"Auntie Tami, sorry to trouble you!"
"Hehehe, no trouble at all!"
A few days later, Tenjo Hikari took a large box from Auntie Tami at the academy's convenience store and staggered back to his dormitory with it.
The box was quite large, about half a person high. As Tenjo Hikari carried it along, students passing by couldn't help but take a curious glance, but upon noticing the "Plants" label, they quickly lost interest.
Back in his dorm, Tenjo Hikari wiped the sweat off his forehead and began to unpack.
A few days ago, Tenjo Hikari had asked Auntie Tami if she could buy something for him. Auntie Tami was the only person on Duel Academy Island who could order various items from outside. If students wanted to buy cards or order something, they always needed her help.
This time, Tenjo Hikari asked her to order some "materials."
Alchemy materials.
He opened the packaging to find seeds, specimens, and the largest quantity, live plants in pots. Regardless, they were all the same kind of organism—Chlamydosundew.
"Master, is this the material you want for your experiment?" a mage's voice, wearing a hat, sounded in his ear as Tenjo Hikari took out these items.
Tenjo Hikari nodded: "Yes."
"Eh, it's actually plants... What I hate the most is pharmacy," the Alchemist's voice chimed in again, "Healing potions, poisons, those sorts of things have nothing to do with gold."
Tenjo Hikari shrugged, saying nothing in response.
He didn't buy these things to create potions.
A single Chlamydosundew wasn't expensive, only about ten RMB when converted. His prize money was enough to buy a big box of them.
He didn't have any significant life ambitions; as long as he was well-fed and not worried about meals, he didn't care. So, he spent half the money on these plants.
He wanted to explore the power of "Super Polymerization."
After two months of dueling, he felt that his body, under the strengthening of Super Polymerization, was much better than before; now, fusing pencil alchemy wouldn't exhaust him like it used to.
This made him curious, how exactly to properly utilize the power of Super Polymerization.
It's known that Super Polymerization in duels uses the energy from dueling to fuse cards from one's deck into other cards; if the energy from the duel is strong enough, it could directly create new cards.
So, is this power "random" or controllable?
He took out a mortar, placed several Chlamydosundew flowers in it, gently crushed them with a pestle, then poured them into a small crucible. Following the same steps, he crushed and ground a lizard tail specimen he'd purchased, mixed it into the crucible, and ignited it.
These steps were "Alchemy."
Then further—Tenjo Hikari found a Normal Monster card given by the Alchemist earlier, placed it on a wire mesh over the small crucible, and placed the card on it.
Finally...
Tenjo Hikari took the reassembled "necklace" hanging around his neck, silently chanted a phrase, and felt his strength instantly drain, nearly collapsing on the spot.
At the same time, a horrific purple light erupted in the room, and under Tenjo Hikari's watchful gaze, a terrifying crackling sound exploded from the crucible's center. Subsequently, the purple light slowly faded, gradually returning to calm.
"Cough, cough, cough—" A strange smell of gunpowder smoke filled the entire room. Tenjo Hikari coughed for quite a while before catching his breath.
Because he didn't want others to find out, the room had no ventilation.
Ah, I really need my own alchemy lab!
He took a sip of water and sat in his chair, unable to muster the strength to rise.
"Such... terrifying power, my lord, what exactly is this?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't, Flame Sword!"
"I've seen similar powers in my dimension, but nothing as strong and terrifying as Lord Tenjo's—"
Having been too tense to speak earlier, now that Tenjo Hikari seemed unharmed, the three Spirits finally dared to speak up, discussing "Super Polymerization."
"There will be a chance for you to see it in the future. For now, I'm not sure if I should even take this card," Tenjo Hikari shook his head, offering no explanation.
He approached the crucible, noticed its contents had vanished as if they had never existed. The card on the wire mesh radiated a slight heat, feeling hot even from a distance.
Tenjo Hikari used tweezers to hold the card. The tweezers emitted a hissing sound as he flipped the card, examining its appearance.
The original appearance of the Monster Card had become chaotic and distorted. The left side resembled plant structures, while the right side retained its original appearance, now entwined with strange patterns.
The card's name had completely changed, but it was barely distinguishable, revealing a few characters for Chlamydosundew. As for the effects, there were none at all.
It wasn't a successful creation.
Tenjo Hikari had intended to create the card "Predaplant Chlamydosundew," a lower-level Monster Card from the same series as the famous "Predaplant Verte Anaconda." As a Monster Card, it had the effect of using itself and a hand card or opponent's field monster with a "Predaplant" counter as Fusion Material for a Fusion Summon. Given the fusion effect and cheap materials, Tenjo Hikari was ready to try using alchemy for Super Polymerization.
It appeared to be a failure?
No, perhaps it wasn't a failure, just not a success.
After all, the card had changed halfway.
Could it be that he hadn't mastered the technique?
He intended to try again.
"Master, your current state doesn't permit a second attempt. If you try again, you may faint on the spot," the Alchemist reminded Tenjo Hikari. "Or, you should consider collecting more cards with spirits. Otherwise, it's best not to attempt it twice in one day.
In fact, the fusion failure might be due to your body being unable to handle the card's power, leading to mistakes."
Heeding the advice, Tenjo Hikari, knowing the Alchemist was a professional in this area, nodded and didn't try again, instead packing up the materials.
However, according to this theory, perhaps if he engaged in higher intensity duels, or simply like back then with Crystal, engaged in dangerous "Darkness Duels," he could rapidly accumulate this power?
Teacher Daitokuji said he currently had only four-star or slightly higher Spirit Adaptability. If he could increase it, he might have a chance for targeted fusion.
Thinking it over, it seemed quite challenging. An opportunity like Crystal's—
"Knock knock knock!" At that moment, the dormitory door was knocked.
"Tenjo-san, are you there?!" It was Teacher Kabayama's voice.
"I'm here!"
"It's like this, the principal wants to see you, something about Phantas—"
!
The Three Phantasms!?
Ah, it's not difficult anymore.