You Xuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze drifting blankly around the unfamiliar environment.

It was a room he had never seen before, yet it felt inexplicably familiar. Sunlight streamed through the window lattice, casting dappled patterns on the soft floor like twinkling stardust. Even the air seemed lighter and clearer in the warm glow of the sun.

His head throbbed with dizziness and pain as strange images and fragmented memories flashed through his mind. Somewhere deep in his consciousness, an instinctive realization dawned—

He had traveled through time.

You Xuan's eyes fell on his surroundings, eventually drawn to the computer on the desk.

It was on, displaying a web page of a search engine he had never seen before. At the top, large letters spelled out, "Search by Seahorse."

What really caught his attention, though, was the hot news headline below the search bar:

"The Toto University Research Team Discovers a New Form of 'Demon's Summon'—Could the Demon Deck Be Greatly Strengthened?"

You Xuan: "?"

Curious, he clicked on the article. According to the report, the research team had spent days and nights analyzing the classic monster card Demon's Summon and had discovered untapped potential. Their findings had been published in a top-tier international dueling journal.

Even more impressive, the team was working with Becca J. Cloverdo, CEO of International Illusions, to develop a new card set.

If You Xuan hadn't realized what kind of world he was in by now, he might as well have thrown away all his years of card gaming experience.

This was the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a reality where playing cards wasn't just a hobby but the foundation of life, law, and even physics.

Scrolling further, another headline made his eyebrows twitch:

"International Conflicts in the Middle East Resolved as Leaders Duel for Peace."

You Xuan: "…"

His imagination conjured a battlefield shrouded in smoke, where two opposing generals stepped forward from their armies. Instead of drawing weapons, they activated duel disks strapped to their arms, raising decks to settle territorial disputes in a climactic showdown of Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ridiculous. But that was just how things worked here.

Duel Monsters wasn't just a card game—it was the cornerstone of status, power, and the ability to rewrite reality itself.

As his mind cleared, new memories began to surface, revealing his identity in this world.

He was now Fujiki Yugen, a male apprentice at a local Duel Gym.

Despite the name, a "Duel Gym" wasn't some prestigious academy like Duel Academy from the GX storyline. It was more of a casual card training center—something akin to a private class where anyone with enough money could enroll.

In this world, mastering Duel Monsters was more than a pastime—it was a career path. Every industry, from business to politics, revolved around card games. Even in Duel City, established by Kaiba Corporation, owning a registered deck was a legal requirement to live there.

But the path to success wasn't easy. Fujiki's predecessor had been a struggling work-study student, balancing odd jobs to afford his tuition at the Duel Gym. His hopes of becoming a true duelist, however, were slim.

Why? Because he was bad at it.

In a world where talent mattered, not everyone was cut out for greatness. A person who couldn't even draw the card they needed in a duel was doomed from the start.

Still, You Xuan admired his predecessor's determination. In this world, dueling was the only way forward. And now, thanks to his years of hardcore card-playing experience from his past life, You Xuan felt ready to pick up the torch.

The first step? Check the predecessor's deck.

You Xuan: "…"

What lay before him could hardly be called a deck. It was a bloated, chaotic 60-card mess.

Half the monsters were basic vanillas—monsters with no effects and little use, nicknamed "mortal bones" by players. The rest of the deck was a disjointed mishmash of cards with no synergy whatsoever.

Even worse, You Xuan recognized the type of deck this was: an expensive failure.

Much like the rich, clueless brothers from the GX storyline, his predecessor had spent an outrageous amount of money on rare but impractical cards, believing that cost equaled power.

And now, You Xuan was stuck with the remnants of that disastrous strategy.

Still, he couldn't entirely blame his predecessor. In this world, some cards were expensive not because of their strength but due to their rarity or design. For instance, certain cards were made of valuable materials like gemstones, while others were prized for their aesthetic appeal.

But none of that mattered now. This deck wasn't salvageable. If he wanted to climb the ranks, he'd need to start from scratch.

Sitting back at the computer, You Xuan began researching. He needed to know the era and card meta of this world to gauge his advantage as a time traveler.

To his relief, he discovered that he was in the classic GX era, shortly after the events of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters series. The environment was still dominated by straightforward strategies focused on summoning powerful ace monsters.

After watching several gameplay videos, You Xuan smirked.

What a simple world.

Most duelists here had one glaring weakness: they played with the "sunshine" mindset, pursuing power and flashiness above all else.

You Xuan's plan became clear. He would embrace the "underworld" style—a cunning, trap-heavy strategy that prioritized control and strategy over brute force.

This time, the GX era was about to experience something new.