Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

After leaving the deck, Jaden and Sho entered the cruise ship. Like Marufuji Sho, many students had never been on a cruise ship before, so most were exploring the entire ship. However, there were also students like Jaden who weren't first-time cruisers, and who, unlike Misawa, wanted peace and quiet. In a cabin where some event seemed to be taking place, Jaden and Sho saw many students already dressed in Duel Academy uniforms.

"That's strange. We don't look like upperclassmen, so why do they have school uniforms while we don't, even though we're all first-year students?"

This time, the one who answered Jaden's question wasn't Marufuji Sho, who was leading the way, but a male voice from the side: "Because Duel Academy, in addition to its branches all over the world, doesn't only have a high school, it also has an affiliated middle school for students to attend. Unlike students who have to go to the main campus of Duel Academy to complete the 'school' entrance exam based on their grades, the middle school students have already completed the 'school' based on their grades by graduation, which is why they have school uniforms."

Looking towards the source of the voice, the speaker was a boy with black hair and black eyes, wearing an Obelisk-Blue uniform. Upon seeing that the other person was wearing the Obelisk-Blue uniform, which symbolized an honor student, Marufuji Sho, who was still unsure of his final grades but had no confidence in himself, shrank back two steps and hid behind Judai.

Judai, on the other hand, didn't pay any attention to the uniform the other was wearing, and said with great delight, "Wow, you're also at Duel Academy, Manjoume!"

"It's Mr. Manjoume!" With his arms crossed, Manjoume corrected Judai's way of addressing him. Meeting him again after so many years made Manjoume's heart surge with emotion. "It's been years since we last met. You've really aged faster and faster, Judai. You only ranked 110th in the written exam?"

"Oh, what does it matter? In the end, the most important thing about Duel Monsters is still actual combat, right? Just like how you, Manjoume, although you have good grades, you never beat me in Domino City before."

Jaden spoke casually, but his offhand remark was overheard by Chronos, who was also in the cabin preparing to oversee the upcoming event. Chronos already had a poor impression of Jaden, considering him a student with an extremely unprofessional attitude. Furthermore, the fact that he had been defeated by a freshman who hadn't even enrolled yet had already reached headquarters, causing him to lose face, was even more embarrassing.

Professor Chronos, who had been hesitant to decide whether Jaden would be admitted to the Sun God-Yellow Dormitory or only the Osiris-Red Dormitory due to Jaden's exceptionally high performance in actual combat and his low score in the written exam, made his decision upon hearing Jaden's words.

The Duel Academy is for students to learn, but this bad student is spreading the idea that learning is useless. What's the point of learning at the Duel Academy then? He might as well skip classes and just go to duels.

Osiris Red! It has to be Osiris Red. Even if Principal Hayato came, or even if the founder of the academy, Seto Kaiba, came, this bad student could only be Osiris Red!

Not noticing Chronos's direction, Jaden looked at Manjoume and asked curiously, "I was almost late for my exam and didn't see your duel, Manjoume. What was your ranking in the written exam?"

"It's Mr. Manjoume! And you weren't paying any attention to what I was saying, nor did you see my uniform?" Manjoume tugged at the collar of his school uniform and boasted to Judai, "I entered the high school as the No.1 student in the middle school, and even in the high school, I will continue to be No.1 and become the strongest in Duel Academy!"

"That's the kind of spirit you have, Manjoume. You've really ignited my fighting spirit." Judai said with a grin, completely ignoring Manjoume's request to call him "Mr. Manjoume." "However, you can only be No. 2 at most, because I'm number one."

As he spoke, Judai pointed to himself with his thumb.

"This...this is a provocation! Even if we can defeat Professor Chronos, we, the students admitted through the exam, can only be classified as the Sun God-Yellow at most. Why provoke the students of Obelisk-Blue..." Behind Judai, Marufuji Sho trembled as he heard Judai actually provoking Manjoume. The timid man's mind raced as he tried to think of a way to distance himself from Judai.

"You have the nerve to say that, Jaden Yuki. I clearly saw that your dueling skills had deteriorated so much when you dueled with Professor Chronos, and your deck hadn't improved at all. You don't actually think I'm still at the same level as before, do you?" Manjoume said arrogantly. "I am the one who will become No. 1, and you are just an obsession with the past that I want to defeat, and you will only become a stepping stone for my victory."

"Although I haven't received the Duel Disk from the Duel Academy yet, I'll use the upcoming event as a warm-up. After all, if we really step into the dueling arena, I'm afraid you'll be completely defeated by me in the blink of an eye, hahahahaha!"

As if in response to Manjou's words, Chronos, who had just finished speaking and was trying to keep himself from being influenced by Jaden, stepped onto a stage and said into the microphone: "The legend of the Duel King once began on a cruise ship bound for a deserted island at sea. As the world's strongest duelist, the Duel King has always been the benchmark in the hearts of countless duelists."

"To encourage the students of Duel Academy to strive for the title of Duel King and reach even greater heights, a special event—the Card Exchange Meeting—organized by the school's principal for this year's new students is now beginning."

"This event originated from the Duel Kingdom era, where duelists invited by the legendary duelist Mr. Pegasus to board a cruise ship to the island. During their journey, they exchanged cards with each other on the ship to enhance their decks in a mutually beneficial way. The purpose of this special event is the same. Students can pick up a limited card pack specially prepared by the International Mirage Society at the front desk and freely exchange the cards they have obtained here."

"The activity itself is not about winning or losing. It's more about allowing students to enhance their communication by exchanging cards before entering school. Cards are important in Duel Monsters, but they are never the most important thing. What's more important is having partners or opponents with whom you can connect on a deeper level. This is also the principal's blessing to the students. He hopes that you can make trustworthy friends during your time at school."

Continuing to read the manuscript, Professor Chronos frowned when he saw the next sentence: "'At the same time, according to a certain special event that occurred during the Duel Kingdom period, it is strongly recommended not to exchange cards with the bespectacled, green-haired dwarf'? Strange, was there such a sentence before? Oh well, whatever."

"In short, the card exchange session begins now!"

After Chronos announced the start of the event, Jaden and Manjoume did not rush to the podium to collect their special card packs. Instead, they subconsciously looked at the "short, green-haired guy with glasses" standing right next to them.

"N-no, it wasn't me! I have blue hair, and why would anyone make such a strange suggestion?!" Marufuji Sho scratched his hair. Unable to change his hair color or immediately increase his height, he used his extraordinary wisdom to take off his glasses and complained, "Why does this have to do with me? Is this targeting me?!"

"Heh, you think too highly of yourself. You're ranked 119th, the bottom of the class, aren't you?" Manjoume glanced at Marufuji Sho with disdain and said to Judai, "I think I know something about it. It seems that Duel Kingdom was established after the legendary duelist Yugi Muto defeated the legendary duelist Seto Kaiba using the invincible [Exodia]."

"A guy named Insect Haga, who won the All-Japan Selection Tournament, couldn't think of a way to defeat [Exodia]. He pretended to get close to Mr. Muto Yugi and tricked him into showing the five cards that were the only set in the world that had been collected. Then, he took the opportunity to tear one of the cards to pieces and eat it. That guy also seemed to be a short guy with light green hair and glasses."

"Oh, I see, I completely understand now." Judai's face clearly showed that he didn't understand anything at all. "So, Manjoume, what are you trying to compete with me in? Chronos-sensei just said that there's no such thing as winning or losing in this event, right?"

"Hmph, you idiot, who told you that you can't compete without a winner? Let's compare who gets the most cards that improve their deck at the end of the event. We don't need judges or anything, we can just score each other."

Manjoume was quite confident in his judgment and luck, and Jaden was also very interested in his experience. Immediately, the two of them joined the line to receive the card packs and began their match with the specially customized limited card packs.

Although Marufuji Sho did not participate in the competition, he did not miss the opportunity to get free card packs and followed closely behind the two.

Soon, all three received their card packs. After finding a quiet spot, Judai and Manjoume exchanged a glance, nodded, and opened their packs of special cards together.

Chapter 1064 This is what it means to be a lucky draw dog

【The Gospel of Resurrection】, 【The Dragon's Fighting Spirit】, 【The Ruins of the Giant Dragon】.

Although Manjoume and Judai agreed to compete on how much the cards they collected after the event would help their respective decks, the competition actually began the moment they opened that limited pack of cards.

After all, the prerequisite for exchanging cards with others is that the card you offer must be powerful enough and also be a card that the other party needs. However, if the cards you get from your card pack from the beginning are powerful cards that suit you, then you can save a lot of trouble.

A free limited card pack contains ten cards, and one of the five cards is a fixed Field Spell Card [Duel Academy]. In other words, there are a total of nine random cards. Manjoume found that three of these nine cards were cards that could be added to his deck and were of decent strength. He thought his luck was pretty good.

Thinking this, Manjoume turned his gaze toward Judai.

"【Swap Hero】, 【Hero Aura】, 【Hero Arrives】, although none of them are related to my 【E·hero】 deck, they all sound really cool. They seem like they would fit perfectly into my deck without needing to be swapped." Instead of taking out all the cards and spreading them out to look at them, Jaden drew cards one by one from the open card pack. He felt that the three cards in a row were all very useful.

Jaden wasn't just talking; he actually opened the card box at his waist and put the cards into his deck. Marufuji Sho, standing next to him, scratched his head.

"Although the card names do all have 'Hero' in them, why are they all trap cards?" At the same time, he looked curiously at the next cards in Jaden's card pack. "【Dragon-Type Sealing Pot】 and 【Dragon Slayer】 are both cards that counter Dragon-Type monsters. Although they are very targeted, there probably aren't many duelists who use high-purity Dragon-Type decks, right?"

Since the inception of Duel Monsters, Mirage International has released new cards every year. To date, aside from special races like the Gem-God Beast, the variety of monsters from all races is extremely rich. Among these, the Dragon race has received the best treatment. Excellent stats, outstanding effects, and cool card art have brought Dragon monsters immense popularity, accompanied by remarkably high prices.

For example, the price of a Level 4 Dark Attribute Normal Monster with 1500 ATK and 1200 DEF, 【Demon Dragon】, which has no subsequent enhancement or support cards, is 1000 yen more expensive than 【Melguido Tetraface】, which can be enhanced into 【Masked Monster - Death Guardian】. A single card can sell for about 5000 yen, and this is only because it is a Dragon-Type Monster. If it were another Dragon-Type Monster with higher ATK or a more powerful effect, the price would be even higher.

Furthermore, because Hayato suggested to Pegasus years ago that cards be given special rarity levels and that high-rarity cards be given special entrance animations similar to Pokémon's Flash, and because the animations for high-rarity Dragon monsters are the best produced, the prices of some Dragon cards have increased even more than before. So, regardless of whether duelists using high-purity Dragon decks are strong in duels, at least their wallets are certainly well-stocked.

As luck would have it, the person standing next to Marufuji Sho at that moment was Manjoume, a duelist who used a high-purity dragon deck.

The good mood from getting three decent cards that he could use vanished instantly because of Marufuji Sho's words. He glared fiercely at Marufuji Sho, and under the latter's frightened and confused gaze, Manjoume leaned closer to Judai and said, "Hmph, your good luck has come to an end. Getting five decent cards is already your limit. You can't possibly get two more useful cards, can you?"

Placed in the middle of the card pack is the Field Spell Card [Duel Academy], which is included in every limited card pack. The effect of this card is that when there is a Warrior, Beast, or Fire monster on the field, you can target and destroy one card on your opponent's field once per turn if you activate a Trap Card.

When a Dinosaur-Type, Seadra-Type, or Thunder-Type monster is on the field, you can inflict 1000 damage to your opponent once per turn if you activate a Spell Card.

And when a Machine-Type, Fairy-Type, or Fiend-Type monster is on the field, you can increase the ATK of one monster you control by 1000 once per turn if you activate a monster effect.

While the effect of this card may seem somewhat ambiguous, it is a guaranteed card for every student at the Duel Academy, and it is said to have been designed by the school's principal himself and corresponds to the three dormitories. Although no one understands exactly how it corresponds to the three dormitories, it does not prevent it from becoming a collectible for every student at the Duel Academy, symbolizing the three years spent at the school.

The most famous example is Minazuki-kun, a well-known commentator from the Kaiba Group, who was responsible for commentating on a points match between former champion Katsuya Jonouchi and strong contender Mai Kujaku at the recent World Professional Duelist League. In addition to commentating, he would occasionally play a couple of friendly matches during his live streams. When he took out his card collection album, this card would often be placed at the very beginning of the first page.

After the cards from the Duel Academy, Jaden drew the first monster card from his deck, "Star Bird Laris," and the next card was another monster card that seemed to be related, "Star Beast Garis." Both monster cards were Level 3 monsters with only 800 ATK and DEF.

Seeing that Jaden had finally opened a card pack containing only trap cards and cards that target Dragon monsters, Manjoume's tightly furrowed brows relaxed somewhat as he looked at the effects of the cards in Jaden's hand.

The effect of 【Star Bird Laris】is that during battle, it increases the level of the opponent's monster by 200 points only during the Damage Step. At the end of the Damage Step, it can also banish itself and return to the field in Attack Position at the start of the Battle Phase of your next turn. The effect is not bad, but it does not fit very well with Jaden's Hero deck, or "Yin Xiong" deck, which is mainly composed of 【E-hero】 monsters.

The other card, 【Star Seer Beast Garris】, is just so-so. Its effect is to reveal this card and send the top card of the deck to the graveyard. If that card is a monster card, you can inflict effect damage equal to 200 times the level of that monster and Special Summon this card. However, if it is not, you will destroy this card. I don't see how strong this card is.

Jaden, however, exclaimed excitedly, "Oh my god, this card's effect isn't usable once per turn! What's that saying again? 'Any card that isn't usable once per turn is a fake card,' right?"

"Idiot, so what if you can activate it multiple times? If the effect activates successfully, it will be summoned; if it fails, it will destroy itself. Even if you can use it an infinite number of times, it's meaningless, isn't it?" Manjoume said disdainfully. "Although it can deal effect damage based on the monster's level, how can you guarantee that what you send to the graveyard will all be monster cards?"

"To reliably activate the effect of [Star-Seeing Beast Garris], wouldn't it be better to just fill the entire deck with monster cards?"

As soon as Marufuji Sho finished speaking, he was given a look of disbelief by Manjoume: "Heh, I can somewhat understand how you managed to get number 119. Rather than saying that you did a great job by passing the basic written test and not being eliminated, even if you were second to last."

Although his words seemed to be meant to comfort and encourage, Manjoume's tone and gaze clearly showed his contempt for Marufuji Sho. While he wanted to refute him, Marufuji Sho had nothing to offer in return. After all, he had only barely passed the practical test to enter the Duel Academy, essentially locking himself into Osiris Red, while Manjoume had been in the Obelisk Blue dormitory from the very beginning, a place he would have struggled to advance to even with his efforts.

Jaden didn't pay attention to Manjoume's words, but instead looked at the next card, another monster card, and a popular Light attribute one at that. He drew the card and read its name: "【Rai-Oh】? Sounds pretty powerful."

"A level 4☆ monster with 1900 attack power is not bad, but it's an unpopular Thunder-Type monster, so its value is somewhat reduced. Besides, monsters with powerful effects usually don't have very high attack power." Manjoume casually remarked, glancing at the card's effect. "As long as this card is face-up on the field, neither player can add cards from their deck to their hand by means other than drawing cards!"

"And you can send this face-up card from your field to the Graveyard to negate and destroy the Special Summon of one of your opponent's monsters?!"

Marufuji Sho read out the follow-up effect that Manjoume hadn't finished reading. Even he could see that this [Thunder King] card was excessively powerful, and he and Manjoume said in unison, "What kind of fake card is this!"

"I think it's alright. It's just a special summon seal and you can only draw cards. Although you can't use cards like 'Hero's Arrival' to search for cards, cards like 'Pot of Greed' are not affected at all. And it's not too much to trade one-for-one with a monster specially summoned by your opponent using this normally summoned card, is it?"

Jaden didn't think there was anything fake about the card "Rai-Oh," and its card art didn't look as cool as the "E-Hero" monster. However, seeing how shocked Manjoume and Marufuji Sho looked, he thought about it and decided that he could keep the card for himself.

In a limited card pack of only ten cards, Jaden managed to pull eight useful cards in addition to the fixed "Duel Academy" card. This excessive drop rate made Manjoume wonder if there was a mistake when Jaden packed the cards, or if he was just incredibly unlucky to have only pulled three useful cards.

Marufuji Sho shook his head and showed the cards he had opened from his card pack. They were all monster cards, and apart from one "Electric Bug," they were all vanilla normal monsters. There were very few cards with an attack power of over 1500, and the only "Electric Bug" card didn't really fit his Machine-type deck.

Looking at his own Light-attribute Thunder-type monster, [Electric Bug], and then at the [Thunder King] that Jaden was putting away, Marufuji Sho couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Jaden's good luck.

However, when he saw the last card that Jaden hadn't drawn from the pack, Marufuji Sho couldn't help but smile. He could clearly see the light blue border of the card, indicating that it was a Ritual Monster.

The cards [Star-Viewing Bird Laris], [Star-Viewing Beast Garris], and [Thunder King] were barely usable in Jaden's deck because they were Effect Monsters, but Ritual Monsters require Ritual Spell Cards to use, making them completely different from [E-Hero], which focuses on Fusion Summoning. It seems his good luck has finally run out.

Despite knowing full well that even if Jaden ended up with a useless card like [Lion Warlock], his gains from this limited card pack would still far exceed his own, Marufuji Sho still felt a slight sense of superiority.

Jaden also took out a card from his card pack and looked at it together with Manjoume.

"Oh, it's a ritual monster, but it just so happens to be a dragon that you like to use, Manjoume."

"Although I'm using a Dragon deck, I didn't include a single Ritual Monster, let alone any universal Ritual Spell Cards. Even if you gave them to me, they wouldn't be of any use." Manjoume said, hands on his hips. "In fact, my deck only contains Dragons and Special Summoned Dragons. I don't even have a Fusion Spell Card."

"But I remember there's a saying, 'Fusion Summoning is the noblest way to summon.' It's quite interesting to combine the power of two monsters into one and awaken the hidden power in a harmonious way."

"Hmph, I have no interest in playing any partner games. The strong only need to stand at the top of the pyramid and look down on the weak. There's no such thing as 'graduation' by teaming up with the weak." Manjoume said disdainfully. "Besides, isn't there a saying that 'the battle of Duel Monsters is a battle of card advantage'? Fusion Summoning is so bad for cards, I'm not going to play Fusion."

Seeing that he couldn't convince Manjoume to accept a new summoning method, even fusion, and couldn't trick him into giving him the Dragon Ritual Monster in his hand, Jaden sighed regretfully, raising his hand to continue examining the card: "Sigh, hopefully someone on the ship uses a Ritual Deck, otherwise this card will be wasted. Speaking of which, this card is called [Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon], and its effect is—"

"【Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon】? If you don't need that card, I can trade with you."

A fourth person appeared in the open space where the three were. The blonde hair, which was ruffled by the sea breeze that rushed into the room, was brushed behind her ear. Tenjouin Asuka noticed this side because she heard the name of a powerful card whose effect she remembered. After speaking, she found that she recognized two of them.

"Huh, Manjoume-kun, and... Yuki Judai-kun, right?"

Asuka took out a card and waved it, looking at Jaden who was holding the [Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon], and said, "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Tenjouin Asuka, and I'm a freshman this year, just like you. I really like the Ritual Monster that Yuuki-kun got, and coincidentally, I also have a [E·Hero] deck exclusive card that I'd like to trade with someone. Are you interested in this card?"

Marufuji Sho was stunned when he saw Tenjouin Asuka suddenly appear. With her lips naturally red and her eyebrows naturally dark, the beautiful Asuka looked like a goddess to Marufuji Sho. After a moment, he suddenly realized that she had come here for the last card that Yuki Judai had opened from his card pack.

Not only did he draw eight useful cards in a row, but even the seemingly useless last one managed to attract the goddess's attention? Where did Jaden Yuki get this incredible luck with drawing cards?!

Judai didn't pay much attention to how beautiful Tenjouin Asuka was; instead, he looked at the equipment magic card in Asuka's hand and saw that the card name was "[Beloved Hero]".

Chapter 1065 School Start and Roommates

"Wow, this is the Duel Academy! This is awesome!"

Stepping off the cruise ship docked at the pier, Jaden stood on the shore gazing at the vast island in the distance, connected to the pier by a bridge. He immediately spotted the towering Duel Academy nestled among the jungle and mountains, and sighed in admiration.

The card exchange event was undoubtedly a victory for Jaden. Although Manjoume had good luck, he could only compete with other players, not with those who had godlike draws. Although he opened three powerful cards that could be added to his deck at the beginning, it was still no match for Jaden's eight powerful cards in his starting hand.

Moreover, the tenth card that Judai drew, [Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon], was immediately spotted by Tenjouin Asuka after it was taken out, and she exchanged it with Judai using a card called [Beloved Hero]. Judai immediately agreed to the card exchange, causing Manjoume to lose the contest before the exchange even began.

Even though Manjoume tried to trade his remaining cards with the new students, he only managed to get two cards in return. Although he did encounter a few people who flattered him and offered to be his underlings, and even tried to exchange his useless cards for more powerful and rarer ones that were clearly not of equal value, Manjoume had no interest in taking advantage of them and refused them.

After learning about the contest between Judai and Manjoume, Asuka also joined in with great interest. The quality of the cards she initially drew was about the same as Manjoume's. She encountered a similar situation to Manjoume, with many boys and even girls wanting to befriend her. Asuka made the same choice as Manjoume, but because she was easier to deal with than Manjoume's arrogant demeanor, she ended up with six cards, which was higher than Manjoume's.

However, compared to Manjoume and Asuka, Judai was clearly more focused on the original purpose of the card exchange. The somewhat socially awkward Judai excitedly dragged the equally socially awkward Marufuji Sho around with him. Even if there were no cards to exchange, he was happy to communicate with people. However, few others were like him; most of them were only focused on exchanging cards rather than taking this opportunity to get to know each other.

Regardless, through this card exchange event, Jaden felt he had made many new friends before the start of the school year: Manjoume, whom he had known since childhood; Marufuji Sho, whom he met during the exams; and Tenjouin Asuka, whom he met at the card exchange event. Now that he had arrived at the Duel Academy headquarters, he was completely excited and couldn't wait to make more friends and have more fun duels!

(Misawa, who memorized the freshman handbook so thoroughly that she completely missed the card exchange meeting: ?)

The students who arrived on the same ship as the first-year students were not the only ones. Second-year and third-year students were also on the ship. However, compared to the freshmen who were full of curiosity about everything when they first arrived, the upperclassmen who had cruise ships to ride every year during the holidays did not have such strong curiosity. They did not join the noisy freshmen. Instead, they simply gathered with their classmates or rested in their respective rooms.

The first-year students disembarked first, led by Professor Chronos, while the upperclassmen leisurely packed their luggage and walked off the ship. However, Professor Chronos was only responsible for leading the new students; the upperclassmen knew the way and would return to their respective dormitories on their own.