A Duelist Born for Fusion

Watching Hikaru observe the field and start solving puzzles within seconds, Tierra, who had initially wanted to join in the fun, gradually grew bored.

She knew all too well how brilliant Hikaru was, having stood beside him every day, offering commentary.

From what she could tell, his skill placed him in the top three of the entire school, faculty and students included. So it wasn't surprising at allthat he could solve these.

What she really wanted was to enjoy the novelty of the riddles. Though, unfortunately, she didn't even recognize many of the cards. Things like "The Last Warrior from Another Planet" or "Pair Cycroid" meant nothing to her.

So she casually grabbed a crate of cup noodles, opened a package, added seasoning and hot water, and began eating with a fork.

"Mmm!?" Tierra's eyes lit up as she took a bite, sparkling like stars. "Oh? Oho! Mmm!"

As a god, she had never really eaten before, or more precisely, she never had such needs. Her current body, while not particularly powerful, was still that of a Duel Spirit and didn't require sustenance either, so this was her first time experiencing flavor.

It felt wonderful.

While she enjoyed her noodles, Hikaru had already reached the tenth puzzle.

"S'fast, so amazin', Hikaru," Tierra praised casually between bites.

She didn't fully understand what he was doing, though it certainly looked impressive.

After all, she had only just started learning how to duel, and her first proper duel had been just days ago. She still didn't understand many cards or what they did.

She was, in a word, an outsider.

Magical Scientist pushed up his glasses slightly.

To an outsider, things seem amazing because they are outsiders.

As an expert, Magical Scientist was beginning to feel like he should just call Hikaru Superman.

Why could this guy solve puzzles after just a glance?

Why did he immediately know how to answer even when the card was an ultra-rare, barely-read text scan?

'Some of these cards shouldn't even exist in your world!'

'Like that Elder Entity N'tss, your world doesn't have it, does it?'

'So why did you instantly think to send it from the Extra Deck to the Graveyard to trigger its effect and wipe the field?'

"How can someone be this good?" Magical Scientist muttered, arms crossed.

At this point, he no longer doubted Hikaru would solve every riddle, he just wanted to see how long it would take.

He had only noticed Hikaru by chance when Mathematician accepted a challenge request, while he was standing nearby, and got curious who would challenge every variant of Dark Magician in one go.

Was it confidence? Or arrogance?

And more importantly, someone who called himself a pursuer of "the pinnacle of Fusion."

That intrigued Magical Scientist.

Pinnacle of Fusion?

He was a Duel Spirit dedicated to Fusion himself. He had to see what this human was capable of.

So he showed himself and struck up conversation, just to test the man.

Originally, his deal was: solve 15 riddles, and he'd open his "lab" to let Hikaru trade cards with him.

He never expected this level of mastery. Some of the card info came from alternate dimensions, cards unknown even in the Spirit World. Cards like Elder Entity N'tss or that Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste.

When he first collected those entries, his lab went insane with excitement.

And when he designed these puzzles, he spent hours cross-referencing everything. Yet, Hikaru solved them at a glance.

"Unreal, he really knows all these Fusion cards?"

"Wha's the big deal? Don' be so shocked," Tierra said, already digging into her second cup, waving her fork lazily. "When it comes t' Fusion, Hikaru knows everythin'!"

At least, that's what he says. I'm inclined to believe him."

"You're jus'... a Spirit from some closed-off dimension," she said around a mouthful, barely pausing to swallow. "Even if your realm lets ya talk across worlds, the ones you see every day are just magicians.

You've hardly met gods from other realms, or rare Spirit types.

So how can you say you know more 'bout Fusion than anyone?"

Tierra slurped her noodles, a subtle smile curling on her lips.

"Don't let your own power limit your imagination. I can see from your spirit aura that you're already a powerful Spirit, probably ranked among the top here in the Village of Spellcasters.

But you are still a Spirit.

He's different.

Because he was born for Fusion. He is the one pursuing the true pinnacle of Fusion."

"Losing to him is no shame."

Magical Scientist looked at Tierra, inhaled deeply, and said sincerely, "It was arrogance on my part. Thank you for your insight—ah! That form, you're El Shaddoll Winda, aren't you? A most elusive magician!"

Indeed, with a partner Spirit like her, no wonder his perspective wasn't narrow.

'I really was too close-minded.'

As a scholar-spirit, he was quick to self-correct once he realized his arrogance.

"Hey, who said I was his partner?" Tierra's expression went cold. "Also, I'm no mere Spirit!"

Magical Scientist blinked at her, confused.

Nonetheless, at least he understood one thing.

He'd been wrong.

Truly, he had been far too limited in scope.

Maybe it was time to travel again? To see what the other dimensions were like?

In any case, after a short while, even with two or three retries on a few, Hikaru had completed all the riddles in a remarkably short time.

A bit old-school perhaps, but it had been surprisingly fun.

In his current world, even though virtual duels were more exhilarating than before, the environment was still somewhat stale. Students used simple decks, and ever since Hikaru got Chimeratech Fortress Dragon, Ancient Gear-based builds had been suffering under his pressure.

The fun had started to wear thin.

However, here, he got to use cards that weren't even legal in his world, like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Dark Paladin, and monsters like Synchros and Xyz that didn't exist there.

For someone who had been fighting the same kinds of decks lately, this was a refreshing change.

Even if they were just card projections, the experience was still a blast.

"Impressive!" Magical Scientist clapped. His puzzles actually had time limits; that said, Hikaru solved them so fast he didn't even mention it.

"You are the first person in my lab to solve all thirty riddles. As promised, I'll give you the answer cards for all thirty puzzles."

He brought over a box and slowly opened it. It was filled to the brim with cards.

Starting from "Crimson Sunbird" and "Vermillion Sparrow," to mid-tier powerhouses like "Dark Flare Knight" and "Gaia the Dragon Champion," and finally up to truly powerful Fusion Monsters.

But the crown jewel, the ultimate prize—

Elder Entity N'tss!

It really was there!

Stunned, Hikaru took the box.

That one card alone made the whole trip worth it!