Hikaru's memory had been filled with knowledge that hadn't been there before.
A Level 12 Gladiator Beast "Emperor." Gladiator Beast Claudius. The true supreme ruler of the Gladiator Beasts. But in the Gladiator Beast Dimension, Hikaru hadn't seen or heard of any existence above the Legatus.
So was the information he had received real?
It probably was.
Hikaru found a quiet spot, focused his thoughts on the matter, and even kept the recording, studying it for clues.
Why had he suddenly gained card information about the Gladiator Beasts? Was it because he had just returned from their dimension and happened to view the "World of Selfless Art" recording at the same time?
Could it be...
That returning from another dimension allowed him to absorb information related to that dimension?
With that hypothesis in mind, Hikaru left the Macro Cosmos Workshop, traveled to the Magician's Domain, then returned to the Workshop and rewatched the recording.
And then...
There it was!
When Hikaru watched the footage again, he extracted entirely new information from it.
Details about Spellcaster-type monsters, and information about Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.
They appeared in his mind from nowhere.
After analyzing this new data, Hikaru confirmed two things.
First, the footage didn't represent a "complete future." It also contained vast amounts of other information, including data from the past.
Second, the footage wasn't "complete," because the information he gained on his second viewing had obvious gaps.
Beyond that, perhaps because Hikaru had just returned from the Magician's Domain, a dimension where the most elite magicians gathered, he had also absorbed a flood of "magical" information, the various spells and unique abilities that Spellcaster spirits practiced regularly.
These abilities that Hikaru couldn't use all jumbled together in his head, giving him a splitting headache.
Based on all of this, Hikaru concluded that the World of Selfless Art automatically recorded all "card" or "spirit" information.
Like a copying machine.
Taking it further, he theorized that the reason humans entering the World of Selfless Art lost their sense of self was that they were being flooded with too many memories!
Just as the Supreme King had once told Jaden: although the Supreme King and Jaden were fundamentally the same person, their experiences and volume of memories were vastly different. If Jaden were to instantly receive all of the Supreme King's memories, would he be "the Supreme King" or "Jaden"?
When the "knowledge" inside a person's mind far exceeded their own will and memories, could their behavior patterns and psyche still function normally?
So that was why humans went mad so easily in there?
Conversely, since a spirit's entire existence was a single unified entity, containing at most an additional "card" within itself, being struck by the red light might drive them mad, but could also result in directly gaining a "card."
Though cards carried enormous amounts of information, they were still just cards. Unless something extraordinary happened, such as a spirit receiving a card completely unrelated to its nature, species, type, or Attribute, and that card's energy and information were hundreds or thousands of times greater, the spirit would be assimilated into the card's identity, forgetting its own existence, believing it had always been that card.
For example, if a Breaker the Magical Warrior was forcibly implanted with a Rank 6 Cyber Dragon Infinity, and Infinity's energy and information were hundreds or thousands of times greater, Breaker would be absorbed into Infinity's body, forget itself, and believe it had always been Cyber Dragon Infinity.
That tracked.
Hikaru mulled it over.
This also explained why spirits were willing to risk madness for the red light's blessing.
For spirits, pursuing the blessing was far safer than for humans.
After thinking it through, Hikaru gradually understood something else.
He now knew why his headache had lasted so long after being struck by the red light.
It was very likely... that he hadn't simply suffered a headache or lost consciousness. He had genuinely absorbed massive amounts of information, information beyond his capacity to process. And precisely because of that prior experience, absorbing influence from "lesser entities" wasn't nearly as severe for him.
In other words, entering the World of Selfless Art wasn't actually that dangerous for him.
Of course, even knowing this, Hikaru didn't act rashly. That instinctive warning hadn't been baseless. It likely meant the opposite.
The information and knowledge of the World of Selfless Art wouldn't harm him, but the "spirit" inhabiting that place could very well be hostile.
He couldn't just waltz in.
He either needed a means of protecting himself, or he needed to obtain some kind of "qualification" that would grant him passage.
With that in mind, he realized he shouldn't try to brute-force the World of Selfless Art for maximum information in one go. Instead, he should explore several dimensions affected by the red light, one at a time.
Sigh.
He was a little anxious, since the Vampire Kingdom was on the brink of collapse, and he wanted to help his friend find a solution sooner.
But rushing would only make things worse.
He opened a book and searched for his next destinations.
Eldland. Dark World. And...
Oh.
Something came back to him.
The Branded!
He tapped lightly on the cover of The Book of Emerald.
Last time, in the Magician's Domain, he had met the Iris Swordsoul, and from it he had learned that their dimension had been caught in the red light's wake. The situation was dire.
But since that dimension hadn't been struck head-on by the red light, he should be able to find a way there.
The Branded Dimension!
Hikaru's eyes blazed with excitement.
Fallen of Albaz!
Fallen of Albaz was the "protagonist" of the Abyss storyline, possessing the effect of discarding 1 card from the hand when Summoned or Special Summoned to Fusion Summon using itself and an opponent's monster as material. During that Fusion, no other monsters on your own field could be used as materials.
That's right!
Albaz was a "humanoid Super Polymerization."
When Hikaru had been brainstorming methods for creating his second Super Polymerization, he had considered using "monsters with built-in Fusion effects" as a foundation. Although he now had the far more suitable Philosopher's Stone for that purpose, understanding one method often illuminated others.
Besides, a monster like Albaz that could fuse with the opponent's monsters might have unique properties worth studying.
The problem was how to get to the Branded Dimension.
That was tricky...
Last time he had asked, he hadn't gotten coordinates. Whether he would even run into the Iris Swordsoul again was uncertain.
He shook his head. No need to rush...
He glanced absentmindedly at the recording, then his eyes lit up.
Wait!
He had a universal coordinate source right here!
That place had been pierced head-on by the red light! That meant it wasn't the actual center of the Spirit Dimension, but it was the origin point of the fracture!
If he could extract Spellcaster magic information from that place, why would he have trouble finding dimensional coordinates?
Just take them!
All he needed was to send a few recording machines each time, bring the footage back, and run the calculations!
Filtering out all non-card, non-dimensional information shouldn't be difficult.
This wasn't some "dangerous dead zone"!
This was Hikaru Amagi's future intelligence eye!
He laid out his full analysis and ideas for Tierra. She grew interested, and the two dove into an extended discussion on the subject.
Listening to Hikaru's reasoning, Tierra agreed it sounded promising.
Spend a little in material costs, extract something from that dangerous dimension, and no matter how you looked at it, they came out ahead. What if they happened to find information relevant to her own situation? Even better.
And it wasn't just about extracting information. They could also bring back energy samples for experiments. Perfect on every front.
Building recording robots was trivial. She could assign Infernoid Satan or Infernoid Beelzebub to automatically produce them every day.
No trouble at all.
And while she was at it, she could put Universalmelt Alchemist to proper experimental work instead of letting it slack off and forget basic safety protocols.
Today's incident had left her very displeased.
Just as she was thinking this, Universalmelt came running over again, making a scene.
Tierra fixed it with a look that promised death. Universalmelt shuddered instinctively, immediately slowed its pace, coughed a few times, and approached Hikaru with stiff, exaggerated formality.
The threat of death was so palpable that it was tripping over its own feet.
"What is it, Universalmelt? Did you find something else?" Hikaru asked curiously.
"Look, Master, look!" Universalmelt wasted no words. It pulled out a card and pointed at it, speaking rapidly.
Hm?
Hikaru blinked.
Rare Metalfoes Bismuth Witch. This was a card Universalmelt had created long ago as a byproduct of refining gold. It was one of its "core cards," but at the time, every card it produced had been incomplete.
Only the top half. No bottom half. Unusable.
But now, this card was showing green!
Universalmelt explained in a rush that after the earlier incident, it had been worried about causing more problems, so it ran a full check on the Workshop and on itself. That was when it discovered that all the things it had previously been unable to create or use... were suddenly functional!
Hikaru froze for a moment.
He extended his left hand. His Duel Disk snapped open, and then he noticed two new virtual slots.
Near the Field Zone and Graveyard Zone, new slots had appeared!
New zones on the Duel Disk!
Hikaru blinked, then pulled two cards from his coat: Predaplant Cephalotus Toad and D/D Orthros. He held them between his fingers and slapped them onto the Duel Disk. The base of the device began to flicker, scrolling through a string of colorful characters.
PENDULUM!
Pendulum... was usable now?!
He stared at the reaction on his Duel Disk, then looked up and locked eyes with Tierra.
At some unknown point, for some unknown reason, Pendulum had become usable!
Could it be...
Had Yuya Sakaki finally unlocked Pendulum Summoning?
Did that mean the original storyline of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V had begun in the Pendulum Dimension?
Honestly, Hikaru was curious to see what the Standard Dimension looked like without the Fusion Corps around.
Regardless, this was excellent news.
Because it meant Hikaru could now use the strongest, flashiest version of Pendulum Summoning: Master Rule 3 Pendulum!
Unlike the crippled Pendulum Summoning under the New Master Rule, Master Rule 3 allowed Pendulum Monsters to be Special Summoned from the Extra Deck to any Monster Zone, as long as they fell within the Scale. No "Extra Monster Zone" or "Link Monster unlocking" required. Master Rule 3 Pendulum was the strongest form of Pendulum Summoning. No matter how powerful future Pendulum cards became, none would surpass the sheer potency of Pendulum under this ruleset.
Such was the power of rules.
And more importantly...
"Universalmelt! Get the alchemical furnace ready immediately! I'm starting synthesis!" Hikaru shouted at Universalmelt with excitement.
It had been a long time since he had performed alchemy personally.
Not out of laziness. It was simply because the cards he wanted were either "impossible to synthesize," like Super Polymerization, or "unable to be synthesized," like Materialism and Pendulum Monsters.
He had plenty of ordinary low-level monsters, and he lacked the materials for high-level cards.
But now...
Pendulum had truly been born, which meant Hikaru could begin crafting those low-level cards!
Predaplant Sticky Calamus Mantis, the counterpart to Predaplant Cephalotus Toad!
Hikaru happened to have an Asset-Flaunting Mantis obtained from the legendary duelist Weevil Underwood, the perfect raw material!
And the Metalfoes-related materials were fully prepared as well. After all, every card in the Metalfoes series was tied to alchemy. Hikaru had them in abundance!
Over the next several days, Hikaru split his time between classes and experiments, a two-point commute, crafting the low-level cards he wanted.
Thanks to countless prior rehearsals and simulations, his synthesis was remarkably efficient. A new Pendulum card was born in the Macro Cosmos Workshop practically every day.
Half a month later...
Hikaru looked at the full collection of Pendulum Monsters in his hands and declared the synthesis complete.
The spirits cheered in celebration. Some were celebrating the holiday Hikaru had promised during the synthesis period; others were celebrating the birth of the new cards. Flame Swordsman and a few of the more carefree spirits crowded around Hikaru, critiquing the new cards, while Black Flame Dragon congratulated Universalmelt on the fact that this veteran spirit would finally see regular action.
It couldn't be helped. Universalmelt's conditions for appearing in a duel had been far too restrictive before. There had never been low-level Metalfoes monsters available for it.
But now, things were different.
Hikaru tidied up his cards and checked the time.
"Ha, perfect timing."
He was itching to test his new cards against an opponent.
And there was just enough time to visit the Predaplant Planet!
This trip required careful preparation, though.
Because...
There was a chance of running into Yuri there!
Hikaru left the Macro Cosmos Workshop. A gentle breeze carried him to a place alive with birdsong and fragrant flowers, the air sweet with perfume. The environment was beautiful.
Just as Hikaru was wondering if he had come to the wrong place, a plant beside him suddenly reared up, transforming into a dinosaur-sized creature that lunged at him, jaws gaping.
But...
Before its jaws could snap shut, countless puppet strings had already latched onto its upper and lower mandibles, locking them open.
Hikaru grinned.
He had expected something like this. But having the expectation confirmed in real time brought its own kind of satisfaction.
Meanwhile, from the surrounding trees, countless plant monsters had emerged, looking ready for a fight.
"I'm Hikaru Amagi." He introduced himself. "I'm a duelist who pursues the ultimate Fusion. I'm looking for companions to walk this path with me. Are any of you interested?"
"Huh?"
"Hikari?"
"The GX champion? Is it really him? If you're lying, I'll swallow you whole!"
"Oh! I've heard of him! They say he once used Predaplant Chimerafflesia to stand against Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" "The Absolute Fusion Master!" "Super famous! I saw one of his duels at the Critical Point. It's him!"
"We have an honored guest! Someone notify the BOSS! We're going to have a real duel ceremony today!"
The perks of reputation.
Just like the Gladiator Beast Dimension, in a dimension centered on Fusion Monsters, the name Hikaru Amagi could soften even the fiercest spirits. And for Predaplant spirits, whose cards Hikaru had actually used before, the goodwill was even stronger.
The Predaplant spirits that had been eyeing him like prey suddenly had the clearest, friendliest eyes imaginable.