Skill Extraction, greatness speaks for itself. The entire field turns silent, and all Immortals and monsters become blank slates. It was once the nightmare players most dreaded in the fiercest era, and the high-risk card most likely to trigger a real-life duel.
The card's suppressive power goes without saying; even today it remains active on the front lines of the Underworld and is always a divine artifact necessary for society's revenge.
Of course, the card's strength and practicality cannot be generalized. If this card were truly strong enough to defeat champions, its fate would be sealed in prison. But since the black room doesn't hold a place for it, it suggests that Kaiba's judgment is that it's not insane enough to ruin the environment.
Skill Extraction is strong, but as a Continuous Trap without search terms, it struggles with stability. Its biggest problem is its indiscriminate effect. Once activated, all your own monsters also become blank, automatically compressing the range of card decks compatible with it under such suppression.
Decks like the Sin Card Deck, which rely on high attack rather than monster effects, are more suitable. When both sides are blank, few can out-swing the Sin Card Deck with Axe King, offering an aesthetic of "lowering the opponent's intelligence to the same level and then defeating them with rich experience."
Besides, effects like Stardust Dragon aren't afraid of Skill Extraction's blockade. If most monster effects in a deck are in the form of "release this card to activate," they pair well with Skill Extraction. Because Skill Extraction can only invalidate monster effects on the field, if a monster effect activates on the field but resolves off-field, Skill Extraction cannot intervene.
In any case, Yugen must thank Paradox for the precious delivery across space and time. Many things restricted to this dimension are unattainable no matter what.
And this grand package is not just cards.
Compared to the original Paradox, although he managed to save his life, Yugen certainly won't let him go back so easily. Even if Yugen shows leniency, the Kaiba Group is watching from behind and surely won't allow this unknown future person to escape.
So that night, Paradox was welcomed into a luxury suite at the Kaiba Group, complete with high-tech energy field isolation and iron bars.
Of course, the equipment he used to travel and all his gear were confiscated.
Yugen specifically instructed the team handling this matter, not even leaving him with underwear. He comes from an unknown future year, supposedly a timeline on the brink of extinction, but from a time when a glorious civilization developed based on a Perpetual Motion Machine, and many basic technologies are far more advanced than now.
Modern people know very little about future technology, and although the possibility is low, if he hides a high-tech escape device in his underwear, that would be troublesome. So to be safe, strip him completely and do a full body scan to ensure no other dangerous devices are hidden in his body or under the skin.
Paradox: "..."
Feeling like he was robbed...
The biggest gain from all this future equipment is probably the small Perpetual Motion Machine.
The Kaiba Group's scientists felt like they opened a new world door when they got their hands on this marvel, excitement surging. They quickly realized it could be the key to opening a new era, a divine artifact that could solve human energy problems forever. Each one eagerly dismantled and studied its structure component by component, sleeplessly.
"So, you're saying... this thing is related to Duel Monsters?"
Keihei asked alongside Yugen while observing the dismantled small Perpetual Motion Machine in the busy laboratory.
"Yes,"
Yugen nodded.
"Simply put, the machine cannot run without a duel.
Though it's a new energy machine, it's more than just a machine. To some extent, it can read human hearts and resonate with the duelist's heart.
A correct heart can lead it to create infinite value, but conversely, a wrong heart may cause it to reverse, leading the world towards destruction in the worst case."
Keihei clicked his tongue: "Is it really that terrifying?"
"Yes, so the development process must be very cautious, regardless of the profit scale, no matter how tempting."
Yugen paused and continued.
"But that's a matter for the future. Before the Duel Monsters system evolves to that point, even if a Perpetual Motion Machine is created, it's useless, merely scrap metal."
Keihei immediately recalled the summoning method he'd witnessed in the recent duel that surprised him greatly.
"You mean that Synch... Synchro Summon?"
"Yes,"
Yugen casually drew the Stardust Dragon obtained from Paradox and handed it to Keihei.
Keihei took the card, gave it a look, and nodded: "Indeed, a white Monster Card... I've never seen one before."
"I tried it just now. Without integrating the Perpetual Motion Machine into the Duel Disc, this card has no response even on current duel equipment. It cannot be recognized as a card."
"So the Perpetual Motion Machine and Synchro Monsters are mutually promoting... I understand." Keihei said, "The Kaiba Group will gather experts to conduct related research.
Feels like we're getting glimpses of the future world..."
Yugen asked: "So do you have any leads on his origin? This guy named Paradox, is he a future person?"
Keihei shook his head.
"Initially, the interrogation result seemed to point that way.
This guy answered some questions from the interrogation team; from his early answers, one might indeed judge he's from the future."
"But?" Yugen sensed a 'but' following.
Keihei said: "But afterward, our Interdimensional Research Institute examined his aircraft and checked some parameters. They're not entirely certain yet, but now they lean towards believing that while this person may come from the future, it should not be the future of our dimension."
"The future time of a parallel world?" Yugen asked, "How is that possible?"
"That's unknown. Ask him personally, and he seems clueless."
Keihei shook his head.
"From his own responses, he originally thought he was traversing back to the past of his timeline.
But upon arriving here, he compared collected historical information from our world with what he knew, finding some discrepancies. Now paired with the parameters we just provided, it seems he's surprisingly arrived in a past time of a dimension different from his original one..."
While they were speaking, a white-coat anxiously ran out of the room.
"Oh, speaking of," Keihei said, "This is Dr. Gondo, the head of the Interdimensional Research Institute... What did you discover? Why so urgent?"
Dr. Gondo, hurriedly arriving before the two, rosy-cheeked and out of breath, coughed twice and spoke.
"There's... there's been a new discovery."
He adjusted his glasses, speaking solemnly and deliberately.
"Our world... might be headed for destruction."