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Early the next morning, You Xuan set off from the dojo with his students to embark on a journey to visit the ancient ruins.
To be honest, You Xuan was quite intrigued by the stone tablets found in these ruins, especially after learning that they weren't the only artifacts capable of being turned into cards. In this world of Duel Monsters, it wasn't just stone tablets that could become cards—gems, swords, and even living beings could sometimes be transformed into cards.
Or rather, turning stone tablets into cards wasn't truly "card creation" in the strictest sense. It was more like transplantation. After all, the stone tablets were ancient cards created thousands of years ago by the people of that era. What Maximillion Pegasus had done was simply transfer those ancient cards onto modern mediums. The true creation of the corresponding cards happened when the ancients first crafted the stone tablets themselves.
The ruins were located just outside the city. After disembarking from the vehicle, You Xuan didn't have to walk far before reaching the excavation site, where he met Takeshi, the older brother of the dojo master, and an acquaintance named Mr. Saito.
"Well, you're here!" Mr. Saito greeted them warmly, giving You Xuan an extra glance.
"That duel of yours yesterday was impressive. I bet you've reaped some nice rewards since then, huh?"
"Not bad," You Xuan replied with a smile. "Thanks for taking us on this tour."
Mr. Saito waved dismissively. "No problem at all. Actually, I'm just letting you folks see it a few days early. If the team doesn't find anything new soon, they plan to open this site up to duelists ranked Level 4 and above in a couple of days."
As Mr. Saito led the group inside, he began explaining.
"You've probably heard the rumors before—sometimes spirits choose their duelists?"
"Yes, we've heard about it," the group nodded.
You Xuan remembered too. One of the most iconic examples in the original series was the Gem Beasts. After Pegasus created the Gem Beast deck, he once attended a tournament to watch contestant John Andersen's match. Unexpectedly, the case holding the deck suddenly began to glow. Pegasus then gifted the Gem Beast deck to John, who formed an extraordinary bond with it—a connection no ordinary duelist could replicate. This was why sometimes it wasn't the duelist choosing the card; the spirit chose its wielder.
"Master Takeshi mentioned it too," one of the dojo students recalled. "He said that if a card rejects a duelist, they won't be able to unleash its full potential."
You Xuan pondered this silently. What exactly did it mean to fail to unlock a deck's power?
Would a spirit that disliked you keep shoving useless cards into your hand until your draws became so clogged that you doubted reality itself?
Damn, that would indeed be terrifying...
"That's right, some ruins behave similarly. Sometimes research on a particular ruin goes nowhere for ages, but then something strange happens when a certain duelist visits—it's almost as if they were chosen. But I don't really know what criteria are used for such selections."
Mr. Saito chuckled.
"After all, I'm just an old brick carrier around here. I've only heard people talk about it."
Hiroji Sato asked, "So can you tell us now what kind of ruin this is? Master said it was amazing but refused to give any details..."
Mr. Saito smiled mysteriously. "You'll know once you go inside."
"..."
Following the man-made excavation path, they soon arrived in a vast space. Towering stone walls surrounded them, carved with intricate patterns and mysterious symbols that remained clear despite appearing to be thousands of years old.
At the center of the ruins stood a massive stone platform, upon which loomed an ancient yellow-brown stone tablet. Etched in the middle of the tablet was the image of a warrior wielding a sword.
Though rendered in an abstract style indicative of ancient artistry, everyone immediately recognized the figure. Several students gasped aloud.
"Chaos Soldier!"
According to mythological accounts, this warrior was described as the strongest being who split chaos into light and darkness, creating heaven and earth. Of course, due to the exaggerated nature of these tales, they were largely dismissed as mere mythological backstory today.
It was also one of Mutou Yugi's famed ace monsters.
"Yes, Chaos Soldier. A legendary monster that has been the subject of numerous research teams ever since the appearance of 'The Creator of Light and Darkness.' Unfortunately, although its emergence shocked the dueling world back then, it also marked a bottleneck in research. For years, no team has made further progress. Some expert groups even claim they believe 'The Creator of Light and Darkness' represents the full potential of Chaos Soldier, with no room for further evolution…"
This belief seemed reasonable enough. Chaos Soldier - The Creator of Light and Darkness had incredibly simple summoning conditions, boasted an attack power of 3000, and possessed abilities to banish an opponent's monster and perform two consecutive attacks in a single turn. It was so powerful that it was banned by Konami in 2005, making it highly formidable in this era's meta.
Of course, as someone from the future, You Xuan knew that this wasn't the limit—not by a long shot. There were still many unreleased Chaos Soldier support cards waiting to be developed.
Gazing at the stone tablet, You Xuan's mind began racing.
Even without later reinforcements, The Creator of Light and Darkness had already been strong enough in its early days. In fact, in real-world tournaments, after his previous Hand Destruction deck, the next two world champions both ran Chaos-themed decks with The Creator of Light and Darkness as the centerpiece.
Back then, Chaos Soldier had already felt like a meta-defining force, obliterating other decks in the environment. Even after Big Creation was banned, a year later, "Chaos Wizard," often called Little Creation, barely filled its shoes. Yet, that year's world champion still ran a Testament Chaos build—still centered around Chaos themes.
You Xuan wondered if he could somehow obtain Big Creation and consider building another championship-worthy deck.
"Doesn't discovering related ruins help with new research?" one student asked curiously.
"I'm not entirely sure," Mr. Saito replied. "But I think I overheard the research team's experts saying no. The stone tablets found here correspond only to the ritual monster 'Chaos Soldier,' which was already created years ago. There doesn't seem to be any clues here pointing toward further monster evolution…"
The ritual monster Chaos Soldier—the original version summoned by Yugi during the Duelist Kingdom arc—was a vanilla 3000-attack ritual monster with no effects. Despite bearing the title "Legendary Monster," it was long outdated by modern standards.
"…Here."
You Xuan: "?"
He thought he heard someone speak near his ear. But when he turned to look, there was no one.
The students were discussing topics related to Chaos Soldier and Mutou Yugi in the opposite direction. People were bustling around the ruins hall, yet no one stood where the voice seemed to come from.
Was it an auditory hallucination?
Looking around in confusion, he couldn't find any explanation. Just as he turned away—
"Here."
The voice came again.
Startled, You Xuan turned back to look. Still, there was no one in sight, nor anyone who could possibly be speaking to him.
What was going on? Telepathy? Whispered transmission?
His gaze locked onto another stone tablet excavated nearby.
Unlike the Chaos Soldier tablet that drew crowds, this one was blank.
You Xuan felt like he might be losing his mind.
Because he swore the voice seemed to emanate from this blank slate.
Compelled by some unseen force, he approached it, slowly raising his arm.
At the same time, one of the researchers stationed at the excavation camp suddenly exclaimed, "Leader!"
"What's wrong?"
The leader, wearing a white lab coat emblazoned with the KC logo, hurried over.
"Energy readings! Duel energy levels are spiking out of control!"
The leader glanced at the instrument readings and was visibly stunned. "Is this a spirit reaction? But at this intensity… how is it possible?"
His expression was one of disbelief.
Their previous scans had detected no signs of monster spirits within these ruins. Yet in an instant, the readings skyrocketed as if possessed.
And if this truly was a spirit manifesting, the sheer magnitude of this energy…
"Isn't this on par with 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'?" the research leader muttered incredulously.
While countless ruins were unearthed worldwide every year, making them commonplace, spirits on the level of Blue-Eyes White Dragon were still exceedingly rare.
"..."
In the moment his fingertips touched the stone tablet, You Xuan suddenly felt an overwhelming pull.
Caught off guard, he felt his feet leave the ground as his entire body seemed to merge into a colossal vortex, being sucked into another world.