Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

—Three minutes later—

In the valley where the Well of Wisdom is hidden, something terrible is happening. The invincible Mimir has fallen, and no one knows what has transpired there...

“You are so incredibly weak, I will probably never forget you, Mimir.”

Hearing Hayato's words, Mimir fell backward to the ground, saying sadly, "I'm so sorry I couldn't let you have your fill, Hayato..."

Chapter 1328

It's not that Hayato was too ruthless; it's just that after recognizing Mimir, he immediately adopted a serious attitude towards the [Divine Monument] in the duel. Although the probability is low, the Divine Monument deck can still achieve an "OTK" (One-Turn Kill).

As a result, Mimir, as the guardian of the Fountain of Wisdom, used a deck consisting of a random deck of Spellcaster cards, a few Equip Spell cards, and cards like "Fountain of Wisdom" or "Fountain of Mana".

It gave Hayato a feeling that he had returned to the Duel Kingdom six years ago, experiencing the simple beauty of the earliest days when you took turns hitting.

Then Hayato easily defeated Mimir with just a few Kaiju cards.

"Ha, even though it was my suggestion to fight, couldn't you go easy on this old man and make him happy?" Mimir sat up and immediately unleashed a smooth combo that "puts the facts aside".

“Sorry, playing games is all about winning. Losing isn’t fun.” Hayato refused without hesitation. “You didn’t say what you wanted in terms of victory, you just wanted to duel with me. You want both victory and the enjoyment of a duel? How come you get to have it all?”

"You call that battle 'enjoyable'?" Mimir waved his hand impatiently, looking like a fully geared Paladin who had been eaten by a turtle. "Alright, go drink some spring water."

“I need a container, right? Isn’t the container for scooping up the Fountain of Wisdom the ‘Galar Horn’? I haven’t seen any horns around here.” Hayato looked around as he stood by the pool. He still couldn’t quite stomach this “ditch water,” but he was quite keen on getting a horn from Mimir to scoop some water for others to drink.

What if the "Galar Horn" is one of those super-large war horns? Maybe then we could divide it into dozens or hundreds of cups and give one to each teacher and student in the school. Duel Academy is really lucky to have a principal like him who is so willing to seek benefits for the students.

—However, Hayato would never admit that he actually wanted to see what kind of interesting expressions the others would have when he told them that the water had been soaked in Mimir's "ditch" after they had drunk from the spring.

Hearing Hayato's words, Mimir smiled smugly: "Hmph, what do you think is the reason I asked you to fight me?"

"Hmm... are you a masochist?"

"No, it's a principle, a principle." Mimir walked towards the Fountain of Wisdom, raised his hand and stretched it above his head. "In principle, only warriors who 'defeat' me with intelligence or force can obtain the vessel to draw water from the fountain. This is my principle and the rule of the world. There is absolutely no way to obtain treasure directly by bypassing strength. Even if you get it temporarily, you will immediately encounter other challenges afterward."

"Snap—"

To Hayato's surprise, Mimir actually broke off the two "ram horns" from his head, took one for himself, and handed the other to Hayato, saying, "Here, this is the 'Gargallhorn' you mentioned."

"Ouch—doesn't it hurt?" Hayato looked at the broken horn that Mimir hadn't completely removed from his forehead, and felt a pang of pain just looking at it. He took Mimir's horn and asked.

“Why would it hurt? It’s actually detachable, look—” As he spoke, Mimir put one of the horns back on his forehead. The broken horns healed themselves after touching each other. Then, with a “snap,” he broke off his horn a second time. “Hey~ I put it back in, hey~ I pulled it out again.”

"I can tell you're really lonely, and you did a pretty good job. But could you wipe the blood off your face first?" Hayato said with a hint of disgust as he looked at the broken horn in his hand. "It's much smaller than I expected, and with your blood on it, it looks even dirtier and I can't drink it anymore."

"Hey, I take care of my horns every day when I'm bored, okay? I polish them with a stone and then wash them with spring water, repeating this at least seven times. Don't be so disgusted, okay?"

"Where did this 'wash the dishes seven times' thing come from? Every time I try to value this Fountain of Wisdom even a little, your words always lower the bar for its value in my mind." Hayato shook his head helplessly and dipped the "Galar Horn" into the Fountain of Wisdom. Anyway, he was determined not to drink from the fountain; he didn't care if it was dirty or not if it was for someone else.

"No, let me tell you, this spring is incredibly powerful. Bringing unparalleled and astonishing wisdom is actually just the most basic effect of the Spring of Wisdom." Mimir was still concerned that Hayato didn't take the Spring of Wisdom he was guarding seriously, so he quickly explained, "If used properly, the Spring of Wisdom can be used as a vessel to carry special powers, and it's even possible to use it to perform miracles of resurrection."

"There is a prerequisite: the wondrous object sealed in the center of the spring must be activated in order to bind the user to the Spring of Wisdom."

"However, the activation conditions are a bit harsh. First, you need to have a pure and innocent heart. Then, you need to have the self-control to resist the temptation of the spring water if you only want to obtain it but do not want to use it. The last condition is a vessel that represents the 'new moon' and is imbued with the World Tree's aura, which is my 'Galar Horn'."

"I've been guarding this place for so many years and haven't been able to activate it. It seems there's no one in this world capable of doing so—"

Mimir rambled on and on, as if he wanted to say all the things he had kept to himself all these years of solitude, but he stopped abruptly, looking at the jade stone in the center of the pool that suddenly shone as Hayato dipped the Galar horn into the water.

Hastily returning to the pool and looking at the glowing jade, Mimir said incredulously, "I believe this guy dislikes the spring water, but where did you get the idea that this guy has a pure heart?"

"Wait, buddy?!"

Hayato watched as the horn in his hand began to change after he scooped up water from the spring. With a flash of light, it transformed into a card, depicting Mimir standing by the spring with an incredulous expression.

Isn't this the [Fountain of the Divine Stele]?

Holy crap, a monument!

Moreover, when Hayato held the card of [Fountain of the Gods], he could clearly feel the rather contradictory connection between the card in his hand and the spring water in front of him, which was both subtle and clear. It seemed that, just as Mimir had said, he had successfully activated the jade stone in the center of the spring water and thus bound himself to the Fountain of Wisdom.

Hayato glanced at the card in his hand, followed his instincts, raised the card towards the Fountain of Wisdom, and saw the Fountain of Wisdom suddenly begin to flow backward, defying gravity and flowing back into the gem on the stone platform. In the blink of an eye, the pool of water dried up!

"Huh!?" Mimir hadn't expected things to turn out this way after "that thing" in the center of the Well of Wisdom was activated. He lay down by the spring and looked down at the ground. "Where's my spring? Where's my spring!?"

"Huh? I don't know?" Hayato spread his hands, looking innocent. "Anyway, it must have been Pegasus who did it. Pegasus is unforgivable!"

Who is that?

"A brilliant person who, like you, is missing his right eye."

Before Hayato and Mimir could exchange more than a few words, a new change occurred in the dried-up Fountain of Wisdom. The gem that had absorbed all the water in the pool trembled, shattering the stone platform supporting it. The jade stone, surrounded by several magical rings of runes, floated against gravity before suddenly collapsing!

A fragment flew out of the gem and headed straight for Hayato. It then stopped abruptly and hovered in front of Hayato, as if waiting for him to grasp it.

“Although I can’t tell what kind of ‘pure-hearted’ person you are, I just like you and you have a connection with the Fountain of Wisdom, so don’t be polite, just accept it.” After a pause, looking at Hayato who had already accepted the “gem fragment” before she could even speak, she said, “Speaking of which, you should at least be polite to me. Why are you so skilled at taking things? Where did you practice that?”

"And what's with that 'this thing is already mine, don't even think about taking it back' look? I don't even want that thing."

"What if... what if I ruin your wellspring of wisdom, make it too hot to play anymore, and then back out?" Hayato said, holding the "gem fragment." "I don't care, I've touched this thing, so it's mine now."

Obtaining the [Fountain of the Divine Monument] card was already a pleasant surprise for Hayato, since after acquiring it, he received a system notification and unlocked the [Divine Monument] section in the system shop. From then on, Hayato could simply spend DP points to draw all the [Divine Monument] related cards from his card pack in the system shop.

However, for the time being, [Divine Monument] isn't Hayato's top priority for drawing cards. Although he's already opened several packs of [Kusan's Wrath] which he unlocked last time, even excluding Xyz Summoning cards, he still hasn't drawn quite a few. Not to mention, since [Kusan's Wrath] isn't on the Forbidden/Limited card list right now, Hayato is really eager to show everyone the power of the fearsome "B-Rank Three Wolves."

But to Hayato's surprise, after the "gem fragment" flew in front of him and he caught it, the large amount of wisdom water it absorbed turned into magic and flowed into the card "Divine Stele Spring" that Hayato held in his other hand.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the thin card suddenly multiplied into a thick stack. After Hayato's inspection, he found that there was one of each type of [Divine Monument] card he knew. Who could refuse such a free card?

Who knows if if I keep holding onto this "gem fragment," it might help me collect three of each type of card?

This brings us to the powerful effect of [Fountain of the Divine Monument] when played three times. As a Field Spell Card, unlike the underwhelming strength of its own Field Spell Card, [Fountain of the Divine Monument], a Field Spell Card of the [Divine Monument] archetype, possesses two effects that perfectly complement the combat style of the [Divine Monument] deck.

The first effect allows the player to activate the [Divine Monument] Quick-Play Spell Card directly from their hand during the opponent's turn. It's simple yet powerful, since almost all of the [Divine Monument] family's spell cards are Quick-Play Spell Cards.

The second effect, when activating the [Divine Monument] Quick-Play Spell Card, allows you to return up to three [Divine Monument] Quick-Play Spell Cards from your Graveyard to the bottom of your Deck in any order, and then draw the same number of cards returned to your Deck. This effect is even limited to once per card per turn, not just once per card name per turn; if you have three [Divine Monument Fountain] cards in your hand, you can use this effect three times in one turn!

Our Qingshui—no, our [Divine Stele] players are incredibly skilled!

Although the "removal of the holy" deck, 【Kusha's Wrath】, is very strong, as you know, I, Hayato, have long been a 【Divine Monument】 player. Who can resist getting a whole set of 【Divine Monument】 cards for free?

However, what puzzled Hayato was that although he had acquired cards such as the [Monument of the God of Radiant Flame] and the [Monument of the God of Destruction], their card art was different from what he remembered. They only showed the characters holding weapons in a first-person perspective, without any enemies to attack. Furthermore, the weapons were just ordinary weapons without any runes inscribed on them.

However, aside from the card illustration, the card's effect was exactly the same, so Hayato didn't pay much attention to it and was about to put the card away.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, Mimir suddenly rushed towards Hayato, his entire body shrinking abruptly into a ball of light that surged into the [Fountain of the Divine Stele] in Hayato's hand.

"Huh?!" Hayato exclaimed in surprise as he watched the [Fountain of the Gods] card instantly become covered in a shimmering film, transforming it from an ordinary N card into a QCSER-level shimmering card. "What did you do to this card, Mimir?"

“Nonsense, you dried up the Fountain of Wisdom and took that thing from the pool, so I no longer have any need to guard it.” Mimir’s voice came from the card. In the card, he was sitting in the still overflowing pool in the [Fountain of the Divine Stele] card, squatting down in that familiar seat. “It’s rare to meet someone I can communicate with. Lord Mimir, I’ve decided to follow you from now on.”

"No, get out here! I already have enough elves in my house."

Hayato waved the card of [Fountain of the Gods] in his hand, trying to pull Mimir out of it, but he was stuck inside like a leech: "Don't be like that. Since you know a lot of elves, one more won't make a difference. I can be of great help to you."

For example—be careful!

Hayato acted much faster than Mimir had warned him. He ran his finger across the "gem fragment," causing the runes hidden inside to surface and light up. A "tree" with six branches made of runes appeared, rooted in the "gem fragment." Without even looking, Hayato lightly tapped one of the branches, causing a prototype icon on the selected branch to light up and enlarge, revealing a sword pattern marked with a "?".

All of the above actions happened in the blink of an eye. The next second after Mimir finished speaking, a simple, plain longsword appeared out of thin air in Hayato's hand. He swung it to the side and precisely cleaved a fireball that suddenly appeared and shot towards him!

Hayato weighed the sword in his hand and commented, "It feels pretty good, and the center of gravity is just right. I thought the most basic equipment wouldn't be that strong."

"How...how come you're so skilled at using it?" Mimir's voice came from the [Fountain of the Divine Stele] card, full of confusion. "No, before that, I wanted to ask, where did you learn how to use this thing?"

“Although I wanted to say I learned it at the Hawaii training course in Domino City, I actually felt like I could use it as soon as I got my hands on it.” Hayato pointed the sword forward instead of in the direction the fireball had come from, and said, “I called you out earlier but you wouldn’t come out, but now you’ve jumped out?”

"Was that a trick on me before? That's quite unexpected." Before the seemingly empty rock wall, light and shadow distorted, changing color like a chameleon. A cloaked and masked person appeared before Hayato, bowing politely and saying, "Sir, I have no intention of being your enemy, but could you please leave what you took behind?"

I had no intention of being an enemy. Who was that bastard who ambushed me just now? And now that I have something, he wants to take it away?

“If you want it, come and take it yourself. You know the rules.” With his sword slung over his shoulder and looking at the white-robed, masked man in front of him, Hayato glanced at Mimir in the [Fountain of the Divine Stele]. “You mentioned before that this world has such a principle? You have to fight to get the spoils.”

“I tried it with high hopes, but you said exactly what I expected.” The masked man said, placing his left hand on his chest, and an ancient-style dueling wheel appeared out of thin air on his arm. “For the sake of this world, we can’t let anyone take away that important item prepared for the King of Destiny.”

"Heh heh, if that's how you put it, then I suddenly feel like I am some kind of chosen king. Because, it's impossible, and not allowed, for a king to rule me." Hayato's lips curled into a smirk as he arrogantly spread his arms wide. "All things and phenomena are in my hands!"

Hayato casually tossed the sword aside like a giant orange pill, then mixed the cards, including the [Fountain of the Gods], with several cards he'd taken from the deck, and pushed it onto the back of his left hand. The deck instantly transformed into blue light, disintegrating and reassembling, reconstructing on Hayato's left wrist into a uniquely shaped duel disk with empty deck areas and no card slots.

Unlike the previous duel where Hayato and his friends used an old-fashioned Duel Disk to recreate the Duel City setting, this time in the virtual world, Kaiba equipped everyone with one of these next-generation Duel Disks that were never officially released. This allows students to fully enjoy the unparalleled and exhilarating dueling experience in the virtual world without being bothered by its battery life or other shortcomings.

"Duel!" x2

Chapter 1329 Assigned to the table opposite the players of the Divine Stele

"Let me start first, draw a card!"

With quick reflexes, and also because Hayato intentionally let him go first, the white-robed masked man easily seized the initiative. After drawing his first five cards from his deck, he drew another card and said, "Before that, allow me to introduce myself."

"My name is Lopte, a sorcerer awaiting the birth of the King of Destiny, whose destiny is to serve that great king." The masked man, who called himself "Lopte," said as he placed the card he had drawn on the Duel Disk. "First, I activate the Spell Card [Rough Man's Expectation] to Special Summon one Normal Monster of Level 4 or lower from my Deck."

"I Special Summon [Charcoal 18] in Defense Position".

On Lopte's field, a large tree sprang up from the ground and grew rapidly, transforming from a sapling into a tree-man in the blink of an eye, much like a ninja who could summon anything with a clap of his hands. However, the moment the tree-man took shape, a bolt of lightning struck, igniting it and burning the once vibrant tree-man into a charred corpse sitting motionless on the ground.

【Big Charcoal 18】【DEF2100】

"It's not over yet. I'll activate the Continuous Spell Card 'Peacekeeper'. Monsters with 1500 or more ATK on the field cannot declare an attack."

Following up by inserting the second card into the Duel Disk, Lopte continued, "In return, as the controller of this card, I must pay 100 Life Points during each of my Standby Phases, or not pay Life Points and let this card be destroyed."

"Lightning strikes the trees... They're making absolutely no attempt to conceal their identity." Seeing [Giant Charcoal 18] on Lopto's field, Mimir, who hadn't responded to Hayato's calls, suddenly appeared and said, "Using a combination of a high-DEF monster and a monster that seals ATK to defend?"

"But it's not aggressive at all."

“It’s not over yet. I’ll activate this card next.” Lopte inserted another card into the Duel Disk, and an identical card with a green border appeared next to [Peacekeeper]. “Continuous Spell Card, [Wave Cannon]!”

"During my Main Phase, I can send this face-up card on the field to the Graveyard and inflict effect damage to my opponent equal to the number of my Standby Phases since this card was activated x 1000."

After a pause, Lopte's voice carried a hint of smugness, "In other words, if you still fail to defeat me after four of my preparation phases, you will suffer a full 4000 points of effect damage in one go!"

"Wow, what a powerful combo," Hayato said sarcastically. "I still couldn't beat you even when you were in your fourth round preparation phase, so I deserve to lose."

Ignoring Hayato's words, Lopto activated his card again: "I'll activate my second [Wave Cannon] to bring forward your defeat to two of my turn preparation phases!"

"Finally, I place the last two cards in my hand face down, and the turn ends."

Lopte: 4000LP, 0 cards in hand

【Big Charcoal 18】【DEF2100】

[Peacekeeper] [Wave Cannon] [Wave Cannon] [Gaikka] X2

"Wow, a 'T' formation! So strong, so incredibly strong!" Hayato clapped his hands in praise. "It's a formation that's truly authentic to this era. This level of power is just as essential to Duel Monsters as Blue is to [Tears of the Goddess]."