Chapter 100: The Puzzle of the Magical Science Department

Magical scientist.

A level-1 monster with only 300 attack points.

It has the ability to pay 1000 life points to special summon an extra deck fusion monster with rank 6 or lower, and its only "restriction" is that the summoned monster cannot attack directly and returns to the extra deck at the end of the turn.

This monster left an indelible mark in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! — the Launch Turtle deck.

Just by summoning Launch Turtle and the Magical Scientist, you can use the Magical Scientist's effect to easily achieve a first-turn knockout (FTK)!

Because of this card, Yu-Gi-Oh! became at one point a pure coin-flip game — players simply needed to go first to win. Simultaneously, due to this card and the emergence of Chaos Warrior's Messenger, many Yu-Gi-Oh! players gradually realized one thing — what's the point of LP? As long as you're not dead, you're fine.

Moreover, as Yu-Gi-Oh! evolved, the emergence of Synchro, Xyz, and even Link summoning made the Magical Scientist's power grow stronger. After several "enabling" monsters were released, in unrestricted tournaments, even the most ruthless decks emerged — decks capable of FTK with no main deck components, requiring only the Magical Scientist and the extra deck.

Until a deck symbolizing Yu-Gi-Oh!'s new era arrived, the Magical Scientist FTK deck still held its ground in unrestricted tournaments, battling fiercely against all kinds of powerful decks and even reaching the semifinals.

Tenjo Hikari followed the Magical Scientist into a factory with a completely different aesthetic from the Magic Clan Village. Inside, he saw an acquaintance sitting in a chair.

"Huh? Ocean?" Tenjo Hikari was surprised — he hadn't expected Sanzawa Daichi's final destination to be the same as his own.

"Tenjo!? You're here too?!" Sanzawa Daichi, seeing Tenjo Hikari, was startled, then regained his composure and said, "Ah, of course — the Magical Scientist is a monster skilled in direct fusion, so it suits you well."

After saying this, he quickly bent over his desk and furiously wrote on a pile of papers. Beside him, the Mathematician stroked his beard, nodding repeatedly, looking quite satisfied.

Tenjo Hikari stole a glance — they appeared to be math problems.

With this setup, perhaps the Mathematician would follow him without even needing a duel?

"In our place, there are quite a few scientist-type magicians," the Magical Scientist said as he led Tenjo Hikari along, "The Mathematician has lived here long enough and wants to go out for a walk."

They passed through a corridor, and along the way, Tenjo Hikari saw several more Mathematicians calculating on blackboards — they were loudly arguing.

"Impossible to succeed!" "There's a 1% chance of success!"

Clearly, the two Mathematicians disagreed.

The Magic Clan Village had many "identical" spirits, but just as the Dark Magician had black-armored and red-armored variants, these Mathematicians were naturally not all identical.

"Mr. Magical Scientist!" "Director!" Occasionally, busy spirits encountered the Magical Scientist and immediately bowed respectfully.

Is this Magical Scientist actually the director of this research institute?

Tenjo Hikari felt both excited and slightly regretful.

He was excited because the Magical Scientist's spirit strength should be high, but regretful because if he had his own faction or team, no spirit would abandon its own subordinates to help humans. In such cases, either they'd all go together, or even if deeply interested, they'd stay behind to fulfill their duties.

This is the spirit's "rule."

However, since he lacked something like Launch Turtle, the Magical Scientist wasn't particularly useful to him, so he didn't feel too regretful.

He knew that since the Magical Scientist brought him here, there must be corresponding "resources" available.

Tenjo Hikari followed him all the way to an office filled with numerous computers, each screen displaying various information — surveillance feeds and computational data. On the desk sat a photo frame with the card image of the mediocre monster, the Average Spirit.

On the other side were experimental setups and a simple production line device; at the end of the line stood the results.

They were instant noodles decorated with green patterns and the word "fusion," and packaged food with yellow patterns and the word "fusion" — "Simple Fusion" and "Minimal Fusion." In the card lore, both were invented by the Magical Scientist.

Of course, from the perspective of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s development, that was just Konami trying to make money without releasing the notoriously overpowered Magical Scientist card, so they printed Simple Fusion — and after Simple Fusion was also banned or limited, they devised an even weaker substitute: Minimal Fusion.

One opened cup of instant noodles sat nearby; Tenjo Hikari sniffed slightly and found it smelled quite good.

"If you like it, I can give you a few boxes before you return to the human world," the Magical Scientist said casually.

Give me a box of Simple Fusion!?

Tenjo Hikari's eyes nearly glazed over.

Then he realized — this wasn't a card. These were real instant noodles.

To be honest, he'd long wanted to taste Simple Fusion, so he didn't refuse: "Alright, thank you very much, Magical Scientist."

Of course, he knew well that even if these instant noodles were worthless, they wouldn't be given away for free.

If his performance didn't earn the Magical Scientist's approval, he might not even be allowed to take them.

"Then…" The Magical Scientist extended a hand and tapped on the machine. Suddenly, the screen blazed with intense light, and the surrounding environment began to slowly fade.

Squares and cards floated into view all around.

The floor was covered with a black carpet — upon closer inspection, it was the card face of the Skyscraper.

A massive three-headed dragon appeared directly opposite Tenjo Hikari — upon closer look, it was "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" On Tenjo Hikari's side, images of the Flash Knight and the Hot-Blooded Lady appeared.

Looking at the dueling pad: opponent's LP 6000, his own LP 1400.

Floating before him were card shadows — upon closer inspection: the Swamp King, Premature Burial, Support Dog, Miracle Fusion, Winged Dragon of Ra, and Fusion. In the extra deck zone: Flame Wingman and Flash Fire Wingman.

"What's this?" Tenjo Hikari raised an eyebrow.

"How about it? This is my puzzle design! You can only act for one turn, can view all cards in your and your opponent's field, graveyard, and deck, and must end the duel within this turn — a fusion puzzle!"

There are thirty in total. In the entire institute, those who can solve ten are elites; those who solve twenty in a short time are rare; those who solve them all? None exist!"

He pointed to a pile of cards on the side — his personal rare card collection: "If you solve the puzzle, I'll give you one of my personal rarities. If you solve more than fifteen, I'll trade you a super rare card. If you solve them all, you've succeeded — you can come here anytime after!"

"Don't underestimate this puzzle — the key lies in the battle phase being limited to one time only. To…"

"I see. Too easy." Tenjo Hikari didn't wait for the Magical Scientist to finish — he had already checked the last card in his deck: another Fusion.

"Discard the Swamp King, activate its effect to add Fusion from the deck to your hand, then activate Fusion twice: first to summon Flame Wingman, then use Flame Wingman to fuse into Flash Fire Wingman. With four Elemental Heroes in the graveyard, its attack becomes 3700. Then activate Premature Burial to revive the Swamp King with 800 attack from the graveyard, and normal summon the Support Dog with 500 attack."

When Elemental Hero monsters attack monsters with higher attack, Skyscraper's effect increases their attack by 1000. Also, when Flash Fire Wingman destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack. Final result: Flash Fire Wingman at 4700, Swamp King at 800, Support Dog at 500 — total 6000 damage."

As Tenjo Hikari spoke, he rapidly operated. Beside him, Tierra had just appeared, wondering if she should try too — when she saw Tenjo Hikari instantly complete the simulation and move to the next puzzle.

"This —" The Magical Scientist stopped mid-sentence, staring blankly at Tenjo Hikari.

This puzzle wasn't hard — many spirits could answer it. But warriors who reacted instantly like Tenjo Hikari? Extremely rare.

Tenjo Hikari felt absolutely no pressure.

The reason was simple.

Isn't this just "solving an endgame"?

Konami often added such puzzle minigames to their games. When Tenjo Hikari played Master Duels before, he found solving endgames far easier and more enjoyable than dueling people.

Yet in the original Yu-Gi-Oh! world, solving endgames seemed surprisingly difficult.

On one hand, information was limited — many cards were unknown and required trial and error; on the other, different duelists had different styles and tendencies — in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, for instance, the main group faced a situation requiring endgame solving. Reliable Croagunk and power-focused Jack Atlas both failed the puzzle — only Bruno, who understood every detail and remained calm, succeeded.

Remember, Croagunk and Jack were among the top duelists in their world.

In short, in this world, most people were utterly confused by endgames due to lack of exposure and experience.

After all, they'd never seen them —

For example, in this puzzle created by the Magical Scientist, few had ever seen or faced Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. For them, it would take a moment just to process it.

But for Tenjo Hikari, it was different.

Before his transmigration, he played cards using far more complex and cumbersome summoning methods to clear the field and "calculate kills." Compared to those thick decks and "Counter"-filled boards, these Magical Scientist-designed puzzles were incredibly relaxed.

First chapter, today's bonus chapter

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(End of chapter)