Oh, Someone Familiar

For a moment, Yu Ming felt as if he were still dreaming, unable to wake up.

But reality forcefully pulled him back, preventing him from falling back asleep.

When he came to, his vision was filled with text from the system:

Your annual report is as follows:

This year, you participated in 0 duels, each one leaving a deep impression on you.

This year, you earned 0 Duel Points, every income represents a generous return.

This year, you learned 0 abilities, every piece of knowledge will transform into motivation.

This year, you made 0 friends, every friendship is incredibly precious.

This year, you completed 0 scenarios, every story will come to a perfect end.

Are you satisfied with your performance this year?

Looking at the long string of zeros and the question mark at the end, Yu Ming felt like he was about to laugh from sheer frustration.

"Satisfied..."

Did I sleep for ten years here?

Or is this system actually bound to the original owner?

Rumble

Bang

This time, it sounded like an artillery strike.

The tremor, starting far away, rapidly approached, its intensity already causing dust to fall from the roof.

"Never mind."

Yu Ming sighed lightly, brushing the dust off himself.

No matter what, having a system now was a good thing. Why bother with how many hands it had passed through?

"First, let's check out the functions."

After dismissing all the irrelevant clutter, Yu Ming's main interface finally appeared.

[Personal Info]

[Career Mode]

[Exchange Shop]

[Deck Edit]

It was simple, straightforward, traditional, and classic.

No fancy decorations or embellishments, yet it perfectly showcased the essential functions.

He could view his personal information, there was a story mode, and a standalone shop.

And it wasn't just a shop where he could exchange cards or draw card packs.

Welcome to the Exchange Shop. Here, you can use Duel Points to exchange for cards, knowledge, and abilities, or use Duel Points to open a 'Dimensional Gate' to randomly draw scenarios.

Considering the high-intensity worldview of Yu-Gi-Oh! itself, which involves various gods, demons, and even multi-dimensional worlds, this shop could be said to be very comprehensive. After all, only all-around improvement could guarantee survival.

But the only problem was... it seemed to be in its early stages.

Cross the Dimensional Gate, and fight alongside warriors from other dimensions as a Transcender!

Embrace the darkness within, and strike your enemies mercilessly with the power of Darkness Virus!

Although the titles sounded very impressive, and there were indeed some eye-catching items.

However, what Yu Ming felt more was a sense of desolation.

The cards displayed under those cool titles couldn't even fill a single page—the quantity was truly too small.

And the other pages weren't much better. The abilities interface looked like this:

You have no knowledge or abilities available for exchange. Please unlock them through Career Mode.

And it didn't stop there. Clicking into Career Mode showed this:

You have no unlocked scenarios. Stories can be obtained through career encounters, increasing card bonds, or opening Dimensional Gates.

In plain words: acquire plots, acquire bonds, or simply gamble and draw cards.

This combination of restrictions basically extinguished Yu Ming's desire to further explore these functions.

One could only say that a novice pauper was like this; he couldn't afford anything in the shop.

"Never mind, these aren't very important right now."

What was important now was that!

Welcome to the Deck Edit interface. You can edit your own deck, and also use the system function to register cards you've obtained through other means.

When the deck interface appeared before his eyes, Yu Ming couldn't help but smile.

## Initial Deck

Just like in a game, even if the host has nothing, the system generally provides some starting funds, like beginner gear in a starter village.

However, the only thing worth complaining about might be the deck's name.

[End of Despair]

Just by looking at the name, Yu Ming couldn't discern its specific contents. It wasn't like those names that clearly indicated their archetypes, allowing you to understand their general structure at a glance.

But it didn't matter, after all, this was an initial deck!

What does "initial" mean?

For beginners, with reasonable distribution.

Just looking at it, the reds, greens, and yellows were too evenly distributed.

It was completely unlike the unplayable deck that Shadi guy left behind; this one looked pleasing to the eye at first glance.

"Hmm, Tri-Horn Dragon."

Then, that rare feeling of comfort abruptly ended.

Staring at the incredibly unfamiliar name, he couldn't help but purse his lips.

He flipped through a few more cards:

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Warrior of Zera, Warrior of Darkworld, Spirit of the Books... Wait, why is there a Kaiser Seahorse too?"

He noticed something—the colors of these Monster Cards seemed off.

The Monster Cards he was familiar with should have been a reddish yellow, or rather, orange.

But now, the cards in front of him were vividly bright, their bright yellow color guiding Yu Ming's gaze to the text on these cards.

Directly above the varied descriptions, which had no uniform standard, their type was clearly stated by the system: Normal Monster.

In his previous life, Yu Ming was more familiar with the popular unofficial term, originating from a certain CEO's mouth.

"Normal Monster..."

Yu Ming suddenly felt a bit dizzy.

After finally recovering, he could only smile wryly at the text descriptions.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon: A ferocious dragon with a wicked attack.

Warrior of Darkworld: A monster that attacks with a powerful, evil slash.

Although card texts might have all sorts of incredibly exaggerated descriptions, and in the early days of the anime, nicknamed the 'bullshit' era, they could still shine with RPG-style gameplay.

But from Duel City onwards, once the rules were fully established, these Normal Monsters could only rely on their own stats.

The result would be things like King of Yamimakai and Dark Ruler Ha Des being single-handedly defended by a small rabbit standing on a tree stump.

So, in summary...

"Useless."

Seriously, this was too absurd. Yu Ming couldn't even imagine how to play this.

"No main axis, no searchers or synergy, the starting five cards just play completely independently..."

While in some ways it did perfectly demonstrate the basic rules, in Yu Ming's eyes, it was a completely different situation:

This is a Monster Card; you can summon it to attack your opponent.

This is a Spell Card; it can activate various effects.

This is a Trap Card; you can set it and use it on your opponent's turn.

Okay, you've learned Yu-Gi-Oh! Now go use this deck to defeat your opponent: Tearlaments!

So, the despair must be referring to this kind of situation, right?

Silently, Yu Ming turned his gaze to the name of the initial deck and fell silent.

However, this silent stillness couldn't stop the passage of time.

Click

Click

Click

Listening to the footsteps just a wall away, Yu Ming took a deep breath.

Although it should be a tense moment, he found his mind had suddenly gone blank.

It was as if nothing mattered anymore.

Of course, it was fine to call it resignation.

"Alright, this is it."

After putting away the scales on the table, he reached for the deck.

"Anyway, Normal Monsters have their own way of playing too."

[Deck Collected — Price of Vigilance]

Yu Ming was beyond complaining, staring at the deck name the system provided, abstract as always and impossible to discern its structure.

But it didn't matter; this didn't affect his already formulated plan.

[Detected more than three duplicate cards. Exchange excess cards for Duel Points?]

Beep

[Exchange booster pack 'Darkness Virus'?]

Beep

[Exchange booster pack 'Transcending Dimensions'?]

"Huh?"

Yu Ming was momentarily stunned by the cards that appeared after he fully opened the booster pack.

So, I can get forbidden cards too?

But now, he had no time for hesitation or joy.

With an unreadable expression, Yu Ming shoved the cards into his deck and took a deep breath.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep

[Save deck?]

"Yes."

To the sound that felt like a death knell, a deck materialized in Yu Ming's hand, brought into being by the system.

And then...

"Absorb Shield."

Bang

The moment Yu Ming casually slapped the Trap Card onto his Duel Disk, a violent explosion suddenly erupted.

A powerful gust of wind, accompanied by a strong smell of gunpowder, swept over him, but it was quickly absorbed by a green protective barrier.

Through the green barrier, Yu Ming looked towards the main entrance, only to see that the rubble blocking the path had been blasted open.

A figure gradually emerged from the dust.

"Ha, I knew something was off here."

Clang

Amidst the sound of a coin being tossed, a burly man appeared before Yu Ming.

"Tsk tsk, let me see what kind of treasure is hidden behind this ruin."

This guy...

His voice was rough, his clothes uninhibited, and the wristguards on his hands even indicated a certain level of physical prowess.

However, the most striking thing about him wasn't his physique, nor his dark sunglasses, but the American flag bandana tied around his golden hair.

Yu Ming recognized this appearance.

In fact, one could say that this look was even more famous than some individuals in the protagonist's group.

"Hey, kid over there, where did you hide the treasure of me, the great Bandit Keith?"