Chapter 79: Completed, Midrash!

After the school festival ended, the school entered a short holiday period, during which most students left campus to return home to their long-absent warm families.

Of course, some students still chose to stay on campus.

Some simply didn't want to go home; others, like Tenjo Hikari, were undergoing re-enrollment procedures after being missing for a year and were about to re-enter second year.

Beyond that, people like Tenjo Kou and Yūsei Mochizuki, who held the Seven Stars Keys, shouldn't casually leave campus at this time—it was both protection for the school and for themselves; if they left and were attacked by the Seven Stars group, it would be disastrous.

But for key holders, this wasn't much of an issue.

Everyone was an extreme card addict; staying on campus meant they could happily play cards in Tenjo Kou's Fusion Department club room without caring about outsiders' stares, so of course they were happy.

The only thing Yūsei regretted was that Ryo Fujiki, preparing to become a professional next year, had shifted his daily focus.

Moreover, Tenjo Kou wasn't present every day—he often hid alone in the Fusion Department head's room, fiddling with all sorts of strange things, occasionally producing explosions that left everyone baffled.

On this day, another explosion erupted in Tenjo Kou's room. He activated the room's powerful ventilation system to clear the smoke, then carefully pried a card out of a large furnace with long tongs.

After obtaining the Golden Lord's gem, Tenjo Kou upgraded his equipment—mostly selected by Wan Rong the Alchemist. Though it was a small furnace, it was far more expensive than the gem itself.

But Tenjo Kou didn't care about such expenses—money was meant to be spent; if the old doesn't go, the new won't come.

"Success?"

"Such a familiar feeling."

Tenjo Kou heard the spirit's voice. He dispersed the card's residual heat so the spirits could see it clearly.

"Gem Knight?"

"You really are colleagues."

"Cyan? So that's why Lord Tenjo has been crafting Cyan cards these past days."

Tenjo Kou nodded.

During earlier classification, Tenjo Kou had noticed many fragments of blue sapphires. After comparing prices, he judged them to be the cheaper batch—poor quality and low quantity—so he used them as practice material for alchemy.

Of course, his main focus remained synthesizing "Predator Plants."

But after attempting to synthesize Cyan Gem Knight two or three times, Tenjo Kou discovered something new—synthesizing Gem Knight cards seemed to also charge "Midrash."

This excited Tenjo Kou greatly.

For the past six months, Shadow- El Midrash had become increasingly pronounced; aided by "Darkness," and after multiple duels with Kōdō Nozomi and Kunikawa Haruto, the card itself had become nearly complete. But since Tenjo Kou had never found another "DT Deck" duelist to duel him, it had remained idle.

Until he realized that synthesizing Cyan also charged Midrash—he abandoned the alchemy of Predator Plant Snake-Eyed Cobra and focused entirely on Cyan.

Perhaps because it was a Normal Monster, even with his Level 5 spirit adaptability, he could attempt synthesis—or perhaps because of the presence of Bai Jing Gem Knight, which lowered his requirements. Regardless, Tenjo Kou could indeed attempt synthesizing Cyan.

After a period of trial, today, Tenjo Kou finally succeeded in creating the Cyan Gem Knight card, which he carefully stored away.

His only Gem Knight Fusion Monsters were the "Prism" and "Simulated Diamond" that came with Bai Jing Captain; there were currently no Cyan-series Fusion Monsters, so he could only wait for "Super Fusion" to grant him one.

But on the other side…

Tenjo Kou flipped through his cards and pulled out the one depicting a green-haired mage holding a staff, commanding the Illusion Dragon. He stared at the clear patterns and shimmering fragments on the card, unable to suppress his excitement.

He placed the card back into his Duel Disk. The Duel Disk responded with "Error." But he wasn't disappointed.

He was merely checking whether Midrash was complete.

A few days ago, Tenjo Kou could no longer judge Midrash's completion by sight—because to him, Midrash had become a real card. He could no longer discern what was missing visually, so he could only rely on the Duel Disk to determine whether Midrash was finished or still incomplete.

Currently, it seemed still incomplete?

But no big problem—he could still attempt crafting "Gem Knight Ruby." Though more expensive than Cyan, he didn't always directly invest a full gem—he ground powder and experimented gradually, so it wasn't painful to spend.

The Gem Knight hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back.

He felt an overwhelming fear from the "origin" emanating from this card.

It wasn't his own fear—it was deeper, older, tracing back to the "very beginning."

"Master! It's time! Time to duel!" Outside the door, Serena's voice rang out, accompanied by loud knocking.

Though also a girl, Asuka had many other hobbies and didn't stay in the Fusion Department all day, but Serena was different.

She truly only wanted to play cards.

Every day at this time, Tenjo Kou made time to play cards with Serena—not a formal duel, but a simple, pure card exchange seated at a table.

In short, they gathered a mix of random cards, shuffled them, split them into 40 each, then engaged in random duels.

It was somewhat like "YGOCORE"'s Chronicle mode—basically, discussing duel strategies with Serena. Friends like Yūsei and Sanzawa would also come over to join in, debating when to make certain moves. Some ordinary Fusion Department members who hadn't gone home would also watch and listen.

Though Serena had forcibly called him "Master," Tenjo Kou didn't refuse. After all, Serena genuinely wanted to learn "Fusion" from him, and he was happy to teach.

After all, the Fusion Department as a club existed primarily to learn and enjoy Fusion—not to be a chaotic mess like Lüdan. Having everyone play and exchange ideas together made the school holiday enjoyable for all. Wasn't that fine?

And it was also a valid reason to keep Serena around.

"Serena, that extra monster was sent to the graveyard by a card effect—it never underwent proper Fusion, so you can't use Soul Return." Tenjo Kou pointed to Serena's graveyard.

"Yeah, Serena, Soul Return restriction," Sanzawa added.

"Oh, right—" She blushed slightly as her bluff was exposed, retracting her previous move.

Tenjo Kou noticed she desperately wanted to learn his style of summoning Fusion Monsters directly from the Extra Deck in creative ways, but her rigid mind always unconsciously overlooked certain things.

Her gaze drifted slightly, accidentally glancing at Tenjo Kou's card box—and she was startled to see it emitting an eerie purple glow. When she blinked and looked again, the strange purple light seemed never to have existed.

Strange?

Earlier, Teacher Narukawa had performed a full-body scan on her. Her body was perfectly healthy, except her spirit adaptability far exceeded the standard 6-star level for her age. But Narukawa suspected she'd been "body-modified" by Professor Chi Ma, claiming she mustn't use a Duel Disk for a while—so she couldn't confirm what she'd just seen.

It just felt…

Dangerous!

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(End of Chapter)