Chapter 200: Thoughts and New Cards

Everyone found a table and sat around its perimeter.

Each person held several card packs—some had more, some less; the least, naturally, was John, who had lost. Next lowest was Asuka, who had just duel-ed with Rin; facing a life-drain deck, her life-recovery and monster-control deck offered moderate counterplay, but her performance wasn't strong, so her score was second-lowest.

Around the table, Tenjo Hikari sat beside Asuka, hugging a stack of card packs, curiously watching the game. Among them were even some packs Yuugi had helped pick out.

Yuugi gently tore open a card pack, using practiced hands to ensure not a single card was bent, then pulled out the cards inside.

His purpose in coming to this world was these cards; Kaiba Corp had naturally provided him with vast amounts of "points"; theoretically, if he wished, he could simply take all these card packs from the Public Security Bureau for study.

But he wouldn't do that.

He looked across at Wan Wan Zhangmu, watching his nervous expression, paused briefly, then smiled and said, "You're Wan Wan Zhangmu, right?"

"Y-yes! Mr. Ryo Fujiki!"

"No need to be so formal—call me Yuugi."

"Then… Mr. Yuugi!"

Ryo Fujiki shook his head and chuckled. He looked at the cards in his hand, then at Wan Wan Zhangmu's card pack, and lifted his gaze slightly. "How about this—we use the cards from these packs for a quick duel right here at this table."

"R-really?! I get to duel with you…?"

Wan Wan Zhangmu's eyes widened in shock.

Keep in mind that since Yugi Moto declared his intention to enter game design and even other games, he has essentially stopped dueling altogether—not even his master has dueled Yugi Moto since!

"It's just playing cards—no need to overthink," he shook his head. "Just have fun."

"Yes! Yes!!" Wan Wan Zhangmu became excited.

On the opposite side of the table, Judai and John were slinging arms over each other's shoulders. Seeing what happened, Judai sighed enviously: "That's awesome—I wish I could duel Mr. Yuugi too…"

Yuugi tore open a card pack, glanced at it, laid the cards face-down together, and gave them a light shuffle as he asked, "Wan Wan Zhangmu, are you Ryo Fujiki's student?"

"Y-yes!"

"I notice you seem dissatisfied with your score."

"That's right!" Hearing this, he immediately perked up, no longer as tense, clenching his fist. "I should at least be on par with Judai… no, I should be on par with Tenjo!"

"Hmm…" Yuugi didn't refute Wan Wan Zhangmu's fiery attitude. As they set up the field together, he added, "Actually, Kaiba is also dissatisfied."

"!!!" Wan Wan Zhangmu's eyes widened.

What…?

"Ah, not directed at you. Sorry—I wasn't careful with my wording." Ryo Fujiki coughed lightly, then continued, "Actually, he's dissatisfied with the results of the Grand Duel."

"Aaaah…" John sighed deeply.

"To you, our duels with the S-Dimension seem mostly wins, with excellent performance—but to Kaiba, it's unacceptable."

"Why?" Wan Wan Zhangmu asked quickly.

He'd always wanted to know what his master thought, what he desired—but since Kaiba Ryo was essentially an ultimate version of himself, he dared not speak to him directly, leaving him perpetually confused whenever facing Kaiba.

He desperately wanted to understand Kaiba Ryo's thoughts.

As Yuugi placed his card forward with a light "thrust," striking Wan Wan Zhangmu's monster and reducing his LP, he explained: "This world has only been exposed to other dimensions for about half a year. Before that, it developed in isolation, entirely within itself."

"But our world has spent years exploring other dimensions. Most of the students here for this Friendship Cup, funded by Kaiba Corp, have already passed through Dimension Gates into the Spirit World. Compared to people in this world, we are far more 【advanced】."

As Ryo Fujiki spoke, he laid four cards face-down on his field: "Yet under these circumstances, our students' results against satellite zone duelists—officially weaker opponents—are mediocre, even occasionally losing."

John awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

Besides him, only one other person lost—but that person lost to Jack, so it wasn't embarrassing.

Of course, both Yuugi and Kaiba knew that Yusei wasn't an ordinary duelist—but that didn't matter.

In short, from Kaiba's perspective, their dimension's decades-long lead in dimensional exploration, when interacting with this world, didn't crush the opposition—instead, it appeared nearly evenly matched in duels. What does that mean?

It means the S-Dimension's overall strength is far higher than their world's average. It means their dimensional exploration hasn't progressed enough.

"So that's how it is… I understand." Wan Wan Zhangmu suddenly realized.

At first glance, they all won—but their opponents, aside from a few specific ones like Yusei, Yugi, and Rin, were mostly just casual duelists. Even among those, several were younger than them. How could anyone be satisfied?

"You've seen it too—Kaiba seeks an endless peak of dueling."

Everyone nodded.

In this universe—or rather, within humanity's current understanding of the "ultimate peak"—it must be the legendary Pharaoh residing in the Netherworld.

So that's why…

Everyone finally understood.

"Hmm, time's getting late." Yuugi checked the time—he had other matters to attend to. He glanced at the field and smiled. "It's time to talk about the cards in this world."

"Based on my observations, whether in the X-Dimension or this world, their cards are more advanced than ours. Though their development paths differ slightly, overall they represent an evolution of our world's cards. So, in this world, there are also entirely new evolutionary forms of our world's series."

"Huh? What's that?" Judai asked instinctively.

Ryo Fujiki chuckled softly, didn't explain, and simply used a card from his hand.

"Quick-Play Magic: Mask Change Type-2."

!!

Tenjo Hikari suddenly stood up.

"These cards—" he was excited.

The card he had searched for so long in his original world, even across countless dimensions, had appeared before him now!

"Yes." Ryo Fujiki nodded lightly. "They exist."

He couldn't help but smile again: "You recognized it? So the rumors weren't exaggerations—you truly understand Fusion inside and out. Impressive."

"In short, discard one card from your hand to send one face-up monster on your field to the graveyard, then Special Summon one 【Masked Hero】 monster with the same attribute and higher level from your Extra Deck as a Mask Change Special Summon."

"Masked Hero?! Other Heroes??" Judai jumped up in shock.

Yuugi sent one water-attribute monster from his field to the graveyard, picked up a card from his Extra Deck, and placed a blue Hero directly onto the field.

"Now I can Special Summon without Fusion—Masked Hero Mist Water."

"Ah—"

"Wow…!" Judai was thrilled. "A… brand-new Hero!"

Then, under Wan Wan Zhangmu's astonished gaze, Yuugi used "Torrential Tribute," a card that destroys all monsters, and, relying on Mist Water's immunity to card effects, launched a direct attack to win.

Afterward, Yuugi collected his cards and waved goodbye to Tenjo Hikari and the others.

Before sitting down, Ryo Fujiki selected a few card packs for each of them. Only after he left did Tenjo Hikari and the others look at the packs in their hands.

They might obtain unique cards from this world—the Synchro series—or even draw brand-new cards from a specific series!

Tenjo Hikari cheerfully began drawing cards. He opened first the pack Ryo Fujiki had specially picked for him—and the moment he saw the card inside, both he and Tierra widened their eyes in excitement.

The first card: excellent news—Next-Gen Spare!

A card from the Next-Gen series—a vital component for Tierra's synthesis!

Then, Tenjo Hikari quickly opened the other packs.

It was no surprise—Ryo Fujiki had personally selected these packs. Even Tenjo Hikari, whose luck was usually terrible, seemed to have unexpectedly improved.

Though the second pack yielded nothing, in the third pack, as Tenjo Hikari saw the purple background and Tierra gasped "Wow!", he saw the brand-new card…

Ice Prison Dragon Tricera Dragon!

Chapter Two, by the way, the new card from the Digital World, that new Backup Secretary, looked quite nice.

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(End of Chapter)