For a moment, You Ming felt like he was still trapped in a dream he hadn't quite woken from.
But reality wouldn't let him slip back into sleep—it dragged him, wide-eyed, into the present.
When he came to, his entire field of vision was filled with glowing text from the system:
> [Your Annual Report:]
This year, you completed 0 duels. Every duel left a lasting impression.
This year, you earned 0 duel points. Every gain represents a great reward.
This year, you learned 0 new skills. Every bit of knowledge becomes strength.
This year, you made 0 new friends. Every friendship is precious.
This year, you completed 0 storylines. Every journey deserves a satisfying ending.
Are you satisfied with your performance this year?
Looking at that long string of zeros—and the final, cheerful question—You Ming nearly laughed out loud from sheer frustration.
"Satisfied, huh…"
What, had he been asleep here for ten years?
Or was this system actually bound to the body's original owner?
Boom.
Bang.
This time, the sound was closer—more like a cannon blast.
The shockwave rumbled in from a distance, so strong it shook the ceiling and knocked dust down onto his head.
"…Whatever."
Brushing the dust off his shoulders, You Ming let out a sigh.
Regardless of how it came to be, the fact that he had a system was good enough. Who cared if he was the first, second, or tenth owner?
"Let's check the features first."
With a wave, he cleared away all the floating fluff. Finally, the main interface came into view.
> [Personal Info]
[Career Mode]
[Exchange Shop]
[Deck Builder]
Clean, simple, traditional.
No fancy animations or flashy design—but the core features were all there.
He could view his profile, access a story mode, use a shop, and edit his deck.
And speaking of the shop, it wasn't just for drawing packs or buying cards.
> [Welcome to the Exchange Shop! Here, you can use Duel Points to redeem cards, knowledge, and abilities—or use Duel Points to unlock the "Dimensional Gate" and draw random storylines.]
Considering how the Yu-Gi-Oh! world includes everything from gods and demons to multidimensional chaos, this shop was pretty all-encompassing. Only by improving in every area could he hope to survive.
But there was one problem…
It was clearly still in beta.
> [Cross through the Dimensional Gate! Fight alongside warriors from distant realms as a fellow traveler from another world!]
[Embrace the darkness within! Wield the power of the Virus of Despair to crush your enemies!]
The titles sounded dramatic, and some of the items were eye-catching…
But all You Ming felt was a deep sense of poverty.
Beneath the cool headers, the cards on display barely filled a page. The inventory was pathetically small.
The "Abilities" section wasn't much better:
> [You currently have no unlockable skills or knowledge. Unlock them through Career Mode.]
And Career Mode?
> [No available storylines. Obtain them through adventures, card bond development, or by using the Dimensional Gate.]
So in other words: complete storylines, bond with cards, or gamble.
A triple whammy of discouragement. He instantly lost all interest in exploring further.
Early-game poverty was just like this: broke, clueless, and locked out of half the system.
"…Whatever. That stuff's not important right now."
What was important… was this!
> [Welcome to the Deck Builder. You can edit your personal deck and register cards you've obtained through other means.]
As soon as the deck builder interface appeared, You Ming finally smiled.
> [Starter Deck]
Just like in games—even if the host had nothing, the system would always provide a basic starting loadout, like beginner gear in a newbie village.
Though… the name was a bit much.
> [End of Despair]
Just the name alone made You Ming squint. It wasn't like those obvious "XYZ Country" or "Chaos Lure" decks where you could guess the theme from the title.
Still, whatever. It was a starter deck!
What was a starter deck for?
Newbies. Balanced. Playable.
A quick glance showed the deck had a nice mix of red, green, and yellow cards—a perfect spread.
Totally unlike the garbage Shadi left him, which was basically a pile of unusable junk. This one was neat and pleasing to look at.
"Hmm… Crawling Dragon #2?"
That good feeling vanished instantly.
Staring at that unfamiliar card name, You Ming's mouth twitched.
He flipped through a few more:
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Warrior of Zera, Warrior of the Dark World, The Thing in the Crater… wait, even Sea Serpent Warrior of Darkness is in here?"
Then he realized something—the colors were off.
Monster cards were supposed to be more of a burnt orange, or red-tinted yellow.
But the ones in front of him? Bright yellow. Like warning-sign yellow.
That eye-searing color drew his attention to the card text—and above the scattered, inconsistent flavor descriptions, the system had clearly labeled their type: Normal Monsters.
In his previous life, these were affectionately known by fans as…
"Vanillas…"
You Ming suddenly felt dizzy.
And when he finally recovered, he could only laugh dryly at the card text.
> Red-Eyes Black Dragon: The flames of its fury incinerate all that meet its gaze.
Warrior of the Dark World: Swings its weapon with incredible force, empowered by dark magic.
Sure, they sounded impressive. And back in the early anime—aka the "BS era"—these monsters could do all sorts of wild, RPG-like things just based on their lore.
But once Battle City hit and real rules were enforced, these guys had only one thing going for them: stats.
That's how stuff like Dark Ruler Ha Des got outclassed by a bunny sitting on a stump.
So in summary…
"Useless."
This deck was so bad, You Ming didn't even know where to begin.
"No theme, no searchers, no synergy—your starting hand might as well be five separate games."
Sure, you could say it demonstrated the basics well—but to You Ming, it was just painfully obvious:
This is a Monster Card. You can summon it and attack your opponent.
This is a Spell Card. It has various effects.
This is a Trap Card. Set it and use it on your opponent's turn.
Congratulations! You now understand Yu-Gi-Oh! Go forth and use this deck to defeat Tearlaments!
So yeah… "Despair" probably referred to this exact situation.
Staring at the deck name, You Ming could only fall silent.
But even in silence, time marched on.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Footsteps echoed from the other side of the wall. You Ming took a deep breath.
It was a tense moment—but strangely, his mind had gone calm, like none of it mattered anymore.
Resignation? Yeah, maybe that was it.
"Alright, fine. Let's go with this."
He put the golden scale away and reached for the deck on the table.
"Even vanillas have their uses."
> [Deck registered — "The Price of Vigilance"]
Looking at the system's latest overly poetic, structureless deck name, You Ming didn't even have the energy to complain.
But that was fine. He had a plan now.
> [Duplicate cards detected. Would you like to convert extras into Duel Points?]
Beep.
[Would you like to exchange for the 'Virus of Despair' pack?]
Beep.
[Would you like to exchange for the 'Cross Dimensions' pack?]
"Hmm?"
When he opened the card packs, what appeared inside made him pause.
"Wait… you can pull banned cards from these?"
But now wasn't the time to be shocked—or excited.
Expressionless, he dumped all the cards into his deck and took a long, steadying breath.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.
> [Save deck build?]
"Yes."
As the system finalized the build, the deck materialized in his hands—solid and real.
Then…
> "Magic Cylinder!"
BOOM!
The moment he slapped a Trap Card onto the Duel Disk, a huge explosion went off.
The shockwave and smell of gunpowder rushed in—but were instantly absorbed by a shimmering green energy shield.
Through the translucent shield, You Ming looked toward the main entrance—and saw that the rubble blocking it had been blown open.
In the swirling smoke, a silhouette appeared.
> "Heh. I knew this place had something unusual going on."
Clink.
A coin flipped through the air as a muscular man stepped into view.
> "Tsk, tsk. Let's see what kind of treasure's hidden in this ruin…"
"…This guy…"
Gravelly voice, wild clothes, forearms wrapped in heavy bracers—clearly not just for show.
But the most eye-catching thing wasn't his build, or even his black sunglasses—it was the stars-and-stripes bandana wrapped around his golden hair.
And that look—You Ming recognized it.
In fact, this getup might be more iconic than some members of the actual protagonist group.
> "Hey, kid! Where did you stash the treasure that belongs to Bandit Keith-sama?!"