Nighttime, Saint Fusion Academy territory—Site No.3: Ancient Ruins.
"Instructor Claire! Great news, wonderful news!!"
Outside the research institute, a forty-something technician burst excitedly into Claire's office.
Originally, Claire had been carefully comparing ancient texts, trying to decipher the various arcane inscriptions carved upon a small stone tablet discovered earlier, hoping to uncover something valuable.
Just as inspiration struck her, the technician barged in, smashing her fragile moment of insight.
Instantly, a storm cloud passed over Claire's beautiful face. Still, she forced down her anger and asked, "What is it!?"
The technician, seeing the thunderous expression on her face, instantly sobered up. After sneaking a glance at Claire's alluring figure, the middle-aged man swallowed hard.
He couldn't help it… spending years stationed in a barren, remote site with barely any women around, any man would have a hard time resisting someone like Claire.
Feeling the technician's lecherous gaze, Claire slammed her palm down on the desk.
"What is it exactly? If it's nothing important, you dare interrupt my research?!"
The man jumped at her furious outburst, immediately straightening his posture and shouting, "Instructor Claire! We've discovered three entirely new Spirit Tablets! The Duel Monster Spirits carved on them are of types we've never seen before! The energy sealed within them is unlike anything recorded in history!
The team on-site suspects that we've uncovered a new fragment of ancient history!!"
"What!!"
Claire seized up in shock, then her expression shifted to wild delight.
Though the man before her was somewhat sleazy, she didn't doubt his expertise. After all, he had spent most of his life among ruins like these, and with Saint Fusion Academy's backing, their technicians were familiar with over 80% of the world's known Duel Spirits.
If they all agreed these were new Duel Monster Spirits, then it was almost certainly true.
The thought that she might uncover a lost piece of ancient history through studying these three tablets—and publish a paper that would shake the entire continent—made Claire's face flush with excitement.
In that instant, she felt a thrill far beyond anything physical… a pure intellectual ecstasy.
Ignoring the technician's sleazy demeanor, she grabbed him by the arm and rushed out of the office. "Come on, take me there, quickly!"
Catching a whiff of Claire's perfume, the balding technician felt his own rush of euphoria, and amid a string of "Yes, yes, yes!" the two hurried together toward the excavation pit of Site No.3.
At that moment, more than twenty people surrounded three towering stone tablets, each over five meters tall.
The tablets were covered in ancient script, writing so old that even with twenty or thirty years of experience, none of the researchers could identify what was written.
Encircling these mysterious glyphs were three enormous pictographs depicting Duel Monster Spirits, emanating such a chilling aura that everyone present felt an instinctive dread.
For reasons they couldn't explain, many of the technicians suddenly felt they had made a terrible mistake… as if they had unleashed something that should never have been disturbed.
And they were right.
Normally, stone tablets from ancient times recorded myths and stories of ancient Duel Spirits. By studying them, modern scholars could extract lost knowledge and use it with the Book of Summoning to call forth those corresponding Duel Monster Spirits.
Albeit there existed another kind of tablet… those that sealed Duel Monster Spirits within them.
Such tablets imprisoned only the most powerful and malevolent spirits.
After all, if a spirit wasn't evil, who would bother sealing it? And if it wasn't strong, who would need to seal it at all… wouldn't it be simpler just to destroy it?
It was precisely because they were both powerful and wicked that these Duel Monster Spirits had been sealed away.
Now, however, these ancient tablets had been unearthed by technicians who had no idea of their true nature… and in their enthusiasm, they had broken the barriers that maintained the seals. Thus, the demons sealed for millennia awakened once more.
A few minutes later, when Claire and the balding technician arrived at Site No.3, the entire pit was shrouded in black mist.
Three demons—one red, one yellow, one blue—seemingly born of hell itself, had just devoured the souls of more than twenty technicians when they noticed Claire and the balding man. Two screams echoed through the ancient ruins.
Half an hour later, Claire—now with a drastically changed aura—emerged from the pit, leading the bald technician and a middle-aged woman.
The three walked toward the teleportation array leading back to Saint Fusion Academy.
…
"Time to get up, Alicia!"
"Mm~ I wanna sleep a little longer, Yuui-san!"
"The sun's already up!"
"I wanna go back to dreaming about roast chicken!"
"How about eating roast chicken in real life instead? Breakfast time's coming soon, and don't forget: today's class assignments!"
"Yeah, I know~"
Seeing the still-groggy girl, Yuui sighed. With a flick of his finger, the blanket covering her lifted off the bed, and he turned his back to her.
Feeling a chill, Alicia reluctantly opened her eyes—right then, she immediately froze upon seeing her own cute underwear. Her face began burning like the sunset sky.
"Ahhh!!!"
Her scream startled the birds outside into nearly falling off their branches. Alicia snatched up her blanket and wrapped it tightly around herself, glaring at Yuui's turned back.
"Yuui-san, you're awful! How can you treat a cute girl like this?!"
"You are cute, I admit that. But if I didn't do that, you wouldn't wake up, right?"
"Ugh... well, at least you admitted I'm cute! (๑╹◡╹) Hehe... Wait, no! You're not getting away with this, Yuui-san! Apologize, now!"
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! That said, I wasn't trying to dodge responsibility… it's just that time's running out. Do you still want breakfast or not?"
"Eh?" Alicia looked at the clock on the wall. It read 7:15.
"Ehhh!!!" She jumped out of bed, hastily pulling on her school uniform while complaining, "Yuui-san, why didn't you wake me up earlier!? I'll miss breakfast now!"
"I was trying to wake you up… using that 'tough love' method you said I should use! You just wouldn't wake up!"
"Ugh~!"
Realizing he was right, Alicia couldn't argue. There was no time to dwell on it anyway. She rushed to the bathroom to wash up, then let Yuui tidy her messy hair before grabbing her Duel Bracelet and hurrying out the door.
The second she stepped outside, she noticed a familiar-looking girl walking past her room.
Like Alicia, the girl wore the purple Saint Fusion Academy uniform. She stood about 1.6 meters tall, noticeably taller than Alicia's barely 1.5 meters tall, and her figure was elegant and well-proportioned. Her long black hair was tied with a purple ribbon, and her violet eyes radiated a noble air.
When the girl saw Alicia emerge, she looked slightly surprised, then smiled and waved. "Hello, Alicia!"
"Uh, hi? Um... do you know me?" Alicia asked, perplexed. She didn't recall meeting such a pretty person before.
Yuui glanced at the girl, at once sensing the powerful magical energy within her… on par with Alicia's.
It seemed this was another genius-level student.
The girl giggled. "After yesterday's duels—first at the Duel Plaza, then at the dormitory entrance—you defeated two second-years in one day. I doubt there's a single freshman who doesn't know your name now!"
"Hehe, I guess so!"
Alicia scratched her cheek awkwardly. Though everyone believed she had won those duels herself, only she knew that Yuui had taken over for her.
Yuui: "Don't worry. From today on, unless absolutely necessary, I won't intervene again. You need to grow on your own."
Hearing this, Alicia blinked in surprise, then nodded slightly.
Indeed, while winning with Yuui's help felt secure, she wanted to earn victories through her own strength.
The other girl found Alicia's sudden nod strange, but then remembered how Alicia had a habit of spacing out during duels. Thinking of that, her odd behavior didn't seem so odd anymore.
"Alicia?" the girl called softly. "Where are you heading next?"
"Oh! I'm going to the cafeteria for breakfast, then to check the class assignments!" Alicia said without a second thought.
"I see," the girl said with a gentle smile. "Then we're headed the same way. Shall we go together?"
Alicia glanced at Yuui, who nodded. Smiling happily, she said, "Sure! By the way, what's your name? You're really pretty!"
"Thank you," the girl said with a soft laugh, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "My name is Alice. Alice Tutt will do."
"Alice... what a lovely name," Alicia said sincerely.
"Thank you..."
...
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