Unsurprisingly, Hikaru Amagi once again claimed the top spot in the latest round of exams.
Although the removal of the Alchemy class had narrowed the score gap between him and the rest of the students, his practical duel—against Bastion Misawa—secured his lead with ease.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph! You see that, Dioxo? As long as I'm still in this academy, there's only ever going to be one number one—and that's me!" Hikaru declared proudly.
"Where the hell did you even pick up that tone?" Bastion grumbled, blood rushing to his head as he stared at the perfect score glowing on Hikaru's profile in the results panel. Their group had gathered in the classroom, reviewing grades.
"Don't let it get to you, Bastion! You'll get him next time!" Jaden Yuki clapped Bastion on the shoulder, grinning wide.
"I don't need sympathy from the guy ranked last!" Bastion clenched his fists.
The two of them broke into a bit of a scuffle, while the rest of the group burst out laughing.
Even though in the original timeline they had all drifted from the plot for various reasons, outside that storyline, their personalities were still great. They joked, they studied, they shared the same goals. Going to class together was genuinely enjoyable.
Meanwhile, Hikaru Amagi had his own tasks to handle.
For one, Alchemist Manmel had finally managed to create a "regular form" of himself in card form—a massive breakthrough. Unfortunately, the card was unusable in most worlds.
Pendulum Monsters… didn't work in this world.
So the card was just a keepsake.
More importantly, Hikaru had dedicated time to studying Professor Banner's legacy text—The Emerald Book. It remained his primary source for learning alchemy and supposedly contained records of the other worlds Professor Banner had visited. If Hikaru ever hoped to see Banner again, he'd have to unravel the book's secrets and find the "Realm of the Magus."
But the absolute foundational skill he needed now was clear:
Constructing Dimensional Portals.
Relying solely on the academy's portal system was far too slow and unreliable. Next time, the location he needed might not even be accessible. No matter how you looked at it, creating his own dimensional gate was a must.
So lately, that had become Hikaru's main focus.
And today marked his first attempt at unlocking one of the "Key Gates"—an experimental breakthrough.
"Mmm…"
Tierra hovered nearby, munching quietly on cup noodles, doing her best not to disturb the experiment.
Hikaru was carefully combining metal components into a specific alchemical shape, trying to ignite the array within a container.
BOOM—
Just like the last several times: explosion.
Luckily, Whitecrystal Captain was there to shield him again. No fire or debris reached Hikaru.
"Strange… I'm sure I followed the book exactly?" he muttered, flipping through the Emerald Book, brows furrowed.
Tierra didn't understand human technicalities and just watched him fail—silently, still eating.
"Maybe it's a spirit energy issue?" Whitecrystal offered.
"Could be, but Tierra's helping me. The energy setup is based around her—should be more than enough. It doesn't make sense for it to fail," Hikaru replied.
His own spirit energy might've been lacking, but Tierra's was unquestionably powerful. Even without being fully revived, her current vessel held considerable weight in the spirit hierarchy of the Shaddoll Tribe. Her spirit rank had to be high.
But alchemy was like that.
Even following everything to the letter, the results could vary wildly.
After all—it was half science, half mystery.
"Maybe it's not a clash… maybe it's suppression?" Tierra said, finally tossing her empty noodle cup into the bin.
"Suppression?"
That… was possible.
Hikaru leaned into that thought, grabbed a calculator, and started running equations.
"Manmel! I need fresh materials! Increase by 1.5x—iron and silver only 1.2x!"
"Got it."
The human and the homunculus set to work again. New materials into the crucible. Controlled ignition.
This time—no explosion.
Hikaru's eyes lit up. Manmel looked ready to cheer.
They'd done it—successful off-world alchemy!
After a bright flash of green light, Hikaru used tongs to lift a strange ring from the container. It was broken, jagged, serpent-like, and inside it shimmered a peculiar dot suspended in air—a symbol often used by Professor Banner in his arcane diagrams.
"Looks like step one's complete."
"Thanks, Tierra." Hikaru wiped sweat from his brow. Even if she didn't understand alchemy, her divine insight was on another level. Just pointing out key issues could unlock everything for him.
"Hmph! favor is not something to be thanked for—just accept it." Tierra spread her arms wide, radiating light, eyes closed as she delivered her "oracle."
Unfortunately, Hikaru didn't notice.
Because he was already hunched over again, busy working on the next step—assembling what the book called a "Dumbed-down Dimensional Portal anyone can use."
Tierra peeked with one eye open.
Seeing Hikaru back at it with Manmel, she sighed, dropped her pose, and casually started prepping another cup of noodles.
Whatever. There was time to spare.