Chapter 17: Why are there only goblins in the XP system? No, that's not it, Ming

Slurping instant noodles from a bowl, Hayato prepared to open his second pack—the SR pack.

Compared to the R-grade packs, which were barely better than nothing, the quality of the SR pack was significantly higher; after all, even the guaranteed minimum was five SR cards. Hayato guessed that this SR pack might correspond to an achievement like "Newbie Welfare," since the only requirement was to have dueled Yugi Mutou, with no requirement for victory or defeat, making it almost effortless.

【You have opened an SR-grade card pack. Congratulations, you have obtained the following cards

Goblin Raider, Goblin Fog Breaker, Goblin Thief, Goblin Attack Force, Goblin Thief】

Had he stumbled into a goblin nest!?

Hayato hadn't expected much; even a card like "Charging Captain" would have sufficed, given they were a well-known Warrior-type race. But why was his SR pack filled entirely with "Goblin Series" products?

It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with the cards' strength. To be fair, the Goblin series was a prime example of trading aesthetics for power. Whether it was the 2300 ATK of [Goblin Attack Force] or the card draw after dealing damage from [Goblin Fog Breaker], they were quite good. [Goblin Thief] also offered 500 effect damage plus 500 LP recovery, making it excellent for either finishing an opponent or sustaining life.

However, what Hayato truly wanted from the SR tier was the Normal Fusion Monster, [Gaia the Fierce Knight].

Yes, even though it was a Normal monster with no effect, and its ATK was only 300 points higher than one of its materials, [Dark Magician Girl]—wait, [Dark Knight Gaia]—its ATK was only 300 points higher than [Dark Knight Gaia], it was nonetheless classified as an SR, a higher tier than [Gaia] or [Curse of Dragon]. To purchase this card specifically, the required DP was a staggering 3,000 points, enough to clear an entire box of basic packs with a single thirty-pull.

Due to previous achievement settlements, Hayato's current DP balance was [1100 + 1500 = 2600], leaving him 400 points short of a targeted purchase. Regarding [Gaia the Fierce Knight] being priced as an SR, Hayato speculated it was likely because [Spiral Spear Strike], a core support card for Gaia decks, was built around [Gaia the Fierce Knight].

Something well-known from Hayato's previous life was that the publisher of Yu-Gi-Oh!, KONAMI, loved playing with memes. Many physical cards never appeared in the anime but utilized jokes from the show. The most famous was [Moonlight Blade], which was a meta-reference to a classic "clumsy" maneuver performed in the anime.

[Spiral Spear Strike], a card found in almost every Gaia deck, was also an anime meme; the card's name itself was taken from the name of Gaia's attack in the animation.

[Spiral Spear Strike] had two effects: first, it granted [Gaia] the ability to pierce through defense; second, after dealing damage via the first effect, one could activate [Angel Baton]—drawing two cards and discarding one. And as is well known, any card that can create card advantage is a good card.

After gulping down the last of the noodle soup, Hayato began using his final R-grade selection ticket. This was different from the previous packs; while the latter involved random draws from a vast pool (though Hayato suspected the "randomness" was rigged), the former handed the power of choice directly to him.

He could choose any single R-grade card from the vast card pool. Looking at the thousands of cards densely packed on the screen, Hayato couldn't help but take a deep breath. It wasn't just cards from the current DM era; even if cards from the future appeared before him, as long as their effects or types weren't ahead of their time, he could pick any one to add to his deck.

"It's truly overwhelming. Is that scumbag Alai an R? And Raidraptors? Even Fire Kings are here." Filled with indecision, Hayato subconsciously bit his nail, pondering and agonizing. He wanted every single one, but he could only pick one.

After browsing the nearly infinite card pool for a long while, Hayato let out a long breath and clicked into the built-in filter function.

【Type—Spell】

【Keyword—Destroy】

Though it was a pity, Hayato knew that the optimal choice right now was to pick cards that provided the most help to his deck to maximize his strength. Once he had enough strength, he could obtain these tempting cards later.

The largest component of Hayato's current deck was still a massive amount of Normal Monsters. Even after supplementing with cards from Kame Game Shop, the number of Spell cards was still too low; he wanted to increase the ratio of Spells in his deck as much as possible. At the same time, his biggest problem was having too few cards with destruction effects. If he encountered a mindless shield like [Millennium Shield], he would be helpless.

With the filter enabled, the massive card pool shrank rapidly, but a large number of cards remained. Hayato began to search through them seriously. Before long, he found a suitable card.

"This card is...?" Looking at the three figures on the card, Hayato hadn't expected this card to be categorized under "Destroy." However, the effect description did indeed contain the word "destroy." "Interesting. Things are getting interesting."

———— Deck Building Divider ————

On another sunny morning, Hayato Kobayashi, who was home alone but still obediently avoided staying up late, headed to school early. After all, only children stayed up all night without regard for consequences; having experienced it once, Hayato had no desire to see his hair turn thin.

Waiting at the bus stop for the bus to school, Hayato overheard a conversation between two female students from his school sitting together

"Sigh, such bad luck. The magazine said my horoscope is terrible right now, and just when our class has a pop quiz today."

The girl speaking was fashionably dressed and sounded quite convinced by "zodiac signs" and "fortune." There are such people all over the world, though zodiac signs are a matter of personal belief—after all, their essence is much like an almanac. Depending on the printer, the taboos and auspicious timings change, and the same sign can yield different results depending on the interpreter.

"Should I go to the famous school prophet, Kitsune, to have my fortune read?"

Her companion pushed up the glasses sliding down her nose and said calmly, "Instead of those unscientific things, Tsuruya, shouldn't you focus more on the quiz right in front of you?"

"That's true. But Nagato-san, you really are mature." The first girl sighed, noticing her companion was reading a newspaper. "Even the way you read the paper is as old-fashioned as my dad. Any big news lately? Though it's probably just some celebrity cheating or something boring—"

"It seems a murderer has escaped from prison."

"Red Bean!?"

***

[Author's Note: The protagonist's second duel is coming up soon. It's just a transitional duel to give him a taste of action—not too intense, it'll probably end within two chapters. It'll be a 'noob stomping' match that starts around the chapter after next and ends the chapter after that.

Probably?

The protagonist's current deck strength is still a distance away from the 'Shrimp Dumpling' with the Three White Dragons or the player using his grandfather's cards, but against others, it's a stomp. However, this duel serves a purpose; I'll explain later.

If I post two chapters a day, the times will be 12:00 and 18:00. This is tentative. If you have any opinions, feel free to leave comments or posts. Constructive criticism is preferred (no 'constructive' swearing allowed). I often lurk in the comments, but the waters in this comment section are a bit shallow.

That's all. Please recommend, collect, and comment~]

(End of Chapter)