Is the king a novice?
(Chapter02)
Under a veil of astonishment, Shiro muttered to himself. "So, you wait until you can clear the field and summon your Ace to attack and put an end to everything quickly..."
Shiro said, bewildered.
"I never got around to summoning Luna's Ace; in fact, I have no idea what an Ace is. I probably just used the support cards. Who knows next time, I haven't mastered this deck yet; I only knew what I had in my hands."
'And I don't even know how I knew what I had in my hand,' thought Nate.
As Nate spoke hollowly and sincerely, Shiro's expression became more rigid as he realized that, even though he was the best in the region, he had lost to someone who hadn't put in the effort, someone who didn't fully know the deck he was dueling with.
"How? I'm number one... Hey... What's your deck? You must use pretty complex cards to come up with moves like that. You must be a foreign professional, right?"
Shiro was nonplussed, searching for an explanation for his defeat.
"My deck...? It may seem unfair, since I bet it with you, but I don't really have a deck..."
Nate spoke in a lower and lower tone of voice as the dueling disk closed and he slowly removed the deck, holding it out to Luna.
"Nate, that was incredible, 4200 damage in a single turn, plus the activated effects; that must be 4600DP$!"
Luna congratulated Nate and took her deck.
"DPs?"
As soon as Luna picked up her deck, Nate fainted.
"NATE!"
It was the last sound he heard before everything went dark again.
Twenty-four hours had passed since Nate collapsed; Shiro and Luna hadn't left his side for a second. Luna, worried, and Shiro, with issues to resolve with his new rival. Nate, without knowing it, was the target of all the city's attention, because everyone knew that the champion had a rival, and this rival had defeated him without any effort, as Shiro loudly proclaimed: "My rival!" while Nate fell after an unexpected victory.
Meanwhile, Nate was immersed in an inner journey. Aware that he wasn't awake, he struggled to wake up, but despite his efforts, he remained trapped in a peculiar calm. However, that persistent voice, that damn voice, managed to follow him there.
"Don't wake up yet, Pharaoh. Remember the right choice of your servant and your apprentice for your armory. Gather the counterparts of yourself, your most powerful servant. In your ancient world, your skills as King of Games and Enigmas were not recognized. I have used all my power to bring you to a world where you will be. Rise to prosper in this new world."
The voice resounded from all corners.
"My God! Shut the fuck up! What the fuck is this Pharaoh shit? What the fuck is happening to this world? Has Yu-Gi-Oh gone to their heads? Haven't these people ever grown up? Oh, shit, I'm going crazy and complaining about my teenage paradise. Shut up, you annoying voice!"
Nate shouted at the void, which answered back.
"Child, it's time to grow up, but not to abandon your inept potential. You, child, are the reincarnation of my master, the lost pharaoh. In your world, the assumption that Great Egypt was purely into games was erroneous and unexplored. In this world, reality was achieved through research. Great Egypt prospered for so long because it avoided conflict. Its conflicts were strategic; games and puzzles were used as a means of dispute and taken very seriously. A world that developed a non-violent way of having conflicts, while still satisfying men's natural desire for combat and competition. I brought you to this world as a last act to my master. I no longer have the strength to exist, to keep you unconscious or influence you from now on. Follow your instincts."
And silence fell, even if only for a few moments. However, in the darkness, Nate heard a voice.
"Damn it, Nate, my rival can't be that weak. You cracked a wall; you'll have to endure a duel."
Nate couldn't see, but that voice, once petty and now full of concern, was Shiro's voice. He knew it.
Nate clenched his eyes tightly shut.
'He can't stop me from waking up anymore'
He said. Nate believed those words. Of all the tones that annoying voice had ever taken on, this was the most fraternal, as if it really did want the best for its "child".
"Shut up, Shiro. I fell into the sea; of course I was going to faint."
Nate said as he opened his eyes and stood up. Luna didn't hold back her reaction, letting the damp towels she was carrying fall to the ground, starting to cry and rushing to jump on Nate. Even Shiro had his eyes wet, ready to shed tears, but he was holding back.
"You've been burning up for the last twenty hours, we didn't know what to do."
Even though Nate felt that the proximity to a stranger was too much, he ignored it. He knew how to recognize fear in a voice, but usually the fear was of him and not for him.
'That's how that idiot left me unconscious, with a boiling fever.'
And just like that, Nate completely forgot the fraternal feeling he had developed in his last conversation with the mysterious voice.
"It's great to hear that you're okay, but what's this about you not having a deck? There's no way a newbie can beat me, and those things you said in the duel, a person who's never played Duel Monsters wouldn't have that line of reasoning."
Shiro didn't know whether to be relieved that Nate was awake or indignant at the questions he had.
'I can't just say that I came from another dimension; that would be crazy. I have to be careful with my words...'
Nate took a deep breath and did his best to convey the facts with little distortions.
"You're right, I've dueled before, but I didn't take it seriously enough to become a duelist. At a certain point... Let's say I got over it..."
A slight sadness showed in Nate's voice and face, as if getting over it had been much more complicated than he wanted to show.
'That's good, isn't it? I've never been competitive; that would be the duelist of my world, probably...'
"Wow, even without taking it seriously, you must have been an incredible duelist. I would have loved to have seen you. I mean, you brought out a power that even I hadn't seen in my deck."
Luna's pure and genuine excitement was captivating and contagious.
"I hate to admit it, but I would have liked to have seen it too. After all, what was the name of your deck? You can't be sure about the monsters, but you can usually get an idea from the name. Mine is called The Eyes of Blue."
Shiro commented.
"I never gave it a name, but it would probably be called Chaos Dragons. Where I come from, it doesn't work the same way as here and it wasn't that important. I gave the deck to a child a long time ago. Even though it wasn't that important, it was fun for me. That said, everything here is new to me. Thanks in advance for what you're going to teach me."
Nate smiled with the enthusiasm of a child.
"Chaos Dragons. It's quite an imposing name. Well, it's not your possession anymore, so it doesn't matter."
Shiro shrugged. If he couldn't use the information against Nate in a duel, it didn't really matter.
"Ah, yes, Nate, I don't know how it was in your country, but here duels are very important. So much so that DP$ have the same purchase value as the ¥en. Even though you're not a duelist, your duel with Shiro generated 5200DP$. But my duel disk has my ID on it, of course. So could you pass me your ID? I'd feel really bad taking those DP$, since you're the one who dueled."
Luna said as she reached into her pocket for her cell phone.
"Ah..."
Nate froze. ID, a document, obviously, but Nate didn't have time to grab any documents before he was teleported away. Since Luna had a cell phone in hand, it could probably be generated with a cell phone, which Nate also didn't had time to pick up.
"I left without papers or a cell phone."
Nate shrugged. It was better to be open than desperate.
"Wow, you're complicated."
Luna let out a sigh
"Let's go out and buy a cell phone. You can find great ones for 3500DP$. I can show you the city too."
Luna seemed more excited than anything about the overall situation.
"I suppose so. That would leave me 1700 to get a place and spend some time until I get a job."
Nate shrugged once again. Once again, it would be back to life as usual, no big deal.
"Alternatively, my rival, I have a house I bought thinking I'd spend some time away from my parents. I could rent it to you at a ridiculously low price, estimated at 2500/3000DP$ a month. I'm willing to make it 700DP$ for you on one condition."
Shiro said, crossing his arms and staring at Nate in a serious, heavy tone.
"The offer sounds tempting, but the condition is?"
Nate was obviously tempted, but intrigued too, as Shiro's sentence sent shivers through his entire body.
"A simple deck at any gacha in town costs 1000DP$. Buy one and become a professional duelist. It should be easy for you."
"That would leave me with exactly 700DP$. I assume the hidden challenge is to keep up with the duels I'm going to have until I officially become a professional duelist, isn't it?"
"Very perceptive, my rival. In fact, there's a gacha a few blocks from Luna's house. So, what do you say?"
"Before, it looks like it's going to be a considerable expense for you. Why?"
"It's simple, my rival. A powerful and lazy lion doesn't want to hunt in front of a very bold and curious cub. But this cub has the means to move this lion and learn from watching him. So I ask you, why not?"
"This rival business is really annoying, but let's get to the gacha. Luna, I'm sorry to bother you like this, but could you please buy my cell phone while I buy my deck? Shiro will pay. Then you can just transfer the 1700 to him. I'll accept that challenge."
As Shiro had mentioned, the gacha was really close by, and right next to it, a 24-hour cashier. Cards were apparently very important indeed in this new world. The interface was simple, the outside looking like a chewing gum machine mixed with a computer. Shiro explained how it worked on the way; it was really different from his world, where an extensive list of forbidden and limited cards existed. Here it was different; basically, all cards were limited to one copy, with minor exceptions. Aces and Favorites were divided into two main categories: Monster Cards and Magic Cards, with Magic Cards being divided into a variety of Spell Cards and Trap Cards and Monster Cards having their diversifications as well. There was an Ace and a Favorite in both categories. The Ace was usually the central card in the deck's strategy, in many cases the strongest card or the key to the strategy. However, for Nate, the most important thing was that the Ace card was not limited, and there could be three copies of the Ace card in a deck, just like the Favorite. However, Favorite was limited to two copies. Shiro also taught that these cards, four of which were specific, but ten in total, would be the only ones Nate would choose when buying his Deck. The other 30 cards and, if Nate was lucky, any number between 1 and 15 from the Extra Deck and any number between 1 and 15 from the Side Deck, were completely random. The gacha made sure not to hand out cards that couldn't be used with the chosen cards, so, in a way, it wasn't that random.
From what Shiro explained, gacha created decks were fairly consistent up to a certain level, but the real randomness began when buying Booster Packs of 5, 10 or 15 cards, since with 40 cards, the number of usable cards really increased.
Nate thought of powerful cards from his world to choose from for Aces and Favorites, but before he knew it, he had already chosen, and the gacha was already generating the other random cards. Nate didn't despair; apparently, his brain knew the effect of the cards somehow, he knew enough about the game to get by with almost anything. So he just took a deep breath and looked straight at the screen. When he saw it, he gave a big smile, overcome by nostalgia.
The Monster Card Ace that Nate chose was Dark Magician, while his Favorite was Dark Magician Girl. His Spell Card Ace was The Eye of Timaeus, and his Favorite Trap Card was Eternal Soul. Nate couldn't stop smiling: 'Well, those are very good. I'm looking forward to seeing what combination he gives me with these cards here.