Chapter 6: Let's Talk After Winning the Championship

“Do you want to attend Duel Academy?” Director Takeuchi was momentarily taken aback.

Now that he thought about it, it was indeed almost time for the Duel Academy admissions to open.

For the younger generation of duelists, Duel Academy was akin to a sacred ground. It attracted the most elite students, and nearly every graduate was destined to become a top-tier talent. Under Seto Kaiba’s management, no matter how wealthy or influential a student’s family was—be they heirs of world-class conglomerates or politically powerful second-generation elites—without talent, their resources and backgrounds counted for nothing.

Who was Seto Kaiba?

He was currently the world’s strongest duelist, commanding the most powerful Duel Monster spirit of the era, “Blue-Eyes White Dragon,” comparable to the legendary Egyptian God Cards of old. Rumor had it he was even developing technology capable of traversing dimensions and time, seeking to open a gateway to the underworld to duel the long-slumbering Nameless Pharaoh...

Not only was he the richest man alive, but he also stood at the pinnacle of both the supernatural and technological realms. After Yugi Muto retired, Kaiba was universally recognized as the number one duelist of the era.

And he recognized nothing but skill.

If Seto Kaiba said there were no shortcuts and only strength mattered, then only strength mattered. No matter how prestigious or influential, anyone wanting to enter his academy had to pass the exams honestly—there was absolutely no room for backdoor deals.

Moreover, Kaiba revered strength and championed elite education. This was evident from the strict ranking system at Duel Academy in GX, where the entire faculty and student body looked down on the lowest-ranked students.

Many dueling dojos offered subsidies for their students to apply to Duel Academy. Success there meant the student would become a prestigious alumnus and bring great publicity to their dojo.

Master Takeuchi’s dojo also provided such subsidies, though the number of slots was limited each year.

Considering that within just three days, Yuu Gen had already defeated the entire dojo, including the master himself, he was naturally eligible.

If the application succeeded, the student would receive tuition assistance as well as funds for deck-building. The director would personally provide one-on-one guidance to help purchase new cards and optimize their deck...

...Of course, with Yuu Gen’s current level, the guidance part could be waived—he just needed the money.

“Wait,” Director Takeuchi said suddenly, as if recalling something.

“What’s your duelist rank again?”

“...One star.”

The director was speechless.

Honestly, even witnessing it firsthand, he still found it hard to comprehend how a mere one-star duelist could have suddenly made such a profound leap in skill.

But after personally experiencing Yuu Gen’s current prowess, he felt this was a golden opportunity for Yuu Gen to get into the academy.

“But one star isn’t enough to meet the application threshold...”

“I know,” Yuu Gen nodded. “So tomorrow I plan to compete in the arena and try to climb the ranks as fast as possible.”

“Hmm... but the entrance exam is only a month away. That’s tight,” the director pondered. “If you could place in an open tournament, that would make things much easier.”

Placing in an open tournament would allow him to leap directly to a higher star rank, avoiding the slow grind of individual arena matches. It would also add valuable tournament experience to his record, benefiting his duelist career.

“Alright,” Director Takeuchi said, turning to Koji Sato. “I think you’re preparing to enter this year’s Tsukihana Cup, right? Although registration is closed, I have some friends among the organizers. We can probably sneak you in during the preliminaries. The dojo will even cover the entry fee. How about it?”

This year, Koji Sato was the only one from the entire dojo to reach three stars, so naturally, he was the only candidate planning to apply for Duel Academy. Entering the Tsukihana Cup was also his way of building his resume before admission. Securing a high placement would be even better.

“Thanks so much, Director,” Yuu Gen said.

Koji Sato, standing nearby, inhaled sharply. Was Yuu Gen really going to compete?

What if they ended up matched against each other?

The thought alone made him shudder and feel uneasy.

But then he reminded himself there were many contestants, so the chance of that happening was slim. Or perhaps, at the competition, he might get to see more duelists bewildered by Yuu Gen’s overwhelming skill, just like himself...

At the thought, a twisted smile slowly crept onto his lips.

Indeed, dueling always brought joy.

It just depended on whose joy it was.

...

The first rays of morning sunlight fell like gentle poetry, draping the tranquil world in a veil of golden light. The darkness dispersed, replaced by a fresh, bright dawn filled with the faint scents of early morning dew and blooming flowers.

At 6:20 a.m., Yuu Gen lazily awoke from a comfortable bed. Sunlight filtered through sheer curtains, casting mottled patterns upon the white sheets and soft blankets.

He had gone to bed late and slept poorly, plagued by numerous dreams. He vaguely remembered seeing the Black and White Guards of the Underworld in his dream. They had first ominously declared his time was up, but then produced duel disks from both sides and two decks, claiming he could extend his life by winning a duel...

“Why would I have such a dream?” Yuu Gen rubbed his temples.

It seemed he was slowly immersing himself into this card-playing worldview: there was nothing that couldn't be solved through dueling.

After only five minutes of preparation, he shook off the lingering sleepiness, jumped out of bed, quickly dressed and washed up, and began his day of study.

You could never imagine how terrifying a disciplined card player could be.

With only a month left until the Duel Academy entrance exam, it was time to start reviewing.

Originally, he thought the duel exam wouldn’t be difficult. Wasn’t it just about learning and applying the K language?

Questions about whether a card effect targeted or not, the order of chain resolutions, advanced timing teachings...

None of these were included.

There were no high-level gameplay mechanics or the complex rules unique to real cards. The conceptual questions were basic, like “Explain what Normal Spell Cards, Equip Spell Cards, and Field Spell Cards are,” just as Professor Kronos asked in the GX anime.

Most of the test involved memorizing various card effects. Yuu Gen soon realized this part was unexpectedly challenging because he couldn’t possibly remember the classifications and effects of ancient cards unused in the past twenty years of the real card environment. Not to mention, this world had many cards never made into real cards from the anime and manga.

He also noticed many differences compared to the card environment from twenty years ago. Many cards that only became real cards two decades later already existed here.

That was not surprising. Even the key card “Miracle Contact” from the New Utopia deck in the anime was long coveted by players before finally being made into a real card—feeling like a lifetime wait for that moment.

So naturally, many cards that didn’t exist back then were here now.

After reviewing the entire question bank, Yuu Gen thought the content was rather shallow. The core consciousness and techniques of dueling—the true essence—were completely unmentioned.

This reminded him of a fan theory he once read online: for many movies and animations, reality is a higher dimension, but in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, cards are the fundamental essence of creation, and dueling represents the most primal laws of that world—not merely a card game as in reality.

Therefore, for people in the anime world, exploring the rules of dueling was akin to cutting-edge research, a pursuit of truth. While learning to duel in the real dimension wasn’t so difficult, in the anime world, understanding these required immense talent and effort.

Yuu Gen bought a set of study guides including “Fundamental Duel Theory” and “Duel Academy Entrance Exam Question Bank,” spending most of the day drilling questions. He also took time to learn about card design.

Yu-Gi-Oh! anime focused on the stories of duelists, barely touching on the card creation process. He only knew that “the father of Duel Monsters,” Bakis, first discovered ancient Duel Monster tablets in Egypt and transformed them into cards, creating the modern Duel Monster card system.

Later, card production was mainly handled by Bakis’s International Fantasy Company, but it wasn’t a monopoly. Kaiba Corporation also printed many cards circulating in the market.

Furthermore, duelists like Yugi Muto and Jaden Yuki possessed extraordinary abilities to print cards on the spot during matches as needed. Sometimes they even brazenly incorporated themselves and their opponents into the card art without reservation...

Clearly, such private card printing was recognized by the system and duel rules and was not considered cheating.

After all, Yu-Gi-Oh! was a supernatural world, and dueling was a manifestation of that. So when some duelists with sea-blue hair shouted about friendship and bonds while printing cards live on the spot, it was an application of the world’s laws—a display of extraordinary power.

How could the King of Games be accused of cheating?

Drawing and printing cards were part of the duel—if you didn’t like it, don’t play.

However, it was obvious that card creation here wasn’t arbitrary. Even the International Fantasy Company’s designers had to follow certain rules; new cards had to conform to some standards and couldn’t be created at whim.

Yuu Gen was curious about the entry requirements for card design and what kinds of cards were accepted.

If all the cards from the real-world card pool existed here, then as a card designer, he could bring a modern Yu-Gi-Oh! narrative shock to this overly mundane card realm...

He first purchased a series of toolbooks and textbooks, not expecting to master card design easily, but just to gain a preliminary understanding.

“Fundamentals of Field Spell Construction: Introduction to Environmental Modeling”

“The Nine Common Pitfalls in Monster Card Design”

Unsurprisingly, card design was a profoundly complex discipline. Many university labs and cutting-edge research institutes were dedicated to Duel Monster research and development.

Even many old cards still held potential for further development.

A representative example was the famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon, developed by an independent research team led personally by Seto Kaiba. They were the world’s top Duel Monster research team, rumored to have created evolutionary forms like “White Spirit Dragon,” “Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon,” and “Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon.”

Then there was the Chaos Warrior, originally just a Level 8 monster with 3000 attack when first made into a card from the tablets, but now developed into “Chaos Warrior—Harbinger of the Opening,” known among players as “Great Opening,” a rare and legendary powerful monster.

“If only I could learn to design cards myself...” Yuu Gen mused.

But for now, that was just a thought. He recalled that after graduating Duel Academy, Jaden Yuki’s roommate Hayato Maeda had joined International Fantasy Company as a full-time card designer. Yuu Gen guessed the academy might even have specialized courses in card design.

If he had the chance, he would definitely explore that.

For now, he set a new small goal.

To win the Tsukihana Cup first.