Kobayashi Yuuki kept his head down all day today.
He got up early in the morning to avoid peak time and left the dormitory, relied on bread from the convenience store for lunch all day, and even in class he wore a hood and kept his head down, blending into the largest group of students to sneak into the classroom. As soon as the end-of-class bell rang, he would immediately lower his head and dash out...
The reason was simple, because his opponent for the new round of dormitory exchange competition was "that man."
A legendary man who won the universally recognized title of "Great Demon King" within a short week of admission in the Yellow Dormitory, someone that almost everyone in the dorm didn't want to be matched against.
Matching against others might just mean losing a duel and missing out on a couple of credits, but this guy was different. It's said that after playing against him, you couldn't sleep for at least a whole night, and in severe cases, it might even kill your passion for dueling, making you think "maybe playing cards isn't for me, I should just go back to manual labor" right after starting school.
So every student who discovered they were up against this guy would instantly pull a face like they were attending a funeral. Anyone who saw that expression in the dorm could probably figure out what the poor soul was going through, then either shake their head or stifle a laugh, patting their shoulder, and advising them to stay strong.
Yuuki felt that his actions all day were flawless, perfectly avoiding that terrifying Great Demon King. Though he knew that hiding was meaningless, one's instinct in the face of great terror is beyond control, so you just hide as long as you can.
It seemed at least this day was spent in peace.
Finally, at the end of the day, Yuuki's taut nerves finally relaxed. He was ready to head back to the dorm, take a hot shower, watch some shows to relax for a while...
...and then he suddenly froze.
Because he saw, the Great Demon King was leaning against the stairwell on the way to his dorm room, smiling warmly as he waved to him.
"Yuuki, is it?" Yugen said with a chuckle, "Did you forget about our duel?"
Yuuki wanted to cry but had no tears. He really wanted to say, no, you got the wrong person, but the other side had already unfolded the Duel Disc.
"Don't worry, it won't take long," Yugen said with a smile, "Come on, come on."
Yuuki: "..."
"..."
"'Dimensional Confinement', send your monster to the Other Dimension!"
"Submarine Robot direct attack!"
"Double-Rider Bicycle Robot direct attack!"
"..."
Yugen wasn't lying, it did end quickly.
Ten minutes later, Yuuki was lying spread-eagle on the ground, eyes vacant and expression dazed, looking like he had been completely worn out. It seemed like he had fallen too hard, causing his card deck in the Duel Disc to scatter all over the ground.
An uninformed passerby seeing this scene might think he had just lost a Dark Duel.
Another one sent to the Underworld.JPG (Malik Limited Edition)
"Ah~ A last duel before bed, that felt good,"
Yugen stretched, politely saying farewell to his card friend.
"It was a nice duel. Good night, Yuuki. Sweet dreams."
Yuuki: "..."
Professor Huashan, the dormitory leader, happened to pass by and saw this scene, hesitating to speak for a long time, but not knowing where to start.
Initially, he organized this competition so that freshmen could exchange friendly, quickly get to know each other and bond.
But now it seemed that at this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if they quickly "bonded" in a different way...
Yet he felt like he couldn't say anything. After all, this Yugen did seem to be dueling seriously, and as for the results, he even had a complete victory streak.
It had only been a week. If it continued like this, what would happen to the Yellow Dormitory by the end of the year...
"..."
In the second week, a new course appeared in the curriculum, one that particularly interested Yugen.
Alchemy.
Honestly, hearing that word first brought to mind terms like "Human Alchemy" and "Equivalent Exchange" from a certain famous alchemy anime. But Yu-Gi-Oh! did have alchemy.
The teacher responsible for the alchemy course was Teacher Dade Temple, the head of Osiris Red dormitory.
Initially seeming to be the most useless and weak teacher in the whole Academy, always giving the impression of being timid and weak. But in the Phantom Demon chapter, it was discovered he was actually a hidden boss. Some storyline analysts even believe that if he wasn't purposely nurturing Judai and letting him win, the undeveloped Judai at the time wouldn't have been able to defeat him.
Though that was just speculative with no real evidence, it was undeniable that Teacher Dade Temple was one of the most powerful characters hidden.
His alchemy skills had also reached a mystical level. The backstory said he had been diagnosed with a terminal illness long ago, and survived by creating a new body through a Forbidden Technique similar to "Human Alchemy," transferring his soul to the new body.
Even after losing to Judai in a Dark Duel, with his body decayed and destroyed, he still lingered on in soul form and was swallowed into a cat he kept. He accompanied Judai as he embarked on his journey throughout the remainder of GX, becoming a crucial teacher and friend in Judai's life.
However, Yugen was interested in Alchemy itself. While other students deemed this teacher as merely idle, Yugen knew he was a big shot.
Rumors said alchemy could grant immortality, and within the realm of Yu-Gi-Oh!, everything was bound to be tied to card games. Alchemy also seemed to involve the field of card printing.
The original work featured the most impressive card created by Teacher Dade Temple, the "Philosopher's Stone" delivered to Judai before his body perished. It allowed paying half your Life Points to add any card from the deck to the hand, and it could even be used three times per turn without restriction.
Unrestricted search and an exchange of one for three basically equated to a guaranteed victory in a duel, with the main drawback being that it could only be used once per duel, then it was rendered useless.
But the existence of this card was enough to prove the value of alchemy.
So Yugen listened particularly intently to this class. Most of the classroom was dozing off, yet he was fully engaged, not missing a word Teacher Dade Temple said whether intentionally or accidentally, and wrote notes throughout.
As an Academy course, alchemy was rather niche, and it might have been the first time Teacher Dade Temple saw a student so focused in his class, earning him a few extra glances before class ended.
Yugen noticed and returned it with a warm, sunny smile toward the teacher.
Teacher Dade Temple blinked and quickly reshaped into his typical silly persona, giving Yugen a grin.
The bell marking the end of the class rang. Teacher Dade Temple squinted as he packed his teaching materials, leaving the classroom with his cat in tow.
This student's name was... Fujiki Yugen.
He remembered this student.
A student with such a sunny smile seemed to be a fine young man.