Even though before the Duel City Tournament started, many players gathered around important NPCs like Youyu and Yugi to get acquainted, once the tournament officially began, most players chose to spread out and play their own matches.
Following NPCs in the preliminary rounds isn't beneficial; the opponents you meet will have already been taken down by the story NPCs, leaving the remaining players with nothing.
It's obviously unwise to directly challenge these important NPCs at this juncture. In the early stages of the open beta, players are severely lacking in cards, and there's no way to gain an advantage over these NPCs with their superior awareness and card deck construction abilities; it's just throwing yourself in for a loss.
Players who managed to get into the open beta all have dreams, who wouldn't fantasize about having a chance to make it to the top eight and have a bit of fun?
If you can make it to the top eight in such an early tournament, the benefits would be substantial. At the very least, your ID would become famous among players, and maybe a club or livestream platform would be interested in packaging you as a competitive star.
So most players chose to pick off the easy opponents first.
However, there are exceptions.
Take for example Miss Yue Hua, who got some special attention from Youyu earlier; she's a total casual player at heart.
For someone like her, who just got into the game and only recently memorized the basic rules like "monsters are placed vertically for attack and horizontally for defense," reaching the top eight is completely out of reach.
Miss Yue Hua never had the intention to advance from the beginning.
What's the point of competing? What's the point of advancing?
I'd rather go play with my dear Youyu!
Yes, now she's wandering around the city, looking left and right trying to find where Youyu is.
As for playing cards... if someone challenges her, she'll accept. If not, she's too lazy to challenge others.
Winning or losing is something she leaves to fate, it doesn't matter. Even if she loses her Puzzle Card and loses qualification, it won't stop her from continuing to find Youyu.
However, deep down, she constantly reminds herself.
While she might be looking for Youyu, it's definitely not because she's drawn to his looks!
She's been in the streaming scene long enough, considering herself to have a reasonably broad view. What kind of handsome, wealthy guys hasn't she seen? How could she possibly fall for an NPC who's... just a smidge handsome?
I, Miss Yue Hua, am definitely not shallow!
The only reason she's looking for him now is because of the strong demands from her livestream audience; she herself couldn't care less. After all, she's supposed to have the persona of a classy lady, maintaining a cool demeanor, very different from those girls who go gaga over good-looking guys...
At this moment, a flood of messages from her audience appeared on screen: "Hey! Host, host, he's on your right, that's Youyu!"
Stars filled Miss Yue Hua's eyes instantly: "Huh!? Where, where?"
Following the direction pointed by the messages, Miss Yue Hua quickly spotted Youyu's figure.
Stars in her eyes, the girl immediately wanted to rush over, but reason held her back.
No, I'm a classy lady, I must remain reserved, must remain reserved...
...To hell with that!
Charge, charge, charge!
Miss Yue Hua jogged over. Coincidentally, she saw a few Ghouls henchmen jump out and encircle Youyu, forming a human wall of muscle, the air filled with a tense aura...
Then the messages from the audience began again.
"What the heck are those guys trying to do!"
"Let go of my husband!"
"Host, go save him!"
Miss Yue Hua couldn't help but comment, "How the heck am I supposed to save him!?"
With her measly stamina of less than 30, isn't she just offering herself up as a freebie?
But it quickly became unnecessary.
As players soon saw a flash of light from Youyu's Duel Disc's card deck, a lovely Magician Girl sprang forth, employing a barrage of spells that left the strongmen tumbling and incapacitated.
The messages from the audience grew even more astonished.
"What the heck? How is his Dark Magician Girl able to hit people? Isn't it a hologram?"
"No, look, he didn't even have his Duel Disc on, the Dark Magician Girl flew out of the card deck herself!"
"Whoa! Could it be a spirit!?"
"Is that Dark Magician Girl real!?"
"Wow, I'm so jealous, it's actually a spirit of my waifu! So envious, boohoo..."
"I envy the Dark Magician Girl, I'd like to be Youyu's spirit too..."
"I don't even know who to envy =="
Miss Yue Hua stared intently at the Dark Magician Girl as she stood near Youyu with arms crossed, facing sideways. She felt like a chibi version of herself was shouting in her head—
—Handsome!
How can even the side view...no, even the back of his head be so handsome!
Darn it, I envy that spirit next to him! If only I could be that spirit and protect him myself...
...
At this moment, Pandora was also questioning his life choices.
"What!? This magician... what's going on?" Pandora's face was full of shock.
"The Dark Magician Girl is the only disciple acknowledged by the Black Magician in the Duel Monster Realm." Youyu smiled, arms crossed, "It seems you're completely unaware, even though you claim to be the Master of the Black Magician."
Hearing this, the Dark Magician Girl proudly puffed out her chest, looking a bit smug.
Pandora was greatly shaken—there was a disciple of the Black Magician that he didn't know about?
It felt like the Black Magician secretly sought another without him knowing...
Bah! That's not the point at all!
"Before that, why is your monster real?" Pandora felt his worldview being challenged, "Aren't they all supposed to be holograms!?"
"Oh? Seems like you don't know anything, even following Marik around." Youyu shook his head, "You don't understand a thing."
"Understand... understand what?"
Honestly, looking at the petite Magician Girl before him made Pandora really uneasy, fearing that irritating her might result in him being blasted away with a Magic Bursting Blast...
In fact, monster materialization isn't anything novel in the Yu-Gi-Oh world. Back in the Duelist Kingdom arc, their classmate, Bakura, the holder of the Millennium Ring, had summoned real monsters.
Until the Duelist Kingdom arc in the anime, Dark Yugi seemingly hadn't mastered this technique (perhaps related to his memory loss), but by the subsequent Orichalcos arc, when materialized monsters invaded the human realm, Dark Yugi was already capable of materializing his monsters for counterattacks.
This should be considered a common skill among high-tier Dark Duelists; even Yuki Judai in the later stages of GX could materialize his Neos.
Additionally, the Duel Monster Spirit "Honest" that appeared later in GX could not only materialize freely but also transform and disguise as other humans.
Youyu boldly speculated that Marik, the holder of the Millennium Rod, might also be capable of it, except his followers were unaware.
"Hmph, if that's the case," Pandora gritted his teeth, activating his Duel Disc, "then let's decide it with a duel!"
Youyu rolled his eyes.
You said we wouldn't play, now you say play and I accompany you, where's my dignity?
No card games, today we're going head-to-head!
No need to play fair with these wicked people!
"Dark Magician Girl!" Youyu didn't hesitate to command, "Directly attack Pandora! Black Magic!"
The Dark Magician Girl was waiting for her Master's command, and upon receiving it, she brandished her Small Magic Staff immediately.
Pandora quickly turned to run, cursing while fleeing: "@#%&*"