Elder Entity N'tss—a Fusion Monster from the "Cthulhu Mythos" line, released after Elder Entity Norden. Though only Level 4, it boasted a formidable 2500 ATK.
Its effects? First, once per turn, you could Special Summon a Level 4 monster from your hand. Second, when sent to the Graveyard, it could target and destroy a card on the field.
Unfortunately, Hikaru Amagi's current deck had no way to Fusion Summon or Special Summon this monster.
And maybe never would.
Why? Because its unique summoning condition required sending one Synchro and one Xyz Monster from your field to the Graveyard. A bizarre mix—utterly incompatible with Hikaru's current build.
Which meant in most scenarios, its real use was simple: send it from the Extra Deck to the Graveyard to pop a card. Treated more like a removal spell than a monster.
Still, that was perfectly fine with Hikaru.
Even if he couldn't summon it, he could find a way to mill it, using it as a tool to clear threats. That alone made it a great tech.
And besides—his deck already used effects like that. With the right mill engine, maybe Super Polymerization could chuck it into the Graveyard by accident. That'd be a free plus.
And if he ever got in touch with Aleister someday, maybe the Invoked engine could even open up new paths to run N'tss. There were always possibilities.
Plus, it wasn't just N'tss.
Among the 30 Fusion Monsters Magical Scientist had handed him, there were plenty of useful cards.
Like Pair Cycroid and Darkfire Dragon Guardian—both solid additions.
Especially Pair Cycroid!
The moment Hikaru laid eyes on that card, his brain sparked like a live wire.
Sure, it was part of the Cycroid family, but in his deck? It became one of the simplest fusions to pull off.
Just two Machine-Type monsters.
Only 1600 ATK, but it could attack directly—and after that? Swap it with a Darkfire Dragon Guardian via Metamorphosis, using its effect to negate Spell Cards by paying 1000 LP. Perfect for stalling or turning the pressure on during the opponent's turn.
"Truly a marvelous human warrior," Magical Scientist clapped enthusiastically. Then he ordered a few assistant spirits to prepare extra boxes of noodles for Tierra—who had developed an alarming fondness for them.
Hikaru glanced over.
Tierra was eagerly nodding her head, her expression far too pleased for a god of death. Then she floated lazily behind him, waved at Magical Scientist, and demanded he restart the simulation so she could play the puzzles too.
Magical Scientist didn't mind in the slightest. He rebooted the machine and let her take over.
While Tierra gleefully began another session of tactical destruction, Hikaru shrugged and followed Magical Scientist to a nearby table to chat.
Originally, the professor had no intention of ever leaving the Village of Spellcasters—but Tierra's words had clearly left a mark.
Still, as director of a whole research facility, he couldn't just pack up and go. Not when so many spirits depended on him.
So instead, he presented Hikaru with a proposal.
Card trading.
At first, Hikaru was surprised.
Most Duel Spirits he'd met either offered strength through loyalty or became cards to accompany him. No one had ever suggested a good old-fashioned trade.
But then again, Yu-Gi-Oh! was a trading card game.
Why shouldn't Duel Spirits want to exchange cards too?
After all, Hikaru himself had traded Cyber Revolution with Zane Truesdale to get Cyber Dragon.
And if anyone was going to be a card collector, it was Magical Scientist—who had already given him thirty different Fusion monsters.
As expected, Magical Scientist pulled out a binder and began flipping through his inventory. Hikaru browsed carefully.
From trash-tier monsters like Lesser Fiend, to upper-mid-tier powerhouses—there was a huge range.
Of course, cards he'd already gifted—like the extremely rare Elder Entity N'tss—were marked out of stock. But there were loads of others: Blazing Inpachi, Phoenix Gearfried, Flame Swordsman…
Not useful. But cool.
So Hikaru offered up a few extra copies of his Fusion Spell and Trap cards—stuff he had in bulk but wouldn't miss. In return, he took a Flame Swordsman and two copies of Dark Flare Knight.
He refused to trade any of his monster cards.
For two reasons.
One: Duel Spirits were alive in this world. Trading them away without trust or consent felt wrong.
Two: he was an experienced player.
He knew better than to ditch a card just because it wasn't good right now.
Even a weak Level 1 Fiend like Fabled Lurrie—long forgotten by most players—could be rediscovered as the perfect extender in a future archetype, like when "Light Fiend 1-Star" suddenly became meta in a newer format.
So he kept all his monster cards.
Besides, Magical Scientist probably valued spells and traps more anyway. For him, extra copies of Fusion tech were far more useful than redundant monsters he might already own.
As for why Hikaru restocked on Flame Swordsman and Dark Flare Knight?
Simple: contingency planning.
If those two ever evolved—and he no longer had their base forms—it'd be annoying to hunt them down again. Better safe than sorry.
"Hey, Hikaru! What do I do here?!"
Just as he finished chatting with the scientist and agreed to bring more Fusion cards next time, Tierra waved him over impatiently.
She was stuck on a puzzle involving Ultimate Obedient Fiend, whose effect prevented it from being Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned, or Special Summoned.
Hikaru chuckled, then walked over slowly.
"You can Set a monster and use Forced Transfer to switch control," he explained.
"What?! You can Set monsters like that?" Tierra gasped, then grinned. "Hah! Got it. Too easy! So that's why you'd ever bother setting a monster instead of summoning it in Defense Position."
This world really was different.
Hikaru just shrugged.
In normal dueling, monsters defaulted to Attack Position. Defense Position summons—like with Aleister—were already special enough.
After solving a few more puzzles together, and with Tierra having the time of her life, they were finally interrupted by Bastion Misawa's voice over comms.
Time to return to the academy.
—
"Until next time, Professor," Hikaru waved.
"Make more of those fun puzzles!" Tierra added.
Magical Scientist laughed warmly, like a kindly old man, and waved them off. Then he reminded Hikaru that he was still collecting Fusion monsters, so next visit—there might be new trades available.
Hikaru was genuinely looking forward to it.
Out of all the spirits he'd met, Magical Scientist had added the most value to his Extra Deck—thirty different Fusions.
Truly deserving of his title as the second most powerful monster in Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
Any card that let you pay 1000 LP to pull a monster out of your Extra Deck repeatedly? Of course it was generous with Fusions.
—
Hikaru wobbled out the door, arms full of cup noodles. Tierra glanced over, saw him staggering, and with a snap of her fingers, puppet strings of violet light floated up, wrapped around the boxes, and gently lifted them into the air.
They regrouped with Bastion. One look at each other was enough—they were both grinning.
This trip? 100% worth it.
Hikaru had finally patched the holes in his Extra Deck. Bastion had convinced Mathematician to join him, solving his longstanding issue with "low spirit power."
They both walked back laughing.
Bastion even felt so inspired, he'd already begun sketching out his next deck strategy, determined to challenge Hikaru for the top spot this semester.
"Hah! I'll be waiting, Ocean!"
"Hmph. Watch yourself, Hikaru. This semester, I'm taking first place."
"Oooh? Better beat Chazz first, Number Three~"
Laughing, they returned to the Dimensional Gate—feeling for the first time that dimensional travel could be fun—only to find a bunch of students running around like mad.
"What's going on?" Hikaru asked.
The boxes floated down behind him, neatly stacked. Bastion raised a hand to flag someone, but the student blew past him without a glance.
"Ha!" Hikaru couldn't help but burst out laughing. Bastion's face turned red.
It wasn't the first time his low presence made him invisible to others—but even calling out didn't help? That stung.
Hikaru caught one of the Fusion Club students and called out: "Hey!"
"Ah! Hikaru-senpai!" the student froze, then rushed over. "You better head back to the clubroom right away! Everyone's flipping out!"
"Seto Kaiba just discovered another new world with humans in it—they're calling it S-Dimension!"
S-Dimension!?
Hikaru and Bastion locked eyes, both wide with surprise.
Another first contact?!