Chapter 15: Suspected Hero Player
Finesse: "Slurp—slurp—according to intel from Nikaido, tonight's opponent is an extremely skilled bounty hunter named Lutz. Huff—huff—"
Kikawayu: "Bounty hunter? What do they do? Slurrrp—"
Finesse: "They don't belong to any corporation, but corporations can hire them. They let their skills do the talking—as long as the money's right, they'll accept any duel. Including underground duels, of course. Slurp—"
Amano Rei: "It's just ramen..."
In Amano's imagination, since the Wein family's young miss was treating and had specifically mentioned "pre-battle preparations"—
It should have been a high-class restaurant serving luxurious cuisine poor people had never seen before.
After dinner, they'd visit some secret room filled with cards, letting him freely select powerful, versatile dream cards.
The gap between dreams and reality was truly cruel.
High-class restaurant became roadside ramen stall—that much he could accept.
But those cheap cards Finesse had collected were just casually scattered across the grease-stained ramen table, forcing Amano to pick through them while slurping noodles.
This young miss wasn't nearly as wealthy as she appeared.
At least District 11's ramen tasted decent. Better than what the Amano household usually ate, anyway.
Amano slurped up noodles. "The opponent's identity doesn't matter. What matters is deck information."
Who cares if you're a bounty hunter or an outlaw?
Whether you could win a duel didn't depend on titles and reputations.
Finesse: "Huff—huff—with my intelligence network, I can't gather that kind of useful intel. Hot! Hot!"
Young miss, you're way too sensitive to heat. You've been blowing on that forever.
Sharp-tongued young ladies were common, but cat-tongued young ladies were genuinely rare.
Watching Finesse's cute pink tongue stick out of her mouth, Amano felt strangely charmed.
Finesse's aloof exterior seemed more like a young miss disguise. Inside, she was actually quite lively and cheerful.
"Deck informashun ish every bounty hunter'sh lifeline. Espeshially one who regularwy playsh underground duelsh—they'd never eashily exshpose it."
Young miss, please let your tongue cool down before speaking.
Apparently realizing her image problem, Finesse waited a good while before continuing.
"However, regarding deck information, I do know one thing. Though his deck changes depending on the fee, supposedly this bounty hunter's strongest ace monster has ATK exceeding even the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
There it was—the combat power measurement unit: Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
No matter which world you went to, you couldn't escape it.
Also, already surpassed before even my second duel? Blue-Eyes, you couldn't even make it that far!
"Better than no intel at all."
Amano shifted his gaze from Finesse's tongue back to the cards scattered messily across the table.
"Where'd you collect these from? They're all cheap junk."
"I drew them myself at the Duelist Service Center."
Your hair might be red, but your luck's surprisingly black.
These Spell and Trap cards would probably just end up lying in the junk card boxes at card shops.
Only one Trap card—Rare Metal Morph—had an effect that could reduce opponent monster ATK. Might actually be useful tonight against an ace exceeding Blue-Eyes White Dragon's power.
And then there was...
Amano: "Why is there even an H in here?"
Kikawayu: "Why are you suddenly making dirty jokes?"
Amano: "Your mind's the dirty one—look for yourself!"
Amano pointed at the Spell card on the table.
The card face displayed a huge burning 'H' letter.
Spell Card [H - Heated Heart]: Effect increases a monster's ATK by 500 and grants piercing damage.
If Amano remembered correctly, this Spell card had no usage restrictions but belonged to the Hero archetype's support cards.
That 'H' stood for the 'H' in Hero.
"Did you also draw these cards?"
"Huff—huff—yes, why?"
This made Amano suspect Finesse's deck archetype. However, deck archetypes counted as private information in this world.
Whatever. Prying into the female boss's privacy on the first day of meeting wasn't appropriate.
Besides, it had nothing to do with tonight's duel anyway.
"Fine, I'll take this one too."
Within Eden Tower, ATK-boosting effects were more valuable and practical than other effects.
But speaking of Heroes, one card couldn't be avoided—currently the card Amano wanted most.
"Do you have Polymerization?"
If he had the Fusion Spell—even just ordinary Polymerization—combined with his full Dragon-Type Extra Deck, that would be a massive power boost.
"Let me check." Finesse tapped her slender white wrist's Eva Terminal.
These wealthy people's Eva Terminals could apparently connect to the Eva network anytime, anywhere. Unlike bottom-level residents who faced restrictions even accessing the internet.
"Polymerization is extremely versatile, so very few circulate in the market. Current market price is... 30,000 per card. Need me to buy it for you? Of course, it'll be deducted from your compensation. Also, definitely won't arrive in time for tonight."
Even ordinary Polymerization sold for 30,000 Eva Points per card in Eden Tower.
Seemed this world's average dueling level was even lower than Amano had predicted compared to his previous life.
"No thanks."
Spending 30,000 Eva Points for a single card was far too extravagant for current Amano.
Finesse drained the remaining ramen broth in one gulp. "Too bad. I actually have a Polymerization card, but I can't lend it to you."
A card that couldn't be loaned meant a bound card.
This young miss who pulled out all these useless cards actually drew Polymerization in her initial ten-card pull? Are you seriously a Hero player?
Of course, a mere initial Polymerization still couldn't compare to Amano's initial Blue-Eyes White Dragon. At least not in terms of price—huge difference there.
After selecting a few more Spell and Trap cards that might synergize with his current low-level vanilla monster deck, Amano officially set out for the underground black market.
Even deeper than District 11's surface location. A special zone artificially excavated outside Eden Tower's jurisdiction, used to circumvent multiple rule restrictions from Mainframe Eva.
Most importantly, in underground duels, organizers could manually disable Eva-mandated safety limits, raising duel feedback to extremely dangerous levels.
You ask what's the point of doing this?
Thrills.
That's what wealthy people pursued.
Just like underground bare-knuckle boxing rings in his previous life.
Rich people sat below, clutching blood-red wine in their hands, watching poor people on stage spray blood like wine.
No matter which world, both perfectly displayed the act of 'blood-sucking' in its rawest form.
Beyond thrills, these underground duels often involved massive gambling.
Wealth that ordinary people couldn't touch in entire lifetimes would change hands multiple times among these rich people in a single night.
"Different corporations' irreconcilable surface-level disputes—some get resolved through underground duels. Like the Wein family's current mortal enemy in the bottom districts: the Sharia Corporation under the Nankiin family."
Inside the hidden elevator descending underground, Finesse explained the situation to Amano.
"Tonight's underground duel involves Wein Corporation and Sharia Corporation competing for development rights to the artificial lake in District 7. The winning corporation will receive a commercial contract worth at least 26 million."
"A single duel can decide 26 million in value?"
For Amano, that was undoubtedly an astronomical figure.
Yet ironically, while capital could profit in the tens of millions, Amano—fighting desperately in this duel—would only receive 100,000 in compensation.
"Quick question—is the other side also getting paid 100,000?"
"You're asking about Sharia Corporation's offer to their duelist? Bounty hunter Lutz is a regular client of Sharia Corporation. Supposedly his compensation is 1.2 million, with the condition he must win."
"(-_-)"
Hey, hey, hey—the other side costs more than ten times what I do!
Though Amano knew the opponent was a famous bounty hunter whose value obviously couldn't compare to some no-name rookie duelist from the slums—
The upside was that Finesse hadn't imposed a "must win" condition. Win or lose, he'd get paid.
Amano was already quietly calculating in his mind. Maybe he should negotiate with his opponent.
You're getting paid so much anyway—how about surrendering and splitting half?
We're both working folks here. Why risk our lives?