Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You're just greedy for money." Hayato looked at the DP points he had accumulated over this period of time and reluctantly clicked confirm. You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. Rather than blindly fumbling around in the dark to figure out how to play this card, Hayato would rather spend some DP. Anyway, there are plenty of leeks at the door of the Kameji Card Shop every day... I mean, duelists come knocking.

After spending DP, the system quickly provided instructions, making Hayato wonder if the system had learned some despicable tricks from certain game companies, such as "crippling the main content and then selling DLC," and that the instructions had actually been provided long ago but were just kept secret.

This card can temporarily replace one designated card of a duelist by consuming energy. The higher the rarity of the target card, the higher the energy cost. This card gains one energy charge per day, with a maximum energy limit of 4.

Hayato understood immediately after this explanation. The card he had was indeed similar to the [Philosopher's Stone - Sabashir] in that it could indeed be used to print cards.

The only difference is that Jaden Yuki's card has a higher burst damage and can print three cards in one go, while Hayato's card requires energy to use. N-rank cards have one layer, R-rank cards have two layers, SR-rank cards have three layers, and if it is a UR card, it requires all four layers of energy to print one card.

However, Jaden Yuki's card is only usable three times, while Hayato's card can be reused indefinitely. Trading a short burst of power for more uses makes it difficult to definitively say which is superior.

However, upon reflection, calling Hayato's card "Sabahir" seems somewhat inappropriate, as the two cards only have some similar effects and are not the same card.

Just like how both Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Man-Eating Bug can target and destroy a monster, Hayato can guarantee that if he were to call the Blue-Eyes White Dragon that Kaiba might print in the future "Man-Eating Bug," Kaiba's expression would definitely not be pleasant.

“【Philosopher’s Stone - Sabashir】, I remember 'Sabahir' seems to be another name for Archangel Michael.” Hayato clapped his hands and came up with a name that he felt was pretty good. “Then let’s call this card 【Herel】 from now on, 【Philosopher’s Stone - Herel】.”

Herald means "morning star" in Hebrew and is also the epithet of a famous angel in the Bible. This angel was Michael's brother, and after the Fall, he changed his name to Satan. His Latin name was incorrectly transliterated and became quite famous—Lucifer.

Just as Hayato named the blank card, a white flame ignited on it, but there was no burning sensation. After the flame disappeared, the newly transformed [Philosopher's Stone - Horel] appeared in Hayato's hand.

It seems that after being named, the number of charges was reset and it was completely bound to Hayato. With a thought from Hayato, [Philosopher's Stone - Herrell] became an equipment magic card.

Following the stairs to the window of a loft at the edge of the arena, Hayato looked at the two people in the dueling arena who had summoned their respective monsters to fight, but had not yet discovered each other's identities. He slapped the card onto himself and jumped out of the window.

Chapter 192 The Thief

In the center of the arena, with a fashionable "pig's head mask" covering her head, Jonouchi felt a sense of unease about the contestant opposite her. Despite her attractive figure, once she launched an attack, it was like a raging storm, almost suffocating, and utterly devoid of gentleness.

The summoned Azure Flame Swordsman blocked the attack of the giant bird in the sky, the Sky Hunter. On the other side, the Iron Knight was about to seize the opportunity to attack the opponent, but was blocked by the Amazon Trainee wielding a leather whip.

"Hohohohoho, all your resistance is futile!" A blonde woman with a slender figure laughed triumphantly, wearing a mask that only covered her face. Jonouchi felt a strange familiarity with this high-pitched laughter, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before.

Unlike Jonouchi, Yugi and Keihei in the audience outside the arena vaguely sensed the true identity of the masked woman and couldn't help but stand up, wanting to rush into the arena to stop the two from killing each other.

Just as Jonouchi and "Masked Girl" were about to continue summoning monsters to fight each other, a loud "boom" came from the stands where the organizers of the battle were located. White smoke enveloped the referee's table, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

The unexpected event drew everyone's attention. Not only did the two contestants on the field stop fighting, but even the spectators who had been cheering for the fierce battle looked curiously at the plume of smoke. Under everyone's gaze, the smoke slowly gathered towards the center, and finally, it transformed into a human shape!

"The 'Chicken' card will be our Phantom Thieves'!" Relying on his 'Misty Body' equipment, Hayato cosplayed as Smoker, ignoring the harmless gun in the hand of the toad-man who started the competition, and snatched the final prize of the competition that was placed aside—a 'fat chicken' named 'Chicken'.

"Bang!" The toad-man pulled the trigger, but the bullet passed right through Hayato's body without causing him any harm.

【Misty Body】, an Equip Spell Card that prevents the equipped monster from being destroyed by battle.

Although in the DM online game world, card effects can only be used in battle, the Philosopher's Stone - Herrell that Hayato obtained earlier does not seem to be subject to this restriction.

Seeing that the gun in his hand was useless against Hayato, the toad-man who had his card taken away was so angry that he pounced on Hayato to try to take the card back, but Hayato nimbly dodged and missed.

Having clashed with others and entered battle mode, Hayato drew several cards from his deck and held them high above his head: "Excuse me, everyone, the exciting performance is over. I'm leaving now, Ciao~"

[Emergency Ejection Device] activated, and Hayato was instantly launched into the air above the arena. A falcon appeared behind him, grabbing his arms and flying away through the air.

"Don't let that bastard get away! That's my baby, my baby!" The toad-man roared in fury, immediately ordering the guards around the arena to give chase.

"That guy is... Kobayashi Hayato?!" Jonouchi had barely recognized the person on the platform when he heard the masked blonde woman next to him call out Hayato's name. He turned his head in surprise and asked, "You actually know Hayato?"

"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting, you pighead?" The blonde glanced at Jonouchi with disdain. "I'm one of the top eight in Duel Kingdom, after all. Tch, why should I explain this to an NPC like you?"

"The top eight in Duel Kingdom? Wait, you wouldn't happen to be...!" Seeing the blonde woman draw another card, and it was none other than the iconic [Harpy] card, Jonouchi recognized who was in front of him. "Wait a minute, Mai! It's me!"

As he spoke, Jonouchi ripped off the pig's head mask, revealing his true face. However, he discovered that just as he was removing the mask, Mai had already summoned the Harpy, whose claws were only an inch in front of his eyes. Startled, he quickly took a step back.

"Jonnouchi?! It's you!" The blonde woman was also quite surprised, taking off her mask to reveal herself to be Mai Kujaku. "Why are you in this game?"

"I came to beat this game with Yugi and Hayato. You know Seto Kaiba, right? He's trapped in this game." Jonouchi looked to the side and saw that Yugi and Keihei had already jumped over the fence of the stands and entered the arena, running towards them to meet up.

"Why is that seahorse either sealed in a game or trapped in a game?" Mai complained, then looked at Jonouchi with disdain. "However, this game isn't so easy to beat. You're still a long way off."

Jonouchi, however, was not afraid of Mai the Peacock at all, and retorted with a single sentence: "Anyway, I'm stronger than you. Speaking of which, how did you end up in this game? Could it be that you were trapped here like Kaiba because you couldn't beat the game?"

"None of your business! Yakamashi! Urusai!"

Just as Jonouchi and Mai were about to continue their conversation, they found themselves suddenly enveloped in a shadow. They turned around abruptly and ran away from where they had been. In the next instant, several huge rocks crashed down from where they had been standing.

"Miss Mai, Jonouchi! Are you alright?" Yugi, who had just arrived, asked anxiously. Just as she was about to approach, she suddenly noticed that the previously closed arena entrance was slowly opening.

"It's nothing." Jonouchi got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and looked seriously at the slowly opening door. "But what's that over there?"

A huge iron cage was slowly pulled into the arena by a group of wild beasts, and a giant dragon was imprisoned in the cage, appearing before the players.

"That's... [Tyrant Dragon]?!" Yugi and the others watched in astonishment as the cage opened, and the giant dragon imprisoned inside stormed into the arena, immediately summoning its monsters.

The arena's host did not leave with the organizer, Toadman. Standing on the high platform, he said smugly, "Ladies and gentlemen, there was a slight mishap at the Masked Arena, but it's alright. We have already prepared an even more exciting show for you."

"Next, please enjoy, the dragon and the ant!"

A surge of electricity erupted from the collar around the Tyrant Dragon's neck, enraging the already volatile creature. With a roar, the massive Tyrant Dragon flapped its wings and charged towards the game and its companions.

Chapter 193 GM Permissions (5/7)

"【Dark Magician】!"

"Harpy!"

"【Giant Axe Raider】!"

"【Azure Flame Swordsman】!"

The four players summoned their respective monsters and equipped them with enhanced cards, barely managing to withstand an attack from the Tyrant Dragon.

"Why would there be such a monster in a place like this? I've never encountered one in any of the matches I've watched before!" Peacock Dance said in dissatisfaction as she directed the Harpy to dodge a blast of dragon fire.

The game then activated a [Magic Spellbook] and equipped [Dark Magician] with it, delivering a devastating blow to [Tyrant Dragon]: "I think I understand now."

“The peacock dance you saw before was just NPCs dueling, right? In that case, no matter who won, the prizes wouldn’t go to the players,” Guiping said. “But now that players are involved, we’ll definitely prepare some challenging tests so that you don’t get the game rewards so easily.”

"So, to put it another way, does that mean those guys in the arena never intended for us to take the rewards?" Seeing the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon]'s flames locked in a stalemate with the [Tyrant Dragon's] dragon breath, Cheng looked back at the large crater with lingering fear. "First there were the traps and falling rocks, and now this powerful monster—they were definitely planning to silence us!"

While the game was struggling against the Tyrant Dragon, Hayato had already left the arena and descended to the ground from the sky. As for the toad-man pursuer in the arena, he had long since shaken him off.

If things proceed as Hayato originally remembered, Jonouchi should reunite with Mai in the arena, then reunite with Yugi, and Mai should steal the [Chicken] card. After that, the group should successfully escape the pursuit in the arena.

However, after arriving at the arena, Hayato noticed something amiss—compared to the dilapidated arena he remembered, the arena they found was much more complete, and its design was closer to the card [Savage Arena].

Although the arena was still initiated by a toad-man, many more guards patrolled the arena, all fully armed and clearly battle-hardened soldiers. And from the depths of the arena, occasionally, mournful dragon roars could be heard.

This is really too strange, isn't it? Despite being separated by only a wall, the armed forces in the arena are far stronger than those in the town, almost like the difference between a worm and a dragon.

Furthermore, the prize in the combined arena is the key card [Chick], which is necessary to advance to the next level, the Giant Rock Temple. Hayato has reason to suspect that someone is using GM privileges to increase the difficulty of obtaining the key card and hinder their path to victory.

Looking up at the blazing sun overhead, Hayato struck a pose that was definitely Dio-esque: "You're looking at this place, aren't you, one of the Five Elders!"

Outside the game world, the five elders in front of the screen looked quite grim as they watched the pixelated character representing Hayato say those words.

"As expected, putting these people into the game world was a mistake!" said Ooka Chikuzen, the legal counsel for the Kaima Group, with some regret.

Kogoro Daimon frowned as well: "I was thinking of bringing that brat Keihei Kaiba into the game world as well, but who knew he could actually get two Duel Kings to help him? Wasn't it said that Seto Kaiba had a conflict with Yugi Muto?"

"Who knows what these kids are thinking? I just can't understand what these young people are thinking." 55-year-old Otaki Shuzo, the human resources manager of the Kaiba Group, narrowed his eyes. "It seems that this Duel King has already discovered that we have GM privileges in the game."

"So, should we silence him?" asked Ota Soichiro, who had previously been in charge of the Kaiba Group's arms division. Of the group, Hayato posed the greatest threat among the game's crew.

From the moment the game started, Hayato had been causing a ruckus, and surprisingly, he actually managed to accomplish quite a few things. Not only did he manage to steal the [Chicken] card this time, but also before that, they hadn't even figured out how Hayato had gathered so much information in that town.

“They’re all locked inside the game console now, so all we have to do is turn it off, right?” Konosuke Oshita suggested. “That way, their consciousness will be banished to the game world, and even if they finish the game, they won’t be able to return to reality.”

But lawyer Ooka Chikuzen shook his head: "Idiot, cheating in games will at most result in a fine of three thousand, but murder can get you thirty years in prison."

"Hmph, they've only obtained the key to the next level. Let them move on." Kogoro Daimon sneered. "Everyone, don't forget that the final boss we left for them is that invincible Duel Monster."

On the screen, the pixelated character representing Hayato has reunited with the game characters.

"Phew, I'm exhausted. First, there was the duel in the arena, then that Tyrant Dragon, and now I've run such a long way." On the edge of the town, Jonouchi sat down on the sand, looking exhausted. "It's strange that I still have so much energy."

"Indeed, I'm mentally exhausted, but physically full of energy. If this game is ever released, I'll definitely have the programmers work overtime to add a stamina bar to it," Guiping declared in a typical capitalist statement.

After finally defeating the Tyrant Dragon, Yugi and his team were forced to flee the arena without even bothering to pick up the dropped coins, as the Toadman, who had set off to hunt Hayato, returned to the arena with his men.

"Since we can't catch that despicable thief, we'll just take our anger out on you lowly commoners," the toad-man said.

Fortunately, because Yugi and his team were in battle and had already summoned monsters on the field, they were not ambushed by the toadman's minions. They escaped from the arena and used more than ten trap cards in Yugi's deck to shake off their pursuers.

“But we did manage to get the card, didn’t we?” Hayato took out the [Chick] card and tapped it on the side. “If we had followed the normal process to the end, we probably would have been too busy escaping to even have a chance to grab the card.”

Hayato activated the card, and five plump chicks appeared in front of them, making them wonder if they could even walk.

Despite their seemingly fat appearance, Hayato found that these "fat chickens" were actually quite comfortable to sit on, and their weight also gave them resistance to sandstorms.

“Let’s go,” Guiping said, getting into the Fat Chicken second, looking at the desert shrouded in sandstorm. “Brother, wait for me to rescue you.”

Chapter 194 The Maze (6/7)

The sky was dark and the earth was covered in yellow sand. Amidst the overwhelming sandstorm, several figures moved forward slowly but steadily.

"Thank goodness Hayato led us to find this [Chicken] card." Jonouchi said, his words slightly slurred, using his arena cloak as a mask to avoid getting a mouthful of sand. "Otherwise, we probably would have been driven back by this sandstorm."

They had been traveling for about half an hour since they set off from the nameless town. From a few gentle breezes at the beginning, to sandstorms raging, the resistance they encountered grew stronger as they moved forward. Fortunately, they weren't moving on their own two feet, but were being carried by the [fat chicken] beneath them.

Because of its obese figure, [Fat Chicken] is not very afraid of sandstorms. Although the storm is strong, the wind it blows can't move the heavy chicken at all, and the sand and gravel it picks up doesn't hurt at all when they hit its thick layer of fat.

As they walked, it seemed as if they had crossed some kind of boundary at some moment, and the sand and gravel that had been surrounding Hayato and the others suddenly disappeared.

"Did we pass through a sandstorm?" Game raised his head in confusion, shaking the sand off his hair, only to find that the wind had whipped up sand and gravel, forming a high wall around them, as if to trap them inside.

“Although the typhoon is very powerful, there is a strangely calm zone in the eye of the typhoon.” Hayato drew two cards from his deck. “This is probably the center of the sandstorm.”

As Hayato raised the card he had drawn above his head, it glowed, and in front of everyone, a pool of sand and gravel suddenly rose into the air and quickly coalesced into a monster made of sand and wind.

【Sand Monster】【1300/1600】

"You mere trash, daring to show off your skills in front of me! You're truly ignorant and don't take me seriously at all!" [Armed Dragon LV5] was revealed before Hayato. In the rush, he only had time to summon [Armed Dragon LV3], and then use [Level Up] to evolve it to LV5.

However, that's more than enough.

Relying on the strength of its metal armor, [Armed Dragon LV5] ignored all of the [Sand Monster's] attacks, flapped its wings (which still retained the ability to fly) and pounced, pinning the [Sand Monster] to the ground.

With a sharp spike from its knee, the [Armed Dragon LV5] slammed it into the [Sand Monster's] neck, silencing it before it could even utter "I can't breathe." The [Armed Dragon LV5] quickly dispatched the [Sand Monster] and gradually disappeared as it was out of the battle.

Almost immediately after the Sand Monster was defeated by the Armed Dragon LV5, the sandstorm that had been engulfing the surroundings gradually subsided, the sand and stones fell back to the ground, the wind blew into the distance, and even the light became much brighter.

Jonouchi lowered his cloak: "Was that sandstorm just now caused by that monster?"