Chapter 141: The Appointment

Next, Gui Ping generously showed Fujiki You Xuan the extensive inventory currently stored at headquarters.

When the password lock unlocked and the heavy military-grade alloy door slowly swung open before him, Fujiki You Xuan had to admit the sight was striking.

Everywhere his eyes could see was cards.

It might not be an exaggeration to call this the romanticism of a card enthusiast—he had never before seen such a vast space entirely filled with an ocean of duel monster cards, like a tempting treasure cave.

On both walls stood towering display cases, neatly arranged like proud guardians. Inside, the cards were diverse, organized by year and type: from the earliest versions crafted from the Duel Monster tablets first unearthed by Pegasus, to newer series developed with each passing year's scientific progress.

This place felt less like a warehouse and more like a library.

What could be seen here was not merely a variety of cards, but also the traces of time. The display cases held not just cards, but frozen moments of every era Duel Monsters had traversed, the footprints of countless explorers' discoveries and advancements.

Gui Ping didn't say how many he could take, only told him to take whatever he wanted. But Fujiki You Xuan knew he still needed basic restraint—clearly, emptying an entire warehouse would be a bit too much.

So he prioritized only what was on his list.

Still, in this world, cards were supernatural; even Sea Horse Corporation's standard inventory didn't have everything. But this place was truly the holy ground every duelist dreamed of—many cards long out of print, even the Academy Division couldn't access, were here.

For example, the trap card Sea Horse himself most loved during the DM era: the ancient banned card, 【Death Deck Destruction Virus】.

And the version Sea Horse used differed slightly from the real card's effect.

The original real card's effect was: sacrifice one of your own monsters with 1000 or less ATK to destroy all of your opponent's monsters with 1500 or more ATK on the field and in hand for three turns.

This effect was banned for being too powerful, until it was weakened in 2015 and finally unbanned.

Even so, the original effect differed from the anime version. In the anime, Sea Horse's Death Virus triggered only when one of his own monsters with 1000 or less ATK was destroyed in battle, then destroyed all of his opponent's monsters with 1500 or more ATK in hand, on the field, and in the deck.

From today's perspective, this effect wasn't necessarily stronger than the original real card's—first, requiring your own monster to be "destroyed in battle" to trigger was already inconvenient.

Moreover, "destroying all of your opponent's monsters with 1500 or more ATK in their deck" meant instantly filling their entire deck's graveyard. Against decks that treated graveyard resources as a second hand, this act was practically suicide—you'd be eliminating yourself on the spot.

But in the early environment where graveyard usage wasn't yet high, this deck destruction power was genuinely brutal.

Sea Horse, who always favored aggressive pressure, rarely employed such a dark strategy—and yet he'd used it more than once or twice.

After consideration, Fujiki You Xuan still added this card to his collection. Such a devastating weapon could sometimes backfire and destroy himself, but in specific situations, it could yield miraculous results.

Most of the other cards he selected afterward weren't worth mentioning—mainly expanding his fusion deck inventory, though his current main deck didn't focus on fusion; these were designed for the system built around the spell card 【Sudden Mutation】.

The rest he collected were cards he thought useful in specific builds or had high rarity value and could fetch a good price.

But indeed, in this era, fusion monsters without summoning restrictions were mostly weaklings; their main purpose was to serve as level-appropriate monsters usable by 【Sudden Mutation】 for the 【Chaos Mutation Phoenix God】 deck.

Another rare card that caught his attention was a soul monster.

Tsukuyomi.

A four-star monster with 1100 ATK; its effect: when summoned, flip one face-up monster on the field into face-down defense position. After summoning, it returns to the controller's hand at the end of the turn.

In other words, it was essentially a "Book of the Moon" usable once per turn, except it consumed one Normal Summon. A seemingly unremarkable monster, but in early real-card history, it was an exceptionally powerful general-purpose card, later restricted due to its widespread use in top-tier decks across multiple archetypes.

From the perspective of its impact on the environment, the rise in Tsukuyomi's appearance rate directly lowered the evaluation of monsters with high attack or effect power but defense below 1100.

Among those criticized was the famous Emperor deck series. The Emperor's upper monsters each possessed powerful effects, but their greatest weakness was their uniform 1000 DEF—awkwardly 100 points lower than Tsukuyomi, the so-called "human Book of the Moon."

That meant: you spent a tribute to summon an upper Emperor, and your opponent simply Normal Summoned Tsukuyomi to flip it face-down—then punched it out in one hit. And Tsukuyomi could self-recover, returning to hand to be reused next turn.

Effectively, you traded one Normal Summon resource to eliminate an upper monster—economically, this was a favorable exchange.

In any case, this trip to Sea Horse Corporation had yielded ample rewards: he'd advanced closer to evolving his Chaos into its complete form, acquired key materials for Ritual Chaos, and significantly strengthened his deck's endgame.

But he remembered that this deck once had another key monster—a powerful endgame capable of easily turning the tide in desperation, banned once due to its high usage rate and blunt, brute-force effect.

Thousand-Eyed Sacrificial Demon

Pegasus's ace monster in the Duel Kingdoms arc, one of the rare Level 1 fusion monsters. Forget its effect—just seeing its 0 ATK and 0 DEF told you it was no ordinary creature.

Its signature effect absorbed opponent's monsters as equip cards, gaining their ATK and DEF. It wasn't just a staple for Chaos decks—it was a widely used "bus" support in many competitive decks back then.

But unfortunately, even Sea Horse Corporation's warehouse didn't seem to have it.

Fujiki You Xuan specifically asked Gui Ping, who shook his head: no, they didn't have it.

Of course—after all, it was Pegasus's ace, a card the Father of Duel Monsters printed exclusively for himself; it was unlikely to appear anywhere else.

"Still, I recall Pegasus released a reprint—something like a tournament giveaway card, I think."

Gui Ping thought for a moment.

"The International Illusion Society might have it."

"."

Fujiki You Xuan fell into thought.

Even so, he had no contacts at the International Illusion Society.

Oh—he'd just beaten up a mech professor. Maybe that counted as half an acquaintance. But that guy didn't look like he'd want to chat amiably with him.

"."

Without realizing it, he'd spent half the day in the warehouse. Fujiki You Xuan stepped out, carrying another box of cards, thoroughly satisfied, and returned to the previous office to find Gui Ping.

"Looks like you found cards you're happy with," Gui Ping smiled.

"Yes, thank you," Fujiki You Xuan replied.

Gui Ping waved his hand generously: "No problem, no problem. Like I said—if you really want to thank me, just don't disappoint me on the dueling field."

As long as you give me a satisfying duel, this small investment means nothing."

It certainly sounded very much like a CEO's style.

After all, he'd built satellites and chased souls to the underworld just to get someone to duel him—compared to that, spending a few cards to satisfy his card craving was negligible.

Gui Ping stood up: "Alright, I should be going."

Fujiki You Xuan understood: "To Tiamat Nightwalker's foundation?"

"Yes, it's been a long time since I last contacted him directly—I'll go see what he's up to. Though I'm surprised..."

Gui Ping studied Fujiki You Xuan.

"He specifically requested—if possible—he'd like to meet you."

"Me?"

"Yes, perhaps your duel just now left a strong impression on him," Gui Ping said. "But don't take it too seriously—if you don't want to go, I'll decline for you."

So, are you heading straight back to the Academy now? Or..."

Fujiki You Xuan thought.

At this hour, returning to the Academy would mean nothing—likely just going back to rest.

"I've got nothing else to do," Fujiki You Xuan shrugged. "Since they sincerely invited me, I might as well go see."

(End of Chapter)