Chapter 12: Cards That Can Represent Yu-Gi-Oh!

"Hey, Hayato, are you looking to buy specific cards?" Yugi noticed that Hayato intended to buy individual cards rather than booster packs. "Compared to pulling single cards, buying packs is usually more cost-effective, right? Besides, the card strength here is also..."

"What kind of grandson spends all day undermining his grandfather? Honestly." Although Grandpa Muto was elderly, he was in excellent health. Yugi hadn't lowered his voice, so the old man heard everything clearly.

However, he couldn't refute Yugi's words. Most of the cards displayed here were acquired from the discarded collections of others. While they weren't entirely filled with "junk" like "Larva Moth" or "Frog-type Slime" that would completely pollute a deck, most were just low-level cards with around 1000 ATK; there were few cards truly worth buying.

Unless a duelist was a "dedicated fanatic" of a specific card—for instance, a "Lion Mage" enthusiast. At the very least, there were several copies of "Lion Mage" sitting in the display case.

"It's not that. I'm not looking for monster cards." Hayato waved his hand and pointed to several cards in the corner of the counter. "Grandpa Muto, I'll take these. Oh, and these as well."

"What kind of cards did you pick, Hayato? Uh... why did you choose these? Are these cards actually going to be useful?" Katsuya held several packs in his hands, not opening them immediately, but leaning over toward Hayato to see what he had selected.

He had assumed that someone with the eyes of a "powerful duelist" like Hayato would choose high-powered monsters. He hadn't expected that the cards Hayato was taking from Grandpa Muto would be nothing more than a few weak monsters and some magic cards that looked utterly useless.

"Don't underestimate these cards, Katsuya. Every card has its own unique purpose." Hayato held three monster cards in one hand and waved them at Katsuya. "Don't let their current weak appearance fool you; once they unite, their power is immense."

"I really can't imagine how a monster with 0 attack could be anything impressive." Katsuya squinted at the three cards in Hayato's hand. "Besides, they're ugly."

Hayato smiled but didn't explain the purpose of the three cards to Katsuya. After all, in terms of individual strength, they could indeed be called "trash."

Those three cards were—

"Chaos Yellow," "Chaos Green," and "Chaos Black"!

Without exception, all three monsters were Beast-type, Light-attribute, Level 2 Normal monsters, with identical stats of 0 ATK / 1000 DEF.

An attack power of 0 meant that even if the opponent did nothing and let the three monsters attack for three days and three nights, they wouldn't be able to reduce the opponent's Life Points by even a single point.

However, the three cards shared the well-known "Chaos" archetype. Having an archetype generally meant the existence of synergy cards, making their strength worlds apart from random cards without a theme. But without synergy cards...

Well, they were useless. The only reason Hayato bought them was that in his previous life, he quite liked the character in the anime who used the "Chaos" deck. It's just that the appearance of that character might still be a few years away.

After putting the three "Chaos" monsters away, Hayato looked at the other cards he had purchased. A hint of regret crossed his face, and he couldn't help but ask Grandpa Muto, "Grandpa, is there really only one 'Pot of Greed' here?"

What Hayato had purchased was none other than "Pot of Greed"—the card that almost everyone had in the anime, but was banned early in the real-life trading card game due to its overwhelmingly powerful effect of a mindless one-for-two trade. He had also purchased other frequent residents of the "Forbidden" list: "The Angel's Offering," which draws three cards in groups of two, and the anime-effect "Castle of Dark Illusions."

Among them, he had three copies each of "Castle of Dark Illusions" and "The Angel's Offering," but he only had one "Pot of Greed," which left him quite disappointed. Furthermore, cards like "Monster Reborn" and "Painful Choice" were not sold at Kame Game Shop.

"Because nobody usually wants to buy a card like 'Pot of Greed,' Hayato. The one you bought is only there because I kept it for my personal collection," Yugi explained. "Besides, 'Pot of Greed' isn't exactly a high-rarity card; it's quite common. If you need it, I'll give you one the next time I pull it."

"Really? Yugi, you're the best!" Hayato felt like leaning back in pure satisfaction. This is what a top-tier best friend looks like—Yugi.

Of course, that was assuming Yugi hadn't yet fallen into the "rabbit hole" of card collecting.

Katsuya and Honda each opened their packs, sharing their pulls with one another. Seeing how lively they were, Hayato couldn't resist and bought a few packs as well. Unsurprisingly, he didn't pull any extremely powerful cards, but a few were decent enough—at least stronger than his original "pile of cards" and worth adding to a deck.

Katsuya and Hayato worked together to adjust their decks. Because of the 40-card limit, both of them ended up with several extra cards. These cards didn't go to waste; Honda took them all and actually managed to piece together a deck of his own.

Of course, it was just a deck. Its strength was practically non-existent; let alone comparing it to Yugi or Hayato, even Katsuya's deck was stronger than his.

Just as the group was immersed in the joy of "collecting" Duel Monsters cards, the door to the toy shop opened again. Grandpa Muto instinctively called out, "Welcome to Kame Game Shop, we have Duel Monsters cards for sal—Huh? A school uniform from Yugi's school?"

Hearing Grandpa Muto's words, everyone turned toward the door. The person who opened the door was exactly as Grandpa Muto saw: wearing the uniform of Domino High School, and someone Hayato and the others all recognized.

"Kaiba-kun?"

"Is this the Muto family toy shop?" Kenjiro Tsuda's magnetic voice drifted in, making one want to shout, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack!" Seto Kaiba looked around the room, his brow furrowing as he asked for confirmation, "Are you selling Duel Monsters cards here?"

"So you play Duel Monsters too, Kaiba-kun," Katsuya said, approaching Kaiba with unearned familiarity. "That's great! That means we have another comrade."

"Comrade? Hmph, you seem to be mistaken, you mere mediocrity." Despite Katsuya's words, Kaiba maintained a cold expression. "Don't make me laugh. Do people like you even have the right?"

"What did you say!?" Katsuya's expression soured. Although Honda often called him "idiot" or "dummy," it was because they were very close friends, and those terms were more like nicknames rather than true insults.