Chapter 218: Who Is the True Vessel of the Light

"Yes." Cronos sat in the principal's chair, clasping his hands together, looking troubled. "There's… no, perhaps many things that need your help, Tenjo Kou."

He glanced to the side. Tenjo Kou followed his gaze and saw an entire wall of television screens in the principal's office.

At that moment, several images were playing on the screens.

There were dimensions closely tied to the academy, as well as other known dimensions.

"Regarding the new semester's coursework… yes, it's related to the 【Dimensions】." Cronos spoke.

He knew very well that Tenjo Kou and Kai Sa Ryo were entirely different types.

Both were standard "academy-type" duelists, capable of maintaining clear heads even under any circumstance during a duel.

Unlike Kai Sa Ryo, Tenjo Kou had a more direct and explicit goal.

As a teacher, he would not nurture Tenjo Kou the way he had nurtured Kai Sa Ryo; thus, he never asked Tenjo Kou to become the academy's new "face." Even under pressure from Napoleon's head coach, he never told Tenjo Kou what had happened—only congratulated him on his promotion.

"First, congratulations on your promotion to Blue Academy. No surprise coming from you."

"Thank you for your help," Tenjo Kou continued. "But there's no need to change dorms—I'll stay in my old one. Professor Huashan has helped me greatly in daily life."

"Fine. That's not an issue."

Cronos nodded.

Before he funded Tenjo Kou's education and helped him sell gems and recover cards, it was always Huashan who provided for his food, shelter, and clothing—he understood Tenjo Kou's feelings.

Moreover, he knew well that Professor Huashan was a very lonely person; if Tenjo Kou, the top student of Red Academy, suddenly moved to Blue Academy, he would likely be deeply hurt.

He didn't want to be dragged down by that curry demon.

After finishing these matters, Cronos formally turned to the main topic.

First, although Duel Academy had recently suffered setbacks due to Kai Sa Ryo's losing streak in professional matches, it wasn't entirely ignored—merely that public attention had diminished.

At least over the past two years, Duel Academy's operations had been on an upward trend; in fact, even in previous years, even before Kai Sa Ryo's enrollment, it had been rising.

The reason was simple: "Dimension Travel" was the world's biggest, most captivating topic, and Duel Academy enabled students to undertake dimension travel and explore other parallel worlds—a vast treasure for ordinary people and the vast majority of corporations.

Kai Sa Ryo's fame was merely a massive catalyst; though his losses had dampened others' enthusiasm, it didn't mean enthusiasm was gone.

After all, after his duel with Aide, Kai Sa Ryo went on to duel several other professional duelists. Though he no longer dominated with his previous flawless wins, he still had a mix of victories and defeats—even against duelists using heavily targeted cards, Kai Sa Ryo still won using his "Right Hand of the Duelist."

Upon hearing this, Tenjo Kou let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

In the original story, Kai Sa Ryo's consecutive losses after dueling Aide were due not only to his shattered mindset but also two key factors: professional duelists relentlessly targeting him with specific cards, and the influence of Lord Lord Zhai Wang Zhaomo's "divination."

In this world, Aide had long been slated to join the Fusion Department, and his duel with Kai Sa Ryo was more serious; thus, after the duel, although Marufuji Ryo felt some disappointment, he quickly recovered.

In short, based on recent league match reports, Tenjo Kou judged that Kai Sa Ryo's mental state should still be fine.

But since he wasn't "invincible," enthusiasm had dropped significantly both outside and within Duel Academy.

Yet, regardless, the outside world would no longer think, "Any Duel Academy student will do."

The post-graduation prospects for Red Academy students had once again become a major issue.

And the matter Cronos was about to discuss was somewhat related to this.

Since Tenjo Kou had won, Red Academy would naturally not be abolished.

In fact, he himself wasn't worried about the future lives of Tenjo Kou or You Cheng Shidai or others like them.

Tenjo Kou didn't need worrying about—he had already become an "Absolute Fusionist," with endorsement deals and other work; his future was secure. But others were a serious concern for both him and the principal.

Of course—mainly the principal.

He himself still harbored some dissatisfaction toward Red Academy students, though not as extreme as Napoleon.

After all, most Red Academy students were in a state of giving up.

"For this reason, the principal came up with a good idea."

"... What new scheme has Principal Principal Jiaojiang thought of now?"

Tenjo Kou silently cursed under his breath: "Oh, come on."

Although Principal Principal Jiaojiang was a decent person, and though he held a respectable position in the duel world and had connections everywhere,

he had a terrifying "character trait"—whenever he tried to do something, nothing ever went as planned, and it always ended up as a disaster.

Forget distant examples—like the Three Phantom Demons, the White Society, the prince of a nation that sought to destroy the world—all of these were his doing. He couldn't be blamed for the Three Phantom Demons—he was also deceived—but the rest? All his doing.

Especially the later "GX Tournament of All Evils"—everyone who heard of it shook their heads.

So, as Tenjo Kou took a deep breath to brace himself, Professor Cronos spoke.

"The principal contacted some old friends, school board members, and even reached out to Kaiba Corporation." He began. "He believes the reason Red Academy students can't improve isn't just lack of effort—its biggest factor is the lack of opportunities and means of advancement…"

"So, he plans this year to expand the scale and format of the academy's Dimension Gate, preparing to…"

Tenjo Kou could barely hear the rest—he felt his hearing fading.

Oh, hell.

Only after hearing all of Cronos's words did he gently tap his forehead to snap himself back to reality.

At least, this was something that was supposed to happen in the original story anyway—only in this world, since Dimension Gates already existed, it made more sense and occurred earlier.

Sometimes he wondered: who was the true vessel of the Light's Fluctuation?

Lord Lord Zhai Wang?

Doesn't seem like it.

But fortunately, in this world, dimensional research was already deeply ingrained, so Principal Principal Jiaojiang wasn't as reckless as in the original story—he'd likely arrange for large-scale dimension travel to friendly dimensions confirmed by the academy and Kaiba Corporation, letting students "intern."

After all, this kind of work was among the hottest in the world.

Cronos told him about this ahead of time not to ask him to help the students or supervise them—that was the teachers' job.

He told Tenjo Kou because he wanted to give him the opportunity to explore unknown dimensions during the academy's collective internship.

Oh—

Why didn't you say that sooner!

Just get to the point next time!

That's great then.

Tenjo Kou nodded.

So this was the special privilege of being the academy's top student?

"Finally…" Professor Cronos smiled. "Tenjo, you've always been my proudest student. Stay true to your own beliefs—I'm proud of you."

"... Thank you, Professor. You're also the professor I respect most at school."

He genuinely supported Cronos becoming principal.

After their conversation, Tenjo Kou stepped out of the principal's office and faced two slender, graceful silhouettes in gold and silver.

The more commanding one saw Tenjo Kou emerge, smirked, and spoke without hiding her intent: "We've been waiting for you, Tenjo Kou!"

"We were about to fall asleep."

"Come on, let's have the duel we've already decided on!"

It was the Taylor sisters. After their duel with Lo Ke ended and the crowd dispersed, they came to the principal's office.

Tenjo Kou lightly tapped his head.

He'd almost forgotten about these sisters.

He'd already used up his daily quota of absorbing energy with "Super Fusion"…

But—

Perfect.

He wanted to test whether using advanced alchemy to control Super Fusion could increase the number of times it could absorb duel energy.

After all, since learning some D-Rail modification techniques from You Xing and applying them broadly, he'd further improved his alchemy and wanted to explore more possibilities of Super Fusion.

Moreover, these two elite elites of the Fusion Army, the "invincible" tag-team duelists, couldn't just be left idle at the academy.

"Tag-team duel? Fine. But wait a moment—I need to find a friend."

"A friend? Hehe, your few friends have already decided—they're waiting for you right now in the duel arena."

With cards like these, he didn't want to miss it—those guys…

"Who is it?" Tenjo Kou asked first.

"Huh, who was it again? What's his name?" the older sister asked.

"A guy in black clothes, looks pretty imposing," the younger sister tilted her head.

It's Lei En—

Chapter Two, please vote~

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(End of Chapter)