Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Although both Manjome and Asuka were a little worried that the progress of others who arrived earlier than them might have surpassed them by too much, they both rested as quickly as possible in the supply stations they found, recovered their strength, and replenished their supplies in preparation for setting off again.

But in fact, they overlooked something quite important.

First of all, not everyone knows the existence of card elves, nor does it know that Duel Monsters can actually materialize on the basis of virtual images;
Secondly, even if they know the card spirits and realize that the Duel Monsters have materialized, not everyone can learn from their own spirits like Judai and Manjome, two rare "spirit users", that this environment can make their own Duel Monsters materialize. It is also difficult for people without brains like Asuka to think calmly and make bold judgments in the face of a sudden crisis.
Finally, although last year's "Duel-Links" seemed to be a test for a few people, and most people just went to the virtual world as spectators, it is undeniable that it is precisely because of the experience of controlling real Duel Monsters in the game that those who have played the game have planted a vague idea in their minds that "I can control Duel Monsters to fight."

Don't underestimate this point. It was because of this that Asuka was able to think of this action plan while escaping. You know, ordinary people would at most think about escaping or not. Even if they stayed and did not give up resistance but continued to fight, they would only think about whether they could find some weapons from the surroundings or use the terrain to fight. No one would be so stupid as to think of using the intangible image of duel monsters to fight the real monster in front of them.

Having experienced many crises with Judai, Asuka has long been aware of the supernatural powers possessed by Duel Monsters. Having also experienced the world of "Duel-Links" and as one of the top four contestants, she experienced the real card game in that world with Judai. It is reasonable for her to think of trying to summon monsters when dealing with the [Harpies]; not to mention Manjome, the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] even whispered information to him.

However, just because the two of them were able to repel the materialized Duel Monsters they encountered for the first time and then find a supply point to rest, it didn't mean that others could do the same, including Ed Phoenix who set out earlier than them.

cold shaking
Ed Phoenix opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back on a wooden board. The vibration just now seemed to come from the board.

The source of the "cold" feeling, Ed, sat up and found that the suit he was wearing and even the long sleeves underneath had been taken off and replaced with a thin shirt.

"Hey, you're awake, Ed boy."

A voice came from behind Ed. Because he was facing away from the light source, Ed couldn't see the other person's face clearly, but he could at least see that the other person was holding a hammer as a weapon.

"who are you?!"

The vigilant Ed shrank back a little to keep his distance from the other person, but this action made the other person laugh. He said with a smile: "What's the matter with that weird defensive posture? It's as if I did something to you, even though I'm your savior, right?"

"Savior?" Ed was stunned and seemed to remember something.

He seemed to remember that after he jumped off the plane and entered the forest, although he remained alert at all times, he did not expect that there would be active trees in the forest. Their postures were extremely similar to the Plant Monster Card [Blood Orchid] in Duel Monsters. He was caught off guard and barely escaped from its attack.

Although he knew about the existence of supernatural powers before, the supernatural powers that Ed knew about were only Saiou's divination and the souls in the Duel Monsters cards. So far, he has never even seen the card spirits with his own eyes, and he never imagined that Duel Monsters could actually appear in the world in a physical form.

However, afterwards, Ed quickly understood the special circumstances of the island, learned the new knowledge of "Duel Monsters materializing", and quickly connected his only supernatural experience so far - when he was a child, he was held hostage by [D·hero Blood Demon-D] controlled by DD - together.

In order to ensure that he could protect himself if he encountered a sudden attack from a materialized Duel Monster, Ed decisively stopped moving forward and chose to try to materialize a Duel Monster in the forest first. His first experimental target was naturally the card he trusted most - [D·hero Blood Demon-D].

However, if everyone can actually do something just by thinking about it, then geniuses will not be called geniuses. The so-called talent is something even more cruel than mathematics.

Other people will cheat you, but not math, because if you don't know math, you don't know it; and even for math, if it's just an exam, you can at least copy some plausible answers, and even if you don't know anything, you can at least get a "answer" score. But the talent of Duel Monsters is so desperate that it's suffocating. Without talent, you can't even make up an answer.

About fifteen times? Or eighteen times? Anyway, at least ten times, close to twenty times, after Ed understood the special environment of this island, as an excellent duelist, he used the card [D. Hero Blood Demon-D] with which he had a deep bond, but the result was that he was not as good as Harry Potter when he first learned "Expecto Patronus".

Let alone the materialized [D·hero Blood Demon-D], without using the virtual projection device on the duel disk, Ed couldn't even summon a cloud of mist. Repeated attempts made him exhausted.

In order to use the heating packs in the self-heating food he carried with him, Ed decided to fetch water from a nearby stream. After carefully confirming that there were no aquatic duel monsters lurking in the water and no monsters lurking in the surrounding jungle, Ed carefully approached the stream to fetch water, always looking around and running away immediately if there was any sign of trouble.

Nothing happened until he got all the water. It never occurred to him that there was nothing wrong with the jungle or the water, but the water he got was problematic because it was actually part of the [Regenerating Slime]. His operation of adding water to the heating pack directly angered the [Regenerating Slime], which was not dangerous in itself. He was not careful and his whole head was wrapped by the [Regenerating Slime], causing him to suffocate and pass out.

After thinking back, Ed finally realized that the person in front of him seemed to be his savior. Although he didn't know how someone could save him when Mr. Hayato clearly said that this was an uninhabited island, Ed quickly corrected his attitude and apologized sincerely: "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you just now. Thank you very much for saving my life."

"Well, you don't have to be so polite. After all, I was called here by that guy Hayato Kobayashi, who asked me to be a safety officer for his students. But I didn't expect that the first person I would meet would be you, the 'nobleman of destiny'." As he spoke, the man squatted down and knocked on the wooden board with a hammer.

Ed finally realized that the shaking was caused by the man hitting the nails on the board. But he was more concerned about what the man was going to do to the board than what he was going to do: "Kajiki Yuta!?"

Yes, when the man squatted down, Ed unexpectedly discovered that the person who saved him was none other than the legendary duelist who is now ranked eighth in the professional dueling world - Kajiki Yuta, known as the "Fisherman"!

Originally, if Ed had won the duel with Caesar, Ed, who had won a victory at the beginning of this season, would have been assigned to either the "tough guy" dinosaur Ryuzaki or the "fisherman" Kajiki Yuta because of his good performance in last year's championship. At that time, Ed, who was sure of winning the duel with Caesar, even prepared to get information about the next opponent first. But, there is no if. Because he lost to Caesar, Ed had to compete for the first victory with other professional duelists who also failed to win the first victory. If he wanted to catch up with the professional duelists in front of him, it would probably take him several months.

The only thing that made Ed feel fortunate was that, for some unknown reason, top professional duelists like Kajiki Yuta and Ryuuzaki announced that they would temporarily stop participating in competitions for a month, just like they did during the championship season last year. This way, Ed's results would not be too far behind theirs.

But what he didn't expect was that after he came to Duel Academy and was forcibly dragged to this island by teacher Hayato, he would unexpectedly meet Kajiki Yuta here? !

Also, what did he mean by “safety officer” just now?
"The duel monsters on the island look just as ferocious as the monsters in the wild, right? If someone comes to the island for the first time, they might even think they have entered some kind of magical realm." Kajiki Yuta hammered the nail back into the board and said without looking up, "But in fact, all the creatures on the island act on the premise of 'not causing irreparable damage'. That is, there will be cuts or bruises, even internal bleeding, broken limbs, or broken bones, but there will be absolutely no sequelae, let alone death."

"Can you do something like that?"

What Ed was asking about was not whether those serious injuries that Kajiki Yuta mentioned could be cured without leaving any sequelae, because he knew that with the technological level of the Kaiba Group, they would not take injuries of this degree seriously. As long as the person was not dead, they could definitely be rescued and even cured. "Ghost Chaser" was the best summary of the medical level of the medical companies under the Kaiba Group.

——Even in urban legends, it is said that even if a person has been dead for many years, the Kaiba Group is capable of bringing him back to the human world, but because it is too outrageous, it is probably false.

What he was asking was, how could those materialized Duel Monsters on the island be restrained by Teacher Hayato and not do anything harmful beyond their scope? Do those beings have self-awareness? And do they have the ability to think?

Although he believes that cards have souls, Ed believes that only cards that carry important emotions can receive the same spiritual response as if it were an equivalent exchange. At least only sufficiently important cards can have a "soul" like his [D·hero Blood Demon-D] that seems to be alive.

Let's not talk about what kind of supernatural power or large-scale virtual projection system is used to realize so many materialized Duel Monsters, but the materialized Duel Monsters on an island have their own consciousness and wisdom? This is what makes Ed unbelievable.

Kajiki Yuta seemed to understand what he really meant, and nodded, saying, "If ordinary people said this, I wouldn't believe it either, but who told me that was Hayato Kobayashi? After all, he's the Duel King, and anything a guy like him does seems reasonable. Believe in Hayato Kobayashi, just believe it, you don't need a reason to believe."

"In that case, who is the security officer?"

It seemed that the hammering was almost done, and Kajiki Yuta put down the hammer with satisfaction. Hearing Ed's question, he stood up and said, "It's just in case, just like you were suffocated and unconscious by the seemingly weak attack power of the [Regenerating Slime] before. If there was no 'safety officer' like me, you would probably be brain dead. Although it can still be cured, it's too troublesome."

"So it's time for me to take action. I helped you tear off the [Regenerating Slime] and clean the residue in your nose and mouth. It took me a lot of effort."

Ed also understood why he changed his clothes after waking up, but he was still a little confused: "You are a legendary duelist, and if you don't waste time here, you can continue to be quite active in the professional arena, why do you do this?"

"As for me, I'm probably different from many other people. In the beginning, Duel Monsters were just tools. I even had a bit of a disdainful attitude towards them." Kajiki Yuta said casually, which surprised Ed. "If Duel Monsters hadn't helped me earn enough money to buy a fishing boat, I wouldn't even want to use my deck. Isn't that weird, me?"

Ed nodded: "But why."

"Well, because my deck symbolizes the sea, and my father happened to disappear after going out to sea." Kajiki Yuta shrugged, "So using my cards that symbolize the sea to duel is like making me recall my father's disappearance again and again, isn't it?"

"But, as time went by, I came to my senses. A man of the sea cannot blame the tragedy in reality on innocent cards. And maybe there are miracles in the world? My father may still be fighting with the sea, and maybe one day I will charge at the waves. I also realized in duels again and again that I actually enjoy dueling with cards of the sea. This feeling is like conquering the sea, and gradually I fell in love with dueling."

After a pause, Kajiki Yuta looked at Ed: "Ah, I think I accidentally went off topic? What did you just ask me?"

Looking at Kajiki Yuta, who also lost his father at a young age and also became connected with Duel Monsters because of this, Ed felt the existence of "fate" and couldn't help but think of himself.

Kajiki Yuta, who was initially repulsive to cards but unknowingly developed a deep bond with them, and myself, who was initially fond of the "hero"-themed cards created by my father, but later added a filter when looking at [D·hero] because of my father's death.

【D·hero】Perhaps it is not a hero who is bound by fate or oppressed by chains, but a hero who fights against fate and changes.
Shaking his head, putting aside his thoughts for the moment, Ed asked again after hearing what Kajiki Yuta said: "I mean, why are you willing to come here to be a 'security officer'?"

Glancing at Ed, Kajiki Yuta's tone was slightly sour: "Actually, I wanted to refuse at the beginning, because I also want to win the world championship. I had such a good opportunity last year but you missed it. But Kobayashi Hayato said that he asked the card design department of the International Illusion Society to create a new set of ocean-related cards as my reward."

"You want to hire me to work like a slave just by using Duel Monster Cards? This is an insult to me!" After a pause, Kajiki Yuta's dark face also showed a smile, "But he gave too much." (End of this chapter)