The next few days were mostly uneventful.
Kai lounged on a rocking chair in the courtyard, fiddling with his Decks. His identification was still being processed, so he stayed at Marina's house.
After pulling out two cards from the Wight Deck, he asked Marina to sell the rest.
That Deck was of little use to Kai—Going first, it was useless. For OTK plays going second, his Cyber Dragons were stronger.
As for the two cards he kept:
One was the Field Spell [Zombie World], a semi-lockdown card that changes all monsters on the field and in the Graveyard to Zombie-Type.
It was deadly for Synchro, Fusion, or Link-focused Decks, since most Extra Deck monsters had strict typing requirements.
Also handy against decks that flood the field with Dragons and mysterious face-downs.
The other was [Necroworld Banshee], which, paired with [Zombie World], can search and activate [Zombie World] directly.
None of his current three Decks used that combo; even so, he figured it might come in handy someday, especially in special Trials.
Play [Zombie World], and you practically clear it.
After reviewing his Decks, Kai realized he had no means of healing LP.
He had initially thought the cards Marina brought were oddly chosen. Though on second thought, it made sense—Trials didn't reset LP.
If a Trial gradually burned through your Life Points, even a minor monster strike could be fatal.
As for healing cards, Kai had little experience there.
He recalled the Aromage Deck, which could heal; however, its card effects were weaker than Cyber Dragons.
After all, a modern Duelist saying went: LP is the most useless resource.
Still, it was time to look into that.
"All set!"
Marina entered from outside and slapped two cards onto the table.
One was an electronic card with Kai's portrait, the other a glossy black bank card.
"This is your ID card, and this is a bank card linked to that ID. I deposited all your money in it."
"The 250,000 I gave you, plus 1.06 million from selling the Wight Deck."
"Total: 1.31 million!"
Hearing the number, Kai was stunned.
"...It sold for that much?"
He had learned that prices in this world were similar to his own, except for Duel cards… which were insanely expensive.
Despite that, he never expected that price… The Wight Deck was a pure Wight build with no Extra Deck, and its only win condition was [King of the Skull Servants].
The whole Deck revolved around him.
In the Hidden Boss fight, he only won because of luck. A single hand trap, and the opponent would've bricked.
Going first? Trash. Going second? Even worse. Who doesn't set up two negates on turn one these days?
Marina rolled her eyes.
"Don't underestimate card value."
"If you sold them as singles, sure, it wouldn't be that much."
"But as a full set? Anyone who bonds with the Wight Deck can take it straight into a Trial."
"If you hadn't pulled those two cards, it would've gone for even more."
As she spoke, Marina's expression darkened.
"Are you leaving soon?"
Now that Kai had an ID and money, he had no reason to stay any longer.
"Yeah, I want to go explore."
Kai nodded. He still knew too little about this world.
So, he planned to travel and see what made this place different from his own.
Marina said nothing.
They hadn't known each other long, but they got along well. With Kai, she didn't need to keep up appearances or posture.
It had been a long time since she felt so at ease. And when he stood up for her at the Pavilion, she was quietly moved.
…Over time, she'd developed a bit of affection for him.
Even so, she knew that was all it could be. Someone like Kai, with his power, wouldn't remain in this seaside city anyway.
And she would soon return to the Academy since this whole trip had been a short leave, and break time was nearly over.
The mood in the courtyard grew heavy. Even the sun ducked behind the clouds.
Kai smiled and handed her a card.
"If you need anything, just call."
"Okay."
Marina nodded, accepting the card.
It was a Monster Card. A white-haired girl with outstretched arms, gazing forward as if welcoming something from beyond.
[Maiden of White]
A support card from the Blue-Eyes archetype—Kai was half a Dragon-type enthusiast himself, and of course had a Blue-Eyes Deck.
That said, since the obnoxious Primite series was released, everyone was running some variant of that.
He'd locked his Blue-Eyes Deck away. The card had somehow gotten mixed into his active Deck.
Now that he had no Blue-Eyes build, it was useless to him—Better to give it to Marina as a memento of his first friendship in this world.
"When will you leave?"
Marina tucked the card away and asked.
"Probably in a day or two. I want to study the map a bit."
Silence fell again, awkward tension filling the space.
Just as Marina prepared herself to speak again, her phone rang.
"Miss! A new Trial has appeared! Come quickly!"
She hung up and looked at Kai.
"Want to come see it?"
"Let's go!"
They got up and drove toward the new Trial location. In less than ten minutes, they reached the spot marked by Marina's staff.
There, Noir had already gathered a crowd.
Seeing them arrive, he merely smiled calmly.
Kai turned his gaze to where everyone was looking. There, in the middle of the road, stood a massive golden gate, embedded within it were countless crimson gemstones.
Gulping sounds echoed from the crowd.
That was solid gold!
Just how much would something like that be worth?
...
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