Yugen smiled and interrupted him. "It is fine. Since the teacher says so, let us submit it and see."
"Alright, if you say so." Daichi Misawa finally fell silent, though he still stole a glance at Daidouji. He trusted Yugen, but he could not understand why Yugen trusted Daidouji-sensei so much. The teacher did not look reliable at all.
Outside Duel Academy, at a certain Duel Monsters research institute, the electronic research association's Headquarters stood quietly. Massive servers hummed with a low mechanical sound, filling the space like background noise. The walls were covered with images and data of electronic monsters, and the air carried the faint scent of machinery.
The association chief strode down the corridor in high heels and entered the Alchemy Laboratory. "Sakurako, review a paper for me. Quickly. It is for next week's Industrial Illusions conference."
The chief spoke directly. The pink haired girl called Sakurako stood up from her seat and looked over in surprise.
"Next week's conference? And we are reviewing it now?"
"The recommender is a big name in alchemy. Not important. In any case, it is a special situation, and the topic is Cyber Angel. The organizer asked us to review it."
She waved her hand. "Read it first. Mark any problems or highlights. Send everything to me before tonight. Understood?"
"Yes."
Sakurako sat back down, curiosity rising in her chest. A recommendation from a leading alchemy figure and a paper on Cyber Angel?
Her team already represented the top level of electronic Level Series research. Their most recent breakthrough, "Cyber Angel Dakini", was widely acknowledged as the strongest electronic ritual boss in the current environment. Yet since then, even they had hit a bottleneck and made little progress.
She clicked open the document. The title read, "The Overlooked Potential of Cyber Angel."
Sakurako frowned slightly. Cyber Angel was the ritual Deck under the broader electronic Level Series, and it was precisely her research direction.
Could there really be some hidden detail they had all missed?
She took a sip of coffee and scrolled down to the author line. "Asuka Tenjoin, Yugen Fujiki from Duel Academy, first year student?" Her eyebrow lifted.
What breakthrough could a freshman possibly have?
She took another sip and continued reading.
Then she sprayed the coffee.
"Chief! Chief!"
Sakurako ran down the hall and knocked hard on the office door.
"What is it? Why are you so flustered?"
The chief opened the door, puzzled.
"That paper you sent is outrageous," Sakurako said between breaths.
"I told you to finish reviewing it and send it to me. Is it really that exaggerated?"
Sakurako nodded repeatedly, still catching her breath.
The chief looked surprised. "That impressive? Let me guess. They found reinforcement potential for a specific card? Which one?"
Sakurako nodded again, then shook her head.
"It is not about a single card."
She lifted her head, her expression almost frightened.
"It is the entire Deck."
The chief stared at her.
"???"
"Name Taken"
"Chapter 164: I'm Dueling the Chief?"
"It's really finished..."
There was only one day left before attending the Student Council event. Asuka Tenjoin stared at the newly printed Ritual card in her hand, as if she could still smell the fresh ink, and felt dazed.
Even as an elite student directly admitted into Duel Academy, she had never imagined that as a first year she would achieve something this dramatic. First came the large scale upgrade of the entire Cyber Angel Deck, and now they had even printed a brand new card no one had ever heard of before.
"Cyber Angel Nasha".
It was the five star Ritual Angel that Yugen had inspired her to create. In the digital Level Series, it was known for its unique effect that could take control of an opponent's monster.
"As expected of Asuka Tenjoin, you succeeded so quickly," Daichi Misawa said without hesitation. "Looks like I need to speed up my own progress. I can't fall too far behind."
"No, it was just luck... and thanks to the direction Yugen pointed out."
Even now, she found it hard to believe.
From what she knew, even with research, card design usually only gave you a vague direction. Many times, before a card was completed, even its designer could not say exactly what it would look like at the Student Council stage.
But so far, Yugen always gave her the feeling that he clearly knew what each card should be.
"Come to think of it, you didn't mention this card in the paper you submitted, right?" Daichi Misawa asked.
"That's right. It was still in development at the time."
She could present this new result directly at the Student Council.
After submitting the paper a few days ago, she heard that the reviewers reacted strongly. They even sent emails asking detailed questions and repeatedly emphasized that she must attend in person.
She wondered how they would react if they knew that in the final two days before the Student Council event, another new card had been printed.
When Daidouji-sensei saw the new Cyber Angel card, he fell into silence for a moment.
How should he put it?
In his impression, it looked completely different from the usual straightforward and righteous style of Cyber Angel.
If he had to say, the art style gave him a strange sense of familiarity, almost like someone related to Yugi Muto.
Daidouji narrowed his eyes and glanced at Yugen, who was reading documents at the next table.
As if sensing the gaze, Yugen raised an eyebrow.
This has nothing to do with me.
Compared to the older digital cards, the style might lean a bit differently, but Nasha was originally part of the digital Level Series. It was not something he made up.
Cyber Angel had always been like this.
"Very impressive indeed."
After examining Nasha carefully, Daidouji slowly put it down and handed it back to Asuka Tenjoin.
Because he had been following the development at the Alchemy Laboratory, he knew that although Asuka Tenjoin handled the actual printing, the overall design direction had always been controlled by Yugen alone.
From the shift in art style of this new card, it was clear that compared to Asuka Tenjoin's preference for direct offense, this approach was much closer to Yugen's style.
Daidouji-sensei looked at Yugen again and curled his lips with interest.
The more he observed, the more he felt that this boy's talent was extraordinary.
He even seemed to be considering whether to let Yugen inherit his "Great Macro Cosmos".
Daidouji-sensei used an alchemy Deck, and most of it consisted of anime only cards that had still not been printed in reality after nearly twenty years. But there was one card in his possession that had remained active on the front lines through the years, regarded by players as a heavyweight ancestor of the Underworld style.
Continuous Trap "Macro Cosmos".
Its effect was simple and direct. As long as it was on the field, any card sent to the Graveyard by either player was banished from play instead.
In the modern Yu-Gi-Oh! era, where the Graveyard had long become a second hand, its impact was obvious. A single card could almost erase the concept of the Graveyard entirely, and against Decks that relied heavily on graveyard resources and constant revival loops, it could shut down an entire strategy by itself.
Honestly, when Yugen asked Daidouji for guidance, part of it was truly to study alchemy and card creation. But another part was the hope that one day he might inherit the teacher's Macro Cosmos legacy.
According to what he knew, Daidouji was already close to death. The body he currently used was an artificial one created through human alchemy, and it was on the verge of collapse.
Before he passed away, he would choose someone to entrust with his legacy. In the animation, that person had been Judai Yuki.
Although Judai Yuki was called an alchemy genius by Daidouji, his Deck style was clearly different. After thinking it through, Yugen felt that letting Judai Yuki inherit the alchemy line was fine, but he wanted to inherit the teacher's will as well, along with the Macro Cosmos.
The next day, the three of them left the island together and arrived at the Student Council venue.