Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Even if no one discovers it, when someone cleverly (Manjoume: Achoo!) uses a card monster as a mount to travel to the area around the World Tree, which was deliberately sealed off by Kaiba's design, they will find out about the teleportation array and have to return the way they came, or they may be willing to be killed and quickly teleported back to their respawn point.

As for the players who were instantly killed and returned to the respawn point after entering the sealed area without knowing the existence of the teleportation array, Kaiba also arranged a special surprise for them. That is, two hostile NPCs who have the means to open the teleportation array, namely the [Iron King War - Dwarf Alliance King] and the [Light King War] who appeared on Misawa's side.

Among them, the Iron King War - Dwarf Alliance King is completely hostile and can only be defeated through combat to obtain the items to open the teleportation portal. The Light King War, however, is someone who can be communicated with. Whether defeating the former in battle or by accepting and completing a series of side quests to satisfy the latter, players will quickly gain the ability to open the teleportation portal.

With guidance from various sources, players will soon learn about the existence of the teleportation array, acquire the ability to activate it, and find its location, thus embarking on their true journey to the World Tree.

However, the actual situation was not so much a deviation from his expectations as it was drastically different. Not long after Manjoume and his group learned about the teleportation array, Misawa had already forcefully defeated the [Iron King Battle - Dwarf Alliance King] and obtained the item needed to activate the teleportation array from its dropped treasure chest.

Meanwhile, Judai, lacking both information and tools, stumbled upon the teleportation array by sheer luck. With the help of Daitokuji, a rare individual who knew some runes, he accidentally activated the teleportation array and arrived at this teleportation temple.

Manjoume and his group, who "took the shortcut," took the longest route and were not as fast as Misawa, who just stayed in the same place. Meanwhile, Judai, who "took the long way," seemed to have taken a shortcut and was ahead of almost everyone else.

"Hey, Judai, don't wander off, meow!" Seeing the oblivious Judai completely unconcerned about the dangers around him and literally already ahead of the others exploring the shrine, Daitokuji said anxiously, "Who knows what dangers might lurk here, meow!"

"For example, a few skeleton soldiers might suddenly jump out from around a corner and start hacking at you, or the floor beneath your feet might suddenly disappear, causing you to fall off all fours, or a corridor with walls on both sides might suddenly block your escape route, and then a huge boulder might roll towards you!"

"Although I also feel that this place might be a bit unsafe, Daitokuji-sensei, have you been playing too much of that recently released game called 'The Shadow of the Silver Tree'?" Maeda retorted. "How long have you been back from the dead?"

"About a month? I was actually resurrected when you started the academy exchange competition, meow. But after all, it's a new body and I still need to adapt for a while. People need a certain recovery period and rehabilitation training after a few surgeries, let alone me, who has a new body, meow."

As they talked, Daitokuji and Maeda saw that Judai had walked a short distance without any danger, so they followed him. This prompted Marufuji Sho, who had been hesitant, to quickly join the group because of his fear of the dim surroundings.

"Actually, everyone doesn't need to worry about any danger, right? Although it's quite realistic, this is still a game world after all. It's impossible for us to be killed in real life if we lose in this game, right?" Jaden was carefree and still had the energy to say to Daitokuji and the others with a smile. "Besides, since we were able to enter here, it means that this must be part of the design. There's nothing to worry about."

"Hmm... even though you said that, big brother..." Marufuji Sho felt a little safer walking among the group, but he was still a little timid and afraid that something might jump out of the darkness. "It would be better if this place were a little brighter."

As they were talking, Judai, who was walking at the front, had reached the roots of the "tree" that extended to the shore. Standing in front of the "tree root bridge," he called to the three people behind him, "It's quite bright here, and there seems to be something inside that tree."

As he spoke, he tested the weight-bearing capacity of the "tree root bridge" with his foot, stepped on it to confirm that it was very stable, and then immediately walked towards the gap in the center of the "tree" without waiting for the others behind him.

It's not that Jaden forgot about his companions as soon as he started exploring, but he was also aware that although the place seemed safe, there was always the possibility of danger appearing from some unknown place. Rather than dragging the others along on their adventure, he decided to take action first and scout out any potentially dangerous areas for them.

The fact is, even when Jaden had reached the center of the tree and seen a pool of water with many miniature architectural models, he still did not encounter any danger.

"They're really well-made, aren't they?" Jaden looked at the models curiously, but didn't touch them. Instead, he counted them. "Two, four, six, eight, nine, there are exactly nine small building models, plus one action figure. Is this some kind of board game set?"

"That doesn't sound like it, does it? Don't move around, Judai. Let us come over here first, meow." Daitokuji retorted, seeing that Judai was very interested in what was in the pool, and quickly reminded him to avoid accidentally touching something and activating a mechanism.

Standing before the "tree root bridge," Daitokuji decisively let the heaviest member, Maeda Hayato, go first, intending to wait until Maeda reached the other side before he and Marufuji Sho crossed. Movies are full of scenes like this, where a bridge suddenly breaks halfway across, and they didn't want to play that "tread carefully to avoid accelerating the bridge's collapse" game. Anyway, a little extra time wouldn't matter, and letting Maeda finish first wouldn't hurt.

The "root bridge" was far more sturdy than the group had imagined. Although it looked like just a bridge made of a few branches placed side by side on the bank, Maeda did not make the bridge sway at all when he walked on it. It was only after Maeda successfully reached the other side and walked to Daitokuji Temple on the bridge that he bent down and touched the "roots" on the bank. He found that they were more like some kind of stone with tree texture than plants. They were hard, cool and smooth.

However, as Daitokuji stroked the tree roots, Marufuji Sho suddenly noticed that several of the tree roots forming the bridge behind him seemed to be trembling and about to retract. He quickly reminded Daitokuji, "Don't touch them yet, Daitokuji-sensei, those things seem to have shortened too!"

"Hmm!?" Daitokuji also noticed the anomaly, turning his head to see that the tree roots were actually retracting and moving away from the shore. If the two of them were still on the shore, they probably wouldn't have made it to the bridge in time. And even now, if they didn't hurry, they seemed likely to fall off the bridge!

Daitoku-ji Temple had looked at the pond next to it. The water was so clear that it seemed you could see right to the bottom. However, the dim lighting prevented the light from penetrating too far underwater, so Daitoku-ji could only see the upper part of the pond. Even that part was about ten meters deep, and with the height of the bridge, wouldn't he be unable to climb back up if he fell in? Because Daitoku-ji couldn't swim!

Even without Daitokuji's reminder, Marufuji and Daitokuji had already sped up and started running, wishing they could have extra legs to run even faster. However, the speed at which the roots contracted exceeded their expectations. Just as they were about to reach the center of the pool, the tree roots had already retreated to their feet.

At the last moment, the two could only push off the ground with all their might and jump forward. On the other side, Judai and Maeda, who had been waiting for a long time, did not disappoint the two and grabbed Daitokuji and Marufuji's outstretched hands, pulling them up so that they would not fall into the pool below.

"Phew, hoo hoo! I'm saved, meow~" Daitokuji wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "Thanks to you, Judai, I almost died for the third time."

"Teacher Daitokuji, aren't you used to it yet?" "Who can get used to something like this, meow!"

Marufuji Sho was also quite frightened. Although he could swim, he didn't know what kind of aquatic monsters might emerge if he fell into the pool below. Sitting there, he said with some lingering fear, "It was so close. Luckily, we reacted quickly enough."

“However, why did those tree roots suddenly disappear? Maeda was perfectly fine when he walked up, and there were no problems at first when Daitokuji-sensei and I walked up together.” As he spoke, he looked at Daitokuji, who was also sitting on the ground. “Could it be because Daitokuji-sensei touched those tree roots?”

"Don't talk like my hands are dirty and that's why the tree roots are disgusted with me, meow." Daitokuji said helplessly, "Maybe it has something to do with the pond that Judai saw?"

Upon hearing Daitokuji's words, Judai quickly clarified, "But I didn't touch anything, absolutely not!"

"I was just standing there looking at the pool... Huh?" Turning his head to look at the pool, Judai suddenly realized that he clearly remembered that among the nine architectural models, there were two models that were close together with lights on in the center. Although he didn't remember the colors carefully, there were definitely two models with lights on.

But when he checked again, he found that only one model was still lit up; the other model, which had been lit just moments before, now had its lights off and looked almost identical to the others. Could this be the reason why the "tree root bridge" had disappeared?

"Did you discover anything, Judai?" Daitokuji asked curiously, seeing Judai staring intently at the pool. Judai immediately shared his discovery. What the others didn't know was that it was precisely at the moment when Misawa used [Great General - Purple Flame] to clear the basic points of [Iron King Battle - Dwarf Union King], and those unaware of this information naturally couldn't analyze the truth using only the existing information.

However—although there wasn’t enough information to uncover the truth, Jaden and his team had a secret weapon: Jaden’s astonishing wisdom!

"Since the bridge is gone, we can't go back to the other side for the time being. It seems that the only thing we can access now is this pool of water, right?" Judai looked at the exquisite reliefs on the edge of the pool, and curiously pushed one of them. He found that the metal ring around the reliefs could actually rotate, which also caused the soldier in the center of the pool to rotate, making it face the other architectural models.

Moving the figure from its original position, Judai rotated the relief so that the soldier pointed to the only lit architectural model and said, "My extraordinary wisdom tells me that now is the time to use my extraordinary intuition, and my extraordinary intuition says, this is the right thing to do!"

The moment Judai aimed his figure at the lit architectural model, the platform where Judai and his companions were suddenly rotated, changing their orientation. They were no longer facing an empty wall, but a closed door. The previously contracted tree roots extended again, forming a bridge that led all the way to the closed door.

As a gem on the gate suddenly lit up, light emanated from the gap in the closed gate. Then, the extending tree roots pulled the gate open on their own, revealing a figure with their back to the group.

Marufuji Ryo turned his head to the side and glanced at Judai and the others who appeared behind him. He slowly turned around, his eyes showing a hint of surprise.

Chapter 1346 Misawa's Ecstatic Joy: The New World Rules

—Why did I say before that Judai and his friends were ahead of "almost" everyone?

Of course, it's because some people acted even faster than them, arriving in other worlds before Judai, which is why Marufuji Ryo appeared in front of Judai and the others!

"Marufuji is here too?" Daitokuji looked at Marufuji with some surprise, but found that he was not wearing the school's blue dormitory uniform, but was wearing a long black trench coat, looking cool.

Moreover, it wasn't just his appearance that changed; the feeling that Marufuji had of Marufuji was also different from before. Although Marufuji had always treated people with a cold demeanor, he was actually quite passionate inside, and he would occasionally show a gentle side to those he respected.

But the person standing in front of him now, Marufuji, was colder than ever before, and extremely so. Daitokuji could even feel the coldness and cruelty in his heart. If it weren't for the fact that his appearance hadn't changed, Daitokuji would have almost thought that the person in front of him was a completely different person from the Marufuji he knew before.

Originally, after Judai's actions on the pond unexpectedly opened the closed door, Marufuji Sho, dispelled by the surrounding darkness and no longer afraid, was eager to be the first to explore the world beyond the door. However, upon seeing Marufuji Ryo, he instinctively retreated, hiding beside Judai, afraid to look at his back, murmuring, "Brother..."

“Caesar…” Looking at Marufuji Ryo in front of him, Judai said with a serious expression, “You actually beat me to it, that’s impressive!”

"Huh? Big brother, is that what you wanted to say?"

"Hmm? What else?" Jaden scratched his head. "I thought we would be the first to explore this place, but we turned out to be the second after Caesar. That's really disappointing."

"But speaking of which, why didn't Caesar go straight to that big tree like Manjoume and the others? We haven't seen Caesar along the way."

Upon hearing Jaden's words, Caesar turned around and calmly said, "I'm not very interested in this virtual world, and I have no intention of wasting time on boring journeys. So from the very beginning, I have never left the duel arena where I entered the game."

"Furthermore, you who came here can only be considered third place. I am second place, and the first place belongs to someone else."

"Huh? There's another expert?" Judai wasn't disappointed at all; instead, he exclaimed excitedly, "Who is it? How did he manage to explore such a deep place so quickly? Could it be that he's already finished exploring this secret realm?"

"A secret realm? I don't know what your understanding is, Jaden, but this doesn't seem to be a 'secret realm' at all, meow." Daitokuji followed Jaden and was the third to pass through the gate. He looked at the lush forest behind the gate and said, "Although it looks like the same forest environment as the one you entered before, Jaden, this is a completely different world. Even the physical rules have changed. For example, the gravity coefficient has become 9.8 N/Kg."

Upon hearing this, Maeda jumped up curiously, but he couldn't sense any change in the gravitational pull on his body. Puzzled, he asked Daitokuji, "But Daitokuji-sensei, is there really a change? I can't feel anything at all. And I seem to remember that the gravity coefficient in junior high school was originally 9.8?"

"No, that's not it. When I was in junior high, I only told you that the gravity coefficient was about 9.8. It's not actually that precise. It was just calculated to be 9.8 or even 10 for your convenience in calculations, meow." Daitokuji explained earnestly, "In the world we were in at the beginning, gravity was quite realistic. But after I came out of that temple, I felt that gravity became lighter and became an extremely precise 9.8."

"That's why I concluded that this is another world, meow!"

"Why is the alchemy teacher talking to us about physics? I thought we didn't have to learn this stuff at the Duel Academy," Marufuji Sho couldn't help but complain. "And, I didn't see you take out any measuring tools, Daitoku-sensei."

"Those things are unnecessary. My new body is the best measuring tool. Not only can I accurately measure changes in temperature and humidity, but also wind direction, orientation, and so on."

Although the hardware itself came from the Haima Group, the "software" part that controls the body was entirely adjusted by Daitokuji himself. The ability to digitize perception was one of Daitokuji's attempts on this new body. Now, the genuine surprise and admiration on the faces of the Judai and the others made Daitokuji quite pleased, and he proudly put his hands on his hips.

"I thought I was seeing things, or it was an illusion created by the virtual world, but it really is you, Daitokuji-sensei?" Initially, he looked at Daitokuji with suspicion, but from the moment Daitokuji began to explain, Marufuji looked at him with a rather hungry gaze. A smile, rarely seen on his usually aloof self, curled at the corners of his lips. "Could it be that your death was also part of the principal and the others' plan?"

“But it doesn’t matter. Although it wasn’t my intention, being able to meet a strong person like you after entering this world means that all my previous efforts weren’t in vain.” As he spoke, Marufuji Ryo raised his arm and revealed the Duel Disk. “Come and have a duel with me, let me enjoy myself, Daitokuji-sensei.”

"No, according to the latest leaked information, perhaps you should be called the last and strongest member of the 'Seven Stars'—Amunaeru!"

Although Ryo Marufuji was full of fighting spirit, Daitokuji quickly waved his hand and said, "No way, Kagemaru has already ascended to heaven, what 'Seven Stars' is there? Besides, I gave up my name as the alchemist Amunaeru a long, long time ago—'Amunaeru', meow."

"This is already my third life. Now I'm just your beloved Daitokuji Hugo-sensei, meow~" As he spoke, Daitokuji winked at the others in a playful manner.

"Although Daitokuji-sensei did act like an idiot and sided with that old man (Daitokuji: Hey!), he doesn't seem to harm other people in the school like the other 'Seven Stars,' does, Caesar. Don't be so hostile towards Daitokuji-sensei."

"That's what Judai said casually. As far as he knew, after Daitokuji appeared by Kagemaru's side as the alchemist "Amunaeru," he only ever made a move when he was trying to stop him and Asuka."

"Hospitality? No, I just want to enjoy dueling and the thrill of victory. Besides, it's perfectly normal for me to be hostile towards him, isn't it?" Caesar sneered. "Among my classmates, Fubuki isn't the only one who's gone missing. Since you admire heroes, you should also hate the mastermind behind your classmates' darkness, right, Judai?"

"Of course... Wait a minute, Caesar, do you mean that Daitokuji-sensei caused Fubuki and the others to disappear?" Jaden's reaction was quick, and he immediately understood what Marufuji Ryo meant, looking at Daitokuji in surprise.

Unlike the "Seven Stars Invasion" event on another timeline, where the "Seven Stars" lined up one after another to enter in an orderly fashion like the Calabash Brothers rescuing their grandfather, the "Seven Stars Invasion" experienced by the Tenth Generation involved the entire "Seven Stars" mobilizing collectively, forcing all the Key Guardians to do the same. The biggest difference between the two events lies in the timeline.

After all, even if one "Seven Stars" appeared every day in the former case, it would still take at least eight days to end the event, not to mention that in the other timeline, it took several days to defeat Camilla, Tanya and others among the "Seven Stars", and during that time, there were also appearances by Kaiba, Anasis and others, so the total time would be at least one or two months.

The "Seven Star Invasion" that Jaden and his friends experienced this time, from distributing the keys and discovering the intruders to Hayato killing Kagemaru, was quickly over in less than a day.

The time difference led to a problem—after Tenjouin Fubuki, one of the "Seven Stars," was defeated by Judai, he didn't even have time to wake up and tell the others what he knew and what he had experienced before he disappeared before Daitokuji and Kagemaru had already died. As a result, Judai had no idea that "the disappearance of Tenjouin Fubuki and the other students was related to the 'Advanced Alchemy Club' founded by Daitokuji-sensei."

However, Daitokuji refused to admit it at all, quickly denying it: "I caused Fubuki and others to go missing? That's not true at all, this has nothing to do with me, meow! Huh? Wait, that's not right, it seems to have something to do with it? Yes, yes, yes, oh no, no, no!"

"Does this have anything to do with you, Daitokuji-sensei?" Marufuji Sho was a little confused by Daitokuji's rambling self-talk and shook his head to ask.

Although the student council member's disappearance was due to his own failure to safeguard his notes, the main responsibility lay entirely with Fujiwara Yusuke, who stole his notes. Tenjouin Fubuki also disappeared because of Fujiwara Yusuke's actions. Applying this analogy, if car B, which was behind car A, did not rear-end the car in front, but car C rear-ended car B, causing car B to rear-end car A, then car B—that is, Daitokuji—was clearly not at fault!

Having figured this out, Daitokuji said confidently, "It seems to have something to do with me... no, I don't think so, meow!"

"Let's pretend nothing happened, but that doesn't stop me from challenging you to a duel. Consider it me venting my frustrations on behalf of Fubuki." With this casual excuse, Marufuji Ryo still really wanted to duel Daitokuji.

Daitokuji realized that although his demeanor had changed, Marufuji Ryo was still the same Marufuji Ryo. However, he no longer used his old habits to hide his true emotions and fully expressed his desire for dueling and victory. At the same time, he completely abandoned unimportant things such as past honors.

Regarding Ryo Marufuji's situation, Daitokuji was actually one of the few people in the academy who noticed it. Besides him, Hayato Kobayashi also noticed it, but he did not change Ryo Marufuji's mind. Instead, he wanted to see when Ryo Marufuji would realize his true nature and be himself again. Now, Ryo Marufuji's change was within Daitokuji's expectations.

However, this does not mean that Daitokuji will accept Marufuji's challenge to a duel. After all, although he is a responsible teacher who cares about his students, his true identity after that is that of a rather obsessive alchemist. Marufuji is quite talented in duels, but he does not have enough alchemical talent to move Daitokuji. He would rather duel with Judai to help Judai grow faster than with Marufuji.

Therefore, he immediately came up with a reason: "Even if that kind of thing is going to happen, shouldn't Fubuki-san do it herself, meow?"

"He doesn't have that ability, because he was the first person to come to this place, and now he's long gone. Besides, he didn't come here voluntarily; he was kidnapped by a woman." Marufuji Ryo casually revealed something extraordinary. "That woman suddenly appeared near the dueling arena where everyone enters the virtual world, along with a mechanical giant. Then, the mechanical giant immediately destroyed a robot built by Misawa Daichi and tried to attack the others."

"What?! They actually did something so outrageous!" Jaden exclaimed, somewhat agitated. "I've never even seen a Misawa-made robot before!"

"Wait a minute, big brother, why are you so concerned about this? Didn't you notice that others were attacked? Don't get so agitated just because you heard that Misawa's robot was destroyed!"

“Because robots are a man’s romance.” Judai said, then suddenly realized something was wrong. “That’s strange, didn’t I just say ‘Mizawa’? That’s his name, right? I can’t believe I remembered correctly?”

"Looks like this is one of the rules that has been changed? Misawa-kun can have his name pronounced correctly?" Daitokuji speculated.

"That sounds so sad. Could it be that we were in a world where Misawa's name would definitely be mispronounced?" Maeda Hayato remarked, then looked at Marufuji Ryo, "That robot went berserk. Were any others injured?"

“This world is a virtual world. Even if someone gets injured, they will regenerate in the dueling arena, which seems to be a ‘resurrection point’ or something like that. Moreover, Misawa Daichi defeated that mechanical giant through a duel.” Marufuji Ryo paused and continued, “However, after that, it was the woman who appeared with the mechanical giant who started the fight.”

"She had no interest in other ordinary people. Instead, she used some unknown means to defeat Misawa Daichi, who had just finished fighting a mechanical giant, in a very short time. Then, she manipulated plants to seal off the entire dueling arena, so that if anyone regenerated there later, they would be caught immediately. Then, she discovered me and Tenjouin Fubuki in the dueling arena."

"That woman called herself the [Light King War - Queen Mador], and forcibly took Fubuki away while saying things like 'You human brat who is born evil.' I was also affected and brought to this world. Then I turned around and saw you all suddenly appear."

Marufuji Ryo's explanation seemed very detailed, but he subtly concealed some details. For example, after Fubuki was captured, the woman called "King of Light" manipulated plants to form a wall to intercept him before deploying a mysterious teleportation array to take him, along with Misawa and Fubuki, who were bound by vines and unconscious. Having already experienced the feeling of losing friends, he was advancing almost alongside the "Cyber ​​Dragon's" attack, only managing to pass through the wall and enter the teleportation array just as it was about to activate.

It seems that because he didn't enter the teleportation array completely, Ryo Marufuji experienced being split in two by the teleportation array and died before being revived. Fortunately, he didn't appear at the "resurrection point" in the duel arena, but in this natural world full of greenery. After that, he reunited with Jaden and the others.

While the group was receiving information from Marufuji Ryo, Marufuji Sho, who still didn't want to face his brother, looked around and suddenly noticed a pink butterfly with big eyes watching them from a tree in the distance.

Chapter 1347 The Battle of the King of Light