Chapter 2: The Cocoon of Evolution

"Duel!" ×2. This book's first release: read good novels on Tiantian, ttks. tw — super worry-free, giving you a flawless, properly-ordered chapter reading experience.

【You Tian: LP4000】

【Insect YuE: LP4000】

The two duel disks unfolded, and instantly drew some passersby to come watch.

"Wow! It's a duel!"

"That guy looks like the All-Japan Champion, Insect YuE!"

"Ah! For real? The legendary YuE?"

"Who's the one across from him?"

"Don't recognize him."

Listening to the chatter of the people around him, YuE felt quite pleased with himself.

Ever since his crushing defeat at the hands of Game in Duelist Kingdom, his prestige in duelist circles had plummeted.

Even his autograph, nobody wanted anymore!

This time, he had to get a good placement in Duel City and restore his reputation.

First, he'd snatch the Raya card and chip from the guy right in front of him.

In a bit, Jonouchi — whose deck had been tampered with — would deliver him another Raya card and chip; in less than half a day, he could advance directly!

"Hee hee hee!" Thinking of this, YuE let out another lecherous laugh.

"I'll take the first turn!" Insect YuE was the first to call out first turn.

You Tian understood — in this world, who goes first is still decided by who's loudest.

"My turn, Draw Phase!"

You Tian froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered — in DM, the first-turn player can draw.

YuE drew a card.

"You bastard, get a good taste of the terror of my Insect deck!"

"I Summon 【Dragonfly】 in Attack Position."

As YuE slotted a card into his Duel Disk, a giant dragonfly-man projection appeared in the middle of the field.

【Attack Power: 1400】

"Hee hee hee! I Set Card one more, end of turn."

You Tian watched the monster projection before him with some curiosity.

Oh! This is how you play cards!

Wonder when K社 will ever manage to make holographic projections.

"Hey, you! If you surrender now, there's still time!" YuE pushed up his glasses and said disdainfully.

You Tian shot him a look.

Why do all the villains in the Original Plot come out with some random line like this for no reason?

We haven't even fought yet, and you're already trying to talk me into surrendering?

You Tian straightened his expression.

"A true Duelist will never surrender without a fight!"

"My turn, Draw Phase!"

He looked at the card he drew, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"I Set Card one monster face-down, Set Card two cards, end of turn!"

"Tch! Playing defense?" YuE scoffed disdainfully.

"You talk so pretty, but in the end you're just a gutless coward!"

You Tian was a bit speechless. The dueling philosophy of this first generation is honestly too plain and simple.

If a duelist from the later eras saw three Set Cards on his field, they'd at least have a cardiac arrest out of respect.

YuE: "My turn, Draw Phase!"

"Hmph! Then let me end this Duel quickly! I Summon 【FlyingMantis】 in Attack Position!"

【Attack Power: 1500】

"I'm not done — I activate an Equip Magic Card from my hand, 【Mechalord #1: Mech-Mounted Missile】, and equip it to 【FlyingMantis】."

"This card lets InsectRace monsters gain 700 Attack Power!"

【Attack Power: 1500→2200】

A bystander cried out in shock: "What? He just Summoned a monster with 2200 Attack Power!"

YuE pushed up his glasses.

"Hee hee hee! Such a powerful monster — your deck definitely doesn't have one, right!"

"But it's already too late if you want to surrender now!"

You Tian spread his hands, his face helpless: although a 2200 Attack Power monster in the later eras' game environment where Attack Power routinely hit four or five thousand could only be counted as a "loli," in his current deck, he really didn't have a monster with higher Attack Power than that.

He'd taken a rough look earlier — the highest Attack Power in his deck was only the 1350 【Throne Invader】.

"I use 【FlyingMantis】 to attack your face-down monster. Go, FlyingMantis!"

With YuE's command, 【FlyingMantis】 brought one scythe straight down.

A sinister smile curled at the corner of You Tian's mouth.

"I activate a Trap Card!"

"Crap!" YuE cried out.

He felt he'd gotten a bit too carried away.

Although the opponent didn't look that strong, he might still have some powerful cards on him, like 【Mirror Force】 or something.

Both monsters on his own field were in Attack Position; if they ran into a trap, they'd probably be wiped out.

But once You Tian's Trap Card stood up, YuE sneered disdainfully in his heart again.

"【Envoy of the Moonlit Path】?"

"Hee hee hee! A newbie is a newbie—actually running such a useless card." YuE said as much.

You Tian didn't bother to argue, just expressionlessly explained the card's effect.

"The effect of 【Envoy of the Moonlit Path】—this turn, the monsters on my field cannot be destroyed by battle, and battle damage I take becomes 0!"

"Next, the face-down monster you attacked flips over—come forth, 【Wind Effigy of Vein】!"

As the card face flipped over, a green-haired, green-robed mage girl appeared on the field.

【Defense: 1500】

FlyingMantis's giant pincer cleaved straight down at the girl, but thanks to 【Envoy of the Moonlit Path】's effect, a transparent barrier shimmered up in front of her and blocked the attack.

YuE shook his head: "A last-ditch struggle, nothing more…"

But before YuE could keep talking, You Tian cut him off.

"I activate the effect of 【Wind Effigy of Vein】—when this card is flipped, I gain control of one WIND-Attribute monster on your field!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the girl raised her staff, murmured something softly, as if saying "come over here." Then, with a surge of green energy, the FlyingMantis on YuE's field uncontrollably flew over to You Tian's side of the field.

"Nani!" YuE cried out in shock.

The onlookers also let out a gasp of surprise.

"You bastard! Using such a despicable move!"

You Tian was speechless.

Him, a fine young man of Blue Star, getting called despicable and shameless by the number-one most shameless Duelist in Yu-Gi-Oh!

"Didn't you say my deck didn't have any monsters this strong? So let me borrow one for a bit!"

YuE gnashed his teeth.

"Use your own cards! Unforgivable! I attack FlyingMantis with 【Dragonfly】!"

You Tian raised an eyebrow.

As expected, 【Dragonfly】 had 1400 Attack Power and FlyingMantis had 2200 Attack Power, so 【Dragonfly】 was simply smashed apart in one pincer strike.

"Gyaa!"

【YuE: LP4000→LP3200】

"Hee hee hee!" YuE lowered his head and let out a sinister chuckle.

"Are you wondering why I'd send my own 【Dragonfly】 to the graveyard?"

You Tian indicated that he didn't find it strange at all.

"Then let me tell you—this is the battle strategy of the All-Japan Champion!"

"When 【Dragonfly】 is destroyed by battle, I can Special Summon one InsectRace monster with 1500 or less Attack Power from my deck! Come forth, 【Petit Moth】!"

【Attack Power: 300】

"Hee hee hee!" YuE let out another sinister chuckle.

"Are you wondering why I'd Summon a small fry with only 300 Attack Power?"

You Tian indicated that he really didn't find it strange.

"Hmph! Let me show you the ace card in my deck!"

"I equip EvolutionCocoon from my hand to 【Petit Moth】."

"The caterpillar on the field was instantly wrapped in silk, forming a giant cocoon."

"Hee hee hee—in five turns, 【Petit Moth】 will complete its evolution and become 【Great Moth】, with 3500 Attack Power!"

The surrounding crowd stirred again.

"Looks like YuE is still the stronger one—in five turns, he can Summon a monster even more powerful than the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

You Tian smacked his lips.

"Uh, but your cocoon is in Attack Position, y'know—its Attack Power is 0. Aren't you afraid that…"

YuE let out a cold laugh.

"A champion sees further than you do! From my hand, I activate a Continuous Spell Card—BugNet!"

"With this card on the field, the InsectRace monsters on your field cannot attack!"

You Tian thought to himself: Just as expected.

"Next, I activate the face-down Trap—DNAAlterationSurgery. This way, all monsters on the field become the Type I declare."

"Naturally, what I declare is—InsectRace! This way, even if you Summon new monsters, they still can't attack!"

You Tian opened his mouth.

Alright then.

When it came to pulling stunts, it had to be YuE! He couldn't help but admire his opponent a little.

At the very least, he himself would absolutely never use a vanilla 【Great Moth】 whose Summoning difficulty ranked in the top ten out of the tens of thousands of cards in later eras.

Looking at the EvolutionCocoon his opponent had spent five cards' worth of resources to set up on the field, then glancing at the SubstituteStoneStatue in his own hand, You Tian could only observe a moment of silence for his opponent in advance.