On a bustling, brightly lit street, Yuya slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the unfamiliar avenue before him, a strange sense of loss welled up in his heart, as if something important had slipped through his fingers.
"Where is this place?"
"I remember I was at home playing a Yu-Gi-Oh mobile game. Then there was a flash of white light, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was already here."
Yuya murmured to himself as fragmented memories resurfaced.
Suddenly, all the large display screens on the surrounding buildings switched to the same image. A confident and arrogant man's face filled every screen at once.
The brown-haired man on the broadcast paused briefly. Then a domineering, unmistakably self-assured voice echoed through the streets.
"Duelists, listen carefully. One week from now, in this city, the Kaiba Corporation will be hosting a Duelist Tournament."
"There are two requirements to participate. First, prepare a Deck of at least forty cards, including Rare Cards."
"Second, you must possess this next-generation Duel Disk."
As he spoke, the man raised his arm and unfolded the Duel Disk mounted on his wrist.
"The tournament will use Battle City rules, including the Ante rule. The loser must hand over the most precious card in their Deck to the winner."
"In other words, the champion will claim the most valuable card of all."
The crowd around Yuya erupted into cheers. Excitement rippled through the street as people eagerly discussed the upcoming tournament.
"No way. This can't be Yu-Gi-Oh DM, right? That guy on the screen is Seto Kaiba."
Yuya snapped back to reality, his mind going blank for a moment before everything clicked. This was the opening of the Battle City arc. The exact scene where Kaiba made his dramatic debut and flaunted his authority.
A deep, rhythmic chopping sound suddenly came from above as helicopter blades tore through the air.
Yuya looked up.
Sure enough, wearing his signature flashy white coat, Seto Kaiba made a dazzling entrance. One hand gripped the helicopter door as half his body leaned out into open air, completely fearless.
Gasps spread through the crowd.
Kaiba raised his left hand and pointed a single finger toward the sky.
"The battlefield is the entire Domino City. One week from now, this city will become Battle City."
With that impassioned declaration, Seto Kaiba ended his speech.
Yuya finally snapped out of it, panic flooding his thoughts.
"I was too busy watching Kaiba show off. What am I supposed to do now?"
"I'm basically undocumented in this world. How am I supposed to get a Duel Disk? And more importantly, I don't even have any cards. How am I supposed to duel like this?"
A wave of helplessness washed over him.
He had finally transmigrated into the world of duelists, yet he had arrived with nothing at all.
Back in his previous life, Yuya used to joke about how absurd this setting was. In a world where card games could decide the fate of the planet, even the most terrifying villains still had to sit down and duel the protagonist properly. It was ridiculous, yet strangely entertaining.
He just never imagined that one day he would become part of that absurd world himself.
Still, it could have been worse.
At least this was not Arc-V. In that world, winning or losing often felt meaningless. If dueling carried no weight, then what was the point?
"Where's my cheat ability? Someone help me out here."
Thinking of all the transmigration novels he had read, Yuya muttered under his breath. The protagonist always received some kind of overpowered advantage.
Just then, a glowing panel appeared in front of him.
Upon closer inspection, it looked remarkably similar to the interface of the Yu-Gi-Oh mobile game he used to play, except there was no duel function.
With familiar motions, Yuya opened the Deck menu.
It was completely empty.
Every carefully prepared Deck from his previous life was gone.
He tried creating a new Deck. His currency was at zero, and he did not even possess the most basic starter cards.
"Damn it!"
Yuya shouted in frustration.
"That guy must be crazy. Stay away from him."
Nearby pedestrians gave him a wide berth, treating him like someone unstable.
To be fair, anyone suddenly yelling in the middle of a crowd would probably be seen as a lunatic.
Yuya forced himself to calm down and think.
"If I remember correctly, you can earn points by dismantling cards. So can the cards in this world be dismantled too?"
With that thought, he began searching everywhere for discarded cards.
After relentless effort, he finally found four copies of Ojama Yellow beside a trash can. Judging by their condition, their previous owner had likely tossed them away after deciding these useless Normal monsters were not worth keeping.
Yuya opened the Deck menu again.
Those four Ojama Yellow cards were now sitting neatly inside it.
He tapped one of them, and two options appeared.
Dismantle. Craft.
He immediately chose Dismantle.
Ding. N Card Shards plus 30.
Thirty N shards appeared in his inventory.
Yuya blinked in surprise. He had intended to dismantle all four cards, yet only three had been consumed.
"No way. You can only dismantle three copies of the same card."
After a moment of thought, he understood the limitation of his cheat ability.
He could not farm infinite shards by repeatedly dismantling identical cards.
Still, his expression shifted.
"Tearlaments. I'm coming."
The first thing Yuya searched for was Tearlaments. Any duelist with common sense chose power first. If he was building a Deck, it had to be strong.
Even if he could not afford it yet, he at least wanted to see it.
System: None.
"Did I type it wrong? I remember one of them was called Tearlaments Sulliek."
He tried again.
System: None.
Yuya stared at the empty interface, speechless. His cheat ability felt painfully weak. Even Tearlaments were not available.
Refusing to give up, he searched for other infamous archetypes, hoping to find an exchange list.
Reality disappointed him again. None of them existed.
He even tested banned cards.
Still nothing.
As he browsed the card pool, his gaze suddenly paused.
The Timelords actually looked… affordable.
Aside from the two main boss monsters being UR and the Maiden being SR, most of the Timelord cards were only N or R.
If he wanted to assemble a functional Deck quickly, choosing Timelords was not a bad option.
With just that, he could already overwhelm the vast majority of duelists in this era. In a time when people were still trading blows with monsters like Axe Raider, Timelords that could not be destroyed by battle or card effects were absurdly powerful.
Their effects themselves were also extremely oppressive. After all, this was the archetype used by the final boss of Yu-Gi-Oh's third series. The intimidation factor alone was guaranteed.
Yuya made up his mind.
He would collect all the Timelords first.
Then he would enter the tournament.
That day, people noticed a strange new figure roaming the streets, digging through trash cans.
This man also lingered outside card shops, waiting for customers to throw away cards they did not want, then quickly picking them up.
Bystanders whispered among themselves, convinced something was wrong with him.
By the end of the day, through relentless scavenging and shamelessly asking children for cards they no longer wanted, Yuya finally managed to assemble a Timelord Deck.
It was padded with useless Normal monsters and random Spell and Trap cards just to reach the required card count.
But no matter what, it was a Deck.
And in Battle City, that was enough.