I exit the house and start looking around. I see a hill. The city is about half a mile out at the top of the mountain. I walked down the road and checked the map at the bus stop. Scanning the map, I see that I'm in the residential district. The city is broken up into multiple districts, making the city look like a pizza cut into four quarters.
In the residential district, most of the houses are alongside some grocery stores on the edges of the district, going clockwise. The next quarter is the business district. The business district houses places like the mall and Kaiba Corp HQ, along with other important companies. The district across from the residential district is the education and essential services district. This is where all the schools, universities, and power and water stations are located. The last district is the entertainment district, where the movie theater, Kaiba Land, and other parks and older dueling arenas can be found, which were common during the duelist kingdom tournament. In the middle, where the four districts meet, is an unofficial fifth area. That area holds shops that specialize in duel monsters, where most of the card shops are, and where most of the Battle City tournament was held.
I make my way to a game store owned by the grandfather of the King of Games, located in the residential area. Opening the door of the shop, I see some tables in the corner. They appear to hold mainly board games based on merchandise. There are two tables set up for duel monsters with special duel mats laid out across them as well. I keep scanning the shop. Across the back wall spans numerous games available for anyone to play free of charge, and right in front of me is old man Mister Moto. He stands behind the glass counter, cleaning the glass to better show off his more prized cards and new dual disks. Behind him is a wall filled with boxes of dule monster packs, and off to the side, probably going unnoticed by others, is a door leading to the living room and the rest of the house.
Walking into the shop, something comes over me. A strange feeling that I've never felt before, like a sixth sense. I can tell it's the lingering magic from when Atem and all the Millennium items were here. It feels almost like a savage beast was staring at me, probably from how the Millennium items were made.
The door shutting behind me finally draws Mr. Moto's attention. He stops cleaning and says to me, "Ah, hello, young man I didn't see you there. My apologies, I'm Mister Moto, but you can call me Gramps like everyone else. How can I help you today?'' He asks with a gentle and cheerful look on his face. "hehe. Hello Gramps, my name is Jason. It's nice to meet you. I'm looking for some new cards to upgrade my deck for the duel academy practical test".
"Ahh, the practical test is very important. Good to see young people taking academia so seriously". I smile. "Yes, sir. Very seriously," I said, remembering the tasks I'm meant to complete. "Do you have any idea of what you want to upgrade your deck?'' There was a twinge of enthusiasm in his voice, like that of a teacher meeting a new student.
"I'm looking for a box that will help me upgrade my spells and traps. Oh! And for monsters, I'm more inclined to the zombie type". "Well, there is a set released recently that meets your requirements. Come over to the desk with me''. He said, as he waved me over. Gramps turned around and was trying to reach a box at the very top, stretching as much as he could, but just barely unable to get it.
"Hey, Gramps let me get that for you," I say, walking behind the counter and grabbing the box. I hand it to Gramps and return to my place on the other side of the counter. "Thank you, Jason". He opens the box, pulling out multiple boxes and laying them out across the counter one by one. "Ah, here we go!" Gramps said, pulling out a black and red box with multiple zombie monsters on the front. "This one has a lot of the new zombie monsters and a chance at some of the rarest spells and traps. It even comes with a free promo card," he says while putting the other sets back in the bigger box.
"That's good, do you know what the promo cards are?" I asked, a little excited at how good this set is. "Unfortunately, no. Those are kept secret from everyone, but they should be some of the hardest cards to get, on par with the likes of the blue-eyed white dragon," he said with the utmost confidence. "How much DP for the box, Gramps?". Only 50 DP. It's not that popular with most duelists". That's not a bad price. I thought it would have been more expensive because it comes with 40 packs, not 30". "I'll take it! Oh, and do you also have the new dual disk that came out?" I ask hopefully.
"Unfortunately, I don't. Those are only sold at the official Kaiba Corp stores." He said, a little upset. " That's ok, Gramps. I can get one there. There should be one of the stores close to the central district, right?" I asked. "Yes, there's one just on the edge of the residential district. It's right next to the industrial illusion building where I get my stock from". Thankful for the directions, I put the KC communicator up against the scanner to transfer the DP to pay for the booster box. And head on my way. I'm getting ready to walk out the door, and I hear Gramps call out to me. "Good luck on your exams, and make sure to come back if you need anything else," he said, energetically waving as I left the store and began walking over to the bus stop. I just need a ride to the central district. That's where I'll find the new duel disk. Checking the schedule for the bus, it looks like it should show up in about five minutes.
When the bus arrived I got on, paid the fare and went to the back of the bus. Sitting down I look out the window and watch as the houses pass by. Most are small and modest with a few extravagant ones here and there. After about ten minutes the bus arrives at the central district, about a block away from the Kaiba Corp store.
The store is not what I expected. The outside of it looks like an Apple store, just with a different logo. It's all a white and blue color scheme with two blue-eyed statues, one on each side of the doors. Walking in, it surprisingly smells like vanilla. There isn't much in the lobby, just some displays lining the wall with different KC communicator models and the two different dual disk models. As I'm walking up to the counter, I notice the clerk sitting there bored with their elbow on the counter, holding their head up, barely staying awake.
They only paid attention to me when I was about five feet away from them. They greet me in a monotone voice, "Hello, sir, what can I do for you today?" "I'm looking to buy a new dual disk. How much is it?" I said. The attendant started typing on their computer to pull up the information and said, "The standard version is 1,000 and the upgraded one is 2,000." With a hint of interest in my voice I ask "What are the features that come with the upgraded version?" Sensing my interest, the attendants' ears perk up a little bit, and gained some enthusiasm in their voice as they explained further. "The upgraded version comes with the ability to customize its color when you order it as a basic feature. You can select up to two different features you would like to add from this list as well ". He said handing me a two page pamphlet with the list of colors and features for me to choose from.
Looking through the options available, some of the colors just don't look that good… like tan with a red jewel or baby blue and a pink jewel, while there are some decent ones like Black with a red or purple jewel or dark blue with a red jewel. A lot of the features available just don't make sense. Why would anyone want a radio built into the disc or a DVD player where the field spell slot should be?...Just looking at all these useless features made me just a little annoyed at the fact that they are even available. However, I found some that could be useful. One had the map function that would appear on the jewel like a dome on the dual disc. It connects to the kaiba Corp satellites acting similarly to Google maps.
Finally, after carefully considering all the options, I tell the employee my choices.
"For the color, I would like black and green. For the features, I will go with the environmental protection upgrade and the strong material upgrade". "Those are good choices, sir" they say happily as they made a sale. "It will take a day to put it together for you though. Just pay here and we will send you a message when it's ready".
Finishing up at the Kaiba Corp store, I walk to the bus stop and make my way home. I plan to open the booster bow and see if using magic will help me figure out those anchors to the spirit worlds. Once home, I prepared some lunch and started to remove the plastic on the booster box to see if I could make a better deck.
As I removed the plastic, a small flash of green came out of the box. "That's not ominous at all," I said sarcastically. I saw what happened. 6 of the 40 packs were changed into the vendread packs from the master dual, surprising but not unwelcome. Opening up the modified packs, it's nothing but vendread cards. I notice that the cards are the exact ratio I played them in my past life. As I look through them, I feel a small connection to the boss of the archetype. Picking up the card, I feel the connection become complete. Next to me, I see the semi-transparent form of Revendread Slayer, his bone-like scythes tucked close to his body. He tries to communicate by talking, but all that comes out is a mix of a harsh hiss and low growl before he remembers he was a zombie. So instead, I feel him trying to communicate by sending his intentions through our connection. I feel his intent at a greeting and joy at meeting me. He then returned to his card.
After that, I realized these are not new cards from this world, but my old ones from my first life transported to this world. Considering how the slayer interacted with me before going back to his card, my only guess on how this happened is that Hella sent them to me as a solid foundation to accomplish my part of the deal. Opening the remaining unchanged packs, I get a couple of good zombie monsters. A few useful spells and traps too, but not ones I would put in my deck.
Finally, I'm down to the last few packs. I got fortunate with the pulls, 2 pot of greed, and 2 preparation of rites. Perfect for my new Vendread deck. Finally, it's time to open the last pack. This has the promo cards. I see some of the current best removal spells I could hope to get; 2 raigeki, 1 Harpy's feather duster, and 1 Heavy storm. Now it's time to put my deck together.
After a few minutes, I finish putting my new deck together.
When I finished putting together my new Vendered deck, I took a second look at the cards I pulled from the booster packs. Some of them gave off a weird feeling. After a minute, I pulled out all the cards that just didn't sit right with me… Necro Valley, Venom Swamp, Jurassic World, and Dimensional Fissure. As I sat there at my desk with the 4 different cards in front of me, I pulled up a blank document on the computer to write down everything I could about these cards. Maybe it would help me figure out my aversion to them?
I started with what these cards have in common. First, 3 out of the 4 cards are field spells, and one is a Continuous spell card. Second, despite one being different, it gives the same feeling. Looking further at what they have in common might not just be based on the fiscal card, but what they are depicting. The field spells are typically where a monster type or archetype lives or interacts with a lot. Dimensional Fissure is not that different because it's related to all the D.D. monsters and their supporting spells and traps.
After typing out my observations, I try to focus and reach out to the feeling the cards are giving off, similarly to how Slayer communicated with his Intent. This seems to work, but instead of communicating, it felt like I was pushing against a solid metal door. No matter how hard I focused on the connection, I could not push that door at all. I put together that these cards depicting different locations are most likely the anchors or, more accurately, the doorways to the different spirit worlds.
But I can't understand why I could not enter them…..unless it's somehow related to my magic or the strength of my dual spirit. Getting up from my chair, I stretch and head over to the bookshelf. I pull out the different history books written by Pegasus. I check his book on card design to see if there are any hints on how to increase and strengthen my dual spirit. I'm wondering if the magic is used throughout the world and if my magic works the same, but also, if his book has any information on different spirits from these field spells.
I decided to pull up the search engine on the computer to find extra information the books might not have. With the books sprawled out, I decided to start with his book on his time in Egypt. He writes about how he got the millennium eye and the stone tablets of the different dual monsters. Next, I plan to dive into his Scandinavia trip, then his work here in Japan, and finally his book on card design. If all else fails, then I'll search the Nazca lines where the earthbound immortals are sealed.