The initial deck he brought upon transmigrating was now complete. After checking everything was correct, it was only natural that Kira started to feel his hands itch with excitement.
There's no way a true duelist could resist testing out a brand new deck right after finishing it.
So, for him, the first target was clear: head straight to the dojo that his predecessor belonged to and look for a fellow dojo member at random to bring him the joy of dueling.
...
Upon arriving at the dojo and stepping inside, he immediately saw a group of students gathered together, making a commotion.
"No wonder Brother Sato is the best, he ranked up successfully!"
Kira raised an eyebrow, curiosity piqued.
In the center of the group was a guy with yellow hair and a duelist-style haircut. He sounded modest but couldn't hide the pride on his face. "Aw, it was just luck, I barely made it to Level 3. Nothing special, haha."
"Level 3! Brother Sato must be the first Level 3 in our dojo, right?"
"So strong!"
Kira furrowed his brows, searching his predecessor's memories, and finally understood what they were talking about.
The Duelist Star Ranking System was a real-time strength evaluation metric set up by KaibaCorp, based on each duelist's performance registered in the company's internal system—basically, the same system that appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime.
Normally, a duelist's star ranking ranges from Level 1 to Level 8—eight ranks in total. In the Duelist Kingdom arc, Duel King Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba himself were both rated Level 8.
But it's also clear the system isn't absolute authority—sometimes it's influenced by personal feelings. For example, Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler), whom Kaiba always sneered at as a nobody.
Jonouchi was once called "the world's third-best duelist after Yugi and Kaiba" by Pegasus, but in KaibaCorp's system, he was only Level 2—amateur level.
It's hard to say there wasn't some personal grudge between the CEO and the nobody.
But that was back in the Duelist Kingdom era. By now, Jonouchi has long been adjusted to Level 8, among the highest ranks for duelists, called by the public a legendary duelist.
Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba, ever arrogant, adjusted his rank to Level 10.
Currently, there are only two Level 10 duelists in the world: Seto Kaiba himself, and the long-retired, legendary Yugi Muto.
Kaiba designed it this way partly because he sees himself as a cut above all other duelists, and also to acknowledge that Yugi is the only one he recognizes as a worthy rival in the world.
Well, calling him a rival is a bit generous—since everyone knows, Kaiba has challenged Yugi countless times and has never won.
As for Kira's predecessor, his rating in the system:
Level 1.
A scrub among scrubs.
It's because his predecessor was both weak and played for fun, often queueing up for matches at KaibaCorp's arenas and losing far more than winning. Over time, his rank naturally plummeted to rock bottom.
Normally, to rank up, you have to play matchmaking at the arena, but it seems that's capped at Level 4. To go higher, you need to compete in official tournaments.
He then remembered that when researching Duel Academy's admissions requirements, it specified that duelists certified by KaibaCorp must be at least Level 3.
In this system, Levels 7 and 8 are either legendary duelists or top-tier pros. Most pros are Level 6; a few lower-tier pros are Level 5.
Most amateur duelists cluster at Level 2. Level 1 is below average; Level 3 is already considered skilled.
So requiring Level 3 or above for Duel Academy admissions is a high bar.
But that makes sense. Duel education in this world is still in its early stages and there aren't many schools to choose from. Kaiba's academy is among the best, with unmatched quality and resources.
In the GX anime's opening, the principal even says in his speech that admissions are strict, so all the students present are elites. Even the background failures in Osiris Red theoretically have higher skill than most duelists outside.
"So I have to rank up before I can enter the Academy, huh?" Kira twitched his lips.
The student surrounded by everyone was Sato Koji, the top dog in this little dojo, who apparently had a lucky streak this week and just hit Level 3, so everyone was congratulating him.
Kira happened to be looking for a duel, so he decided—why not challenge the dojo boss?
Though the anime's random duelists always seemed weak, Kira knew that only real practice revealed the truth. You can't judge by impressions alone without real testing.
Time to see how duelists here really measure up.
The dojo encouraged students to duel regularly anyway. Sato, having just ranked up and in a good mood, saw the challenge and had no reason to refuse.
Hearing there was a duel to watch, the other students quickly gathered around the dueling field.
"For real? That Kira? Challenging Brother Sato?"
"Isn't he only Level 1? Isn't this just asking to get stomped?"
The students chuckled, while the two duelists took their positions at opposite ends of the arena.
Sato Koji was relaxed. Having just ranked up, coming back to the dojo to duel gave him a sense of towering over his kouhais.
He felt like a master giving pointers to a novice. This duel wasn't about improving anymore; it was partly to guide the younger ones, but mostly to show off in front of the kouhais.
Yep, probably more the latter.
What, a Level 3 big shot like him against a Level 1 rookie—could he possibly lose?
Both activated their duel disks and drew five cards.
"Duel!" x2
[Fujiki Kira, LP 4000]
[Koji Sato, LP 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw!"
Kira drew his card.
In the anime, the first player could still draw on the first turn. In real life, that's been banned for years.
The first or second turn is usually random, but whoever gets first can choose to pass.
He glanced at his six-card opening hand and nodded slightly. Not exactly the perfect hand, but not bad.
"First, this card."
He pulled out the first card and slotted it into the duel disk.
"I pay 1000 Life Points to activate the Spell Card—Trickster's Twin Demons!"
[Fujiki Kira, LP 4000 → LP 3000]
As the card was inserted, a green Spell Card hologram appeared in front of Kira. Two little demons, one red and one blue, flew out, each with a number—"1" and "2"—over their heads.
["This card's effect: your opponent randomly discards one card, then chooses another card from their hand to discard."]
A simple and brutal hand-destruction weapon from early tournaments. A two-for-one trade; when played, your opponent immediately loses two cards from their opening hand.
No surprise this beast got the same treatment as Pot of Greed: banned for life. So, even after years of playing, this was the first time he'd played it himself.
The demons swooped in and snatched a card from Koji's hand, as if to say, "Hand it over!"
Koji frowned, then selected another card from his hand and sent it to the graveyard.
Kira made no further moves, simply setting three cards and passing the turn.
He gestured for Koji to continue.
Alright, now it's your turn to play Yu-Gi-Oh.
Any real-life duelist at this point, seeing those three set cards, would already be sweating bullets. But, as they say, ignorance is bliss. In the cheerful anime atmosphere, Koji had no idea how bad this was.
Koji still wore a kindly big-brother smile and said in a teaching tone, "Didn't draw any monsters on your first turn? When building a deck, you need to balance monsters and spells/traps, kouhai."
"Well then, my turn. Draw!"
"Wait."
Kira interrupted, waving his hand.
"The moment you draw, my trap is triggered. I activate the set card, Trap Card—Drop Off!"
"When your opponent draws a card during their Draw Phase, that card is immediately discarded to the graveyard."
Koji: "!"
He hesitated, then sent the freshly drawn card straight to the graveyard. Looking down at his hand, he finally realized something was wrong.
So far, neither side had played a monster, but Koji's opening six cards were already down to three.
And he faced an even more awkward problem.
He had no monsters left in his hand.
The two cards lost to Trickster's Twin Demons included a low-level monster, and the one just lost to Drop Off was another. Now, of his three remaining cards, none were monsters he could summon.
But it didn't matter.
"Tch, in that case, I activate a Spell Card from my hand—"
Koji flourished his hand and played one of his last three cards.
Monster Reborn!
The resurrection spell that can revive a monster from the graveyard—a godly comeback card, beloved in both real life and anime from DM to GX.
"I'll use Monster Reborn to bring back this guy—Warrior of Zera, in Attack Position!"
A warrior in green armor with a big sword now stood imposing in the center of the field—the first monster of the duel.
[Warrior of Zera, ATK 1600]
If he had a choice, Koji wouldn't waste precious Monster Reborn on a random low-level monster, but he had nothing else to play. In a duel, hesitation means defeat; he had to seize the chance to attack.
"Activate the set card—Bottomless Trap Hole," Kira calmly flipped one of his set cards. "When your opponent summons a monster with 1500 or more ATK, destroy and banish that monster."
So, the Warrior of Zera, summoned with Monster Reborn, barely had time to stand before a dark pit opened under his feet—he fell in with a bang, vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
Koji: "..."
Only two cards left in hand. The field was still empty.
Was it just his imagination?
Sato Koji felt his blood pressure start to rise.