I exit the house and start looking around. I see a hill. The city is about half a mile out at the top of the mountain. I walked down the road and checked the map at the bus stop. Scanning the map, I see that I'm in the residential district. The city is broken up into multiple districts, making the city look like a pizza cut into four quarters.
In the residential district, most of the houses are alongside some grocery stores on the edges, going clockwise. The next quarter is the business district. The business district houses places like the mall and Kaiba Corp HQ, along with other important companies. Across from the residential district is the education and essential services district. This neighborhood is where all the schools, universities, and power and water stations are located. The last district is the entertainment district, where the movie theater, Kiba Land, and other parks and older dueling arenas can be found, which were common during the Duelist Kingdom tournament. In the center of the city, where the four districts converge, there is an unofficial fifth area. That area holds shops that specialize in Duel Monsters, where most of the card shops are and where most of the Battle City tournament was held.
I make my way to a game store owned by the grandfather of the King of Games, located in the residential area. Opening the door of the shop, I see some tables in the corner. They appear to hold mainly board games based on merchandise. There are two tables set up for Duel Monsters with special duel mats laid out across them as well. I keep scanning the shop. Across the back wall span numerous games available for anyone to play free of charge, and right in front of me is old man Mister Moto. He stands behind the glass counter, cleaning the glass to better show off his more prized cards and new dual disks. Behind him is a wall filled with boxes of dual monster packs, and off to the side, probably going unnoticed by others, is a door leading to the living room and the rest of the house.
As I walk into the shop, a strange feeling comes over me. This feeling is unlike anything I've ever experienced before, akin to a sixth sense. I can tell it's the lingering magic from when Atem and all the Millennium Items were here. It feels almost like a savage beast is staring at me, probably because of how the Millennium Items were made.
The door shutting behind me finally draws Mr. Moto's attention. He stops cleaning and says to me, "Ah, hello, young man, I didn't see you there. My apologies, I'm Mister Moto, but you can call me Gramps like everyone else. How can I help you today?'' He asks with a gentle and cheerful look on his face. "Hehe. Hello Gramps, my name is Jason. It's wonderful to meet you. I'm looking for some new cards to upgrade my deck for the Duel Academy practical test."
"Ahh, the practical test is critical. Good to see young people taking academia so seriously." I smile. "Yes, sir. Very seriously," I said, remembering the tasks I'm meant to complete. "Do you have any idea of what you want to upgrade your deck with?" There was a twinge of enthusiasm in his voice, like that of a teacher meeting a new student.
"I'm looking for a box that will help me upgrade my spells and traps. Oh! When it comes to monsters, I prefer the zombie type. "Well, there is a set released recently that meets your requirements. Come over to the desk with me.'' He said this while waving me over. Gramps turned and stretched to reach a box on top but couldn't.
"Hey, Gramps, let me get that for you," I say, walking behind the counter and grabbing the box. I hand it to Gramps and return to my place on the other side of the counter. "Thank you, Jason." He opens the box, pulling out multiple boxes and laying them out across the counter one by one. "Ah, here we go!" Gramps said, pulling out a black and red box with multiple zombie monsters on the front. "This one has a lot of the new zombie monsters and a chance at some of the rarest spells and traps. It even comes with a free promo card," he says while putting the other sets back in the bigger box.
"That's excellent. Do you know what the promo cards are?" I asked, a little excited at how excellent this set is. "Unfortunately, no. Those are kept secret from everyone, but they should be some of the hardest cards to get, on par with the likes of the blue-eyed white dragon," he said with the utmost confidence. "How much DP for the box, Gramps?" Only 50 DP. It's not that popular with most duellists." That's not a terrible price. I expected it to be pricier since it includes 40 packs instead of 30. "I'll take it! Oh, and do you also have the new dual disk that came out?" I ask hopefully.
"Unfortunately, I don't. Only the official Kaiba Corp stores sell those items. He said, a little upset. " That's ok, Gramps. I can get one there. There should be one of the stores close to the central district, right?" I asked. "Yes, there's one just on the edge of the residential district. It's right next to the industrial illusion building where I get my stock from." Thankful for the directions, I put the KC communicator up against the scanner to transfer the DP to pay for the booster box. And head on my way. I'm getting ready to walk out the door, and I hear Gramps call out to me. "Good luck on your exams, and make sure to come back if you need anything else," he said, energetically waving as I left the store and began walking over to the bus stop. I just need a ride to the Central District. That's where I'll find the new Duel Disk. Checking the schedule for the bus, it looks like it should show up in about five minutes.
When the bus arrived, I got on, paid the fare, and went to the back of the bus. Sitting down, I look out the window and watch as the houses pass by. Most are small and modest, with a few extravagant ones here and there. After about ten minutes, the bus arrives at the central district, about a block away from the KibaCorpp store.
The store is not what I expected. The outside of it looks like an Apple store, just with a different logo. It's all a white and blue color scheme with two blue-eyed statues, one on each side of the doors. Walking in, it surprisingly smells like vanilla. The lobby is sparsely furnished, featuring only a few displays along the wall that showcase various KC communicator models and two types of dual-disk models. As I'm walking up to the counter, I notice the clerk sitting there bored with their elbow on the counter, holding their head up, barely staying awake.
They only paid attention to me when I was about five feet away from them. They greet me in a monotone voice, "Hello, sir, what can I do for you today?" "I'm looking to buy a new dual disk. How much is it?" I said. The attendant started typing on their The computer pulled up the information and displayed, "The standard version is The original version costs 1,000, while the upgraded version costs 2,000. With a hint of interest in my voice, I ask, "What are the features that come with the upgraded version?" The attendants, sensing my interest, perked up slightly, and their voices became more enthusiastic as they continued to explain. "The upgraded version comes with the ability to customize its color when you order it as a basic feature. You can select up to two additional features from this list that you would like to add. He handed me a two-page pamphlet that included the list of colors and features for my selection.
While reviewing the available options, I found that some color combinations, such as tan with a red jewel or baby blue with a pink jewel, do not look appealing; however, there are also some decent combinations, like black with either a red or purple jewel and dark blue with a red jewel. A lot of the features available just don't make sense. Why would anyone want a radio built into the disc or a DVD player where the field spell slot should be? ... Just looking at all these useless features made me a little annoyed at the fact that they are even available. However, I found some that could be useful. One had a map function that would appear on the jewel, like a dome on the dual disc. It connects to the Kaiba Corp satellites, acting similarly to Google Maps.
Finally, after carefully considering all the options, I tell the employee my choices.
"For the color, I would like black and green. For the features, I will go with the environmental protection upgrade and the strong material upgrade." "Those are excellent choices, sir," they say happily as they make a sale. "It will take a day to put it together for you, though. Just pay here, and we will send you a message when it's ready."
Finishing up at the Kiba Corp store, I walk to the bus stop and make my way home. I plan to open the booster bow and see if using magic will help me figure out those anchors to the spirit worlds. Once home, I prepared some lunch and started to remove the plastic on the booster box to see if I could make a better deck.
As I removed the plastic, a small flash of green came out of the box. "That's not ominous at all," I said sarcastically. I saw what happened. 6 of the 40 packs were changed into the Vendread packs from the Master Duel, surprising but not unwelcome. When I open the modified packs, I find that they contain nothing but Vendread cards. I notice that the cards are in the exact ratio I played them in my past life. As I look through them, I feel a small connection to the boss of the archetype. Picking up the card, I feel the connection become complete. Next to me, I see the semi-transparent form of Revendread Slayer, his bone-like scythe tucked close to his body. He tries to communicate by talking, but all that comes out is a mix of a harsh hiss and a low growl before he remembers he was a zombie. So instead, I feel him trying to communicate by sending his intentions through our connection. I sense his intention to greet me and his joy at meeting me. He then returned to his card.
I then saw that these cards were from my first life, not new ones from this world. Considering how the slayer interacted with me before going back to his card, my only guess is that Hella sent them to me as a solid foundation to accomplish my part of the deal. Opening the remaining unchanged packs, I get a couple of decent zombie monsters. A few useful spells and traps, too, but not ones I would put in my deck.
Finally, I'm down to the last few packs. I got fortunate with the pulls: two pots of greed and preparation of rites. This set is ideal for my newly acquired Vendread deck. Finally, it's time to open the last pack. This pack has the promo cards. I see some of the current best removal spells I could hope to get: 2 Raigeki, 1 Harpie's Feather Duster, and 1 Heavy Storm. Now it's time to put my deck together.
After a few minutes, I finish putting my new deck together. (Put deck list here when posting.)
When I finished putting together my new Vendread deck, I took a second look at the cards I pulled from the booster packs. Some of them gave off a weird feeling. After a minute, I pulled out all the cards that just didn't sit right with me… Necro Valley, Venom Swamp, Jurassic World, and Dimensional Fissure. As I sat there at my desk with the 4 different cards in front of me, I pulled up a blank document on the computer to write down everything I could about these cards. Maybe it would help me figure out my aversion to them?
I started with what these cards have in common. First, 3 out of the 4 cards are field spells, and one is a continuous spell card. Second, despite one being different, it gives the same feeling. Examining their commonalities may not only depend on the fiscal card but also on the themes they represent. The field spells are typically where a monster type or archetype lives or interacts a lot. Dimensional Fissure shares similarities with all D.D. monsters, their supporting spells, and traps.
After typing out my observations, I try to focus and reach out to the feeling the cards are giving off, similarly to how Slayer communicated with his Intent. This approach seems to work, but instead of communicating, it felt like I was pushing against a solid metal door. No matter how hard I focused on the connection, I could not push that door at all. I concluded that the cards depicting different locations are likely the anchors, or more precisely, the doorways to various spirit worlds.
But I can't understand why I could not enter them… unless it's somehow related to my magic or the strength of my dual spirit. Getting up from my chair, I stretch and head over to the bookshelf. I pull out the different history books written by Pegasus. I check his book on card designs to see if there are any hints on how to increase and strengthen my dual spirit. I'm wondering if the magic is used throughout the world and if my magic works the same, but also, if his book has any information on different spirits from this field of spells
I decided to pull up the search engine on the computer to find extra information that the books might not have. With the books sprawled out, I decided to start with his book about his time in Egypt. He writes about how he got the Millennium Eye and the stone tablets of the different Duel Monsters. Next, I plan to dive into his Scandinavia trip, then his work here in Japan, and finally his book on card design. If all else fails, then I'll search the Nazca lines where the earthbound immortals are sealed.