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# Sage's Stone

Watching Joey Wheeler walk onto the Field, Hayato also left the Spell/Trap Zone. As he walked, he opened his [Warehouse] and took out a white Card.

Because he was currently in the Virtual World, Hayato's method of obtaining Cards was restricted. He couldn't open the "Specified Race Construction Card Pack" he had obtained before, and Card acquisition was limited to within the game itself. However, the Card he held in his hand was an exception.

This Card was the Mysterious Reward obtained after completing the "Ruler Breaker" Quest previously. However, compared to past Rewards that clearly displayed all Information, this "Mysterious Reward" was a bit too mysterious.

Not only were there no Usage Instructions or descriptive text, but even the Card Face was completely blank. Hayato held it in his hand and examined it, but couldn't figure out how to use this Card.

"Compared to a Reward that looks impressive but is so Unaccountably mysterious that it doesn't even have Usage Instructions, I'd rather this Card turn into a Pot of Greed."

He Ranted casually under his breath. When Hayato lowered his head to look at the Card in his hand again, he couldn't help but show a shocked Expression.

He saw that on the Card in his hand, which had originally been completely blank, it was as if someone was drawing with a brush. A lewd but Duelist-loved smile gradually appeared, clearly the Pot of Greed that Hayato had just mentioned casually?

Looking at the Pot of Greed in his hand, Hayato was a bit bewildered.

Are you serious? It changes just like that! Don't change back like this, what use is a Pot of Greed to me? It's something you can buy three of for 50 Yen at the Kame Game Store. If you're going to change, at least turn into Shiranui Shogunate, Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer.

The Card in Hayato's hand changed again. First, it changed from a Spell Card to a Monster Card. The words "Wyrm-Type" began to appear, but quickly turned into garbled code as if there was a Bug, gradually becoming a Fusion Monster.

But the "Sleeping Dragon" Dark Cavalry and the "Young Phoenix" Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer that Hayato expected didn't appear. What appeared in the Card Art area was a stitched-together monster of "Sleeping Dragon" and "Young Phoenix" --- a pair of large Wings on its back, a Dragon tail behind it, looking neither like a Mage nor a Warrior. By the end of the transformation, a Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju suddenly appeared and Absorbed everything, and the Card returned to being blank again.

The sudden appearance of the Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju startled him. Hayato suddenly felt a strange familiarity with the changes that had just appeared on the Card. He couldn't help but ask the System: "System, is this Card guaranteed... *spits* No, wait, the name of this Card, it couldn't be Sage's Stone, could it?"

The Sage's Stone Hayato was talking about wasn't the Sage's Stone used in Yugi's Deck to Special Summon Dark Magician in conjunction with Dark Magician Girl. The full name of the Sage's Stone Hayato was referring to should be Sage's Stone - Sabatiel, and it wasn't a Card that appeared in the DM era, but rather one used, or rather, *once* used, by the Protagonist Judai Yuki from GX, ten years later.

This Card possessed the ability to "create miracles" during a Duel. Simply put, it was genuine Card Printing. When Judai Yuki drew this Card back then, he Activated its Effect three times consecutively, transforming it into three different types of Fusion Cards, turning the tide of the Duel. After using it three times, the Card even Activated an Effect in the Graveyard to Increase ATK, securing the Victory of the Duel.

Of course, after that Duel, Judai Yuki's Sage's Stone - Sabatiel also disappeared directly. After all, a Cheat like openly Card Printing would definitely result in an Account Ban in minutes, which is why Judai Yuki *once* used it.

Hayato couldn't help but feel a bit regretful. He seemed to have made it change four Cards in one go just now. Could it be that this Card of mine was just wasted like that? Damn it.

But the System replied: [Detection complete. Similarity between the Duelist's current Card and the Card in the Duelist's memory: 50%. Not the same Card. Do you wish to spend 1000 DP for Deep Analysis?]

You're just after my money. Hayato looked at the DP Points he had accumulated during this time and clicked confirm with a heavy heart. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Rather than blindly fumbling around completely clueless about this Card, Hayato preferred to spend some DP. Anyway, there were plenty of leeks... I mean Duelists... coming to the Kame Game Store every day.

After spending the DP, the System quickly provided the Usage Instructions, making Hayato suspect that the System had learned scummy tactics like "cutting content from the main game and selling it as DLC" from certain game companies, and that it actually had the instructions all along but was just holding them back.

[This Card can temporarily substitute for a Duelist-specified Card by consuming Charge. The higher the Rarity of the target Card, the higher the Charge Consumption. This Card gains one Charge daily, with a maximum Charge Cap of 4.]

With this explanation, Hayato understood. This Card in his hand was indeed similar to that Sage's Stone - Sabatiel in some ways; it could indeed be used for Card Printing.

The difference, however, was that Judai Yuki's had higher burst potential and could print three Cards without limit in one go, while Hayato's required consuming Charge to use. N-Rank costs one layer, R Grade two layers, SR three layers, and a UR-Rank Card requires all four layers of Charge to print one.

Conversely, Judai Yuki's was gone after using it three times, while Hayato's could be reused infinitely. Trading short-term burst for more Usage Count, it was hard to say which was better or worse.

Thinking this way, it seemed a bit inappropriate to call Hayato's Card [Sabatiel], because the two Cards only had a part of their Effects that were similar; they weren't the same Card.

Just like Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon and Man-Eater Bug can both Target and Destroy a Monster, but Hayato could guarantee that if he called the Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon that Kaiba might print later a Man-Eater Bug, Kaiba's face definitely wouldn't look good.

"[Sage's Stone - Sabatiel], I remember 'Sabatiel' seems to be an Alias for the Archangel Michael." Hayato clapped his hands, coming up with a name he felt was quite good. "Then this Card will be called [Hrel] from now on, Sage's Stone - Hrel."

Hrel means Morning Star in Hebrew, and is also an Alias for a famous angel in the Bible. This angel was Michael's Brother, and after falling, He was Renamed Satan. His Latin name was incorrectly Transliterated, resulting in a rather famous name --- Lucifer.

Just as Hayato decided on the name for this blank Card, white Flames ignited on the Card, but there was no burning sensation. After the Flames disappeared, the Sage's Stone - Hrel, with a completely new look, appeared in Hayato's hand.

It seemed that after being named, its Charge Count was reset and it was completely bound to Hayato. With a thought, Sage's Stone - Hrel transformed into an Equip Spell Card.

Walking up the Stairs to the window of an Attic on the edge of the Arena, Hayato looked at the two people in the Duel Field who had Summoned their respective Monsters and were Battling, but hadn't discovered each other's identity yet. He played the Card on himself and leapt out the window.