In the morning, Raku woke up from bed.
Everything seemed perfectly ordinary; the room with its tightly drawn curtains was always this dim.
He simply sat on the bed like that, and after a while, he groggily got up to wash.
"Morning, prison bro¹."
"Morning.
"Also, use fewer internet slang terms next time. It sounds strange in real life." Raku didn't even know when Rikka's way of addressing him had changed from "big brother" to "prison bro."
"Hehe, then do you want to hear something even sweeter, like o~ni~cha~n~" Rikka's voice was extremely syrupy, and she was even spinning in circles while flinging the overly long sleeves of the windbreaker.
"If you want to disgust me, you can just say so.
"And why are you wearing my windbreaker and swinging it around? It's dragging on the floor already. It's dirty."
"You noticed. But it's still impossible for me to give it back. "I picked it up and figured no one wanted it."
"Suit yourself."
"Prison bro, are you not planning to go to school to duel today either?"
"I already told you before.
"It's not that I don't want to go study; It's that Teacher Shenren falsely accused me four times in one semester... wait, what did you say? Duel?"
"Yeah, duel. Bro, did you sleep yourself silly or something? No way, bro really turned into prison bro—ow, don't elbo—"
"No, I think the problem probably isn't that my head is muddled. Forget it, I'll go make breakfast."
Raku walked into the kitchen, closed the door behind him, then glanced around before taking out his phone and starting to browse information.
The internet was filled with information about Duel Monsters. Although Yu-Gi-Oh! had been popular before, this kind of nationwide craze in reality was almost impossible. Normally, it was already difficult just to find a few fellow fans even in a university.
"Did I transmigrate? Doesn't really seem like it. What kind of person transmigrates and drags their whole family along with them? Even if that happened, Feixue wouldn't be speaking as if dueling were common sense like that."
Raku turned on the range hood, pretending he had started cooking, then browsed his phone a bit more. It was real… Duel Monsters had truly become the norm in this world.
Whether it was top-level systems like duel-based college entrance exams and duel universities, or the fact that duels could serve as a general equivalent for purchasing goods, all of it showed that dueling had been normalized in this world.
Then wouldn't a card player like him have a place here? Raku fantasized for a moment before simply making two bowls of scallion noodles with soft-boiled eggs.
Afterward, at the dining table, he asked, "Sis, how good do you think your brother is at dueling? Pretty good, right?"
Rikka revealed a gentle expression, then said, "No matter what, I would never laugh at prison bro. So you don't need to fantasize."
"Wait, am I really that bad?"
"Your last duel ranking in school was 230th, right? There are only about six hundred people in the third-year class. Overall, that's upper-middle, but considering that some students aren't duelists at all, it's pretty ordinary."
This ranking, if Raku remembered correctly, was exactly his ranking from the last exam he took.
In other words, his experiences in this world were basically the same as before. The only difference was that what dueling replaced wasn't his previous dueling strength, but his previous... academic ability?!
Seriously? Did it have to be this precise? So in the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, dueling is basically a comprehensive reflection of ability… including academics, right? Then, with technology developed to this extent, it can't be that Duel Spirits personally appear in duelists' dreams late at night to give them inspiration, right?
"Bro, bro, what's wrong? Did what I said really hurt you? Sorry, sorry."
"Not really. My skin is thicker than you think.
"I was just thinking. But thinking too much all at once only muddles my thoughts, making it more trouble than it's worth. Let's eat breakfast first."
"Got it." Rikka immediately started eating her noodles in big mouthfuls, while Raku turned on the television, planning to gather information while eating.
A duel was playing on the TV.
The host began the introduction with overflowing enthusiasm.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year's Duel Star Showcase!
"Next, let us welcome the rising star of this showcase!
"Hikari Hoshimi!"
A girl stepped onto the stage, her hair a mixture of pink, white, and gold, wearing a green leather windbreaker.
"She's strong, this duelist," Raku remarked. As for why he concluded the girl was strong without even watching the duel, it wasn't because of some vague thing like aura; it was her hairstyle.
A hairstyle this stylish didn't belong to a background character.
"That's true. Hikari Hoshimi, a very popular duelist. And at such a young age, she already mastered two summoning methods.
"However, this event is just an entertainment show. They probably spent a lot of money to invite her here to hold up the stage," Rikka commented.
"And that Hikari Hoshimi totally lacks that 'crushed to pieces, shattered to jade, thunderous applause' kind of feeling."
On the TV screen, Hikari Hoshimi was stacking Goblin Attack Force with Sky Striker Ace - Raye.
Raku's eyes widened. With that hairstyle, and the result is performing an overlay with Raye and Goblin?!
Rank 4 Sky Striker, huh. It's not like it can't be played, but it's definitely more on the entertainment side.
Considering Rikka's tone earlier, Hikari Hoshimi was already considered a relatively excellent duelist in this world, at least above average.
So where exactly does the difficulty of dueling in this world lie?
The host's voice came from the television.
"An Xyz Summon?! Such powerful Soul Power!"
Soul Power… an unfamiliar term.
For a profession like a host, even during a "Dueltainment", specialized terminology cannot be misread.
Raku took out his phone and began searching for Soul Power and related concepts.
By the end of the morning, he finally managed to understand some of the basic rules of this new world.
In this world, dueling doesn't only require a Deck. Duelists also need three things: Stamina, Soul Power, and Destiny Power. All of them were fairly easy to understand.
First was Stamina. Dueling in this world was like the duels in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Even if it wasn't a Shadow Game, the solid projections of monsters could still directly impact the duelist. Quite a few people collapse halfway through a duel due to lack of stamina.
Of course, in his previous world, if you played Runick or Red Reboot-style degenerate decks at a card shop, you'd also need stamina.
Next was Soul Power. This concept was somewhat mystical, but its function was simple: summon monsters and command them.
Because Duel Spirits truly exist within the cards in this world, trying to summon Duel Monsters that feel indifferent toward you—or even dislike you—usually requires more Soul Power.
On the other hand, if the Duel Spirits in your Deck fully acknowledge you, the Soul Power required becomes very small. The spirits themselves will jump out to help you.
Right, Kuriboh?
Finally, there was Destiny Power, which was also easy to understand.
Destiny Power cannot currently be measured, but it is generally believed that stronger duelists possess stronger Destiny Power. The clash of Destiny Power during a duel is extremely important; The duelist with stronger Destiny Power will draw cards more smoothly.
Destiny Power also affects opening card packs in everyday life. If you have a strong affinity with certain Duel Monsters, you're more likely to pull monsters from that archetype.
If you have absolutely no Destiny Power, then unfortunately, you'll either get ordinary vanilla monsters like Skull Servant… or you won't even pull Monster Cards at all.
Raku understood this point, but he looked down at his body that had spent years staying indoors. Considering how even normal duels in the anime could knock people over...
"...Do I have to duel too?"
Raku looked at Rikka.
Rikka nodded. "Yes."
"The college entrance exam?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Ah... uh… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
….
¹ "Prison bro" is Chinese internet slang that's a wordplay with "big bro"; People use it as a joke to make fun of someone by calling them a pathetic, unlucky, or "doomed" guy. This usually means that they are acting like someone who should be in jail or who has no social skills. Basically, the sister uses this as a funny name for her brother to make fun of him.