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A few days later, Keihei sent over the list of rare cards he had mentioned, which were originally intended to be shipped to Duel Academy.
As You Xuan had expected, the "VWXYZ" series dominated a significant portion of the list. Without hesitation, he immediately secured that series for himself.
Since these cards were originally meant to be sold through Duel Academy's internal channels, their prices were set at levels rarely seen outside. Fortunately, You Xuan hadn't spent much of the bonus he'd received from Kaiba Corporation, so his budget was still quite comfortable.
Next, he noticed "Mammoth Treasure Hammer," a card used by Manjoume in the anime. In the animated version, the card allowed the player to shuffle any number of cards from their hand, including this one, back into the deck and then draw the same number of cards.
It was essentially a card that could replace any hand when faced with poor draws.
However, the real-world version had been nerfed to "shuffle all cards except this one back into the deck and draw." This made it cost one card and drastically reduced its practicality.
You Xuan thought for a moment. If it retained the anime effect, it wouldn't lose cards when replacing hands, making it somewhat usable. But in this anime environment where Fate Power reigned supreme, even deck-searching effects weren't very popular, let alone this card.
Besides, he already had a large stockpile of anime-exclusive draw filters, so he didn't really need the Mammoth Treasure Hammer.
Still, after checking the price, he found it to be one of the cheapest cards in the entire set. While it wasn't useful for regular duels, it might come in handy for certain niche combo decks. So, he decided to purchase three copies.
Then he came across the key storyline card, "Evolution Wings." By discarding two cards from the hand, it allowed Winged Kuriboh to evolve into Level 10.
However, only one person in the entire Duel Academy possessed Winged Kuriboh, so this card might as well have been labeled "Jaden Yuki Exclusive" in bold letters...
You Xuan owned Kuriboh, not Winged Kuriboh, so the card was useless to him. He decided to leave it for Jaden instead.
After picking out these cards, it seemed there wasn't much left for Manjoume.
"Don't worry. Before sending them to Duel Academy, we'll adjust and supplement with other rare cards," Keihei assured him.
You Xuan figured that these good cards would likely end up getting destroyed anyway once they reached Manjoume's hands. To prevent waste, he decided to accept them graciously.
There were only two days left before Duel Academy's opening.
The day before departure, You Xuan visited the dojo one last time to bid farewell to the master and fellow students.
Upon entering, he saw the students kneeling on the ground, heads bowed low, while Master Takeuchi stood in front, passionately lecturing them.
Curious, You Xuan approached and listened for a moment, quickly piecing together what had happened.
In short, Master Takeuchi was dissatisfied with the current state of the dojo, where students had begun to revel in wreaking havoc on society.
But that wasn't even the worst part. The students soon realized that everyone in the dojo had become "dark duelists." However, when dark duelists clashed with other dark duelists, the fun was diminished. So, they redirected their efforts toward nearby duel arenas.
Rumors of the Silent Dojo began to spread in the surrounding arenas. It was said that every duelist from this dojo was a harbinger of hell, taking pleasure in dragging their opponents into despair. Regardless of whether they won or lost, their goal was to ensure their opponents couldn't enjoy the game anymore.
Even more terrifying was how this trend seemed to spread like an epidemic wherever these duelists went...
Master Takeuchi probably never imagined in his wildest dreams that the Silent Style would one day achieve fame—but not in the way he envisioned. Instead, it became known for "silencing opponents through duels"...
By now, the deck You Xuan had used during the Gekkou Cup had been thoroughly dissected by the dojo students. Everyone had stuffed their decks with staples like "Holy Barrier - Mirror Force," "Necrovalley," "Torrential Tribute," and the "Hand Destruction Trinity." It was blatant plagiarism.
Of course, You Xuan had anticipated this would happen sooner or later. For now, he was still relatively unknown—an amateur who had pulled off an upset in a local tournament. So, only those around him had studied his deck. But if he ever became as famous as Yuugi or Kaiba, his deck would undoubtedly be analyzed by countless duelists. Some would seek to counter it, while others would imitate it—it was inevitable.
However, after continuous dueling and research, You Xuan began to understand something deeper about this anime environment. A deck's strength wasn't solely determined by its build quality.
For instance, in the early episodes of GX, Kagurazaka stole Yuugi's deck to duel Jaden but got utterly crushed. Later, both Jaden and Kaiser Ryo explained the theory behind it.
According to Kaiser, a duelist must pour their heart and soul into building their deck. Only then will the deck respond to the duelist's intentions and unleash its full potential. Using someone else's deck, no matter how well you mimic their tactics, will never truly belong to you—and you won't win.
You Xuan interpreted this as follows: copying someone else's deck lowers your own "Fate Power." Sure, the deck might be stronger, but the likelihood of drawing bad hands increases while the chances of pulling clutch cards decrease, ultimately offering little improvement to personal skill.
Thus, many times in anime duels, players strive for "soul." It's not just for show or style—it's because lacking soul can put you at a disadvantage against stronger opponents.
With this in mind, You Xuan had been reflecting over the past couple of days. The ideal state would be maintaining competitive strategies while leveraging methods to destabilize the opponent's mindset, all while finding ways to maximize the strengths of his spirits.
In other words, striking a balance between competitiveness and soul.
That is, when facing strong opponents.
As for the dojo students' level, he felt that simply copying his deck wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
From his observations, most students had mediocre Fate Power and lacked innate talent, meaning they'd likely never make significant progress. However, adopting a stronger deck could visibly improve their win rates.
Indeed, the students who had copied his deck seemed to be performing decently in recent duels at the arenas.
The only downside? It was harming the dojo's reputation...
"All duelists should believe in their own decks!"
Master Takeuchi scolded the students for their behavior.
"A deck built with your own feelings and effort is unique to each person!"
Though his words were righteous, one student couldn't help but whisper timidly:
"But Master, I saw you pick up 'Impound' the day before yesterday, and 'Mischievous Twin Devils' three days ago..."
Master Takeuchi: "..."
He paused for a few seconds.
Then, placing his hands on his hips, he stood tall and proud.
"That's because I coincidentally agreed with You Xuan's choices! Great duelists often share similar tastes in cards—it's only natural."
All the students: "..."