"Gemstones, huh? You can't just trade away something so precious!"
Two days later, Tenjo Hikari called Judai to join him at Auntie Tami's shop, asking if she knew how to trade gemstones.
Seeing the gemstones in their hands, she immediately shook her head, "You'll need signatures from your parents at the very least!"
Tenjo Hikari and Judai exchanged a glance, and Judai casually said, "No problem for me."
"As for me..." Tenjo Hikari hesitated on the side.
According to his memory.
It seemed he didn't have parents in this world.
"What about asking the teachers?"
"If you trust the teachers."
So, Tenjo Hikari contacted Professor Cronos.
"Honestly, you two, encountering something so dangerous at night and not telling anyone?" Cronos was unusually angry, "Mamma mia, do you even see me as your professor or not!"
"Sorry, sorry, professor, that's why we came to you!" Judai quickly put his hands together, pleading with Cronos.
He shook his head helplessly, trying to understand the situation.
A duel with a Dark Duelist and winning gemstones?
It's said that Duel King Muto Yugi once participated in a Duel Island duel and reaped a treasure trove of gold and silver...
So, for duelists, this wasn't unusual.
He was more worried that his two young students would stray down a wrong path, having acquired so many gemstones all of a sudden.
Speaking of which...
Yuki Judai, he recalled, was the son of a high-ranking executive at Kaiba Company, from a very affluent family, so it shouldn't be an issue.
As for Tenjo Hikari.
He remembered Tenjo Hikari's information.
His origin was unknown, his parents were unknown, even his name was self-proclaimed. He was a student with a very mysterious background.
"It's not that I can't vouch for you, but you must tell me what you plan to do with the money once you have it?"
"Feast?" Judai tilted his head, then added, "Ah, and renovate the Red Dormitory and our Fusion Department! Paint it red!"
"You are not allowed to remodel the school buildings as you please!" Cronos pouted, grumbling and looking at Tenjo Hikari.
"As for me, professor, I want to acquire some Rare Cards."
"Oh? What do you want to acquire?"
"It's Future Fusion, Time Fusion, Scrap Fusion... if possible, Dark Magician..."
"Super mamma mia! Don't even think about getting a Dark Magician!" Cronos shook his head vigorously, "Impossible, not to mention whether it's for sale, you can't afford it with just those gemstones."
"Yeah, right, Hikari." Yuki Judai also spread his hands helplessly, shaking his head, "I once asked my dad, a card like Dark Magician is impossible for anyone to buy. Also, no one would sell it.
Honestly, I don't quite understand."
Cronos could understand, though.
The former is, even if someone truly has a Dark Magician, they wouldn't sell it because having it is more valuable than money!
As for the latter... Kaiba Company would explain to sellers why they can't sell it.
"The other three cards, although rare, should be obtainable." Cronos mused further.
Tenjo Hikari collecting Fusion Spells?
That's so normal, seems like Tenjo hasn't changed himself just because he suddenly became rich, which is good.
"That works too!" Tenjo Hikari quickly said.
These three cards are quite powerful fusions.
In the original, "Future Fusion" is an Equip Spell, allowing the player to special summon a Fusion Monster and send the Fusion Material from the deck to the Graveyard upon activation; Time Fusion allows you to discard a card when your own Fusion Monster is destroyed and special summon it during the next standby phase, ignoring the summon conditions; Scrap Fusion can fuse using the opponent's Fusion Material in their Graveyard—even using the opponent's Extra Deck Fusion Monster is a powerful fusion!
Among them, aside from Time Fusion being an add-on, the other two are ridiculously strong Fusion Spells, perfect for Tenjo Hikari!
After hesitating for a bit, Cronos signed their application, and said to Tenjo Hikari, "Tenjo-san, if you trust me, I can help you collect these three cards."
He puffed out his chest a bit and patted it, "As a professor, I have quite a few connections in the card market, and have good relations with quite a few card merchants. If you trust the professor..."
"Of course I trust you, professor!" Tenjo Hikari nodded without hesitation, "Professor Cronos, you are the professor I trust most at this school!"
"Tenjo!?"
"Of course, professor! The way you stood in front of all of us students the other day was just so cool! Of course, we trust you!"
"Underachiever—"
Cronos turned around suddenly, biting on a handkerchief, and sobbed, "Mamma mia, I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it..."
"Alright, the professor will handle this then!"
All along, he upheld the "Tenjo Hikari's teacher" reputation to maintain "appearances" with the principal; Tenjo Hikari didn't need his extra credit to secure the top of the class, wasn't even truly using the "Ancient Gear" deck, yet Tenjo Hikari always believed in him, keeping up appearances!
Perhaps it was time for him to help him too!
He didn't look back, grabbed the documents, and left briskly.
"Your teacher seems pretty nice." Captain Gold remarked from the side.
Indeed.
And, don't judge Professor Cronos by his looks; his personality might be rather abstract, but as a "professor," his character and ability are actually impeccable.
Even though he lost a duel to Judai, and was tricked by Camilla in the original story, his status as a "Legendary Level" duelist is not mere bragging.
In Tenjo Hikari's world, buying a new card pack either means buying online or at offline card stores; there might be shortages, but in essence, it's all just "delivery."
But it's different in this world—in the original, new card packs launched and Rare Cards' card boxes were locked in safes, protected by a dozen planes and only then transported to Duel Academy, even before the official sale, they were heavily secured with anti-theft doors.
And in this context, Cronos can even know in advance what the Rare Cards are, getting a jump on the purchase, proving his information is leagues beyond the students.
As a Legendary Level duelist, having him handle buying cards or acquisitions is definitely much easier than trying to do it yourself.
Following this, Tenjo Hikari wanted to take some free time to learn some alchemy from Daitokuji. In the original story, around when the fifth or sixth Seven Stars acted, he vanished secretly. However, in this world, Daitokuji never left until the "sixth Seven Star" appeared, happily giving Tenjo Hikari lessons every day.
Tenjo Hikari didn't know when Teacher Daitokuji might suddenly disappear, so he studied quite diligently.
Students rarely enjoyed peaceful days, and the first semester of their first school year was seemingly coming to a smooth end.
And, as this semester was ending, the annual "School Festival" held by the school was about to begin.
This was a good day for "clubs" to start recruiting new members.
Moreover, besides this, there was one other thing—
"How did I forget about the Dark Magician Girl?"