As the purple light flashed and that familiar announcement sounded, the customers who had been debating prices froze.
"Whoa!?"
"There's a card inside the bread!?"
"What the heck!!!"
"No wonder this bread sells for 4000 Mora—now the price makes perfect sense~"
"A card pack is 20,000 Mora for 5 cards, which averages 4000 per card."
"So a single card is… about 4000 Mora."
"That means the bread is basically free!?"
"Awesome!!!"
"The shopkeeper is basically doing charity… such a kind heart!"
"Merciful shopkeeper, gifting cards with bread—duelists united shall ascend in bliss!!!"
"I'm buying bread too!"
In an instant, the customers who had questioned the Card-Draw Bread's price began a mad rush.
After all, Chongyun had just single-pulled an Epic purple card.
Unlucky folks might not see one even after ten packs.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Chongyun realized the card must be quite rare. He lowered his head to look.
[Dark Dust Spirit] Level 6│EARTH│Zombie│2200 ATK / 1800 DEF
In the artwork, a violent sandstorm swept across a boundless desert. Amid the whirling yellow sand, a colossal figure loomed—a demon with crimson skin gleaming eerily, merging with the storm itself. Its long white hair lashed about in the wind like venomous snakes. Its expression was ferocious; its blood-red maw gaped, revealing razor fangs as if to devour everything.
[Dark Dust Spirit] stared ahead with that blood-red mouth agape… Murderous intent and greed filled its gaze as it hunted for its next prey. Sand rolled around it, forming vortices, as though stirred by its power.
After looking at the card, Chongyun felt a chill in his soul.
"This… this is exactly the kind of evil spirit I've always wanted to see!"
"I can't wait to summon it!!! I want a good look at it!"
Seeing Chongyun so excited, Xingqiu smiled:
"Don't rush. I can duel you in a bit. That said, you need to gather 40 cards to make a Deck."
Chongyun nodded—then, abruptly, soon wore a troubled look.
"I… kind of… sigh…"
Xingqiu knew—his good brother… had no Mora. To build a 40-card Deck cost at least 160,000 Mora; to make a usable deck might take a million. That was tough for Chongyun.
By rights, given his background in a famed exorcist family of Liyue and his Pure-Yang body, he should have had no shortage of Mora—Liyue was rife with demons, and he was excellent at exorcising them. In theory, even without asking his family, he could earn enough by exorcising on his own.
Because of his Pure-Yang body, when exorcising he only needed to sit for a while where evil gathered to annihilate it—not like other exorcists who had to swing swords and paste talismans. Many clients couldn't believe it, which sometimes led to them refusing to pay Xingqiu's friend.
Chongyun suffered constant doubt. Though full of skill with nowhere to show it, he endured his clients' suspicion and, fearing a surge of yang energy, suppressed the urge to argue hot-bloodedly. Even so, he refused to go with the flow or cover the real method with hollow rituals. Despite his physique's interference, he never thought of giving up. One day, he would become Liyue's foremost exorcist and master his Pure-Yang body, eradicating all demons from the world.
Later… a rumor spread in Liyue Harbor. The victim was a wealthy matron—so influential she could chat with the Qixing.
At some point, strange noises began to plague her sleep. Every night they came unbidden; when she tried to approach stealthily, the sounds would leap to right behind her and buzz by her ear. The terror was indescribable. She wasted away, unable to eat or sleep.
With her status and wealth, she had already hired all the renowned exorcists, yet they all failed. The noises only worsened. With exorcism hopeless, she fell into despair.
Just then, Chongyun stepped through her doors.
"The sun was too strong these past few days, so I couldn't go out… I hear there's a stubborn evil here. Please leave it to me."
Borrowing a chair, he sat quietly at the center of the manor for a short while. That very night, all whispers vanished. The matron slept soundly for the first time in ages. At dawn, she personally came to thank him with several chests of treasure. Still stone-faced, Chongyun took not a single gem from the floor, accepting only a customary few hundred Mora.
Even when fortune beckoned, Chongyun kept his principles—he took only a little, which meant he did have money… just not much.
Accepting Xingqiu's invitation to duel, Chongyun said helplessly:
"I only have 200,000 Mora… It doesn't seem enough to build a deck… I really want to enter tomorrow's tournament. Then I could see more monsters."
Luya smiled. "No problem—the shop has a new product. The [Starter Deck] is 200,000 Mora."
Xingqiu was puzzled, but his perception was sharp—he immediately noticed 100 boxed decks neatly arranged on the shelf near the counter.
He glanced over them and asked:
"Are these… the same decks used by the characters in Yu-Gi-Oh!?"
Each deck had a different cover featuring a character from the anime—Yugi Muto's [Dark Magician] Deck, Joey's [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] Deck, Mai's [Harpie] Deck. Aside from Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, pretty much everything else was there…
Luya nodded to confirm.
"Just as you guessed—these decks match the characters' decks from the series, including their Traps, Spells, and ace monsters… However, there's no Blue-Eyes White Dragon deck, and no Dark Magician of Chaos."
Hearing this, Chongyun beamed with joy.
"200,000 Mora for a full deck! Perfect!!! I'll take the protagonist Yugi Muto's [Dark Magician] Deck."
At his request, Luya took a [Dark Magician] box from the shelf. Chongyun hurried to pay and grabbed his purchase, tearing it open to flip through the contents. Xingqiu leaned in to look.
[Dark Magician], [Dark Magician Girl], [Gaia The Fierce Knight], [Summoned Skull], [Big Shield Gardna], [Brain Control]…
Forty cards—exactly what Yugi often used in the anime, though… no Slifer. Even so, the power level was solid, far stronger than a random pile!
With a deck in hand, Chongyun couldn't wait to duel Xingqiu. Many in the shop were in the same situation. They could cobble together 40 cards, but there was no synergy; real games devolved into trading monsters on the field. Against high-ATK monsters, they had no answers…
In any case, with the [Starter Deck], they could have stronger decks! And they didn't even need to learn much—since these decks came from Yu-Gi-Oh!, they could reference the anime's plays and combos. They could also infer an opponent's deck from signature monsters, adding to the mind games.
However… that wouldn't work against duelists using Genshin cards.
Seeing that Chongyun now had a deck, Xingqiu said:
"Now that you've got one, sign up to enter tomorrow's tournament!"
Entry required a Duel Disk; Xingqiu knew Chongyun didn't have a spare 100,000 Mora. Just as Chongyun was about to say so, Xingqiu preempted him:
"I'm planning to buy 10 Duel Disks—one to use, the rest to collect. I can lend you one to compete~"
With that, Chongyun had no reason not to enter Liyue's first [Lantern Cup].
Customers coming to pay for Card-Draw Bread overheard Luya, Chongyun, and Xingqiu's conversation and realized the shop was selling Starter Decks! Seeing the [Dark Magician] Deck in Chongyun's hands, they erupted:
"Wow, how much for a deck!?"
"I want one too!!!"
"Give me a box!!!"
"Please, boss!"
"I want it so badly!!!"
"I was just worried I didn't know how to build and didn't dare join the tournament. With a Starter Deck, I'm not scared at all!"
"Give me Mai's [Harpie] Deck—not for anything else, mainly for that Legendary [Harpie's Feather Duster]!"
"I want that card so badly—one card to wipe the whole field… so cool~"
"Dude, you're a genius! I already have a decent deck, but I'm missing a lot of Legendary cards. The [Starter Decks] come with fixed Legendaries, so even if I don't use the deck, I still get those cards…"
Hearing the chatter, Luya realized how quick they were. They could buy a [Starter Deck] and cannibalize its powerful cards to assemble something new—like [Mirror Force] from Yugi's deck, or [Monster Reborn], and from Mai's deck, [Harpie's Feather Duster]. That way, they could build their desired decks faster.
That was great for Luya—it meant the [Starter Decks] would sell themselves and help customers build stronger decks. A win-win.
Soon, the remaining 99 [Starter Decks] sold out. A few rich customers simply bought one of each. Xingqiu was among them. Since you can only run three copies of a card, he gave his extras to Chongyun to pick whatever he wanted.
Chongyun was deeply grateful. Xingqiu replied:
"Don't mention it! We're best friends, aren't we?!"
Chongyun nodded hard and shouted:
"Our friendship is unbreakable!!!"
...
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