"Tome-san, thank you for the trouble!"
"Hehehe, it's no trouble at all!"
A few days later, Hikaru took a large box from Tome-san at the academy's small store, swaying it gently as he carried it back to his dorm.
The box was huge, about half a person's height. Students passing by saw Hikaru carrying such a large box, glanced curiously, but once they noticed the "plants" label on the box, they lost interest.
Hikaru returned to his dorm, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and began to unpack.
A few days earlier, Hikaru had asked Tome-san to help him buy some things. Tome-san was the only one on the island who could connect with the outside world and order various items. If students wanted to buy cards or order anything, they always had to rely on her.
This time, Hikaru had asked her to help him order some "materials."
Alchemy materials.
He opened the package, revealing seeds, some specimens, and the majority of the items being living plants in flower pots, all the same species, sundew.
"Master, are these the materials you wanted to experiment with?" A voice from a hooded alchemist echoed in Hikaru's ear as he took out the items.
Hikaru nodded, "Yes."
"Eh… plants, haa... I entirely hate pharmacology. Things like healing potions or poisons, they have nothing to do with gold."
Hikaru shrugged and said nothing.
He hadn't bought these items to experiment with potions.
A single sundew wasn't expensive, maybe just a few dozen coins. His recent prize money was enough to buy a whole box of them.
He wasn't very particular about life; as long as he could eat enough and didn't have to worry about starving, he didn't care. So, he spent half his prize money on this.
He wanted to try out the power of "Super Fusion."
After two months of dueling, he felt his body had improved significantly under the enhancement of Super Fusion. Now, even when fusing pencils, he didn't feel exhausted like before.
And this made him curious, how should he properly utilize the power of Super Fusion?
It was known that in duels, Super Fusion used the energy generated from dueling to fuse cards in the deck into other cards. If the energy from the duel was strong enough, it might even create new cards.
But, was this power "random," or could it be controlled?
He took out a mortar and pestle, placed a few sundews into it, and gently ground them up.
Then, he poured the ground material into a small crucible, repeating the process with a lizard tail specimen, grinding it up and adding it to the crucible, stirring gently, and igniting the flame.
This was "alchemy."
Next, he took it a step further. Hikaru found a Normal monster card that Alchemist had previously given him, placed a wire mesh on top of the small crucible, and laid the card on it.
'Finally.'
Hikaru picked up the reassembled "necklace," silently muttering a phrase in his mind, and immediately felt his strength drain away, almost collapsing to the floor.
In harmony, a terrifying purple light erupted in the room.
Under Hikaru's gaze, a thunderous crash came from the center of the crucible, and thereafter the purple light slowly dissipated, gradually returning to calm.
"Cough, cough, cough."
The strange smell of gunpowder filled the room, and Hikaru coughed for a while before finally catching his breath.
Not wanting anyone to discover it, the room had not been ventilated.
'Ah, I really need my own alchemy room!'
He took a sip of water, sat down in the chair, and couldn't move his legs.
"Whew, such terrifying power, my lord, what exactly is this?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't, Flame Sword!"
"I've seen similar powers in my own dimension, but they were nowhere near as strong or terrifying as Hikaru-sama's."
The three spirits, who had been too nervous to speak earlier, now began to discuss "Super Fusion" after seeing that Hikaru was not seriously hurt.
"You'll have the chance to see it later. As for now, I'm still not sure whether I should take this card," Hikaru shook his head without explaining.
He walked over to the crucible and noticed the contents had disappeared as if they had never existed. The card on the wire mesh was emitting faint heat, and even without getting too close, he could feel a burning sensation.
Hikaru used tweezers to pick up the card as it emitted a squeaking sound. He flipped the card over and looked at its appearance.
The original monster card had become chaotic and twisted.
On the left side, it had a plant-like structure, and on the right side, it retained its original appearance, though with some strange patterns now spiraling around it.
The card's name had completely changed, but it still didn't display a full name. Only the words "sundew" could be faintly distinguished. As for its effects, there were none at all.
It had not been successfully created.
The card Hikaru wanted to make was "Predaplant Chlamydosundew," a low-level monster in the same series as the famous "Predaplant", it had the effect of using itself and monsters on the field, hand, or any monster with a Predator from the opponent's field as fusion materials to perform a fusion summon.
Because it had a fusion effect and cheap materials, Hikaru had planned to try using alchemy and Super Fusion to make it.
A failure? No, perhaps it wasn't a failure, just unsuccessful.
After all, the card had truly changed halfway.
Had he not grasped the key? He decided to try again.
"Master, your current body cannot handle a second attempt. If you try again, you may faint on the spot," Alchemist's voice reminded Hikaru. "Or, perhaps you should try collecting more cards with spirits; otherwise, it's best not to try twice a day.
Factually, the fusion failure might have been because your body couldn't bear the power of that card, causing a mistake in the process."
Listening to advice is always wise, Hikaru knew Alchemist was an expert in this field, so he nodded and didn't try again. Instead, he packed up the materials.
But, if what he said is true, shouldn't Hikaru just participate in higher-intensity duels or even try dangerous Shadow Duels like he did with Crystal, which would allow him to accumulate this power quickly?
Professor Banner had said that his current adaptability was only at four stars or slightly higher, and if he could improve, he might be able to perform his targeted fusion.
'Hmm, thinking about it carefully, that's still pretty difficult, though, opportunities like Crystal's...'
Knock, Knock, Knock!
Abruptly, the dorm door was knocked.
"Hikaru, are you there!?" It was Professor Sartyr's voice.
"I'm here!"
"It's like this, the principal asked you to come. Something about Sacred Something Beast."
"...."
'Three Sacred Beasts?!'