The initial card deck from the crossing has now taken shape. After verifying that everything is correct, Yugen naturally started to feel a bit itchy.
It's impossible for any card enthusiast not to want to test the quality right after completing a card deck.
So for him, the first target was naturally to head directly to the dojo his predecessor belonged to, preparing to randomly find a dojo colleague to bring him the joy of dueling.
Upon arriving at the dojo, he walked in to see a group of students gathered in one spot, making a racket.
"No wonder Brother Sato succeeded in transcending!"
Yugen raised an eyebrow and looked over curiously.
Surrounded by fellow students was a blond guy with a haircut that seemed to be good at playing cards. He seemed to be humble but his face couldn't hide his pride: "Oh no, just luckily reached Three-Star, it's average, haha..."
"Level three, huh! Brother Sato should be the first level three in our dojo, right?"
"So strong..."
Yugen searched through his predecessor's memory with a frown, and finally understood what they were talking about.
The Duelist Star System is an evaluation index of strength that Kaiba Company adjusts based on the performance of each duelist registered in the company's internal system, the same system that appeared in the "Yu-Gi-Oh! DM" anime.
Normally, duelist star levels range from Level 1 to Level 8, with eight stages in total. In the DM Duel City arc, Duel King Muto Yuugi and Seto Kaiba themselves were rated as Level 8.
However, it's also evident that this system is not absolutely authoritative, sometimes involving personal factors. For example, Joey Wheeler, the man Kaiba dismissively called "Mortal Bone."
Joey was referred to by Beckas as "the world's third duelist after Yuugi and Kaiba," yet in the Kaiba Company system evaluation, he was only Level 2, considered an amateur level.
It's hard to say that this doesn't involve some personal grudges between the President and the Mortal Bone...
But that was already during the Duel City era. Now Joey Wheeler has long been adjusted to Level 8, the highest level among ordinary duelists, and is called "Legendary Duelist" by the world.
While President Seto Kaiba pompously adjusted himself to Level 10.
There are currently only two Level 10 duelists. One is Seto Kaiba himself, and the other is King Muto Yuugi, who has long retired.
This setup partly stems from President Kaiba's belief that he is above all current duelists, while also acknowledging Muto Yuugi as the only opponent in the world worthy of matching him...
...well, to say matching is actually a bit exaggerated. Because the world knows that throughout his life, President Kaiba has challenged Duel King Muto Yuugi countless times, yet never won a single match.
As for Yugen's predecessor's rating in the system...
...One-Star.
The fighter jet among rookies.
Yugen: (´ヘ｀;)
It's obviously because the predecessor was both bad and playful, often going to Kaiba Group's arenas to play matches yet losing more than winning, over time naturally resulting in his star level nosediving to the abyss.
Usually, to improve one's star level, one must play matches in the arena, although the arena matches seem to peak at Four-Star at most; further advancement requires participating in public competitions.
He then remembered that when searching the Duel Academy enrollment conditions, there was seemingly a stipulation that Kaiba Company certified duelists must at least be Level 3.
In this system, Level Seven and Eight are either legendary duelists or top professionals. Most professional players are usually Level Six, with a few lower-level professionals at Level Five.
Amateur duelists generally gather at Level Two. Level One is below average rookies, while Level Three is considered as skilled.
Thus, the Duel Academy enrollment requirement of Three-Star and above is actually quite high.
But this makes sense. At this stage, the world's dueling education is still in its infancy, and school choices are not plentiful. Kaiba's academy is top-notch among them, with the academy's quality and massive resource investments being well-recognized.
In the opening of GX, the principal mentioned in a speech that academy admissions are strict, hence the students present are all elites. In the anime, even the passerby students in the academy—even those at the bottom in Osiris Red Dormitory—in theory are superior to most duelists outside.
"So to enter the academy, you'll need to rank up first..." Yugen's mouth twitched.
The student surrounded by everyone was named Sato Koji, already the senior in this small dojo. This week he seemed to have good luck reaching Three-Star, and everyone was congratulating him.
Yugen was just looking for someone to challenge, and considering this, he decided he might as well try challenging the senior.
Though the walk-on supporting characters in the anime seemed quite bad, Yugen knows that only practice brings real knowledge. Without personal testing, you can't casually conclude based on inherent impressions.
Just as well to test the duelist strength in this world.
The dojo encourages students to challenge each other often, and with Sato just recently achieving significant results, he was in a good mood, naturally finding no reason to reject the challenge.
The students scattered in the dojo heard about the match and immediately gathered around the dueling field to observe.
"Seriously? That Yugen? Challenging Brother Sato?"
"I remember he's only One-Star? Isn't this just bullying himself..."
The students giggled beside them, while the two opponents were already positioned on opposite sides of the stage.
Koji Sato was relaxed at this time. Now that he had ranked up and came back to the dojo for matches, looking at his numerous juniors with an aloofness over the mountains.
He now had a sense of a master guiding the younger generation. Playing this match wasn't really for improving his skills anymore, partly to guide juniors, and partly to satisfy his need to show off in front of his juniors.
...Well, maybe the latter was a bit more prevalent.
Otherwise?
He, a Three-Star big shot, facing a One-Star junior, could he really crash?
Both unfolded their Duel Discs and each drew five cards from their decks.
"Duel!" x2
[Yugen, LP 4000]
[Koji, LP 4000]
"I go first, draw."
Yugen drew a card from his card deck.
In the animation, it was still an era where you could draw first. In the past life, from many years ago, you couldn't draw when going first.
The choice of going first or second is generally decided randomly by both duel discs, but the player who goes first can choose to give it up.
With a quick glance at his opening hand of six cards, he couldn't help but nod slightly. Although it's not a "perfect hand," it wasn't too bad either.
"First, this card..."
He drew the first card and inserted it into the duel disc.
"Pay 1000 Life Points, and activate the Magic Card - Mischievous Twin Fairies from my hand!"
[Yugen, LP 4000→LP 3000]
As the card was inserted, the holographic projection of the green Magic Card appeared before Yugen. Two small demons, one red and one blue, flew out, each with the numbers "1" and "2" above their heads.
"This card's effect makes the opponent discard one card at random, and then they choose another card to discard."
A simple and brutal hand destruction weapon from early tournaments. A violent two-for-one exchange, forcing the opponent's starting hand down by two.
It's easy to see why such a brutal thing shares the same fate as Pot of Greed, banned from the very start. So after playing cards for so many years, this was the first time he'd personally played such a thing.
The demon dived forward without any ado and grabbed a card from Koji's hand, saying as if: "Give it to me."
Koji frowned, then chose another card himself to send to the graveyard.
After that, Yugen made no further moves and gracefully drew three cards from his hand –
——set three cards, and pass.
Then he made a motion for the other to proceed.
Alright, now you can play Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Any real card player facing those three ominous back rows would likely already feel the chill of the underworld and start sweating, but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Under the sunny setting of the animation, duelists had no awareness of the severity of the situation.
Koji even maintained that kind senior brotherly smile, speaking in a guiding tone: "Couldn't draw a Monster Card in the first turn? You need to pay attention to the balance of monsters and Magic Traps when building your deck, my junior brother.
Now it's my turn, draw!"
"Hold on."
Yugen interrupted him with a sweep of his hand.
"At the moment you draw, the Trap has already triggered. Activate Cover Card, Trap Card - Fallen!
During the opponent's draw phase, send the card drawn straight to the graveyard."
Koji: "!"
He hesitated for a moment and sent the still-warm card he had just drawn to the duel disc's graveyard zone. Then he looked down at his hand and finally began to sense something was amiss.
Up to this point, neither side had summoned a single monster; it seemed like the duel hadn't even started, yet Koji's opening hand of six cards was already cut in half, leaving only three.
And he faced an even more frustrating problem.
That is, he had no monsters left on hand...
Of the two cards sent down by Twin Demons, one was a subordinate monster, and the one just cast off by Fallen was another. Now with only three cards left in hand, there wasn't a single playable monster.
But that's okay.
"Tsk, in that case, I'll play a Magic Card from my hand..."
Koji waved his hand grandly and played another card from the remaining three in hand.
Revive the Dead!
From DM to GX periods, this resurrection Magic, capable of reviving a monster from the graveyard, was a divine reversal card both in reality and the animations.
"I will use Revive the Dead to resurrect this guy from the graveyard... Jela's Warrior, revive in attack position!"
This time, it was a warrior dressed in green armor wielding a great sword, standing valiantly in the field's center, becoming the first monster to appear in this duel.
[Jela's Warrior, Attack Power 1600]
Actually, if he had a choice, Koji certainly wouldn't want to waste the precious Revive the Dead on such a small fry, but he had no cards to play. In a duel, hesitating means defeat. He had to seize the opportunity to launch his attack rhythm...
"Open Cover Card - Bottomless Trap Hole." Yugen calmly flipped a card in the back row, "When the opponent summons a monster with 1500 or more attack power, destroy and banish that monster."
Thus, Jela's Warrior, summoned at the cost of a Revive, hadn't even found its footing before stepping into a dark pit that opened beneath it. It fell into it with a bang and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
Koji: "..."
With only two cards left in hand and an empty field.
Not sure if it was an illusion.
Sato Koji seemed to feel his blood pressure starting to rise.