After his duel with Malik, it was already late. Today, Yugen had traveled a long way to Egypt with Isis, and had not had time to settle in. Isis decided to first host him for a dinner, fulfilling her obligations as a host, and then had someone guide him to his resting place for the night, to discuss matters further tomorrow.
It was Yugen's first time in Egypt. He had always heard that Egypt had the prestige of being the birthplace of Duel Monsters, and supposedly, there were more ruins here than all other places combined. Since it was a rare visit, even with a sightseeing mindset, he should explore and look at various ruins. What if at some ruin, inspiration struck, and he received a spiritual vision to create a new card deck?
But that was for later.
After a whole day of traveling and a friendly match with Mr. Malikma, Yugen indeed felt slightly fatigued. After a simple wash at the inn, he fell asleep in less than a minute.
He didn't know how long he slept. In the haze, Yugen felt as though his body was drifting in the clouds, as if an invisible force was lifting him into the air.
He flowed with the currents, dimly advancing with the mist, until he suddenly felt someone tugging at the corner of his clothes.
A foggy Yugen turned his head back, seeing a silver-haired, cool beauty following him, clad in a white magic robe, her jade-like, slender legs barely visible between the fluttering robes.
The Silent Magician reached out her little hand to gently caress his face, then made several gestures.
Initially, Yugen felt a foggy heaviness in his mind, but after gazing silently for a moment, his mind quickly regained clarity.
"Silent?"
Yugen shook his head, the previous hint of confusion now completely shaken off. As he came to, he glanced around and frowned, "I remember coming to Egypt, dueling Malik, having dinner, then resting.
Where is this place?"
Silent gestured again in front of him. Yugen suddenly understood, nodding, "Oh, right. I'm dreaming, this is my dream."
Silent nodded repeatedly.
"Wait, since this is a dream, then are you also part of my dream?"
Yugen felt curious, reaching out to pinch Silent's little cheek. It felt smooth and cool to the touch, very soft. Indeed, if this were a dream, the sensation was remarkably realistic.
Silent's cheeks turned slightly red, but she did not resist, indicating to him that no, she was real.
"You can enter my dream?" Yugen praised, "No wonder you are the highest-level mage, your skill is indeed extraordinary."
With her master's praise, Silent showed a proud expression. But she immediately signaled that he should be aware, there might be others present in tonight's dream.
Just as Yugen was about to ask more, someone beside him laughed and said, "Silent Magician, that's your spirit, right? Meeting in a dream, you are indeed a man with an extraordinary bond with spirits."
Yugen followed the voice, seeing a figure standing there in the darkness, its presence unknown until now. The figure was tall, rather lean, but upon approaching, it was clear that beneath those slender limbs was well-developed muscle.
The upper half of his face was oddly veiled in shadow, yet visible in the gloom was a striking explosive hairstyle, red and yellow intertwined, a starfish-like emblem of sorts.
This shocked Yugen, he had to admit.
"Muto... Mr. Yugi?"
The person before him could undoubtedly be Muto Yuugi.
The pinnacle of the Dueling Realm, considered in the animation as a legend that would never be surpassed even by posterity. After defeating the Pharaoh at the Battle Ceremony and being deified, he subsequently defeated Seto Kaiba, who had significantly strengthened his Blue-Eyes Card Deck, and the Blue God possessing dimensional power, further solidifying his unshakeable status as the Duel King.
However, since that battle, it seems no one had seen Muto Yuugi appear in public events. Two or three years later, the Dueling Realm had spread news that the First Generation Duel King had retired, but by then Yuugi had made no public appearances or statements.
From what Yugen gathered from the animation storyline, all he knew was that at the opening of GX, Yuugi had encountered Judai, gifting him the Feathered Chestnut Ball spirit, driving the development of the entire GX storyline.
In the final moments of the animation, he appeared again before Twentieth Judai, whose card skills and Elf Power had now reached maturity, sending him back in time for a duel with his former self, helping Twentieth Judai reclaim lost things from his growth journey.
Yet now, this king who had entered retirement appeared before him, even in his dream.
Yuugi smiled, "Your name is Fujiki Yugen, right? I've heard some things about you. Speaking of which, we sort of share a fated connection."
Yugen did not immediately grasp his implication. But Yugen soon felt a warmth in his chest, looking down to see golden light converging, forming an inverted triangle shape at his chest, suddenly realizing.
It was the mini version of the Millennium Puzzle, the Sealing Artifact. A Divine Artifact here before had been greatly used against the Cheating Snake of Orichalcos.
Yugen said, "Thanks to Mr. Yugi's help, I was able to beat the Evil God without a hitch back then."
Yuugi laughed and shook his head.
"It wasn't me who helped you. If anything, one aspect is your own strength, another aspect is destiny.
Just like now, because of that Guardian Spirit, you've been drawn into the center of the Three Evil Gods vortex. To some extent, it's the choice of destiny."
In a joking tone, Yugen said, "I thought Mr. Yugi would be the type of duelist who doesn't subscribe to the notion of predestination."
Yuugi smiled subtly and said, "A powerful duelist decides their own destiny. You've grown into a strong individual with such power during your two years at Duel Academy.
I imagine Malik has deeply felt this as well."
This meant Yuugi also knew about Yugen's duel with Malik that evening.
Yugen suddenly found it odd. Back then, he and Malik had dueled in that secluded underground space, where there was no one. It all happened just recently today, yet Yuugi already knew, could it be he was actually nearby observing?
Though Yugen reckoned his perception had become quite sharp now, not to mention various powerful spirits often kept watch around him. Generally, if someone approached, he could sense it, but during that duel, he did not detect anyone nearby.
Could it be that Yuugi's power had truly reached a god-like level, making even his covert observations undetectable?
Yugen asked, "Then Mr. Yugi, are you also here because of the Three Evil Gods?"
Yuugi shook his head.
"My era has passed, my story already concluded. The world always needs new duelists... every world does."
Yugen instinctively felt Yuugi's words seemed to have an underlying implication.
"What you said today was actually good. As a duelist, tactics, awareness, accumulated knowledge, intuition for card usage, these are indeed important.
But besides these, there are even more precious things... certain unseen yet certainly existing things."
Only while speaking of these, did his expression darken slightly.
"The longer time passes, the more deeply I can understand. It is precisely because of this that this card was born..."
He gently raised a finger, pointing at Yugen.
Only then did Yugen notice that his card box at the waist had begun emitting a golden glow. He was surprised as he opened the card box, extracting a card that emitted rays of golden light too brilliant to ascertain.
This is... a card given in a dream?
Yugen was even more convinced now that even after losing the Millennium Puzzle all those years, Muto Yuugi not only hadn't shed his greatness but had somehow advanced to a god-like realm.
"Mr. Yugi, this card is...?"
He raised his head wanting to ask more, only to find that in the brief moment he looked down at the card, the figure had disappeared.