Compared to that first nerve-wracking step — creating the Alchemy Rune — everything afterward felt almost laughably simple.
All Hikaru Amagi had to do now was gather the right materials, assemble them, and inscribe enough matching Runes. Just like that, the "Lazy Man's Essential Portal" would be ready to go.
But saying it was simple didn't make it easy.
The problem, as always, was materials.
Stone, marble — common stuff. Cheap if you went by price tags. But inside a Duel Academy whose blood and bones were made of duels? Harder to find than an honest man at a card shark's table.
Where the hell was he supposed to find marble!?
Hikaru had vented hard at first, but he swallowed it down quick enough. After all, specific materials for Alchemy were standard — no point crying about it.
He'd already told Ms. Tome, the head of the shopkeepers, about it too — put in an order for materials so he could assemble a test portal in the workshop himself.
Originally, Hikaru's plan was simple: while waiting for the materials, he'd nail down the basic symbols, start cracking the puzzles in Professor Banner's book, maybe even stumble onto a fascinating alternate dimension to explore.
If he got lucky, he really, really wanted to find the Golden Land.
But Banner's book didn't make it easy. It was packed with dozens of dimensional records, each one locked behind an alchemy puzzle. Solve the puzzle, open the gate — fail, and you got nothing. And of course, nowhere did it tell you which puzzle led to the Golden Land.
"This book... or rather, that human who left it for you... he really went all out," Tiara said, hovering behind Hikaru, studying the book with him for two straight days. "I can tell — before he agreed to the Ritual Duel with your group, he must've added all these locks. Every one builds off the last. You learn step-by-step, growing stronger before you can move forward."
"Not a personal teacher, sure," she smirked, "but the thought he put into this? Remarkable."
Hikaru couldn't help but agree. He exhaled heavily.
In this world, his interactions with Banner outside of class were rare — honestly, his personal bond with Dr. Crowler was even stronger. But Hikaru had always loved poking Banner's brain for Alchemy tips.
Yet Banner treated him as a true disciple — no half-measures.
"Exactly why I can't waste what Professor Banner left me," Hikaru muttered, rubbing his temple.
In the original timeline, Banner had worried about the Sacred Beasts, left the "Philosopher's Stone" to Jaden, and stuck by Jaden's side until the end, protecting him in silence.
Now, thanks to the world's great upheaval, Banner couldn't be there for them anymore. Instead, he'd left something even more precious — this book. And since Hikaru was the only student who truly understood Alchemy, the only one Banner entrusted with this secret, he had no choice but to honor it.
Over the next few days, materials trickled into the workshop. Thanks to the help of the Duel Spirits and the precise stone control of Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle, Hikaru slowly built something that looked almost exactly like the dimensional transporters Duel Academy used.
Almost.
There was still a difference.
The Academy's portals were pure science. Hikaru's portal was pure mysticism.
And honestly, even fully assembled, there were whole sections Hikaru couldn't understand.
Because this wasn't some mass-produced portal — this was Banner's special "portable" model, disguised to look like the regular Academy portals just in case Hikaru had to use it without attracting attention.
Hikaru stood before it, flipped through a few pages of his book one last time, then snapped it shut.
Time for the real tests — safety checks and round-trip verification.
Fortunately, he didn't have a lot of dimension coordinates on hand yet: just the "Village of the Spellcasters" and the "Vampire Kingdom." He wasn't planning on visiting the Vampire world anytime soon, and he couldn't challenge the Village again right away either. So he could use this free time for testing and decoding new dimensional gates.
While Hikaru prepared, things stirred elsewhere on campus.
First, Chazz Princeton's family had a full-on fire in their backyard — figuratively speaking.
His two older brothers, heads of the Princeton Group, had ordered Chazz to start using their latest Duel technology and deck, trying to leverage Chazz's reputation to help the Princeton Group muscle into dimensional commerce.
Chazz?
Chazz told them to shove it.
He looked at the rare cards they'd sent him — flashy, overpowered, disgustingly gaudy — and instantly knew that flashing those decks around Duel Academy would make him a laughingstock.
But his brothers didn't back off.
They reminded him — he'd been raised on Princeton Group resources. Every tournament he'd won, every championship, all hyped by their media machines. Without their PR? Without their marketing? He would've just been another wannabe, never even catching Seto Kaiba's eye.
Big mistake mentioning that.
Chazz hated people talking about his "connections."
He'd come to Duel Academy to prove himself — to show he didn't win because of his family name, his company, or anyone's fear. He won because he fought for it.
Yeah, he lost a few duels. Big deal. Hikaru, Jaden Yuki, Bastion Misawa — none of them cared about his background. Hell, half the time they joked and fought like real friends. Jaden especially — never let him hear the end of anything. And for the first time, Chazz had started to open up.
And now?
His own brothers were spitting on all of that.
He couldn't forgive it.
So Chazz agreed to their bet.
"You're kidding, Chazz — your brother's lost it!" Alexis Rhodes gasped, clutching her guitar, staring at Chazz like he'd grown two heads. "You agreed to explore an unknown dimension — a dangerous dimension — using only monsters with 500 attack points or less?!"
Chazz facepalmed hard, nodding grimly.
"This is reckless," Bastion said, arms folded, scowling deep.
"Are they really your brothers?" Alexis pressed.
Even her own airhead brother wasn't that sadistic.
Chazz just shook his head, silent.
Off to the side, Hikaru listened carefully and pieced it together.
He vaguely remembered something like this happening in the original story — Chazz challenged his brothers with a team of ultra-weak monsters, and still crushed them despite all their rare cards. But that had been during the previous semester, not now.
Here, things had shifted.
His brothers knew Chazz's skill now. They weren't stupid. They understood that throwing rare cards at him wouldn't guarantee victory anymore. But they still didn't believe in him. They thought his victories were still built on their foundation.
"So, the dimension?" Hikaru asked coolly. "How dangerous are we talking? And can anyone come along?"
Chazz took a deep breath.
"They're letting me bring one classmate. Someone who can help in emergencies by triggering an emergency teleport device. But... only I can actually fight."
The group nodded grimly.
"And the dimension...?" Hikaru prompted.
Chazz frowned, thinking hard.
"The Allied Machines Dimension."
Allied Machines—
XYZ types, huh?
Makes sense.
Hikaru nodded slightly.
Princeton Group wasn't picking randomly.
"Chazz! I'll go with you!" Jaden shouted instantly.
"If you need a senior, I'll go too," Bastion offered seriously.
Everyone started volunteering.
But Chazz turned, looked straight at Hikaru.
"Hikaru. Will you come with me?"
Hikaru blinked — then nodded without hesitation.
Made no difference who he went with, since he couldn't duel directly. And he was still knee-deep in studying dimensional transfers anyway. A real-life trial would be perfect. Still, a question itched at the back of his brain — Why him? Why not Jaden, who Chazz knew better?
Chazz just tilted his head slightly — just enough for Hikaru to notice.
At the edge of the group, Serena was peeking over curiously, pretending she wasn't listening.
Ah.
"I see," Hikaru said softly. "Alright, Lightning. If you trust me that much, and since I'm curious about Fusion monsters anyway... I'll go with you."