Francis was initially hesitant about the idea, but after Yugen continued to open up his thinking, his eyes lit up and he gradually became excited.
Besides the cards involving "Winged Divine Dragon's other forms," Yugen also proposed a series of auxiliary cards possessing powers similar to those of gods, as well as some cards that make it easier to search and dispatch these god cards.
In fact, this wasn't the first time they developed related cards. For example, in the animation, Francis used a special associated card, "Sun God's Apostle," for summoning the Winged Divine Dragon.
This card was also made into a physical card, but its effects are quite different from the animation.
In the animation, the effect of the "Sun God's Apostle" is that upon successful summoning, you can add two cards with the same name from your Deck to your hand.
Once transformed into a physical card, this effect was upgraded, allowing the Apostle to not only search for two same-name cards from the Deck upon successful summoning, but also directly Special Summon one flying onto the field, easily gathering the three tributes needed for summoning the god.
At first glance, it seems like a powerful effect, but there's a rather frustrating self-restriction added. As long as the Apostle exists in the Monster Zone, its controller cannot perform any form of Special Summon beyond the Apostle's effects.
This severe self-restriction almost renders the physical card version of Sun God's Apostle largely useless with little room for play.
In contrast, looking at the value from past environments, its animation effects are exceptionally strong. As long as it's successfully summoned, it can increase two cards in hand from nowhere, a rare resource-generating performance in Yu-Gi-Oh! for a long time.
"Honestly, I think your development of 'Sun God's Apostle' has potential," Yugen said earnestly, "If possible, could you give us a card for research purposes?"
"It's possible..."
Francis felt a bit puzzled.
"But this card was initially designed for quickly summoning the Winged Divine Dragon. Yet, with the Phantom God's summoning issues unresolved, what's the use of it?"
Yugen smiled mysteriously, "Well... even though this card is an auxiliary card designed for the Winged Divine Dragon, I think it might have some unforeseen potential."
Although the physical card of Sun God's Apostle is almost useless in serious tactics due to its severe self-restriction, players with innovative thinking discovered its potential.
"As long as this card exists in the Monster Zone, the controller cannot Special Summon," this frustrating self-restriction practically eliminates the card's chance to contribute to one's own strategies.
However, those uniquely thinking Underworld People soon came up with the idea that if I give this card to the opponent, they can't perform Special Summons, which would be quite delightful?
So, the derivative card originally prepared for summoning gods was forcibly created into an Apostle lockdown Underworld flow. The idea is to use various means to send this Apostle to the opponent's field, rendering the opponent impotent with rage.
Not being able to Special Summon means even in the future Yu-Gi-Oh! you can't use it as a material for Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link.
Moreover, it can't be sacrificed to perform a Normal Summon. Because the frustrating effect of the Apostle even includes the supplementary clause, "this card can only be used as a tribute for the Upper-level Summon of the Winged Divine Dragon."
In other words, this Apostle holds a steadfast belief recognizing only the Winged Divine Dragon, dismissing any effects or Upper-level Summons otherwise. It's an inflexible nail that, once successfully placed in the opponent's field, could easily drive them mad.
Hence, the Winged Divine Dragon is called the most Underworld-like Phantom God, no wonder it was the strongest Phantom God owned by the sunny boy Malik during the Duel City competition. Even a derived series card perfectly inherited its Underworld stock.
"Alright." Francis agreed readily.
Now, Yugen is quite renowned in the card-making field, and many teams hope to connect with him for some inspirational guidance. Moreover, Sun God's Apostle is just a mundane Four-Star small monster; besides the "Sun God exclusive" gimmick elevating its price, it actually holds little value.
Therefore, Francis generously offered to provide Yugen with three cards for research upon returning.
Yugen was pleased too, it was a rewarding encounter with this chief designer of the Winged Divine Dragon team.
Even if they never manage to figure out the correct way to handle the Phantom God, possessing just the Winged Divine Dragon's bird egg plus an allied Apostle was already quite impressive.
These two cards should suffice to let the opponent experience what the strongest Phantom God entails...
Upon returning, Keihei was enthusiastically talking on the phone with someone, sounding agitated, as if arguing over something.
He hung up and, upon seeing Yugen, exhaled loudly.
"What a headache, the matters are endless..."
"About the competition?" Yugen asked.
"Yes. Such a massive disaster occurred during Duel City, it seems quite a few people were injured. Thankfully, no deaths have been reported for now...
...But it's already a headache. Some people are already pressing for the termination of this Duel City competition, claiming it's too dangerous to continue..."
"Hmm, but it'll likely go on, right?"
"Naturally," Keihei commented matter-of-factly.
After all, it's a tournament organized by the President, no way he'd let it be abruptly halted midway.
"It's just going to be busy for the next few days; my brother has been forced to return to see the board meeting... So, regarding that, there's something I'd like to ask you about..."
Keihei hesitated.
"But I'm actually unsure whether it's appropriate..."
"No worries, go ahead,"
Yugen waved his hand, indicating they were close enough that nothing was off-limits.
"Well, it's about that guy named Luca, the New Doma Swordsman. After he faced off against my brother, we took an interest in him and initiated an investigation.
Although no definite progress was made, the clues point to a small town... a place called Qingshui Town, have you heard of it?"
Yugen shook his head, "No. Is there anything special about it?"
"That's the problem, we don't know what's special about it. But if the clues are accurate, and the Doma Swordsman really went there, especially at this crucial moment..."
"Do you think there's something there?" Yugen understood.
"Not exactly, we can't conclusively say that, it's just a suspicion."
Yugen nodded, "You need someone to go investigate that place. But if it's just to confirm, you shouldn't lack manpower."
"Yes, but for certain reasons, I want to send a powerful duelist to be more assured. Because..."
Keihei hesitated, then spoke.
"Honestly, there was a reasonably familiar duelist in the vicinity before, if it's him, then his strength shouldn't be a concern. Initially, when I noticed the town, I tried to contact him.
But for some reason, I haven't been able to reach him, leading to a foreboding feeling..."
"Oh? Which big shot could that be? Do I know him?"
"You probably don't know him, but surely you've heard of his name," Keihei explained, "It's Joey Wheeler, who made it to the semi-finals in the first Duel City."