After the first professorial course ended, students and teachers alike gave it extremely high marks. Professor Crowler was delighted, exclaiming "Mamma mia!" several times, though cold sweat trickled down his back.
He didn't understand a single thing Professor Viper had taught.
In truth, right up until he actually traveled to another dimension and faced the "White Crystal" alongside Hikaru, he had been quite disinterested in dimensional travel. Deep down, he had been strongly resistant to acknowledging the existence of "spirits."
Of course, after that experience, his perspective gradually shifted, and he came to recognize his former misconceptions.
But regardless, as a duelist, the things Viper taught were not what Crowler had prioritized studying and researching. So even for him, Viper's lecture was extraordinarily useful.
After all, no one in the world understood the Ancient Gear series better than he did.
As a duelist who had successfully leveraged his personal abilities and diplomatic skills to forge a partnership with the Ancient Gear dimension and obtained many exclusive cards from there, Crowler's relationship with the Ancient Gear spirits was actually quite good.
So after Viper's class, he spent a long time reviewing and studying in his office before it finally clicked.
No wonder he had been feeling like he was getting stronger lately. It wasn't his imagination after all.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone rapped on the principal's office door.
"Come in."
The door opened automatically. Hikaru looked into the office, bowed to Crowler first, then asked, "Professor, you wanted to see me?"
"Hikaru." Crowler stood to welcome him, gesturing for him to sit.
Hikaru nodded, found a seat, and sat down casually.
After class, Crowler had asked Hikaru to come see him after all courses ended for the day. He apparently had something important to discuss.
"What did you think of today's two professors' classes?" Crowler asked.
"Extremely informative," Hikaru answered without hesitation.
The morning class had been taught by Professor Viper, covering how to improve one's spirit power. Even Hikaru found the content very useful and had taken extensive notes.
The afternoon class had been Professor Seraph's "Demonology."
At first glance, this so-called "Demonology" sounded like it involved demon summoning or the study of fiend-type Decks. But it wasn't. "Demonology" was actually a rather classic discipline at the Western European branch campus.
It was essentially "theology."
However, to avoid scrutiny and sidestep the Church's jurisdiction, Duel Academy had simply labeled it "Demonology" for convenience.
The subject wasn't about teaching students to recognize and understand demons. It taught students how to form connections with these "transcendent beings" and gain the support of their "power."
For example, summoning demons, monsters, or deities through rituals, then obtaining related powers through contracts.
It sounded extremely sinister at first.
But it was actually nothing of the sort.
Through the development and research of spirit power, this world had gradually mastered a special "demon summoning method." The process involved performing specific steps: first, offering the appropriate materials as sacrifice; then using a particular card as a medium; next, summoning a spirit from a specific dimension into this world; and finally, directly conversing or even dueling with the spirit face-to-face, thereby bypassing the "understanding" process Professor Viper had described and directly gaining recognition.
The advantage was that you could target the specific power you wanted. The drawback was that since you summoned the other party into this world, the summoner was inherently weaker than the summoned. In the duel, regardless of outcome, the summoner provided the Duel Energy. If the energy was insufficient, the spirit could dissipate and return to its dimension before the duel even ended, devouring all sacrificed materials and Duel Energy in the process.
This process was "irreversible."
That's right.
The sacrificial ritual required offering one's "upper limit." If the ritual failed, the summoner's spirit power would permanently decrease by a portion, unrecoverable through rest, requiring effort to rebuild from scratch.
To give students a more vivid demonstration of this summoning art's power, Professor Seraph performed an angel summoning in class.
Freya, Spirit of Victory!
This spirit was quite angry when first summoned to this dimension. But after hearing Seraph's explanation and learning she could show off for human younglings, she cheerfully began performing duels.
Several students who challenged her, drawn in by her beauty, all lost. In the end, Freya bid the students farewell and departed before the time ran out.
Quite a few students worried about Professor Seraph afterward, since according to his explanation, when the spirit returned to its dimension, his "spirit power ceiling" would inevitably suffer some loss.
But Seraph showed no major concern. He simply smiled and told the students that as scholars, one must always prepare and take precautions before experiments and attempts, or else they would end up like him, losing spirit power for nothing.
All in all, the courses were outstanding.
It had to be said, when these Duel Academy professors truly showed their "real skills," each one had their own brilliant techniques.
In the original story, the Duel Academy teachers and professors had generally been quite capable. And in this world, which had advanced rapidly thanks to dimensional travel, the duelists who had earned "professor" positions at each branch through personal merit wielded skills that were each more impressive than the last.
In terms of raw power, any single one of them probably couldn't match Leo Akaba.
But the sheer number of them, each with genuine expertise, was overwhelming.
Among them, people like Professor Viper, who had refused Leo Akaba's repeated invitations without suffering any consequences from the Fusion Army, spoke volumes about their caliber.
And precisely because of this, Crowler had specifically called Hikaru to the principal's office, wanting to hear his thoughts.
He knew his own affairs best. He was well aware where Leo Akaba's "paranoid theories" about him had originated, so he had never accepted any of that praise. But conversely, while he refused those accolades, he had consistently declined to acknowledge certain private matters involving Hikaru.
He didn't want Hikaru's studies disrupted by trivial or bizarre affairs, and he certainly didn't want Hikaru targeted for retaliation.
With him as the supposed "mastermind," others would at least think twice.
By the same token, because of the Leo Akaba incident, he was deeply concerned about these visiting professors.
Yes, their classes were genuinely impressive.
But were there hidden problems?
Could any of them be plotting something like Leo Akaba had?
In a sense, the other professors' suspicions about Crowler were actually correct.
Perhaps his "confrontation" with Leo Akaba had been unintentional, but evaluating these professors was something he genuinely wanted to do, to understand the situation from every angle.
So he had arranged the "faculty evaluation" according to his own ideas and then consulted Hikaru, his most trusted student, hoping to identify all possible issues and red flags.
"So, Hikaru, do you think there was anything strange about either professor's class?"
Hikaru thought for a moment. "Both had something."
"Is that so."
"The story Professor Viper told, Professor, you should remember it. It was in the report the Lightsworn and Jaden gave you after the GX tournament."
He nodded.
Right. The matters involving the Lightsworn, the Dark World, and the "Supreme King." Though Crowler hadn't been present for all of it, he had reviewed the recordings and reports afterward. Now that Hikaru brought it up, it clicked.
So the "story of the King" was about the Supreme King?
If so, then indeed, there was no guarantee...
"And Professor Seraph? He seemed very amiable," Crowler asked. "And his demonstration was quite impressive."
If you could read someone's heart just because they appeared friendly, Jaden and the others wouldn't have been blindsided and left reeling by Professor Banner.
Hikaru didn't know what Professor Seraph was truly thinking either. He simply felt that spirit summoning rituals were far too dangerous.
If some bizarre spirit slipped through the cracks and invaded their world, who would be held responsible?
The unlucky student who attempted it?
But beyond that, Hikaru couldn't point to anything specifically wrong.
After all, both Viper and Seraph had delivered genuinely valuable content in their lectures. These were the proprietary research findings of world-class researchers and scholars, exclusive knowledge that other professors would never share.
And as for danger, Viper's course carried virtually no risk. Seraph's course was relatively more dangerous, but the materials for the rituals were strictly controlled by KaibaCorp. Ordinary students couldn't obtain them at all. Only a specialist like him could apply to use them in class. Who else could get their hands on such things?
All told, from the surface level, while both courses were somewhat unusual, they fell within acceptable bounds.
Fortunately, Crowler didn't expect answers in a single day.
After all, he had prepared himself to observe these professors' behavior throughout the entire semester.
He had called Hikaru here because he knew that as the most diligent and outstanding student, Hikaru would certainly attend every professor's class. So he wanted to specifically remind Hikaru to stay vigilant.
"Don't worry about that, Professor. I'm prepared."
Hikaru had been keeping an eye on Professor Viper from the start, watching for any signs of scheming. And he approached the other professors with the same suspicion.
After all, in the original story, those professors and teachers had each possessed their own tricks. There were quite a few who had managed to corner Jaden, frustrate him, or drive him to his breaking point. And the professors in this world had been through who knew how many rounds of selection. They were surely even more elite, even more capable than those in the original.
Take Professor Viper. He was nothing like the man in Hikaru's memories.
Crowler nodded, then beckoned Hikaru over. Hikaru stood and walked closer, curious. Crowler secretly produced a small card case and handed it to him.
Hikaru's heart skipped a beat. He opened the case and his eyes lit up.
It was...
Ancient Gear cards!
So many of them!
Hikaru looked through card after card, then raised his head to stare at the professor in surprise.
"Professor, these are?"
"Recently, our school reached a partnership with Gear Town. With Professor Akaba's passing, they seem quite pleased over there, so they've granted me access to even more cards." The professor's lips curved slightly as he watched his prized pupil's astonished expression, thoroughly gratified.
Compared to the surprise or praise from those other professors, it was Hikaru's amazement and delight that truly satisfied and warmed his heart as a teacher.
On one hand, Hikaru had built quite a reputation for himself. On the other, as a professor, Crowler was genuinely gratified, satisfied, and delighted to see a student like Hikaru who excelled academically, was well-rounded, and was considerate of his teachers.
That was precisely why, whenever Hikaru asked him for a favor, Crowler always gave it his best effort.
Now that his Deck had been updated, he naturally wouldn't forget his prized pupil. Taking advantage of the occasion, he handed over every card he had collected directly to Hikaru.
"Don't worry, I have a set for myself too." Crowler laughed.
Unlike last time, this haul was extremely abundant. Beyond a few Extra Deck cards, the Ancient Gear spirits had given dozens upon dozens of Main Deck monsters and Spells. Apart from cards he might consider lending to outstanding students for testing later, Crowler had decided to give an entire Deck's worth to Hikaru. After all, Hikaru was a genuine Ancient Gear duelist himself. These cards wouldn't go to waste in his hands.
"Thank you so much, Professor!" Hikaru bowed in gratitude.
He accepted the cards without reservation. Given his relationship with Crowler, there was no need for sentimental words.
He had already been keen to uncover whatever secrets these various professors might be hiding. Now he would only redouble his efforts.
The next day.
Another new course.
"Chivalry."
Taught by Professor Paladin from the Nordic Branch.
Under everyone's expectant gazes, Professor Paladin wobbled his way to the podium carrying two enormous bundles, then dropped them on the floor with a "thud," followed by the crisp clatter and clinking of metal.
Students and professors alike stared at the scene in bewilderment.
Armor?
Hikaru craned his neck, somewhat amazed.
Why had this professor brought two full suits of armor onto the stage?
"P-Professor, what exactly are you going to teach?" A student raised their hand in confusion.
"Ah, Chivalry. But put that way, it's probably hard for you to grasp. The 'Chivalry' here actually refers to the 'Knight's Mindset' and 'Knight's Movement.'"
Professor Paladin was blond-haired and blue-eyed, a genuine handsome Westerner. With his fine appearance, he looked like the protagonist of a chivalric novel, which had earned him quite a few admirers among the female students over the past couple of days.
He picked up a helmet with one hand, swaying it gently, then looked out at the audience. Scanning the seats, he noticed Hikaru. "Hikaru, and then..."
He slowly surveyed the room and found another person. "And Jesse. Would you two be willing to assist me with today's lesson?"
Hikaru and Jesse?
Many turned their attention to the two of them.
Why had he specifically chosen those two?