Suddenly, a chill ran down his back. "Did you feel a cold gust just now?" The big man blinked. "No." Fujimoto looked up. "Maybe Onizuka is urging me to avenge him."
He straightened and spoke clearly. "Rest easy, Onizuka. I'll find Rex Raptor and drag his soul into the darkness to repay this debt."
Elsewhere, after the crushing defeat at the Moonlight Cup, Rex Raptor failed to make his comeback and returned to seclusion. He began once more to study his Deck in earnest. He had been confident he would make a grand return, only to end up as a joke and hand a victory to a complete newcomer.
That newcomer had no prior record, which made it worse. Every time the name came up, people would remember the one who defeated Rex Raptor. The further that rookie went, the more often Rex Raptor would be dragged back out and mocked.
Years of preparation had ended in failure, and worse, in humiliation. That was something he could not accept. "Yugen Fujiki. Good. I'll remember you," Rex Raptor muttered coldly.
He had no choice but to find a chance for a rematch. Until he won it back, the stain would remain, growing as the story spread. As he thought this, his nose suddenly itched and he sneezed.
"Strange," Rex Raptor said, rubbing his nose. "Why does it feel like there's a chill behind me?" For some reason, he felt as if someone had set their sights on him.
Early in the morning, the Dueling Dojo was quiet.
That day, Yugen got up very early, went out to buy some food, and then arrived at the Duel Dojo ahead of time. He had barely reached the door when he ran straight into Koji Sato. Koji's eyes lit up the moment he saw him, and he hurried over with a wide grin.
"Senior brother, good morning. You're really early today."
"Uh, Koji, you don't need to be so formal. Just call me junior brother."
"Got it, senior brother," Koji said cheerfully. "By the way, you're here to see Master, right? He's inside."
Yugen paused without replying.
He did not know when it happened, but somehow he had become the senior disciple of the entire Duel Dojo. Koji had also signed up for the Duel Academy entrance exam, but he failed the written test. Yugen could not understand how anyone failed such simple questions, though the pass rate did seem low. Even in the anime, Judai Yuki ranked 110th on the written test and was near the bottom, which meant only about a hundred people passed in total.
When he reached Hall Master Takeuchi's room, the door was actually wide open.
Looking inside, he saw Hall Master Takeuchi sitting in his office chair with a heavy VR headset on his nose. It was unclear what he was watching, but he was making low chuckling sounds and his old face looked slightly flushed. Yugen hesitated for a moment.
Could this be an attack in Gundam Mode mode?
After thinking it over, he felt it would be rude to interrupt at a time like this. He backed out quietly, stood outside the open door, and knocked twice on the door panel. Then he asked loudly, "Master, are you in?"
There was a burst of frantic noise from inside, followed by a thump that sounded like someone falling to the floor. After waiting a few seconds, he finally heard a voice.
"Come in."
Yugen entered with a calm expression, as if nothing had happened and as if he had not noticed Hall Master Takeuchi's messy hair at all.
"Just arrived?" Hall Master Takeuchi asked carefully.
"Yes, just arrived," Yugen replied evenly.
"You didn't see anything strange, right?"
"No," Yugen said with a blank look, glancing around. "Did something happen?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing. That's good," Takeuchi said as he yawned. "I was just researching Deck construction. Why did you suddenly come by, is there something you need?"
"You told me to come see you this morning after the exam," Yugen reminded him.
Hall Master Takeuchi slapped his forehead.
"Ah, right, that did happen. Look at my memory, getting old really messes with your head."
Yugen silently thought that it might not be an age issue at all, and more that Master's energy had been spent elsewhere. With this world's advanced hologram technology, realistic images naturally pushed certain already developed industries in District Eleven even further. For gentlemen always on the front line, it really was high level pressure on the kidneys.
"First, congratulations on getting in," the hall master said with a smile. "I've already heard about it. You did very well on the exam and didn't embarrass our Duel Dojo. After enrollment, don't slack off. Study hard, the revival of our school depends on you."
"I understand, Master."
"Good, good. I didn't call you here for anything important. There just happens to be an opportunity, and I wanted to see if you're interested."
"You've probably been busy preparing for the exam these past few days and didn't have time to read the news, right? Have you heard about the ruins in the northern suburbs of the city?"
"Ruins?" Yugen shook his head in surprise, saying he had not heard.
"Yes. A team from Kaiba Corporation uncovered them, and they're just outside the city, a bit over an hour's drive from here. They aren't open to the public yet, but I have a friend on the inside. If you're interested, he can take my students to visit."
Yugen understood right away.
So it was an archaeological site with stone tablets.
Everyone knew that in the setting of Yu-Gi-Oh!, modern dueling began with archaeology. Back then, Maximillion Pegasus went to Egypt, unearthed stone tablets of Duel Monsters from three thousand years ago, and brought sleeping Spirit back to the modern era. That was the beginning of everything.
After so many years of development, the Duel Monsters system had improved its card manufacturing and research methods for new monsters. Even so, archaeology remained a key source of new Deck. Even now, the discovered tablets were only a small part of ancient Duel Monsters. In later years, even in the era of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS, new ruins kept being discovered.
It also turned out that Duel Monsters did not only originate in ancient Egypt three thousand years ago. Later exploration showed that ancient Duel Monsters ruins existed all over the world. From Atlantis ten thousand years ago where Dartz lived, to the Nordic gods found in the north, to the Earthbound Immortal tablets discovered in the Nazca Lines of Peru, and even gem Spirit unearthed from an ancient nation that worshiped gemstone power, which later led to the Crystal Beasts.
Yugen had never seen ruins or stone tablets before, so he was genuinely interested. Many ruins, after being explored by professional teams, were eventually opened as tourist sites. There were even cases where certain Duelist resonated with hidden Spirit inside ruins.
"Although nothing has been announced yet, my friend says this one seems to be a very impressive ruin," Hall Master Takeuchi said.
"Master, you even have connections inside Kaiba Corporation?" Yugen asked.
Only then did he realize that his master's network and influence might be stronger than expected.
"Hmph, no need to talk about that," Hall Master Takeuchi said proudly. "When I was young, I was someone of note too. Later I chose to withdraw from fame and the world, with no interest in further conflict."
Yugen straightened in respect. "Then is your friend a high level executive at Kaiba Corporation? Or a Duelist? Can he get internal channels for buying cards?"
The hall master's momentum deflated immediately.
"No. He works on the excavation site."
Yugen fell silent.
"Ahem. He actually used to be a very strong Duelist, but later chose a different path. I heard that Kaiba Corporation requires everyone on site, from researchers to the excavation team, to be Duelist. It seems to be a direct requirement from the company president."