Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

To be honest, it wasn't just Professor Chronos who wanted to invite Caesar back to the school to participate in this campus version of the GeneX tournament; Samejima was also eager to see how his disciple had grown after graduating a few months ago and venturing into the professional dueling world.

"But, the fact that students are willing to participate in the competition simply because they like dueling is based on the fact that the students are already on the island and don't need to pay much to participate, right, huh?" As Samejima and Chronos began to communicate, Coach Napoleon regretted that he had "surrendered" too quickly and distanced himself from the project before Samejima could explain the situation. He quickly raised a new question, "Without prizes, just being able to duel, how many powerful duelists from all over the world can that attract?"

"I only said that the competition itself can effectively motivate students to participate, I didn't say there wouldn't be prizes." Professor Chronos said confidently, having already anticipated that Coach Napoleon would find fault with this. "It's time for what you've accumulated from your frequent business trips, Professor Kira and Acting Principal Samejima, to be transformed into tangible results. In fact, I've already contacted other branch schools in my capacity as acting vice principal."

"The main campus has the terrifying 'Three Phantom Demons' cards that cannot be used, but the four branch campuses of Duel Academy each have their own secret cards. The Southern Branch Campus is willing to provide secret cards as prizes for this fifth anniversary special event, which can be used as part of the reward."

Turning to a page of the proposal, Chronos said smugly. Seeing the two sets of cards displayed in the proposal, Samejima was quite surprised by Professor Chronos's ability to connect with clients: "They actually offered this set of secret cards, which were given to the Southern Branch by Principal Hayato, as a prize?"

“Since the card was originally provided by Principal Hayato, it’s only natural that the branch school would use it to help the main school. Moreover, it seems that they have also obtained some other rather rare cards through their own channels and are continuing to preserve them as secret cards.” Chronos paused and then said, “However, the Southern Branch School has a small condition: they also want to send some students to participate in the competition.”

"It seems that they were so obscure during last year's inter-school competition organized by Principal Hayato that they wanted to take this opportunity to promote themselves, right?"

"The location of the Southern Branch School isn't really that great. Its student body is only slightly better than the Northern Branch School, not as good as the Eastern or Western Branch Schools, let alone the main campus." Samejima nodded understandingly. Since their sister school was willing to lend a hand, it was only right to help them out when they were in trouble. Besides, it wasn't a difficult thing to do.

“Absolutely, those conditions are too easy. Well, I remember the Southern Branch recruited a genius student last year named Jim Crocodile Cook, right? We would be very happy to have outstanding students come to the main campus for exchange.”

“No, that student named Jim seems to have encountered some new archaeological discovery again, or he still didn’t have the chance to participate in the GeneX tournament. There’s a reason why I say it’s a ‘condition,’ Nano.” Chronos said, somewhat helplessly opening a page of the plan and showing a file to Samejima. “Actually, the Southern Branch wanted to pave the way for a sponsor who seemed to have sponsored them with a teaching building to experience the most intense dueling atmosphere in the world today. The person they actually wanted to send to participate in the GeneX tournament was this Nano.”

"His name is Saiō Takuma."

Chapter 1524: Snatching elective courses is an indispensable part of going to school.

A year ago, Coach Napoleon led a group of teachers from the Duel Academy headquarters on a business trip to other branch campuses for teaching exchange. After all, no one stipulated that only students could participate in exchanges; teachers could too.

This differs from the teacher mobility system in the Eastern Kingdom. Eastern Kingdom law stipulates that all teachers, including principals, cannot serve more than a certain number of years at the same school and must be transferred across multiple regions to reduce the gap in teaching staff between schools.

The exchange between Coach Napoleon and the teachers of the main campus was simply for teaching guidance. After all, the main campus, being the first dueling academy to be established, received a considerable amount of resources and attracted highly qualified teachers with no mediocre ones. Just like the students at the main campus, they all had to pass two rounds of tests, a written exam and a practical exam, before they could be admitted.

However, just because the main campus can do this doesn't mean other branch campuses can do the same. For example, the Northern Branch Campus considers it a success if it can gather 100 students from all three grades, and the standards for hiring teachers have been lowered considerably. Then, through a chain reaction, the Northern Branch Campus naturally developed a system where "students organize campus activities and handle daily affairs on their own."

Similarly, the students at the Western branch campus, being located in Columbia, were inevitably influenced by the environment, leading to a "survival of the fittest" atmosphere among the students and even the faculty. This wasn't as extreme as the main campus dividing students into three dormitories; rather, while everyone appeared equal on the surface, the stronger students could arbitrarily control the resources of the weaker students and treat them like servants.

Especially after David Labbour was expelled last year, Rickie Mackenzie graduated, and Principal Paul Mackenzie intended to step down after four years in office, Klaus Wallis, the Dean of Studies at the Western Campus—nicknamed "Professor Cobra"—began to promote a special duel he designed, and with a second-year student's protégé, Ossin O'Brien, acting as his enforcer, this trend was greatly promoted.

The Eastern branch wasn't much better. The Western branch was a dog-eat-dog elitist, while the Eastern branch was a similarly aristocratic system. Especially since the strongest student in the school was Amon Garham, the adopted son of the head of the Garham conglomerate and also a second-year student, the conflict between students from commoner backgrounds and children of conglomerates and nobles was exacerbated, even though Amon Garham, who was originally from a commoner background, didn't actually mean it.

The Southern branch campus, on the other hand, didn't have so many ideologies and doctrines. They only had one problem, and it was very simple—poverty.

It's not that Haima Group doesn't allocate funds; it's just that sometimes giving money to the Southern Branch is not very useful. The environment of the Southern Branch, located in Egypt in North Africa, is not much better than that of the Northern Branch, which is located in the Arctic Circle. In particular, it is close to troublesome countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, which is full of wealthy people. Even though it can enjoy the convenience of the Suez Canal, conflicts have never disappeared in this world.

The Southern Branch School's poverty wasn't in terms of funding, but rather in terms of resources and personnel. While Kaiba could certainly send a team there to develop and build the school if he wanted to, the problem was that Kaiba himself had the elitism of the Western Branch Schools. His willingness to invest heavily in the Duel Academy headquarters, where Hayato was located, didn't mean he was willing to give the same resources to other branch schools. The Southern Branch School, which didn't have any outstanding achievements, simply didn't deserve his investment.

However, that was up until last year. Last year, it was as if the time had come, and all the excellent duelists appeared in an explosion. At the main campus, Jaden Yuki and Joume Manjoume enrolled, and at the Northern Campus, a student named John Anderson also showed outstanding performance. There's no need to mention Ossin O'Brien and Amon Garham from the East and West Campuses. The Southern Campus also finally recruited an excellent student named Jim Crocodile Cook, who was practically the "Gen Z".

Because the student, Jim, was very interested in archaeology and geology, the Southern Campus was even willing to open more courses for these two subjects and hire professional lecturers for him. After all, with a student they were finally proud of, the Southern Campus had received a new investment from the Haima Group after a long time, allowing them to continue construction on campus. Not to mention, they also received special sponsorship from philanthropists this year.

Napoleon and a group of teachers from the main campus were on business trips to various branch campuses for guidance and exchange. After all, many teachers in the academy may seem ordinary at the main campus, but when taken out individually, they each have their own unique skills. For example, Mr. Sato Koji, who guides dueling construction, was once a powerful professional duelist.

(The teacher who lost to world champion DD due to exhaustion from working is also a genius (it must have been because his hairstyle wasn't good enough at the time and he was good at playing cards).

There's also Kabayama-sensei, who often serves as the acting dormitory head of the Yellow Dormitory because Kira Aoki-sensei is frequently away on business trips. His course is home cooking, and he has a particular fondness for curry dishes. During this exchange trip, his cooking not only gained recognition from many Indian students but was also very popular in the frigid northern branch campus.

Even Fumio Ichinose, the principal of the Northern Branch School who has been at odds with the Vice Principal Samejima of the main campus due to personal relationship issues and has also been giving the main campus's teacher exchange group a cold shoulder, was very interested in his specially researched "hair growth curry" and asked for a copy of the recipe. Doesn't he realize that if Professor Kabayama had already succeeded in researching it, would Samejima still be bald?

(A receding hairline that's worse than the other way around, and a jellyfish-like head of hair passing by)

As the exchange ended, many extracurricular courses at the school reopened. On the return yacht, Judai and Manjoume took their respective terminals and browsed the list of extracurricular courses at the school.

"So that's why Kira-sensei teaches cooking classes in addition to hand care classes. Is he covering for Kabayama-sensei?" Judai swiped his finger across the screen, the page scrolling rapidly, his eyes also darting around as he read the rapidly passing text. "The Duel Construction course has resumed, but the Alchemy course is no longer offered."

"Because theoretically, Professor Daitokuji has been removed from the school's faculty list, and now even the head of the Red Dormitory is being acted by 'Pharaoh'," Xiang said helplessly, spreading his hands.

Kenzan asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did that seemingly kind teacher do to deserve being expelled? And if he's not a teacher, what is his current status at the school?"

"Probably our dorm leader's cat owner? And the zookeeper who's in charge of feeding the big brother's fried shrimp," Xiang complained. "As for the reason, it's probably because Professor Daitokuji helped our school's board chairman last year to repay a favor, right? You know, Principal Hayato is very petty; if you offend him, you're finished."

"Yes, I heard you, Marufuji Sho."

Hayato's voice came from the speaker on the wall, startling Marufuji Sho into freezing in place. No matter how much Kenzan poked him, he wouldn't budge.

"He made us skip the first two weeks of classes, and as soon as we got back to school, we were scrambling to take electives with everyone else. Our second-year school life under Hayato-sensei's guidance has been incredibly colorful." Manjoume wasn't afraid of Hayato's petty remarks directed at him, speaking frankly and even daring to joke and tease, "As for the first-year students, they're even more amazing. They completely missed the opportunity to integrate into the atmosphere of their peers. Is Hayato-sensei actively creating school bullying?"

“There are indeed bullying incidents in the Far East where people can’t fit in, but ‘senpai,’ you seem to have misunderstood something?” Edward said confidently with a smirk. “I have no intention of trying to fit in with them. Even if there is bullying due to being rejected by the atmosphere, it should be me bullying them. Because [Hero] is aloof!”

"What a cool line! Can I use that line, Edward?" Jaden's eyes lit up when he heard Edward's words, and he looked up at him.

"Please do as you wish if you need it~" Edward elegantly spread his hands, while Judai unceremoniously operated the terminal and changed his personal signature on the campus forum to "Hero is aloof".

"Isolating the whole class by himself, that's really like Edward's style." Although Edward should theoretically be a junior, his aura is so strong that Marufuji Sho can't treat him as a junior who is a year younger than him. Therefore, he calls him "classmate". "But Manjoume is really wrong. After all, even Kenzan is not the type to be bullied at school."

"What do you mean 'even if it's me'?" Kenzan looked at Marufuji Sho with displeasure. Because Kenzan was also a junior of the Tenth Generation and had arrived later than him, Marufuji Sho acted like a senior and replied fearlessly, "Do you have a problem with me, Kenzan? Do you think your senior and older brother can brew their own tea?"

"what?"

Ignoring the bickering of Kenzan and Kimi, who were breathing on Marufuji Sho, Asuka resisted the temptation to sign up for the hand care class and casually asked Judai about his interests: "Judai, which class do you prefer?"

Although she was the only one asking Jaden, for a moment, everyone stopped what they were doing, whether it was Manjoume browsing the web, Fubuki chatting online, or Kenzan and Sho arguing. They all seemed to be waiting for Jaden to give an answer, and even Edward looked at Jaden.

"Me?" Unaware that she seemed to be the center of everyone's attention, Jaden scrolled through her phone. "I really don't know which course to choose. Hmm... how about taking this 'Construction Instruction' course? It seems to be the most popular course among second-year students."

“Because second year is the year in the school’s plan to make the most changes to the deck and add the most new cards. Compared to first year, which focuses on learning the basics, and third year, which focuses on further optimizing their skills through advanced learning, second year students are the ones who need the most guidance in deck building.” Asuka nodded and analyzed for Judai, “Right now, Judai, your deck not only has cards built around the original [E·hero] and [M·hero], but you’ve also added new [N]. You really need to find an opportunity to adjust it properly.”

"It seems I really need to take this course." Judai paused, then looked at Asuka and said, "Asuka, what about you? Do you want to take this course too?"

As they were talking, Jaden had already checked off and saved the construction guidance course on the webpage, reserving a spot. Each person could take two elective courses; any more would only distract students. Jaden planned to first select the construction guidance course that would be helpful for dueling, and then choose a course that he was personally interested in later—it was a pity there was no "fried shrimp tasting course."

Unaware of what grand dreams Judai was having, Asuka considered it carefully for a moment and nodded, saying, "It does sound pretty good. My coordination between the [Solemn Voice] deck and [Cyber ​​Angel] isn't perfect yet; it's still in a '1+1=1' state. The deck's system isn't like Judai's deck, which can be interconnected through the common field of [Hero].

"Okay, then I'll sign up for this course too."

“Me too. [V·hero] hasn’t fully integrated into the [D·hero] system yet, and has always been somewhat of a subordinate.” As Asuka completed her registration with her terminal, Edward also spoke up, even faster than Asuka, because he had already completed the registration when Jaden said he wanted to sign up for the “Construction Guidance Class.” “I won’t miss the opportunity to improve myself with you, Jaden.”

"Tsk, what you said sounds really weird." Manjoume looked at Edward with some disdain, making no mention that he had actually registered for the "Construction Instruction Course" around the same time as Edward.

"Whichever subject my brother chooses, I'll choose too!" "That's what I should be saying!"

Kenzan and Marufuji Sho took out their terminals one after the other to register, while Fubuki said with a regretful look, "It's a pity. It seems that my deck doesn't have many points that need adjustment. Besides, I don't want to go to those duel improvement courses anymore. I guess I should choose elective courses that I like the most and that allow me to relax the most."

Seeing Fubuki's wistful expression, as if she were reminiscing about something from the past, Asuka raised an eyebrow: "You'd better tell the truth."

"Professor Chronos told me before that many girls seem to have signed up for his wine tasting class this year because they heard that wine can beautify the skin. I asked him to save a spot for me before the semester started." Fubuki's weathered look vanished, she gave Asuka a thumbs up, and flashed a sunny smile, revealing her gleaming teeth.

"Keep acting up. You'll behave yourself the day you're entangled with a yandere."

Asuka was too lazy to even complain about her brother. Judai, on the other hand, suddenly felt a tickle in his nose and wanted to sneeze, as if someone was talking about him behind his back. It certainly wasn't Asuka, since he couldn't possibly be entangled with some yandere.

Chapter 1525 Playing Yu-Gi-Oh!

Just then, the room door opened, and Misawa walked into the hall. Seeing everyone registering using their terminals, he said with some curiosity, "You're starting to register now? You're moving so fast. I haven't even decided what courses I want to sign up for yet. After all, there are so many other courses besides the fixed 'Pokémon Coexistence Course'."

"Hayato-sensei's 'Pocket Monster Coexistence Class'?" Marufuji Sho said, somewhat puzzled. "But why did you say it was 'fixed', Shizawa-kun?"

"Because Hayato-sensei has forced all of us to sign up for his course, right? Apparently, the reason is that there weren't enough people signing up, so he's planning to force people to fill the seats." Misawa said seriously, with an expression that said, "That guy has finally started to completely lose his shamelessness." "And, it's Misawa."

"Huh!? Forced registration?! Gojo, why didn't you come sooner?!" Judai frantically checked her terminal, only to find that two elective courses were already full. Tears welled up in her eyes, "Waaah... my fried shrimp tasting class..."

"That kind of class never existed in the first place, okay?" Manjoume complained.

"This seems like bad news? But there's good news, Judai, you'll definitely be interested." Misawa paused, "And, it's Misawa."

"Okay, Shinomiya, so what's the good news?" Jaden's sadness came and went quickly, and he was immediately intrigued by the "good news" from Misawa.

“It’s Misawa.” After correcting him, Misawa continued, “The good news is that while we were away from school, Principal Samejima and Professor Chronos seem to have come up with a new activity—an island-wide dueling tournament. Special badges serve as proof of eligibility. You can duel with everyone you meet, and it seems there are conditions such as everyone having to duel once a day and not refusing the first challenge of the day. There’s also a requirement that the loser has to hand over all their badges to the winner. It’s a cruel rule that there’s no revival match after losing.”

"This sounds like a simplified version of last year's exchange tournament," Marufuji Sho said, somewhat puzzled. "And the badges and such, weren't they inspired by Duel Kingdom and Duel City?"

"How can you call it plagiarism when it comes to duelists? Besides, isn't this a good thing? It gives us freshmen who missed last year's exchange competition a chance to experience it." Kenzan was quite interested and even provoked Marufuji Sho, "But you, senpai, are you scared because you heard about those strict rules?"

"Who's afraid! When the time comes, I'll be the first to challenge you, you arrogant dinosaur idiot, and eliminate you!"

"Hey, that's going too far!" Jianshan glared at Xiang. "You can call me an idiot, but how can you call me a 'dinosaur idiot'? Dinosaurs aren't stupid at all!"

"That's the key point!?"

Judai looked at Misawa and said with a puzzled expression, "But compared to last year's exchange tournament, at least other dueling academies sent students to participate. Is this year's tournament only for students from our main academy? Although even I haven't dueled with students from the entire school yet, it's strangely unexciting..."

"If it's just students from our school, that's true, but what if the participants in this event aren't just students?"

"Ok?"

Not only Judai, but Manjoume and the others were also intrigued. Misawa waved a piece of paper in his hand: "Although it's just a preliminary draft of the promotional material, Hayato-sensei said it could be used as a reference and gave me a copy. This is the promotional material for this fifth-anniversary limited edition GeneX tournament, which claims to invite powerful figures from all over the world to gather at the Duel Academy, including princes of kingdoms, dueling mercenaries, and even professional duelists. For example—"

"Caesar!" Seeing Marufuji Ryo's name already printed on the list of invited participants on the promotional flyer, clearly confirming his participation in the GeneX tournament, Manjoume was visibly excited, while Edward wore a serious expression. Needless to say, regardless of whether others participated, the two of them, having lost to Caesar before, would absolutely not miss this opportunity.

Especially Ed. Don't be fooled by the fact that he and Caesar are both professional duelists and seem like they can be matched up to fight anytime they want. In reality, it's not like that at all. Professional duelists are divided into different levels. The closest Ed and Caesar have ever been is the points tournament at the beginning of this season. After losing to Caesar, it will be difficult for them to be matched up again until at least the end of this year's World Championship. The earliest they can be matched up is next year's new season. So it's better to hope that he can meet Caesar, who has been invited back to the Duel Academy, in the upcoming "GeneX Tournament" and fight him.

Marufuji Sho was also drawn to the name Marufuji Ryo on the flyer, and it took him a while to come back to his senses. He remained silent and said nothing.

Kenzan, however, observed with interest the others who had received invitations and confirmed their attendance at the GeneX tournament: "There are quite a few well-known professional duelists, like 'Dr. Math' Maddika, Kabukido of Flower Arrangement and Noh, Maeda Kumazo of Satsuma Jigen-ryu..."

"Will even Maeda's father be coming?" Jaden said excitedly. "Last time he came, he only fought Maeda, and I never got a chance to fight him!"

"'Maeda' versus 'Maeda'? Brother, I don't quite understand what you're saying?"

Kenzan was a little confused by Jaden's words, his face full of puzzlement. It was Asuka who explained, "Isn't Jaden and Marufuji's dorm room a three-person room? They used to have a roommate named Maeda Hayato, who is the son of Maeda Kumazo of the 'Satsuma Jigenryu' school. Last year, he was recruited by the International Illusion Society as a card designer."

"Really?! It's the Red Dormitory too?!" Jianshan exclaimed in surprise. "The Red Dormitory is supposed to be the lowest-class dormitory in the school. I thought you were the only exception, Big Brother."

"If you want to say I'm the worst, just say so, you bastard!" Marufuji Sho was furious when he heard Kenzan's contempt for him!

"Don't think you're so great just because you're from the Yellow Dorm! Hayato-sensei said that after we go back this time, each of us will have one chance to upgrade to the next higher dormitory level through a duel. Once I become a member of the Yellow Dorm, you'll see how powerful my senior is!"

"Hmph, but by then I might have already moved up to the blue dorm."

While Asuka was distracted at Kenzan, she took the flyer and started reading it: "It's not just professional duelists, it seems they've also invited quite a few well-known figures from other fields, even that famous Duel Monsters enthusiast, Prince Okin of the Mizgarzon Kingdom, has been invited."

"The reason is probably because the GeneX tournament is a special event for the fifth anniversary, and the rewards are too generous." Fubuki leaned over to Asuka and looked at the promotional flyer. "As for the winner's prizes, there are not only cards from the Duel Academy Southern Branch, but also card customization services from the winning designers of the card design contest held by the International Illusion Society, and even a special prize for the final winner—the opportunity to duel the King of Duels?"

"Isn't that just a duel with Hayato-sensei?" Jaden didn't think much of the reward.

“That’s not how it works. Although Hayato-sensei is always active and has a strong presence on campus for us students at the Duel Academy’s main campus, the Duel King is still a legendary figure for most people in the world,” Misawa explained. “For example, isn’t Edward also very eager to duel with Hayato-sensei?”

"Whether as a fan or as a fellow duelist, a duel with Hayato-sensei is bound to be rewarding. The other two rewards also greatly enhance the duelist's strength. The difference is that the card provided by the Southern Branch School grants the duelist a new power different from the original card, while the custom card from the International Illusion Club takes the duelist's original power to the next level."

Edward analyzed carefully, "The three prizes are precisely targeted at the duelists' biggest needs, corresponding to the deck's lower limit, upper limit, and the duelist's individual skill level, which explains why they can attract so many people to participate."

"Moreover, being able to break free from the rules of the World Championship and engage in this kind of free and random duel is a rare experience for professional duelists who want to face special opponents."

"Ding dong~"

Edward looked down and saw a message on his terminal. The contact's name was "Wheel of Fortune," which was the account used by his friend Takuma Saiou as a professional duelist's agent. Incidentally, Saiou also had a private account called "I Will Always Hold an Umbrella for You," which, unlike the agent's work account, was mostly pushed to him by big data with content such as "Ten Latest Flower Cutting Techniques," "Absolutely Undetectable Card Swapping Tips," and "Mini Bread Making."

(Before playing Duel Monsters)