Chapter 37: Top of the Grade!

"The Darkheart Hero looks pretty cool."

"Mm-hmm, men really do love darkness, don't they?"

Even after two days had passed, people in the school still talked about the Darkheart Hero.

On one hand, she… was beautiful; on the other, just as this classmate said, men love darkness.

Before his transmigration, Tenjo Hikari had also liked Dark Monkey, but unfortunately, he never beat the game before he crossed over.

"Wan Wan Zhangmu, here is your report card." The teacher handed out report cards and evaluations one by one. Wan Wan Zhangmu stared at the dismal data on his card and wanted to smash his head into the floor.

I've disgraced my Master—

He looked at the evaluation on his card and remembered two days ago.

After he lost to Tenjo Hikari, while students from the Fusion Department either cheered or mocked him, Tenjo Hikari simply put away his deck and told him his duel wasn't pure—at least not that day.

"If you want to defeat Judai, this isn't enough." Tenjo Hikari's words still echoed in his mind. "You only think of defeating Judai, but Judai thinks of becoming the strongest duelist."

Shame!

He finally remembered—the day his Master grabbed him and threw him into the AI room, sneering as he scolded: "Idiot! If you don't want to become the strongest duelist, you'll never be anything but a mediocrity your whole life! Learn this well!"

Back then, all he could think about was his resentment at losing to Judai and the pain of being ridiculed.

But that Tenjo Hikari…

He looked toward Tenjo Hikari's direction.

Although he was the representative of the Fusion Department, opinions about him within the department were sharply polarized—some revered him deeply, others hated him intensely. Outside the department, ordinary students were amazed by his dueling style and deck composition, yet found it hard to interact with him—after all, he was a member of the Fusion Department!

"How'd you do, Judai? What's your score?"

"Hahaha, over eighty in practicals!" Yugi Judai laughed loudly, conveniently hiding his written exam score.

Eighty in practicals!

Wan Wan Zhangmu felt as if a sledgehammer had struck his skull.

He'd gotten forty—

【Too obsessed with relying on trump cards to decide victory; should first use low-level monsters to test traps】【Trap card usage extremely unstable—sometimes brilliant, disrupting the opponent's strategy; sometimes clueless, directly controlling Flame Winged Man without assessing the situation】【Showed extreme disrespect toward opponent, constantly looking around during duel】【Focused solely on Heroes, ignoring everything else】

He slapped his own face with a sharp crack.

He stared at the evaluation and deduction points on his card, his face filled with gloom.

Could it be… he'd even lose his exam score to Yugi Judai?

My Master will kill me if he finds out!

"Hey, Hikari, how'd you do?" Sanze Sanze Dadi, sitting behind Tenjo Hikari, leaned forward curiously.

He hadn't forgotten what he'd said.

"Ah, don't mention it. I bombed it."

"?"

"Mistake, mistake—I shouldn't have done that, oh no."

"???" Sanze Sanze Dadi's face was covered in question marks.

"Ah, Hikari, you didn't do well either? Hahaha, hey, no worries! Let's both try harder next time!" When Judai heard Tenjo Hikari say this, his face lit up. He immediately patted Tenjo Hikari on the shoulder and burst into laughter, as if this somehow erased the fact that his written exam score was garbage.

"Hey, Judai," Sanze Sanze Dadi wiped sweat from his forehead, "no matter what, we all saw that duel. There's no way Tenjo's duel could've been bad?"

"Yeah, big brother! I wouldn't believe this even if you told me!"

"Judai, isn't Tenjo just joking with us?"

"Huh?" Judai's eyes widened in shock. "What? Hikari, you're lying to me?"

"Why would I lie to you for no reason?" Tenjo Hikari shrugged, pulling out his evaluation sheet and showing it to his friends. "Look, I got 97."

"…"

"?"

Isn't the maximum score 100?

"The sheet says I precisely exploited my opponent's mistakes, instantly recalled the effects and evolutions of his monsters upon seeing them, willingly endured direct attacks from powerful monsters for victory, accurately sensed his opponent's distraction, seized the psychological shift, and executed a flawless reversal with a one-hit knockout—leaving no room for reaction. My performance was nearly perfect."

"…That all sounds like praise!" Xiang stared at his own evaluation sheet, his face stiff. "Big brother, I got scolded to death by the teacher…"

"Strange—if that's all praise, why only 97?" Sanze asked curiously.

Tenjo Hikari sighed helplessly: "Professor Huashan said my deck composition is poor, too few monsters, unbalanced!"

He's the only one who docked me points—all other teachers gave me full marks!"

…

The group all leaned back in unison.

Isn't that right?

A normal deck should be monster-heavy—unless it's some reclusive magic/trap deck, isn't it always monster-heavy?

But then again, it made sense—Tenjo pursued fusion to its extreme, filling his deck with fusion cards; even the monsters he barely squeezed in for fusion materials were only seven or eight at most. It really was too few.

But the way Tenjo Hikari said it, he sounded genuinely dissatisfied.

"I trust all of you have seen your evaluations. This is only the first half of your first year—you still have plenty of time to correct your flaws, so don't be discouraged. The overall rankings have been posted on the school bulletin board; those interested may go take a look."

"The top ten students may apply for scholarships at Professor Professor Luonuosi's office."

Scholarship—better to call it a "prize."

Dueling is ultimately a competition. A student's future path is either becoming a teacher or a duelist. The Duel Academy wants students to learn early how dueling tournaments work and how duelists earn money in society.

Rankings?

After class, Tenjo Hikari went to the school gate. A list was posted on the bulletin board.

He glanced at it.

Hmm—

Good!

First.

"Aaaah, you beat me by more than ten points?! How is that possible—" Sanze Sanze Dadi, seeing the results, frantically tugged at his hair. "It's impossible! When we compared answers, we were basically tied! Could it be… Alchemy?!"

"Aaaah—" Sanze screamed like Tom from Tom and Jerry.

Sanze, who had always topped written exams and maintained a rational, disciplined dueling style—essentially the teacher's model student—now screamed in anguish at having been truly defeated by Tenjo Hikari.

He'd gotten 96 in practicals too!

He accepted that Judai and Tenjo Hikari were stronger than him in dueling—he'd win back his place later—but how could his written exam score be so far behind?

"Huh…" He took a deep breath. "I was too arrogant before. Tenjo Hikari! Next time, I won't let you have first place!"

With that, he strode off heavily in another direction—clearly heading to find Master Professor Dadesi, no longer even thinking about claiming the prize money.

Tenjo Hikari smiled.

Heh heh. So naive, Sizai Haiyang. If it were math, culture, physics, or chemistry, you could crush me—a transmigrant who abandoned his high school knowledge. But when it comes to card knowledge, you're not even close.

He chuckled inwardly twice, then hurried to the professor's office to apply for the prize.

It wasn't much, really.

After all, it was only the first term exam—not even finals.

But the Duel Academy, a "prestigious" institution under Haima Corporation, even this "small" amount was enough for Tenjo Hikari to buy a year's supply of different-flavored bread—though of course, he didn't plan to spend it on bread.

After hearing Tenjo Hikari's financial situation was poor—living on bread every day—the Huang Academy's Professor Huashan granted him permission to eat free meals at the Huang Academy cafeteria, as long as he maintained his performance. At least he wouldn't starve on campus.

So he had other plans for this money.

Buy booster packs… and try Alchemy!

More precisely, experiment with "Super Fusion"!

Request recommendations, request monthly tickets~

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(End of Chapter)