Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“There’s no need to go back to that place…” Malik said reluctantly when Isis brought it up. “Besides, if we’re talking about leading the way, wouldn’t either Rishid or you, sister, be more suitable than me?”

Many years ago, because Malik violated the rules of the tomb guardians' seclusion and went to the bustling city to see the motorcycles that he was very interested in, the then chief of the tomb guardians, who was also the father of Malik and Isis, imposed extremely severe punishments on Malik and Rishid, who was in charge of looking after Malik.

Malik was a dark-hearted person to begin with. At that time, he had already split into a dark personality, "Dark Malik," due to the influence of the dark power of the Millennium Scepter. However, he had been suppressed because of the influence of Rishid's past. When he saw Rishid wailing in pain, with hideous marks on his skin from the hot metal, Malik's dark personality erupted. He used the dagger hidden inside the Millennium Scepter to kill his father.

After that, Malik fled from the Tomb Keepers with Lyshid and never returned to Egypt. The Tomb Keepers also stripped him of his status for patricide and lost his eligibility to inherit the position of chieftain. Instead, the position of chieftain was inherited by Isis, the eldest daughter of the deceased chieftain.

At that time, Malik was only eleven years old, and he had spent most of his childhood being forced to live within the Tomb Keeper Clan. He had hardly ever been outside the clan. Although he knew exactly where to play hide-and-seek and where to hide things within the Tomb Keeper Clan's territory, he had no idea where to go once he left the clan's territory.

How did a traitor from the tomb-guarding clan become a tour guide?

In contrast, Isis and Lishid are quite different. Lishid was not originally a member of the Tomb Keeper clan, but an orphan abandoned by his parents. He was taken in by Malik's father and was not a formal member of the clan, but merely a servant serving the clan leader and future leader.

Although the tomb guardians have maintained their seclusion from the world for the sake of their duties and missions, they are still human, not gods, and ultimately have material needs. Their exchange of supplies with the outside world has never stopped for thousands of years. The "seclusion" is only important in not revealing their specific location, and "servants" like Lishid are responsible for bringing supplies from the outside world.

Then there's Isis. Ever since Malik and Lishid betrayed the Tomb Keeper clan and were expelled, and her father died at the hands of her own brother, Isis had to take on the mission of the Tomb Keeper clan leader. She lived in Egypt for twenty years until Duel City, when she arrived in the Far East with the card "Obelisk the Tormentor".

It's important to understand that Isis is not like Malik, a wanted criminal, or Lishid, an undocumented immigrant. She is a legitimate Egyptian government official and the director of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority. Naturally, she knows how to get to certain special locations in Egypt.

“You know perfectly well that you went to Egypt through the proper channels this time, and Lishid can’t go back.” Isis sighed and said helplessly, “Because of the Egyptian artifacts exhibition, I have to stay in Domino City with those important stone tablets and mummies. In a couple of days, a batch of stone tablets will be sent back to the country, and then another batch will be sent here. I have to stay here.”

Although as an official, Isis could often get some benefits from the Egyptian government, she was also subject to certain limitations. After all, even junior high school students learn in textbooks that rights and obligations are intertwined.

Since Isis had already said all that, Malik could only nod helplessly and say, "Alright, alright, I'll be your guide. But let me make this clear: if it's on my way, I'll go back to my tribe's territory, but if it's not, I won't go back."

As he spoke, Malik smiled slyly at Isis, "After all, I still have to keep an eye on your brother-in-law—oh dear!"

Covering his head where Isis had lightly tapped him, Malik laughed and ran away, walking up the stairs to the boarding gate. Not forgetting to turn back again and say, "See you in a month, Rishid, and my sister too!"

“That kid…” Isis smiled helplessly as she watched Malik walk into the cabin and disappear from sight.

Inside the cabin, Hayato, who had already boarded the plane, sat at a table. He glanced at Malik, who was rushing onto the plane, but didn't seem to care. Instead, he reached out and swiped across the table.

Suddenly, a global map appeared on the otherwise ordinary glass tabletop, as if displaying global information in real time. Countless dots of light flickered on the unfolded map of the earth, the most conspicuous of which was a red dot located in a remote corner of Asia, representing the location of Domino City, indicating the current position of the aircraft.

Hayato's actions caught Honda's attention. He looked away from the news television in the cabin and towards Hayato, asking, "Although you said that Pegasus has arranged everything, I suddenly remembered that the news said the Pacific Ocean is almost completely under control. Is it okay for our plane to fly across like this?"

The commotion caused by Dartz not long ago was so great that governments around the world became aware, to varying degrees, of the immense power of the elves, which should have been hidden. As a result, a vast area of ​​sea extending outward from the location of Doma's headquarters island—the site where Atlantis sank ten thousand years ago—has been brought under the control of various governments.

Because that stretch of sea is international waters, strictly speaking, no country has ownership of it, leading to intense competition and rivalry as everyone tries to discover usable prehistoric relics. For safety reasons, airplanes and cruise ships from all over the world suspended their trans-Pacific routes during this period.

The International Illusion Company's merchant ships were incredibly lucky to have accidentally salvaged the shipwreck carrying the gems in an unblocked area of ​​water, allowing Pegasus to snag a bargain. If they had gone any further in, they would have been in the blockade zone, and if they had gone any further out, they would have left the high seas, giving the shipwreck a country of ownership.

“The Pacific Ocean? We’re not going across the Pacific Ocean.” Hayato smiled and pointed to the map. “Although flying from Domino City to America does require crossing the Pacific Ocean, Pegasus doesn’t plan to wait for us in America. He plans to meet us in Egypt instead. So this time we’re not flying from east to west, but from west to east.”

Following Hayato's finger swipe, a dotted line representing the plane's flight path appeared on the electronic map. The line did not cross the ocean but pointed towards the land. According to the trajectory shown by the dotted line, the plane was going to fly over almost the entire Asian continent and eventually reach Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

Bekas, on the other hand, started from the United States, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived on the African continent. By traveling separately from both ends and meeting up in Cairo, he was much more efficient than going to the United States first and then to Egypt.

Although Pegasus traveled in search of inspiration, it doesn't mean his journey was leisurely. Choosing the most efficient methods during pointless rushing allows for more time to while away during the trip.

At the airport, with Grandpa Sugoroku, Isis, Rishid, Shizuka (Jounouchi's sister), and others watching, the plane accelerated and took off from the runway. Inside the cabin, Jounouchi gripped Honda's shoulder tightly, interrogating him about why he kept waving goodbye to Shizuka as he left.

Looking down at the "Hindenburg" displayed on the electronic map, Hayato kept complaining, "First St. Anne, then Hindenburg, do rich people have something wrong with their brains when they name their airplanes and airships?"

Oh, it's the name Pegasus came up with. Never mind then.

Chapter 671 Memory always seems to become exceptionally good in subtle ways.

The flight from Japan to Cairo, Egypt, could theoretically save a lot of time by directly crossing that large western country in a straight line, but Hayato didn't want to experience the power of the Dongfeng Express in that way. So the plane flew around the airspace of that country.

This means the journey will take quite a while, since they've traveled halfway around the world. They departed before noon and won't arrive in Cairo, Egypt until at least evening.

When an ordinary person takes a long-haul flight on a private jet, after the initial excitement wears off, they might pass the time by using their phone or computer, or watch TV and take a nap. But what if you could summon three-dimensional monsters while playing cards?

For true duelists, playing cards is possible not only on an airplane, but even in space.

However, there's a slight difference: the duel taking place on the plane today isn't between Hayato, Yugi, Jonouchi, or even Malik—but rather—

"Activate the Spell Card [Barbarian Feast LV5]!"

Honda slammed a card onto his duel disk with an air of "I'm a professional duelist" on his face for less than three seconds before he had to look down to read the card's effect, feeling rather embarrassed. "Special Summon up to two Warrior-Type 5 monsters from your hand or Graveyard. The effects of the monsters Special Summoned by this effect are negated, and those monsters cannot attack this turn."

"I see, so that's the effect."

"That's lame, Honda. What duelist would wait until the duel has started to look at the effects of their cards?"

Looking at Honda standing in the open space in the center of the cabin, Jonouchi, sitting next to him, teased him, forgetting that when he first started playing Duel Monsters, his performance was not much better than Honda's, who only started looking at the card effects after playing the card.

"Stop nagging, Jonouchi. This is my first time using a Duel Disk too..." Honda muttered. The Duel Disk on his left wrist was borrowed from Jonouchi. Their wrists were about the same size, so Honda could put it on without much adjustment of the elastic band.

Although from the beginning, because legendary duelists like Hayato, Yugi, and Jonouchi often dueled in front of him, Honda's demeanor when drawing cards and his actions when playing cards were quite impressive. However, he faltered after playing the cards because he was not as familiar with the card effects as Hayato and the others.

"In the end, Jonouchi is just an idiot, so how did he manage to remember so many different card effects?"

Listening to Honda's self-deprecating rant, Hayato remarked that it was true for those card players; while they might struggle to memorize just a few words, they could remember complex flashcards with five or six words after only one glance. It was as if song lyrics were easier to memorize than texts.

However, despite saying that, in reality, one still has to put in a lot of effort to remember the effects of the cards. For example, even today, Jonouchi can't help but shudder when he recalls the days he underwent grueling training under Muto Sugoroku.

But it was also thanks to that period of training that Jonouchi went from a complete novice to a beginner duelist and developed a knack for drawing divine cards, which allowed him to get to where he is today.

Honda was just grumbling, but he wasn't really complaining. He awkwardly took two cards from the graveyard of the Duel Disk. "I've chosen 'Barbarian No. 1' and 'Barbarian No. 2', which were sent to the graveyard by 'Angel's Charity'. I'll Special Summon these two monsters to my field in Attack Position!"

[Barbarian #1] [5 stars/land]

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1550/1800]

[Barbarian #2] [5 stars/land]

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1800/1500]

The virtual projection system installed in the Haima Group's Duel Disk has an extremely intelligent program. Although the two monsters that Honda summoned at this moment were originally quite tall, because the duel was not in a wide outdoor space but in a spacious but not very large cabin, the size of the two "Barbarian" monsters was automatically compressed to only half the height of a normal person, making them quite miniature.

This is necessary because it also allows room for the growth in size of the monsters Honda will summon next.

"Hmph, I haven't performed a Normal Summon yet this turn. I'll Tribute two Barbarians on the field whose ATK cannot be increased by card effects to Tribute Summon this monster in my hand!" Honda played a card with an arrogant expression. That card was none other than a Level 8 monster!

The two Barbarians disappeared and were sent back to the graveyard by Honda. In their place, an image of a monster about the height of a person appeared on Honda's field. Considering the two Barbarian monsters that were half the height of a person before, one can imagine how tall this monster was.

[Barbarian King] [8 stars/land]

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[3000/1100]

Although he had summoned a high-level monster, Honda looked troubled: "Damn it, I was so anxious that I forgot to say the lines when summoning the monster. It was a high-level monster with attack power comparable to the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. What a blunder! What a blunder! I completely wasted a chance to show off!"

"However, being able to summon this monster basically guarantees my victory, right?" The troubled expression on Honda's face didn't last long before he put his hands on his hips and said triumphantly, "There's no way you have a monster on your field that can rival mine!"

"Kyoko!"

Standing opposite Honda, isn't that Kyoko, the only one in their group who doesn't know how to play cards?

Kyoko wore the Duel Disk that the game had lent her on her wrist. Seeing Honda getting so arrogant so early, she sighed and rubbed her forehead: "Really, he's already getting cocky so early."

Honda: 4000LP, Handheld 4

[Barbarian King] [ATK3000]

[Apricot: 4000LP, 2 cards in hand]

[The inside side represents a monster]

[Signature Card][Signature Card][Signature Card]

As if they had planned it together, every important event always happened during holidays. Whenever the game was on holiday, they would be caught up in big events like "Duel Kingdom", "Duel City", "KC Cup", and "Doma", leaving them with virtually no free time to guide Honda and Kyoko in understanding Duel Monsters.

This time, it was a rare occurrence that no new incidents occurred after resolving Dartz's matter. In addition, after experiencing so many things that could only be resolved through card games, both Kyoko and Honda were interested in learning more about the subject. So, the group simply used the time spent flying in the air to help Honda and Kyoko adjust their card decks and have a duel as an experiment.

Jonouchi and Malik adjusted Honda's deck, while Yugi and Hayato helped Kyoko adjust hers. To some extent, although it was Kyoko and Honda dueling, the four people behind them were also competing in their understanding of Duel Monsters.

Chapter 672 I like red, so I put forty cards with red borders in my deck.

Because it was Jonouchi and Malik who helped Honda adjust his deck, although Honda's deck included many aggressive cards such as "Hound Charge," "Vagrant Shadow," and many support cards for Warrior-type monsters, thanks to Malik's coordination, there were also cards like "Torture Wheel," preventing the deck from being all offense and no defense.

To be honest, Malik initially thought that Jonouchi would introduce him to some gambling cards that he often used, since even Red-Eyes wasn't as eye-catching as dice and coins in Jonouchi's duels.

To his surprise, Jonouchi had no intention of adding gambling cards to Honda's deck, and Honda did not ask Jonouchi why. When Malik asked, neither of them answered him, but simply exchanged a knowing smile.

What Malik didn't know was that the reason Jonouchi's deck contained so many gambling cards wasn't because he was greedy for their high returns, but simply because they were cheap enough. Moreover, by now, Jonouchi's deck had already eliminated all the gambling cards, leaving only a few at the very end.

Although he has been criticized more than once for having ridiculously good luck when it comes to dice and coin tosses in crucial moments, Jonouchi has never had a good impression of gambling because of his gambling-addicted and terrible father, and Honda knows this, so he has never used gambling cards.

Malik didn't know the reason behind it, but according to his own deduction, Jonouchi's advice against Honda using gambling cards might also be because not everyone has his level of luck.

However, Honda's deck, which was adjusted by Jonouchi, did have a certain strength. In the first turn, it easily summoned the "Barbarian King" with an attack power of 3000, which is roughly equivalent to a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Although it is unknown what style Kyoko's deck, which was adjusted by Hayato and Yugi, is, a monster that can be directly Normal Summoned face down is probably not a powerful monster.

Thinking this, Malik saw Kyoko turn around and glance at Yugi and Hayato: "By the way, do I have a card that can be activated at this time?"

What many people don't know is that Kyoko actually knows a bit about Duel Monsters. In fact, she learned some Duel Monsters knowledge before the Duel Kingdom event even started, and at that time she did something that most duelists in the world couldn't do—defeat Jonouchi.

Although Kyoko only played one game with Jonouchi after building her deck, and hasn't played much since, making her a "veteran" player in some ways, her debut was her peak, and her 100% win rate was unparalleled among the passengers on the plane.

However, because Kyoko's only learning of Duel Monsters was before Duel Kingdom, and the rules at that time were not yet perfect, there was no "direct attack" option. Even Trap Cards were introduced later along with the rule of 4000 Life Points. So, just to be on the safe side, Kyoko went back to ask Hayato and Yugi if she could activate the card at this time.

“That’s right. When a monster is successfully summoned, there is indeed a point in time when you can chain cards to activate. Kyoko, do you have any face-down cards that can be activated?” Yugi replied to Kyoko, while also thinking about which cards he and Hayato had recommended to Kyoko that could be activated at this point in time.

After receiving confirmation from the game, Kyoko glanced at the light that had lit up on her duel disk.

With the popularity of Duel Monsters, the Duel Disk is no longer something that only qualified duelists could possess, as it was in Duel City. Instead, it has become a fairly popular product used to promote Duel Monsters. At Hayato's suggestion, Kaiba Corporation added a special feature called "Beginner Mode" to the Duel Disks released later.

The "Beginner Mode" has many specific functions, including automatically lighting up the area where a card's effect can be activated at certain times.

If we were to recreate the duel between Yugi and Dark Marik in the Duel City quarterfinals, and if Marik's Duel Disk had this "beginner mode" enabled, the area containing [Sky Dragon of Osiris] on his Duel Disk might remain lit up indefinitely, potentially causing the Duel Disk to run out of power before he even finished drawing his deck.

Hayato jokingly referred to this feature as the "tap wherever it lights up, even grandma can play Duel Monsters" mode.

As Kyoko pressed the button to activate the face-down card, a card in her back row was revealed. However, it wasn't the card Yugi had guessed he'd recommended to Kyoko, such as [Bottomless Trap Hole] or [Torrent Tribute], but rather—

“Continuous Trap Card [Cycle Destruction], the effect of this card is,” Anzu flipped the card over. Her memory was better than Honda’s, so she didn’t need to look down at the card to read it aloud. Instead, she recalled the effect she had silently recited before setting it down, “Once per turn, if a monster on the field is destroyed by a card effect, you can choose one monster on the field to destroy, and both duelists will take 500 damage.”

After reading the effect of the now-flipped [Destruction Cycle], Anzu reached out and pressed another lit button next to her: "Next is this card, the Trap Card [Destruction Wheel]. Destroy one face-up monster on the field, and then both duelists take damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK."

"A face-up monster on the field?" Honda was taken aback. He first glanced at the monster on Anzu's field that was face down, then at the Barbarian King in front of him. Realizing something, his eyes widened: "Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute, it can't be what I'm thinking, right? You're not going to ruin the Barbarian King that I finally managed to summon, are you, Anzu?"

"Well, who knows?" Although she hesitated slightly when activating it because she wasn't very familiar with it, Kyoko felt no burden at all about using the [Destruction Wheel] to take down the [Barbarian King] that Honda had worked so hard to summon. She even said with a little excitement, "Hmm, what line did Hayato say when he used this card?"

Before the duel, Hayato specifically emphasized to Kyoko that, just like how summoning a monster won't work if you don't shout its name, performing certain actions and saying specific lines can greatly strengthen the bond between you and your deck. For example, when using the card "Destruction Wheel," you should...

"Hmm...right, that's the line." After recalling Hayato's special instruction, Kyoko gave Honda a thumbs-up at the Barbarian King, whose attack power was a whopping 3000 points. "The Destruction Wheel is already on that monster!"