Having obtained another new deck, Kira was in a terrific mood today.
The Jinzo series still had development potential, being a deck that would even get nostalgic support cards years later. Kira jotted down this project for future research when he had time.
Before Kira transmigrated, it seemed that KaibaCorp had just found a new goldmine—going all out to strengthen old decks from the DM and GX eras.
Many of these may look like trash to modern Yu-Gi-Oh! players, but people forget: what counts as bad now would have been overpowered cheat cards twenty years ago.
As for today's top meta decks, they're even more ridiculous—bring them back twenty years and it's like three-body tech beating up cavemen with pitchforks.
And don't forget, with enough support, even an old trash deck can rise. Who would've thought that Yubel—a bottom-tier deck for years—would one day get meta-defining support nearly two decades later?
It just shows: the world of Duel Monsters is deep, and the path of research is long. With enough card printing power, anything can be broken.
This proves that in this world full of cheats and hacks, you either max out your luck and plot armor, or you have to research and craft your path to prosperity.
Kira already had a long list of decks and topics to research, with new ones being added all the time.
Trying to personally handle every project was unsustainable. Kira was already thinking about expanding his lab's influence and recruiting more people once their first round of results was published.
He would still personally work on his own ace decks and spirit cards, but there was no way he had the time to handle every other archetype. With so many themes and cards to print, both resources and manpower were essential.
But it looked like the lab's first releases were coming soon.
Under Kira's guidance, Alexis completed the initial upgrade of the Cyber Angel deck, spending several sleepless days before finally finishing the paper for submission.
The day before submitting it, she even asked her advisor to review it—though she secretly doubted Professor Lyman's actual expertise.
Lyman, stroking his cat, glanced over the paper and made a troubled face, pushing his glasses up: "Well, even if you say that, I've never really written an academic paper before…"
He quickly flipped through the stack from front to back, then handed it back to Alexis.
"Very good, no problem at all. As expected from Alexis, your work is always so reliable."
Alexis took back the paper, bewildered, wanting to say something, but hesitated out of respect.
She wanted to say: "Sensei, you barely even looked at it…"
Misawa couldn't help but add, "By the way, I checked—the conference you mentioned is happening next week. Is it possible to submit a paper this late?"
Indeed. While Kira wasn't familiar with this world, in his previous life, submitting a paper could take months, even a year. Submitting after the deadline, when the conference is already upon you, is unheard of.
Lyman just smiled, "No worries. My friend is influential—shouldn't be a problem."
Misawa wanted to protest: "But—"
This is hardly a small issue…
But Kira interrupted with a smile: "It's fine. Since sensei says so, let's just give it a try."
"…Alright, if you say so." Misawa stopped, though he still glanced at Lyman with suspicion.
He trusted Kira, but couldn't understand why Kira had such faith in Lyman, who honestly seemed pretty unreliable.
...
Elsewhere, at a certain Duel Monster research institute—headquarters of the Cyber Research Association.
Massive servers hummed in the background, the walls covered in images and data of cyber-themed monsters. The air was thick with the scent of electronics.
The chief, in high heels, strode into the lab.
"Sayako, help me review this paper—quickly. It's for the Industrial Illusion conference next week."
Sayako, a pink-haired girl, stood up, stunned.
"Next week's conference? Review it now?"
"The recommender's a big shot—a legend in the alchemy field. Doesn't matter. The topic is Cyber Angel, so the organizers asked us to review it. Just mark any problems or highlights and send it to me by tonight, okay?"
"Alright."
Sayako sat back down, curious.
A recommendation from a legend, on Cyber Angels?
Could there be something new? Their team was at the cutting edge of all "Cyber" research, and their recent breakthrough—"Cyber Angel Dakini," the meta's strongest Cyber Angel—was their creation.
But even they had hit a wall since then.
She sipped coffee and scrolled down to the paper's author.
"Fujiki Kira, Alexis Rhodes, first-year Duel Academy students!?" Sayako raised an eyebrow.
What could a first-year possibly discover?
Another sip, and she read on, puzzled.
Then she spat out her coffee.
"…!"
"Chief! Chief, chief!"
Sayako dashed to the chief's office, banging on the door.
"What's wrong? Why so panicked?"
The chief opened the door, confused.
Sayako was out of breath: "The paper you sent me is insane—"
"Didn't I say to finish reading before coming to me?" the chief frowned. "Is it that amazing?"
Sayako gasped, clutching her chest, face flushed, nodding repeatedly.
The chief was surprised: "It's really that incredible? Let me guess—did they find some broken combo with a specific card? Which one?"
Sayako nodded, then shook her head.
"No, Chief, it's not just one card…"
Sayako's face was a picture of horror.
"…It's the entire deck."
Chief: "???"