"Beep~ beep~"
Klamas held the phone, and after a long ringing, someone finally answered the call.
"Klamas?" a deep, sonorous voice came through, "What do you want?"
"Hmph, Karlback." Klamas said coldly, "Did you ruin my business again the night before?"
"Ha! To think you'd call me just to say that. You really lack the magnanimity of a leader, Klamas," laughed Karlback, the leader on the other side. "If that's all you've got to say to me, it seems I overestimated you. Let's not contact each other anymore."
"Not really." Klamas' tone softened a bit, "I'm just starting to think that maybe we don't have to be enemies."
"Oh?" Karlback sounded intrigued, "Do you have a proposal?"
"I'm saying maybe we can cooperate." Klamas replied, "Both of us have the most powerful forces among the remnants of the Ghouls. If we work together, we should easily be able to sweep away all the other remnants and unify the Ghouls, right?"
"I see, it's indeed an interesting proposal." Karlback said, "But if we are to cooperate, there are quite a few issues."
"Of course. So I'm preparing for a face-to-face meeting, and I guarantee a proposal that satisfies both parties." Klamas offered, "Let's do it today, now. You can bring your people over for the talks."
"How can I be sure this isn't a trap?"
"Alright then." Klamas shrugged, "I'll arrange a special plane to bring people to you. You decide the location, is that acceptable?"
"Okay." Karlback felt the other side indeed showed sincerity, "Then it's settled. I'll be waiting for you here."
Two hours later, when Klamas appeared in front of Karlback... accompanied by Youyu and a bunch of Nightwalker tough guys, Karlback's expression was like this: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
"... You damn fool, you're tricking me!" Karlback exploded on the spot.
Klamas: "I'm awfully sorry, but I'm a victim too!"
"Ridiculous! You just want to drag me down with you, don't you?"
"Yes, that's right, I did drag you down with me. Don't think I don't know it was you who drove my wife away back then!"
"@#%&*"(Due to expletives, content blocked)
As a result, Youyu's side scored a warehouse full of cards seized by the Ghouls... and several large cargo bays of Duel Discs.
Speaking of which, Youyu feels these people might have misunderstood him a bit.
What am I going to do with so many Duel Discs?
Initially, I only seized them because Marik was being a thief, and then he kept sending people to duel me with worthless fake cards. To get back at him and annoy him, I took the Duel Discs, but now I've somehow become known as a Duel Disk Hunter...
However, the Ghouls do have a lot of good stuff. Though they were fake card dealers, their business was widespread, robbing cards from all over the world, and they acquired quite a few Rare Cards from others.
And this isn't even the end of it.
Since his opponent was the Duel King, Karlback decided to simply surrender and not resist — after all, losing a duel in a Dark Duel means immediate ascension. Not everyone is willing to gamble their lives against an opponent they know they can't beat.
However, surrendering still felt like a loss to him. So he gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and figured he couldn't be the only one losing. He felt he had to drag down a couple of others too to get over it.
Thus, Karlback eagerly ran over to Youyu: "Uh... I'm in contact with another branch. They have a lot of good cards too! If you're interested, I can arrange a meeting right away!"
Oh? Is there such a good deal?
Youyu nodded with a smile: "Of course."
In such cases, the more the merrier, the more the better.
Youyu now even feels that calling one by one is too slow. Maybe it's better to create a group, pull all the Ghouls' leaders he knows into it, arrange a unified meeting, and take them all down at once, saving time and energy...
After such a round of upending, the Ghouls, who were already reduced to a few stray cats and dogs, finally declared GG.
With that wave, Youyu's deck was refilled. Bringing back several warehouses full of cards, Youyu sorted them by category and rarity and put them on the store to exchange for a large batch of Crystal Stones from players.
Meanwhile, it seems Mr. Pegasus is speeding up the development of the Masked Hero series, and the first batch of products should be sent to Youyu for review in a couple of days.
When that time comes, Youyu's System Card Pool should expand further, and this brand new series of Masked Heroes will be released. He needs to be prepared for that moment and stock up on Crystal Stones now.
This gives him a feeling of returning to the days of working hard and saving up, eagerly awaiting the release of a new card box.
...
Youyu was busy in the Nightwalker World for several days, flying all over the world to root out the remnants of the Ghouls, the organization that once became the largest counterfeit card maker in history, has finally been completely obliterated.
Conversely, Youyu's stock keeps growing. After another round of harvesting crystals from players, preparations for the new series are almost complete.
And in these two days, Link World Online's official server has finally launched.
A large number of players logged in from all over the world, diving into the exploration of the game.
However, of course, this won't affect Youyu much.
As previously mentioned, players who created accounts earlier are the only ones initially landing in Domino City.
Players creating accounts and logging in after the official server launch are all randomly scattered in initial cities around the world. Everyone must start from their beginner's city, leveling up and earning Crystal Stones, developing from an unknown novice into a Duelist capable of standing alone, before they can step onto the world stage and become internationally renowned, first-class Duelists.
... Well, like Youyu here, the handsome and well-known top Duelist.
So after the server opened, the forums were filled with wailing.
"F*ck! How did I end up in the Free Country?"
"Stop complaining upstairs, at least you can go find Industrial Illusions Society and cozy up to Pegasus, I logged in in Africa..."
"Curse! I want to meet Youyu-san, but there's an ocean between us..."
"Don't run, the one in front! I'm in the same situation! I got into this because of Youyu-san's videos and photos, and now discovering he's on the other side of the Earth, my mindset is shattered..."
"..."
Reading these comments from newbies on the forum, Youyu couldn't help but show a satisfied smile and nod slightly.
They're promising young seedlings.
No rush for now, hastiness makes waste. These new fresh players haven't matured yet, their pockets empty. No need to rush to harvest them.
Let them first work a bit, fill up their wallets a little, collect some Crystal Stones, and when the time is right, Youyu can take a tour around the world, personally offering warmth as an NPC to each and every one of them.
... It's quite satisfying.
But the time left for him to gather equipment and build strength is running out.
That evening, after collecting a day's worth of Crystal Stones and sending off the enthusiastic players, a familiar face appeared — the other Duel King with his iconic starfish hairstyle, the world protagonist Muto Yugi, came in carrying his school bag at Youyu's storefront.
"Yo, isn't this Yugi?" Youyu greeted with a smile, "Got time to stop by today?"
"Uh... uh." Yugi seemed not in the mood for small talk, offering a forced smile, and said, "Actually... there's something I need your help with."
Without needing him to speak, Youyu roughly guessed what it was.
"... Has it come to this time?"
"Yes." Yugi nodded gently, "We've made up our minds. No matter how much we fear the future, we have to take that step forward."
He raised his head: "We've decided to go to the place of the slate, to retrieve the memories of another me. For this... I hope you can lend me the Divine Cards you hold."
Youyu fell silent.
If it's meant to happen, it will. There's no avoiding it; when the time comes, it has to come.
The new chapter of Yu-Gi-Oh! DM is finally about to unfold.