One of the cards Kira handed over was "Carboneddon."
It was a cheap card, and Kira had remembered it from Pierre the Gambler's duel, so he used it for testing.
In the anime, Carboneddon's effect was: if it's in the graveyard and there are at least ten cards stacked above it, you can banish it to Special Summon "Hyozanryu" from your hand or graveyard.
But Hyozanryu is just a 2100 ATK vanilla, the condition is annoying, and you can only summon from hand or graveyard—it's not very useful.
But with the upgraded real card effect, the "stack ten cards" requirement is gone. Now, you can banish Carboneddon from the graveyard to summon any Level 7 or lower Dragon-Type Normal Monster, and not just from hand or graveyard, but even from your deck—a huge upgrade.
The other card was the Ritual Spell "Machine Angel Ritual."
The first effect was standard: Tribute monsters from your hand or field until their total Levels equal or exceed the Ritual Monster's to Ritual Summon it—same as in the original.
But after some experimentation, Kira managed to add a hidden second effect:
"If one of your LIGHT monsters on the field would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish this card from your graveyard instead."
This added a layer of destruction protection, a great boost for Alexis' Cyber Angel deck.
When he first thought of upgrading anime cards, Kira immediately thought of Cyber Angels. First, the Academy sold pre-built decks for it, and second, it was the best example of a deck that got massively powered up in the real card game.
If you developed it along the real card line, it could leap ahead by a whole generation.
Of course, what he wanted to try was "Cyber Angel Benten." In the real game, Benten's effect ("when tributed, search for any LIGHT Fairy") is meta-defining.
But after a few tries, Kira realized that monsters were harder to upgrade than Spells/Traps, and the higher the level and stronger the monster, the harder it was.
So, he only managed to upgrade the Ritual Spell.
But that was enough to shock Professor Lyman.
"Wow, I never expected Kira to be a genius not only at dueling but also at research," Lyman quickly recovered, adjusting his glasses and squinting again.
He stroked his cat and said, "Just these results could make for several great research papers. I'm jealous—I haven't produced any results at all since joining the Academy, haha…"
Kira smiled.
There he goes again, pretending to be a clueless rookie.
But he let it slide, replying, "It's all thanks to your guidance, Professor. I was wondering—do you think I could apply for my lab and build a research team?"
"Oh?" Lyman raised an eyebrow.
He tilted his head and thought for a moment.
"Well, there's never been a student in Academy history who's done that. But with your results, even the research department would be shocked—there's no reason they'd refuse."
Lyman smiled slyly.
Duel Academy did have graduate students—after finishing the high division, you could go to graduate school and maybe become a professor. In the last season of GX, Alexis even considered this path.
Doing research requires resources, funding, and manpower. Kira knew that, although his knowledge let him predict the potential of many cards, he was still new to card creation and had limited energy.
If he could get his own lab, with the Academy funding and resources, he'd save time, and money, and greatly increase his efficiency.
As Kira left the alchemy lab, Banner stroked his cat, gazing after him until he was out of sight.
Then he smiled.
"The next generation is amazing, huh, Pharaoh?"
Pharaoh: "Meow~"
…
Two days before the tag duel, Kira finally synced up decks with Jaden.
"Jaden, put this in your deck."
Kira handed Jaden a card.
Jaden looked at it, confused.
What the heck is this?
Jaden hesitated: "But this doesn't fit my Heroes…"
Kira squinted at him. What are you afraid of? You never brick anyway.
But seeing Jaden still reluctant, Kira patiently explained his strategy and thought process.
At first, Jaden nodded in confusion, but as Kira kept talking, his expression grew more and more excited, his eyes lighting up.
"Huh? You can duel like that?" Jaden exclaimed. "That sounds so fun!"
"Right?" Kira grinned.
Sure enough, Jaden was the type who just loved dueling. As long as it sounded fun or new, he'd always play along.
"Alright, I got it!" Jaden happily took the card. "Let's surprise everybody with our perfect teamwork!
Hahaha, I can't wait to see their faces!"
"Yeah, yeah." Kira smiled. "Oh, and don't forget 'that' after the duel."
Jaden blinked: "What?"
"Your catchphrase," Kira said, "You know, 'That was a fun duel'—I'm sure by the end, even our opponents will feel the joy of dueling."
"Oh, right, haha, can't forget that!" Jaden laughed.
Kira nodded: "Yep, you gotta duel with a smile."
"Exactly!"
Jaden found Kira more and more likable.
"I always thought we'd get along. My intuition is never wrong!"
"Right!"
As the sun set, the sky burned orange-red like fire at the horizon. The two of them sat side by side on the hill, their shadows stretched long by the evening glow.