Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Chapter 769 So that's how it is, I completely understand now.

Hayato, who was in the royal city just a moment ago, arrived at his destination, the Valley of the Long Sleep, almost in the blink of an eye, thanks to the power of the GM item "Golden Wind". Hayato could already see the cluster of buildings hidden in the valley from afar.

That's incredible! But why am I so high in the sky?!

And isn't that guy next to me a seahorse? He's even wearing the same clothes from the modern era. I'm absolutely certain he's the same person. Why is he here too?!

The power of the "Golden Wind" dissipated when it brought Hayato and Kaiba near the target location, and gravity caught the two of them high in the sky. The next moment, Hayato and Kaiba fell together!

"Hayato Kobayashi, you're here too!"

"That's what I wanted to say to you, but now doesn't seem like the time to say it!" Hayato looked at the surprised Kaiba, raised a fighting disk on his hand, and called out, "I choose you, Pidgeot, I mean [Rathalos]!"

As Hayato called out, Rathalos, fearing she might be forgotten by him like some hapless, never-to-appear bird, suddenly leaped out and caught the falling seahorse and Hayato with her large wings, gently landing them on the sand.

Hayato and Kaiba slid down the talons of Ra's Winged Ra as it rested on the sand dune, and then Ra's Winged Ra disappeared.

As the [Rathalos] symbol on the arena disappeared, Hayato, having landed safely, finally had a chance to look at Seto Kaiba, who stood beside him with a look of astonishment: "First time?"

"What is this 'Powder'? Did you just materialize that [Ra's Winged Dragon] to catch us?" Kaiba asked in surprise.

Hayato complained helplessly, "This isn't the first time you've experienced a Duel Monster materializing, so why are you acting like it's your first time? What's with all the excitement?"

As he spoke, Hayato's Gladiator's Disk, which had been unfolded on his wrist, returned to its folded, stowed state. Since he was coming to the Valley of the King's Long Sleep, and considering that Yami Yugi was asleep and couldn't use the Gladiator's Disk anyway, and since it was just sitting idle, Hayato naturally took the Gladiator's Disk with him when he left Yami Yugi's room... I mean, he "borrowed" it.

With the Gladiator's Disk, Hayato can use its power to bear a significant portion of the pressure and burden associated with using Pokémon powers, allowing him to unleash their full potential and ensuring the safety of his journey through the Valley of the Kings' Long Sleep.

After a moment of surprise, the seahorse seemed to have figured out the answer and muttered to itself, "So that's how it is. Since it is in a state of quantum entanglement, it means that my existence is no longer limited by matter but is stable because of thought, that is, 'I think, therefore I am.' So as long as I have a strong enough will, I can interfere with a part of the quantum realm by thinking and make the Duel Monster that left the deepest impression on my mind a force that can be used."

"Hmm, I see, I understand completely now."

"What do you know?" Hayato muttered to himself, too lazy to even retort to Seth, before turning around to survey the surrounding desert.

"I suppose you, like me, were also unexpectedly caught in a quantum entanglement state and arrived in this era, right, Hayato Kobayashi?" Seto Kaiba, after forcibly understanding everything with his inexplicable thought process, regained his confidence, crossed his arms, and looked at Hayato, saying, "Hmph, I originally thought I would get more training in this era so that I could defeat you and Yugi in one fell swoop when I returned to the real world and reclaim the title of Duel King. Now it seems that it won't be that easy after all."

"It doesn't matter. Things that can be done easily don't interest me. Rather, it would be disappointing if you and the game were so easily defeated, Kobayashi Hayato."

As Haima spoke, the veins on his forehead bulged into a "well" shape. "You bastard, look me in the eyes when I'm talking, and don't look around!"

"Huh? Get out of my way, Seth. I don't have time to play against bots right now." Standing atop the sand dune, Hayato raised his hand as if to look into the distance, then waved it dismissively without turning around. This only fueled Kaiba's anger; he felt Hayato completely disregarded him.

"Although I'm also a little curious about how you came to this era, let's talk about it later."

Kaiba frowned, glanced at Hayato who was staring intently in a certain direction, but didn't say much. Instead, he took two steps up the dune like Hayato and looked in the direction Hayato was looking.

Looking from their position, a valley covered by yellow sand in the distance was faintly visible, with many buildings standing in it. However, the most conspicuous building was the tall mausoleum in the very center, which was level with the entire valley and almost emerged from the ground, but was ultimately hidden in the desert.

"Are you going there?" the seahorse asked.

Hayato nodded: "Yeah, I thought it was about the same distance on the map. I estimated the location at the royal city and set off, but I didn't expect it to be a little bit off from my estimate. It looks like it's at least a few kilometers away. It looks like I'll have to rely on my two log-like legs for the rest of the journey."

"Heh, log-like thighs? I didn't even realize it until you said it. You seem so much younger now than you do in the real world." Hearing Hayato's words, Kaiba turned his head to look. Although they were standing at the same height on the sand dune in the same posture, Hayato's height was now only up to Kaiba's chest. This made Kaiba, who had always been shorter than Hayato, secretly very pleased, and he immediately spoke up.

Hayato also pursed his lips: "Don't mention it, those are all mistakes I made when I was young. I'm probably an eight-year-old kid now."

"Eight years old!?" Seahorse raised an eyebrow, completely disbelieving. "Wait a minute, something just occurred to me. I was clearly at the entrance of the medical facility when I was suddenly struck by a golden light, and then I ended up here. You said you came from the royal city, so could it be that you were the one who bumped into me!?"

"You're not trying to extort money from me, are you, Seth?" Hayato pouted. "I haven't even suspected you were the one who caused me to arrive at such a different destination, so stop being the one to accuse me first. But speaking of which, were you also in the royal city before?"

Haima nodded: "After entering the current quantum entangled state due to the experiment, I found myself in the desert. I chose the nearest city in sight and set off. Then I came to the city that seems to be the capital of the kingdom, which is probably the royal city you mentioned."

"It's strange, really. This place is thousands of years in the past, yet I can see people who look just like me in this era. Is it because of my intervention, which is not from this era, that I replaced the appearance of people in this era? Even I don't quite understand the knowledge of the quantum realm in a short time."

Hayato smiled helplessly, "Fine, let's just say it's as you said." As he spoke, Hayato looked at the distant Valley of the Royal Slumber, then walked down the sand dune and headed towards his destination. Without even calling for Kaiba to follow, Kaiba had already walked alongside him with remarkable understanding.

It was nearly noon, and the desert sun was scorching. However, Hayato didn't seem to mind the heat. He figured it was probably because of his ancient Egyptian attire and because Meliamon had grown up in Egypt and was used to the desert. As for Kaiba, although he initially prioritized style over warmth, after walking nearly a kilometer, he finally took off his trench coat and used it as a cloak to shield himself from the sun and wind.

As they moved forward, Hayato and Kaiba exchanged information about what they knew.

From Kaiba, Hayato learned that Kaiba had actually completed the analysis of the D-Wheel he had previously seized from Paradox, and even created a prototype. In the future, decades later, the D-Wheel itself would primarily serve as a medium for perpetual motion machines and "planetary particles," except that its energy conversion method would be the card players' ecstatic high-speed car racing and card playing.

While the technology on it was advanced, it wasn't exceptionally advanced. Paradox's D-Wheel, however, was different. The D-Wheel, named "Truth," incorporated many futuristic technologies from the post-apocalyptic era, including advanced technologies like anti-gravity levitation. However, its most core function was to implement the "time-space jump" function, which was part of the four members of the post-apocalyptic group's individual plans.

Hayato originally entrusted the D-Wheel to Kaiba with the idea of ​​just giving it a try. He expected Kaiba to develop the anti-gravity levitation system ahead of time and at most come up with the idea of ​​a perpetual motion machine. However, he did not expect that Kaiba would actually have the ability to understand the future, and even the technology of the future of the future, and even created the function of time travel.

However, the fact that the seahorse appeared not in the past or future but in the memory world within this stone slab shows that the seahorse's understanding of the D-Wheel was slightly off, and he was unable to restore all its functions.

Another unexpected turn of events for Hayato was that, due to his alteration of the plot, Boba, who was supposed to meet Yugi and his group, instead encountered Kaiba. He had originally planned to search for Boba after resolving the matter in the Valley of the Sleeping King and returning to the royal capital, but now there was no need for that.

Hayato's expression, which seemed to indicate that he knew who Boba was, piqued Kaiba's curiosity. However, when Kaiba asked, Hayato simply smiled and told him that Boba was a trustworthy ally, and could even be considered one of his hidden trump cards.

Kaiba also learned a lot from Hayato, from witnessing Yami Yugi's ascension to the throne as Pharaoh when Hayato first arrived in the Memory World, Bakura's attack on the palace, Mahad's sacrifice and transformation into the "Dark Magician", all the way up to the recent incident where Bakura ambushed Yami Yugi, causing him to fall into a coma.

Of course, in Kaiba's eyes, all these fantastical events were given a reasonable explanation by him using "science" to make them easier to understand, and Hayato just let it go and was too lazy to correct this stubborn mind.

"Hmph, Yugi and that mediocre guy have actually come to this world too. What good luck. If it weren't for the limitations, I think we could even recreate the final four of the Duel City tournament here." Kaiba said, then frowned with some distress. "It's a pity that my deck didn't come to this world with me."

"And another thing, why is it that no matter how many times I try, I still can't summon the power of Duel Monsters like you?"

Kaiba watched Hayato put the gladiator back on his wrist and asked in confusion.

When he noticed the Duel Disk in Hayato's hand, he wondered if Hayato's ability to summon Ragnaros was due to the power of the item that he suspected he had invented, but after Hayato lent the Duel Disk to Kaiba and he still couldn't summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon he longed for, Kaiba could only be certain that his initial guess was correct.

Knowing that Kaiba had already met Seto and Kisara, whom Seto had brought from Aknade, Hayato did not force Kaiba to believe that "your beloved wife hasn't become a card in this era." Instead, he fooled him by saying, "It must be because your bond with the Blue-Eyes isn't strong enough."

"Your heart isn't pure enough. There must be other things mixed in with your bond with [Blue Eyes], like playing cards, playing against bots, trench coats, etc. Those things must have influenced you, 'interfering with quantum entanglement with thought,' yes, that's it."

Kaiba glanced at Hayato, who was suppressing a laugh and looking serious: "Is that so? I feel like you're lying to me again."

Despite saying that, Kaiba still believed Hayato's words and walked along, trying to clear his mind of all distractions and focus only on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but of course, he still couldn't summon anything.

If Kaiba hadn't listened to Hayato's nonsense and had instead tried to summon other Duel Monsters with spirits residing in them, like the Fang of Critia, he wouldn't be in this situation where he can't summon anything at all.

Although the distance of a few kilometers was not short, and the terrain beneath their feet was desert rather than flat ground, it was not too far for Hayato and Kaiba, whose physical abilities far exceeded those of ordinary people. After walking for about half an hour, the two finally approached Hayato's destination, the Valley of the Royal Sleep.

From afar, Hayato could already sense the peculiar silence of the Valley of the Kings' Long Sleep. As a collective burial site for many pharaohs, the atmosphere here was exceptionally solemn, and just getting close gave one an instinctive urge to quiet down.

However, as Hayato had expected, after getting close enough, the guards of the Royal Valley of Sleep discovered Hayato and Kaiba approaching. If there were no surprises, they should be the tomb-guarding clan that Priestess Isis had mentioned to Hayato before.

Hayato, who was filled with curiosity about what the tomb-guarding clan of three thousand years ago was like, suddenly fell silent when he saw the three guards who "welcomed" the two of them.

"Who are you two?"

"Don't even think about getting near this sacred Valley of Royal Rest!"

"We three tomb-guarding brothers are invincible!"

Chapter 770 Do you dare to defy me, who possesses the [Millennial Wisdom Wheel]?

Hayato fell silent as he looked at the three men blocking his path, dressed in yellow, green, and black robes respectively and wielding weapons. He seemed not to recognize them, yet he also felt a strange sense of familiarity with them; their simple-minded appearance was all too familiar.

"Are you the guardians of the Valley of the King's Sleep? I've come from the royal city to confirm whether the priests Kalim and Isis, who came to escort Pharaoh Akhenam's mummy, have been here before?"

The oldest-looking man in black among the three blocking the road picked his nose dismissively when he heard Hayato's words: "Huh? Who do you think you are? You think I'd believe you just because you say you're from the royal city?"

“Exactly, at least produce something to prove your identity,” the man in green remarked. “Besides, you look like you’re going to kill us, so the evidence needs to be substantial.”

As he spoke, the youngest-looking man in the yellow shirt raised one hand and rubbed it together with his fingers together like an Italian, while he didn't even bother to pretend with his other hand, simply spreading it out with his palm facing up.

This isn't about needing evidence; it's clearly about wanting benefits!

Seeing this, Kaiba simply stood aside with a cold smile, arms crossed, watching Hayato, wanting to see how he would deal with these three who were clearly trying to extort money from him. Unlike Hayato, Kaiba Seto was invisible to the people of this world, and the current farce clearly had nothing to do with him.

Hayato chuckled upon hearing the words of the "grave-guarding brothers." Not only did Hayato not have any money to bribe, but even if he did, he was always the one taking other people's money, never giving it away...

Ahem, no, it's mainly because Hayato is a man of great justice, and he can't stand the slightest injustice. He absolutely cannot stand the idea of ​​bribing others to do him a favor, and he must resolutely resist it.

Hayato casually picked up the Millennium Wisdom Ring hanging from his chest, and gave the three men a sullen look he'd copied from Kaiba: "Hmph, you bunch of fourth-rate soldiers with third-rate weapons, take a good look at what this is. Only pharaohs and priests possess the Millennium Wisdom Ring, one of the Millennium Items. Do you dare disobey me, who possesses the Millennium Wisdom Ring?"

As he spoke, Hayato's mouth curled up on one side, making him look exactly like a crooked-mouthed dragon king reincarnated.

Upon seeing the Millennium Wisdom Wheel that Hayato had taken out, the three Gravekeeper brothers were all stunned for a moment. After exchanging glances, Gravekeeper Huang exclaimed in shock, "What?! It's actually the Millennium Wisdom Wheel?!"

“A few days ago, when the two high priests came to the Valley of the King’s Long Sleep, I also caught a glimpse of their [Millennium Artifact]. This is definitely the real thing!”

"It's actually the High Priest!?"

The previous air of authority vanished instantly. Upon seeing Hayato pull out the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel], the attitude of the three tomb guardians completely changed, and they shamelessly sidled up to Hayato and began to flatter him.

"My lord, I was unaware of your esteemed identity just now. Please give us the opportunity to abandon our darkness and embrace the light."

"Your Excellency, please come this way. The other two priests you are looking for are inside. We will take you to them now."

"Your Excellency, please watch your step!"

Surrounded by the three, Hayato was ushered into the entrance of the Valley of the King's Long Sleep. As they walked, Hayato deliberately turned back to look at Kaiba, waving the Millennium Wisdom Wheel he was carrying. Seeing that the three tomb guardians' troubles were so easily resolved after Hayato took out the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, Kaiba, who hadn't seen a good show, curled his lip in disdain and followed Hayato.

"Don't call me High Priest," Hayato said casually, not quite used to the title. "Just call me Big Brother."

"Okay, all right~" x3

Although Hayato had seen the same field spell card in Isis's deck before, he didn't expect that when he actually arrived at the Valley of the Kings' Long Sleep, the terrain here would look almost exactly the same as the landscape on the card. After entering the valley through the narrow and empty entrance, which was perfect for defense, he immediately saw a building standing in front of him.

The building's appearance is exactly the same as that of the Temple in the Valley of the King's Long Sleep. Hayato remembered that Isis had told him that the purpose of this temple was to serve as a transit point before the pharaoh's mummy was placed into the tomb, and that various ceremonies were also carried out here, making it a rather important building.

However important it may be, the temple is not as important as the tombs of the many pharaohs behind it. Therefore, another purpose of this place is to serve as a second barrier against the invasion of thieves.

As for the first line of defense? It's the soldiers guarding the valley entrance. However, in Hayato's opinion, whether the three brothers guarding the grave can be of any use at this moment is another matter.

As they were thinking, the group arrived at the temple. Hayato, having ventured deeper into the Valley of the King's Long Sleep, encountered members of the Grave Guardian Clan besides the three brothers beside him—the Grave Guardian Soldiers wielding long spears, the Grave Guardian Heavy Artillerymen keeping watch atop the tower in the valley, and even the Grave Guardian Servants dressed as slaves carrying objects, and so on.

This doesn't mean that the members of the Gravekeeper clan are all monster cards from the Gravekeeper deck that Hayato had seen before. Rather, Hayato noticed that their clothing was extremely similar to the Gravekeeper monsters that later corresponded to their respective roles. In this respect, the Gravekeeper deck's level of accuracy is really high.

Caught off guard, Hayato, led by the three tomb guardian brothers, drew ever closer to the temple. But just as they reached an open space before the temple steps, the three brothers, who had been fawning over Hayato just moments before, suddenly scattered in all directions. Before Hayato could even react, a green, semi-circular shield rose from the open space, enveloping both Hayato and Kaiba!

The next moment, the guards of the tomb-guarding clan rushed over and surrounded Hayato, their gleaming spear tips pointing directly at Hayato, who was shrouded in a barrier. It was as if they would all kill Hayato if he made any move.

"Heh heh ha ha ha, so you've been locked up, Kobayashi Hayato."

It seemed like seeing Hayato get his comeuppance was a very amusing thing. Even Kaiba, who always had a cold face, laughed heartlessly without any expression control when he saw Hayato being locked up. He even mocked Hayato, saying, "You're so lame. Looks like you didn't solve the previous problem at all."

"Tch, so you think you're pretty brave?" Hayato rolled his eyes at Kaiba, who was making sarcastic remarks. He looked at the energy barrier around him, still not understanding what was going on, and then looked at the three grave-guarding brothers who had run back to the vicinity, saying, "Hey, what's going on here!"

"What's going on? You idiot, do you think your lies can fool someone as intelligent as me?!" said the Gravekeeper Green, sporting a shiny bald head. "Don't think you can fool us just because you have the [Millennial Wisdom Wheel]. Are you a priest of the Pharaoh?"

"Priest Kalim and Priest Isis arrived here last night. They told us that Priest Mahad's [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] is currently missing. Anyone with the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel] is definitely a fraud!" said the tomb guardian, Black, whose nose was larger than everyone else's, smugly.

The tomb keeper, Huang, concluded, "So, you two are undoubtedly liars!"

"We three brothers saw through your lies long ago and deliberately lured you here, and you certainly fell for it!"

Haima heard what the gravedigger Huang said, but noticed the details in his words.

"...them?"