Yugen began to discover the joy of card games in the Otherworld.
However, he quickly realized that indeed the joy in the world seemed to be conserved. Because as soon as he started having fun, it seemed like his senior brothers in the dojo began losing interest in dueling.
Within just three days, no one wanted to play cards with him anymore...
Yugen could only look up at the sky and sigh deeply.
Now he seemed to understand a bit why Tabletop Game Muto Yuugi said he couldn't make friends before meeting the Pharaoh. Truly, people from the Underworld are not meant to have friends.
Later, the matter even attracted the attention of the dojo master.
The dojo master was named Takeuchi Shadowflow, and it's said that in his youth, he was one of the top thirty-two in a small town dueling competition. Master Takeuchi heard that one of the apprentices had recently made tremendous progress in dueling skills, defeating the dojo's prized eldest apprentice, and in the span of three days made the other apprentices so frustrated that no one wanted to face him in a duel...
Upon hearing this, Master Takeuchi immediately felt he had to step in.
He quickly gathered all the apprentices, first praised Yugen for his diligent study and rapid progress, then criticized the other apprentices for their negative attitude.
The master scolded, saying that challenging and sparring are meant to improve and progress, and having a strong opponent is clearly a good thing. Otherwise, what's the point of always defeating weaklings, using your fists against the elderly at South Mountain Nursing Home and kicking toddlers at North Sea Kindergarten?
The apprentices hung their heads, silent and not daring to speak up.
"Enough,"
the master waved his hand and smiled as he beckoned Yugen over.
"They don't want to come, so I'll personally test your progress and give you some guidance on your card deck."
Finally finding someone willing to duel with him again, Yugen, who had several deck adjustments he wanted to test, gladly accepted.
Alright, today is a duel with the master.
The master was quite gracious, giving the first move to Yugen, showing his demeanor as an expert. So Yugen didn't hesitate and took the first turn.
From the start, he paid 1000 life points and revealed the Magic Card "Detention". This familiar opening made the apprentices who had suffered from it over the past three days shudder, almost triggering PTSD.
Now, the effect of Detention activates.
Anyone there? Let's see your hand?
Yugen glanced over and immediately spotted the "Revive the Dead" in the master's hand and discarded it. Then he normally summoned "Green Gear" and activated its effect to search for a "Red Gear" from the deck upon a successful summon. Then he set three cards on the back row and ended his turn suavely.
Now it's the master's turn. The master played "Iron Knight - Jia Fried", a four-star with 1800 attack power, looking very cool. But it was useless because as soon as the Iron Knight was summoned, it got sent to the Underworld by Yugen's "Fallen Pit".
[Fallen Pit, destroys any monster with over 1000 attack power upon a successful summon.]
But the master, indeed a master, still had his moves. Although he couldn't summon again this turn, he activated the effect of [Rock Spirit Titan] in his hand, which could be special summoned by banishing an Earth Attribute monster from the graveyard. He banished the Iron Knight from the graveyard and brought Titan directly onto the field.
Then Master Takeuchi waved his hand and attacked Green Gear with Titan. But Yugen snapped his fingers, flipping a fiery red pit on the back row.
I directly activate Hanuo's exalted power!
[Divine Protective Shield - Reflective Mirror Force, destroys all attack position monsters on the opponent's field upon the opponent's attack declaration.]
Master Takeuchi: "..."
After stepping into two traps, the master had no choice but to end his turn empty-handed.
Then it was Yugen's turn again. Yugen glanced at the card he drew and directly played "Mischievous Twin Fairies". Sacrificing 1000 life points resulted in the opponent discarding two more cards.
Master Takeuchi looked down at his hand, evaporated to just one card, and fell into contemplating life...
Yugen then summoned "Red Gear", which he searched for last turn. Then, upon the successful summon of Red Gear, he could search for a "Yellow Gear" from the deck. During the battle phase, Red Gear and Green Gear both launched direct attacks, taking away 2700 of the master's life points directly.
And it wasn't even over yet. At the end phase, he made a grand gesture and flipped over another cover card.
[Seal of Engraving]
[Trap/Effect: Skips the opponent's draw phase on their next turn.]
You might not believe it, but this overpowering card was also used by Duel King Muto Yuugi. Back in the Duel City arc, Dark Game printed this during a duel with Gulus, a fake card vendor using the Dark Mage "Exodia"...
With his hand evaporated, and his draw phase directly skipped by the Crimson King, Master Takeuchi looked at his empty field, as clean as a blank sheet of paper, and then at the eager gears across the field, he couldn't help but seriously consider the feasibility of a physical duel...
"..."
One minute later.
With zero life points remaining, the master left the dueling field, looked up at the sky, and took a deep breath.
And began to reflect on what he was thinking, why he felt compelled to duel with such an infernal contraption after he was full...
The apprentices watching the duel were even more sorrowful.
Even the master had fallen!
Actually, before the duel began, they still had some hope in the outcome. Each of them thought that although they felt powerless in front of this underworld figure, experiencing a sense of frustration where their strength couldn't be exerted and their cards couldn't be played, it was likely due to their lack of skill. They believed that if they encountered a master, the result would surely be different.
Yet reality was as such: the master joined the battle, stood his ground, but then also resigned with a GG.
The process was almost identical to every skirmish they had faced against Yugen in the past few days!
To them, this was a shock to their worldview, the collapse of their understanding of the world, and they felt endless confusion and deep concern for the dark future of the Dueling Realm, with similar thoughts crossing their minds—
——The invincible master lost to a vengeful recluse; why would I have such a dream?
Actually, Yugen's construction idea for this test was very simple, a combination of the early traditional pit BEAT and hand destruction.
For those who played Yu-Gi-Oh! in the early days, they'd know that back in the day, when monster effects weren't as powerful as today, and the deck's operational and expansion abilities weren't as exaggerated as today, powerful magic traps held a vital position in mainstream decks.
Red, green, and yellow gears all had effects to search for each other to replenish the hand upon summoning, supplementing ammunition to prevent a lack of monsters while potent red pits and magic constantly broke through the opponent's resources. The gap in resources between both sides kept widening, gradually making it unfeasible to fight back.
But Yugen still humbly asked for guidance: "Master, what do you think of my deck? Is there any area where I can ask for your guidance?"
Only upon hearing this did Master Takeuchi snap out of his contemplation of life, giving him a meaningful glance. Oddly enough, despite being a rather handsome and sunny young man, his face now made Master Takeuchi shudder inside...
Guidance? Haha, what guidance do I have to offer?
You're so skilled, it should be you guiding me.
Honestly, if not for a bit of embarrassment, he indeed had such thoughts in his heart.
He wanted to learn dueling from Yugen.
Especially wanting to learn how to duel with a grin.
"I really have nothing more to teach you."
Master Takeuchi sighed deeply, feeling somewhat powerless.
"Oh right, Master, I remembered I have one more favor to ask." Yugen said.
"What is it?"
"I want to apply for the entrance exam of the Duel Academy." Yugen stated, "I wondered if I could apply for the dojo's subsidy."