Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Bingo!" Misawa nodded, gesturing for Jaden to look at the small box he was holding. "I borrowed Jim Crocodile Cook's simple magnetic field device from the Southern Branch School. By recording the duel energy fluctuations at close range, I applied the Behnken formula to pinpoint the specific deviations in its impact on the magnetic field, and then used the Stein formula to calculate..."

"I can't understand a single word!" Judai felt like he was listening to gibberish and his head was starting to hurt. The comfortable feeling he had when he woke up was completely gone. It was as if he had slept for nothing last night. He even felt more tired than when he had fought three Cobra Professors. In the end, why did he talk so deeply about a topic that Misawa was interested in? Wasn't he just asking for trouble?

Misawa looked at Judai helplessly, then sighed: "I've tried my best to only talk about the theory and not explain the specific calculation process... Let me describe it in another way. You can't be sixteen years old and still not have mastered calculus, can you?"

"Don't compare your brilliant mind to that of a slacker like me!" Judai quickly pleaded. "Mizawa, all you need to do is tell me what this is."

"You even called me by my name correctly just to avoid my explanation? Judai, you bastard..." Misawa complained helplessly, but still told Judai, "It would be too time-consuming and laborious to create a communication device that is not affected by duel energy from scratch, or to create a device that can maintain communication under the influence of duel energy. But it is still possible to create a device that can correct the influence of duel energy back to the normal magnetic field level."

"Although it's not completely successful yet, I've at least completed the preliminary experimental device, which is this thing. As long as it's attached to the terminal that the school has given to everyone with its own magnetic attachment, the terminal can regain some communication capabilities—but the specific anti-interference level still needs to be tested."

As he spoke, Misawa had already attached the box in his hand to his personal communication terminal. Judai watched as the signal bar in the upper right corner of the screen, which originally only had a red cross, actually displayed a signal strength after jumping a few times.

"As you can see, at least within the college, we can use the large-scale anti-interference device I completed in the lab as a relay station to keep everyone's terminals connected. Video calls are difficult, but text messaging is still possible."

As Misawa spoke, he complained, "There's always a subtle sense of disconnect. Is it because I'm used to the high-tech of the Haima Group? I almost forgot that it's only 2007. Apart from developed areas like Domino City, most people still communicate by texting."

However, the shortcomings that Misawa explained, such as "for use within the school" and "only for sending text messages," did not disappoint Jaden at all. He just excitedly put his hand on Misawa's shoulder and said, "You're amazing, Misawa! Are you some kind of Ultimate Inventor? You managed to develop such an incredible thing so quickly. You're so cool!"

“No, I’m not that…” Misawa said, then hesitated for a moment, because he realized that Jaden had called his name correctly twice. “Yes, I am that much of a genius.”

It's not that he's shameless; if he can get people to keep calling him by the right name, then it doesn't seem so bad to shamelessly admit that he's a genius.

"Compared to when we could only communicate by shouting, Misawa's invention has really been a great help." Noticing that Misawa's eyes were a little dark, Jaden suddenly remembered that he had also come here to rest, and quickly got up to leave the classroom that had been specially prepared for them to rest. "You should rest well, Misawa. I think Professor Chronos and Hayato-sensei were right after all. More than participating in battles, your rich theoretical knowledge and outstanding mind are your greatest strengths, Misawa Sky!"

"So you only remembered the surname and not my first name? It's not Misawa Sky, it's Misawa Daichi! Give me back my gratitude—"

Before Misawa could finish speaking, Jaden had already closed the classroom door, shutting out the noise behind it. After all, Duel Academy was invested in by the Kaiba Group, and as everyone knows, Kaiba never considers cost-effectiveness when doing things; he only cares about the best, not whether it's expensive or not. When Duel Academy was built, the best materials and the best solutions were used, and the soundproofing was excellent, preventing the famous sayings like "Your classroom is the noisiest in the whole building" and "I could hear you arguing downstairs" from occurring at the source.

As soon as Jaden stepped out of the classroom, he saw two Obelisk Blue students running down the hallway. Judging from their appearance, they seemed to be first-year students. Although he had already been transported to another world and there was no longer a rule about "not running in the hallway," Jaden couldn't understand why they were in such a hurry. Didn't their middle school teachers teach them that?

Upon seeing Judai emerge from the classroom that served as a lounge, two students from the Obelisk-Blue dormitory immediately exclaimed, "You're Judai from the Red dormitory, right? Come and help us!"

"The school's warehouse has been attacked!"

"Huh? What do you mean the school's warehouse was attacked?" Upon hearing this, Jaden immediately became agitated and quickly caught up with the two of them. "Hey, explain yourself! What kind of things were stored in that warehouse?"

"In this world, what could be more precious than water and food? A food storage facility, of course!" one of them said. "Let's hurry and get there to check on things, or everyone at the school will be in trouble if they run out of food!"

Judai thought to himself, if the academy didn't have enough food, there would be an "external threat" of card spirits constantly attacking the academy, and an "internal worry" of restless hearts due to lack of food. It was indeed a very bad situation.

"But why not inform Hayato-sensei and the others—"

"That's because Principal Kobayashi Hayato—I mean, Principal Kobayashi Hayato—is not at school right now. He's gone to look for the students in the three missing dormitories. Professor Chronos is temporarily in charge of the school right now," said the boy with the green seaweed-like haircut.

“Besides, it’s too late to tell the teacher now. If we get there in time, maybe you, Judai-senpai, can catch the person who attacked the warehouse and protect everyone in the school!” Another boy said, his sideburns styled in a strange way.

(They are named Harada, Yamanaka, and Teraoka respectively)

(What it looks like after being mind-controlled by Yubel)

(The original work did not include the full name, so I will use the voice actor's name to fill in the blank later.)

Chapter 1768 Dark Whispers of the Human Heart

Even after Duel Academy moved from the human world to the Pokémon world, its connection to the power plant remained intact, so Duel Academy still has a sufficient power supply.

Based on this, the school naturally chose to store perishable foods in the canteen's food warehouse to extend their shelf life as much as possible, such as fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

(The convenience store's food storage area even has posters of Domi plastered on it, Samejima, you bastard!)

Although they had only been in this world for less than a day, the temperature difference between day and night in the desert environment was to be expected. Moreover, there were three suns in this world, so a cold storage warehouse would be necessary.

After all, even including canned goods, the total amount of supplies in the academy is constant, and losses should be avoided as much as possible. However, considering that the students around the school are not strictly trained soldiers and the Duel Academy is not an impenetrable fortress, no one can say for sure whether some Duel Monsters might slip through the net and get close to important food storages. Therefore, there are also people on duty here and they take turns on regular shifts.

So when Jaden arrived here, he saw a student wearing the Sun God - Yellow dormitory uniform already there. However, he seemed to have been attacked by someone and was lying on his back, unconscious. Jaden remembered that he was a first-year student named Yamanaka.

"Hey, are you alright, Yamanaka?" Jaden walked in front and approached the fallen Yamanaka, calling out, "Harada, Teraoka, come help me lift Yamanaka up first."

On the way here, Jaden had already learned the names of the two students from the blue dormitories, as well as the names of the students who were now guarding the food warehouse, so he was able to call out their names immediately. Otherwise, if Jaden could remember the names of first-year students from different dormitories, Misawa would really cry.

However, upon hearing Judai's words, neither Harada nor Teraoka made any move. They simply remained at the entrance, and Judai also seemed completely unaware of their strange behavior as he approached the collapsed mountain.

As he walked, he kept glancing at the warehouse door facing the entrance. There were signs of vandalism on it; the thick metal door showed visible deformation. It was currently open, and the half-closed door seemed to be implying to Judai that, as Harada and Teraoka had said, the person who attacked the warehouse was still inside and had not come out.

However, just as Judai approached Yamanaka to check on his condition, Yamanaka, who had suddenly collapsed, sat up abruptly and grabbed Judai with one hand!

"Successful!"

In that split second, Jaden noticed that on the bare skin of his left hand in the mountains, there were strange scales that were exactly the same as the ones he had seen on Professor Cobra's hand before!

Because the distance was too close, Jaden couldn't react at all. He only had time to jump away to avoid being hit by the mountain. However, the mountain's target was never Jaden, but the deck of cards on his waist!

"His-"

Jaden's card case was snatched away by Yamanaka, who immediately rolled away as if nothing had happened, dodging Jaden's kick, and rushed towards Harada and Teraoka.

"Stop Yamanaka, Teraoka, Harada! That guy's acting very strangely right now!"

At Judai's call, Harada and Teraoka, as if they had anticipated Yamanaka's escape from the beginning, stood like gatekeepers at the entrance. However, Yamanaka was not flustered at all when he approached the two of them; instead, he slowed down.

"Snap..." Yamanaka handed Judai's card case to Harada, then stood casually beside Harada. Harada and Teraoka finally smiled: "Stop Yamanaka? There's no need for that, Judai-senpai. After all—isn't he on our side?"

"What are you talking about!?" Seeing the scene before him, Jaden immediately realized that Yamanaka was in cahoots with Harada and Teraoka, and his expression turned ugly. "Weren't we attacked here? What do you mean by stealing my deck now!"

"Wait, your hands!" Jaden's eyes widened as he watched Teraoka and Harada remove the gloves they had been wearing from the beginning. Their hands were covered in those strange scales—meaning that, like Professor Cobra, they were all connected to that energy life form and had received its power!

"Why are you looking at us with such surprise? This is a powerful force bestowed upon us by that lord. You must know that, unlike the human world, in this world of Duel Monsters, power is the ultimate truth."

Teraoka sneered, proudly rolling up his sleeve to reveal the scales covering his arm, which looked even more severe than the damage Professor Cobra had suffered. "It may not look very aesthetically pleasing, but that's just common sense. As long as there's power, it's all worth it."

“That’s right. Just like in the real world there are those obsessed people who neglect sleep and meals, even going bankrupt, to study a certain mathematical formula, we are just pursuing ‘truth’ according to the logic of this world.” Yamanaka’s smile was full of cunning. “So as long as we can gain power, we are willing to do anything.”

"So, that's why you tricked me into coming here! Just to steal my card?" Judai said angrily. "I was wondering on the way here why you suddenly knew about the attack on the food warehouse when Gosho had just finished completing the device that could restore communication and it wasn't widely available yet, and we couldn't contact you."

"So this was all a scam! Instead of improving yourselves, you only think about taking shortcuts by stealing other people's cards. You even went so far as to destroy the door here to make it look like it was really attacked! Cards stolen from others don't count as your own power. Even if you fight someone like that, you'll be soulless!"

"I don't care if you have a soul or belong to yourself, as long as you have power, that's enough." Harada tossed the deck in his hand and smiled arrogantly. "Although many people say you're strong or something, we noticed in that demonstration duel when school started that your so-called strength is just relying on the fact that your deck has many powerful cards that no one else has, right?"

"Cards like [E·Hero Neos] and [N·Earth Mole] are unique, with no information available elsewhere. In terms of rarity, they even surpass [Blue-Eyes White Dragon], which only has four copies in the world." Teraoka looked greedily at the cards in Harada's hand. "Even those common [E·Hero] monsters that are usually everywhere have special effects like [E·Hero Bubble Man] in your hand."

“This won’t do, senior. So-called strength is just relying on cards that others don’t have. What kind of person relies on powerful cards? If we were the ones with these powerful cards, wouldn’t we become strong too?” Yamanaka raised his hand and made a fist. “Don’t blame us for being despicable. It’s common sense in this world that the strong can humiliate the weak at will. Blame yourself for not being vigilant enough.”

"Besides, we didn't deliberately damage the door here. We just happened to be on duty here today, happened to encounter the lord who came to attack this place, happened to be noticed by the lord for the darkness in our hearts and received a blessing, and then the traces here just happened to be a trap to lure you high and mighty so-called 'seniors' and 'seniors' into it alone."

Yamanaka corrected a mistake in Jaden's words, "We also considered whether to bring more people over at once, such as the beautiful senior Tenjouin from the Blue Dorm, or the arrogant Manjoume Jun who has a terrible attitude and is always bragging about his achievements last year. But Tenjouin Asuka is too conspicuous because she stays next to her two roommates, and Manjoume Jun is too arrogant and doesn't listen to anyone. We just happened to run into you when we were looking for a new target."

"Isn't it said that 'luck is also a part of strength'? So, you, Judai Yuki, who is unlucky and so easily fooled, are actually a weakling who is very much a match for the Red Dorm. No wonder your dorm leader teacher has also disappeared. It must be because he doesn't want to teach a bunch of trashy weaklings like you anymore, right? Hahahaha!"

"Great reasoning, Yamanaka! You're so smart, and you're only in the Yellow Dorm? Hahahaha!"

"Oh, you flatter me too much, Harada. It's just that the system at this school is disgusting. Only those who come up from the junior high school can live in the blue dorms. My family doesn't have the money to let me decide to take the path of dueling and go to a special junior high school so early."

"But this world doesn't have so many complicated rules. Might makes right. I love this kind of world, hahaha!"

"Great minds think alike, Teraoka! Hahahaha!"

Having obtained the Jaden card box, Harada, Teraoka, and Yamanaka were already praising each other. After all, in their opinion, no one would dare to approach this remote food warehouse. As the newest shift, there were still at least three hours until the next shift change, and even the ingredients needed for lunch had already been taken away. Therefore, Jaden was all alone facing the three of them.

They even stole Jaden Yuki's deck beforehand. In this world, you might be able to summon monsters without a Duel Disk, but without a deck, you're just a tiger with its claws pulled out. Besides, they've all received power from that master, making them incredibly strong. Could the three of them possibly be no match for Jaden Yuki alone?

They laughed heartily for a while, but before they could hear the expected Jaden Yuki, who had run out of ideas and was furious, he cursed again. The laughter gradually stopped, and when they looked at Jaden again, the three of them saw a gloomy face and a somewhat frightening expression on his face.

"...I've never really cared about other people's contempt, because whether they look down on me or value me, as long as they're not my dueling opponent, it won't affect my dueling experience." Suddenly speaking out of the blue, Jaden looked at the three people in front of him with a slightly indifferent expression and something special in his eyes, "So if you're just denying my dueling and efforts, I don't really care about you."

"However, you have targeted my friends and tried to hurt them, attempted to take my important deck away from me, and arbitrarily denied my deck and my bond, as well as the bond between Daitokuji-sensei and us. This is something I cannot forgive you for!"

Just like when he delivered the final blow to Professor Cobra, Jaden's pupils briefly changed from brown to amber, and this time he heard other people's voices again.

However, unlike the last time, when he heard his classmates wailing in agony because of Professor Cobra's actions, this time he only heard the filthy hearts of Harada, Teraoka, and Yamanaka right in front of him, venting from their hearts out of greed, jealousy, and arrogance.

His once clear amber eyes became slightly cloudy. Jaden suddenly unbuttoned his shirt, opened the top of a box from his inner pocket, took out a deck of cards, and inserted it into his Duel Disk: "You vile guys... you've made me a little angry!"

"Cards?! How could there still be more?!" Harada was startled when he saw Jaden take out the cards, his green seaweed-like hair practically standing on end. "We definitely took your deck!"

Yamanaka hurriedly opened the card box that Harada had almost dropped, but upon opening it, he suddenly discovered that the cards inside were not Jaden's deck at all, but merely spare cards used for deck adjustments, such as [Whirlwind], [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -], and [Divine Judgment]!

"My deck now has multiple systems: [E·hero], [N], and [M·hero]. To adjust the deck, I naturally need to carry a lot of spare cards with me. As for why I keep the spare cards in the card box on my waist—although it's not exactly my area of ​​expertise, Hayato-sensei's Spirit Coexistence course has always taught many practical techniques for duels and even outside of duels. The technique of keeping cards in an obvious card box so they won't be stolen has actually come in handy."

As Jaden spoke, he simply took off his jacket, revealing another card box tied to his chest: "Although I don't tie the card box like a terrorist's explosive pack like Six-fold does, my real card deck has always been right here, closest to my heart!"

Seeing that Jaden had already inserted the card into the Duel Disk and could summon the materialized Duel Monster at any time, Teraoka and the others were furious. However, when it came to facing Jaden, whose aura seemed completely off, none of them were willing to move an inch.

Squeezed between the other two as if they were leaders, Harada stammered and tried to bluff, "Afraid of you? There are three of us! Hey, don't be afraid of that guy from the red dorm. There's only one guy on the other side. We can take him down together!"

"That's right, this is the world of Duel Monsters. We don't need to honestly duel with the opponent. The power of the master we obtained is very strong!"

"That's true, after all, it's three against one, so the advantage is on our side."

"Even if it's three against one, we absolutely cannot let this guy leave! Don't accuse us of being despicable for ganging up on you; you're Yuki Judai, we're acknowledging your strength!"

At this moment, Judai looked at the three who had actually regained the courage to attack him and said matter-of-factly, "Of course I won't say that you three were despicable in a three-on-one fight."

Without Jaden drawing any cards from his deck or placing them on the Duel Disk, Professor Chronos couldn't summon multiple monsters at the same time without using the Duel Disk, yet Jaden accomplished it silently. Just as Harada had said, it was "three against one." Jaden summoned a monster for each of the three people in front of him to attack them!

"Now that's what you call three against one. Don't call me despicable; I'm just acknowledging your strength."

(Couldn't find a high-resolution, watermark-free version; it's a family photo of the 10th generation deck from the 10th anniversary celebration.)

Chapter 1769 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

“【E·hero Flame Wingman - Flame Strike】, 【E·hero Neo-Universe Warrior】, 【E·hero Bubble Warrior】......” Looking at the three monsters staring intently at him, Harada was sweating profusely.

“【M·hero Dark Claw】, 【E·hero Thunder Giant - Volt Thunder】, 【M·hero Acid Water】......” Teraoka swallowed hard, terrified of the three monsters in front of him.

“【Lava Demon God】, 【Winged Kuriboh LV6】, 【N·Ocean Dolphin】…” Yamanaka paused, “Why are these the ones I have to deal with the missing the 【Hero】 field?”

"Then you come and switch with me!"

"No way, three against one is already difficult enough, okay?"

"No, it's not three against one, it's nine against three!" Harada commanded the other two. "Although the number of monsters seems large, we are not without the power to fight back if we join forces!"

One minute later—

"Ooooooo!" Harada and his two companions, who had been blasted apart by a single punch from [Lava Demon] and were covered in sticky, wet foam from [E·hero Foam Man], were then struck by a chain of electric shocks from [E·hero Thunder Giant - Volt Thunder], collapsing in a cloud of black smoke.

"Kuri Kuri!" Seemingly not satisfied, [Winged Kuriboh LV6] stomped on their heads three times in succession.

Having vented some of his anger, Jaden calmed down a bit, blinked, and the color of his eyes unconsciously returned to normal. Looking at [Winged Kuriboh LV6], who was still beating up Harada and the other two, he waved his hand: "Alright, alright, Aibo, that's enough of a lesson for them."

"Kuri kuri kuri!"

"They may want to do something really outrageous, but they haven't done it yet. I think if it were Manjoume and the others here instead of me, they would be able to deal with them just as well." Jaden looked at the three people who had fallen. This time, they weren't faking it; they had genuinely been knocked unconscious by Jaden's monster.