I’m in Marvel, but I play Yu-Gi-Oh!?

Alexander remained seated on the floor for another minute after dismissing the holographic projection of the Duel Monsters Microchip's blueprint.

The dull ache behind his eyes had faded considerably, leaving behind only the lingering exhaustion one might expect after spending an entire day studying without interruption. His shoulders still felt tense, and there was a faint heaviness behind his eyes, but compared to the splitting headache that had accompanied the knowledge transfer, it was almost insignificant.

Across the study, Roland quietly observed him.

The elderly butler had remained perfectly still ever since the process began, saying nothing, intervening only when necessary. Years of experience had taught him the value of patience, especially where Alexander was concerned. The young master had developed an unfortunate habit of throwing himself entirely into whatever captured his attention, often ignoring his own well-being in the process.

After another moment passed without Alexander showing any signs of dizziness or disorientation, Roland finally gave a small nod and said, "I believe the worst has passed."

Alexander rubbed his temples one last time before lowering his hand. His thoughts felt clearer than they had in hours, so he said, "I believe so as well."

"Excellent." Roland straightened his jacket with his customary precision and added, "In that case, if you will excuse me, I shall make one final inspection of the mansion before retiring for the evening."

Alexander nodded absentmindedly, "Of course."

Roland stopped just before reaching the door and called him out again, "Oh, and Master Alexander..."

Alexander looked up as he continued, "...Please try not to remain awake until sunrise."

A sheepish smile spread across Alexander's face as he replied, "I'll do my best."

Roland returned the look with one of his own.

Both of them understood exactly how little that promise was worth.

The study door quietly closed behind him.

Silence returned.

Not the uncomfortable silence of an empty room, but the peaceful stillness that settled over the mansion after midnight. Somewhere beyond the windows, the wind stirred gently through the trees lining the estate. The ticking of the antique clock on the wall suddenly seemed much louder than before.

Alexander's eyes drifted almost instinctively toward the still-open System interface, more specifically, toward a blueprint he had spent months being unable to understand.

____________________________________

–Blueprints: Duel Monsters Card Microchip

____________________________________

He opened it again, and this time the experience felt completely different.

Gone were the countless incomprehensible symbols that had once blended together into meaningless abstractions; instead, order emerged from the complexity.

His eyes naturally followed the flow of information across the schematic.

Optical projection emitters. Signal conversion arrays. Photonic modulation systems. Data encoding pathways. Entire sections that had once looked utterly alien now appeared almost obvious.

Alexander leaned slightly closer and muttered, "So that's how..."

His voice faded as his attention became completely absorbed.

The encoded information stored inside a Duel Monsters card wasn't simply read, but it was interpreted and translated into projection instructions before being processed by the holographic emitters responsible for constructing a complete three-dimensional image.

He traced the progression mentally, each stage leading seamlessly into the next. Data flowed through the architecture with remarkable efficiency, transformed step by step until what began as encoded information became a living holographic projection.

The process itself was remarkably elegant.

Every subsystem complemented the next with almost mathematical precision.

There wasn't a single unnecessary component; nothing had been added simply because it could be.

Every circuit existed because it needed to, every material specification served a purpose, every microscopic adjustment solved a problem elsewhere in the design.

Alexander found himself smiling while commenting, "This is... absolutely brilliant."

His appreciation had changed.

Months ago, the blueprint had inspired awe because it seemed magical, but now it inspired admiration because it wasn't.

For the first time, Duel Monsters no longer felt like impossible, magic-like technology, but it was simply excellent engineering.

Engineering several decades ahead of its time, certainly, but still engineering, and that distinction mattered more than he had expected.

His attention continued moving deeper into the blueprint, but gradually his pace slowed.

The terminology began changing as the projection systems gave way to entirely different disciplines.

Energy regulation matrices. High-density integrated processing architectures. Sub-microscopic fabrication sequences.

Alexander frowned.

He recognised the purpose of the components but not the methods required to manufacture them.

Despite that, he continued reading.

Material specifications. Unknown alloys. Synthetic crystalline substrates. Manufacturing tolerances measured on scales current industrial equipment simply couldn't achieve reliably.

The further he progressed, the more frequently unfamiliar concepts appeared.

Some sections referenced principles that clearly belonged to fields entirely separate from Solid Vision, while others assumed manufacturing capabilities that simply did not exist, not yet, anyway.

Alexander found himself pausing repeatedly, not because the blueprint had become incomprehensible again, but because his mind naturally began asking a different question, 'How would someone actually make this? Damn... It seems that understanding the destination is one thing, but building the road that leads there is another entirely.'

Eventually, Alexander leaned back on the wall of his study and muttered, "I see..."

At the same time, he thought, 'I understand the blueprint. I genuinely do. I can explain exactly why every subsystem existed. How they interacted. Why each component occupied its specific location. What I still can't explain... Is how to actually build the damned thing.'

The realisation proved strangely reassuring, and rather than feeling disappointed, he felt relieved.

For months, the blueprint had represented an impossible mystery, but now it represented a perfectly understandable engineering problem.

A staggeringly difficult one, but still a problem and problems could be solved.

Reaching that conclusion, Alexander reopened the System Shop.

His eyes moved through the various categories of items on the list much more carefully than before.

Items. Upgrades. Blueprints. Knowledge. Technologies.

His attention focused only on those marked with the knowledge category.

There were far more entries than he had remembered.

Advanced Materials. Microelectronics. Energy Systems. Manufacturing Techniques. Data Processing. Specialised Computing. Artificial Intelligence.

Countless scientific disciplines stretched down the seemingly endless catalogue.

Each one represented years of education condensed into a purchasable package.

Alexander quietly began calculating, '500 Duel Points had purchased Solid Vision. And every field demands similar prices...'

He mentally estimated the total and reached a quick conclusion, 'Months. Perhaps years. Thousands upon thousands of Duel Points. An absurd number of duels and of time.'

He pictured himself spending every weekend wandering hobby stores throughout Los Angeles indefinitely, challenging strangers to Duel Monsters in pursuit of knowledge one purchase at a time.

The image was almost comical, and it also sounded utterly exhausting, making him firmly declare, "No. It's not worth it."

Not because it couldn't work but because it was a terrible strategy.

Alexander rested his chin upon one hand and wondered, "When did I start thinking like this?"

The question lingered in the quiet study.

Ever since receiving the Yu-Gi-Oh! System, every obstacle had unconsciously become associated with one solution.

The YGO System.

Need stronger cards? The System.

Need knowledge? The System.

Need technology? The System.

It had become almost instinctive, convenient, comforting and dangerously limiting, yet that assumption had never actually been true.

Alexander slowly smiled and said, "I'm thinking too narrowly."

The realisation felt almost embarrassing.

He wasn't trapped inside the world of his other self; he lived in the Marvel Universe.

A world overflowing with extraordinary minds.

His thoughts naturally drifted toward the names that had shaped modern science.

Howard Stark, who was unfortunately gone.

A genuine visionary whose technological legacy still influenced countless industries, and even now, Stark Industries remained one of the world's foremost technological powerhouses because of foundations he had laid decades earlier.

Reed Richards.

Still far too young to have established himself, but for sure someday, Reed Richards would likely redefine multiple scientific disciplines, yet today he was simply a brilliant student.

Victor Von Doom, but Alexander immediately dismissed the possibility of asking him despite their friendly relationship.

Brilliant? Undoubtedly.

The sort of individual one willingly invited into a fledgling company? Absolutely not.

The mental image of attempting to manage Victor Von Doom inside a corporate environment was enough to earn an involuntary chuckle.

Bruce Banner.

Likewise, a few years away from becoming one of the greatest scientific minds on Earth, but his specialities have little to do with his current needs.

Hank Pym.

At this point, Alexander paused for a moment, but then he also dismissed him.

The reason for that was that Hank Pym was already an established name, a contemporary of Howard Stark, with his own research direction.

Still, the individual names weren't really the point; it was their existence that reminded him of something far more important.

There were already people in this world whose expertise surpassed his own in countless fields.

That wasn't a weakness, but it was simply reality.

He had never expected to become the world's greatest lawyer before founding Industrial Illusions, nor had he planned on becoming its best accountant.

Why had engineering suddenly become different?

His father had once explained something similar during one of their conversations about business.

Alexander remembered sitting across from him in his office years ago, listening with only half his attention at the time.

Now those words returned with surprising clarity.

A successful company wasn't built by finding one person capable of doing everything.

It was built by gathering many exceptional people, each capable of doing something better than anyone else.

The founder's responsibility wasn't to become the greatest engineer, or the greatest accountant, or the greatest lawyer; it was to recognise talent, to assemble it and to ensure everyone worked toward the same objective.

Alexander quietly laughed and muttered, "Heh... I've been approaching this backwards."

The realisation felt almost liberating.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! System wasn't replacing engineers, but it was giving him the vision they lacked, the destination.

Everything else could be accomplished by people whose entire careers had been devoted to their respective fields.

Experts who understood manufacturing, experts who understood metallurgy, experts who understood semiconductor fabrication.

He didn't need to personally master every discipline, at least not yet, as his resources and time were limited; he only needed to know enough to guide them toward a goal no one else could yet imagine.

The burden of mastering every scientific discipline quietly lifted from his shoulders.

For the first time since receiving the YGO System, he no longer viewed additional knowledge purchases as necessities.

They were conveniences, potential shortcuts, nothing more, nothing less.

Satisfied, Alexander finally closed both the blueprint and the System interface.

The study suddenly felt much larger without the floating windows illuminating the room.

The clock on the wall reminded him just how late the hour had become.

Tomorrow he would begin looking for people and gather his Duel Points for something more useful.

It felt like the beginning of an entirely new phase.

With that thought in mind, he finally left the study.

~~~▽~~~

The following morning arrived far sooner than Alexander would have preferred.

Golden sunlight filtered through the dining room windows, washing the polished wood and silverware in a warm glow. The mansion had already settled into its familiar rhythm, servants moving quietly through the corridors with practised efficiency.

Alexander joined Roland shortly after sunrise.

Breakfast had already been prepared.

Fresh fruit, toast, eggs, tea. Simple and elegant.

For several minutes, neither of them spoke.

Alexander appreciated that.

Roland had always possessed an uncanny ability to recognise when silence was more valuable than conversation.

Only after the servants withdrew did Alexander set down his teacup and said, "I spent some time thinking after you left yesterday."

Roland nodded, "I assumed as much."

Alexander smiled and said, "You also assumed I wouldn't immediately go to bed."

"I considered it the more probable outcome."

Alexander couldn't argue with that, but then he reassured him, "I wasn't quite awake until sunrise."

"I am relieved to hear there was at least some sleep involved."

Alexander laughed quietly, "Fair enough."

The easy exchange dissolved whatever lingering stiffness remained from the previous evening.

Alexander briefly summarised everything he had concluded while studying the blueprint.

Solid Vision itself no longer posed a problem, but the surrounding disciplines still did, and rather than purchasing every scientific field available inside the YGO System, he intended to find people already possessing the missing expertise.

Roland listened without interruption.

His expression remained calm throughout the explanation, though Alexander noticed the subtle look of approval that appeared once the conclusion became clear.

When Alexander finished, the butler slowly nodded and said, "I believe that is the wiser approach."

"I thought you might. There is, however, one difficulty."

Alexander gestured for him to continue.

"Trust."

Roland folded his hands neatly behind his back and explained, "Anyone invited into this project will inevitably encounter technology decades ahead of its time. They need not understand where the ideas originate... But they must possess both the integrity to respect appropriate boundaries and the discretion to avoid asking questions better left unasked."

Alexander nodded thoughtfully and commented, "Right... Competence alone won't be enough."

"Precisely."

"The more talented someone is," Alexander added, "The more likely they are to realise how unusual the technology actually is."

"Which means," Roland replied, "our standards for recruitment must extend well beyond academic credentials."

The conversation naturally shifted toward practical considerations.

Universities. Private research laboratories. Engineering firms. Government contractors. Defence research. Every institution capable of producing exceptional scientists became a potential source of recruits.

Roland suggested beginning broadly by compiling names first, evaluating qualifications, then investigating character and only afterwards approaching anyone directly.

Alexander approved immediately.

The methodology felt systematic.

Exactly the sort of structured recruitment process Industrial Illusions would require if it intended to grow beyond a single remarkable inventor.

"We're not merely hiring employees," Alexander said after a moment, "We're building the foundation."

Roland inclined his head and said, "A foundation determines the strength of everything built upon it."

Alexander looked out the nearby window.

Somewhere beyond the estate, countless researchers were already beginning another ordinary workday.

Most of them had no idea that, within the next few years, the world itself would begin changing at an extraordinary pace, but some of them might become part of that future.

Breakfast gradually came to an end.

Roland folded his napkin before standing and said, "I shall begin organising the search immediately after I take you to school, Master Alexander. But be aware that this assignment may take some time."

"I expected as much."

Roland inclined his head and added, "Even so... I believe we shall find the right people."

Alexander watched him leave the dining room.

The room felt noticeably quieter once the butler disappeared beyond the doorway.

A quiet smile slowly formed across his face.

For months, every major step forward had begun with another duel.

Another handful of Duel Points.

Another purchase from the System.

Now, the next step lay somewhere else entirely.

Not inside the System but among the countless brilliant minds already scattered throughout the Marvel Universe.

Finding them might prove every bit as important as the System itself.

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