After five minutes, he shook off the sleepiness, got out of bed, and quickly finished dressing and washing up. He then began a new day of study and practice.
You could never underestimate a disciplined card player. With one month left before the Duel Academy entrance exam, it was time to start preparing.
At first, he thought the duel exam would be simple. He assumed it was just learning and applying K-language, things like targeting rules, chain resolution order, and timing. None of those appeared at all.
There were no advanced real-card rules unique to Yu-Gi-Oh!. The concept questions were basic, such as explaining normal spell cards, equip spell cards, and field spell cards. It felt like questions straight out of a GX classroom.
Then came memorization of card effects. This part turned out to be unexpectedly difficult, because Yugen could not possibly remember the categories and effects of many ancient cards that had not been used for decades. On top of that, this world also had many anime and manga cards that never existed as real cards.
He quickly noticed other differences from the real-card environment he remembered. Many cards that only became real decades later already existed here. Thinking about it, this was not strange at all.
Even Judai's key Neo-Spacian card, "Miracle Contact," had appeared in animation long before becoming real, leaving players waiting for years. Naturally, this world contained many cards that never existed back then.
Looking through the entire question bank, Yugen felt most of it lacked substance. The core awareness and techniques of real card skill were barely mentioned at all.
This reminded him of an explanation he had once seen online. In many films and animations, reality was treated as a higher dimension, while in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, cards were the foundation of creation. Duels represented the most basic laws of the world, not just a game.
For people in that world, exploring duel rules was like conducting cutting-edge research. In reality, learning to play cards was not that hard, but in the animated world, understanding these rules required great talent and effort.
Yugen bought textbooks like "Foundations of Duel Theory" and "Duel Academy Past Exam Question Bank." He spent most of the day doing practice questions and also took time to learn about card creation.
Across the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! animation, stories focused on duelists, while card design was rarely explained. It was only known that Maximillion Pegasus, called the father of Duel Monsters, discovered ancient Duel Monsters stone tablets in Egypt and turned them into cards, creating the modern system.
Later, card production was mainly handled by Maximillion Pegasus's Industrial Illusions, though it was not a complete monopoly. Kaiba Corporation also printed many cards that circulated on the market.
Later still, duelists like Yugi Muto and Judai appeared, each with the talent to create cards on the spot based on the situation. Some went so far as to print themselves and their opponents directly into the card art, without hiding it at all.
Clearly, such private card creation was also recognized by the system and duel rules, and was not considered illegal. In a world where dueling itself was extraordinary, this was simply another expression of power.
So-called lucky draws and card creation were just part of dueling. If you did not like it, you did not have to play.
Of course, card creation could not be completely unrestricted. Even designers at Industrial Illusions had to follow certain rules, and new cards needed to be accepted by the system.
What Yugen was curious about was the threshold for card creation and what kind of cards would be recognized. If all the cards he remembered from his past life could be created, then becoming a card designer would let him bring some modern Yu-Gi-Oh! shock to this world.
He bought a series of reference books and textbooks. He did not expect to master it quickly, but wanted a basic understanding.
Titles like "Foundations of Field Spell Construction" and "Nine Common Mistakes in Monster Card Design" made it clear that card creation was a deep and complex discipline. Many universities and research institutes were dedicated to Duel Monsters development.
Even many old cards still had room for further design. A famous example was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, developed by an independent research team personally led by Seto Kaiba. That team was the top Duel Monsters research group in the world, rumored to have created forms like Blue-Eyes Spirit Dragon and other evolutions.
Another example was the Pharaoh's Chaos Warrior. Early on, it was just an eight-star monster with three thousand attack, but it had since been developed into Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, a legendary and extremely rare card.
"If I could learn to create cards myself," Yugen thought. For now, it was just an idea.
He remembered that Judai's roommate Hayato had joined Industrial Illusions as a card designer after graduating from Duel Academy. That made him suspect the academy might have related courses.
If he had the chance, he would definitely look into it. For now, he set himself a new short-term goal.
He would go to the Moonlight Cup and take the championship first.
The Vast Arena held the towering Ancient City of the Duel Arena. The match had not started yet, but the stands were already packed with people. Noise rolled through the arena as spectators took their seats and waited.
Yugen arrived outside the venue together with his senior brother from the Duel Dojo, Koji Sato. After getting out of the car, he looked up and immediately saw the Dark Magician statue standing at the main entrance.
Although after Yugi Muto retired, the Dark Magician as a Rare Card appeared far less often in the Main Event, it was still the signature monster of a former Duel King. Because of that, many arenas continued to use it as a symbol at their gates.
"Then I will go do my pre match preparation. The Preliminary Round should start soon," Koji Sato said. "You should get ready as well."
"Alright. I look forward to meeting you again in the arena," Yugen replied politely.
After hearing that, the senior's expression turned strange. He hesitated as if he wanted to say something, then swallowed the words and stayed silent. He really did not want to meet him again, but in the end he still said nothing.
After saying goodbye, Yugen went to the registration desk and received his contestant ID and number tag. He looked down and saw the number was 39. For card players, it was a fairly lucky number, and he nodded in satisfaction.
It looked like his luck was good today. He felt that the opening battle should go smoothly.
"This year's Moonlight Cup feels high quality," he heard someone say as he entered the main hall. "I think I just saw Makoto Kajiki from the Psychic Style Dojo. It looks like he is competing this year too."
"Kajiki? That Psychic Style rising genius?" another voice said. "Now that is worth watching."
Someone else chimed in, "I do not care about Psychic Style duels. I just hope my buddy who plays Spellcaster Type can advance." Another laughed and said, "You are not hoping for that. You just want to see them summon Magician's Valkyria, right?"
Magician's Valkyria wore a mage outfit similar to the legendary deck's Dark Magician Girl. She had a pure face and slender arms, yet carried proportions that looked out of place on her small frame. She had long been a favorite card among gentleman duelists.
The exposed fan blushed at once. "But she really is huge."
The group stopped arguing and nodded in agreement. "Fair enough," one said. "Hard to argue with that."
Yugen continued through the arena, but after a few steps he heard a young girl gasp. "No way, are you sure you did not see wrong?" The girl beside her replied firmly, "Absolutely sure. That is Rex Raptor. A Legendary Duelist."