Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Hmph, is that so? Well, there's nothing I can do about it, Principal Hayato Kobayashi. After all, the Dilano Group is the number one student group in the school. I'm responsible for three grades and four dormitories of the Duel Academy. As the most qualified person to represent the Duel Academy, I do have to work a bit harder, hahaha."

Playing two roles, Dilano Kenzan imagined a conversation (probably) between himself and the principal in the future, and just stood by the roadside and laughed.

Every year, new students at Duel Academy arrive at the school on a special plane, but this year is slightly different.

(The tenth generation)

Every two years, all kinds of equipment on Duel Academy Island undergo a complete overhaul, including but not limited to the main computer room for processing various data, the standard dueling disks used by students, classrooms with enhanced projection effects, and even the teaching buildings and student dormitories are renovated and rebuilt from time to time. At the same time, a large number of cutting-edge technology products developed by Haima Group in the past two years but which have not yet been launched on the market are brought to the island.

This year, coincidentally, is the time for a complete overhaul. As a result, Samejima, the vice principal, did not come to the island in the days leading up to the start of the school year. Instead, he stayed in Domino City to coordinate with the Kaiba Corporation. His position at the school was temporarily filled by Professor Chronos, who was given the title of "temporary vice principal".

In order to upgrade the equipment, a large amount of supplies naturally need to be sent to the island. Therefore, during the past summer vacation, the ships traveling to and from Duel Academy Island have been running non-stop. So Hayato simply decided to arrange a ship to and from Duel Academy every day at the dock in Domino City as a means of transportation for students to "go to school". During the week before the start of school, both second and third-year students and first-year students can use this ship to go to the island.

(The following year, it was changed to steamships, and not just one batch.)

However, most students, even those like Misawa, are not too willing to come to school early. No matter how good the school is, it is hard to compare with home. Therefore, most people, such as Asuka's two best friends, plan to return to school the day before the start of the semester. Fubuki is the same. He was mysterious for almost the entire summer vacation. Even Asuka did not know his whereabouts. She only knew that he would go out to play every day.

Jaden and Sho only returned to school these past two days, having agreed to take the same ship. Misawa, Manjoume, and Asuka also arrived at school around the same time. However, it was from Manjoume's ship that some eager first-year students finally arrived on the island.

Because the new students arrived in batches, Duel Academy couldn't arrange a teacher to be at the dock to greet them as they had in previous years. Instead, they set up signs at the dock to provide basic guidance. Since school hadn't started yet, the new students didn't need to go to the school to register. They could simply follow the upperclassmen on the same ship who were wearing the same uniforms to find their dormitories, and the dormitory heads would take care of the rest of the arrangements.

However, despite the meticulous arrangements, Dilano Kenzan was a bit unconventional. He did find the roadside on the island while on the same ship as Manjoume, and followed the crowd disembarking from the ship, crossing the overpass from the island's pier to the island. But when he discovered the vast, undeveloped primeval forest on the island, he couldn't contain his excitement and abandoned the main road, taking a less-traveled path.

With so many students in the school, and no significant difference in uniforms between students of different grades in the same dormitory, coupled with the fact that school had not started yet and there was no mandatory reporting requirement, although some people noticed Dilano Jianshan, they had no idea that he was a first-year student, which led to him getting separated from the main group and lost on the island.

However, Kenzan himself was completely unaware that he was lost. On the contrary, he was quite enjoying his "hiking trip" wandering around in this forest. It was under these circumstances that Kenzan let his thoughts wander in the forest and laughed loudly like a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).

Under these circumstances, Jian Shan, who had just finished laughing, noticed the sound of someone talking in the distance of the forest thanks to his keen hearing.

"...This is the VIP ticket to that professional dueling match, where you'll face off against the renowned 'Dinosaur Ryuzaki'..."

A fallen leaf carries a message: somewhere in the Duel Academy on the other side of the forest, someone is talking about the Pro Duel World Championship the week after next, the duel about the dinosaur Ryuzaki.

Compared to other legendary duelists such as Seto Kaiba and Katsuya Jonouchi, Ryuzaki Dinosaur was actually one of the people that Dilano Kenzan cared about more. It wasn't because of his strength, but more because Dilano Kenzan was also a user of the Dinosaur deck, and users of the same type of deck tend to attract each other.

Just as O-Long, the Three-Sword Style, is more concerned about Hawkeye Mi-O-King than the world's strongest man, Shiro-O-King, not because the latter is stronger, but because the latter is the strongest swordsman. Among users of Dinosaur-Type decks, Ryuzaki's power is second to none, almost arguably the "world's strongest Dinosaur-Type duelist." Therefore, in Dilano Kenzan's eyes, Dinosaur Ryuzaki naturally becomes a more important target than "the world's strongest man," Kobayashi Hayato.

Although I am aware that I am no match for those legendary duelists, it does not stop me from observing their duels, understanding and absorbing their characteristics and essence to make myself, as a fellow user of Dinosaur-type decks, even stronger.

But here's the problem—the duel between Dinosaur Ryuzaki and that guy named "Oda-no-Kami" Akira, who seems to be a fellow student at the Duel Academy and has only been in the professional dueling world for less than half a year, was announced early on and pre-sales had opened recently. But it seems that the duel organizers or the event contractors colluded with scalpers to sell out all the tickets!

Dilano Jianshan wasn't too upset about not getting a ticket. Even though he hadn't paid much attention, he had at least heard about the duel between that guy, Liang, and another professional duelist, Ed Phoenix, who was also a prodigy, during the summer vacation. The tickets for that duel were incredibly hard to come by. It was said that some people even used cheat codes but still couldn't snag a ticket from scalpers. There was even a funny story about someone who bought a 1198 ticket, then canceled it because they thought the seat was too far back, and tried to get a 1398 ticket but failed.

Whether it's Edward or Ryo, they seem to have more female fans than male fans. It's not that they're not talented actors but idols, but if you want to get tickets for the duels related to them, you have to be prepared to fight against their "million-dollar single-fans".

What angered Dirano Kenzan was that after spending a lot of money to buy tickets from scalpers that were being resold for as much as 60,000, he was cheated by the scalpers!

Is this something a human being would do?!

Kenzan continued to listen intently to the sound in the forest, while moving closer to the direction from which it came. During this process, he kept hearing things like "It's so easy to leave a few tickets" and "Scalpers are selling them for 60,000 each," which gradually made Kenzan's face turn red.

Good heavens, I actually found the scalper offline? And he even shamelessly revealed the source of the tickets he had? This isn't just any ordinary scalper; we have to crack down on them!

And that comment about "60,000 yuan a ticket" was like rubbing salt into Jianshan's wounds. The ticket he was talking about, costing 60,000 yuan, was the one Jianshan had bought! Anyone with a conscience would be furious! He cursed at Jianshan, using vulgar language, and exploded!

"...Then we'll take my family's cruise ship to the Seahorse Dome in Domino City to watch this battle—"

"Objection!" Stepping out from the woods, Dilano Jianshan glared at the repulsive scalper whose hands were covered in tickets. He'd actually gotten so many people involved in selling tickets? He had no shame!

"You, the guy holding those tickets, you can't even see the reality right in front of you!"

"Huh?" Manjoume frowned, looking at Kenzan who had inexplicably jumped out. He didn't recognize Kenzan at all. He wasn't a good-tempered person to begin with, and because of his brother's situation, he hadn't been in a good mood lately. He glared back angrily, "Where did this brat come from, spouting such self-righteous nonsense?"

"Did I offend you by being born smart?" Jianshan said angrily. "Have you been the one to manipulate others all along, just bystanders?!"

Unaware that Kenzan had mistaken him for a ticket scalper, Manjoume retorted confidently, "(As the young master of the Manjoume Group) I have every right to do so!"

"This arrogance! This kind of arrogance is the last thing a human being should do!"

"Hey, this is already a personal attack, you bastard! You just popped up out of nowhere, who do you think you are!" The angry Wan Zhangmu paused and glanced at Misawa beside him, "This guy's uniform is from the Yellow Dormitory."

Misawa shook his head: "I don't really remember. It should be a freshman this year?"

"Who are you? Since you asked, I'll tell you. I'm Dilano Jianshan, and I'm going to become the strongest in Duel Academy." Pointing his thumb at himself, Jianshan said arrogantly, "I was originally planning to start my plan after the start of the semester, but it's fate that I ran into the person I wanted to deal with so early. It's decided, I'll wager our duel disks and teach you a lesson in a duel!"

"A duel that involves betting the Duel Disk..." Jaden felt a strong sense of déjà vu upon hearing this, recalling the "King of the Night" that Ohara and Kohara had impersonated last semester, which also involved gambling duels. "Even if you say that, what grudge do you have against Manjoume?"

"I have an irreconcilable hatred for scalpers and speculators!" Kenzan replied without hesitation, looking at Manjoume. "Is this guy called Manjoume? Sounds like he's from the Manjoume Group? But even if he's the young master of that group, I still won't forgive him for becoming a scalper..."

As he spoke, Kenzan suddenly froze, as if he had just remembered something: "Huh? Manjoume? The Manjoume Group? The Manjoume Group that the agency that Ryuzaki Dinosaur signed with belongs to?"

"Wait a minute, could those tickets be from the organizers?"

Somewhat bewildered, Kenzan looked around at the people around him. Misawa and Judai nodded in response. Seeing this, Kenzan realized that he had completely misunderstood Manjoume, and hurriedly bowed to Manjoume, saying, "N-I'm sorry, senpai, I think I misunderstood you."

"Red, red bean paste, a secret Marseille!"

Manjōme said with a gloomy face, "So that's how it is. You misunderstood me as a scalper? Since you're so dedicated, then I can only forgive you—yeah right! How dare you insult me ​​like that, damn it!"

Chapter 1433 A disagreement leads to a card game

"A thousand feet tall, a senior, red bean paste, a secret horse race!"

Kenzan prostrated himself on the ground and apologized to Manjoume, "I'll do anything I can if you can forgive me!"

"How arrogant you are." Even though Kenzan expressed his apology, Manjoume was clearly not so easily appeased. After all, Kenzan's words had just been a direct attack on his character, making him extremely unhappy. "You can do anything? What kind of determination did you have to say such a thing?"

"You're just an ordinary student, can you really bear the weight of someone else's life? 'Willing to do anything' carries such a heavy burden. Don't casually ask for things you can't do."

Looking down at the Sword Mountain, Manjoume coldly said, "You really only have yourself on your mind."

However, Judai, who was standing to the side, nudged Manjoume when he heard what Manjoume said and said, "That's true, but there really is something you can ask Kenzan for help with, isn't there, Manjoume?"

"Hmm?" Manjoume didn't understand Judai's meaning for a moment, while Kenzan also looked up at Judai, very interested in how he could help his senior Manjoume, whom he had just offended, to apologize.

“Instead of asking us for help and having us pretend to be your henchmen and followers, why not just take in the first-year students as your underlings?” Misawa spoke up for Judai, “That way, we can avoid the possibility of being exposed.”

"No, absolutely not!"

Before Manjoume could even refuse, Kenzan had already stood up from the ground and said with a look of resistance, "I will absolutely not become someone else's underling!"

"Huh? That's why I said, don't say things you can't do." Wan Zhangmu glanced at Jian Shan with displeasure, very dissatisfied. "You can't even become my subordinate, you have no sincerity in apologizing."

"Although it was wrong of me to mistakenly believe you were a despicable scalper and to verbally attack you, that's completely different from being your underling. This is something I'm bound to do," Jianshan said seriously. "Just being subordinate to Sun God Huang is already something I can't tolerate; becoming someone else's underling is absolutely unacceptable!"

“My talents are far more than just those of the Sun God-Yellow. If I were to become a subordinate of the Obelisk-Blue, wouldn’t I truly become someone who is only at that level?”

"Hey~ You're only a first-year student, yet you can't even satisfy the Sun God-Yellow? I, your senior, only have Osiris-Red." Marufuji Sho said, putting on airs like a senior when he heard Kenzan's words, while tugging at his school uniform, "Because I haven't changed into my uniform, if I hadn't seen the new students, I would hardly feel like I'm already a second-year student."

However, Kenzan looked disdainful at Marufuji Sho: "Heh, what is Osiris-Red? I am still Sun God-Yellow, it's just that the highest a first-year student can reach after entering school is Sun God-Yellow. The reason you are Osiris-Red is that your limit is also Osiris-Red. After all, if you can move up to a higher dormitory, no one would stay in the original dormitory, right?"

“Ahem, unfortunately, there really are people like that.” Hearing Kenzan’s words, Misawa glanced at Judai and said with a smile, “Judai had the opportunity to be promoted to Sun God-Yellow last year. If he wanted to, he could even be promoted from Red Dorm to Blue Dorm within a year, just like a certain senior from previous years.”

"However, Judai refused because he prefers passionate red to blue and yellow," Asuka chuckled, covering her mouth. "While there are indeed differences in treatment between dormitories, that's definitely not a basis for judging strength. Rather, now that Caesar has graduated, Judai is arguably the strongest student in the entire school."

"It's not that bad. Asuka, you, Ichizawa, and Manjoume are all very strong." Judai was quite modest. "Although I have great faith in the bond between me and the [Hero]s, I also believe in Asuka and the others' growth."

"So who is Izerael? Hey, I'm Misawa, Misawa!" Misawa protested. "If I'd known, I would have stayed in the Rotten Light Realm."

"The blue dorm isn't the strongest, but the red dorm is?" Jian Shan blinked, somewhat confused about how the dorm division at Duel Academy worked.

To be honest, before enrolling, he always thought that Apollo-Yellow was the best of the three dormitories. After all, the names of the three dormitories were obviously derived from the "God Cards", and the strongest of the "Three Egyptian Gods" was obviously Apollo-Yellow, representing the Duel King Hayato Kobayashi. However, the official website of Duel Academy stated that Obelisk-Blue was the dormitory where the best student was located.

This is probably a personal touch from the academy's founder, Seto Kaiba, since the name of the Obelisk-Blue dormitory is taken from the "Three Egyptian Gods" that represent him—[Obelisk the Tormentor].

But now, these second-year students in front of him are telling him that the strongest person is not in the blue dormitory but in the red dormitory, and it is this seemingly dull guy in front of him.

"Perhaps this is the attraction that brings people together, or maybe it's fate? I never expected to encounter someone I have to defeat as soon as I arrived at school." Kenzan's eyes blazed with fighting spirit. "If you're the strongest, then you're the leader of the academy, right, Judai Yuki!"

"As long as I defeat you, I can become the next leader, the one recognized by everyone!"

Seeing that the topic had unknowingly shifted to Judai, and Kenzan suddenly regarded Judai as his target, Manjoume raised an eyebrow: "Wait a minute, weren't we just talking about your apology? Why are you suddenly challenging Judai to a duel?"

"Apologizing to you, senior, and challenging the school's leader to a duel are two separate things. Afterwards, I can apologize however you wish." With his eyes fixed on Judai, Dilano Kenzan said earnestly, "I absolutely must climb to the top and gain recognition. This is my only ambition as a duelist, and it must be achieved. Becoming the leader of the Duel Academy is the very beginning!"

"Challenge the strongest to become the new strongest?" Marufuji Sho blinked. "Then why not challenge Principal Hayato?"

Dilano Kenzan answered every question honestly, saying, "Because Principal Hayato is too strong."

"Even if you call me a leader... do I count?" Jaden looked troubled and pointed to himself. "Isn't the point of a duel to make everyone happy? After all, duels are supposed to bring smiles to people's faces. Why do we have to have a leader or a head?"

"Because duels are brutal," Kenzan said solemnly. "You can't survive without winning. That was the environment at my previous school, so there had to be a leader to protect the underlings. As the strongest, I naturally took on that responsibility. Now at the Duel Academy, it's the same. Since you are the strongest, you must bear that responsibility. This is the fate of the strong and the weak!"

"destiny......?"

Just as Judai was still looking puzzled, Misawa patted him on the shoulder and said, "Actually, I understand some of Dilano's thoughts to some extent—about the recognition of others. For a while, I was worried about why I could never be remembered by others. Was it because my presence was too low? But I was confident that my strength could rank in the top ten in the academy."

"I can totally relate to the idea of ​​dueling for someone's approval, even though I don't need that kind of thing anymore. If it were you, Jaden, you could definitely help Dilano grow."

“That’s right, Grand Master of the Academy—Lord Judai.” Asuka joked with Judai, “Dilano wants to take your leadership position. As the leader, how can you let him provoke you? Just use [E·hero] on him to uphold your authority.”

"That's strange. Are you all obsessed with duels? Why are you suddenly starting another one?" Manjoume complained, looking at Kenzan. "If you want to humiliate yourself, go ahead, but it's not that easy to just let bygones be bygones."

"Let's make a bet, just like when you tried to steal my Duel Disk and started a duel, let's make a bet for your duel with Jaden as well." Manjoume said with a wicked smile, "Let's bet that if you lose, you'll become Jaden's underling."

"Either you cross the line and become Jaden's lackey and follower, or you betray your integrity as a duelist and break the bet. Everyone has a price, and so do your bottom line and integrity. That's the stake in a duel—a measure of the value of your bottom line and integrity. Heh heh heh, there's no more fitting way to humiliate someone than this, hahahaha!"

"Huh? Big Brother's underling?!" Marufuji Sho was dumbfounded. "How can this be? Big Brother's only underling is me. Oyster, absolutely an oyster! Eeyata, eeyata, eeyata!"

(Reference for tantrum actions)

"Hey, why are you betting on me with the assumption that I have no chance of winning? Even that short senior over there is throwing a tantrum on the premise that I'll become his underling if I lose!?" Kenzan was a little dissatisfied, especially towards Marufuji Sho. "Who wants to be in the same position as that guy who looks so weak? Just for that reason, I absolutely refuse to lose!"

"I want to raise the stakes! If I win, the verbal attacks I made against my senior will be over, but at the same time, you will have to admit defeat to me in school and acknowledge that I have succeeded Yu Cheng as the strongest person and the new leader of the school."

"Hehe, you can't refuse a challenge from a junior to a senior. Alright, I accept your challenge, Kenzan!" Judai gave Kenzan a thumbs up. "I also accept all the bets. Let's have a fun duel together."

"An interesting duel? Isn't it only the winner who's interesting in a duel? Can the loser even laugh?" Kenzan scoffed at Jaden's words, put on his Duel Disk, and said, "Dilano Kenzan, a first-year student in the Sun God-Yellow Dormitory, is a Dinosaur-Type deck user."

"Duel!"

[Dilano Sword Mountain: 4000LP, 5 card in hand]

"How energetic! Well then, as your senior, I should introduce myself properly." Realizing that he was now considered a senior, Judai put on a senior's air and pointed to himself with his thumb, saying, "First...second year student Osiris-Red Dormitory, favorite card is [E·hero], Yuki Judai reporting for duty!"

"Duel!"

[Yujo Judai: 4000LP, 5 cards in hand]

As Jaden drew five cards from his deck, Kenzan immediately declared, "I'll take the first turn! Draw!"

Just as Jaden and Kenzan began their duel, Ed Phoenix was intently watching from a distant cliff with his binoculars when his cell phone suddenly rang.

"Mosimoxi?"

"It's me, Edward." Edward's familiar voice came through the phone. "Have you arrived at the Duel Academy?"