Chapter 1: The World of GX
Chapter 1: The World of GX
You Xuan slowly opened his eyes, bewildered by the unfamiliar surroundings.
It was a room he had never seen before, yet it exuded a strange sense of familiarity. Sunlight filtered through the window panes, casting a dappled pattern on the soft floor, sparkling like stardust. Even the air seemed lighter and more transparent in the warm sunshine.
His head throbbed with a dull ache, and strange images and unfamiliar snippets flashed through his mind. Some instinct seemed to be telling him that he was facing an extraordinary situation—
—He had traveled through time and space.
You Xuan looked around, his gaze soon drawn to the computer on the desk.
The computer was turned on, displaying a webpage for a search engine he had never seen before.
The large characters in the search bar clearly read, "Kaiba Search."
Even more intriguing were the trending news stories below the search bar.
"East Capital University Research Team Discovers New Form of 'Summoning of the Doomed King,' Doom Monster Decks May Receive a Huge Boost!"
You Xuan: "?"
Out of curiosity, he clicked on the article. It reported that after tireless research, the team had unlocked new potential in the well-known Doom-type monster, "Summoning of the Doomed King," and had published a paper in an internationally renowned Duel Monsters journal.
A spokesperson for the team stated that they had already spoken with the CEO of International Illusion Inc., Pegasus J. Crawford, and that International Illusion was assisting them in developing new cards.
If one couldn't recognize this as the world of Duel Monsters after seeing this, then You Xuan would be ashamed of his years of playing the game.
This was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a world where the cards held supreme power, and the very foundation and rules of the universe were based on dueling.
Below the trending news was an even more outrageous headline.
"International Conflict in the Middle East Eases, Leaders of Both Countries Decide to Resolve Disputes Through Dueling."
You Xuan: "."
After reading the title, a scene seemed to unfold in his mind. On a smoky battlefield, two armies stood facing each other, their guns and cannons aimed and ready.
At that moment, the generals of both armies stepped forward from their trenches, brandishing their Duel Disks and Deck cases on their arms, deciding to settle the territorial dispute with a tense and thrilling game of Duel Monsters.
It was utterly absurd, and yet, this was how this world functioned.
Duel Monsters was the only path to attaining extraordinary power, transcending time and space, and rewriting the rules of reality in this universe.
As his brain shook off its grogginess, new memories began to settle in. You Xuan quickly pieced together his identity in this world.
His name was now Fubuki You Xuan, male, and his current identity was... a Duel Apprentice at a Dueling Dojo?
Although it was called a Dojo, it felt more like a social training class for dueling. Unlike the formal Duel Academies, the Duel Dojo was a social institution that anyone could join as long as they paid the fees.
In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, dueling was certainly not considered an idle pastime. On the contrary, mastering the art of dueling could open up a bright future.
Duel Monsters cards had become integral to almost every aspect of life, and these days, even companies had to hire dedicated Duel Agents to handle all business matters that required dueling skills. Even Domino City, known as the "City of Duels," was said to have reached a point where one couldn't register their residence without a Deck, all thanks to Kaiba Corporation's influence.
However, this did not mean that the path would be easy. You Xuan's previous self had worked hard, juggling part-time jobs to pay for his tuition while attending the Dojo, striving towards becoming a true Duelist. But both he and those around him knew that his hopes were slim.
Because he was terrible at dueling.
While it was true that Duelists had limitless potential, the industry was also incredibly competitive. Unlike in his previous world, Duelists in this universe were acknowledged to be highly dependent on innate talent, and not everyone had the potential to become a master.
Setting aside other factors, if one couldn't even draw the cards they needed, what kind of Duelist could they be?
You Xuan thought about it and concluded that his previous self's dedication to this path, despite the hardships, was not a mistake.
In this world, whether one sought transcendence or desired to make a name for themselves in the city, Duel Monsters was the preferred path.
Therefore, since he had chosen this path, his greatest advantage would be the years of experience and knowledge he had accumulated as a die-hard Duel Monsters enthusiast in his previous life.
After a simple search, he quickly found the information he needed.
This was the classic fundamental dimension, where the dream began, the world of both Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the setting for their stories.
The current time node was likely after the conclusion of Duel Monsters and before or in the early stages of GX. With this knowledge, You Xuan now had a rough idea of the current Duel Monsters card environment.
Now, it was time to assess his predecessor's deck.
You Xuan: (─??─)
Are you serious with this deck?
Spreading out the cards, he saw a bulky sixty-card deck, no, this thing couldn't even be called a deck, it was more like a pile of cards.
First, on the monster side, there was a large number of normal monsters without any effects, the kind that card game enthusiasts would often describe using a term that Kaiba Corporation's CEO, Seto Kaiba, often had on his tongue—common bones.
Then, the entire construct was like a free-for-all, with almost no synergy between the cards. Whichever six cards he drew at the start would likely be unrelated, and You Xuan highly doubted the combat effectiveness of such a haphazard collection.
However, as he looked further, he seemed to gain some insight into his predecessor's deck-building thought process.
It's not very useful, but it's expensive.
The feeling was similar to the two episodes in the GX anime where Manjome's two brothers, who were rich but terrible at dueling, made their appearance. Those two brothers had money to burn and believed that money could solve everything, firmly believing that expensive cards were the best.
So, they splurged, buying a dozen of the most expensive rare cards to form a pay-to-win deck to challenge Manjome, but in the end, they were defeated by a temporary deck that Manjome had hastily put together from discarded cards he found in a dry well behind the school.
Apparently, his predecessor had made the same mistake as those two brothers in the anime. Many of the cards in this deck might have been earned through his predecessor's tireless part-time work, and seeing their outrageous market prices, You Xuan even suspected that the reason he had crossed over was because his predecessor had overworked himself to death.
However, looking at these nominally super-rare cards that seemed meaningless to him, he couldn't help but silently feel that his predecessor hadn't gotten his money's worth.
In the world of card games, many powerful cards were indeed expensive, but expensive didn't always mean good. Many cards in this world were pricey simply because they were "rare." For example, some cards were made from archaeological artifacts, while others were made from diamond rings and jewels.
There were even some that were expensive simply because the summoned monsters looked good and were popular, but their production was low, so their prices were high—especially for certain female fairy-type monsters who were scantily clad yet generously endowed.
So, after going through the entire deck, You Xuan estimated that only a few of the expensive trap cards were somewhat useful.
It seemed that the initial deck would have to be completely overhauled.
You Xuan thought for a moment and once again turned to the internet, searching for competition videos of current mainstream professional Duelists to get a rough understanding of their strategies and the current meta.
Sure enough, just like in the anime, the Duelists of this era generally sought to overpower their opponents with brute force, striving to bring out their high-attack, cool-looking ace monsters to gain field advantage.
Watching several competition videos in a row, You Xuan couldn't help but sigh.
What a pure and innocent world.
In any case, it seemed that most Duelists of the time shared a common problem—
—They were full of sunshine.
In the current world, the Yin-Yang Index was eight points, with the former Duel King, Yugi Muto, accounting for one point on his own, and the rest of the world owing him another two points.
Now that Yugi Muto had retired from dueling, all Duelists looked up to Seto Kaiba, the legendary Duelist known for his pursuit of power and his iconic phrase, "I crush your hopes and dreams." The entire dueling environment was thus filled with positive, sunny vibes.
And so, You Xuan's deck-building strategy was decided.
He would bring a little bit of the underworld's fun to this overly sunny card world.
(End of Chapter)
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