"As for Dogmatika-related ones, let me think. Generally, that refers to Guiding Quem, the Virtuous and Ecclesia, the Virtuous of Dogmatika." Youye spoke slowly, then paused slightly and looked at Ye Lingling without continuing.
"As expected, you know of Cartesia, the Virtuous of Crimson!" Noticing Youye's use of "generally," along with his unfinished expression, Ye Lingling instantly understood. Just as Bai Yun'er had said, Youye truly was an all-knowing card master.
"Is it possible that I know more than just Cartesia? I also know Ecclesia's other identity, though that identity has little to do with Dogmatika." The corners of Youye's lips lifted into a strange smile as he looked toward Bai Yun'er. However, Bai Yun'er seemed not to have noticed what he meant.
"Ecclesia has another identity that has nothing to do with Dogmatika?" Ye Lingling, who had thought she understood, froze on the spot, unable to grasp what Youye was referring to.
Everyone knew their own situation best. The Dogmatika spirits looked like they held religious offices, but that was not actually the case.
Dogmatika was extremely chaotic internally, and the spirits within were quite forceful. Would they allow Ecclesia, a Saintess, to have another identity largely unrelated to Dogmatika?
"Huh? Aren't you acquainted with Little Bai? You didn't know?" He had actually been joking just now, thinking Ye Lingling was asking about all four of them. Seeing her reaction, Youye seemed to realize that she did not know the White Virtuous of Bai Yun'er's Swordsoul Archetype was actually the same spirit as Ecclesia, the Virtuous of Dogmatika.
"Huh? What does the Dogmatika Archetype have to do with me?" Bai Yun'er was equally confused. Her Swordsoul Archetype had recently been searching for the Tenyi Archetype, and it had nothing to do with Dogmatika.
"Could it be that the White Virtuous and Ecclesia, the Virtuous of Dogmatika, are the same spirit? They just have different identities." Seeing that the two women's surprised expressions did not seem fake, Youye answered with a slight twitch of his lips.
"Impossible! They have the same name, they're both Saintesses, and their ATK, DEF, Attribute, and Type are all identical. Even their faces are the same. But they don't have the slightest synergy. They can't be the same spirit!" Ye Lingling continued to argue, though inwardly, she had already started believing it. With so many similarities, it would indeed be strange if they were not the same spirit.
Bai Yun'er wore an odd expression, but she had no other reaction. Her mind was currently focused solely on Tenyi Swordsoul. It was not as if a spirit having multiple identities was unprecedented; whether there were more or fewer did not matter.
"Well, don't Dogmatika cards synergize with Fallen of Albaz? The White Virtuous directly has synergy with him. My advice is for you to ask the spirits yourselves. We're not in a hurry to find spirits right now anyway." Youye spread his hands. He could only offer advice on this kind of matter.
Ye Lingling found that reasonable and began contacting Ecclesia. A moment later, she received an answer from Ecclesia.
Indeed, both the White Virtuous and Ecclesia, the Virtuous of Dogmatika, were her. However, because of the Dogmatika spirits, as long as she was not exposed, she would neither admit it nor bring it up herself.
"Senior, is there an Archetype called Fallen of Albaz?" After getting the answer and recalling Youye's mention of synergy with Fallen of Albaz, Ye Lingling asked curiously.
What kind of Archetype or card could connect both her Dogmatika Archetype and Bai Yun'er's Swordsoul Archetype?
"Fallen of Albaz isn't an Archetype. He's one of the core spirits of the entire Branded World." Youye thought for a moment before speaking.
Why did he not call him the protagonist of the Branded World? He had previously asked Munin whether she had ever fought spirits from the King's Battle Archetype. The answer had been no. Although the King's Battle spirits lived in the same world as them, they would not easily duel the Runick spirits. Yes, duel—not fight.
Since everything relied on duels, the spirits' world was quite peaceful. They generally would not start duel wars—well, except for certain peculiar spirit Archetypes like Kashtira, which loved going around capturing slaves.
"How strong is he?" Upon hearing that he was a central figure, Ye Lingling became curious about his strength.
In a world where duels were everything, strength always came first. If cards related to Fallen of Albaz were weak, she would no longer care about them afterward. After all, if they could not improve her own strength, they were useless.
Bai Yun'er also looked at Youye curiously. When it came to strength, it was naturally what drew the most attention.
"As for strength..." Youye murmured, falling into silence as he recalled the difference between veteran Branded players and novice Branded players before his transmigration.
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, even with the same Branded deck, veteran and novice players could be worlds apart. Some would have hands full of resources yet have no idea what their end board was supposed to be; others could start with two cards and build a board packed with disruptions and resources. The gap was enormous. Thus, with veterans piloting it, Branded could often make top cut even during the FIRE Attribute Year One.
"Both its ceiling and floor are high!" In the end, Youye came to that conclusion.
At Youye's conclusion, Bai Yun'er fell silent. She could sense from his words that, in a sense, Branded's ceiling was higher than her Tenyi Swordsoul's.
Ye Lingling did not sense that. She looked at Youye and asked seriously, "How does it compare to my Dogmatika Archetype?"
"A toy." Youye answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Phew..." Ye Lingling let out a breath of relief at that. Yesterday, she and Bai Yun'er had challenged each other in Master Duel, resulting in four losses and one win. Her only victory had come after she banished Bai Yun'er's important Extra Deck cards. It had merely been a narrow win.
Now that related cards had appeared, if they were even stronger than her Dogmatika Archetype, she felt she might as well stop playing.
Just as she was thinking that—
Youye glanced at her, understood what she was thinking, and slowly said in an earnest tone, "Could it be that I meant Dogmatika is a toy in front of a Branded deck built around Fallen of Albaz?"
"Huh?" Ye Lingling felt as though she were riding a roller coaster. She had just been thinking about how she would crush Branded decks in the future, and then Youye reversed it on her?
"What's there to be surprised about? Dogmatika isn't strong. At best, it can reach the weakest Heaven-level; even Earth-level is difficult." Youye explained, "As long as you gather the cards and learn the combos for Branded, based on the Heaven-level duel records currently circulating, you can easily crush them. If a veteran is piloting it, I think even King-level is possible. Of course, I've never seen a King-level duel, so I don't know the specifics."
"This..." Ye Lingling felt stabbed through the heart. Her Archetype could at most reach Heaven-level, while someone else's starting point was Heaven-level. What kind of gap was that?
Bai Yun'er was somewhat surprised as well, but she did not ask further. She had yet to fully master the Tenyi Swordsoul in her hands. Bai Yun'er understood the principle that biting off more than one could chew was unwise.
"I know you wouldn't bother lying to me with a joke, Senior, but I want to prove that my Dogmatika Archetype isn't weak. It isn't the feeble Archetype you describe." After a long while, Ye Lingling looked at Youye with great seriousness.
Then she took a small tablet from her pocket and slowly said, "This card list doesn't contain the cards you requested, but I believe it still has quite a few valuable cards. I'm willing to offer two Original Cards as payment!"
"When will you reach Earth-level?" Youye did not take the card list or agree immediately. Instead, he asked about her level.
"I'm currently undergoing Earth-level certification. If I pass, then within half a month." Ye Lingling considered briefly before answering.
"Fine. Forget the card list. After you reach Earth-level, just promise to let me communicate with one of the Dogmatika Archetype's spirits." Youye thought for a moment before replying.
"You want to communicate with a spirit to obtain Dogmatika." Ye Lingling frowned slightly, unable to understand why Youye would still want to communicate with them when he had called Dogmatika a weak Archetype. But halfway through her sentence, she understood.
Youye's real goal was not Dogmatika. What he wanted was Branded!
After reaching Earth-level, things would be different from before. Earth-level Duelists could summon spirits, and if the summoned spirit was willing, that spirit could grant its Archetype to others. Through the spirit's network of connections, one could even obtain other cards.
Please keep reading and save this. Feeling a little down—I got crushed by books released around the same time. As for recommendations, I can only wait until next week and see if there's a chance.
Before you continue