Chapter 129: Professional Dueling Circle

Compared to when he first got Midrash, when Tiancheng Guang saw Wendigo, he no longer felt as excited as before.

It wasn't simply because of the card's strength.

He admitted that Wendigo's card effect… was a bit weak; compared to Midrash's effect quantity, it was indeed slightly less, but its 2800 DEF and ability to grant other monsters resistance against battle destruction by special-summoned monsters were still quite good for Midrash.

The reason he wasn't as excited was simply because the times had changed.

Now, Tiancheng Guang's deck was packed with numerous "waiting for fusion" combinations—Dragon Destruction, Dragon Knight, ABC, Extreme Flame, and even the newly acquired "Chaos Phantom Amityl"—various systems and monsters had filled his list.

In game terms, it was like initially having only one side quest outside the main storyline, so he could easily manage it; now, suddenly there were over a dozen different side quests, each with promising outcomes, so with time and energy gains unchanged, Tiancheng Guang could only choose a few to try.

Fortunately, times had changed again: when he first obtained the Midrash card, Tiancheng Guang had no choice and no opportunity—he could only rely on luck to complete Midrash.

Now it was different: Tiancheng Guang knew that participating in Dark Duels, dueling DT decks, and creating DT-world cards could all charge the Divine Yingyi cards.

If that was the case, it was simple for Tiancheng Guang.

He could complete "Gem Knight" while simultaneously charging Wendigo.

Moreover, unlike before, due to Seima Corporation's "Tuning Monster Pilot Program" at the Duel Academy, many students now owned DT-series cards.

Cards like "Juraic Cavalry of Xia Valley," though not synchro-compatible, still had significantly higher stats than most cards on the market, so Tiancheng Guang had clear targets to grind.

After ten days or half a month, relying on his enhanced Spirit Power and Alchemy, Tiancheng Guang completed this card in a fraction of the time it took him to complete Midrash—efficiency increased by countless times.

After the Card Pack Adjustment Incident, the Fusion Department had nearly vanished from sight; although it still frequently tried recruiting new members, it was essentially left to fend for itself, with no real activity beyond using Xiang to promote and attract new students.

This was actually good: as long as they didn't cause chaos, their reputation could truly recover.

After all, if they did something, they'd make mistakes; if they did nothing, they wouldn't.

Students had their own affairs and studies; if they didn't actively step forward, they'd naturally be forgotten over time—even many first-year students had completely forgotten that Tiancheng Guang's Fusion Department wasn't the original one, believing he had always been the department's representative.

Under this calm atmosphere, today the Fusion Department held a special celebration.

"Congratulations!"

Tiancheng Guang held a party popper, pulled the string, and shouted.

"Congratulations! Serena!"

"Well done, Serena!"

The usually cold and expressionless girl blushed today, looking shy and awkward amid the department's celebration; Judai laughed heartily, pushed a plate of tempura in front of her, and said, "I never thought Serena could pass that exam! I was sweating bullets watching you."

"It's because of Master and Sanzawa-sensei's teaching…" Serena, rarely at a loss for words, mumbled.

"Serena, we only gave you extra lessons; the one who truly accomplished this is you yourself," Sanzawa Daichi shook his head.

Serena lived in the girls' dormitory at Duel Academy and usually stayed in the Fusion Department, but that didn't mean she could remain there forever or had nothing to do.

After all, Tiancheng Guang and the others still had classes and occasionally went on interdimensional trips; the rest of the time, Serena had to attend remedial lessons and tests at the academy.

As a renowned exam expert, Tiancheng Guang and Sanzawa Daichi occasionally helped her review outside duels; sometimes Wan Wan Zhangmu came to help too, while Judai was purely there for atmosphere.

The agreement between Chronos and Seima Corporation was that if Serena passed the Duel Academy entrance exam and skipped grades to enter first year, she wouldn't need to return to junior high—thus, she could continue staying on the Academy Island.

Yesterday, this "illiterate" Serena took the exam; under Judai's tense watch, she barely passed with a decent score.

Next semester, she'll enter as a skip-grade student alongside the new first-years, becoming a true junior to Tiancheng Guang and the others.

"That's right, Serena," Tiancheng Guang nodded, sighing, "I never thought you'd learn in half a year what's supposed to take two years… All of this is your own effort—not just something we said."

Hearing Tiancheng Guang take no credit, Serena clenched her fist and regained her usual spirit: "No! It's all because of Master's teaching! Whenever I think of pursuing the ultimate fusion, I'm filled with determination every day!!"

She suddenly became fired up.

"Oh oh oh! Awesome!" Judai got fired up too, "At a moment like this, shouldn't we—"

He looked around.

"Isn't Kaiser gone?"

Hearing Judai's question, Tenjo Kiyomi, arms full of gifts and leaning awkwardly, peeked out from behind them: "Ryo has already finished his paperwork—he's going to enter a professional tournament as a trial before graduation."

"So soon?" the classmates exclaimed.

"Wait, wait, wait—he hasn't even graduated yet and he's entering a pro tournament!?" Shingakusaka leaned back, nearly falling over, saved only by a classmate beside him.

"That's amazing, Kaiser!!" Judai gasped.

"Yeah, a powerful conglomerate really admires Ryo, so they decided to invest in him and have him endorse their products," Kiyomi set down the gifts, stroked his chin, and tilted his head. "I heard it's a conglomerate that runs dimensional competitions…"

"Apparently, because of Ryo, Hikari, and Wan Wan Zhangmu's performances this year, the dueling world has paid much more attention to our academy—outstanding students like Ryo were suddenly noticed."

I heard many conglomerates and professional duelists are planning to visit our academy soon."

"I heard Seima Corporation spearheaded this? Wasn't it Mr. Kaiba Muma himself who arranged the exchange opportunity?"

"No wonder Ryo is so impressive—he easily achieved what others couldn't."

"We still have to watch our Guang-ge—his fusion slogan might have already reached the interdimensional realm!"

"Wan Wan Zhangmu isn't bad either."

"Hey, you little brat, what do you mean Wan Wan Zhangmu isn't bad!" Wan Wan Zhangmu instantly turned around and pointed at the member who joked.

Some Fusion Department members weren't the least surprised by Kiyomi's words.

It was perfectly normal.

"Oh, by the way…" Kiyomi snapped back to attention, "Does anyone here want to duel Kaiser? A graduation duel?"

"As third-year students, everyone should be able to submit an application to challenge him, and he'll choose his opponent—perhaps as a final summary of academic performance? Or maybe as a senior's hope for his juniors' future?" Kiyomi chuckled twice, "Haha, if I hadn't disappeared for a year, maybe I could've chosen a cute junior to duel!"

Graduation duel!?

Hearing this, Judai froze.

Graduation…

For a moment, he felt dazed.

He sat back down absentmindedly.

For the past half year, although Kaiser was often busy preparing for graduation, he still had long stretches of time to duel with him in the Fusion Department, hone his skills, and exchange insights.

Though their ages differed, they had become extremely close friends.

But he had never once considered this—separation.

"Judai," Tiancheng Guang noticed his expression and raised his hand, "There's still over a month left… before then, think about it."

He had no intention of dueling Kaiser in the graduation duel; he knew Judai desperately wanted to duel him one last time, so he wouldn't take that opportunity.

"Why not first think about what Tenjo-senpai mentioned—the conglomerates and professional duelists?"

"Huh!? Oh—right!"

After a brief moment of confusion, he suddenly perked up.

Even Serena, who disliked thinking and tended to get carried away, couldn't help murmuring softly.

Senior Judai really loves dueling too much.

Second update, probably one more to come, still late

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(End of Chapter)