Chapter 5: Millennium Puzzle
Millennium Puzzle.
This should be the final puzzle piece constituting the traversal elements.
『That Millennium Puzzle, which is obviously not an ordinary toy, definitely has major issues.
Back then, after receiving that pile of parts without any instructions, I assembled it naturally without any thought.
I remember that guy said he spent a month at home with no progress at all, yet I only took… eight minutes.』
Conversations with my childhood friend and scenes of assembling the puzzle flashed through her mind; thanks to this body, the memories were as clear and detailed as a high-definition movie for her.
『At that time, I surprisingly didn’t notice these abnormalities; it was dozens of irregular parts without even instructions, yet I didn’t make a single mistake.』
Looking at it now, it should be the Millennium Puzzle or something else actively guiding me to complete the assembly』
Thinking of this, Golden You Ling once again sank her consciousness into her body.
This time, under her active call with a clear goal, the golden Millennium Puzzle indeed emerged from the depths of her soul.
With a thought, she materialized it in front of her chest; Golden You Ling held the inverted pyramid-shaped puzzle that appeared out of thin air with both hands and examined it carefully.
Hmm… whether in size, dimensions, color, or details, it was exactly the same as in the anime; the gold-like texture felt not too heavy in hand, and there were no casting marks on any of the four faces—the entire puzzle was perfectly seamless.
The only abnormality was the “Eye of Wati” on the front of the puzzle, with its pupil center pitch black, like an abyss.
『I remember the pupil center was golden back then.』
Without much hesitation, she, who had formed a path dependency, closed her eyes again and probed her consciousness into it.
“Ding~”
A not-too-dazzling light flashed, and Golden You Ling opened her eyes again.
The scene that came into view didn’t surprise her—it was a sight identical to the anime: countless doors and chaotically inverted stairs connected to each other, forming the bizarre space inside the puzzle.
She placed her hand on the handle of the door directly facing her; it was the only white door here, while all the remaining doors were icy black.
And the moment Golden You Ling gripped the handle, she felt it was her own “Mind Room.”
With a gentle push, the door opened.
Inside, it was completely empty—no nameless Pharaoh, no Shadi wandering around with two Millennium Items—just an endless pure white space.
The space was filled with gentle white light, quite similar to the “Hyperbolic Time Chamber” in《Dragon Pearl》.
『I wonder if things from the outside can be brought here; if possible, it could serve as a portable warehouse.』The golden figure standing in the pure white thought so.
As her “Mind Room,” the moment she stepped in, she already knew there was truly nothing else here, so she lost interest in further exploration, didn’t stay long, and instead exited the room to head toward the other black doors.
There were many black doors, with the nearest one to her on the stairs to the left.
The black on that door’s surface was extremely dense, showing no reflection; from afar, it seemed to almost stain the stairs below.
Suppressing the slight unease in her heart, Golden You Ling steadily climbed the steps one by one toward the abyss-like door.
However, only when she got close did she realize the blackness on the door wasn’t the door’s own color as imagined, but a layer of pitch-black mist-like substance.
This unknown mist, like solidified darkness, clung tightly to the door, instinctively making one want to stay away.
Ignoring these black things, Golden You Ling placed her hand on the handle, wanting to open it as before.
But this time she felt unprecedented resistance; the black mist sealed the door tightly.
With no choice, she could only channel the divine power in her body to try to dispel the black mist.
Golden flames ignited from her hand, covering her forearm, slightly dispersing the darkness around the handle.
It worked, but not obviously, and the consumption was huge. These black mists had no attack power but were terrifyingly stubborn.
And just as the power in her body was depleting to the point where she was about to give up, a faint light seeped through from behind the door—she had finally pushed the door open a crack.
Since the crack was too small, she gave up using her eyes and instead probed with her consciousness; in the puzzle space, consciousness was clearly more convenient than other senses.
However, unexpectedly, her consciousness was blocked again after bursting into the door crack.
This blockage was extremely strong; she felt like a fledgling bird struggling against a gale, unable even to flap its wings.
The object of exploration was right in front of her; with no alternative, she resorted to her final measure—a strand of the Divine Power of Orichalcos was restored, wrapping her consciousness as it probed behind the door again.
This time the process was exceptionally smooth; the barrier was pierced like thin mist, and the scene behind the door finally revealed itself to her consciousness—that was a world.
Yes, behind the door was a world, a world completely different from the real world, belonging to the World of Duel Monsters.
She even recognized the spirits shuttling through the forest below—they were a few Fairy Tale Animals.
But before she could delve deeper, a deep fatigue swept over her; the divine power was exhausted.
Restoring the Winged Dragon’s flames to the light of Orichalcos was extremely difficult; though essentially the same, there was a hierarchical gap, and supporting it for a few seconds with her current divine power was already the limit.
Simultaneously traversing worlds also consumed mental power beyond her imagination; with her current body, feeling fatigued was almost impossible, whether psychologically or physiologically.
But now, just the time to break through the world barrier and glance around had made her consciousness somewhat blurry.
『It seems this matter needs to be planned carefully.』Exiting the space within the Millennium Puzzle, Golden You Ling rubbed her brow to alleviate the mental fatigue.
『For now, the issue “over there” can be put on hold.』
After massaging for a few minutes, the somewhat recovered Golden You Ling stood up, looked around, and formally began thinking about the issues “here.”
First was that problem always pushed aside—”Where is this place?”
……
『It’s certain this isn’t Earth, at least not the original Earth.』
Golden You Ling made a preliminary judgment while gazing at the dozens-of-meters-tall giant trees in the distant forest that looked like radishes.
Then she looked up at the sky…『Hmm, the number and size of the suns are fine; hopefully the moon is too.』
Finally, her gaze returned to the sea surface.
『The sea is blue; it seems this world’s differences from Earth won’t be too great. By the way, this should be the sea, right? Why can’t I feel any sea breeze?』
Golden You Ling finally noticed the anomaly; from waking up until now, she hadn’t felt even a trace of wind, nor were there any bird or other animal sounds in the woods—not even insects chirping.
Logically, even a true desert island should have some traces of animals.
Moreover, this place had a forest that could be called lush, undoubtedly able to form an ecosystem.
『Somewhat strange, whatever—let’s look around first. Hopefully I can encounter intelligent beings, preferably ones that look human…』
Thinking this, Golden You Ling carried the two little ones—one red, one blue, like two small buns—walking along the seaside with a swaying step, leaving the big pit they had smashed behind.
The morning chill gradually dissipated; the three little ones’ originally long shadows shortened with the rising sun, finally merging back into one under their feet.
