Here's the extra chapter!
Good job guys.
Next Goal: 500 PS.
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[Genichiro, LP 0]
The final attack ended, taking away all his remaining life points, and the shadow duel he initiated, it also signified the true end of the duelist's life.
At this moment, he could not even feel the pain from the shock of the shadow duel.
Because he had already begun to lose all sensation in his body.
Just now, during the duel, he had boasted loudly, saying that being caught by him was the opponent's greatest misfortune.
Looking at it now, who was the unfortunate one?
That boy is strong, but the feeling he gives is completely different from the strong opponents I've faced before.
How should I put it... It's like, in his eyes, dueling means something completely different from everyone else.
This was also the first time in Genichiro's life that, after finishing a duel, such a thought occurred to him—
—Dueling is so hard.
Defeated, Genichiro collapsed to the ground, his body enveloped in a layer of golden light, then scattered into glowing particles and vanished.
Just like those who lost duels and died in the GX Other Dimension arc.
Kira sucked in a breath.
Good grief, shadow duels are dangerous. Losing and even having your ashes scattered is just too horrific.
Luckily, his skills were superior.
But, in his view, this guy's K-language comprehension (card effect reading) was barely beginner-level—how could someone this bad be a shadow duelist? It's a miracle he survived betting his life on duels.
No, that's not right.
Kira realized he was still thinking with his previous life's mindset.
He shouldn't see it that way. In this world, for duelists, top-decking is still more important, and reading card effects is just a bonus.
Yeah, this is a dangerous world, you can't relax for even a moment.
He had to collect more powerful cards and improve his strength—that's the real path.
For example, starting right now.
Kira stepped forward and picked up the duel disk that Genichiro had dropped.
Since the man was gone, his deck naturally became ownerless.
So Kira solemnly said, "That was a good duel. Rest in peace, bro. I'll inherit your deck and your will."
He pocketed the deck.
As he was leaving, he felt a chill down his spine, as if a cold wind blew past.
...
Next morning.
Sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains, casting a gentle glow on the room's floor. Kira groggily opened his heavy eyelids and tried to focus his blurry vision.
It looked like... a girl?
Silver hair fluttered, one hand holding a staff, the other covering her mouth, her spirit form half-phased into his body as she lay on the bed, bright eyes peeking at him, as if examining him.
But as soon as he opened his eyes, it was like a "!" popped above her head, and she immediately ducked back into the deck inside the duel disk leaning by the table.
Kira: "..."
After last night's first successful master-servant cooperation, Kira understood that the Silent Magician didn't mean to target him or refuse to acknowledge him as her master—she was just silent, that's all.
In other words, she's just a shut-in.
As the saying goes, like master like servant—if the player is antisocial, it makes sense for his spirit to be antisocial too.
In any case, she had helped out a lot in last night's skirmish. As expected, in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, going out without an artifact or a spirit is just too dangerous.
He wasn't sure if it was just psychological, but during yesterday's life-or-death duel, he felt that with the Silent Magician in the deck, something about the duel felt different.
It was a hard-to-describe sensation. But every time he drew a card, he could faintly sense a kind of rhythm.
Before, his deck was just a tool for dueling, like his duel disk.
But in that match, for the first time, he had the illusion that the deck had come alive.
Of course, this was all very superstitious, and maybe he was just overthinking.
"No matter what, I still have to get stronger."
The sudden life-or-death duel made Kira realize once again how important it is to play well in this world. It's even more reliable than carrying a stockpile of weapons.
After analyzing his recent consecutive duels, he also gained some new insights.
Many anime characters' decks often make experienced players wonder: how do they even run with such random builds?
But if you assume that some protagonists (anime duelists) can never brick no matter what system they run, you'll notice a common trait:
Their decks are filled with stuff that makes no sense (crossed out)—
But they always have a solution in their deck for almost any situation.
In reality, deck-building pursues consistency and efficiency, but even top-tier decks occasionally encounter boards they can't break through, no matter which card they draw.
Such situations are rare, but when encountered, you just surrender and move on—it doesn't affect a meta deck's status. But it's different in this world.
Shadow duels are single elimination—win and you live, lose and you die, no chance to surrender or try again.
So some decks that look like they're filled with nonsense are built with the idea of "there's almost no board I can't handle."
Similarly, real-world decks usually try to stick to 40 cards for the best consistency and lowest brick rate. But in this world, 60-card decks are the norm... no, it seems the upper limit here might be even higher.
Because more cards mean more possibilities.
But all of this relies on the foundation of never bricking.
So only the very top duelists can pilot such decks, even mixing four or five completely different engines like Yugi and Kaiba, and still never brick as if they're dueling with four or five independent decks at once.
When there's no way out, it's not impossible for them to top-deck a card that wasn't even in their deck.
But for ordinary people without that skill, blindly imitating the top players' builds and tactics, everyone ends up with 60+ card piles, and the more they learn, the worse they get, leading to a bizarre environment with a huge gap between the top and the bottom.
So Kira felt he'd had another epiphany.
Playing dirty is strong, but in this world, you can't get far with just that. For now, his opponents can be beaten with deck-building alone, but in the future, he'll need to expand his playstyle and tactics.
Deck-building is important, and so are lucky draws and bonds—both hands must be strong.
After these recent duels, Kira realized that not only is the deck environment different from the anime, but other details aren't quite the same either.
When he watched the anime, he didn't think much of it, but now that he's dueling himself, he realizes that, just like in the show, duelists here never ask if you want to chain after an effect activates.
According to the rules he knew in his previous life, after activating an effect, you have to give the opponent a chance to respond, asking if they want to chain. All cards on the chain are resolved in order.
Unless the opponent says "No fast effects," you can't just keep comboing off.
But here, that doesn't happen. Whether in the anime or with duelists Kira has faced, after activating an effect, they immediately resolve it, without giving the opponent a chance.
But he found this didn't matter much, because the rules here aren't that strict about chain timing. Even if the other side starts resolving their effect, you can still chain your effects and interrupt them.
That's only natural—otherwise, it would just be a competition of who can talk faster and lock the other out.
And this isn't because of early, incomplete rules in the anime—even in later series that follow the real card rules, it's still like this.
From an animation production standpoint, maybe the team decided that dramatic effect was more important than strict adherence to rules. If everyone had to fully explain every chain, it might ruin some plot twists.
While this isn't legal in real life, in the anime it's just for show and doesn't usually affect the outcome.
Last night, Kira also realized that dueling is physically exhausting. The gym teacher at Duel Academy even emphasizes that without a good body, you can't duel well. Kira used to find that funny, but now he's starting to get it.
Especially last night's life-or-death duel—it took a toll. He didn't notice during the duel, but afterward, he felt totally drained, unable to think, just wanting to collapse and sleep.
Waking up, he finally felt refreshed, his brain back online.
Winning yesterday's duel was a big gain. Genichiro was a shadow duelist who lived on the edge, and his deck looked valuable. Kira estimated some cards could fetch a good price on the market, so he could sell them for what he wanted.
But the most important thing was undoubtedly the anime-effect "Card of Demise."
A god-tier card that draws you up to five cards instantly, with a "discard your hand in five turns" downside that's a joke—cards like Pot of Greed look like trash in comparison.
Too bad there's only one. Kira felt that if he could run three of these, it would be a dream come true.
He also really coveted the other two draw gods from the DM era: "Uradora of Fate" and "Card of Sanctity."
"Uradora of Fate" is Joey's—roll a die and draw that many cards, then banish that many from the top of your deck. Another OP card, but nobody besides Joey ever used it, and it vanished by the GX era.
"Card of Sanctity" is Yugi's—both sides draw up to six cards, a busted weapon. This one was used by several people besides Yugi in DM and even appeared in GX. But Kira hadn't seen it on the market yet.
The three DM draw gods... he wanted them all.
Now, his biggest hope is the Duel Academy.
Rumor has it that, once you're in, it's a whole new world: tons of rare cards that ordinary duelists can't imagine, with rumors of anything goes in-app purchases.
It's almost here.
Just three days away—the annual Duel Academy entrance exams, held at Kaiba Land.
He must win.