The academy's chief professor and head of practical combat had actually lost. He had lost using his legendary Ancient Gear, to a bottom-ranked student. It was not over yet.
That jellyfish-haired underachiever even jumped forward, made a mocking gesture at the professor lying on the ground, and said with a grin, "I won. That was a really fun duel, Professor!" Professor Chronos de Medici had no words.
For some reason, seeing the chief examiner beaten down on the ground made Sunglasses Examiner smile again. He suddenly felt much less angry. Judai Yuki had been right after all.
Dueling really could bring happiness.
On the sea island, Duel Academy Headquarters stood quiet under the afternoon light. After a busy stretch, Principal Samejima finally found a brief moment of free time. He returned to his office, brewed a cup of tea, and used the rare pause to review this year's entrance exam results along with several duels that had caught his interest.
He had not expected Professor Chronos de Medici to step onto the field in person, which made it obvious that someone was deliberately putting pressure on that jellyfish-haired freshman. Yet the student named Judai Yuki proved astonishingly strong, actually defeating the academy's top practical examiner using his own Deck. The outcome alone was enough to raise eyebrows.
Principal Samejima took a sip of tea and felt genuinely pleased with the extraordinary potential shown by Judai Yuki. Such talent appearing right at the entrance exam was rare, and it reassured him about the academy's future. His expression softened as he replayed parts of the duel in his mind.
Naturally, he then turned his attention to the practical duel of this year's top-ranked candidate. According to reports, this student had scored full marks on the written test except for the open-ended questions, narrowly surpassing the near-perfect score of Daichi Misawa. On paper, the performance had been dazzling.
So he began examining this person's practical duel and their Deck construction. Almost immediately, confusion crossed his face. He could not help scratching his shiny bald head.
He had been involved in the dueling world for many years and considered himself well experienced. Even so, he had rarely seen a build like this. It felt unfamiliar in a way that made him pause.
If he had to name a comparison, it reminded him faintly of the Deck used in the later career of the legendary Duel King, Yugi Muto, whom he had once seen by chance at a Kaiba Invitational when he was younger. There was a similar flavor hidden inside this strange structure. It was not an exact match, but the feeling lingered.
Back then, when Duel King Yugi was nearing the end of his dueling career, many challengers had ended their matches furious and frustrated. By the final turns, their twisted expressions looked almost like cosplay of Marik Ishtar during the Duel City era. It was very much like the unlucky examiner on the opposite side of this entrance exam duel.
Over the years, however, the evolution of the dueling world had proven that this style was a personal specialty of Duel King. Others could not easily imitate it. The mainstream had long leaned toward the direction guided by Seto Kaiba, and after Duel King retired and sealed his cards, such unconventional tricks became extremely rare.
Unlike traditional professors represented by Professor Chronos de Medici, Principal Samejima did not insist that students strictly follow textbook standards when building a Deck. He believed education should allow room for deviation. The problem was that most students simply lacked the ability to innovate on their own.
Yet with years of teaching experience, Principal Samejima felt at a glance that this student named Yugen might be different. There was something unusual about the way the deck functioned. It hinted at independent thinking rather than blind imitation.
Could it be that the academy had recruited a newcomer with such rare talent this year? The thought alone made Principal Samejima feel a spark of anticipation. His interest grew the longer he considered it.
He glanced again at the roster, comparing Judai Yuki with the name Yugen Fujiki beside it. Leaning back into his chair, the principal took another relaxed sip of tea and allowed himself a satisfied smile. The moment felt unexpectedly rewarding.
This small Duel Academy had somehow enrolled two exceptional talents in the same year. Such fortune was worth celebrating. Even for him, it felt like a rare stroke of luck.
On the academy's side, efficiency remained high as usual. Just a few days after the exams, candidates could already check their scores, results, and admission status. The process left little room for suspense.
As expected, Yugen received his acceptance notice without any surprises. With a month still left before the semester began, there was no need to rush to the island. Still, all newly admitted students had completed registration and were already counted as preparatory freshmen.
Holding his newly issued student number, Yugen logged in through the academy channel to Kaiba Corporation's card database. As he had anticipated, the range of cards available for purchase had expanded. The options alone were enough to make him pause.
He skimmed through the listings quickly and recorded anything that seemed potentially useful from the cards currently in stock. A rough shopping list took shape as he reviewed them one by one. He then began analyzing each entry in more detail.
Most of the cards fell into the category of possibly useful but dependent on specific builds or combos. Those he set aside for later consideration. They were not urgent, but they had potential value.
The cards he decided to buy immediately were the kind that worked well in most Deck builds. These were generally versatile trap cards that focused on simple, effective disruption. Practicality mattered more than flash.
Examples included a card that could banish an opponent's monster by discarding one card from the hand, and the infamous old forbidden card "Ring of Destruction" before it was heavily weakened. It destroyed a monster and dealt damage to both players equal to its attack, a true flip-the-table option often nicknamed the draw ring. Cards like these were reliable tools.
What surprised him even more was finding hand traps available through the internal purchase system. As the saying went, no matter how much you defended, hand traps were hard to guard against. Unlike Trap Card set on the field, which were easy to anticipate and clear, hand traps activated directly from the hand had always been part of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s core strategies.
Of course, early hand traps were not as oppressive as modern ones. Most of them focused on blocking attacks rather than shutting down entire turns. Their origin traced back to the DM era mascot, the card that could be discarded to negate battle damage, Kuriboh.
So when Yugen spotted a copy of Kuriboh in the Rare Card section, he bought it without hesitation. He was honestly surprised that such a rare card had not already been taken. Finding one still in stock felt almost unreal.
Then again, it made sense. From what he had seen in the anime, many Duelists were not especially fond of low-level monsters with weak combat power that could only block a single attack. Aside from its rarity, Kuriboh's extra value mostly came from being the mascot of the first Duel King.
Continuing his search, he noticed a category labeled themed prebuilt decks. Clicking into it revealed complete Deck sets sold as bundles around specific themes. Everything was included in one fixed-price package.
Among them, he even saw the legendary Elemental HERO decks. That discovery made him pause for a moment. Curiosity got the better of him.
On second thought, it was only natural. In the first episode of GX, Professor Chronos de Medici had described Judai Yuki's Deck as a very common HERO deck. In this era, HERO builds were considered accessible and affordable, at least before later expansions pushed them out of that range.
Every card player carried a bit of a hero dream, and since he was already in the GX era, Yugen decided to check them out. His interest was genuine, if cautious. He wanted to see what was available.