Kobayashi Yusuke spent the entire day today with his head down.
He woke up early in the morning to avoid the rush hour and leave the dorm, not daring to go to the cafeteria all day, relying on bread from the snack counter for lunch. Even for classes, he wore a hood, kept his head low, and blended in with the largest group of students entering the classroom. The moment the dismissal bell rang, he darted out with his head still down.
Because, because his opponent for the new round of dorm exchange duels was matched with "that man."
A legendary man, a man who, in just a short week after enrollment, earned the title of "Great Demon King" throughout the entire Yellow Dorm, and the one person almost everyone in the dorm least wanted to be matched with.
Being matched with others would at most result in losing a duel and earning one or two fewer credits, but this guy was different. It was rumored that after dueling him, people would be unable to sleep a wink due to anxiety, and those more severely affected might even have their passion for dueling completely extinguished, causing them to start thinking, "Perhaps dueling isn't for me; I should just go back to bricklaying," soon after entering the academy.
Therefore, every student who checked their next round's opponent and saw it was this "Great Demon King" would immediately display an expression as if their parents had just died. And other people in the dorm, upon seeing that expression, could generally guess what had happened to the poor person, then either shake their heads or suppress laughter as they patted his shoulder, encouraging him to be strong.
Yusuke felt that his movements all day were flawless, perfectly avoiding that terrifying Great Demon King. Although he knew that avoiding him for now was meaningless, human instinct when facing great terror was uncontrollable; one could only avoid it for the moment.
At least this day seemed to have passed peacefully.
Finally, after a day of activities, Yusuke's taut nerves finally relaxed. He was preparing to return to the dorm, take a hot shower, and watch some dramas to unwind—
Then he suddenly froze.
Because he saw the Great Demon King leaning against a staircase on the path he had to take to his dorm room, smiling sunnily and waving at him.
"Yusuke-kun, right?" Yugen said with a chuckle, "Did you forget we have a duel?"
Yusuke was on the verge of tears. He really wanted to say, "No, you've got the wrong person, I'm not him," but the other party had already set up his duel disk.
"Don't worry, it won't take long." Yugen chuckled, "Come on, come on."
Yusuke: "."
"..."
"'Dimensional Prison' sends your monster to a different dimension!"
"Submarineroid attacks directly!"
"Pair Cycroid attacks directly!"
"..."
Yugen didn't lie; the duel indeed ended very quickly.
Ten minutes later, Yusuke lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes vacant, his expression blank, looking utterly tormented. It seemed he had fallen too hard when collapsing, and his deck in the duel disk scattered all over the floor with a clatter.
An unaware passerby seeing this scene might be startled, wondering if this wasn't a dark duel that had just been lost.
Another person sent to the Underworld. JPG (Marik's limited edition)
"Ah~ another duel before bed, so comfortable."
Yugen stretched, politely bidding farewell to his duel partner.
"That was a good duel. Good night, Yusuke-kun, I wish you sweet dreams."
Yusuke: "."
Just then, Professor Kabayama, the dorm head, happened to pass by and witnessed this scene. He wanted to say something, but he stammered for a long time, ultimately not knowing where to begin.
Initially, he arranged these duels so that new students could friendly interact, quickly get to know each other, and blend in.
But now, it seemed that with this trend, it wouldn't be strange for them to quickly "fight" their way into a cohesive group.
Yet he seemed unable to say anything. After all, this student named Yugen truly appeared to be dueling seriously, and in terms of results, he even had a perfect win record.
And it had only been one week. At this rate, what would the Yellow Dorm eventually become this year?
"..."
On the second Monday, a new course appeared on the timetable that greatly interested Yugen.
Alchemy.
To be honest, the moment this term was mentioned, his mind first conjured up phrases like "human transmutation" and "equivalent exchange" from a certain famous alchemy anime. However, Alchemy also existed in the Yu-Gi-Oh world.
The teacher in charge of the Alchemy curriculum was the head of the Osiris Red dorm, Professor Daitokuji.
Initially, he seemed to be the laziest and most useless teacher in the entire academy, always giving people the impression that he was terribly afraid of cabbage. But in the Three Phantom Beasts arc, it was revealed that he was actually a hidden boss. Some netizens even analyzed the plot, believing that if he hadn't intentionally fostered Judai and deliberately held back, the un-matured Judai at that time should not have been able to defeat him.
Of course, this was just speculation with no concrete evidence, but it was undeniable that Daitokuji was one of the strongest hidden characters.
His level of Alchemy was equally mystical. The background setting stated that he had actually suffered from an incurable disease for a long time, but had actually prolonged his life by relying on forbidden arts similar to "human transmutation" to create an artificial new body and transfer his soul into it.
Ultimately, even after he was defeated by Judai in a dark duel and his body decayed and crumbled, he still remained in soul form and was swallowed by a cat he kept. Until GX concluded, he had always accompanied Judai on his journey, being an extremely important teacher and friend in Judai's life.
However, what Yugen focused on was Alchemy itself. Although other students now felt this teacher was just making a living, Yugen could clearly see that he was a master.
It was rumored that Alchemy could grant people the power of immortality, and in the Yu-Gi-Oh worldview, it was conceivable that everything would inevitably be linked to dueling. Alchemy also seemed to involve the field of card printing.
In the original work, the coolest card Daitokuji ever printed, the "Sabatiel" card he entrusted to Judai before his body perished, could pay half his LP to add any card from his deck to his hand, and could be used three times consecutively in one turn without limitation.
Unlimited searching and a 1-for-3 trade—it was basically a super cheat that guaranteed a win in a duel. Its biggest drawback was that it could only be used once per duel, becoming unusable after that.
But the existence of this card was enough to prove the value of Alchemy.
Therefore, Yugen listened to this class with exceptional seriousness. More than half the classroom was drowsy, but he remained focused from beginning to end, not missing a single word Daitokuji spoke, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and constantly took notes throughout.
As an Alchemy class within a dueling academy, it was naturally a niche subject. Daitokuji was probably seeing a student so dedicated to his class for the first time, and couldn't help but glance over twice more before class ended.
Yugen noticed, and returned the teacher a warm, sunny smile.
Daitokuji was momentarily stunned, then quickly put on his usual goofy persona and gave Yugen a faint smile.
The dismissal bell rang. Daitokuji squinted, gathered his teaching materials, and left the classroom with his cat.
His name seemed to be Fujiki Yugen.
He remembered this student.
A student with such a sunny smile seemed like a good kid.