an opponent's monster and attacking twice in a single turn.
So powerful that K Society banned it in 2005, attesting to its formidable strength in those times.
Of course, as a future man, Yugen knew this wasn't its limit; Chaos Warrior had plenty of unexplored series cards.
Looking at this slab, his thoughts began to move.
Even without subsequent new cards for reinforcement, Pioneer's Envoy alone was strong enough in the early years. In reality, after using the Hand Destruction Deck, the following two world champions were using Chaos-themed decks with Pioneer's Envoy as the main force.
The chaos of the time already felt overwhelmingly advanced, overpowering other decks in an almost dimension-lowering attack. Even when Chaos Warrior - Messenger of Creation was restricted to a black room, Chaos Wizard, the so-called "Small Opening," barely replaced its position. Yet that year's world champion also used "Testament Chaos," still Chaos-themed.
Yugen thought, if he could find a way to obtain a Great Opening, perhaps he could consider crafting a championship deck.
"Wouldn't the excavation related to these ruins aid new research?" a trainee wondered.
"I'm not really sure," Uncle Saito said, "but the research team's experts don't think so. They say the slabs found in this time's ruins correspond only to the Ritual Monster 'Chaos Warrior,' already created years ago.
There doesn't seem to be any clues for further evolution of the monster…"
Ritual Monster "Chaos Warrior," was the original iteration summoned by game during the Duel Kingdom Chapter, a Level 4 Mortal Bone Ritual with 3000 Attack Power but no effect, despite being dubbed "legendary monster," it could no longer keep up with the current versions.
"...Here."
Yugen: "?"
He seemed to hear someone speaking by his ear. But turning toward the sound, he saw no one.
The trainees were on the opposite side, excitedly discussing Chaos Warrior and King Muto Yuugi's related duels. The ruins' hall was bustling, with no one standing where the voice came from.
Auditory hallucinations?
Surveying around in bewilderment, he couldn't find another explanation. But just as he turned around,
"Here."
That voice came again.
Yugen looked back once more. That direction remained empty, as if nobody could be speaking to him.
What's going on? Telepathy? Secret transmission?
Then his gaze locked onto that direction, another slab unearthed from the ruins.
Unlike the Chaos Warrior slab surrounded by everyone, this was a blank slab.
Could it be… that blank slab?
Driven by some inexplicable force, he stepped forward, slowly raising his arm.
As if guided by an invisible pull.
Simultaneously, within the ruins camp, a researcher suddenly exclaimed, "Leader!"
"What is it?"
Donning a white coat, the leader bearing the KC emblem quickly walked towards the voice.
"Energy! The Duel Energy reading suddenly began to surge!"
Gazing at the instrument's readings, the leader was shocked, "Is this a spirit response? But the intensity level… how is it possible?"
He looked incredulous.
Previously, their tests hadn't detected any Monster Spirit responses from these ruins, yet in just a second, the instrument readings skyrocketed as if crazy.
Moreover, if it's truly a spirit's manifestation, such extreme energy readings…
"Isn't it as strong as 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'?" the research leader was stunned.
Though numerous ruins are excavated worldwide annually, it's now mundane, but spirits at the Blue-Eyes White Dragon level remain rare.
"..."
In the moment his fingertip touched the slab, Yugen felt a powerful suction force.
Caught off guard, he felt his feet leave the ground, his entire being seemed to merge into a massive vortex, drawn into another world.