Without that level of skill, blindly copying those builds only led to worse results. Everyone starting with sixty cards would just brick more and more, creating a strange environment where the gap between the top and the bottom kept growing. Thinking it through, Yugen felt he had understood something new again.
Dark tactics were powerful, but relying on them alone would not take him far. For now, deck construction alone was enough to handle his opponents, but in the future he would need broader styles and tactics. Both deck building and miraculous draws mattered, and he had to grasp both firmly.
Playing more duels also made him realize that many things here differed from what he was used to. In anime-style duels, after activating an effect, duelists rarely paused to ask if the opponent wanted to chain. Effects often just resolved immediately.
By the rules he knew from his past life, players would always confirm chains before resolving effects. Here, even if the opponent had already started resolving their effect, you could still interrupt and activate your own. Otherwise, duels would just become contests of who talked faster.
From an animation perspective, strict adherence to rules likely mattered less than dramatic presentation. Even if it was technically improper, it rarely affected the overall outcome. That was simply how this world worked.
Last night also taught Yugen that dueling was physically exhausting. The PE teacher at Duel Academy often said you needed a good body to duel well, which he had once found amusing. Now he was starting to understand.
During the life-or-death duel, he had not noticed it, but afterward his body felt completely drained. He fell asleep without wanting to think about anything. After a full night's rest, he finally felt refreshed, his mind back online.
The rewards from yesterday's victory were considerable. Onizuka Genichiro was a Shadow Duel user who lived on the edge, and his Deck looked valuable. Some cards could be sold for a good price if Yugen did not need them.
Most important of all was the anime-effect version of Card of Demise. Drawing five cards at once with only the joke-like drawback of discarding after five turns made other draw cards look worthless. It was a pity there was only one, and he could not help wishing he could run three.
He was also drawn to the other two treasures from the DM era, alongside life-draining cards. One was Destiny Treasure, owned by Joey Wheeler, which let you roll dice to draw cards and then banish the same number from the top of the Deck. It was absurdly strong, but almost no one besides Joey Wheeler ever used it.
The other was Graceful Treasure, used by the King of Games himself, drawing both players up to six cards. It was a devastating card, and though it appeared beyond DM, Yugen had not seen it on the market yet. He wanted all three DM treasures badly.
For now, his greatest hope lay in the road called Duel Academy. Rumors said that once you entered the academy, everything changed, with access to countless Rare Cards beyond what ordinary Duelists could imagine.
It was already close. Three days from now, at the amusement park owned by Seto Kaiba, the annual entrance examination for Duel Academy would be held. He would definitely take it.
KaibaLand stood ahead. The arena was shaped like a white dragon, its surface made of countless small mirrored panels that fit together like scales and reflected colorful light. People moved in and out nonstop, and the mood was lively while still tense.
This was the annual practical entrance exam site for Duel Academy. The exam was split into a written test and a practical duel, and only those who passed the written portion could enter the practical stage. The admission ticket number for the practical exam was ranked by written score, and that ranking also decided the difficulty of the practical assessment.
The final admission score was based on both the written and practical results. Duel Academy followed an elite education system that stressed strength in every part of life and study. After enrollment, students were assigned dorms by ranking, and top students enjoyed better facilities, food, and services than lower-ranked ones.
Credits, priority to buy Rare Card cards, and discounts were also different. The academy dorms were divided into three tiers, each named after one of the legendary Egyptian God Cards at the peak of Duel Monsters. The highest tier was called Obelisk Blue, the middle tier was Ra Yellow, and the lowest, most looked-down-on dorm was Slifer Red.
Every time he saw this setup, Yugen felt there was clearly some bias from the academy founder, Seto Kaiba. Back in Battle City, Obelisk the Tormentor was the god card owned by Seto Kaiba himself, while Slifer the Sky Dragon belonged to his rival Atem (Yami Yugi). It was easy to imagine the president grinding his teeth while making the dorm divisions and muttering insults under his breath.
The written test results had come out a day ago. As expected, Yugen took first place with little trouble, earning admission ticket number 001. When he received it, he briefly tried to remember if someone else had originally held that spot in the TV series.
Was it someone called Four Operations, or maybe Daichi Misawa? He recalled it was Daichi Misawa, but it did not really matter. From what he remembered, that person was just a smart background character and had little impact on the story anyway.
Yugen soon arrived at the exam entrance. Before entering, all examinees had to complete check-in and registration. Sitting at the desk was one of the teachers from Duel Academy, the school nurse Emi Ayukawa, wearing an Obelisk Blue jacket and a short skirt.
Her crossed legs pressed together, giving a sense of fullness that made people suddenly realize how different childhood memories could be. She was the kind of person who made you wonder why you only paid attention to card games back then. However, Yugen felt nothing at all, because his mind was filled with thoughts of which Deck to use and what configuration to bring into the exam.
A true card player stayed focused. With no distractions in his heart, there was no fear, and with only cards in mind, duelist and deck could act as one.
"Name?" "Yugen Fujiki." "Admission number?" "001."
"So you are this year's number one. Impressive," she said with a smile. Seeing a slightly handsome student seemed to put her in a better mood.
"Alright, please register your usual Deck," she said gently. She had volunteered for this job out of curiosity, wanting to see what the new students looked like this year. The first-place student had already left a very good impression on her.
"We have to register the Deck too?" Yugen asked, a bit surprised. Duelists in this world usually had signature decks and ace monsters, but he constantly changed his builds to avoid being countered. He had planned to decide only after seeing the examiners' decks inside.
"Student?" she tilted her head in confusion. She then added kindly that it was not a strict check, just a simple record. Many students had mixed decks, so race, attribute, or tactics were all acceptable descriptions.
Yugen thought for a moment. "Then my usual cards are spell cards as an engine, trap cards as an engine, Spellcaster Type as an engine, plus Warrior and Machine as engines." She stared at him in silence, clearly questioning whether that could even be called a Deck.