NOVEL WEB Chapter 224: Branch Summary
Ding Ding Clang Clang.
Returning to the Grand Universe Workshop, Hikaru stood before the main gate and looked up.
The cosmos, the stars, everything existed above the workshop. One by one, stars flickered in the distance, the moon slid past the side of the workshop, and a few spirits bustling with work darted through the moonlight in a hurry.
Hikaru stretched with a yawn.
As he rescued more and more spirits, the interior of the Grand Universe Workshop had gradually turned into a miniature spirit society. With the Workshop as its core and the nearby "inner planets" as residences, the spirits who lived there had now become members of the Workshop too.
Of course, they were merely residents of this subdimension. Occasionally helping out Alkahest and the others, gathering resources here and there, that was enough. Whatever they did otherwise, wherever they lived, it was up to them.
As long as they didn't interfere with Hikaru's alchemy business, the world was big enough for them to live however they wanted.
That said, some spirits had recently expressed their desire to join Hikaru's team. Now, under Captain Crystal's training, they were working hard to unlock their powers.
Hikaru exchanged greetings with a few spirits assisting in the workshop, then headed straight into the smelting chamber.
Directly placing Super Polymerization into his Deck was not something he would do.
After all, he still didn't have enough confidence in his current strength.
However, considering that the greatest enemy he would face over the next year was undoubtedly Yubel, it was indeed time to start using Super Polymerization.
Over the past year, Hikaru's spirit compatibility had risen from Level 4 to Level 6. But in truth, his actual compatibility was still at 5. The apparent increase to 6 was solely because Tierra's soul resided in his body, boosting him by a full level.
Now that Hikaru had used alchemy to further gain control over Super Polymerization's power, continuing on this path meant that using it would no longer be as difficult as before.
After all, Hikaru had already used Super Polymerization and alchemy to create lower-level monster cards. And now, he could subtly control Super Polymerization to allow it to absorb more Duel Energy, accelerating the creation of Fusion Monster Cards.
Which brought him back to the topic at hand.
Gem-Knight Dispersion, this brand-new Fusion card was one Hikaru didn't recognize at all. But when he took it out and used it, Tierra made a face like, "Ah! Ohoho! Wasn't this from back then? So it became a card now?"
Which clearly meant that the events depicted on the card had once occurred in the DT World. Tierra just didn't know which of those events had been turned into cards.
Hikaru could only assume it was a card released after he crossed into this world.
That was actually a good thing. It meant his Super Polymerization could continue giving him stronger Fusions over time.
Beyond that, Hikaru was now pondering the current "side quests."
The main quest, of course, was about using Super Polymerization.
The side quests involved all the new Fusion Monsters and Fusion support cards that Super Polymerization had been generating.
First up were two cards that had shown absolutely no progress:
Armityle the Chaos Phantom and The Claw of Hermos.
The latter didn't matter much. According to Tierra, the only way to "charge" that card was to duel a "Legendary Duelist," so Hikaru had never expected much progress on it anyway.
It wasn't something he could improve upon.
But on the other hand;
Armityle the Chaos Phantom hadn't budged either.
Not that its "completion rate" hadn't progressed. In fact, after all this time, the card was already complete.
But just like with Winda back then, when Hikaru placed the card into his Duel Disk, it did absolutely nothing.
He wasn't disappointed by that.
Because from the setup, Hikaru immediately understood: one day, when he encountered a duelist who used the Sacred Beasts, that card would finally become usable.
Until then, he could only observe.
As for...
Hikaru pulled out the card he was most interested in.
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon.
Hikaru carefully wiped the card, though not a speck of dust was on it.
Not long ago, through repeated duels with Yugo, Hikaru successfully obtained this card. Back then, he thought there was no way to "charge" it and could only hope the Philosopher's Stone or perhaps Yuri himself would show up one day. However, over the past month, Hikaru began to notice a change.
This card wasn't like he imagined; it could only gain energy through duels with the Quartet dimensions from ARCV.
Ever since acquiring it, Hikaru gradually realized:
As long as he used Fusion in every duel, this card would slowly receive a share of energy from Super Polymerization.
Among them, using the original card [Polymerization] worked best.
This growth was extremely slow and faint, but it was guaranteed. Every time he used Fusion, it increased.
The issue became clear when one day, Hikaru dueled using only cards like Metamorphosis and Ancient Gear Hunting Hound, without using any Fusion Spell Cards. The synthesis level of the card didn't rise, and that was when Hikaru finally understood its "requirement."
Even so, it was perfectly reasonable.
A Fusion Dragon should be made with Fusion.
Still, precisely because the growth was slow, with only a tiny increase each time, Hikaru could now quantify it more precisely.
As of now, Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's completion rate was at 32 percent.
A pretty high number.
And it hadn't even been that long since Hikaru acquired this card.
Back in the previous year, even with that much time, Hikaru wouldn't have been able to fill in Winda's background color.
Hikaru rubbed his chin.
This must also be thanks to his improved alchemy.
Hikaru stretched his limbs.
Next, he would try modifying the dimensional gate and also train his spirit power a bit.
Ever since learning alchemy and receiving Tierra's support, Hikaru had been training his spirit compatibility less frequently and for shorter periods. But there was no helping that. Time was finite.
As long as his spirit compatibility rose by another level, then putting Super Polymerization into his Deck, that major "main quest" step would become more hopeful. On the other hand, if Hikaru could successfully modify the dimensional gate, the Fusion Club would break through the "technical dominance" that the Polymerization Club held. Even if ordinary students wouldn't be able to use his gate anyway.
After two days of tinkering, just as Funglow Corp had sent money to the Academy to expand the Fusion Club,
Celina came looking for Hikaru.
"Master! Dimensional Exploration!"
Celina enthusiastically pounded on the club leader's door, the sound echoing like she meant to break it down.
Huh?
Hikaru set down the Emerald Book in his hands.
Oh. So it was that time again.
The first chance for the first-year top students to go on a dimensional journey.