The murky gray mist spread over the sea, and a small skiff cut through the fog, riding the rolling waves forward.
The wooden boat stopped steadily at the shore. Two figures, one in red and one in green, flew out together. The two figures leapt over the sea, like martial arts masters in legends who can walk on water without leaving a trace, crossing left and right before landing on the ground at the shore.
They were two bald guys dressed in retro outfits, with the characters "迷" (Maze) and "宫" (Labyrinth) written on their foreheads respectively. The two bald heads leaned together and struck a cool pose, with a mysteriously confident smile on their faces.
"We are wandering Guardians." The one with "迷" written on his head spoke.
"The Paradox Brothers!" replied the bald guy with "宫" on his head.
The two took a step, adjusted their positions according to some special pattern, and crossed their arms to strike an even weirder pose.
"As long as we brothers are of one mind!"
"There is no door we cannot guard!"
Their booming voices echoed across the empty beach, as white waves crashed heavily against the sand. A cold wind rustled through the dense woods, and a crab slowly scuttled sideways across the beach—seeming to glance at these two idiots posing as it passed.
The air was filled with the humidity unique to the seaside... and the stench of awkwardness.
"Ahem."
The bald guy called "Maze" coughed after finishing the pose. "We're in great spirits, partner."
"You're the one in great shape, big bro." Labyrinth started the mutual flattery. "At this rate, any opponent will be easy to crush, right?"
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.
The Paradox Brothers were now already counted among the ranks of the "Legendary Duelists," and to newbies in the Duel World, they were celebrity-level big shots.
Though the brothers didn't have a pile of dazzling trophies and titles, their bald and barren résumés needed only one simple line to make anyone stand in awe and raise them to legendary status—
—They once fought against the legendary Duel King, Muto Yugi!
...Yeah, that's right, "fought against," not "defeated."
Because back in Duelist Kingdom, these two had been hired by Pegasus to deal with Muto Yugi—and they were even playing by house rules they set themselves.
Back then Yugi and the still total newbie Jonouchi tag-teamed against them, and the brothers still lost.
Though the commission had failed for the Paradox Brothers, in the long run they probably still made bank, big time. Because losing that one duel somehow turned into the capital they bragged about and made a living off years later.
Wherever they went, they would proudly puff out their chests, point at their own noses and say "I'm someone who got beaten up by Muto Yugi," and the onlookers would immediately straighten their faces in respect, suddenly feeling these two were incredible big shots.
With nothing but this one failed result, they climbed straight to the peak of their careers, as if the two of them were an indispensable part of Duel King Muto Yugi's path to godhood.
It was like that certain Mr. Horn-next-door-who-doesn't-want-his-name-mentioned, who once threw a shuriken at the First Hokage from eight hundred miles away, then ran for his life for three days straight, and bragged about it for the rest of his life.
Done laughing, the two finally started to look around.
"...By the way, big bro, did we land at the wrong spot?" Labyrinth looked left and right. "I don't see the school."
Maze also looked around and realized something was off. There was nothing but trees and water in every direction.
The island where Duel Academy was located was quite large. If you weren't familiar with it and landed on the wrong side, it was easy to get lost.
"Let's head inland and take a look first," Maze said.
"Okay."
...
"President, here's the list you asked for."
On the tree-lined path behind the academy, Cola Sprite walked as she sent a screenshot to the "just a sandbag" beside her.
The Sandbag President took the list, skimmed through it, and couldn't help raising his eyebrows.
"This much?"
In his hand was everything from Youyu's shop related to "digitization"—Enhanced Support Cards, anime-exclusive Cards, the series represented in the manga by "Ice Queen," "Blizzard Princess," etc., plus a lot of General Support Cards that had good synergy with the above Card Decks.
All of them were Cards related to Cola Sprite's new student, Tenjouin Asuka.
From the first round of mentor recruitment tests Youyu held, the ones who benefitted the most might well be their Hanno Knight Guild.
If you took all the current players in Linked World as the base, the odds of being randomly chosen as one of the first test mentors were basically the same as winning the lottery.
And yet their Hanno Knight Guild produced two mentors!
And both mentors happened to draw UR-rarity students!
Izayoi and Asuka had basically become the Sandbag President's precious daughters these days—the kind of gems you're afraid will melt if you hold them in your mouth and will break if you hold them in your hands.
The Hanno Knight Guild's President "just a sandbag" was originally a show-off rich kid, and now that he'd seized this chance, nothing more needed to be said—he'd flex as hard as possible, as long as flexing didn't kill him!
That night at the drinking party to celebrate, the Sandbag President got carried away, waved his hand, and declared that if their Hanno Knights' students were to be taught, they had to be taught to the very best!
Then he had his underlings go to Youyu's shop and compile a list of all the dedicated Cards and even General Cards that their two students could use. However many there were, he'd buy that many!
...However, the Sandbag President had underestimated the current exchange rate of Crystal Stone in this game, underestimated the thickness of Youyu's Card pool, and underestimated the prices even more...
As a Card game that had broken all previous online game models and whose accounts were in short supply, the Crystal Stone prices in Linked World had been rising and rising, to a level that was hard for any online game in history to reach.
Counting in the General Cards as well, once all the needed Cards were tallied up and listed out and the list was placed in front of the Sandbag President, even someone as rich as the President couldn't help but feel a headache coming on when he saw the bill.
It wasn't that he didn't have the money. He just had to consider a realistic problem: if he blew this much money on a pile of data in a virtual game, would his old man break his legs...
"Actually, Youyu-san's already given mentors quite a lot of discounts," Cola Sprite said. "But President, I've thought about it, and directly whaling still doesn't seem very cost-effective.
Youyu-san seems to care more about the students' own improvement. If we can help the students we're coaching get real, visible results, Youyu-san will give more time-limited discounts based on the actual situation—or might even directly gift some Rare Cards..."
"Mm... let's do it that way for now."
The Sandbag President was very helpless.
He'd already bragged the cow to the heavens, only to find out he couldn't afford it...
The two continued chatting as they walked, when suddenly a voice called out from behind them.
"You two up ahead, let me ask, which direction is your academy's main campus?"
Just a Sandbag and Cola Sprite turned back together, and immediately saw...
...two shiny bald domes?
Cola Sprite let out an "ah" as she recognized them.
"You're... the Paradox Brothers?"
The bald brothers' faces lit up with joy as soon as they heard that—
—Heh, we've even run into a little fangirl!
Looks like the legends of us brothers have truly spread everywhere in the world!
Thinking of this, the two of them couldn't resist doing another crossed backflip, crossing their arms to strike a textbook pose.
Maze: "Wandering Guardians!"
Labyrinth: "The Paradox Brothers!"
Maze: "As long as we brothers are of one mind!"
Labyrinth: "There is no door we cannot guard!"
Cola Sprite (glancing at their shiny bald heads): "Except your foreheads?"
Maze: "..."
Labyrinth: "..."