Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Of course, this is assuming the game hasn't yet reached its most difficult phase.

Jonouchi and Honda each opened their card packs and shared them. Seeing how much fun they were having, Hayato couldn't resist and bought a few packs himself. Unsurprisingly, he didn't get any particularly powerful cards, but there were still a few cards that were decent, at least stronger than Hayato's original "card deck," and worth adding to his deck.

Jonouchi and Hayato worked together to adjust the strength of their decks. Because of the 40-card limit, they both had quite a few extra cards. These cards weren't wasted; Honda took them all and even managed to put together his own deck.

Of course, it's just a deck, and its strength is practically nonexistent. It's not even comparable to Yugi or Hayato's decks; even Jonouchi's decks are stronger.

Just as the group was engrossed in the fun of trading Duel Monsters cards, the door to the toy shop opened again, and Grandpa Sugoroku instinctively greeted them, "Welcome to Kameji Game Shop, we sell Duel Monsters cards here... Huh? Game School uniforms?"

Upon hearing Grandpa Sugoroku's words, the group turned to look at the door. The person who opened the door was just as Grandpa Sugoroku had seen; he was wearing the uniform of Domino High School, and they all recognized him.

"Seahorse?"

"Is this Yugi Muto's toy shop?" Kenjiro Tsuda's magnetic voice rang out, making one want to blurt out, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacks Brunhilde!" Seto Kaiba looked around the room, frowned, and asked as if to confirm, "Is this a place that sells Duel Monster cards?"

"So you play Duel Monsters too, Kaiba-kun," Jonouchi said to Kaiba familiarly. "Great, now we have one more companion."

"Companions? Hmph, you seem to have misunderstood something. Mere mediocre talent." Kaiba, despite hearing Jonouchi's words, maintained a cold expression. "Don't joke around. Do guys like you even deserve to be called that?"

"What did you say!?" Jonouchi's expression was very unpleasant. Although Honda often called him "idiot" and "fool," it was because the two were very close, and these terms were more like nicknames between them, without much derogatory meaning.

Chapter 13: 15 billion yen for a single blue-eyed coin, is that too much to ask?

But Kaiba called Jonouchi a "mediocre talent," and judging from his expression, he didn't seem to be joking. So Jonouchi was a little angry. "Then what brings you here, young master of the Kaiba Group and great genius Seto Kaiba?"

"I just happened to hear that there were super rare cards here, and I came here out of curiosity." Although there was a smile on Kaiba's face, it was full of disdain for the simple Kameji Toy House. "However, how could there be rare cards in a place that is even more dilapidated than a toilet next to a rural farmland?"

"Honestly, it seems I do have some immature fantasies sometimes, actually thinking there would be decent cards in a place like this." As he spoke, Kaiba shrugged with a helpless expression, making you want to punch him.

No, Jonouchi was already about to make a move. If Honda and Hayato hadn't stopped him in time, Kaiba would probably have been disfigured. Even when restrained by the two, Jonouchi was still extremely agitated: "Just because I'm not showing my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover! What right do you have to slander Game Grandpa's toy store!"

"Hmph, do you think I'm like you guys?" Kaiba looked at Jonouchi being held back, and even took a step forward in a very irritating way, looking completely fearless. "I have the strength of a national Duel Monster Tournament champion. The gap between you and me is like that between a soaring dragon and a fish or shrimp at the bottom of a river. We're not even in the same league."

Hayato was so annoyed by Kaiba's arrogant attitude that he even considered letting Jonouchi beat Kaiba up. What excuse should he use then? A cramp in his hand?

"So, how about you have a go at me, you little fish, Kaiba!" Jonouchi laughed in his anger, pulling out his newly adjusted deck. "I've had enough of your grumpy look at school. I've put up with you long enough!"

"Heh, my time is very precious. I can tolerate spending it searching for rare cards, but someone as ordinary as you isn't worth my time." Seahorse sneered and turned to leave. As he left, he unconsciously glanced around at the other people in the room.

The class includes the timid Yugi Muto, the mediocre Jonouchi and his delinquent classmate Honda, the plain-looking Masaki, and that guy who has a low profile because he's a good student. But he's not an important character.

Kaiba's final gaze settled on the owner of the game room—Suguroku Muto. His inherited height and hairstyle made his kinship with Yugi Muto immediately recognizable.

Then, his gaze shifted downwards. This shift led to a major incident. Seto Kaiba was completely unable to move his eyes; they were glued to the card that Sugoroku Muto was holding in his white gloves.

"What?! That's... the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?!"

Impatiently, Kaiba, utterly unafraid of Jonouchi's fierce gaze that seemed ready to fight, pushed aside Yugi and Kyoko who were blocking his way, and headed straight for the counter, bending down to get as close as possible to the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" sign on it.

"Why, why is the legendary 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' here? Why!"

Seeing Kaiba's loss of composure, Jonouchi's smugness was palpable: "Hmph, Kaiba, 'What kind of crappy card could be found in a place like this?' How do you feel now? You don't even respect 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'?"

But Kaiba seemed oblivious to Jonouchi's words, lost in shock: 'To think that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon could be found here! Unbelievable! I must have it! I absolutely must have it!'

"Alright, alright, you've seen enough." As if seeing through the longing in Kaiba's eyes, Sugoroku quickly put the card back in the box, closed it, and put it away, clearly not intending to continue showing it. "This gamer's name is Kaiba, right? This card is not for sale."

'That damned old man.' Before Kaiba could even open his mouth, Sugoroku had already seen through his thoughts, which annoyed him. However, the elite education he received from a young age instilled in him a sense of refinement that prevented him from showing his emotions directly. He simply tried to keep his tone calm as he picked up the aluminum alloy case he was carrying and placed it on the table.

"Boom!"

Soroku was startled by the dull thud of the box hitting the glass counter. The counter was made of glass to display the cards inside, and he was afraid that Kaiba's strength would be too great and break it.

Kaiba, completely ignoring Sugoroku's expression, opened the box, spun it around, and showed Sugoroku what was inside: "Ki-san, please, sell me that 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' card. I can trade you these cards for it!"

Having seen countless Duel Monsters cards, Sugoroku looked at Kaiba's box with a hint of longing on his face, because the box in Kaiba's hand was packed full of nearly five hundred cards, making it a small mobile card library!

Hayato stepped forward, wanting to see what card had surprised Grandpa Sugoroku so much, but he was speechless after just one glance. Indeed, the suitcase was full of cards, but the quality of the cards, judging from the first layer alone, wasn't very high—it was either high-star, low-stat monsters like "Electric Snail" and "Tackle Beast" that had no clear meaning, or mysterious fusion monsters like "Dungeon Chariot" and "Raging Sea Serpent" that were a complete waste of resources.

Even the magic cards were mostly things like "Red Potion" and "Dream Curry," with only one "Fusion" card that was somewhat decent.

So, Shrimp Dumpling, your cards are all just a collection of these common, low-quality cards? I thought you'd at least have some slightly stronger cards like "Sapphire Dragon" or "Emerald Dragon."

“Hey, Kaiba, I happen to be missing a 'Fusion' card, what do you think?” Hayato interjected, but Kaiba kept staring at Sugoroku, seemingly waiting for his reply.

"Hmm, no way." After looking at the box of cards for a long time, Sosuroku finally suppressed the longing in his eyes and answered firmly.

"If you're not willing to trade, I can buy it with money, no matter how much!" Although Kaiba was a little surprised that Sugoroku refused to trade, he still didn't give up on the idea of ​​"getting the Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and continued to offer his conditions, "Name your price, whether it's thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions, as long as you're willing to sell it to me!"

Hayato retorted, "I don't think it's unreasonable for 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' to sell for 15 billion, but if that happens, it seems like your Kaiba Corporation will be gone."

Chapter 14: The no-pity gacha system in FGO is trash, don't you think?

Because of Kaiba's repeated requests, Sugoroku had no choice but to start telling everyone the stories behind the cards and the emotions he had placed on them, and tried to persuade Kaiba with the theory of "heart".

Hayato found himself back at the very back, but his mind started to wander. He wasn't paying attention to what Sugoroku was saying; instead, he was focused on the control panel that had appeared before him.

As soon as the "SaiQ Duelist System" display screen appeared, Hayato saw several words appearing in the center of the screen:

Congratulations to the duelist for achieving their first victory...

Lost? Tsk...

Congratulations on completing your first duel!

The score for this duel is 1100 dp (base match score 1000 + 100 from using 3 spell cards).

Use the newbie reward - double rating? (Remaining uses: 10)

Having just finished his game, Hayato heard a "ding-dong" notification sound. After a moment's thought, Hayato pressed "NO" on the screen.

The number 1100 started moving the moment Hayato touched it, eventually reaching the top left corner of the screen, where a profile picture frame appeared with a close-up of Hayato's face and a blank box below it.

The number "1100" was embedded in the blank box and remained there motionless. The text displayed in the center of the screen quickly dimmed, and four cards appeared instead.

The cards are designed to resemble the monster cards used in Duel Monsters, except that the central illustration has been replaced with text, which from left to right reads: [Achievements], [Quests], [Shop], and [Store].

Thanks to the games he had played in his previous life, Hayato understood the functions of each module on his own without needing system guidance. First, he clicked on the "Achievements" section, whose border lit up.

Upon entering the "Achievements" section, you are immediately greeted by countless Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that fill the entire screen. Each card is presented with a swirling pattern on its back, and the overall color is somewhat dark.

Only three cards were exceptions; their edges had a faint golden sheen, and even the swirling pattern on their backs was significantly more vibrant than the others. Hayato didn't bother looking at them one by one, flipping over all three cards in one go.

[Achievement Completed: Attack Power of Blue-Eyes White Dragon!]

[Condition: The monster's attack power reaches 3000 points]

[Achievement Completed: Duel King Yugi Muto]

[Condition: Engage in a duel with Yugi Muto]

[Achievement Completed: Your Life is Like a Candle Flickering in the Wind]

[Condition: Lose a duel when your opponent's health is below 1000 and your health is higher than your opponent's]

Reward statistics: 500dp * 3

R-rank card pack (Dragon) *1

SR-level card pack *1

R-level self-selection coupon *1

After being bombarded with a long string of text, Hayato studied it carefully and came up with the basic settings for this "Achievement" module.

First, the achievements in the [Achievements] section are hidden until completed, at which point the conditions are revealed—meaning that achievements are merely supplementary and can only be completed by chance. However, since there's an achievement for "Duel with the game," there's a high probability that there will also be an achievement for "Duel with other legendary duelists."

Secondly, completing each achievement grants a fixed 500 DP points, essentially a reward for losing a duel. Since Hayato wasn't entirely clear on the purpose of DP, he wasn't particularly concerned about this. However, the main reason lay in the third point of the [Achievement] system.

Thirdly, after completing an "achievement", you will receive different special rewards depending on the achievement. For example, the achievement "Blue-Eyes" gives you an R-rank card pack (Dragon), while the achievement "Game" gives you an SR-rank card pack.

After confirming that there were no other "achievements" to earn rewards, Hayato immediately exited the [Achievements] module, skipping the two in the middle and going directly to the [Storage].

The "warehouse," as the name suggests, is a place to store things. Hayato tried putting his card deck into the "warehouse" and succeeded. However, when he tried to put the bag he was carrying into it, he couldn't manage it.

It seems that this [warehouse] can only store items related to the "SaiQ Duelist System".

Hayato's gaze fell on the three items in the [storage] besides the deck he had just put in, but he was only there to check them out and didn't intend to open the card pack or select any cards right now.

After all, he had just spent money to buy a few physical card packs to test his luck, and it turned out that his fate hadn't changed because of the time travel; his luck was still the same as in his previous life—neither lucky nor unlucky. He'd better wait until he got home and took a shower tonight before opening any more packs.

Exiting the [Warehouse], Hayato entered the [Shop] section. Upon entering, he saw the largest card pack placed in front of him.

The card box had no design on it, only the words "Basic Card Pack" written in Chinese. Inside, about 30 card packs were neatly arranged, with "100 dp/pack" written at the front.

Well, so it's still the same old pay-to-win gacha game formula. Hayato was speechless. Looking at the [Shop], it was clearly a Duel Monsters version of the core system of classic pay-to-win gacha games. The only difference was that in the mobile game you could spend real money, while Hayato had to grind to get more DP.

There was a text description on the side of the card box. Hayato read it carefully, and it roughly meant that each pack of cards sold in the shop contained five cards, ranging in rarity from N to UR, but each pack contained at least one card of R rank or higher. And each card box contained at least one SR card.

Additionally, the [Shop] has a recycling system that can recycle some redundant cards, but the cards must be at least R-rank or higher. The [Shop] will provide a certain amount of DP (damage points) based on the quantity and quality of the cards.

In addition, the [Shop] will periodically release special limited-edition card packs. Unlike basic card packs, which are automatically replenished after being used up, limited-edition card packs are only available for that specific period and will not be replenished. Limited-edition card packs will contain limited-edition cards available only during that period, and each pack will contain at least one UR card and three SR cards. Correspondingly, the total number of card packs in the limited-edition card packs has increased to one hundred.

To cater to those with bad luck, the [Shop] also has a function: directly spending DP to buy cards. However, Hayato only glanced at it before leaving. The card purchase area is incredibly comprehensive, offering everything from "Turtle Kaibaku" to "Red-Eyes Dragoon," covering all cards that can be used in the current era. There are even three copies of "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," which Kaiba desperately wants right now, and you can even freely choose from various alternate art versions.

So what is the price?

In a word, expensive!

Hayato glanced at the card and thought, "Good heavens, the lowest tier sold in the shop is R-rank, but even the cheapest R-rank card costs a whopping 100 dp." Hayato figured he might as well just open card packs instead of buying cards; even with the worst luck, it should still be better than buying a card, not to mention the packs come with four N-rank cards.

After exiting the most feature-rich and comprehensive [Shop], Hayato arrived at the final [Mission] area.

Chapter 15 Awakening the Giant... No, wait, there's only one way to get on the ship...

Upon entering the [Tasks] module, Hayato's first impression was one of emptiness.

Compared to the densely packed Achievements and Shop modules, the Warehouse and Quests modules feel more like a collection. On the huge screen, only two quests stand alone in the quest list—

Main Quest: The Enemy Is Across the Sea

[As a duelist, how can you miss this upcoming grand event? Try to board the cruise ship to the Duel Kingdom 0/1]

[Reward Preview: 1000 dp, R-rank card pack *1]

And

Side Quest: Do Your Work Well

Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice; collect powerful cards to strengthen yourself! Collect 0/20 cards (R-rank and above)

[Reward Preview: 1000 dp]