Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

——————“King Crimson!”——————

As soon as he entered the classroom, Hayato realized that he had arrived quite early. There weren't many people in the classroom; only a few people he didn't know very well were chatting together.

As Hayato walked to his seat, he overheard the conversation of the group.

"Speaking of which, did Bakura Ryo transfer schools like Seto Kaiba?"

"I heard it wasn't a transfer school, but rather a leave of absence."

"Huh? I remember that Bakura Ryo had pretty good grades, his family was somewhat wealthy, and no one usually bullied him. Why did he suddenly drop out of school for no reason?"

"Who knows? But first, Seto Kaiba went home to inherit the Kaiba Group under the guise of transferring schools, and Ryo Bakura also dropped out of school. There weren't many people in our class to begin with, and now we've lost two people all at once."

"Hehe, I heard a little inside information about this. I heard that a transfer student from America is enrolling soon and will be assigned to our class."

"A transfer student? Boy or girl? Is she pretty?"

……

So that's how it is. Has it come to this point in time? Hayato recalled the plot about the "transfer student".

In any world, "transfer students" are always a hot topic, and in most cases, they will cause major events, such as the Arrancar Legion or the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Ultimately, the main role of transfer students is to bring changes to the originally peaceful daily life and advance the development of the plot. Even "Dream of the Red Chamber" begins with Lin Daiyu entering the Jia family. No wonder some people say that approving transfer students is the easiest thing to do in the world of anime and manga, because you can just approve them all and you don't have to care whether the other party is transferred from space, another world or the future.

In the world of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hayato remembers that two transfer students will appear in his class. The second one can be ignored for now; the one coming soon must be Ryuji Otogi. Just then, Hayato sees Yugi and Kyoko arriving at school together.

Good morning, games and apricots.

"Oh, good morning, Hayato-kun," Yugi greeted with a smile, holding up a promotional poster.

Noticing Hayato's gaze, Yugi sighed and explained the situation to him.

Although the popularity of Duel King recently brought a lot of customers to Sugoroku's card shop, this popularity came and went quickly. After all, although Pegasus admitted that he was defeated, his duels with Hayato and Yugi were not recorded and could not be disseminated, so the audience was ultimately limited.

A few days later, the business of Guiji Card Shop plummeted, even worse than before. This was not only because students returned to school after the holidays, but also because a large game store had opened not far from Guiji Card Shop, which not only sold regular games, but also offered the latest "DDM" games.

Compared to Kameji Game House, this newly opened game store is much more popular, which has been causing Sugoroku a lot of worry.

"Speaking of which, what kind of game is DDM?" Jonouchi and Honda arrived at the classroom one after the other, having overheard the game being mentioned. However, neither of them had ever heard of what "DDM" was.

"The so-called 'DDM' stands for Dungeon Dice Monsters, also known as Monster Dice, which is a game of fighting on a board using unfolded dice, but it is more expensive than Duel Monsters."

As Honda spoke, he took two dice out of his pocket and showed them to the audience: "Because I was a little interested, I bought two and played with them. I think they were pretty good."

Jonouchi took them and noticed that the two dice Honda had taken out were larger than ordinary dice, and could even be unfolded into a flat surface. Inside the unfolded dice was a [Barbarian No. 1].

"Is that all?" Jonouchi looked at Honda. "It's just a little toy."

"That's because you don't understand at all. How about this, after school we'll go check out that new game store together." Honda didn't know how to explain it to Jonouchi, so he simply suggested that the group go directly to the game store. "And while we're at it, we can also help Grandpa Sugoroku gather intelligence, right?"

"Okay, it's settled then." The game player thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Chapter 204 Black Crown Game Shop

"The manager of Kameji Card Shop, Muto Sugoroku, 72 years old, is facing the biggest crisis of his life this year." Standing in front of the newly opened large game store—Black Crown Game Store, Muto Sugoroku's face was serious. "In order to revitalize Kameji Game Shop's business, he brought his apprentice and grandson to the enemy's base."

"But his disciples and grandsons have fallen into depravity at lightning speed, how shameful!" Hayato recited from behind Sugoroku.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Jōnei, who should have been standing next to the old man Sugoroku, had already been unable to contain their curiosity and had gone to the Black Crown Game Store to play games.

Kyoko sighed and rubbed her forehead, speechless: "What have you been saying since the beginning, Hayato?!"

"Didn't Sugoroku say that this store is his greatest enemy? When fighting the final boss, the explanation can increase combat power by 1000%?" Hayato joked, looking at the second floor of the Black Crown Game Store in front of him.

A dark shadow flashed past the window there, making one wonder if it was just an illusion.

After school, as agreed in the morning, the game team went to the Black Crown Game Store to "spy on the enemy" and find out what kind of game the recently popular "DDM" was. Grandpa Sugoroku also came along to take a look.

"But speaking of which, this place is really big. It's just a game store, is it really necessary to build it so tall? It's six stories high." Xingzi looked up at the Black Crown Game Store and exclaimed.

“Making the building taller will increase the cost, but it will also attract more attention.” Hayato accompanied Sugoroku up the steps. “From the outside, it doesn’t look like anything special. Let’s go inside and find Yugi and the others.”

As soon as I reached the gate, the electric sensor door opened automatically, and what I saw in front of me were several large machines, which looked somewhat similar to gashapon machines.

The receptionist warmly introduced Hayato and his two companions, who were clearly newcomers, saying, "Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Black Crown Game Shop. Would you like to take a look at our biggest attraction—'Monster Dice'? It's a game very similar to Duel Monsters, with each die containing a model of a monster, making it both aesthetically pleasing and collectible."

"Hmph, a model inside a die, just thinking about it is weird!" Because of his hostility towards Black Crown Game Store, Grandpa Shuangliu also had a prejudice against "Monster Dragon Gate Dice".

However, while the grandfather said this, the grandson did not think so. No sooner had the old man Shuangliu finished speaking than he saw Yuqi walk over from the gashapon machine, holding four or five dice in his hand, obviously having just gotten them from that machine.

“Chicken Sauce, this ‘Monster Lungmen Dice’ is quite interesting.” As he spoke, Yugi opened one of the dice in his hand and took out a model of [Dark Magician Girl]. “Compared to Duel Monsters, which require the Kaiba Corporation’s virtual projection system to see the three-dimensional monsters, the ‘DDM’ model is quite good.”

Sugoroku blushed as he took the model of [Dark Magician Girl] from the game. He was prejudiced and wanted to find some flaws in it, but he found that, just as the game said, the model of the Monster Dragon Dice was quite exquisite, with a very high degree of accuracy, exactly the same as the Duel Monsters card illustration, and the material felt quite high-end.

Unable to find any fault with it, the old man, Sugoroku, said nothing, shoved [Dark Magician Girl] back into the game's hands, and turned to leave angrily.

"Huh? What's wrong with Chicken Sauce?" Game didn't understand why Grandpa Sugoroku was angry and asked with some confusion.

"Monster Dice is indeed a good game, but Sugoroku-sama just doesn't want to admit it." Hayato glanced at Sugoroku-sama, who had already reached the steps, and said to Kyoko, "Please, Kyoko-chan, could you keep Sugoroku-sama company for a bit?"

"Alright, I really am worried about Grandpa Sugoroku." Kyoko nodded helplessly. "Then I'll be going now."

As the closing electric gate blocked the view of Grandpa Sugoroku and Kyoko's backs, Hayato shifted his gaze back to the gashapon machine inside the game store and walked over. To be honest, he was quite interested in this game as well.

The machine for buying Dragon Dice looks similar to a gashapon machine, and the price is about the same, 500 yen per spin. Hayato took out Fukuzawa Yukichi's tokens from his wallet and bought a few Dragon Dice to try it out.

【Cursed Dragon】, 【Death Stalker】, 【Baby Dragon】...these are just ordinary monsters. Among the twenty Lungmen dice, the best one Hayato got was the 【Dark Knight - Gaia】 die, which made him wonder if this was Tamashi's bond?

Hayato glanced casually at the prize description, then suddenly his eyes widened. He looked down sharply at the [Dark Magician Girl] in Yugi's hand and asked, "Yugi, how many Lungmen dice did you buy?"

"Ah, me? I only bought five, just for fun." Yugi scratched the back of her head shyly. "I was originally thinking of giving one to Chicken Sauce and one to Anzu, since, look, I pulled three [Dark Magician Girl]."

"...Do you know what the probability is of getting [Dark Magician Girl] in a game?"

On the gashapon machine, the model of [Dark Magician Girl] was specially marked, with the promotional text stating "highest rarity" and "0.1% appearance rate!"

"Hmm, maybe 1 in 1000?"

"Do you know you'll get beaten up for doing this? Sturgeon have extremely short lifespans.jpg" Hayato looked at the three [Dark Magician Girls] in Yugi's arms with envy and jealousy, as well as two other [Dark Magicians] with slightly lower rarity but still super rare models.

Is this the world of Europeans? This kind of world should be destroyed!

Speaking of Europeans, Hayato suddenly thought of another "king of Europeans": "Speaking of which, in the game, wasn't Jonouchi with you?"

"Jonnouchi? It seems he went to the dueling arena with Honda." Yugi thought for a moment, then a look of anticipation appeared on his face. "Hayato, let's go check it out too. I already have a rough understanding of how Monster Dragon Dice is played, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what it's like to actually play it."

Guided by the receptionist, Hayato and the game arrived at the third floor of the Black Crown Game Store.

Although it's described as having three floors, this area is actually connected to the fourth floor. It's a dedicated competition area for Duel Monsters and Monster Dragon Dice, and it's also equipped with numerous virtual projection systems. I imagine the Kaima Group received a considerable amount of licensing fees from them.

As soon as they arrived on the third floor, Hayato and Yugi heard Jonouchi's arrogant voice: "Hmph, how about it? Have you experienced the strength of the top four players in Duel Kingdom? It's just a mere Monster Dragon Dice. Even as a beginner, I could defeat you!"

Chapter 205 Otogi Ryuji

"Jonnori?" Upon hearing the familiar voice, Hayato and Yugi exchanged a glance and walked towards the area from which the voice came.

Squeezing through the crowd of onlookers, Hayato and Yugi arrived at the edge of the dueling arena. Calling it a dueling arena seemed a bit inaccurate, because the area wasn't divided into large rectangular blocks like those used in Duel Monsters; instead, it was neatly divided into countless squares.

One of the fighters on this field was Jonouchi. However, to Hayato and Yugi's surprise, the other fighter against Jonouchi was not Honda, but a young man with a ponytail and a headband with a black square on his forehead.

"What's that Jonouchi guy doing?" Although his appearance was slightly different from the anime in his previous life, Hayato guessed the young man's identity based on the cheers of the surrounding crowd. "Why is he fighting with that Otogi Ryuji, and using Monster Lungmen Dice?"

"Ryuji Otogi? Is that the genius game designer who invented Monster Dragon Dice?" Yugi had heard of that name before.

Focused on the duel itself, Jonouchi didn't notice Hayato and Yugi in the crowd. Instead, he looked smugly at Otogi Ryuji opposite him: "Now that you've seen how powerful I am, you'd better admit defeat and surrender. Apologize properly for what you said, and I will naturally forgive you generously."

On the field in front of Jonouchi, the three familiar Duel Monsters—Barbarian #1, Barbarian #2, and Black Panther Warrior—appeared, forming a solid defensive formation in front of his dueling ring. However, in front of Otogi Ryuji, only one Gargoyle remained, its monsters destroyed.

However, the price of holding onto their territory is that most of the area is blue, the color of Otogi Ryuji's side, while the red area within the castle occupies only a very small part.

"It seems that the castle lords have the upper hand?" After observing the field, Yugi roughly understood the rules. Monster Dragon Gate Dice is a game in which dice containing monsters are placed on the field and players fight each other to claim territory. Both players play the role of dungeon lords and each has three basic points. Each time a monster attacks, one point is lost.

The castle has two basic points left, while Otogi Ryuuji has three hearts.

But Hayato knew that Otogi Ryuji was a complete schemer, not only liking to hide the rules and not reveal them all at once, but also particularly fond of playing the desperate counterattack trick. Although there was only one monster left on the field, Hayato looked at the mysterious smile on Otogi Ryuji's face and had a feeling that he still had a trick up his sleeve.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Jonouchi-kun, don't be fooled by the fact that your monsters have almost wiped out mine. Don't forget, I still have three hearts left." Otogi Ryuji habitually flicked his right bangs and said confidently, "Your monsters have been holed up in their own territory and can't defeat me."

Jonouchi said disdainfully, "Hmph, it's rare to see such magnanimity from you, Jonouchi-sama. It seems you can't wait to see your defeat."

"Then it's my turn, I'll throw!"

Three dice were tossed from Jonouchi's hand and landed in the area in front of him. The dice came to rest, revealing three forward signs, which delighted Jonouchi.

"Yada thief! What good luck! With the extra moves I've accumulated, my three monsters can advance right up to you in one go!"

"My monsters, all forces, attack!"

As Jonouchi gave the order, the monsters that had been guarding the Jonouchi area moved forward and entered Otogi Ryuji's territory, approaching the dueling arena where he was.

"Then, roll the dice!"

When it was Otogi Ryuji's turn, he rolled three magic tokens, and a regretful expression appeared on his face: "Oh dear, I failed to summon a monster again. This is bad."

"As expected of the top four in the Duel Kingdom, Katsuya Jonouchi, you actually managed to push me to this point."

"Hehe, of course!" Jonouchi chuckled smugly upon hearing Otogi Ryuji's words, taking out the three dice he had drawn this round and throwing them. The result was two attack symbols and one forward.

"Yosh, with this mark, [Barbarian Number 1] has successfully reached you!"

Jonouchi commanded his [Barbarian No. 1] to move forward, ignoring the [Gargoyles] that weren't blocking his path, and successfully reached Otogi Ryuji's dueling platform. The savage warrior raised his club and brought it down heavily, successfully reducing Otogi Ryuji's health by one point.

However, as a price to pay for this advancement, Jonouchi's accumulated action points were finally exhausted in this turn.

Upon seeing this, Otogi Ryuji suddenly burst into laughter: "Hehe, hahahaha..."

"Hahahaha!!!" He pointed at Jonouchi and flicked his bangs with one hand, "You've been tricked, Jonouchi Katsuya! My attack route has been completely pointed out!"

"Roll the dice!" He casually tossed the dice in his hand, revealing a wide grin. "There are two signs for Level 4. I'm going to summon my strongest monster, the [God-Ghost Ogre]!"

However, to Jonouchi's surprise, Ryuji Otogi did not place this monster on his own field to block Jonouchi's monster attacks. Instead, he placed it in front of Jonouchi's dueling ring.

"No, no! All my monsters are on the other side's field!" Jonouchi realized something was wrong. It turned out that Otogi Ryuji had deliberately lured his monsters away from their positions with words, then launched a sneak attack. "You scoundrel! That's incredibly despicable!"

"Hmph, it's just a simple verbal trap. You're the fool who would fall for such a simple trick, Jonouchi Katsuya!" Otogi Ryuji arrogantly pointed at Jonouchi, "I'll use you as an appetizer until I avenge that lord!"

"[God-Demon Ogre] Advance to the dueling arena inside the castle, then attack!"

"Divine Sword Break!"

With a powerful downward slash of the heavy sword, Jonouchi's health dropped to a mere heart, while Otogi Ryuuji still had two health points remaining. Even if they continued to attack directly in the next turn, Jonouchi's health would be the first to reach zero.

"Damn it, I have to roll a defensive move this turn." Jonouchi threw the dice. The dice stopped rolling, but there wasn't even a forward sign.