Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Of course it’s on my side.” Edward said confidently. “I don’t know what happened to Fubuki Tenjouin, but strictly speaking, although she is a second-year student, her strength should be on par with 'Caesar' who has already graduated from the school. She can’t be compared with the other students in the school.”

"How can my duel with a student who hasn't even graduated and entered the professional dueling world not be considered bullying the weak—or what you call 'smurfing'?"

"They are the challengers before me." Having been defeated by Fubuki, Edward now declares his victory after awakening, "I will win."

"You're quite confident. Well then, let me look forward to your performance in your duel with Jaden." Patting Edward on the shoulder, Hayato said with a smile, "How about setting the time after this wilderness survival event? Hmm, that's settled then."

"Although they asked for my opinion, they didn't give me any choice at all." Edward gave a helpless wry smile, then suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute, what did you just say, Hayato-sensei?"

"So you've decided on you?"

"Wasn't that the sentence from before? And it should be a little earlier."

"This is youth."

"You've gone too far forward!"

Just then, Edward heard a spirited voice behind him: "Oss! I'm the first one here!"

Looking in the direction of the sound, Edward saw a boy with a jellyfish-like head, covered in leaves and broken branches, emerging from the forest.

"Yuki Judai! You actually took the shortcut!" On the other side, Manjoume saw Judai emerge from the woods and said angrily, "I was wondering why you suddenly took a longer fork in the road halfway through, you were thinking of taking a shortcut!"

"Because taking a shortcut means going a long way, while taking a detour is my shortest shortcut!" Judai said smugly.

"Stop showing off what Hayato-sensei taught in class. Even if I don't understand it myself, that line isn't for you to use now!"

First came Manjoume, then Asuka, followed by Marufuji Sho and Dilano Kenzan, who were vying for the title of "Number One Underling," and then Misawa arrived at a leisurely pace.

Jaden was surrounded by a group of people, standing together and making a lot of noise, which contrasted sharply with Edward, who stood alone on the beach.

However, Edward did not feel the slightest envy at Jaden being surrounded by his friends. Instead, he turned around and looked at Hayato with a puzzled expression.

Hayato nodded: "I called Jaden and the others to gather here on the beach because I have something to announce."

As he spoke, Hayato clapped his hands, drawing the attention of Jaden and the others. Seeing that Hayato seemed to have something to say, Jaden and the others obediently quieted down.

"Although there are still three days before the official start of school, since you're all already at school, I'll explain in advance." Looking at the crowd gathered on the beach, even Fubuki's group had finished dealing with their female fans and were moving towards them, Hayato continued, "Among those present, apart from the two first-year students, everyone else has moved up to the second year. The second-year courses are much fewer than the first-year courses because the school encourages you to participate in extracurricular activities this year."

"Great!"

Before Hayato could finish speaking, Jaden couldn't wait to cheer and said excitedly, "In my first year, I had the 'Seven Stars' and the academy exchange program. Although it was fulfilling, I definitely missed out on a lot of the experiences that students should have compared to others. I'm going to make up for it all in my second year!"

"First, there's the art club where Maeda used to be. Then, Ayanokouji, the senior from the tennis club, graduated last year, and it seems like they're holding a tennis tournament this year to decide who will succeed him as captain based on their tennis skills. Also, the news club said they want to do a feature interview with someone this semester—"

Jaden counted the many clubs in the school on his fingers, but Asuka nudged his hand with her elbow and interrupted him, saying, "Alright Jaden, I know you're looking forward to extracurricular activities this semester. We can go back and list them out slowly. Now, let's hear what Hayato-sensei has to say."

"Oh." Upon hearing Asuka's words, Judai obediently fell silent again.

Asuka was about to listen to Hayato continue when she noticed that everyone else was looking at her and Jaden with teasing and inexplicable expressions. Jaden, however, was completely oblivious to the stares. Only Asuka felt quite uncomfortable being stared at and quickly explained, "I was just reminding Jaden to focus."

"Yes, yes, we all understand, those who understand, understand." Fubuki, who had just arrived with a grin, saw Asuka "elbowing" Jaden and teased, "Good friends, good classmates, our Asuka really knows how to care for people."

Even if there was nothing between Judai and Asuka, Fubuki's words made it seem ambiguous. Moreover, Asuka did have feelings for Judai that went slightly beyond friendship. Judai, who was urging her to listen attentively, was suddenly provoked and blushed. She kicked Fubuki in the direction of her brother—her previous thoughts were indeed correct. The brother lying in the hospital bed was the best brother!

"Ahem, let me continue." As Fubuki deliberately turned around, wiggled her butt, got kicked by Asuka, and then lay on the beach, Hayato coughed twice to attract everyone's attention again. "The school encourages second-year students to participate in extracurricular activities, such as joining clubs, organizing cultural festivals, or attending academic lectures. After submitting an application, it's even fine if you want to go to a professional dueling tournament to broaden your horizons."

"However—I regret to inform you that I have already taken up your first month of second grade."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Manjou's eyes widened. "I was thinking of making as many arrangements as possible before my brother arrives to prevent any mishaps... No, I didn't say anything."

Only then did he realize that among the people present, Fubuki, Kenzan, and that flashy guy in the white suit didn't know about his brother coming to the Duel Academy, so he quickly stopped talking and didn't say anything more.

“Yes, Hayato-sensei, isn’t the school supposed to encourage us to participate in extracurricular activities?” Misawa was also a little worried. Although Dr. Byin Stein had confirmed that he would be giving a lecture at the Duel Academy, the specific time had not yet been set. The principal suddenly told him that the first month was already taken up. What if Dr. Byin Stein’s lecture started in the first month of the semester? Wouldn’t that be incredibly unlucky?

"Both of you asked good questions. Since your Chinese, math, and English teachers are all sick, we'll have PE this period."

Hayato spoke in a language that Jaden and the others couldn't understand, and those who could would find it contrary to the established order. Ignoring Misawa's protest, "My name is Misawa, teacher," he snapped his fingers and said, "Anyway, it's definitely not because I'm annoyed by how empty you high school students are. Since I've been caught in the rain before, I'm definitely going to tear your umbrellas off and send you brats into hell with 730 days left until the college entrance exams!"

"It's completely different from what you said! The truth is clearly the latter one! The latter one is your real thought, teacher!" Judai retorted. "And you didn't even try to hide it!"

"Even though Duel Academy is more lenient than regular high schools, I remember when my brother was in Domino City High School, he had plenty of free time in the afternoons to participate in clubs, right? Hayato-sensei, weren't you classmates with my brother? You've never been caught in the rain, have you?"

"Urusai! As the principal, my power is limitless! In short, you won't be having a peaceful month. I've arranged a variety of 'rich' and 'fun' activities for you to train you, so that you students can have the excellent physique to jump out of a plane without equipment and land safely. This is the basic skill to become a powerful duelist!"

Hayato crossed his arms and said arrogantly, "However, our Duel Academy is a very democratic school. You are free to choose whether to call this event 'Wilderness Survival' or 'The Great Expedition'."

"That second name sounds really weird. I'd rather choose 'Wilderness Survival'." Asuka said with a strange expression.

Meanwhile, Dilano Kenzan stood with Ed Phoenix, also a first-year student. Seeing their seniors' tense expressions, the two, though puzzled, were relieved that they were first-years and didn't have to participate in this impromptu activity organized by the principal. They exchanged a glance and smiled at each other.

"Oh right, those two first-graders over there, I've also requisitioned your first month of school."

"Eh!?!" x2

Chapter 1450 Wonderful Tools

Because Duel Academy is upgrading its facilities this year, students are taking the ferry to Duel Academy Island every day. Therefore, there won't be a card exchange event on the ferry like Jaden and his classmates did. Instead, today, the largest auditorium in the academy is being used for a grand welcome party for new students, instead of the individual welcome parties held by each dormitory as in previous years.

This joint effort will be chaired by Professor Kronos, the interim vice principal and head of the Obelisk-Blue dormitory, with health teacher and physical education teacher Megumi Ayukawa as his deputy to coordinate the various departments. Teacher Aoki and Teacher Kabayama from the Sun God-Yellow dormitory, along with the cafeteria chef Ameluda, will be in charge of food, providing all students with unlimited free buffet meals.

As for the Red Dormitory, since Daitokuji is not currently in charge, and the photo of the dormitory head on the wall of the Osiris-Red Dormitory is still a picture of the "Pharaoh" yawning, who has gained another pound since last year, Daitokuji is quite leisurely and has not been assigned any tasks. He is only scheduled to distribute the entrance gift to the freshmen with Tomie from the convenience store - that limited edition card pack that every newbie will receive.

Last year, Manjoume obtained cards such as "Resurrection Gospel," "Dragon's Fighting Spirit," and "Relics of the Giant Dragon" from them. Judai and Asuka also obtained "Beloved Hero" and "Ancient Saint Dai - First Dragon" respectively through exchanges. These cards have been of great help to them in the past year. I wonder how many new students this year will be able to open the cards they need and how many new friends they can make by exchanging card packs.

However, none of the above—whether it was the free buffet that Judai cared about so much, the opportunity to show off in front of the new students that Manjoume cared about, or the chance to collect other people's card data that Misawa cared about—had any chance of achieving any of the above.

While the school's main auditorium was being decorated by the school staff to be increasingly opulent, resembling a luxurious venue for aristocratic social parties, Jaden and his friends had already left Duel Academy Island.

Last year, Jaden and his fellow freshmen gathered at the Domino City pier and took a ferry together to Duel Academy Island. However, some students in their second year and above arrived at Duel Academy a step earlier by taking the academy's helicopter from Domino City, since they did not need to meet other people or exchange cards on the ferry.

However, this year, because the students all arrived at the school in batches by ferry regardless of their grade, the helicopter parked on the tarmac at the Duel Academy's island pier was directly requisitioned by Hayato and used as a means of transportation for everyone. They were sitting in this helicopter at the moment, following Hayato to participate in "extracurricular activities".

Standing before the crowd, Hayato spread his arms wide: "Then I hereby declare the Duel Academy 2006 academic year's first 'Wilderness Survival' competition officially open! The time for the event to begin has arrived, let us offer thunderous applause!"

Because the helicopter's sound insulation was exceptionally good, you couldn't hear a thing about the top propeller noise; it was so quiet it was like being in a recording studio. Hayato didn't need to speak loudly for his students to hear him clearly. Don't ask how it works; it's made by Haima Group.

"Puji pa puji pa puji pa~" As he spoke, he clapped his hands and made quite subtle sounds with his mouth.

Unlike Hayato, the others remained seated and did not stand up, but they also clapped along with Hayato.

"Hayato-sensei, where are we going?" Misawa asked first, raising his hand. "Although you said we don't need to prepare anything and you will arrange the supplies for us, at least let us know where we are going?"

"Don't worry, we won't take you too far. After all, we're in a helicopter. No matter how much high-tech it's packed with, its fuel tank size is what it is. Tsk, that guy Seahorse actually designed that Blue-Eyes jet to only have two seats. Otherwise, I would have... borrowed that plane."

"Did you accidentally blurt out the truth just now? And where were you originally planning to take us, teacher?!" Manjoume couldn't help but retort after hearing Hayato's words.

"Let's go see if there's a giant python that eats safflower in the Amazon rainforest, or go to Antarctica to see if there's a pyramid temple hidden under the ice, or even a Decepticon leader robot frozen in ice. I also want to see the Otome world." Hayato rambled on, and seeing the students' expressions change, he said with a grin, "Alright, alright, I didn't take you anywhere."

"Don't worry, our destination is just a deserted island not too far from Duel Academy Island. A wealthy man who owns it puts it up for sale, but he happens to be a fan of mine, so I bought it for just an autograph. You can make a ruckus on it as you please."

"Just an autograph? You really hit the jackpot, teacher," Judai said. "Even if the place is small, it's still an island."

“Ha, how ignorant. Hayato-sensei’s autograph is not cheap at all; on the contrary, it is incredibly valuable.” Edward said immediately after hearing Jaden’s words. “The highest price ever paid for an autographed ‘Duel King’ card that is currently publicly available is two million dollars. That autograph was on a Duel Monster card that Hayato-sensei gave to a classmate named ‘Boku-gai Goro’ at Domino City High School.”

"Huh? That's strange. Why would someone sell a card given to them by a classmate?" Marufuji Sho said curiously.

“It seems that guy’s family member is seriously ill, so he had to sell his cards to raise money. Besides duels, there are many hardships in reality that are hard to overcome.” Hayato said, taking a card from the card box at his waist. “This card, ‘Nightmare Mirage,’ which has been with me for a long time, was a bet he lost to me. Consider it a return gift to him. Being able to help in this regard makes me more gratified than him keeping the card I gave him framed.”

"However, because my autograph set a world record at that auction, Keihei was quick-witted and immediately seized the opportunity. The hospital under the Kaiba Group accepted the patient without charging a penny, which instead brought the Kaiba Group benefits far exceeding a mere two million US dollars. Meanwhile, Goro's family recovered and were discharged from the hospital without any problems. The money that wasn't spent was used to buy a house in Domino City, and they've made quite a bit of money over the years."

"In short, Hayato-sensei's autograph is actually quite valuable, right? But even so, Hayato-sensei still feels like he got a great deal." Misawa thought for a moment, then asked, "So, how big is that uninhabited island?"

Hayato smiled and said, "It's about half the size of Duel Academy Island."

The area where Duel Academy and several dormitories are located is already quite large for Jaden and his classmates. Even including the back mountain and the old school buildings, it is still an astonishingly large area. However, this only accounts for about one-fifth of the total area of ​​Duel Academy Island. There are still large areas of virgin forest that have not been developed, and there is a huge active volcano in the back mountain that occupies half of the total area of ​​the island.

To put it another way, one-tenth of Duel Academy Island is at least twice the size of the already developed part of Duel Academy! And for the next month, they'll be "surviving in the wilderness" in such a large area?

"It doesn't have to be a month. Although it's an uninhabited island and not fully developed, I did build a villa in the very center of the island after I bought it. This helicopter will land there after dropping you off." As if guessing what everyone was thinking, Hayato said, "You just need to get from the landing point to the center of the island and find the villa to complete this activity. You can also enjoy the VIP service I arranged in advance there. Once everyone has arrived, you can take the helicopter and leave."

Upon hearing this, Fubuki, Marufuji Sho, Kenzan, and Jaden all showed expressions of relief. However, Edward, Misawa, Manjoume, and Asuka all keenly noticed a detail in Hayato's words.

"So—we're going to split up?"

Without even trying to hide it, Asuka directly stated her guess, which Hayato confirmed with a nod: "It's not just splitting up, it's everyone acting independently!"

Now, Marufuji Sho was dumbfounded. He was thinking that he would stick to Jaden's coattails to survive, but now Hayato said that everyone should be separated.

send!

Just as Marufuji Sho was looking down and searching his body for something to use to write his will, Hayato said again, "But you can rest assured, this island is 'absolutely safe'. The wild animals on the island have already been cleared out by the original owner, and I have also put some docile 'small animals' on it as decorations."

"You don't need to worry about food. I've packed enough for three days in each of your supplies, along with some useful gadgets. There are also plenty of supply points on the island where you can replenish your supplies. If you're fast enough, I estimate that many of you will be able to complete this wilderness survival mission within a week."

Hayato's words made Edward and the others feel a little strange, but they couldn't quite put their finger on why. His judgment of "one week" was also puzzling, because Jaden had tried it himself and found that an afternoon was enough for him to run from the Red Dorm to the beach near the Blue Dorm, have a good time, and then return to the Red Dorm for dinner. But Hayato said that even the fastest among them would take a week.

"After saying so much, it seems like you're facing a lot of difficulties. Now it's time to talk about the benefits." Hayato said, taking out two packets of cards and handing them to Edward and Kenzan. "As compensation for the first-year students missing the welcome party, these two packets of cards are a gift from me. No need to thank me too much."

"Oh! A card from the principal and teachers! Suddenly I feel like being called here on a wilderness adventure with my older brother was totally worth it!" Kenzan said excitedly, taking the card. "My blood is boiling, I'm so excited!"

"I will cherish the card you gave me, Hayato-sensei!" Edward said excitedly, then immediately took out his phone to search for "how to take the card out of the card holder without damaging the packaging as much as possible".

Nearby, Asuka muttered speechlessly, "This is a perk that every freshman gets, yet they use it to do favors. What an awful adult."

"Hmph, this is also one aspect of the end times." Hayato then looked at Jaden and the others and said, "Alright, let's get serious. The rewards for this wilderness survival competition are actually quite generous. You can discover the smaller rewards yourselves when the competition starts. I'll just mention the grand prize."

As he spoke, Hayato held up one finger. "One wish, just like the wish given to the graduating students each year, the same wish that Caesar received last year. This is a special perk I'm giving you as extra help, so only the first three to reach the central villa on the island can receive this grand prize."

Upon hearing Hayato's words, everyone's eyes immediately lit up with anticipation, especially after Hayato mentioned that it wasn't just limited to the first place but included three spots, and that the first three to reach the finish line would receive a "wish".

The second-year students knew all too well the significance of the "wishes" made by the graduating students, and even first-years Edward and Kenzan, seeing how excited their seniors were, knew that these "wishes" were probably not the kind made when blowing out candles, but rather a prize with real value. Edward, in particular, might not care what his wish would come true, but hearing that Caesar had received this "wishe" last year really perked him up.

'One wish...' Manjou looked around.

'Three spots...' Fubuki sized up the most competitive candidates.

'Eight contestants...' Misawa squinted, calculating something.

'It's not about competing with seven people, but about being stronger than the other five.' Kenzan first identified Marufuji Sho, and then looked for others who seemed weaker than him.

'In other words, even I have a chance!' Marufuji Sho couldn't help but fantasize.

'But if I could, I'd rather be number one!' Ed glanced at Jaden, confirming that this physically strong guy might be his formidable rival in this event.

'The wish I'll make then...' Asuka glanced at Judai, her eyes filled with determination.

"Os! Our goal is first place, we absolutely have to win!" Only Judai, without any thought in his mind, excitedly shouted out his thoughts.

"You all seem to be in high spirits," Hayato said with a smile, then picked up a bag and tossed it to the nearest Jaden.

Jaden, who had just declared victory, instinctively caught the rather heavy bag, then paused, noticing two uniquely designed pull tabs on it. He looked at Hayato with some curiosity: "Hayato-sensei, there seems to be something rather special on this bag?"

Hayato smiled mysteriously: "Those are the amazing tools we'll be using later~"