Hello, boss. I saw your sign outside — it says you can adjust any archetype and build a fitting deck for it. Is that true?
Inside a small shop equipped with only a few computers, a girl in a white dress — Bai Yuner — stepped in. Her gaze fell on the only person inside: a young man named You Ye.
Seeing a customer come in, You Ye stood up at once, smiling skillfully as he began his practiced introduction.
"Of course! As long as you tell me your archetype, I can immediately pick out the cards best suited to it, then build a perfectly optimized deck. I'll make sure your archetype breaks free from mediocrity and becomes one with you, the duelist. After that, decks like Blue-Eyes, Galaxy-Eyes, or Heroes will all be child's play. You'll win however you want!"
"Wow, that's amazing! Even for brand-new archetypes — ones no one's ever developed before — you can do that too?"
Bai Yuner's eyes widened with curiosity. She hadn't expected that while wandering to clear her mind after failing to find a viable deck build, she'd run into a deck-building master in a back alley — one who casually spoke of crushing decks once used by Duel Kings!
"Of course!" You Ye nodded confidently. Then he looked her over and said slowly, "Judging by your expression, young lady, I'd say you've awakened your archetype, right? And since it's an undeveloped one, you don't have any solid builds for it — no proper direction to grow stronger either."
At his words, Bai Yuner's curious look vanished, replaced by visible sorrow tugging at the corners of her lips.
Seeing that, You Ye sighed softly, patting her on the shoulder like someone who'd been through the same pain.
"Ah, a brand-new archetype with no existing builds to reference… To create a working deck from scratch takes years of research. One person alone can't manage that. Even a family or a faction would need eight to ten years before they figure anything out — selecting the right cards for a new archetype and building a functioning structure from them… It's just too difficult."
Hearing his words, especially that final emphasis, Bai Yuner's sadness deepened; her eyes turned red.
Everything he'd said perfectly described her situation. Once seen as the rising star of her family, she had been pinned down by her awakened archetype. In a single year, she'd fallen from "dueling prodigy" to "dueling failure."
Not wanting to break down crying, Bai Yuner politely stepped back, preparing to leave.
Seeing her turn away, You Ye gently caught her slender left arm and spoke seriously:
"I feel sorry for your past too… but from now on, now that you've met me — that will all be behind you."
"As long as you seize this chance, I can give you a deck structure perfectly tailored to your archetype. You'll no longer be bound by its limits. Any opponent you face — you'll win one after another, two after two!"
After saying that, You Ye discreetly looked her up and down, then said slowly,
"And this custom deck… only costs 999,999!"
"Really?"
"Just 999,999 — and I can become that strong?"
Bai Yuner turned around, eyes still red, staring at him for confirmation.
"Of course!" You Ye released her arm and nodded with full confidence.
Why was he so confident? Simple — because he was a transmigrator!
Ten years ago, he had suddenly found himself in this dueling world, his age reduced by ten years. A world where all conflicts and disputes were resolved through duels — yet where dueling skill had dropped by a hundredfold!
Why such an absurd decline? The reason was simple.
In this world, those who awakened an archetype were fine. Those who didn't… had only two options: spend a fortune buying cards, or join a clan or faction as their servant.
But even if you became a servant or had money, that didn't mean you'd get a full card pool. Each clan tightly hoarded its collection; no one shared. The result — everyone's card pool was horribly incomplete.
Those with awakened archetypes fared slightly better. They could form bonds with the spirits of their archetype to receive related cards. Generally, the stronger the bond, the more cards they obtained.
There was also an annual Duel Master ranking — reach "Master" rank or above, and when the yearly ranking resets, you'd receive bonus cards.
And, according to urban legend, archetypes could even be artificially granted. But how exactly — that, he didn't know.
The so-called "undeveloped archetypes" referred to those that had never been explored before in this world. Duelists who awakened them were forced to experiment within incomplete card pools — a nightmarishly difficult task.
Of course, for a shameless outsider like You Ye, this difficulty was zero.
As long as the archetype wasn't something absurdly obscure, he could use his knowledge from his past life as a card game veteran to design and optimize builds on the spot — and even teach others how to use them.
Then why wasn't he using his decks to dominate this world of weakened duelists, instead of running a small deck-building shop?
That was because… when he first arrived, he'd awakened the Tearlaments archetype — and immediately became a special case.
No matter how he communicated with his archetype spirits, he only ever received ten cards: one extra-deck "Mermaid" monster, five main-deck monsters (one copy each), and four spell/trap cards, including Perlerein.
Sure, "Wheelchair Tearlaments" could still function in theory… but as mentioned, this world's card economy was a nightmare. Even basic Normal Monsters cost five figures, and Effect Monsters started at six — if you could even find them!
He'd arrived in this world with nothing but the clothes on his back. Buying cards was impossible. His only option was to earn them through ranked dueling. Thankfully, his past-life skill was high enough; over the last four years, he'd been able to earn three cards per year from the "Master Duel" ranking rewards — even banned cards!
However, those cards couldn't be from his own archetype. At that rate, it would take at least eight to ten years to complete his Tearlaments deck.
On the advice of teachers and the Duel Academy principal, he opened this deck-building shop half a month ago — selling "meta" deck builds from his previous world in exchange for money or cards, hoping to one day finish his own deck.
"My archetype is brand-new — the Swordsoul archetype. There's no reference build at all. I don't even know the fundamental playstyle. Are you sure you can really help me improve it?"
Bai Yuner finally spoke again, this time revealing her archetype outright — partly out of curiosity, and partly to test whether You Ye was bluffing.
Swordsoul!?
You Ye's eyes flashed with surprise.
Swordsoul had been a top-tier archetype in his previous world! Between "Superheavy Swordsoul" and "Tenyi Swordsoul," it was one of the best decks for beginners — straightforward yet powerful, with excellent hand trap compatibility!
Have you ever heard of the legend of the Thirteen Swords of Swordsoul — or of the Sword Saint of Miliu?
Based on what You Ye had learned over ten years here, he could only conclude one thing — at the current level of this world, Tenyi Swordsoul would absolutely dominate.
As long as the "Tenyi engine" problem was solved, it could crush anything it faced!
Of course, that wasn't his concern. His job was only to build the deck. How the girl would obtain the cards — that was her problem.
But when You Ye didn't immediately answer, Bai Yuner's hopeful gaze dimmed again.
Since awakening her archetype, her family had spent countless resources hiring others to research possible builds. No one succeeded. Some even called Swordsoul a trash archetype, advising her to abandon it and awaken a new one.
She could, of course. Her family's ancestral archetype was Blue-Eyes — she could awaken it anytime. But as dueling evolved, Blue-Eyes had long since hit its ceiling. She refused to accept that kind of stagnation.
Still, You Ye's silence made it clear he probably had no solution either. Disappointment replaced hope once more, and she turned to leave.
"Wait, where are you going? Little sister, I happen to have a sword art called Tenyi Swordsoul — thirteen forms in total! If you master them, your floor will be Heaven-class, and your ceiling… King-class! You'll become a sword immortal of your generation!"
As she turned, You Ye snapped back to himself and quickly called out.
"Tenyi Swordsoul? Thirteen forms? But my archetype is just Swordsoul — I don't have Tenyi. And isn't Tenyi considered one of the weakest archetypes? How could combining it with mine possibly reach Heaven-class or even King-class?"
Bai Yuner's red-rimmed eyes looked at him skeptically.
She knew of the Tenyi archetype — even weaker than her Swordsoul. It had some special summoning and interruption tools, but low attack power and no reliable boss monsters.
Wouldn't mixing Tenyi with her Swordsoul make it even weaker?
"Boss, you're not trying to scam me with some nonsense build, are you? Make me pay for a deck that actually lowers my power level?"
Suspicious, she looked at him warily.
She might have been emotionally moved earlier, but as a noble daughter from a powerful family, she wasn't foolish enough to fall for a smooth talker.