Duels should be played with a smile.

The nameless dragon still retains some power, but because the person they are waiting for is not Leyou, he has no intention of taking over someone else's role. However, he cannot ignore the special existence of the Victory Dragon.

Leyou circled the statue of the Victory Dragon several times, but couldn't find any way to unlock it. Unlike the Nameless Dragon, the statue didn't have a sword stuck in it. Leyou even wondered if the statue was just a decoration.

But the burning sensation in his chest never subsided.

"It seems there is no other way."

It's like when your home computer breaks down and you can't fix it, you just kick it a couple of times and it's fine.

Unable to find the correct way to pass the level, Leyou opted for a brute-force approach.

"I'll just draw my sword in a blazing fire!"

The already large sword made a sound, and its blade-like edge burst out with dazzling light, making it impossible to tell that this thing was originally a duel disk.

After observing the other three nameless dragons, Leyou noticed that the swords were stuck near the dragons' chests. He then went to the front of the Victory Dragon statue, holding a greatsword and aiming it at the statue's chest.

"Speaking of which, if this sword really brings the Victory Dragon back to life, could it still be called the Excalibur?"

Suppress the wild ideas in your mind and concentrate.

“Excalibur!!!”

Shouting out a completely out-of-place slogan, the emerald-green sword flashed with light and pierced the statue's chest.

The statue then shattered.

"..."

"Is this the end for us?"

The statue shattered into countless pieces, scattering and then slowly drifting down from the sky, a breathtaking sight.

However, Leyou's focus is now solely on what lies ahead.

Focus on the card floating in the air right in front of you.

【Victory Dragon】

He reached out and took the card that had never appeared in his system before. The crystal on his sword flashed, as if he had unlocked the Victory Dragon's encyclopedia entry.

But looking at this unremarkable card, Leyou felt no joy whatsoever.

The reason is simple: the card art on this card is completely static.

Cards with spirits residing within them have GIF images, not JPGs. More advanced ones, like those featuring Fireproof Dragon and Yuki-onna, can even be described as Live2D, and they might even respond if you tap them—like slapping you across the face.

However, this Victory Dragon card is nothing special. Unlike the Nameless Dragon that guards it, it has nothing written on it and its effects are entirely based on imagination. It is no different from an official OCG card without its anti-counterfeiting mark.

The burning sensation in his chest had disappeared, and there were no other spirits to explain the situation. This inexplicable "adventure" yielded no useful gains other than a Victory Dragon card that he might not be able to use for a long time.

No, it wasn't entirely without any gains.

After swiping the Victory Dragon card in front of the crystal on his chest, Leyou felt dizzy and lightheaded. When he came to his senses, he was already standing at the back door of the Kaiba Corporation building.

This seems to be the only use of the Victory Dragon Card: it can be used to travel to and from the Spirit World—but the location is completely random, much like the random teleportation scrolls in old-school online games. Pressing a button means your fate is in the hands of heaven.

In any case, Leyou won't dare to use it again anytime soon, at least not until he can freely summon Aeus for protection.

After making a large detour through the back door, Leyou arrived at the entrance of Haima Group again. Seeing the group of reporters, numbering at least a hundred, he gave up the idea of ​​going in.

He took out Philvo's card, briefly explained what had just happened to Philvo who was helping the seahorse with its database, and then slowly walked back alone.

Actually, with Kaiba's talent, creating a Duel Link wouldn't be difficult, but to make it truly live up to its name, he really needs Philvo's help.

Otherwise, it would be truly embarrassing if someone else printed fake cards at the KC Cup later on.

In fact, in the world of spirits, there is also something like a database that records all the cards; in common parlance, it should be called the Spirit Heart.

The Heart of the Spirits records all the cards recognized by the world and is closely related to the entire Spirit Realm. Whenever a new Spirit is born or a new related card is created, the Heart of the Spirits will record it, recording the origin of that card throughout the entire Spirit Realm.

Originally, the Heart of the Elf was managed by a great being. It wasn't until the Heart of the Elf had ten thousand records that the great being, for some unknown reason, transferred the authority to the Cybertronians, and it was then managed by the leader of the Cybertronians—the Fireproof Dragon.

In other words, Fireguard Dragon actually holds records of all Pokémon in the entire Pokémon world.

By linking the yet-to-be-born duel link with the records of the Spirit Heart through special means, fake card incidents can be completely eliminated. Furthermore, if a truly gifted duelist receives the favor of the Spirits, he can also print his own card in the real world through the Spirit Heart.

At this point, Seto Kaiba was unaware that the Duel Link he was developing was already racing in a direction far beyond his original expectations, under Rayou's instructions.

On her way home, humming a little tune, Leyou casually walked from the main road to the side road, from the side road to the alley, and then to the dead end of the alley.

Now that he's no longer an ordinary person, he can easily detect those who are following him.

"What brings you here? If you don't have anything to do with me, then I'll just have to take you down."

Turning around, what greeted her eyes was neither a petite and adorable young girl nor an arrogant older sister, but a scruffy, middle-aged man who shattered Leyou's unrealistic fantasies with reality.

"Duel King Leyou? If you know what's good for you..."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll hand over the three God Cards? Can't you villainous minions come up with some less cliché lines?!"

"Since you already know, then I don't need to hide it anymore!" The newcomer lifted the hood, which could not conceal his appearance at all and only made him seem more suspicious, revealing a mark on his forehead.

My name is...

"I don't care about your name. You're no match for me. If you want to steal my God Card, then bring out your deck and Duel Disk and let's settle this once and for all!"

The man was interrupted twice in a row, and he couldn't even finish a complete sentence. His face turned red at a visible speed, which made Leyou sigh inwardly.

This makeshift toy is substandard; it's not nearly as fun as a seahorse.

"Hmph! Don't think you can look down on me just because you've become the new Duel King! The world of Duel Monsters is far more complex than you imagine! If you continue to be so arrogant, I will defeat you and steal your soul!"

With a flick of his arm, the bronze-like Duel Disk unfolded rapidly; its familiar appearance clearly indicated it was a product of Orichalcos.

"Let me correct you," Leyou said, shaking his head with his arms crossed. "I'm not looking down on you. What I mean is, you, and the people behind you, are all trash!"

"Hmph, all you do is talk! Enough talk, let's duel!"

"Come on then, you small fry~"

The Duel Disk was set up, and a deck was randomly drawn from the Chronicles. Leyou didn't even try to go first; he just watched as his opponent took the first turn and began his own.

Leyou's attention wasn't on this nobody; he had already secretly sent G to scout out if there were any other uninvited guests watching nearby.

After all, that's how it's portrayed in the anime: a nobody challenges Yugi, while the other three Doma musketeers watch from the sidelines.

"I summon [Charging Captain], and then, based on his effect, Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from my hand. I summon [Spirit Tamer]!"

[Earth, 3-star, Warrior race, Attack 1200, Defense 400]

[Earth, 3-star, Warrior race, Attack 800, Defense 700]

"Now, it's time for me to show my true power! Watch closely! Arrogant Duel King! Under this invincible power, your soul will be swallowed by darkness!"

"A magic card born from the deepest darkness! Its mysterious power will become my power! Surround me and my enemy with the sacred inscription space!"

"【Orichalcohol Barrier】Activated!"

Holding a magic card with a green, six-pointed star-like magic circle engraved on it high, the minions chanted a prayer and devoutly placed the card in the field spell card area.

In a deserted alley, a green ring suddenly appeared, enveloping the two. The strange magic circle exuded an ominous aura, with darkness faintly emanating from it.

Clang, clang, clang—

A gentle tap on the barrier created by the formation produces a crisp sound, feeling as if you're tapping on glass.

"Hahahaha! Those who enter the Orichalcos Barrier are not disturbed by anyone and can only continue to duel until a victor is determined, and the soul of the loser will be taken! Arrogant Duel King! Your soul will belong to me!"

"FNNDP!" Leyou cursed inwardly. Although he couldn't remember many things about Orichalcos, he clearly remembered that the Doma Three Musketeers forcibly broke the barrier and took him away halfway through the Peacock Dance duel.

"Orichalcos's barrier possesses powerful dark energy, which can increase the attack power of my monsters by 500 points!"

"My turn is over. Come, Duel King, bow down to the invincible power of Orichalcos!"

The miscellaneous fish was as happy as an epileptic, while Leyou remained completely unmoved.

He wasn't worried at all, because this flamboyant barrier had no effect on him whatsoever.

He can go out whenever he wants—he doesn't know why, but he can do it anyway.

He even wanted to demonstrate to this person what it meant to repeatedly jump back and forth inside and outside the Orichalcos barrier, and enjoy the interesting expression that would surely appear on the person's face.

However, after he drew a card, he changed his mind.

He originally thought his deck was just an ordinary draw-based system, since he already had Angel's Charity and Pot of Greed in hand.

But I just drew this card.

"I don't know if you have a powerful background or just bad luck. No, actually you're incredibly lucky."

"Today you will witness the glory of this deck and experience firsthand how terrible it is."

"Welcome to the past, to the earliest and most vicious era in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!."

Chapter Ninety-Six: The Beginning, the Most Fierce, the Most Evil! Paying Off the Debt 26/34

As we all know, the development of anything must go through many stages, and the birth and improvement of a game also requires going through the same path.

Even though the OCG today has very well-established rules and can handle some seemingly strange judgments according to standard procedures, it will still change the rulings in certain situations from time to time (referring to the noble Ice Sword Dragon).

It's easy to imagine what a primitive and undeveloped state OCG was in its early days.

In the beginning, the one with the highest attack power was the boss, which is why the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was so invincible and unstoppable.

Later, the rule of Tribute Summoning was added, and Blue-Eyes White Dragon was still a fixed monster attack power, which could be used to finish the game with a single strike. It wasn't until the appearance of various Effect Monsters with complex effects that attack and defense stats were no longer the sole representation of a monster's strength. The deck-building rules for duelists also changed from "adding monsters in descending order of attack power" to "mainly powerful lower-level monsters, with a few powerful higher-level monsters as the core, and some Spell & Trap Cards as support".

That is, until the appearance of those five cards.

Simply collecting all the cards in your hand guarantees victory. This unstoppable new combat method has opened a new door for duelists and sparked countless ingenious ideas.

The appearance of these five cards marks a new stage in the development of OCG, while also raising numerous questions for the creators about how to design new cards.

Therefore, many cards that seemed unremarkable at the time appeared, but caused countless "disasters" after their creation.

Furthermore, due to the lack of a comprehensive standard in the early days, many cards were poorly described. In addition, due to the limited conditions at the time, many people did not have access to official rulings on certain cards, so duelists could only interpret them based on their own understanding.

In addition, even the creators didn't know the specifics of some cards, and when deciding the effects of certain cards, they made decisions that seemed insignificant to them, leading to the emergence of a deck that could be described as devastating during that primitive period.

"At times like this, I can't help but understand why the Protoss relied on archaeology for their development. After all, who knows what outrageous things might have appeared in ancient times."

As if it were destined, the card that Leyou drew was one of the most outrageous single cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and could be hailed as a single card that maximizes the use of the deck.

[Last Words]

It's a regular spell card, but the effect description is very vague and unintelligible: Instead of sending 1 monster to the Graveyard this turn, you can bring 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.