Chapter 4: Card Duel – Duelist
Broken and desolate.
A massive, ancient skeleton covers the entire area. Pale sunlight filters through the clouds, illuminating the white bones and withered vegetation below.
With a "crunch," hard boots crush the bones underfoot as Yan Youhuan steps into this area.
He has entered a monster realm known as the "Bone Field."
Just like the "Stone Camp" where Yan Youhuan previously gathered resources, the "Bone Field" is the nearest monster gathering place outside Dia Town. The monsters here range from 1-star to 4-star dark attribute monsters, primarily undead, and so far, no spirit beasts have been found.
At this moment, Yan Youhuan stops.
A monster blocks his path.
This is a common occurrence for solo duelists outside of town. When Yan Youhuan left Dia Town and passed through the "Bone Field," he didn't encounter any monsters. It seems his luck has run out.
The monster in front of him is terrifying, with a humanoid skeleton covered in tattered dark blue cloth, standing in Yan Youhuan's way. Its left hand holds a long, rusty sword.
"Dark attribute 3-star monster: 'Burial of the 13th.'"
Yan Youhuan recognizes the monster. He sighs slightly, then raises his left wrist to his chest. The deck in his card spirit glows a mix of red and brown, appearing in the duel disk slot on his left wrist.
In this situation, a duel is unavoidable.
Red and earthy brown light emanates from Yan Youhuan, forming a semicircular shield above his head. The "Burial of the 13th" monster, though silent, drops its sword. A similar purple-black shield forms above its head, merging with Yan Youhuan's shield.
This is the only way for a solo duelist to deal with monsters in the wild. Mindless monsters never refuse a human's mental duel challenge.
Yan Youhuan reaches for his duel disk, drawing five cards. In front of the monster, five dark purple cards also float.
Simultaneously, mysterious numbers appear above their heads, under the shield.
[Yan Youhuan's Life Points: 8000]
[Monster's Life Points: 8000]
The rules of a mental duel: each duelist starts with 8000 life points. The first to reach 0 loses, and losing the duel means losing your life!
"I'll go first. I normal summon 'Properly Cooking Captain' from my hand and activate its effect!"
The card glows as Yan Youhuan places it on the duel disk. A yellow-brown light shoots out, landing in front of Yan Youhuan.
From the light emerges a tall, blonde man in a pristine white chef's uniform. He holds a ladle like a sword, standing before a steaming bronze pot. The ladle points at the "Burial of the 13th."
[Properly Cooking Captain, ATK 1200]
Following Yan Youhuan's command, the pot emits a continuous yellow-brown glow skyward.
With this effect, Yan Youhuan places a card from his hand into the deck slot. The deck shuffles, and a card pops into his hand.
Glancing at the new card, Yan Youhuan smirks and places it on the duel disk.
"Come forth! 'Wildland Warrior Woman!'"
Yellow-brown light appears again, revealing the new force Yan Youhuan just acquired.
A blonde woman with green eyes, cloaked in dark colors over form-fitting green clothing, holding a sword, stands beside the "Properly Cooking Captain."
[Wildland Warrior Woman, ATK 1100]
In card duels, each duelist has one normal summon opportunity per turn, allowing them to summon a monster of 4 stars or less from their hand.
In human vs. human card duels, there's no need to explain card effects to the opponent.
Card dueling is this world's rule. In a sacred duel ceremony, a card's effect manifests as its function in the duel.
This is one reason for card effect-related tasks in the "Dream Garden" organization!
In mental duels, losing means death, making card effect intelligence crucial!
The 3-star earth attribute monster "Properly Cooking Captain" summoned by Yan Youhuan allows him to return a card from his hand to the deck, shuffle, and draw a card upon successful summon.
If the drawn card is a monster card, it can be special summoned to his field.
"Continuous Spell Card 'United Army' activated!" Another card is placed on the duel disk, enhancing the yellow-brown glow around "Properly Cooking Captain" and "Wildland Warrior Woman."
[Properly Cooking Captain, ATK 1200→1600]
[Wildland Warrior Woman, ATK 1100→1500]
As its name implies, a continuous spell card remains on the field after activation, with effects lasting until the card is removed.
In Yan family school, teachers don't teach spell or trap card creation methods. Yan Youhuan bought this card after saving money from work.
"United Army" is a continuous spell card for Warrior-type monsters, increasing their attack by 200 points for each Warrior or Spellcaster-type monster on the user's field.
With two Warrior-type monsters on Yan Youhuan's field, their attack power increases by 400 points each!
After these moves, Yan Youhuan has two cards left in his hand. He ends his turn.
In card duels, the first turn is only for setting up, without attacking the opponent.
With only 8000 life points, a powerful duelist could summon monsters exceeding 8000 attack points in the first turn, turning card duels into massacres by the first turn player!
As Yan Youhuan's turn ends, the five dark purple cards floating before the skeleton monster increase to six.
The "Burial of the 13th" remains silent. A dark purple light flashes, and an identical monster appears on its field.
[Burial of the 13th, ATK 1200]
"Summoning your own form right away?"
Seeing the new monster, Yan Youhuan frowns, his expression cautious, murmuring softly,
"It seems I just need to withstand this wave!"
His experience in the "Stone Camp" has familiarized him with fighting monsters. He won't underestimate this monster that he wouldn't have cared about in his previous life.