Kaiba Land, White Dragon Festival venue.
Sunlight streamed through the colorful amusement park structures, casting mottled patches of light onto the ground. The vast amusement park was packed with people, brimming with a festive atmosphere.
Here, you could see a Blue-Eyes White Dragon hurtling down a thrilling roller coaster track, another in the shape of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon rotating on a swinging chair ride, and yet another, like a silent guardian, resting atop the Ferris wheel.
In short, they were everywhere.
Yugen once again realized how influential the legendary President Kaiba was to have even created a special holiday called "White Dragon Festival" for the White Dragon. This holiday was even designated a public holiday; according to custom, everyone was supposed to go to Kaiba Land and have fun on this day.
The Duel Academy also organized an event, imbued with the holiday spirit, where students went together on a team-building trip to Kaiba Land in the city. The legendary excavation team leader, Mr. Takeuchi, also made an appearance.
"Kageryu!"
"Kazuya!"
The two went straight for a bear hug.
"You've been missed!" The man clapped the master's back firmly.
Yugen assessed the newcomer.
A fantastically checkered shirt, a forehead as shiny as a mirror with no stray hairs, a somewhat weathered face, and dark-rimmed glasses.
He looked less like a duelist and more like a programmer who had evolved over half his life.
His eyes were almost narrowed into slits, and his bald head simultaneously combined the two legendary attributes of "squinty eyes" and "baldness." If he were in another studio, he might be a formidable BOSS-level character, but unfortunately, he wasn't.
Here, not having a Hua-Lian Lake outpost hairstyle was already half a loss.
"How come you haven't been around for so long?" Master Takeuchi complained, "I thought you'd forgotten your old friend."
"Oh, it's just been busy with work. Oh, by the way, I found an amazing new resource this time. I've got both the projection and VR versions of the raw footage! The female lead isn't just big, but also—"
"Stop! Stop!" The master quickly winked, "The students are all here today."
Only then did the man understand: "Ah, okay. We'll talk about it later in private."
The students: "..."
No, we're still more interested in what you and your master usually talk about in private.
"Allow me to introduce you, this is Saito Kazuya. He was also a duelist at our academy back then, so he's half a fellow student," Master Takeuchi introduced.
The man named Saito nodded slightly: "Indeed. My former teacher once told me that my dueling talent was extraordinary, and with a little more effort, my achievements would surely surpass Takeuchi's—"
Master Takeuchi glared: "I've never heard that. If that were truly the case, why would the teacher expel you from the academy?"
"Haha, Senior Brother, you don't know the half of it," Saito said gleefully, "The teacher was very fond of me at the time, but unfortunately, his daughter liked me even more. Later, when the teacher found out, he was naturally furious."
Master Takeuchi was shocked: "Such a thing happened? Why have you never mentioned it?"
"Young people don't understand things; why bring up old stories?"
Saito Kazuya waved his hand slightly, creating a reminiscent pose.
The students: "..."
"Ahem, let's talk about the ruins."
Master Takeuchi quickly interrupted. He had a premonition that if this guy kept talking, more inappropriate content would emerge, which would be detrimental to the students' physical and mental health and the future of dueling.
"Oh, the ruins, of course," Saito chuckled, "These ruins are really interesting this time."
Just as he finished speaking, there was a sudden "bang," and all the lights in the giant dragon dueling arena where everyone was gathered suddenly went out.
This was immediately followed by a series of "rumbling" sounds as all the folding doors came down, sealing every exit in an instant. The windows were similarly sealed. All light sources vanished, and the arena plunged into darkness.
The crowd in the arena immediately burst into an uproar.
"What's going on?"
"System glitch?"
"Refund!"
"..."
Saito Kazuya looked around, muttering: "Strange, it shouldn't be. Even if it's an accidental power outage, the dueling arena in the park has backup generators. What's happening?"
Although Yugen didn't speak, this development made him smell a familiar scent.
Why did it feel like something similar happened in the anime back then...?
That was in DM, when Kaiba Land was first built. The system was hacked, the dueling arena was sealed, and the plot quickly developed into a situation where everyone had to duel the AI in the arena, and if they couldn't win, no one would be allowed to leave.
The mastermind behind the scenes in the original work was Zigfried Lloyd, Seto Kaiba's business rival. However, that guy should have been dealt with by Kaiba 8 years ago.
Could it really be a system glitch?
Light quickly appeared in the darkness. The light focused on the center of the arena, where an extremely arrogant figure stood with arms crossed beneath the spotlight, spiky blue hair, blue eyes, and a white trench coat.
Then he tilted his head back and let out a characteristic laugh: "Hahahahaha—"
"That's Seto Kaiba!" The crowd immediately gasped.
"What's going on? Why is that Seto Kaiba here himself?"
"Is this some kind of surprise event?"
Saito Kazuya immediately noticed something was off: "Wait a minute, that's not Seto Kaiba. That's the newest dueling AI in this arena!"
Everyone: "!"
"Kaiba Corporation's dueling program inputs the AI of famous duelists, perfectly reproducing their tactics, thought processes, and even their personalities.
Combined with the now highly realistic virtual imaging technology, it can provide visitors with a genuine dueling experience against the world's top duelists!" Saito explained.
President Kaiba's obsession with AI wasn't a secret. Ever since Yami Yugi went to the Underworld, the President had been immersed in AI, frantically conducting scientific research to upgrade it. If someone could inspect his R&D files, they would probably find thousands of different versions of Yami Yugi AI within.
In the prelude to Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, Kaiba even lost to AI Yami Yugi. After losing, he angrily went to find a countermeasure. Later, in Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, Kaiba defeated AI Yami Yugi, but after winning, he angrily said that winning against such a past illusion was meaningless...
Master Takeuchi: "So now—"
"Someone hacked into this arena's system and set the AI to the image of Seto Kaiba," Saito said gravely, "I'm afraid the arena system is now linked to the AI.
Strange, I heard before that there shouldn't be this level of AI in amusement park facilities. Legendary duelist AIs like Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba are usually used for testing within their company; they're the top dueling AIs. Normally, they wouldn't be accessible to the public..."
Sure enough, immediately after, the AI Kaiba finished its three-segment laugh, then unfolded a duel disk: "If you want to get out of here, you must first defeat the deck in my hand!"
Yugen wasn't surprised at all.
See, it really was going to be a duel.
The trapped crowd in the arena immediately fell into chaos.
"What?! You have to defeat that Seto Kaiba? How is that possible?!"
"But this is just an AI. Besides, it can't possibly have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, can it?"
"You don't know this? Precisely because it's a dueling AI, the cards it uses are pure data, inputting the data of various powerful duelists, so it has every card!"
"What?! Doesn't that mean it even has the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon... Then how can we even fight this?"
The scene below was in utter pandemonium.
At this point, the people in the arena were mostly amateur visitors. In their eyes, this AI not only replicated Seto Kaiba's entire personality and tactical thinking but also had a complete set of deck data. It was almost infinitely close to the real thing.
This was the man standing at the pinnacle of duelists today, wielding the currently recognized strongest deck in the dueling world. How could he be defeated?
If anyone could win this, wouldn't it have to be Yugi Muto?
Yugen, on the other hand, was very calm.
Actually, it was just the doors being locked for a while; it didn't have much impact on these visitors. Kaiba Corporation was surely trying to fix the glitch, and the lock should be released soon. If all else failed, physically breaking down the doors was an option. For these visitors, it was simply a loss of some time, and they might even get some compensation from Kaiba Corporation.
However, for Kaiba Corporation, it was a malicious incident. Various competitors would undoubtedly record this important event, and no one would easily let go of such a rare opportunity.
But that was a problem for Kaiba to consider.
Master Takeuchi leaned over to Yugen and quietly asked, "This is an opportunity to battle with the legendary Seto Kaiba's deck. Do you want to try?"
Yugen shrugged, not feeling anything particularly special.
Even if it copied the personality and the deck, it was still just an AI. Could it even copy the "Heart of the Cards"?
However, Saito Kazuya then whispered: "Based on my understanding of Seto Kaiba, if someone here defeats this AI and lifts the system lock before the intrusion is resolved, saving the corporation from losses, he might offer a lot of money, or many rare cards..."
"You don't need to say more."
Yugen waved his hand and had already stepped towards the dueling arena, leaving a cool silhouette for the crowd.
Money and cards were external things; he didn't care much about them.
But as a duelist, he absolutely couldn't miss this opportunity to challenge a legend.
Whoever snatched it from him would get his wrath.
"Come on."
Yugen stood opposite the projected AI Kaiba.
"I'll be your opponent."