GreenerThanGreen

I edited this chapter a few times. When I came up with a new skill that should have been in the chapters from the beginning I visit it and edit the Skill List and the Status, so it could have some inconsistencies and errors.Every card uses the Japanese art and as close to the literal translation of its name.

I felt an impact and find myself on the floor of an unfamiliar room. I immediately look around for anything or anyone that could harm me and when I find it almost barren, relax a little. Next I carefully check myself for injuries, but nothing appears to be wrong for the moment. Maybe when the adrenaline wears off I will feel the pain in the place that impacted the floor, but later problems are for later. 

Standing from the floor I more thoroughly check the room and find some kind of strange markings on the floor. At one of the walls there is a meter high cube with a half sphere slot, roughly 3cm, on the top. The cube is connected to the markings on the floor, so it was probably used to activate them. Them being power lines, magic symbols or alien technology. I am still trying to come to terms with the fact a Duel Monsters card effect activated and send me here, wherever here is, so magic isn’t ruled out. 

On the wall opposite the cube is a door, it either leads to the way outside or deeper inside, if the markings on the floor are the exit. In both cases I was going to have to go through the door and see what was on the other side. But first, supply assessment. 

In my backpack are 3, 500ml full bottles of mineral water and 1 almost empty I had drank during my hike through the mountain. 11 energy bars from a pack of 12, each 280 calories. And the first aid kit, plasters, gauze, eye dressings, 2 types of bandages, sterile gloves, tweezers, scissors, safety pins, cleaning wipes, rubbing alcohol, sticky tape, digital thermometer, 4 types of creams for rash, insect bites and stings, antihistamine and antiseptic, painkillers, eye wash and bath and distilled water for cleaning wounds. Still unopened solar charger for my phone, bought with my mountain gear and looking at the bottom, there was even a roll of duck tape. Must have fallen there from the glove compartment of the car when I stopped, because I don’t remember packing any and there is nowhere else it could have come from. Then there is my smartphone, notepad, pen, keys and my wallet. 

Doing some quick guesstimates, if I include the water from the first aid kit, I will need to find anything to drink within 2 days or I will start to get dehydrated. The food will also last me 2 days. 

With my supplies checked, I approach the door and put my ear against it. There is no sounds coming from the other side, so I carefully open it and peak through the crack. There is another, bigger room, lit by torches and at the wall in front of me, a doorway with the ceiling going downwards, which means stairs going the same way. And with the absence of any kind of windows in the room, that leads me to believe I am underground and would have to continue going deeper to find an exit. 

Completely opening the door, I pay closer attention to the doorway to the stairs. There are markings above it, and though I don’t recognize them I have a vague feeling about their meanings, as if on the verge of understanding something. And then after around a minute staring at them and trying to puzzle them out there is a DING sound and while turning my head around to search from where it came from I notice a blinking symbol in my peripheral vision. Concentrating on the little blinking symbol results in a blue screen appearing in front of my eyes. 

I quickly turn my head back to the symbols above the doorway and I could now read what is written there. “Dungeon of the Goblin Lord: Floor 1. Fuck my life, I am in a fantasy world. Messages. Notifications. Syst…”

“Well, at least now I have more information to work with. That first DING I heard must have been the shop skill and not my phone. Then when I read the card name and summoned the machine was the second skill. I thought that card name was Different Dimension Gate. But if the name is different, maybe the effect was also not the same as in the game. I must obtain that card and see the effect written on it, only after that I can come up with a way to return home. For now survival and information come first. Status.” 

Looking at the status, it looks a lot more bare that a lot of the fictions on the internet. All things look self explanatory, even if I don’t know how they are being calculated. Let me now see if only thinking the commands also works, Skill Status, Skill List, Skill Me…

“And there are the skills. Most are skills learnt from school. Language Comprehension Common looks like a magic language, since I learned it just by observing some writing. It also isn’t as high as my English, so maybe there are more specialized words not used by average people. Maybe professional terminology. Duel Monsters Shop seems to be where I will be buying cards. Novice Machine Summoning. The card I used was a spell card, but a machine came out of it, so it generated Machine and not Spell Summoning.” 

I close the Skill List and try to summon an Inventory, Item Box, Storage and other synonyms, but with no luck, so I come back to the Status Menu and concentrate first on the occupations. University Student enlarges and shows additional information. 

“So there are stats that are hidden, or don’t show in  the current system. Maybe true hidden stats like endurance and constitution or more normal ones like intellect and dexterity. When I solve my supplies issue and am in a safer place I will see if the hidden stats affect my status, by changing an occupation to something without hidden stats in it. Next occupation!”

“I started interning last week, so the occupation hasn’t leveled at all. I wander what the other Tiers would be? Assistant? Executive assistant after? Then what? It also gives hidden stats every level, but since there is only 1 in each, let’s start by changing it with something more useful. Change Occupation: Intern.”

“Hmm, it looks like the skills learned from my world translate to some good occupations. I wander if I summon other things like spells and monsters, will there be something better than Machine Summoner? Let’s find out.” 

I exit the occupations menu and go back to the Skills List and select the Duel Monsters Shop skill. A screen opens and it looks remarkably like a shopping site. I look around the different options and something in the right upper corner atracts my attention. There is a shopping cart with a red 1 clearly visible beside it. I haven’t interacted with Skill until now, so it is quite curious. I select the cart and a message pops out.

“So a free starter deck. At least I won’t be adventuring empty handed and will have tme to figure out how and with what to purchase cards in the future. Set List Yugi. Starter Deck: Yugi. Set List... Card List Yugi.”

After a few seconds of trying different combinations as commands, the card list finally opens up. And the Token Price in the corner gives me new information. The cards can be sold and probably purchased for tokens. ”Card List Kaiba.”

After comparing the two decks I pick the Yugi deck. There is some variety of 2 and 3 star monsters in case I can’t immediately summon the more powerful ones and unlike the Kaiba deck it has Dian Keto the God of Healing. I remember the card having a life gain effect, even if the name was a little different. In my predicament It would be good to have the option of getting healed if I get hurt. I mentally confirm the choice, the notification window closes and a box pops out of thin air, hovers for a second, just enough time for me to reach for it and then falls in my hand. It looks a little bigger than the box my first Structure Deck came in. I open it carefully and take out a pack of cards, instruction manual and rolled up duel monsters play mat. The cards feel like a mix between paper and plastic, very similar to their portrayal in the anime. The play mat feels like a mix between cloth and rubber, but unlike the painted and illustrated mats this one is surrounded by unknown writings. The manual feels like normal, boring paper. I half expected it to be something strange like the rest. 

Giving a quick skim of the manual I don’t see anything unusual on first read. 40 card deck goes on the mat, cards go in the marked zones. 6 cards in hand. There is an indicator for banished and removed from play cards. That was  little strange, the two being mentioned as two separate terms. Summoning of 5 to 7 stars requires 1 sacrifice, 8 to 12 requiring 2. Then there was explanation of the distinction between equip, quick play, normal, continuous, ritual and field spell cards. Then there was explanation of the trap cards, normal, continuous and counter. 

After I finish the quick review of the manual I start looking at the cards one by one. The normal monsters didn’t need thorough check, they had no effects that could have changed, but maybe some of their flavour text could lead to problems when summoned. What interested me more were the effect monsters and spell and trap cards. Them I read carefully at least 3 times each, to make sure the incident with the Different Dimension Containment Machine didn’t repeat. Or something more dangerous like accidentally killing myself.

Stern Old Magician has a very useful effect that I would use and abuse whenever possible. Wall of Illusion is useful against other Summons, maybe even with dungeon monsters if the core is Summoning them, but there is a problem with it. It is a Fiend. I don’t know if they have corrupting effect on the Summoner or any side effects. I have read enough fiction to know the demon you summon can have motivations like killing you, stealing your soul or playing obedient until it gets bored and then doing one of the previous examples. Then there is Trap Master and Man-Eater Bug. Both have useful effects and don’t sound too dangerous for the user. Then there are the Spell cards. 

The Book and The Sword are typical Equip cards, Darkness is typical field spell giving point to some and taking from others. What surprises me is Hand Obliteration. Instead of drawing from the deck, I am going to receive 10 Tokens for each discarded card. Not to say the card is good at my current understanding, each card being priced above 10 Tokens, but it is unexpected. Maybe other draw cards could also give tokens? Change of Heart works the same as in the game. And then there is the card that shall not be named, in fear of accidentally activating it and causing my own death and possibly the world’s. I don’t have the vaguest clue what defined a field. It could be something like 20 meters, could be an area like an entire dungeon, maybe even the whole world was one big field. Maybe when I define what a field’s range is, find a monster immune to spell effects, get into its mouth, while wearing spell immune armor, I might possibly, probably, maybe think of trying out the card. Magic Removal works the sane as in the game, just not only with cards, but other magical effects. It probably could destroy barrier spells and enchantments on items, maybe even curses. Dian Keto, as I suspected heals and gives HP. To what extent is yet to be discovered. Fissure also isn’t different from the game. What surprises me was Last Will. Like the name implies, I can write what is to be done in case of my death and combined with Resurrection of the Dead I could come back to life if I ever died. What I have to figure out is what Resurrection of the Dead being banished would mean. So far there aren’t any cards that return banished cards, so this could be a one time safety net. Remove Trap and Cross Soul also look to work the same as the game. That left only the Trap cards to check out. 

The wording of Dragon-Tribe Seal Jar is a little strange, but by my understanding, it forces dragons to only defend themselves or maybe a place, so if I don’t bother them, they would leave me alone. Compensation of Blood is a card I have never seen or heard of, but as it is part of the Starter Deck it probably uses the Japanese art and name. It also has an interesting effect as far as I understand it. If a creature Summoning requires a sacrifice I can pay 500 HP and just summon it. If Spell or Trap asks for a certain card to be on the field to activate, I pay 500 HP and just activate it. Castle Walls and Reinforcements have the same effect just for DEF and ATK. The Curse could prove to be useful if it also works with weapons and armor and not just Spell and Trap effects. Pitfall has the same effect as in the game, the only question being does it crate an actual pitfall and if it does, does it deactivate after the first creature falls in or does it stay until it is full? Then there is Pincer Attack that sacrifices two of my creatures for one opponent. And the last Trap Card in the deck Emissaries of Reconciliation, which might be the most useful card in the whole pile after Last Will and Resurrection. It practically let’s me attack without being attacked in return. It could also be used to create a safe zone for me to rest in without being attacked. 

After I read the effects of all the cards I pack the manual, play mat and the empty box into mu backpack and take a look at the doorway.

GreenerThanGreen

Let me know if you prefer the pictures all in spoiler tags, in the open or just links to the cards. Also if there are suggestions for better descriptions in the cards or change in effect. The effect will have to be connected to the card name or the original effect of the cards in some way. I also first wrote the chapter in combination of present and past tense and something in between and later edited it, so shout out if something isn't right.