Passing through the door, Hikaru felt countless beams of light pass through his body. His body seemed to shatter into countless pieces, being scrambled, until the sunlight reappeared, and his body began to reassemble, eventually becoming a "person" and landing on the ground.
"Ugh..."
Hikaru landed on the ground, his legs gave way, and he almost collapsed.
'So heavy! So heavy...'
He felt his body and limbs suddenly become countless times heavier.
The sky seemed to have entered dusk, and the time flow of the two dimensions seemed to be the same.
"Jaden! Hikaru!"
While Hikaru was still feeling dazed, someone had already rushed over to them, asking anxiously, "Are you alright?"
"Oh! I'm fine!" Jaden said casually.
Hikaru Shook his head hard and looked at Syrus and Chumley. After a brief pause, he spoke, "I'm fine too, just a little dizzy."
"It's a normal phenomenon, meow~" Teacher Banner pushed up his glasses and said with a smile, "Jaden has extraordinary adaptability, so he's fine coming back to the real world, but Hikaru, your adaptability isn't that high, so you'll need to rest for a while.
And it's an old model, so it's a bit more damaging to the body. Normally, people would need five or six days to recover, meow!"
"Is that so..." Hikaru nodded, understanding.
It makes sense; Jaden wasn't exactly a normal human in the original story, he was the reincarnation of the Supreme King. For him, this kind of thing wasn't much of a problem.
Moreover, while Hikaru felt unwell, it was just dizziness and a heavy body, and after a few deep breaths, it seemed he was getting better. It felt like running a kilometer.
'It seems Super Fusion isn't just helpful in dueling after all, huh?'
"Ah, I'm so glad you're back, meow! Otherwise, I would've had to let the Academic Affairs take you away!" Seeing that they were fine, Teacher Banner patted his chest, wiped his tears, and had a sense of relief.
Academic Affairs?
Hikaru looked over and saw a row of people in dark green uniforms and military hats, looking at them seriously, as if they were soldiers.
The leader, a woman, spoke coldly after hearing Teacher Banner's words, "Teacher Banner, there were no accidents this time, so Academic Affairs won't be punishing you!
However, the dimensional gate will be taken by us and handed over to the council for repairs, and as for your salary this month, you should get ready!"
Hikaru remembered that in the original story, these were the people who "arrested" Jaden after he broke the school rules. They were the "soldiers" on the Duel Academy Island, directly under the council.
"How could this be, meow!!!" Teacher Banner said with a mournful face.
"It's all Teacher Banner's fault! If he hadn't pressed the buttons randomly, Jaden and Hikaru wouldn't have almost not made it back!" Syrus said.
"Teacher Banner... though I'm also sad, Syrus is right..." Even Chumley, the good-natured one, felt that Teacher Banner had gone a bit too far.
"Eh, I just thought it was a bit old, so I tried adding some things..." Teacher Banner sulked for a while, then suddenly remembered something and asked Jaden, "By the way, Jaden, where did you guys go?"
"Ah, ummm...Hikaru, where did we go again? Hahaha..." Jaden instinctively scratched the back of his neck, grinning like a fool.
Before merging with Yubel, Jaden was still too funny.
"We went to a hero's dimension. The spirits there were very welcoming to Jaden, and it even seemed like they were old acquaintances of Jaden." Hikaru said without hesitation.
"Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Jaden quickly followed up.
"Jaden, what's going on?" Syrus asked in confusion.
"Ah, well, um..." Jaden scratched his face with his finger, thought for a moment, then chuckled. "Actually..."
"Uh…"
While it might seem a bit unbelievable, I know Jaden better than any of them.
For example, while Jaden could happily eat the homemade dishes Banner-sensei made, even being the only first-year in Red Dorm who could finish two big bowls in one sitting, he wasn't a kid from a poor family.
On the contrary, his parents were high-ranking executives at KaibaCorp and talented researchers in advanced technology!
"Eh?!" Syrus's eyes widened in shock upon hearing Jaden's words.
Years ago, Kaiba had started exploring alternate dimensions, searching for a gateway to the Underworld. As part of a promotional event, Kaiba sent cards and drawings made by children into the first interdimensional portal, scattering them randomly across countless worlds.
And those cards and drawings... were Jaden's.
"Ah!?" Chumley was dumbfounded. "I-I heard about that! I even signed up for it..."
It was obvious, whether in talent, spirit power, or family background, that someone like Chumley could never compare to Jaden.
"So... what does that mean?" Even Banner-sensei leaned in curiously. "That hero is..."
"Yeah!" Jaden opened his deck and pulled out an unusual card, a nostalgic smile on his face. "He experienced many things in another dimension, gained new strength, and transformed into a new form. But when he saw me again, he still returned to how he used to be. He is my partner and my friend!"
"I see. Congratulations, Jaden." Hikaru, who had been listening, nodded in acknowledgment.
It seemed in this world, instead of cards sent into space like in the original, Jaden's cards had been sent to another dimension.
No wonder that Feathered Hero was so close to him.
In any case, the matter was settled. Neither Jaden nor Hikaru would ever speak about their trip to the "Gate of the Underworld."
And, after reuniting with his Feathered Hero, Jaden understood his future goal, to find and reclaim all of his lost partners.
Unfortunately, the dimensional gate required energy to recharge in the first place, and since Red Dorm was the "lowest-tier" dorm, it received the least energy allocation each quarter. In the first place, it wasn't used much, and now that the Academic Affairs Department had taken it, it was unlikely that anyone could use it for some time.
Jaden and others happily prepared to go to the cafeteria to wait for Banner to cook, while Syrus and Chumley kept asking Jaden more details. Banner had been explaining things to the teachers from the Academic Affairs Department for a long time before he finally returned exhausted to the dormitory.
He greeted Hikaru and thanked him for agreeing to participate in the "tag-team" event. After watching Hikaru walk away, Banner slowly opened his eyes, "I wasn't wrong. That student indeed has an extraordinarily high talent in [Alchemy]!"
Alchemy, the "science" of those seeking immortality, but in this card world, it also had another name, Fusion!
He rubbed his eyes and felt a bit emotional. "I never expected to meet a student with such talent at the final stage of my life."
...
At the same time, at the highest level of the Fusion Club, a figure stumbled out of the dimensional gate, falling to the ground and coughing violently.
Beside him stood the emotionless head of the Fusion Club, Leo Akaba.
"Can you stand up?"
"Of course, I can, Professor!" The student struggled to push himself up with his hands and stood up with effort.
"Good. In a few days, when your body has fully recovered, go and finish what's in your heart. Don't disappoint me."
"Wait for me, Hikaru, I'll have my revenge!" The student's eyes blazed with fire as if he could burn someone alive with his gaze.
He struggled to get up, leaning against the wall to barely stand, while his mind had no other emotions, only one thought: revenge!
As for Hikaru, at this moment, just a few minutes after exiting the dimensional gate, he no longer seemed dizzy or uncomfortable.
He casually bought a bread loaf and ate it while thinking about his deck and cards, and was already full of energy and bouncing around!