He contemplated that he couldn't just idle away every day and shouldn't set a bad example for the Spirits that would come later, so besides helping out as usual, he dedicated all his time to training.
With the Philosopher's Stone providing a constant energy supply and his persistent daily training, surpassing the ordinary Spirits here was not surprising at all.
The subsequent duel was relatively simple.
The Gladiator Beast Dimension didn't have particularly powerful Spirits—otherwise, it wouldn't have easily collaborated so much with the Fusion Army. For the Gladiator Beasts, as long as your combat skills are strong enough, you can gain their power, so Tenjo Hikari quickly defeated his opponent, acquiring "Gladiator Beast Gaiodiaz" and "Gladiator Beast Andabata."
Additionally, Tenjo Hikari acquired "Test Fusion," which he had been longing for—a fusion that combines Slave Monsters, ignoring summoning conditions to specially summon a Fusion Monster of a Gladiator Beast.
However, this first challenge doesn't mean it's completed.
The Gladiator Beast Dimension is a dimension of combat skill, a giant arena, and according to the rules here, to acquire a high-level Spirit's card, you can't directly challenge them, even if you're a renowned Alchemist like Tenjo Hikari from the Spirit Realm; you must proceed with challenges progressively.
Having tackled this challenge, next time Tenjo Hikari can challenge the "Commander" and then the "Legion Commander"...
In summary, these are the rules of the Gladiator Beast Dimension.
Overall, it doesn't matter about good or evil here; as long as you can convince them in combat, you can freely take Spirits from this dimension.
"Ah, if I had known, I would have come here earlier. This progressive challenge is probably going to take quite a while to acquire Domitianus and Heraclius," Tenjo Hikari thought, somewhat regretfully. Though he met the highest leader of the Gladiator Beasts, Domitianus, he couldn't directly challenge him due to the Gladiator Beast's rules.
Tierra didn't add anything.
From her observation, the Gladiator Beast Dimension indeed felt like a dimension not particularly strong; it seemed there was nothing more for Tenjo Hikari to gain now.
At that moment, the frenzied Alchemist Alca rushed up to them and said to Tenjo Hikari, "Master, something's wrong, I found a problem!"
"What's the matter?" Tenjo Hikari responded.
"Quick, look—"
Alca started playing a video.
A video from the Ecole de Zone?
Hadn't this been watched once before?
But then, Alca began zooming out, zooming out, and zooming out exponentially.
Only then did Tenjo Hikari realize that the gallery started to contract. The so-called "gallery," a gallery seemingly alive, constantly moving, was slowly merging into one entity—not transforming, but "folding" and undulating—
Tenjo Hikari slowly widened his eyes, his pupils constricting.
At this moment, after hundreds of times contracting, the gallery of Ecole de Zone gradually became a giant eyeball!
This was not a so-called "gallery"!
It was the eye of some creature!
The eyeball was filled with red light—this was the true existence of the "Ecole de Zone"!
The Ecole de Zone did contain Spirits!
But, the entire Ecole de Zone was actually the body of a "Spirit"!
Tierra gaped in astonishment, "This—is such a giant Spirit? Its size is almost comparable to the Light of Destruction."
"Tenjo Hikari, what do you think... Tenjo Hikari!?"
Tierra called out repeatedly to Tenjo Hikari. Alca was startled and quickly put down their things, intending to run over and wake Tenjo Hikari, but the next second, a sense of death surfaced in their heart, causing them to freeze in place.
Countless purple puppets in the air directly entwined around them, then tossed them instantly, throwing them into a pile of garbage with a thud.
Alca wasn't dead yet.
"Tenjo Hikari!? Tenjo Hikari!" Tierra patted Tenjo Hikari's back.
"Ah... Oh—"
He came to his senses.
"Whew—" Tierra let out a breath of relief and then looked at the Alchemist Alca, who remained quietly lying among the garbage, not daring to move.
"Next time... be prepared and have a strategy, understand? Don't you have even this much experimental spirit?!"
"Yes, yes!" The Alchemist Alca nodded hastily.
This time, they had indeed rushed too much, thinking nothing would happen since they watched safely before and assumed Tenjo Hikari would be fine too.
Snorting coldly, Tierra turned back to ask Tenjo Hikari, "How do you feel, nauseous or like throwing up?"
Seeing Tenjo Hikari recover from his response, she used her ability to scan him for internal data, determining he hadn't shifted before completely relaxing.
After all—
Tenjo Hikari was a human who had once been directly exposed to the Red Light; even if he couldn't withstand the existence of the Red Light itself, he shouldn't faint just from its derivative, perhaps just a bit mentally confused.
"I'm fine."
Tenjo Hikari shook his head.
In reality, he hadn't been harmed.
He was just... somewhat puzzled.
He... seemed to suddenly have gained some new memories.
What was it, a Gladiator Beast with a level of 12 requiring 5 Gladiator Beasts to return from the field and Graveyard to the Deck and Extra Deck to be specially summoned, able to make the battle stage twice during the special summon as a Fusion Monster "Emperor"?
Gladiator Beasts have such a Monster?