After Yūga Hōzumi returned, he eagerly opened the System, taking stock of his recent gains.
First was the item Yūga Hōzumi was most concerned about: the source code for Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder, the XYZ Dimension's ultimate weapon. Combined with the progress from previous quest rewards, the source code for this card was already more than halfway unlocked.
But looking at the complex source code, the majority of which was now revealed, Yūga Hōzumi couldn't help but click his tongue.
The reason was simple: this thing was too complex. If creating a single Gem-Knight Pearl was as difficult as building a regular computer, then building this was probably equivalent to manufacturing a particle collider.
Yūga Hōzumi did a quick calculation and realized that even if he obtained the complete source code and used all of Neo Domino City's resources, he'd be hard-pressed to produce even ten of them.
After realizing this, Yūga Hōzumi could only silently abandon his dream of a Gundam army.
Afterward, Yūga Hōzumi looked at the two special items he had received as a reward.
[III's Chronomaly Atlas. Upon use, gain a Chronomaly Deck and unlock Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis and Number 36: Chronomaly Chateau Huyuk.]
[IV's Fan Service Admission Ticket. Upon use, gain a Gimmick Puppet Deck and Number 15: Gimmick Puppet Giant Grinder, Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings.]
"Two decks capable of wielding Number monsters, huh? These could be useful for Allen and the others. But this Shitty System's card choices really fit its style. It's holding back on Destiny LEO and Vimana, forcing me to exchange for them, isn't it?" Yūga Hōzumi grumbled as he put them away, simultaneously looking at the ten Number Monster Dream Scrolls.
The moment he saw this item, Yūga Hōzumi's first thought was to see if he could exchange them for two more Number 16: Shock Masters.
But obviously, the Shitty System wouldn't grant Yūga Hōzumi's wish. In the exchange interface, the options for Number monsters he already possessed were simply gone.
"I knew it," Yūga Hōzumi shrugged, not surprised by the Shitty System's usual antics.
So, Yūga Hōzumi had no choice but to continue pondering which cards would be best to exchange for.
First, for himself, the main engine of his Onomat Deck, which allowed him to unleash the full power of the Emperor's Key, was basically complete. All that was missing were the other members of the Hope team, but it seemed those cards could only be slowly printed by himself through the Emperor's Key.
So, Yūga Hōzumi first exchanged for a Number 59: Crooked Cook for himself, then began to ponder which other cards would be the most valuable.
"For Kaito, I should get him Photon Lord and Dark Matter Dragon. Then for Yuto, the classic combo of Number 86 and Number 75 should be enough to handle most enemies. And then there's Yao..."
"Forget about him. That guy somehow managed to obtain Nash's inheritance. He probably already has the Seven Emperors' Sword and Number 101 by now, making him richer than me."
"Next, I need to get two versatile Rank-4s for Shun and Serena. And I also have to get the Number monsters for the new decks. After doing the math, it seems like ten cards aren't going to be enough!" Yūga Hōzumi said with frustration after calculating for a long time.
"And then there are these 100 random Xyz monsters." Yūga Hōzumi rubbed his hands together as he opened the 100 card packs. "I hope I get some useful cards. No more 2600 ATK vanilla monsters, please. I have enough Gem-Knight Pearls to open a specialty store."
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Gem-Knight Pearl.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Tornado Dragon.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Photon Strike Bounzer.]
...
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Gem-Knight Pearl.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Zoodiac Drident.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Divine Dragon Knight Felgrand.]
...
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained High-Speedroid Kitedrake.]
[Congratulations, Host: You have obtained Gauntlet Launcher.]
As expected, a good portion of the 100-card pull consisted of vanilla monsters, while the rest were mostly useless things. The number of useful monsters could be counted on one hand.
"Like Tornado Dragon... everyone in our Heartland City command squad who can summon a Rank-4 basically has one already. And Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack, its effect is pretty strong, but unfortunately, it's a Rank-7. Then there's Zoodiac Drident..."
"Wait? Zoodiac Drident?" Yūga Hōzumi shot up with a kip-up, pulling the card from the pile and staring at it in disbelief.
Has this Shitty System had a change of heart? Yūga Hōzumi wondered in surprise.
Then, Yūga Hōzumi quickly opened the interface for drawing cards from a specific archetype. Sure enough, the Zoodiac archetype was unlocked.
Yūga Hōzumi gasped. Did the System take the wrong medicine today? It gave him this deck so easily?
In his previous life, this deck was hailed as the strongest Xyz deck in existence!
Moreover, unlike the EMem deck Yūga Hōzumi had previously acquired, the most outrageous thing about this deck was how incredibly small its main engine was.
If the vast EMem engine were added to his current deck, it would interfere with the Emperor's Key and prevent him from using his transformation trump card. Therefore, Yūga Hōzumi could only use that deck as one of his tools for clearing out minions.
But this Zoodiac deck was different! The Extra Deck in this world didn't have a 15-card limit. He only needed to add three Zoodiac Ratpier, one Zoodiac Ramram, and one Zoodiac Whiptail to his main deck, plus three Zoodiac Barrage. For the extra deck, he'd add a set of the in-archetype Rank-4s. This small engine would have virtually no impact on Yūga Hōzumi's own deck, not affecting his ability to use the Emperor's Key to transform and print cards at all.
Thus, in his excitement, Yūga Hōzumi poured all the System Gold Coins he had accumulated over this period into drawing cards from this archetype.
But unfortunately, after nearly six 10-pulls, his haul was just one Ratpier, one Ramram, one Barrage, one Chakanine, one Boarbow, and one Tigermortar. As for others like Hammerkong and Thoroughblade, he got a few, but he was still far from his goal.
"Forget it. These cards alone are enough to significantly boost my current strength. I'll just draw more slowly later," Yūga Hōzumi said, putting away his cards and adjusting his deck. He then looked at the main event in the System: the main quest.
[Main Quest: Reclaim XYZ Dimension Glory, Phase Three has begun.]
[After helping the Revolutionary Army in the Synchro Dimension restore order, the Host has forged a deep friendship with them. Now, it is time to reclaim your homeland!]
[Mission Requirement: Drive the invaders from the Fusion Dimension out of Heartland City.]
[Mission Item: Medium-sized Disposable Dimensional Teleporter has been issued to the Host's Warehouse.]
[Medium-sized Disposable Dimensional Teleporter: Can teleport 5,000 people to any dimension at once. Item duration: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.]
"Is war about to break out?" Yūga Hōzumi muttered to himself, looking at the System's prompt. "I hope Kiryu can sort things out here soon."
Heartland City, Orion District.
Inside the hospital at the Revolutionary Army camp, Yuto, who had only fully recovered a week prior, gritted his teeth as he watched Sugihara Yo lying in a special ward.
"He still hasn't woken up?"
...
(end of chapter)