Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Chapter 1760 Everyone's showing off, only the three-year-old is getting the short end of the stick.

Unlike before when he was alone in the spirit world, Hayato could go wherever he wanted and play cards with whomever he wanted.

Now that the Duel Academy and its students have been relocated, Hayato has to take on some of the responsibilities of a teacher. After arranging for Professor Chronos and the others to handle the affairs within the academy, he left the school with peace of mind.

After all, several problems that would have occurred on the original timeline have now been resolved. The "Duel Zombie" virus that would have corrupted those who were defeated can be prevented by running the "Duel Energy Distributor" with the duel energy provided by Hayato. The food shortage problem has been solved with foresight. Even Gana Malden, who was originally chosen by [Yubel] as the first target to possess, fell in the previous "Exposure Duel".

The Duel Academy now only has three problems left: how to return to its original world, the attacks from surrounding Duel Monsters, and the students in the three dormitories that have been sent to different locations.

The first question is simply to wait for John Anderson to unlock the power of [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon] to a certain extent. Don't ask how [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon] will be able to accurately send Duel Academy to its original location. We don't need to be so clear about the Duel Monsters.

(Yubel summoned the [Rock Spirit - Titan] twice, but the [Sand Monster] was wild.)

The second question is that, although the original work doesn't describe it much, there are only a few instances when Professor Chronos and Coach Napoleon are attacked by the Harpy at the beginning of the time travel, and later when Jaden and his friends leave the school to find medicine and encounter wild Duel Monsters wandering around, making the desert area seem very empty—but in reality, it's not at all like what the story portrays.

This desert region is home to many Duel Monsters, from the weak Sand Golem to the powerful Devil Shovel Worm. What kind of enemy you encounter is entirely a matter of luck. In fact, the original work actually shows that the Duel Monsters are always watching Duel Academy, waiting for an opportunity to attack, but there are no explicit scenes of the Duel Monsters directly attacking Duel Academy like a "beast tide" or "monster siege" in fantasy novels.

(In the original work, the Harpy was always keeping an eye on Duel Academy)

However, summoning a Duel Monster is not something that can be done casually. Although the summoning was successful, both Kagurazaka and Ayukawa-sensei's "death gauntlets" reacted after the summoning, as if they regarded simply summoning a Duel Monster as having performed a duel.

Even Professor Chronos, who hadn't summoned a monster using the Duel Disk before, was the same. However, perhaps because he didn't even have a Duel Disk, the Death Belt's reaction was quite weak. Perhaps the Death Belt also felt that the Duel Energy generated by summoning a monster without a Duel Disk was too weak, to the point that he doubted his own judgment.

Although the academy has now activated the "Duel Energy Distributor," which is sufficient to support the students' summoning of Duel Monsters to protect the school from the attacking Card Spirits for a period of time, Hayato had previously speculated that activating the "Duel Energy Distributor" in the Card Spirit world might lead to some special situations, and it turns out that Hayato was right.

Card sprites can grow stronger by feeding on duel energy in the human world, so there's no reason why they should lose this ability in their own world, not even Kryptonians.

The "Duel Energy Distributor" acts like a wireless charger, providing students with ample duel energy. The duel energy, generated by the mixture of physical and mental strength and intense emotions, is reverse-converted by Hikari Technology and even has the ability to provide students with a group buff that restores their physical strength, stabilizes their mental state, and even boosts their fighting spirit. However, this device does not target any particular group.

Sounds pretty good, right? But that also means that anyone—whether they're students or teachers at a school, or card sprites wandering the desert world—can get this seemingly free duel energy.

If the students in the original academy were nothing more than pieces of raw meat to the card monsters of the Pokémon world, and attacking Duel Academy was perhaps less cost-effective than digging a hole somewhere and waiting for a blind monster to fall in and be eaten, then after the "Duel Energy Distributor" was activated, Duel Academy suddenly became a stray dog ​​with a hundred dollars in its mouth.

Wild Card Spirit: "What right do you, mere human, have to possess such abundant dueling energy? It belongs to the destined one. Take it!"

As a result, the activation of the "Duel Energy Distributor" directly led to a surge in activity among the card Pokémon around the academy. They all wanted to invade the Duel Academy to seize the Duel Energy. However, no matter how much Duel Energy Hayato provided, it would be used up by the students after a while, leaving none for these card Pokémon.

However, the "Duel Energy Distributor" cannot be turned off because Ayukawa-sensei discovered that after turning on the "Duel Energy Distributor," the condition of the students who had previously collapsed improved significantly. Even the most seriously injured students showed obvious improvement under the "wide-area buff" it provided, and even the least injured students had almost fully recovered.

The "Duel Energy Distributor" is like starting a blood-pumping marathon. Students need it to recover from injuries and improve their physical condition. However, activating the "Duel Energy Distributor" also attracts many card spirits. The battles with these card spirits will put a strain on the students' bodies, which makes it necessary to activate the "Duel Energy Distributor".

—Hey, how can things be so coincidental? The first problem we encountered required a lot of battles to help people grow, and the second problem just happens to bring a lot of battles? Isn't this just "blocking both ends and becoming one-track-minded"?

However, despite saying that, there was one problem that Hayato hadn't forgotten, and that Jaden and the others who had faced her directly also remembered: [Yubel], who brought them to this world, was currently missing, and no one knew where she was hiding. And because of the characteristics of the "Duel Energy Distributor," not only would she collect the duel energy taken from the students' battles, but she herself could also obtain "Duel Energy" for free if she were hiding in the academy.

The opponent is really capable of doing some serious tricks when collecting duel energy. It's not just spatial teleportation like this. After learning about the experiences of Sato-sensei and the others from Jaden and the others, Hayato guessed that it was definitely the work of [Yubel]. In the original work, she used the same method to create the so-called "Three Kamen Riders" to duel with the students and deplete their stamina.

In addition, Hayato also learned that after being nearly fatally injured in their last encounter, [Yubel] only gathered energy to complete this teleportation without prioritizing healing him. If the opponent also noticed him during the teleportation, he might then begin to gather duel energy with all his might in order to face the threat of Hayato in his full form.

Unfortunately, Hayato did not find Yubel in the school library, which was originally used as a base by Yubel in the original timeline. However, Hayato unexpectedly discovered that someone had definitely used this place as a temporary base after the spatial transfer - because he found an empty glass capsule in the library, which was the device that Amon Garlem used to transport Yubel's left arm in the original timeline.

In this way, although Jaden and the others all said that Amon Garlem might not have been involved in this "Great Transfer" like Koji Sato, Hayato considered the premise that Amon Garlem had also come to this world.

As for the method that Jaden and his friends used to find Professor Cobra and [Yubel], it is now obsolete. It's not that [Yubel] concealed the special magnetic field she generated by collecting duel energy, but simply because the world of Card Spirits itself is filled with the magnetic field changes created by the irregular flow of chaotic energy. Ordinary communication tools and directional tools have become unusable—at least for now.

Therefore, the third problem of Duel Academy—the task of finding the lost students—was not assigned by Hayato to Jaden and his classmates or Professor Chronos. Instead, the latter was temporarily appointed by Hayato as the "vice principal" to manage the school in his place, with Coach Napoleon serving as the supervisor to assist him in handling affairs. Meanwhile, the faculty and students with combat capabilities were organized into a defense team to resist the attacks of the surrounding Duel Monsters.

—Although he usually keeps a low profile, Amelda was one of the "Three Knights of Doma" back then, and Malik and Rishid, as new teachers this year, were also involved in this transfer incident... Well, except for Malik. After learning that he wore the "Death Gloves" out of curiosity while Hayato was away from school, and then forcibly removed them, causing them to run at full power and fall into a coma, Hayato became more and more convinced that this three-year-old was indeed unreliable.

After settling things at the school, Hayato naturally embarked on his "new journey." After all, with the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] to guide him, he was the most suitable person to find a few small buildings in this vast desert where it was difficult to find any landmarks.

He also agreed with the analysis of others, knowing that the Osiris-Red dormitory, which had the weakest average strength of the students, the smallest building size, and the least material reserves, was the dormitory to be searched first. According to its original location, it was also the one furthest from the main building of the Duel Academy. After going to the original location of the Osiris-Red dormitory according to his memory but finding nothing, he began to use the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] to guide him to a more distant direction.

When we set off after arranging everything, it was about nine o'clock in the morning in the human world, but it was almost nine o'clock in the evening in this elven world. The three suns that had been hanging in the sky disappeared and the moon that had been appearing in turn was just one moon—if you ignored the fact that it was almost ten times larger than the moon in the human world.

Under the moonlight, the desert, which had been bathed in sunlight during the day, appeared to have turned pure white. The card monsters that had been resting beneath the sand during the day began to stir as the heat dissipated. Hayato, driving his [Tool Truck], ran over countless card monsters like [Eight-Clawed Scorpion] along the way. Most of the Duel Monsters, like [Harpies], which could gather in tribes and communicate, lived in distant forests. The monsters in this desert were mostly small fry like [Eight-Clawed Scorpion]—and even [Eight-Clawed Scorpion] was considered a strong monster capable of leading weaker, ordinary monsters like [Devil Scorpion].

But just as the "Death Grip" would consider other people's summoning of Duel Monsters as a duel, Hayato's system would also consider Hayato's act of driving the "Great Transport" over the minions as completing a battle, since he was indeed using the Duel Monster "Tool Trailer".

This resulted in Hayato receiving some DP points from time to time along the way. Every little bit helps, and besides, since unlocking Synchro Summoning, he has had even more places to spend his points. There are quite a few decks he wants to buy and try out.

As for efficiency... it's not that Hayato was tempted by DP points and didn't want to use a faster vehicle like the [Iron Drake - Nargacuga], which would make him move fast enough. But don't forget, he's currently searching for the missing student dormitory. Moving too fast would make Hayato miss clues, such as footprints left by humans on the ground. His dynamic vision is good, but at night and in a high-speed vehicle, even with "Runic Eyes" activated, he might not be able to see everything.

And indeed, about half an hour after leaving the original location of the Red Dormitory, Hayato found footprints on the ground. However, next to the footprints left by the human shoes, there was also a huge trace left by a snake.

Let's rule out the possibility that "no one encountered a wild Duel Monster and it was just an accident that a Duel Monster passed by these footprints." Hayato stepped on the gas to make the [Tool Trailer] drive faster, and soon found the missing Osiris-Red dormitory along the huge snake path.

However, the current condition of this small student dormitory does not look good. A giant eight-headed serpent is coiled up next to the dormitory, constantly spitting venom to attack it. A considerable area of ​​the Osiris-Red dormitory has been dissolved. If someone were not constantly blocking the venom, the situation might be even worse.

Of course, there weren't many students in the Osiris-Red dormitory who were either absent from the list of "honorary members" like Manjoume, Marufuji Sho, and Kenzan, who would come here every day and even stay overnight. Naturally, there weren't many students with strong abilities who could summon Duel Monsters for such high-intensity battles. But even though the person protecting the Osiris-Red dormitory didn't show their face, Hayato knew who it was.

—Isn't that Daitokuji, who hasn't shown his face to the students since the start of this school year, but has reappeared in this world of spirits! And the card spirit he controls, constantly blocking the poison and repairing itself, is none other than one of his ace monsters, the [Golden Artificial Lifeform]!

Chapter 1761 Electronic Dragon - Infinite - Just kidding, it's actually Ame no Habakiri!

While Hayato noticed Daitokuji, Daitokuji didn't notice Hayato, as he was currently focused on protecting the Osiris-Red dormitory and had no time to look away from the eight-headed serpent in front of him.

In particular, he didn't completely block a few of the initial attacks, and in order to protect the Osiris-Red dormitory behind him and the students inside, he used his own body to block the attacks.

Although he appears no different from ordinary people, Daitokuji has died twice—his original body died as the alchemist "Amunaeru"; he accidentally completed "human transmutation" as his second life, where he was defeated as the leader of the "Seven Stars"; and then this third life is as "Daitokuji Hugo," a teacher at the Duel Academy.

But fate is such a cruel thing. Kagemaru, who was obsessed with immortality and longed to live, could never obtain the eternal life he sought. On the other hand, Daitokuji, who was not interested in a long life, was blessed with eternity and his life was extended many times. Or perhaps it was precisely because Daitokuji did not covet immortality that he was able to have this third life.

Therefore, when the eight-headed serpent discovered the Osiris-Red dormitory and attacked the students, Daitokuji did not hesitate to fight it to protect the students and was willing to use his own body to block the attack—even though the price for doing so was that Daitokuji's body was covered in the serpent's venom, and a large part of his artificial body was corroded away.

This was only because Daitokuji acted decisively and immediately removed some of his own blood. Fortunately, he possessed alchemy skills. Although he couldn't create a new body out of thin air, he could still use readily available sand and gravel to create a temporary body to fill the wounds. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have lasted this long and would have collapsed from excessive blood loss.

Even so, he was still somewhat dazed and confused, and he was only able to persevere and face the giant snake in front of him by sheer willpower.

"What bad luck, meow. They had to attack at night to completely neutralize their power, [Primordial Sun God Helios]." Looking at the giant serpent before him with some distress, Daitokuji muttered to himself, "If only I had been prepared..."

For Daitokuji, if he had enough time to prepare and set up special devices around the Osiris-Red dormitory to assist him, he could unleash power far exceeding his current strength. If he had chosen a better time, he wouldn't have been forced to use the current [Golden Artificial Lifeform] but would have already pulled out his trump card [Three Sons Sun God Helios].

While it wouldn't be enough to instantly ascend to heaven and punch the "God of Orichalcos" or kick the "Great Evil God of Darkness," it would at least be able to protect the Osiris-Red Dormitory from the monsters' attacks.

However, even though he knew in his heart that he probably couldn't hold out for long against the eight-headed serpent in his current condition, Daitokuji could feel the students in the dormitory behind him, who had been ordered to hide in their rooms, watching his back.

Since that's the case, I have no choice but to grit my teeth and persevere. To paraphrase my favorite child, "A hero can't desert his post." Although I'm not a hero, I am a teacher, and behind me are my students.

Seeing that Daitokuji refused to retreat even a step, the eight-headed serpent that had been trying to attack the dormitory behind him finally became impatient. It locked all sixteen eyes onto Daitokuji, and the golden lightning-shaped exoskeleton on its body, which resembled both eyebrows and horns, lit up with purple light, as if it was gathering strength to launch an attack.

Seeing this, Daitokuji knew that a critical moment had arrived. If he could defend against this move, the giant snake might find it difficult to handle and have no choice but to retreat. However, if he couldn't defend against this move, the snake would launch a large-scale attack on the students in the dormitory—meaning that he would have to risk his life!

"Protecting students is a teacher's duty!" With that thought in mind, Daitokuji was about to play a few more cards to strengthen the [Golden Artificial Lifeform] in order to withstand the opponent's attack.

But just as he put the card down, his Duel Disk suddenly burst into a shower of sparks. Daitokuji looked down and discovered that his Duel Disk had been coated with purple venom and rendered unusable!

A cunning glint appeared in the eyes of the eight-headed serpent, and purple light gathered as it prepared to attack!

"boom!"

Just when Daitokuji was at its wits' end and almost had no choice but to gamble on the possibility that the current [Golden Artificial Lifeform] could block the attack, a huge roar suddenly came from somewhere. Then, one of the eight heads of the serpent exploded violently, as if it had been blown off by something. The accumulated energy went out of control and blasted the serpent to the ground!

Upon hearing the sound, Daitokuji saw Hayato standing in front of the [Tool Trailer], which was in its unfolded state.

"I loaded three [D] cards in one go. [Tool Truck] isn't just for show; after the attack power is increased, it has a destructive power of up to 3700 points. Although it only has the power of one hit, it's enough to destroy a normal monster." Hayato retracted the [Tool Truck], whose attack power had dropped back to 1300 points, and waved to Daitokuji, "Are you alright, Daitokuji!"

"I don't think I look alright, meow~" Because of Hayato's arrival, just seeing him made Daitokuji feel incredibly relieved. Knowing that the Osiris-Red dormitory and its students were now completely safe, he immediately relaxed and sat down on the sand. A part of his body lost control and turned back into sand. "But, I'm saved, meow..."

Daitokuji was about to continue speaking when, as Hayato passed by the eight-headed giant serpent that appeared to have been defeated and killed, he suddenly opened his eyes and loudly warned Hayato, "Danger! Get out of the way!"

Just as Daitokuji spoke, Hayato drew the Holy Sword of Light - Dennell and held it horizontally beside him. At the same time, a gust of wind swept in, and an exaggeratedly shaped giant sword slashed down on Hayato's Holy Sword of Light - Dennell!

"Clang!"

Using the force of the attack, Hayato slid a distance across the sand, and in doing so, he saw clearly what had ambushed him—from among the "remains" of the defeated eight-headed serpent, a bare-chested, purple-haired man bound with many "shimenawa" ropes emerged. It was this man who had just ambushed him with a strangely shaped giant sword with a tsuba (handguard) inlaid with eight blue jade rings.

However, what attracted Hayato's attention even more than other places was the lightning-shaped golden decoration on the other's eyebrows, which was highly similar to, or even exactly the same as, the eight-headed serpent from before.

After the man's sneak attack on Hayato failed, the eight-headed serpent beneath him stopped feigning death and resumed its activity. It was clear that it hadn't been so easily stunned by his own attack—even the head that had been shattered by Hayato's "Tool Trailer" was now rapidly healing itself as if time had reversed.

Compared to his lively and cunning demeanor when attacking the Osiris-Red dormitory, the man's appearance suddenly became much more rigid after he broke free from the eight-headed serpent, as if he had lost his soul or self-awareness.

“Your keen combat awareness is evident, unlike that human who is bound by pointless shackles. You are a fine warrior.” Under Hayato and Daitokuji’s gaze, the man spoke in human language, “Unfortunately, your sword is far inferior to mine.”

Hayato glanced down at the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] in his hand. After blocking just one attack, it was already covered in cracks and looked like it was about to shatter. Hayato, however, casually flicked it, and holy light surged from the sword. The [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell], which had just looked fragile, was restored to its original state in the blink of an eye.

"It may not be the sharpest, but it's incredibly durable; even if it breaks, it can be repaired instantly."

“That’s perfect, it’s the same type of weapon as mine.” The purple-haired man revealed a wicked smile and raised the weapon in his hand. “Sword name, ‘Murakumo no Ame’ (Heavenly Clouds). It is two feet eight inches long, with a blade like iris and a handle eight inches long, resembling a fish spine with uneven joints. It is entirely white.”

Hearing the other party describe the weapon like something out of a martial arts novel, Hayato looked at the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] in his hand and casually made up a name for himself: "Sword name, 'Pink Furry Rabbit,' eight feet long, eight feet wide, and eight feet thick, with built-in RGB lighting effects, Kira☆Kira!"

Listening to Hayato's obviously fabricated introduction, the purple-haired man didn't care. He just curled his lips into a bloodthirsty expression: "You're still so relaxed in front of me? I hope you can still maintain this amusing state after my blade strikes you."

"You talk as if I'd let you off the hook. You attacked my students and teachers and damaged my property—this school building. Your regenerative abilities seem pretty good? Well, if I cut off one of your heads, can you grow two back?"

The two men, each wielding a sword, faced each other. One stood on the sand, while the other stood atop a ferocious eight-headed serpent. The tension was palpable—not to mention others, even Daitokuji was so tense that he almost forgot to breathe!

Just as Daitokuji thought the two were about to clash with their swords, the purple-haired man suddenly placed his sword on his left arm. Suddenly, a rope made of small black thunderclouds wrapped around the sword and fixed it to his left arm, as if it were a dueling disk.

Hayato casually tossed the [Holy Sword of Light - Denel] aside and pulled out his deck to open the Duel Disk.

Both sides simultaneously shouted in unison, "Duel!" x2

"Cough cough!" Daitokuji almost fainted, and couldn't help but complain, "Weren't you just acting like you were going to have a real sword fight? How come you've suddenly started dueling, meow?"

"Hmph, boring mortals, who doesn't know that the ritual of dueling is a battle far more bloody and ruthless than the clash of swords and spears?"

"Exactly, Daitokuji, how come you don't even have common sense? Isn't it normal to solve problems through duels?"

The purple-haired man and Hayato each said something, making Daitokuji seem like an idiot.

"Yeah, right! Just a moment ago you were practically ready to kill each other, even resorting to sneak attacks. How come you're suddenly all in agreement and starting a duel, meow?"

Hearing Daitokuji's complaint, Hayato said matter-of-factly, "Although I was ambushed just now, theoretically I also ambushed him once, so isn't that even? Besides, there is an old saying that greeting is an absolute courtesy in duels. No matter how much you hate your opponent, you cannot do without greeting. But you can ambush him once before greeting him. This is also recorded in the Kojiki."

"Are there really such interesting things in the human world? Hmph, how delightful." The purple-haired man chuckled upon hearing this, though his expression wasn't particularly pleasant. "Then, as you said, let's begin with greetings before the battle. My name is 'Kusanagi'."

"Domo, Sona Gei=mulberry. Kobayashi Hayato DESU." Hayato greeted with his hands clasped in front of his body.

[Cao Na Yi: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Kobayashi Hayato: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

What seems like a strange habit contains unique rules. Immature duelists cannot immediately enter a fighting state after greeting each other, and there is a possibility that someone else will take the initiative and expose their weaknesses. On the contrary, people like Hayato and Kusanagi can complete the transition from greeting to dueling in less than a decimal second.

Both players drew their cards with lightning speed, and then Kusanagi seized the initiative, drawing a card from his deck.

"I'll take the initiative. My turn, draw!" Kusanagi said, placing the drawn card on the blade pattern on his greatsword, which seemed to have been specially made for cards. "Then, let's immediately begin preparations for my arrival—activate the magic card [Preparations for the Ritual]!"

"You can only activate one card with this name per turn. Select one Ritual Spell Card from my Deck and one Ritual Monster from my Deck or Graveyard whose name is written on that Ritual Spell Card. Add those two cards to my hand!"

Although the card effects of Ritual decks are actually poor, it doesn't mean that the effects of Ritual-related cards are bad. On the contrary, it's precisely because Ritual decks are basically in a card disadvantageous position that the support cards for Ritual can generally generate card advantage. For example, the card "Preparation for Ritual" which can reliably exchange one card for two and accurately search for cards is basically a must-have card in most Ritual decks.