The second week at Duel Academy is coming to an end, and the exchange battle at the Yellow Dormitory is finally reaching its conclusion.
Yugen had already dueled most of the opponents he needed to. Although he felt a bit unsatisfied, he occasionally saw some students from the Yellow Dorm still completing their battles in the dormitory area.
Yugen would sometimes stop by to watch. All in all, though not a small number of students had been taught dueling lessons by him in these two weeks, no significant phenomena like those of the Underworld people had appeared, unlike in the dojo.
After all, those who can enter the Academy are already considered elite duelists, each with a certain pride and persistence in their card decks, unwilling to change easily, which differs from dojo trainees...
Then he passed by and saw a Yellow Dorm student say, "My turn, draw! I set four cards face down on the field, turn end!"
Yugen: "..."
Suddenly felt like he had seen this kind of opening somewhere before.
Well, there are always surprises.
He observed and noticed that the Yellow Dorm students recently seem to have an increased rate of Red Pits. Although no one directly copied his homework or learned from his card deck, the students still insisted on using their own decks and main strategies, but there was a subtle trend leaning towards the Underworld direction based on this foundation.
At this rate, if in the future there are large-scale inter-dorm exchange duels, then students from the other two dorms...
No, if it goes even further.
If the Underworld people phenomenon continues to spread until one day it dominates the entire Duel Academy. By then, if Saio comes to see it, he would leave within a week, shaking his head, saying that this place is too dark for my Light of Destruction to help.
When it reaches the Yubel Arc, the entire academy will be transported to the Other Dimension, and then the style of the entire chapter might shift from "Academy faculty and students struggling to survive in the Otherworld" to "Underworld catastrophe of the Interdimensional Spirits"...
Yugen reflected a bit and thought that if it really turns out like that one day, it certainly wouldn't be his fault.
Yu-Gi-Oh! was always a game for two people to play, but only one could truly enjoy.
Dueling has always been like this.
...
...
Afternoon, Alchemy Class.
The second week isn't over yet, but the number of people attending Alchemy Class has already visibly decreased by a quarter.
But this is understandable. To most students, alchemy always seemed a bit mystical and didn't appear to help with dueling.
Moreover, Teacher Dade Temple seems like an easy-going type. He doesn't take roll calls and doesn't care about attendance, just comes in to teach and leaves on time. That's why the students consider alchemy as the easiest class to get through.
However, even Dade Temple noticed, that despite his appearance, the student Yugen from the Yellow Dormitory remained straight-backed throughout the class, constantly taking notes. No one else in the entire classroom was as serious as he was.
That focused attitude even made Dade Temple question himself at one point —
— Is my teaching really that good?
Not only that, but this student would actually chase after him to ask questions after class!
Seriously, since joining Duel Academy, Dade Temple had never seen such a diligent student in all these years. Even model students like Asuka Tenjouin this year or Marufuji Ryo from before, while they listened respectfully in his classes, never showed such enthusiasm for alchemy.
"Teacher, after the first class, I found it very interesting, so I went to the school library to look up many related materials."
Yugen blocked Dade Temple in the hallway outside the classroom and even took out the list of questions he had prepared.
"I've found hints in many literature sources. The development of alchemy in Ancient Egypt, the connection with artifacts from the same period that have been unearthed, and some other things... I've specifically listed them, teacher, please have a look."
Dade Temple, holding his fat cat named "Pharaoh," received the list from Yugen with one hand and examined it through his squinted eyes.
"All the clues show that alchemy has been linked to Duel Monsters since ancient times, right, teacher? Is this why our academy offers alchemy courses?"
Dade Temple carefully looked at the literature notes he had taken and then gazed at Yugen through his glasses, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Ah, this... is it? Yugen, you really are a keen learner..." he thought, "Well, indeed many theories suggest that alchemy origins are closely related to Duel Monsters, but that is just one school's thought. There's still much controversy in the academic world..."
He's acting.
Yugen knew that this was the official answer Dade Temple provided because it was indeed a topic currently debated in academia. Yet in the anime, before his death, Dade Temple clearly told Judai he firmly believed the ultimate answer to alchemy lay in Duel Monsters, and he thought Judai was a naturally born top-tier alchemist.
"I also read a lot of textbooks and introductions about alchemy and felt that alchemy and 'Fusion Summon' are quite similar, aren't they, teacher?"
Yugen continued humbly, saying.
"Just my personal insight, if I'm wrong, don't mind me. But I think the alchemical methods mentioned in the books, and in a duel when you fuse two originally ordinary monsters together to create a powerful new existence...
...this process of researching and developing Fusion Monsters, isn't it like turning stones into gold, essentially a miracle?"
Dade Temple: "!?"
Dade Temple, who could be described as an Oscar-level actor, couldn't hide his surprise for a moment; his perpetually squinted eyes almost popped open in astonishment.
He couldn't help but be amazed because what this student said just hit home for him. This was precisely the insight he had gathered over the years as an alchemist, research that he had never shared in class or with anyone.
Remarkably, this student had similar insights just through literature research and self-study...
But that was as expected.
Because this theory was precisely what Yugen had heard from Dade Temple... in the anime, in the Seven-Star Chapter, what Dade Temple told Judai. Of course, he had long forgotten the exact words, but the meaning was roughly the same.
Probably for the first time in front of a student, Dade Temple put away his usual goofy and cowardly facade, squinting and earnestly examining Yugen.
"Fujiki Yugen... is that right? You're really interested in alchemy?"
"Yes, teacher," Yugen said seriously, "I hope to receive your guidance often in the future."
The truth has come to light; he laid his cards on the table.
He wants to learn card creation from the academy's hidden master.