https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-28-Our-Silence-is-Truly-Too-Strong/12556941/
Chapter 27: Understanding Anime-themed Deck Building
Chapter 27: Understanding Anime-themed Deck Building
【Genichiro Ghostucker, LP 0】
The final attack had taken away the remainder of his life points, and in this dark duel that he himself had instigated, it also signaled the end of the duelist's true life.
At this moment, he couldn't even feel the pain from the impact of the Dark Duel.
Because he had started to lose all sensation in his body.
During the duel, he had boasted that it was the other person's misfortune to be caught by him.
But now, who was truly unfortunate?
This young man was strong, but he felt different from the other powerful opponents he had faced before.
How should he put it... It was as if the duel in his eyes and the understanding of it in the eyes of others were completely dissimilar.
This was also the first time in Genichiro's history that he had ever had such a thought after a duel—
—Duels are difficult.
Genichiro, defeated, fell to the ground, and his body was enveloped in a layer of golden light. Soon, he dispersed into particles of light and vanished.
Just like those who lost and perished in the GX alternate dimension arc.
You Xuan drew in a sharp breath.
That was close! Dark Duels were indeed dangerous. To be scattered into ashes after losing was truly terrifying. Thankfully, he had emerged victorious.
However, in his opinion, this person's K-language skills seemed far from proficient. How could someone with such limited skills be a Dark Duelist? It was a miracle that he had survived this long with his Life Points.
Wait a minute.
You Xuan realized that he was still thinking with his past life's mindset.
He shouldn't think like that. In this world, a duelist's strength was more dependent on luck and drawing the right cards, and the ability to interpret card texts using K-language might just be a secondary factor.
Indeed, it was still a dangerous world, and he couldn't let his guard down for a moment. He needed to continue gathering powerful cards and strengthening his own abilities. That was the only way to survive.
And he could start right here, right now.
You Xuan walked forward, bent down, and picked up the Duel Disk that now belonged to the deceased Genichiro.
With its owner gone, the deck was now ownerless.
You Xuan solemnly said, "It was a good duel. Rest in peace, my friend. I shall inherit your deck and carry on your will."
He then pocketed the deck.
As he turned to leave, he felt a chill run down his spine, as if a cold wind had blown past him.
The next morning, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting a soft glow on the floor of the room. You Xuan opened his heavy eyelids groggily, and his blurry vision slowly focused.
He thought he saw... a girl?
With silver hair billowing, she held a staff in one hand and covered her mouth with the other. Half of her ethereal body had phased through him as he lay in bed. She stared at him with bright eyes, sneaking curious glances as if sizing him up.
However, as soon as he opened his eyes, a "!" seemed to appear over the girl's head, and she quickly turned away, disappearing back into the Duel Disk leaning against the table, becoming silent.
You Xuan: "..."
After the tumultuous events of the previous night and their first cooperative effort, You Xuan realized that the silent girl wasn't deliberately targeting him or refusing to acknowledge him as her master. She was simply "silent."
In other words, she was introverted.
Indeed, as the saying goes, "Like master, like servant." It seemed fitting that the sprite, as an extension of her master's personality, would also be introverted.
Regardless, she had been a great help during the unexpected duel. It was truly dangerous to roam the world of Duel Monsters without a powerful deck or a sprite companion.
And though he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, You Xuan felt that during the Life Point gamble yesterday, there had been something different about the duel when Silent Magician was in his deck.
It was a feeling that was hard to describe precisely. But it was as if, when he touched his deck, in every moment of drawing a card, he could faintly sense a certain rhythm.
It was as if, before this, his deck had been merely a tool for dueling, just like the Duel Disk.
But in that duel, for the first time, he had the illusion that his deck had come to life.
Of course, this feeling was rather mystical, and it could also be that he was overthinking things.
"Regardless, I must become stronger," You Xuan said to himself.
The sudden Life Point gamble had once again reminded You Xuan of the importance of dueling well in this world. It was more reliable than carrying an arsenal of weapons.
As he reflected on the consecutive duels he had recently engaged in, he also gained some new insights.
When looking at the decks of many anime characters from a dueler's perspective, one might often be astonished and wonder how they managed to make such systems work. But if one considered that certain exceptional duelists like "never draw a bad hand," and then examined their decks, a similar trait would be found.
Their decks were filled with cards that seemed to have ☆no clear purpose☆ (scratch that)
No matter the situation, their decks always seemed to have a solution.
In reality, decks were usually designed to be stable and efficient. But even the most mainstream decks would occasionally encounter situations where "none of the cards in the entire deck could turn the tide."
There would be times when, facing a specific opponent or circumstance, a dueler would clearly realize that no matter which card they drew from their deck, they wouldn't be able to overcome the challenge.
Such situations might be extremely rare, and even if they occurred, one could simply surrender and move on, without affecting the status of a mainstream deck. But in this world, it was different.
In a Dark Duel, there was only one chance—win and live, lose and perish. There was no opportunity to surrender and try again.
Therefore, some decks that seemed filled with cards of ☆ambiguous purpose☆ actually achieved the idea of "having a solution for almost any situation."
Similarly, in reality, deck building typically aimed for a precise count of forty cards, minimizing the deck size to reduce the chances of drawing dead cards and maximizing efficiency.
Only the top duelists had the skill to handle such systems, and only masters like Yugi and Kaiba could seamlessly blend four to five completely different axes into a single deck, never suffering from a dead hand and giving their opponents the feeling that they were dueling against four to five independent decks at the same time.
In desperate times, it wasn't entirely impossible to draw a card that wasn't in your deck. However, for ordinary duelists without the skill to emulate the builds and tactics of these top players, starting with a sixty-card deck would only lead to more frustration and dead hands, resulting in a strange environment where the gap between the experts and the amateurs widened drastically.
You Xuan felt that he had gained another insight.
While the Yin Realm was powerful, it wouldn't be enough to rely solely on it in this world. His current opponents could be handled with just his deck construction, but in the future, he would need to expand and develop more versatile styles and strategies while building on this foundation.
Deck construction was important, but so was having a lucky draw and synergy. He needed to excel in both aspects.
The recent duels had not only made You Xuan realize that the card game environment in anime was different but also that there were many other aspects that differed from what he was familiar with.
When he used to watch the anime, he didn't think much about it, but now that he was personally dueling, he realized that just like in the animation, the duelists here wouldn't actively give him a chance to respond when they activated an effect.
According to the rules You Xuan knew from his previous life, whenever an effect was activated, the opponent had to be given the opportunity to respond. Both players would then activate all their cards on the same chain before resolving the effects in sequence.
Unless the opponent stated "no response" or "instant activation," one could confidently proceed with their actions.
But that wasn't the case here. Whether it was in the anime or in his personal encounters with other duelists, they would immediately start resolving the effect on their own without giving any chance to respond.
However, he soon realized that this didn't make much of a difference because the rules regarding chain links weren't that strict. Even if the opponent had already started resolving the effect of their card, it wouldn't prevent him from interrupting and activating his own effect.
This made sense, as otherwise, whoever spoke faster would be able to skip the response window and prevent their opponent from playing their cards.
And this wasn't due to the rules being incomplete in the early anime; even in the later series that followed the real-life card game rules, the same situation persisted.
From an animation production standpoint, it could be speculated that the creators prioritized dramatic effects over strictly adhering to the rules. If everyone followed the rules and activated all their cards before resolving them in sequence, it might impact the dramatic effects of certain plot twists.
While this kind of operation was unrealistic from a practical perspective, it was generally just an animation effect that rarely influenced the outcome of the duel.
You Xuan also discovered that dueling was indeed physically demanding. The physical education teacher at Duel Academy emphasized that without a healthy body, one couldn't duel well, and You Xuan, who initially found it amusing, was beginning to understand the truth behind those words.
Especially after last night's life-or-death duel, which was truly exhausting. He didn't feel it during the duel, but afterward, he felt drained, wanting nothing more than to fall into a deep sleep.
Only after waking up did he feel refreshed, his mind sharp and ready to work again.
The victory from the previous night brought him a substantial reward. Genichiro, as a dark duelist who lived on the edge, had a valuable deck. You Xuan estimated that even if he couldn't use some of the cards himself, he could still sell them for a good price on the market and use the money to buy the cards he wanted.
But the most important card, without a doubt, was the anime-effect version of "Graceful Charity."
It was a godly card that allowed him to instantly draw five cards, and the hilarious downside of discarding his hand after five turns was like a slap in the face to his opponents, rendering cards like "Pot of Greed" utterly useless.
It was a shame that he only had one copy. You Xuan even wished that he could have three of them in his deck. He also yearned for the other two cards that were considered God cards during the DM era, alongside "Graceful Charity" – "Pot of Greed" and "Legacy of Yata-Garasu."
"Pot of Greed" belonged to Joey Wheeler. It was basically a dice roll – you roll a die, draw a number of cards equal to the roll, and then remove the same number of cards from the top of your deck from the game. It was another broken card, but aside from Joey, no one else seemed to use it in the anime, and by the time GX rolled around, it had disappeared entirely.
"Legacy of Yata-Garasu" was Yugi's card, and it allowed both players to draw until they had six cards in their hand. It was an overpowered card, and while Yugi was the primary user, many other characters in DM used it as well, making it a fairly common card. It even made an appearance in GX, but You Xuan hadn't seen it on the market yet.
The three God cards from the DM era, how I long for them...
Now, his greatest hope lay in the path that lay before him – Duel Academy.
It was rumored that once someone entered the academy, they would find themselves in an entirely different world. Ordinary duelists couldn't even imagine the vast array of rare cards available, and according to online rumors, it was a place where "you could get your hands on anything."
In just three days, the annual enrollment assessment for Duel Academy would be held at KaibaLand.
He would definitely make it in.
(End of Chapter)
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