Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Chapter 179, Card Printing, is an important part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! experience.

“Inside the castle, someone attacked Pegasus, and his left eye was gouged out.” Hayato pulled out a chair and sat down, his gaze sweeping over the group around the round table. “That person is very likely among us.”

As he spoke, Hayato shifted his gaze to the face of the gamer sitting to his right.

Noticing Hayato's gaze, Yugi couldn't help but feel a little nervous: "Hayato, you know me. I would never do anything to hurt someone."

"I'm usually the one who's passive."

Although the Dark Games punish others, it's all done by the King, and it's truly a passive act. What do the Dark Games' actions have to do with my pure and kind Outer Game?

Hayato nodded and looked at Bakura, who was sitting to the right of the game.

"Hayato, you know me. Given my habits, how could I possibly do something so bloody?"

Well, Bakura, you're such a cute little angel. Although you're highly suspicious, what can I do? You're just adorable. I'll just have to believe you for now.

“Hayato, you know me,” Jonouchi said hastily before Hayato could even look at him. “Although I still really want to teach Pegasus a lesson, I would never do something like gouging out his eyes.”

Honda, sitting on the edge of the castle, said, "Hayato, you know me. Although I do act like a delinquent most of the time,"

"Is it just similar?"

"Don't interrupt." Ignoring Jonouchi's retort, Honda continued, "Although I look like... well, I am a delinquent, I have already reformed and turned over a new leaf. I would never do such a thing."

You call that a prodigal son returning home? You just have your eye on the girl in the castle and want to seduce her.

Hayato mentally grumbled to himself and looked at Samejima, who was sitting to his left.

"Hayato, don't look at me. You know me." Samejima touched the back of his head. "If it really was me, it shouldn't have been his left eye that was taken away, it should have been his deck."

"Goodness, I see now." Hayato leaned back in his chair with a tactical backbend. "You guys are all incredibly skilled."

There are proxy players, cunning old men, gambling monsters, delinquents, and card-playing freaks—none of them are simple.

Just then, the door behind them was pushed open, and the old butler walked in, his face full of worry: "Mr. Hayato."

"Mr. Gates, how is Pegasus doing?"

"Not Gates, it's Crogates." The old man corrected Hayato's way of addressing him before reporting, "We have already given Lord Pegasus some basic medical treatment for his wounds, and the medical aircraft has just taken him away to the nearest hospital to the island."

"Because Lord Pegasus is not in good condition right now, I'm sorry, I cannot sign the share transfer agreement with you two. Also, Mr. Hayato, before Lord Pegasus left the island, he asked me to give you this card as compensation for the delayed delivery of the duel wager."

Looking at the card in the box the old butler was holding up, Hayato picked it up with a puzzled expression: "What is this card?"

The card in Hayato's hand bears the logo of International Mirage Studio—a pair of hands holding a Duel Monster card with its back exposed—along with the words "Card Power." Mr. Krogates explained, "As the publisher of Duel Monsters, International Mirage Studio's largest department is called the Card Design Department, which is specifically responsible for designing Duel Monsters cards."

"And the card that Lord Pegasus gave you has the highest authority in the card design department, allowing you to design and manufacture new cards directly without Lord Pegasus's permission."

Hayato raised an eyebrow: "So, in other words, as long as I have this card, I can print cards for myself?"

The old butler gave another explanation. Hayato then understood that although on the surface the production of Duel Monster cards was not much different from the process of printing playing cards in a printing factory, there were actually many restrictions.

The origins of Duel Monsters can be traced back to ancient Egypt three thousand years ago. At that time, Duel Monsters also existed, but instead of being printed on paper cards, they were engraved on heavy stone slabs and served as important ritual objects. After his trip to Egypt, Pegasus brought back to America not only the "Millennium Eye" for his left eye, but also countless stone slabs containing the inspiration for these monsters.

Using the monsters depicted on the stone tablets as models, Pegasus designed a large number of Duel Monsters, from Death Stalker and Millennium Shield to Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, each based on a specific stone tablet. During the design process, Pegasus discovered something amazing—that these stone tablets, weathered by millennia, possessed a certain kind of spirituality!

Pegasus can easily create cards that possess a spiritual quality, such as the Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon that surround the Pharaoh on a stone slab unearthed from a Pharaoh's tomb. Pegasus can easily create cards based on these images, but at the same time, he is also bound by a kind of inexplicable "intuition".

Having acquired the "Millennium Eye," Pegasus knew that supernatural forces truly existed in the world; after all, he himself could read minds at will. Guided by his intuition, Pegasus imposed many restrictions on the cards he created—the "Exodia," which could end a duel in one hit, was divided into five parts; the powerful "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" was limited to only four copies; and the strongest magician, "Dark Magician," required additional cards to cast spells, and so on.

After Pegasus crafted the stone slabs into cards, he discovered that the cards also possessed that same "spirit," which he named "Spirits." When they resided within the stone slabs, they were stone slab spirits; now that they dwell within the cards, they are called "card spirits."

Although Hayato obtained the authority to design and manufacture cards, he couldn't create them arbitrarily without the approval of the spirits. Without the spirit's power residing within them, the cards he created were merely worthless pieces of paper. This thwarted Hayato's original plan to print a set of cards for himself, including [Ash Blossom], [Ghost Rabbit], and [Effect Mask].

However, the card he received wasn't entirely useless. It's just a spirit, after all. Hayato might lack many things, but he certainly doesn't lack spirit cards.

Although the system allows for incredibly convenient card printing anytime, anywhere, its "Miracle and Magic" feature isn't free; Hayato needs to provide a large amount of DP points. Even though Hayato's DP balance returned to over 2000 after his duel with Pegasus, it wasn't enough to buy any powerful cards.

Since Pegasus offers free cards, how could Hayato possibly miss out? After all, it just means his own card sprites will have to work a little harder.

In Hayato's room, [Disruption Yellow] suddenly shivered, feeling as if she were being watched by something. Meanwhile, [Gaia] remained silent, forcibly suppressing a sneeze that almost escaped her lips.

Chapter 180 The King's Duel Must Be Entertainment

"Alright, let's play cards today. Today I'm playing a pure 'Entertainment Partner' deck. A duel for the King of Duels must be entertaining."

"Hmph~, activate [Mind Transformation], your [Two-Headed Thunder Dragon] is mine!"

"Activate [Dragon Mirror], summon my strongest Tamashi, [Dragon Knight - Gaia], then unleash [Spiral Shot Kill], Explosive Kill!!!"

Early in the morning, Hayato sat in front of the Kameji Game House, set up a small table and a parasol, and played cards with the duelists who came to buy card packs and pay their respects to the two new Duel Kings.

Watching an eleven or twelve-year-old elementary school student leave crying after losing a duel, Hayato curled his lip in disdain: "Tch, crying over just one loss. Young people are really weak at handling setbacks. I only managed to take away about one, two, three, four, or five monsters. You should have been using Smail for the duel."

"Well, I think you were taking the Duel Monsters game with those kids too seriously, Hayato, that's why they cried."

Sitting next to Hayato was Yugi, who was also holding a handful of cards. Although he said that, looking at the five face-down cards neatly arranged in his back row, Hayato felt that the experience of the kid opposite him was not much better than dueling with him.

A week has passed since their trip to Duel Kingdom. Hayato and his friends have already returned to Domino City and met with the resurrected Sugoroku Muto. Jonouchi used the Duel Kingdom prize money to pay for his sister's surgery, leaving him with about a million yen, which he returned to Hayato and Yugi.

The doctor said the surgery is scheduled for three months from now.

Everything is moving in a positive direction, as if we've returned to the peaceful daily life before the Duel Kingdom.

Aside from those annoying guys who aren't qualified to participate in Duel Kingdom but dream of defeating Hayato and Yugi and achieving instant success.

After being rushed to the hospital and receiving emergency treatment for 24 hours, Pegasus regained consciousness. Although he is still recuperating in the hospital, he still managed to release a video to the outside world. The video's content was quite simple: on the one hand, it let his business rivals know that he was in good health and not dead, so they shouldn't have any ulterior motives; on the other hand, it announced that Hayato and Game had become the second and third largest shareholders of International Illusion Company, respectively.

Although Pegasus had publicly invited many people to watch the duel, those invited were either celebrities or famous duelists. While these people witnessed Hayato and Yugi defeat Pegasus, they weren't gossipy reporters eager to share everything they saw with others.

Therefore, until Pegasus released the video, the information that the Duel King had been born was only circulating in the upper echelons of social circles. Ordinary people had no idea about it at all. In fact, even after the video was released, many people were hearing about the "Duel Kingdom" for the first time.

As a result, "many people" were quite indignant—why wasn't I invited to participate in such a big duel? If I had gone, maybe—no, I definitely could have become the Duel King.

But "Duel Kingdom" is over. So, how can you prove to yourself, "I can do it too"? The answer is—

"I can't accept this!" Manjoume sat opposite Hayato, watching him unleash a combo of [Earth Spirit], [Gaia], [Inherited Power], and [Gigantify], giving him an OTK. "You bastard, you clearly said you were using the [Entertainment Partner] deck at the beginning!"

Manjoume Seiji, one of the "many people" mentioned above.

Now that "Duel Kingdom" has ended, isn't the only way to prove yourself stronger than the Duel King simply to beat him by playing cards?

"Hmph, you idiot, who says a monster that doesn't have 'Entertainment Partner' in its name isn't an 'Entertainment Partner'?" Hayato said righteously. "Duel King's duels must be entertaining, and these cards are my partners, so aren't they 'Entertainment Partners'? Don't make excuses if you lose a duel."

"What kind of bullshit logic is that! I clearly investigated your [Entertainment Partners] and found they were all animal and mage-type monsters, but you only used one [Sky Magician] the whole time, and the rest were all warrior-type monsters!"

Manjoume was still somewhat unconvinced, but Hayato shooed him away like a fly.

"Alright, alright, next." Hayato waved his hand, watching Manjoume Masashi stand up angrily. "Besides, you can't even beat Jonouchi. Go back and practice some more, young man."

As Manjoume stepped aside, another child who looked like an elementary school student took his place. Hayato turned his head slightly, looked at the line that was finally almost at the end, and breathed a sigh of relief.

After Pegasus released the video, those "many" who were not convinced united and shared intelligence, painstakingly collecting information from all over the country and locating Hayato and Yugi's positions. Hayato's house was in a villa area, and because the property management fees were quite generous, no one bothered him. However, Yugi, whose house was a card shop, was in trouble.

People kept coming to his door, and since Guiji Game House was just a small shop, all those people messed things up and Grandpa Shuangliu's business was completely ruined.

However, despite his advanced age, Old Man Sugoroku is quite quick-witted. The next day, he came up with a very, very good idea that could not only solve the problem of the duelists who came to his door, but also greatly improve the business of the card shop.

"Buy ten packs of cards and you'll get a chance to draw lots, from 'Thank you for your patronage,' 'One more time,' 'One more pack,' all the way to 'Duel with the King of Duel.'" Sitting in front of a lottery machine, Jonouchi complained to Kyoko, who was in charge of selling card packs, "Ki-san is too good at business. At this rate, maybe he can even start a company in the future."

That's right, this is the "perfect" strategy of the old man, Sugoroku—want to duel the Duel King and prove yourself? You need to draw the qualification first. How do you draw? Buy card packs. What if you don't draw? Keep buying card packs.

This move was undeniably cunning, severing the connection between the two dueling champions, Yugi and Hayato, and the duelists who came to challenge them. It eliminated the conflict of "Why can you duel him but not me?" and created a "fair" environment.

Furthermore, if someone is unwilling to follow this rule, then those who have already qualified become the ones on the game's side, and the conflict is shifted to the general public, becoming, "Why do you want to duel without buying card packs? He bought ten packs, I bought twenty packs, and you didn't buy a single pack but still want to duel?"

Hayato listened to the discussion behind him in silence. He would never tell Jonouchi and the others that this idea was actually given to Sugoroku by him. This tactic was called "Involution."

Just then, the little girl sitting opposite Hayato, who was holding a doll, tapped on the table.

"Ah, sorry, I was just spacing out." Hayato apologized first.

"Huh, Gentleman doesn't keep a Lady waiting."

Chapter 181 Seeking Revenge? Or Sending a Wife a Thousand Miles Away

"Your English is great, that's all. Mine is completely incomprehensible," Hayato casually remarked. But to be fair, compared to Pegasus, that fake foreigner who could pronounce "sparashi" better than "you" or "me," the blonde girl's English was 1000% better.

“A gentleman shouldn’t keep a lady waiting, but unfortunately, I’m not a gentleman, and you’re not a lady either.” Hayato said, putting away the cards on the table and magically producing another deck from his pocket.

Although the "buy card packs for a lottery" rule limits the number of duelists each day, Hayato and Yugi still face a terrifying number of opponents every day. While some of these duelists are just weaklings with decks full of ordinary cards and no spells or traps, occasionally a couple of slightly stronger duelists will appear.

That's why Hayato proactively comes to help with the game and deal with the duelists who come knocking. A few days ago, Hayato's DP balance was only 2000+, but after working hard these past two days, it's recovered to over 6000.

However, in return, Hayato and Yugi's decks were thoroughly figured out by the duelists, since a deck only contains about forty cards with specific usage methods. The duelists even began to consciously include targeted cards in their decks.

Therefore, Hayato now basically uses three main decks interspersed with each other. One game he might have "Armed Dragon LV7," the next he might have "Dragon Knight Gaia," and the game after that he might have a bunch of small animals ganging up on him. Even Yugi, he alternates between his main deck and his secondary deck.

But just as Hayato finished setting up the replacement deck, the girl sitting opposite him arrogantly raised her head, revealing her slender, white neck: "You must be Hayato Kobayashi, right? Hmph! I have no desire to duel with you."

"The person I'm looking for is Yugi Muto!"

"Game Muto" turned his head and looked this way: "Huh? Looking for me? But Hayato and I are the same, we are both Duel Kings."

"Huh? You're Yugi Muto?" The blonde girl glanced at Yugi with disdain, then looked him up and down. "Hmph, just like in the photo, your hair is combed like a starfish that's soaked up all the water from Fukushima. You don't look like a good person at all."

"Starfish!?" The game was a little shocked. "I didn't want to either, but everyone in my family has this hairstyle. Chicken Sauce and Chicken Sauce's granddaughter all have this hairstyle."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Just then, Honda arrived in front of the Kameji Card Shop and noticed them. He was carrying several drinks, which seemed to be milk tea or something similar.

Hayato innocently spread his hands: "This 'Lady' said she didn't want to duel with me, but wanted to duel with Yugi, and said that Yugi's hairstyle looked like a starfish and that he was no good person."

Honda was taken aback and subconsciously glanced at Yugi's hairstyle. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that it was pointed out, he realized that Yugi's hairstyle did indeed resemble a starfish. Unable to contain himself, Honda burst out laughing: "Pfft, hahaha, it's true, Yugi, your hairstyle looks like a starfish!"

"Yugi Muto, I challenge you. But I'm not interested in Duel King or anything like that." The blonde girl stood up from her seat, and Hayato then noticed that she was carrying a plush teddy bear. He remembered that it was called "Teddy" or "Terry," anyway, it was a pretty famous brand teddy bear, and it was quite expensive.

"After I beat you, you must return the card your grandfather stole!"

"Chicken Sauce, the stolen card?" Yugi asked, confused and uncertain. "Chicken Sauce isn't that kind of person, is he?"

"Hmph, stop pretending. Your grandpa—Souroku Muto—stole that super rare card from the Duel Monsters world—Blue-Eyes White Dragon—from America!"

Upon hearing the names of the four people, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," Hayato abruptly turned to look at the little girl. Because a considerable amount of time had passed, Hayato's memories of his past life were somewhat hazy, but the part about "demanding the Blue-Eyes" was still quite vivid in his mind.

In that case, this little girl must be—

“My name is Rebecca Dessert. I just came to Domino City from America this morning.” The blonde girl, Rebecca, introduced herself. “The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is an extremely powerful card from America, so it’s only natural to give it to me, the number one in America.”

"Huh? This little girl is number one in the US?" Before Yugi and Hayato could say anything, a thug-looking guy behind Rebecca laughed, "There's a skill to joking, isn't there? Saying you're number one in the US..."

Before he could say two words, the thug froze: "You, you wouldn't happen to be!"