The Chiefs' Dimension Travel.
Reflecting on last year, it was under Judai's guidance that Tenjo Hikari first came to know about the existence of "Dimension Travel" in this world.
It was also that time that Teacher Daitokuji secretly adjusted the teleportation destination for Tenjo Hikari and Judai, sending them to the "Warrior's Domain," where they met the Flame Swordsman and Dark Flare Knight, thus starting his Path of Fusion.
This could be considered the starting point of destiny.
As the representative of the freshmen, Serena was naturally the year's representative for the Red Academy this year, able to enjoy the opportunity to explore the Other Dimension.
However, her title as "freshman representative" and "year representative" was quite nominal. She became a freshman representative because she directly skipped grades to Duel Academy, enjoying such privileges. Generally speaking, girls admitted to Duel Academy go directly to the Blue Academy, and Serena's position as the Red Academy year representative was entirely due to her personal preference for red. Duel Academy never limits the color of students' attire, just like Manjome always wore black without restriction.
The Red Academy's Dimension Gate had long been replaced with new machinery because, over the past year, Judai's impressive performance in various exchange Duels also brought the Red Academy more resources than in previous years.
Furthermore, with Teacher Daitokuji's "death" in front of Professor Cronos—this is how he understood it—Professor Cronos started working part-time as the dean of Red Academy in the latter half of last year.
However, this year, since he needed to handle the acting principal responsibilities, these tasks were left for other teachers to manage.
"Oh! Is Tenjo-san the collaborator? Then I feel relieved." Upon seeing Tenjo Hikari, the Red Academy's responsible teacher relaxed a little, significantly reducing the tension.
After all, being a freshman's first dimension traversal, no teacher would dare to let students go without complete assurance.
Even the seemingly nonchalant Teacher Daitokuji conducted a Spirit Adaptability test, confirming Tenjo Hikari had no issues before allowing him to undergo Dimensional Teleportation.
"Thank you for your hard work." Tenjo Hikari greeted, while Serena excitedly conducted her tests beside him.
Her Spirit Adaptability was high, partly due to long periods of secluded training, and possibly having undergone some "reformation" concerning spirits, coupled with her own innate talent, now achieving a substantial LV 5 adaptability, quite high indeed.
Without Tierra's assistance, Tenjo Hikari was at about the same level.
Tenjo Hikari cooperated with the teacher for the physical examination. Even though he had undergone multiple teleportations, the necessary procedures could not be skipped. It's very important for the teachers to fulfill their responsibility towards the students.
"Tenjo-san, will you not participate in the second-year internships afterward?" The teacher asked while examining Tenjo Hikari.
"Well, I'm fine," Tenjo Hikari raised his hand, lightly clenching it, "my body is pretty good, it recovers very quickly..."
In Duel Academy, first-year students participate in a "Dimension Travel" once a month, usually only involving the top student and their invited peers, seniors, or teachers. This exploration is primarily a search for new possibilities and partners in other dimensions.
Upon reaching the second year, even for societal reasons, the Academy would no longer restrict students' admissions as much. On the contrary, starting from the second year, there will regularly be "large-scale" dimension simulation activities organized by classes as teams.
After all, after graduation, students will more or less have to engage in related work, inevitable participation.
However, at that time, they would not be exploring some unknown dimension but rather interning in various dimensions constructed by Kaiba Company under the Academy and teachers' supervision.
As for...
The principal's "internship" was completely different; it was a school-wide level internship.
Tenjo Hikari could understand him. As a principal, as an elder, he hoped for a better future for his students and didn't want Red Academy students to slack off. Therefore, holding activities that Red Academy students would normally never have a chance to participate in to spark their interest and motivation was quite normal.
The abnormal ones have always been those evil individuals utilizing his efforts for their schemes.
After completing the tests, Tenjo Hikari and Serena stood in front of the Dimension Gate, waiting for it to light up.
In the next moment, a red glow bathed them, and both Tenjo Hikari and Serena lit up briefly, slowly transforming into virtual images, disassembling into countless blocks, merging into the Dimension Gate.
After experiencing a strong sensation of weightlessness and distortion, Tenjo Hikari and Serena landed on the ground.
They found themselves on an exceptionally broad road.
Here was the dimension they were supposed to reach originally with Judai, also the one Judai frequently visited later on...
Anyone who played Yu Gi Oh even a bit would have heard of this place.
Skyscraper!
Tenjo Hikari looked around. Everywhere were towering buildings on both sides, the lights from room windows making the city appear exceptionally bright, with lighting in the distance making it seem like daylight even in darkness.
Occasional flickers in some lights, as if experiencing a power outage, added to the mystery here.
As Tenjo Hikari gazed into the distance, he could see rooms' lighting forming characters across high buildings, which together spelled a large word horizontally—
HERO!
This is Hero City, Skyscraper!
The Elemental Hero series is among the most popular decks in their world, and Skyscraper dimension was one of the earliest discovered. However...
Though this is a "Hero" field, hero spirits are actually quite rare here.
Most residents in this dimension are ordinary Warrior-Type monsters, along with many weak spirits.
According to Judai, this dimension is essentially a "refuge for weak spirits," where heroes hidden within this vast city silently protect ordinary spirits.
However—
For this reason, there's a chance to find any type of spirit in this dimension.
After all, being selected by the Academy as one of the most suitable dimensions for first-year freshmen to visit, it naturally isn't very challenging.
Tenjo Hikari hadn't visited before, and now thought it might be a chance to discover a Masked Hero spirit by accompanying Serena to explore this dimension.
This dimension was quite familiar to Judai. According to him, he could find Captain Gold's home here even with his eyes closed. Before coming, Tenjo Hikari also asked for many details, hence having a fair understanding.
This time, he would dutifully fulfill his "mentor" obligations!
"Is anyone here?!" Serena asked straightforwardly, using her hands as a megaphone, "Are there any duelists around? I'm Serena from Osiris Academy's first year, any spirit want to join me?"
She was too straightforward.
Tenjo Hikari rubbed his forehead.
"Something's wrong, Tenjo Hikari." Tierra suddenly flew out, saying to Tenjo Hikari under Serena's surprised gaze, "There's an issue with this dimension."
Is there an issue?
What could be the problem?
Narrowing his eyes, Tenjo Hikari enveloped himself in Crystal's power, saying to Serena on the side, "Serena, stay close to me!"
"Yes, mentor!" She became more excited, moving close to Tenjo Hikari, almost half an arm's distance away.
Still uneasy, Tenjo Hikari summoned the Flame Sword and Black Flame, and ran with Serena towards a nearby building. Once inside, he discovered the interior differed greatly from the exterior view, with broken walls and scratch marks all around.
After searching several rooms, they found an unconscious spirit and some trembling spirits huddled together in a corner. Upon noticing Tenjo Hikari and the others, they clung to each other more tightly, seemingly terrified.
What's going on!?
Judai said this dimension was supposed to be a peaceful one!