Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Kira Aoki's eyes were calm and still, revealing no emotion. "And this happens to coincide with Mr. Hayato's thoughts. Mr. Hayato once asked me if I believed in 'gravity,' that 'gravity' brings people together, and the answer I can give now is that I believe in that kind of 'gravity' called 'fate.'"

"Mr. Hayato is the kind of man who can be a savior for people like me."

Chapter 1032 Hearing jazz music means I've arrived

Setting down a heavy suitcase, Daitokuji wiped the sweat from his brow. Looking at the empty space before him, he sighed and remarked, "Although Diablo's legacy has been largely erased, this alchemical array is still functioning normally."

Daitoku-ji, or rather, the alchemist Amunaeru himself, had been traveling for a long time in the past to create the Philosopher's Stone. He had accumulated too much fatigue and developed an incurable disease. In fact, he had already died. However, he was able to transfer his soul to live on by creating an artificial life form through the human transmutation he had completed.

However, without the Philosopher's Stone, this artificial life form is ultimately inferior to the original human body. It has a limited lifespan, and the more intense the use, the shorter the second lifespan will be. Moreover, the creation of this artificial life form was based on a coincidence. Otherwise, Daitokuji could have easily created another physical body.

Diablo, whose goal was human transmutation, accidentally created an imperfect Philosopher's Stone, while Daitokuji, whose goal was the Philosopher's Stone, accidentally created an imperfect human transmutation. It's hard to say whether something called "fate" was playing tricks on these two alchemists.

However, although its lifespan is shorter than that of the original human body, Daitokuji's body was equipped with as many useful functions as possible, including the Mystic Eye, which integrates high-precision scanning capabilities. However, Daitokuji, who usually keeps his eyes half-closed, doesn't use this ability much in order to conserve energy as much as possible.

However, when the time really comes, Daitokuji doesn't care that using the Mystic Eyes will shorten the lifespan of this body.

The small, non-prescription glasses, meant only for decoration, slipped down to the middle of his nose, revealing Daitokuji's pair of red eyes. These were magical eyes that allowed him, who could not see spirits, to look directly at them, and also gave him the ability to directly observe hidden traces of alchemy. What appeared to ordinary people as a slightly sunken, unremarkable open space was actually covered with a rather complex alchemical barrier.

Starting from this barrier, it connects to seven smaller, subordinate barriers at the edge of the open space. There, buried deep underground, are alchemical artifacts called "Seven Gates of Essence," which will harmonize the spiritual and life forces naturally generated on the island, underground, and even in the atmosphere, ultimately concentrating them at the very center of the barrier.

This was once Diablo's research center on this secluded island, where the Philosopher's Stone, which he created by chance, was born. If he had continued his research, he might have been able to use the life on the island to get closer to his goal of human transmutation.

But there are no ifs. Diavolo died in his fight with Hayato, and even the research center he left behind was razed to the ground when the Kaiba Corporation remodeled the island, leaving only this empty space.

However, since one-fifth of the island's area was sufficient to build a massive Duel Academy, the Kaiba Corporation naturally saw no need to destroy the remaining natural environment to expand usable space. Even if the Duel Academy needed to expand in the future, it could be developed later. Therefore, only the equipment and data in the research center were destroyed; the underground barrier remained intact and continued to operate.

Even before the Duel Academy was officially established, Daitokuji had requested permission from Hayato to use the minimum power of this barrier to attempt to recreate his accidental success in human transmutation, in order to extend the life of his longtime patron, Kagemaru, and Hayato agreed. However, the current ley lines simply lack sufficient magical energy to complete human transmutation. What exactly is Daitokuji's purpose in coming here—?

"This is really giving me a tough time, Chairman Kagemaru." He bent down and muttered to himself, entering the combination to the briefcase at his feet. "They actually want me to give these three cards..."

Daitokuji couldn't help but recall the message he had received from Kagemaru that morning. No one knows when they will collapse at any age. Kagemaru, who was still able to walk at the beginning of the year, had only been gone a few months when he caught a cold due to the temperature fluctuations between spring and autumn. After sneezing, he was lying in a life support pod specially prepared by his pharmaceutical company, where he could only be kept alive and communicate with the outside world by machines.

Daitokuji originally planned to use Diavolo's alchemy circle to accumulate magic power over several years and complete Kagemaru's human transmutation before his current body reached its end. However, it seems that Kagemaru is leaving ahead of time and is sending a message to Daitokuji asking for help based on past favors, his words almost pleading.

Daitokuji, who was not an ungrateful person, had always wanted to repay Kagemaru, but when he learned of Kagemaru's plans, he wavered.

While traveling the world in the past in search of the opportunity to complete the Philosopher's Stone, just as Pegasus found the Stone Tablet Monster in Egypt and gained inspiration for creating the Duel Monsters game, Daitoku-ji also saw something extraordinary during his travels in Egypt, in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian priest.

The ancient priest seemed to have once held an extremely prominent position and committed some unforgivable crime. In his tomb, Daitoku-ji Temple also found some things related to the pharaoh, and even evidence that the priest had been a member of the royal family. However, he was not concerned about these things, because he discovered that the priest was also an ancient alchemist who seemed to have created something extraordinary. He even left three special stone tablets in his tomb.

On those three special stone slabs, there were three strange stone monsters. Unfortunately, their creators did not complete them, and due to the passage of time and the damage to the slabs, the monsters within them fell into a near-impossible slumber. Nevertheless, from the few remaining pieces of information on the fragmented slabs, Daitokuji discovered that if he could complete and awaken the spirits within these three slabs, he could obtain the power of the nearly completed Philosopher's Stone.

Using his alchemical abilities, Daitokuji transcribed three stone tablets and crafted them into three Duel Monster cards. However, he later discovered that the energy required to complete all three cards was far beyond normal levels; it was utterly hopeless without reaching a world-level scale. Even simply activating them would require sacrificing countless lives. Therefore, he sealed the three cards away and stopped thinking about it.

To Daitokuji's utter surprise, despite his belief that he had hidden the secret quite well and that he had done a good job of keeping it a secret because he always went his own way, Kagemaru still found out about the secret and, after he entered the life support pod, had someone deliver the box he had hidden all the way to him on Duel Academy Island.

Kagemaru's request is to use the island's alchemy array to awaken three cards, thereby prolonging his life!

As an alchemist, Daitokuji was actually not qualified, because he didn't completely abandon humanity and other things useless to alchemy like Diavolo did, leaving only his own goals in his eyes. This is why he was caught in a dilemma. On one hand, there was the life of Kagemaru, who had provided him with a lot of help over the years, even assisting in the birth of this second body, and who could almost be said to have saved his life. On the other hand, there was the safety of innocent people who would be involved with those three evil cards.

For a moment, Daitokuji thought that if he could completely abandon his humanity like Diavolo, he might be able to take action against the people on Duel Academy Island without hesitation because of his friendship with Kagemaru. But then again, if he lost his humanity and didn't care about Kagemaru's life-saving grace, would he still do things for him?

Torn between his thoughts, Daitokuji finally brought the briefcase containing the three cards to the center of the barrier covering the island. However, he still couldn't decide whether to place the three dangerous cards there. He simply thought that this place, located in the back mountain of the Duel Academy, was secluded and quiet, allowing him to think peacefully. Compared to the fact that some PUA practitioners seemed to have visited the Duel Academy today, the matters at hand were more important.

However, Daitokuji was unaware of a very famous law: if someone who has been squinting for years opens their eyes, something bad is bound to happen.

Just as Daitokuji entered the combination to the briefcase and was about to open it, he suddenly heard the sound of a drum set coming from the forest behind him. As the drum set sounded, a lively and exciting jazz piece began.

What's that noise?!

Daitokuji didn't check the cards in the box; instead, he immediately locked it again and looked warily behind him. Duel Academy Island wasn't a tourist island; it was restricted to the public. To visit, one had to make a reservation with Duel Academy in advance and obtain permission, so there were no tourists.

Furthermore, since PUA practitioners visited the island today, the Duel Academy teachers should all be at the academy. In other words, the person behind them must be someone who infiltrated the island without permission!

Under Daitokuji's wary gaze, he saw an unusually large power emanating from the forest, which further confirmed his guess, because this was definitely not a power that ordinary people could possess. It felt like a luminous body that would form when a number of elves exceeding a certain level gathered together, like a star!

When Hayato emerged from the jungle, he saw Daitoku-ji Temple, which looked on guard.

"Mr. Hayato, no, Principal Kobayashi, it's you?" Daitokuji was stunned when he saw Hayato's face clearly, and his opened demonic eyes narrowed again. "Why are you here?"

"You actually called me Principal Kobayashi? There's already a thick barrier between us, Daitokuji." Hayato said with a sad expression, then raised the Duel Disk in his hand. The jazz music that Daitokuji had just heard was coming from it. "When I hear jazz music, it means I'm here."

“Principal, you should be dealing with PUAs, but here you are…” Seeing the Duel Disk on Hayato’s wrist, Daitokuji seemed to understand something and let out a sigh of relief. “I see, you already knew. It’s good that someone is stopping me, then I won’t have to make things difficult for myself anymore.”

Hayato complained helplessly, "If you really understand something, just say it, don't make it up. And it's not PUA, it's PTA, you're mistaken, Daitokuji. It's unacceptable for a teacher to have such a bad memory."

"Although you say that about me, I bet you didn't remember my name, Principal. It must have been another teacher who reminded you." Daitokuji immediately exposed Hayato, his smile gradually fading. "As for what I guessed... what else could it be? You must know about the wish that Chairman Kagemaru made for me."

"Although I really can't bear it, I can't refuse my benefactor's only wish, so I'm sorry, Mr. Hayato. If you want to stop me from burying those three Demon Cards underground, then defeat me with a Duel Monster. That way, I can convince myself that I've done my best."

As a teacher at the Duel Academy, Daitokuji naturally carries a Duel Disk with him. However, the style of the Duel Disk is not the common one on the market today. Instead, it is a special edition Duel Disk developed by Kaiba specifically for the Duel Academy, where most users are students and teachers. The design incorporates user feedback, changing the sturdy metal material to a durable special plastic, making it lighter and easier to dye, allowing for the release of a limited edition with different colors.

Daitokuji put on the Duel Disk, took out his deck, inserted it into the Duel Disk, and assumed a ready stance towards Hayato, shouting, "Duel!"

【Daitoku-ji Hugo: 4000LP, 5 in hand】

Although his words were delivered with great force, Daitokuji harbored no hostility towards Hayato. Instead, he said casually, "Back in the KC Cup, I was so close to dueling with you, Mr. Hayato, but unfortunately, I never got the chance. Now, this opportunity is perfect for me to learn from you, Mr. Hayato, about my capacity as a duelist and the limits of an alchemist!"

"Now you have two choices. One is to hand over the briefcase on the ground to me, then give up and go back to Duel Academy to deal with those boring and troublesome guys with Aoki and the others, forgetting everything you were prepared to do." Although Hayato still didn't understand what Daitokuji had figured out, he wouldn't refuse a duel that was offered to him. He took his deck from the card box at his waist and inserted it into the Duel Disk. "However, judging from your expression, you won't choose that option."

"Then there's another one: being defeated by my invincible deck."

"Duel!"

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

Chapter 1033 A powerful monster like you was born to be eaten by a sea turtle!

"I'll take the first turn. Draw a card!"

Daitokuji seized the initiative and drew a card from his deck. After glancing at the card, he said to Hayato, "I don't know if you remember me, Mr. Hayato, but the deck I'm using is a culmination of all my knowledge as an alchemist, centered around the 'Philosopher's Stone' in alchemy."

"Activate the Continuous Spell Card [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining]. As long as this card is face-up in the Spell & Trap Zone, all cards I send to the Graveyard will be banished from the game."

As Daitokuji activated the card, an alchemical distillation furnace, four or five meters tall, appeared behind him and was constantly operating.

"Alchemy deck, huh? I'd love to say I remember it perfectly, but actually I don't remember it at all." Although he had a deep impression of Daitokuji himself, Hayato couldn't really remember his deck. Whether it was the previous world or this world, the only thing he remembered was that Daitokuji used the "Golden Artificial Lifeform" deck, which boosted attack power by banishing monsters, during the KC Cup.

As for other impressions, the first is the fake card game I played with as a child, [Planetary Line]; the second is the very sexy [Primordial Sun - Helios] who will gradually turn into an old lady; and the third is the invincible [Great Universe].

But apart from that, Hayato really couldn't say what Daitokuji's alchemy deck actually looked like.

"However, banishing all the cards that send you to the graveyard is very suitable for certain decks that are good at fighting by banishing cards." Looking at the Continuous Spell Card [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] on Daitokuji's field, which is essentially a one-sided [Cosmos] that only applies to himself and seems to have only negative effects, Hayato glanced at the cards in his hand.

Although his most proficient tactic is sending monsters to the graveyard to fight in various ways, because he has a deep impression of "Universe", he will naturally not foolishly use cards like "Inferno" and "Shadowdome" which are useless when encountering "Universe" in the graveyard. Instead, he uses a different deck that does not rely much on graveyard battles.

"Alchemy, in its simplest terms, is about achieving an equivalent exchange through seemingly unequal means. Just like the act of 'alchemy' itself, it is essentially the process of constantly stripping away impurities and refining rare gold." Daitokuji said, playing a card from his hand. "I activate the Normal Spell Card [Iron Lamp]. This card can only be activated if [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] is face-up on the field."

"Special Summon the Alchemist Beast - Iron Fire Dragon from my hand or Deck!"

In the enormous distillation kettle behind Daitoku-ji Temple, an oil lamp made of steel was extracted from the molten metal. From the flickering flame in the lamp, a vertical pupil opened, and then the entire oil lamp melted and reformed into a flying dragon made of steel, with flames burning inside!

【Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon】【3☆/Flame】

[Rock-type/Special Summon/Effect]

[500/500]

"It looks alright, someone who doesn't know might think it's some kind of powerful monster. However, only 500 points of attack and defense is too pathetic. It can't even break through the defense of a small monster like [Disruption]?"

How cool it looks to me? The true strength of [Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon] is just as pathetic. It's a huge monster, even taller than Daitokuji, but its attack power is only a fraction of that of [Dark Magician]. Although this card was Special Summoned by Daitokuji from his deck, so it's barely a one-for-one trade, what's the point of having more of these low-level monsters?

"The combat power of the Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon is indeed not very strong. After all, it is not the main product of alchemy. Strictly speaking, it can only be considered an impurity that has been extracted and removed from the Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining."

"Besides not being able to be Normal Summoned, the only effect of [Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon] is that it can directly attack the opponent's duelist." Daitokuji didn't care about Hayato's dismissive view of [Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon], and instead played three more cards from his hand in succession. "But since it's an impurity, the quantity won't be small, and it can easily summon several similar monsters."

"Similar to the effect of [Iron Lamp], while [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] is face-up on the field, activate the Spell Cards [Bronze Scales], [Lead Compass], and [Tin Magic Circle] to Special Summon [Alchemy Beast - Bronze Scale Serpent], [Alchemy Beast - Lead Lion], and [Alchemy Beast - Tin Eagle] from my hand and Deck to my field!"

【Iron Lamp】 seemed to be a demonstration by Daitokuji for Hayato. After 【Alchemy Beast - Iron Fire Dragon】 appeared, the three magic cards he played in succession extracted three metal elements from the 【Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining】 behind him. The balance, compass and magic circle made of "copper", "lead" and "tin" respectively condensed into shapes and then transformed again, appearing on Daitokuji's field in the form of animals.

[Alchemy Beast - Bronze Scale Python] [3☆/Light] [DEF500]

【Alchemy Beast - Lead Lion】【3☆/Earth】【DEF500】

【Alchemy Beast - Tin Eagle】【3☆/Wind】【DEF500】

With only one card left in his hand, Daitokuji easily summoned four monsters in his first turn, without even using a normal summon. Although the four monsters were all uniformly weak, the sight of four different but equally ferocious monsters appearing in unison was truly awe-inspiring.

If this were the Linked Era, or even the Xyz Era, if Hayato saw his opponent easily pull out four big guys standing on the field, ready to be used as Oba-rei at any time, he would be a little worried about whether he had any cards in his hand that could improve his game experience. But Hayato wasn't afraid of these weaklings on the field at Daitokuji Temple at all.

It has no effect whatsoever; it's just a small fry that can directly attack. What can it do? Move around randomly like a teardrop or generate cards like a shadowfly? It doesn't have that ability.

Just as Hayato was thinking this, Daitokuji played the last card in his hand and said, "With [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] face-up on the field and my hand containing only this card, the Normal Spell Card [Black Process - Nigredo] meets the activation conditions, and I activate it!"

The moment the spell card named after "Corruption," the first step in alchemy to create the "Philosopher's Stone," was activated, the four monsters on Daitokuji's field, which had only been on the field for a short time, were suddenly engulfed by flames surging from beneath their feet. They violently exploded and shattered under the heat, and were banished along with the cards Daitokuji had activated earlier. Behind him, the molten liquid in the [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] continued to boil, constantly removing impurities and purifying the liquid through distillation.

With nine cards already left outside of Daitokuji, to Hayato's astonishment, Daitokuji suddenly drew eight more cards from his deck in one go!

"The effect of 【Nigredo】 banishes all 【Alchemy Beasts】 on my field. For each monster banished, I draw two cards from my deck."

Upon hearing Daitokuji's explanation, Hayato couldn't help but retort, "What fake card? If there are five monsters in five squares on the field, wouldn't it be easy to draw ten cards with just one card?"

“Strictly speaking, aside from gold, there are six most important metals in alchemy, each corresponding to one of the six days of the week other than Sunday, and also to the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and the Moon in the solar system, excluding the Sun. If possible, I would love to see the scene of banishing six Alchemy Beast monsters at once,” Daitokuji explained to Hayato, while regretfully adding, “It’s a pity that there are only five Monster Zones available for Duel Monsters.”

"Not necessarily. Even if the Extra Monster Zone is hard to appear without the help of Data Storm, and even if it does appear, you can't put your Alchemy Beast there. But you can try joining Doma and then using the invincible Orichalcos Barrier." Hayato casually joked. "But unfortunately, Doma is dead, and whoever uses the Orichalcos Barrier loses."

Daitokuji wasn't distracted by Hayato's trash talk. After drawing a full eight cards, he glanced at his hand and drew two more cards to activate: "Activate the Spell Cards [Mercury Hourglass] and [Silver Key]. I Special Summon [Alchemy Beast - Mercury Remora] and [Alchemy Beast - Silver Moonface] in Defense Position."

【Alchemy Beast - Mercury Remora】【3☆/Water】【DEF500】

【Alchemy Beast - Silver Moonface】【3☆/Dark】【DEF500】

Two more monsters suddenly appeared on the previously empty field, their strength as worrisome as ever. However, combined with Daitokuji's six cards in hand, Hayato still felt a bit of danger. At least, until Hayato could remember exactly how many overpowered fake cards like [Black Process - Nigredo] were in Daitokuji's alchemy deck, Hayato would no longer underestimate these [Alchemy Beasts].

After Special Summoning two Alchemy Beasts onto the field, Daitokuji drew another card from his hand. Instead of playing it immediately, he said to Hayato, "Mr. Hayato, do you know what the steps are after 'corruption' in alchemy?"

Because of Hiroyuki Kobayashi's [Golden Kingdom Lich], Hayato also knew a little about alchemy and easily answered, "It's 'albinism', right?"

“Yes, it’s albinism. This is the card I’m going to activate next.” Daitokuji played the card in his hand. “The Spell Card [Albedo] can only be activated if [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] is on the field. Special Summon one [Golden Artificial Life Form] from my hand and Deck.”

When the card in his hand was sent to the graveyard after activation, it was banished due to the effect of [Alchemy Cauldron - Chaos Refining] and absorbed into the distillation cauldron behind Daitokuji. This time, what appeared from the distillation cauldron was no longer the monster made of impurity metals that appeared before, but a huge humanoid made of real gold.

[Golden Artificial Life Form] [6☆/Light]

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1500/1500]

"The artificial life form made of gold, the metal that symbolizes the sun, Sunday, and the goddess of dawn, is one of the most powerful monsters in my deck, the [Golden Artificial Life Form]. It has the ability to increase its ATK and DEF based on the number of my banished cards."

As Daitokuji spoke, he waved his hand, and suddenly, phantom images of cards that Daitokuji had previously used and banished appeared around the [Golden Artificial Lifeform] on his field!

"A total of twelve cards were excluded, each increasing the [Golden Artificial Lifeform]'s Attack and Defense by 300 points," Daitokuji announced loudly. "Its final Attack is 5100 points!"