Early the next morning, Kira set off from the dojo with the other students to visit the ruins.
Honestly, Kira was pretty interested in the stone slabs from before cards existed in this world. Especially after learning that the ruins contained more than just cards made from slabs.
But that's just how the Yu-Gi-Oh world is. Things that can become cards aren't limited to stone slabs—gems, swords, and even living people can be turned into cards. Or maybe, turning slabs into cards isn't real card creation at all, just transplanting.
After all, the slabs were already made by the ancients thousands of years ago. Pegasus just transferred ancient cards onto modern media. The real card creation was when those ancients made the slabs in the first place.
The ruins were on the edge of the city. After getting out of the vehicle, Kira soon arrived at the excavation site and met Kazuya, the good friend of Takeuchi.
"Hey, you're here!"
Kazuya greeted them warmly, especially giving Kira an extra look.
"Your duel yesterday was impressive, young Kira. You must've made out well, huh?"
"Not bad," Kira smiled. "Thanks for showing us around, Uncle."
Kazuya waved it off. "No problem. Honestly, I'm just bringing you here a few days early. The team decided that if there's no discovery, this ruin will open to duelists Level 4 and above in a couple of days."
As he led them inside, Kazuya explained:
"You've probably heard the rumors that sometimes spirits choose their duelists?"
The group nodded.
Kira also remembered. In the original, the best example was Crystal Beasts. Pegasus created the Crystal Beast deck, and one day while watching Jesse Anderson's tournament match, the deck in its box suddenly glowed.
So Pegasus gifted the deck to Jesse, and Jesse formed an unbreakable bond with his cards. Sometimes, it's not the duelist who chooses the cards, but the spirits who choose the duelist.
"Takeuchi-sensei also said," one student remembered, "A duelist rejected by their cards can't bring out the deck's true power."
Kira listened, thinking: What does it mean to not bring out your deck's power?
Does it mean if the spirit dislikes you, it'll keep giving you dead draws until you doubt your entire life?
Man, that's terrifying.
"Yeah, some ruins are like that too. Sometimes, a ruin's research makes no progress, but when a certain duelist visits, weird phenomena suddenly occur, as if they're 'chosen.' freёwebnoѵel.com
But I don't know what the criteria are."
Kazuya laughed.
"After all, I'm just an old laborer here, I just hear people talk."
Koji Sato asked, "So, can you tell us what kind of ruin this is? Sensei said it's awesome but was all mysterious about it."
Kazuya smiled mysteriously. "You'll know when we go in."
Following the dig path, they soon arrived at a vast space. All around were towering stone walls, carved with complex patterns and mysterious symbols, still clear despite centuries.
At the center was a massive stone platform, on which stood an ancient yellowish slab. In the middle was a drawing of a sword-wielding warrior.
Even with the ancient art style, everyone recognized the figure at a glance, and several students exclaimed:
"Black Luster Soldier!"
Some mythological records exaggeratedly say he was the strongest warrior at the dawn of creation, splitting chaos with his sword, one side light and one side dark, birthing the world. Of course, that's so over-the-top, it's just taken as myth.
He's also one of Yugi Muto's signature ace monsters.
"Yep, Black Luster Soldier. Since 'Envoy of the Beginning' appeared, he's been a key research project. But when 'Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning' came out, it shocked the dueling world, but also became a research dead end.
Years have passed, and no breakthroughs. Some experts even claim 'Envoy of the Beginning' is the full potential of Black Luster Soldier—no further evolution is possible."
Kind of understandable. BLS – Envoy of the Beginning has super simple summoning, 3000 ATK, and can banish a monster or attack twice per turn.
He was so strong he got banned in 2005 in real life. In this era, he's top tier.
But as someone from the future, Kira knew that wasn't his limit—BLS would get plenty more support cards.
Looking at the slab, his mind raced.
Even without new cards, just Envoy of the Beginning was strong enough back then. After he'd used [Card Destruction] decks, the next two world championships were won by Chaos decks featuring Envoy as the mainstay.
Back then, Chaos was already super mainstream, crushing the competition. Even after BLS was banned, Chaos Sorcerer took his place, and that year's world champion used [Last Will Chaos], still Chaos-themed.
If he could somehow get a BLS, maybe he could try building a championship deck.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!