Has Invaded!?
1: Chapter 1: One Night’s Sleep, and Yu-Gi-Oh!
Has Invaded!?
“How many times have I drilled this into you?!
A Quick-Play Spell can NEVER be activated the same turn it’s Set!
It’s such a basic rule.
Why does someone always get it wrong on every single mock exam?!” Duel Academy, Class 10.
At the front of the room, homeroom teacher Hiroshi slapped the lectern in exasperation, the impact rattling the box of chalk hard enough to make it jump twice.
“And another thing.
I’ve said it again and again: bite off more than you can chew and you’ll choke!
A person’s mental energy is finite.
Just specialize in one Summoning method and be done with it.
But no, there’s always someone who won’t listen, someone who thinks they can master several Summoning styles at once.
What, do you all believe you’re the Pharaoh reborn?” At that, Old Hiroshi’s gaze locked onto a single target, and his voice shot up a register.
“Nate…
daydreaming on me AGAIN!” The words hadn’t even finished leaving his mouth before a stub of chalk arced through the air in a flawless parabola, striking dead center on the forehead of the boy in the back row by the window, the one propping up his cheek with one hand and nodding off bit by bit.
“Nate!
Old man’s calling you!” His deskmate Kai shot out a hand and tugged frantically at his uniform sleeve.
Nate snapped awake, lifting his head in a daze.
‘Why am I at school?
Shouldn’t I be home right now?’ He remembered it clearly.
Today was supposed to be Saturday, and he’d just finished a round of no-banlist Master Duel at home.
He’d barely scraped a win against some cartoon adult’s overwhelming power, riding his peak Tearlaments build.
Then he’d gotten a little sleepy and gone to lie down on his bed for a while.
So how had he opened his eyes back in a classroom?
“Stop sleeping!
If you don’t want to fail, sit up and pay attention.
And if you really can’t keep your eyes open, go stand at the back of the room!” Watching the boy’s sleep-stunned expression, Hiroshi snapped a couple more times before turning back to the lesson.
“Alright, back to the point.
This afternoon we head into the Ruins.
Inside, you’ll have a chance to obtain real Spirit cards, an opportunity you won’t get on any ordinary day.
The deeper you go, the higher your odds of a powerful card dropping!
But the Spirits’ strength scales up exponentially with the Ruins’ depth, so don’t overreach.
Stick to the outer edges and battle the low-tier Spirits.” Hearing this, a girl in the front row with her hair in a ponytail raised her hand.
“Teacher, if stronger cards boost a Deck more, why don’t we try heading deeper?
Even if we only manage to claw out a single god-tier card at the cost of everything, isn’t that better than a pile of low-level junk?” Hiroshi shook his head, his tone turning grave.
“See, there you go falling into an extremely dangerous misconception.
A Deck is a whole!
No matter how strong a single card is, without other cards to support and orchestrate it, it can’t bring out any of its power.
Take [Blue-Eyes White Dragon].
Strong, right?
A base attack of 3,000.
But without a support card to grant it effect resistance, the opponent just plays any Spell with a destruction effect and clears it off the board with ease.
So don’t blindly worship a single card’s numbers.
A Deck is called a Deck because the cards interlock and reinforce one another.
Cram cards that can’t synergize together and that’s not a Deck.
That’s a card pile!” Hearing all this, Nate in the back row was completely stunned.
What scripture was Old Hiroshi reciting?
Wasn’t he supposed to teach math?
Ruins exploration?
Blue-Eyes White Dragon?
Deck synergy?
He’d woken up to a world overrun by Yu-Gi-Oh?
He looked around.
The familiar classroom, the familiar deskmate, even that crooked-necked plane tree outside the window, all of it identical to his memories.
He rubbed his groggy head hard, his gaze drifting instinctively across his desk.
The next second, he froze.
Wait…
where are my books?!
His exam-prep workbooks and all his core textbooks had vanished into thin air, replaced by…
‘Xyz Summoning: From Beginner to Master.’ ‘On Why Fusion Summoning Is the Noble Summoning Method.’ ‘Quick Reference Handbook of Basic Monster ATK/DEF’…
To make sure he wasn’t dreaming, Nate quietly pinched his own thigh.
“Sss…” The pain made him suck in a sharp breath on the spot.
He’d really transmigrated?
Nate swallowed and decided to find some water to calm down.
He reached into his desk drawer, but his fingers never found a cup.
What they touched instead was something cold, heavy, and gleaming with a metallic sheen.
A mechanical arm-guard.
A Duel Disk!
And there was a Deck slotted into it.
The instant his fingers brushed the Duel Disk, a flat, emotionless mechanical voice rang out abruptly inside his head.
[Ding!
Host soul-fusion complete.
The ‘Duel King System’ is now active.] [Beginner’s Pack distributed: all Extra unlocked.] A System?
Up until now he hadn’t quite believed it, half-convinced the class was pulling some elaborate prank on him.
But now he was certain.
He really had transmigrated.
After all, the standard-issue gear of every transmigrator had just shown up.
While he sat there reeling, the crisp ring of the dismissal bell echoed down the corridor.
Hiroshi glanced at the watch on his wrist and closed his lesson plan.
“That’s all for today.
We’re heading to the Ruins shortly, so check over your Deck configurations carefully.
Assemble on the field in five minutes!” The room instantly filled with the clatter of desks and chairs.
Students pulled out their Duel Disks one after another and filed out, nervous and excited all at once.
Seeing Nate still sitting blankly in his seat, Kai waved a hand in front of his eyes.
“Nate, what on earth were you up to last night?
You look like your soul left your body.” He stroked his chin.
“Don’t tell me.
After getting a look at Senior Alexis’s figure yesterday, you spent the whole night thinking about her and couldn’t sleep.” That snapped Nate back.
He shook his head and was about to say it was nothing, when he suddenly went still.
“Wait.
What did you just say?” Nate grabbed Kai’s arm.
Kai gave a sly little chuckle and waggled his eyebrows.
“I said, you couldn’t sleep because you were thinking about Senior Alexis.
I get it.
Among the Duel Goddesses, Senior Alexis easily ranks in the top five.
But honestly?
Compared to second-year Senior Alexis, I prefer third-year Senior Akiza Izinski even more.
Tsk tsk, that Black Rose Witch aura, paired with that absolutely peerless figure…
who could possibly resist?” Nate just froze, his head buzzing.
Alexis?
Akiza Izinski?!
Aren’t those the female characters from Yu-Gi-Oh?!
He seized Kai by the shoulders and asked urgently, “Kai, what year is it right now?!” “2026,” Kai said, startled by him.
“Why are you freaking out like this?” The year hasn’t changed…
Nate swallowed and pressed on at once.
“Then what’s our school called?” “Duel Academy!
Dude, are you okay?” Kai eyed him suspiciously and reached out to feel Nate’s forehead.
“No fever, though.
Our school’s been called Duel Academy since the day it was founded.
Did you sleep yourself stupid?” “Isn’t it Sakura Middle School…?” Nate muttered to himself.
Unwilling to let it go, he drew a deep breath and asked his final question.
“Then our school…
or this whole world, is there anyone named Yugi Muto, or Jaden Yuki?” At that, Kai stared at him like he was an alien.
“Yugi who?
Jaden what?
You’re the only guy in this entire school dreaming up these weird names!” No protagonists from any era?!
Only the heroines?!
What on earth was wrong with this world?
“And here I thought you’d just slept yourself muddled.
Quit spacing out and let’s go already.
Show up late and Old man’ll be on our case again.” Kai deftly slid out his Duel Disk, clipped it onto his left arm, and urged him along.
Reeling inwardly, Nate gave a vague grunt of agreement, slid out his own Duel Disk and strapped it on, then followed the crowd out of the classroom, his mind a knot of suspicion.
To get a firmer grip on the situation in front of him, Nate looked at the classmates around him with their Duel Disks slung over their arms as they walked down the corridor, and ventured a careful question.
“Kai, this Ruins exploration…
is Senior Alexis and the others coming with us?” “In your dreams.” Kai rolled his eyes.
“This is a first-year activity.
Senior Alexis and the rest are second-year elites.
Why would they ever come down to a low-tier Ruins with us?” Then Kai sighed, an intensely self-satisfied look of regret crossing his face.
“Sigh, what a shame they’re not coming this time.
Otherwise the seniors could’ve gotten a proper look at me showing off my skills in all my glory.” Watching Kai’s narcissistic display, Nate’s mouth twitched, and for a moment he was at a complete loss for words.
“Still…” Kai abruptly changed tack, shaking off his earlier disappointment, and glanced furtively left and right with a mysterious air.
“This time, I came prepared!
Take a look at this.” Like he was presenting a treasure, Kai carefully fished a card out of his pocket and waved it smugly in front of Nate’s eyes.
On the card art was a hulking, knot-muscled rhinoceros-headed monster.