Silence.
Until Watanabe Hidekazu's LP dropped to zero and he was struck down, lying flat on the ground, no one spoke for a long time.
Even the host was agape, stunned for a long while, unsure what to say.
Mamma Mia, what kind of situation is this!?
He almost blurted out Professor Chronos's favorite phrase in shock.
It wasn't unheard of for talented freshmen to defeat thunderbolt-level members during previous recruitment events. The host, having been in the Duel Club for over two years, considered himself well-informed and had seen all sorts of grand scenes.
But he had never seen this kind of duel!
"Oh, uh..." The senior sister on stage also stammered for a moment.
To simultaneously display both the "You're not going to play the game today" insidious style and a theoretically infinite attack power, magnificent LOOP in a single duel...
It was truly hard to imagine such drastically different artistic styles of dueling appearing on one person in the same game.
How could there be such a duelist in the world?
Even Manjome stood up from his chair, his eyes still fixed on Yugen on stage, refusing to budge for a moment.
He had long known that guy was a scoundrel, and he had long known that the opponent was actually very strong. But even so, the direction of this duel still exceeded his expectations.
Why could this person continuously come up with so many bizarre and unique Combos?
Manjome, watching Yugen duel at this moment, felt a bit like watching a top student solve a problem. Those perplexing difficulties that stumped failing students, making them rack their brains in vain, would, in the hands of a top student, become magically simplified with a few effortless strokes, instantly making the struggling students exclaim, "Holy moly, there's even this kind of move!"
Sometimes it really made people want to crack open a top student's skull and see what kind of structure was inside, why they were so different from themselves.
Of course, even if Yugen knew, he would just laugh heartily and express that he was merely standing on the shoulders of giants to see further.
Even according to the online setting—dueling is the truth in this world, so the natives have to put in hundreds of thousands of times more effort to discover the rules that are effortlessly clear to veteran players of the real card game. And Yugen, as a higher-dimensional transmigrator, could discover far more combinations and scientific structures a hundred times more easily than them. But even so, this game was still too vast for him alone.
So many card combinations, so many tricks and strategies, especially those that could stand the test of time and be passed down 20 years later, all of which were the crystallization of the wisdom of predecessors. He stood on the foundation of countless veteran players' years of exploration and summary to have so many structures and combinations.
Searching for various possible combinations from a vast card pool, like finding a needle in a haystack, to create wondrous chemical reactions between different cards that no predecessor had ever imagined, completing all sorts of tricks that either made people's eyes go dark or light up—this has always been one of the charms of Yu-Gi-Oh!
"Mm, congratulations, student Yugen, for passing the assessment."
Finally, it was the Duel Club President who spoke.
"That's enough, Hidekazu, you can go back first."
Seeing the President's serious expression, Hidekazu knew that he was not satisfied with his performance, and punishment would surely be unavoidable upon returning.
Hidekazu wanted to cry but couldn't. He wanted to tell the President, "This really isn't my fault, I tried my best."
But what do you do when the opponent isn't human?
Even after Yugen left the stage, everyone's gaze couldn't help but remain fixed on him.
This was just a new student who had just enrolled.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the Duel Club President would have to be replaced, right?
"..."
"This is your welfare for joining the club."
The senior sister with a beaming smile handed a badge to Yugen.
"This is the Duel Club member badge, keep it safe. New members will first receive five additional credits and can choose one card for free from these cards."
Saying that, she presented a box, allowing Yugen to pick freely.
The box was open, and inside, rows of cards were neatly arranged.
As expected, students who arrived early had an advantage, because if you came late, the good cards would obviously have been picked by the earlier successful students.
Yugen roughly scanned them. Generally speaking, there was nothing that caught his eye; perhaps because they were free, they all seemed relatively weak.
Huh?
He looked at one of them with some surprise.
Meteor B. Dragon.
A Level 8 Fusion Monster of Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Meteor Dragon, 3500 ATK, a normal monster.
In a real card pool, it was definitely a useless card, but what surprised Yugen was that Red-Eyes Black Dragon wasn't considered ultra-rare in this world?
In DM, it seemed only Jonouchi had one, and it was his signature monster. By the GX era, its rarity might have decreased somewhat, because Tenjoin Fubuki used two in one duel, and his deck might very well contain a third.
But even so, it was still a top-tier rare card, not something you could just casually see on the market.
"This one was amazing, the Duel Club spent a lot of money to get it back then!" The senior sister said with a smile, "This is a legendary monster's evolved form."
Yugen was puzzled: "But the Duel Club's inventory shouldn't have 'Red-Eyes Black Dragon,' right? Then this card can't be summoned at all."
"That's right, it can't be summoned." The senior sister blinked twice, as if it were obvious.
Yugen: "?"
"Come on, Red-Eyes Black Dragon is a legendary monster! If it could be summoned, how could our club's budget afford it?" The senior sister laughed continuously, her body shaking with laughter. "Although it's a Red-Eyes fusion evolution, 'Meteor B. Dragon' isn't as rare as its main body. Plus, its practical value isn't high, so its main value is still for collection.
Oh, but I heard some duelists choose it as their ace, using 'King of the Swamp' to substitute Red-Eyes Black Dragon as a fusion material. Oh, but 'King of the Swamp' itself is also a rare card."
Yugen: "..."
So, after all that, it was just a mascot.
Wait a minute.
Thinking about it this way, he actually thought of a certain current-use card he had received from the academy department not long ago.
Combined with that card, this thing might actually be useful.
"Then I'll take 'Meteor B. Dragon'," Yugen said.
After all, the other cards in the box really didn't seem useful.
"Alright."
The senior sister handed him the card.
Yugen passed the assessment and received his reward, exchanging contact information with the senior sister for future communication.
The senior sister seemed very happy to get his contact information.
"By the way, senior sister, I also wanted to ask, where are the recruitment venues for other clubs?" Yugen asked, "Are they also nearby?"
The senior sister's expression was a little strange.
You're asking me, a Duel Club recruiter, where other clubs' venues are? Isn't that a bit like... having a bull's head?
But she still explained: "The specific recruitment times for different clubs vary, but they should all be concentrated within these next two weeks. However, as your senior, I still advise you not to join too many clubs; after all, a person's energy is limited."
"Thank you for the reminder, senior sister, but it's fine." Yugen smiled confidently. "I know my limits."