5th Chapter ladies and gentlemen. We passed 100 Favorites and Follows, yay.
Just wanted to tell you that the upload speed will decrease from now, this madness of a chapter every 4 days was only sustainable due to me being between college semesters.
Once college starts again my time will be decreased.
With the reviews.
Veta Takomoro: Yes it was.
25dmccown1: I will think about it.
Demissedwaifu: Don't know if I will make the story a harem one, it isn't clear as of yet.
Also I have been hanging out in shiro's server, I have been annoying Creamulon a little there, I normally give sneak peeks there anyways
It was already the day of the exams, and I was feeling surprisingly calm.
More calm than usual at least.
I was probably leaning on my bond with Joan and how it allowed me to reach a level of serenity seldom seen in a teen about to take an exam.
Of course, I wasn't a 'normal teen' no matter how you looked at it.
Seeing the exam about to start, I started wondering, If I should have had made sure Jaiden arrived here in time before I dismiss the idea.
I may be willing to help Jaiden and the rest, in the clusterfuck that will be the next years on this island, but I am not going to help them with every single thing.
I am not here to mother anyone.
Seeing Banner start handing the test, I turn serious and look at my exam sheet.
It is the same type of test as the entrance exam.
This should be simple at least.
It really was, It didn't take me even 30 minutes to answer everything.
The students that have finished the exam before the allotted time, have free roam until the time of the practical, so I left to go check the arena in which the practical is going to take place.
I have no interest in the new and rare cards, the Silent Magician deck is as close to ready as it can get right now.
Besides Crowler will take them anyways and give them to Chazz.
What a shame too, I always liked the XYZ cards as a kid.
Looking at the arena I see Crowler looking shady as fuck, with his exhibitionist trench coat.
"A just who I wanted to see" What?
This better not be this idiot thinking I would take Chazz's place in schemes.
"What possibly could be the matter Doctor, and what is up with the get-up, trying a new fashion statement perhaps?"
No reason to get angry yet, besides if he does think I would replace Chazz...
Well, I already had plans in place if Crowler locked onto me like Jaden, they can be repurposed easily enough.
"Don't pay attention to that my dear student, I just wanted to inform you that the specifics of your promotion duel have changed, you will be having a new opponent"
Goddammit. It looks like I may be dueling Jaden sooner than expected.
"Your new opponent will be one of the top-ranked first-year Obelisk blue students"
Wait, what? Am I dueling Chazz? I am so confused right now.
"Understood Doctor Crowler may I ask what brought forth this change?" No reason to cry about this now.
If I must crush Chazz in front of the entire academy I will.
"Well, my boy, you have done so splendidly in your duels against the Obelisk Blue student body since you arrived here. That they came personally to me to ask that I brought a challenge worth it of yourself in your promotion exam"
Ah of course now that makes more sense.
I am almost sure I won't be dueling Chazz, this is probably due to the rampage I went through for DP.
Crowler doesn't seem too jolly about this, so probably not his idea, I will probably have to duel one of the duelists that didn't challenge me yet, some kind of revenge for their Obelisk brethren.
"Understood Doctor, is there anything else I should prepare for?" If I have to humiliate someone in front of the whole school for these fools to understand who is better, then I will.
It isn't any different than what I was doing before after all.
"There is one last thing my dear student. Your match will be the first one, it will be used as an example of how the exams will be for the rest of the student body after complaints have been raised about this subject by a majority of the highest rating students of the academy"
I call bullshit.
These idiots went to Crowel and found the shittiest excuse possible to have me duel in front of everybody.
Worst thing is, that this isn't even the worst excuse that has been used to get a duel in the series.
People just don't think of duels as anything abnormal in this world, coworker being an asshole? duel them, Teacher being a douche? Duel them.
It is such a part of the culture here that randomly adding a duel to an event is, not only not weird but a good surprise.
And this is a DUEL academy, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that they would need the slightest excuse to organize a duel.
"Understood Doctor, let's hope everyone learns something today, no?"
Seeing Crowler nod and leave to flash Chazz or whatever, I confirmed something to myself.
Everyone is going to learn something today, whether they want to or not.
(Later)
Everyone has finished their test and now we are just waiting for everything to be set for my 'exhibition match'.
"So, a bunch of losers got together, cried to the teacher and now you get to duel in front of the entire school, because they couldn't handle their bruised egos?" Jesus.
Mindy has no chill sometimes.
I found her and Jasmine and explained the situation to them, Jasmine was quite angry for my sake which is nice from her really, but a little unnecessary.
Sure, this is a pain in the neck, but something like this would have happened in time and will probably happen again before my time in island is over.
"More or less yes, it isn't like it makes a difference I have been dueling with Obelisk blue students to cause this to happen remember? Dueling one more, doesn't really matter, and at the end of the day I will be an Obelisk blue student."
She looked thoughtful, before reaching a conclusion that I am sure few had done,
"Wow, now that I think about it with the amount of Obelisk Blue students you have beaten, one would think they would just send you to become a blue, how weird right? With guys like you and that Yuki guy, the dorms seem a little less important"
Indeed, that is the kind of line of thought that the Obelisk blue students just can't understand.
They believe themselves to be the best of the best in the academy.
Jaiden and I are much better than them and we aren't Obelisk students.
This contradiction causes them stress and their mind look for a solution, in this case, they ignore the problem entirely, even if they saw me daily destroying their preconceived notions, they will nine times out of ten find an excuse.
Maybe it was a fluke, maybe it was a bad day for them, I am cheating somehow, etc.
It sounds ridiculous until you remember that Duel Monsters isn't something most do for fun here, for many of them, it is a profession/ sport in which your value in your social circle is decided, of course accepting defeat ain't easy.
"May students Jack Greywarden and Koichi Shiraishi please go down to examining field 1 for the first duel of the exams."
"Well duty calls", I thought while descending the stairs to the arena
"Showtime, are you ready dears?" I whispered to myself so no one would hear.
"Our victory was guaranteed the second this match was declared" Good to see 'some' confidence from Silent Magician
"This will be so much fun!". Pikeru is adorable I would do anything to keep that smile on her face.
"Hey, guys did you hear that?" Comes from the top of the stadium.
Fucking with Jaiden's inability to really understand duels spirits is so much fun,
Arriving at the arena itself, I see my opponent in the generic Obelisk Blue coat, he has mustard color hair which clashes with his uniform tremendously.
"So, tell me, what is your gimmick?" I ask in a conversational tone.
This asshole probably started all of this, I could see the satisfaction on his face when he came down,
"What?" I had hoped for some self-awareness.
"You know your gimmick, are you maybe a freaky fish guy? an insect using little perv?"
He seems mad, wonder why.
"Listen you fool, I am one of the Six Attribute Deck Masters! the master of the Light Attribute, the strongest light monster wielding student in this whole Academy!"
Who? I think I remember something like what this guy is talking about, but it is so in the back of my mind that I doubt it is important.
"I have no idea who the Six Attribute Deck Masters are, and I am probably talking for a lot of people there, but the chances of you being the best duelist at anything in this island is as big as Weevil Underwood becoming King of Games."
He seems really angry, not that I care, it isn't personal really, he is just another paycheck at the end of the week I will probably have forgotten his name.
"Well boys settle the roughhousing for later, now it is time to duel like the proper gentleman I know you two are"
Crowler seemed irritated at how long we were taking.
I suppose he wants to get to the Chazz vs Jaiden match-up he also set up.
"You heard the man paycheck, let's get started, I will even let you decide who goes first"
I had half my mind in the duel and the other half modifying a plan I had planned for when I had my first really public duel.
At first, I thought that would be against Jaden to choose who is the representative for the Academy, for the inter-academy match.
I mean I beat Bastion, so he isn't getting picked before me.
I think I can go through with the plan now though.
"Oh? I will make you regret those words, Greywarden! Your legendary card will not be enough to save you, you don't deserve that card, both it and your Guardian Angel Joan would be better off with me!"
The fucking idiot just had to make it personal, hadn't he?
As if I would let such disrespect go unpunished. Him being a better holder for Venus? For JOAN?
I can feel Joan bristling in the back of my head at the idea of being separated from me, especially for such a waste of space.
Honestly, I feel the same way, I was going to make this an easy duel, a back and forth where I was going to stop everything he tried to do.
Now...
Now I am going to crush him with extreme prejudice.
"You are a fool, you do not deserve to face either Venus or Joan, the deck that will mark your public humiliation, is a new one, you should feel honored for this"
His face went red before he noticeably took a calming breath, and his face turned into a smug smirk,
"Without Joan or Venus, you are nothing special Greywarden, you will regret this, how about you go first, you do so seem to enjoy going second after all."
Would I have preferred to go second? Yes.
Does it matter for the result of this match? Most definitely NO.
"Enough talking then mustard face, Duel!"
Jack Greywarden LP: 4000
Koichi Shiraishi LP: 4000
Turn 1
"Draw" looking at my hand I see drew Card of Demise, it is a great hand, but that was to be expected, this scrub sure as hell doesn't have any duel spirits and even his connection with his cards is only slightly above average, and when you take into consideration what the average is, that isn't all that surprising.
Even with my connection to my deck diminished due to lacking Joan in it (a literal part of my soul) Pikeru and Silent Magician are more than enough to make this match 'luck' entirely in my favor.
Some would say it is cheating, I would say it is staying true to what duel monsters was in the past and has the potential to be when brought to its highest level.
If every Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist can do it without any guilt and even pride, then I can as well.
"Prepare yourselves, you are all about to witness something truly extraordinary!" I raised my voice getting the people in the stands to look at what I was going to do with rapt attention.
"I summon Silent Magician LV4 in attack position!"
The reaction from the stands was slightly delayed as people took in my monster.
Silent Magician LV4 (Level 4/ Light/ Spellcaster/ 1000 ATK/ 1000 DEF)
The young version of Silent Magician stood there...silently, for what must have been ten seconds before all hell broke loose.
"How do you have that card!"
"Is that what I think it is?"
And all other comments of that nature were being dropped.
Interesting fact, LV monsters are quite rare in this world, the Armed Dragon series that Chazz later collects, are one of a kind or extremely rare.
The same goes for Silent Magician, it isn't a one-off, but it is pretty Damm close to it.
Them being used by the King of Games have only made them more revered.
"That is not all, I activate the spell card Level UP! This allows me to send one LV monster from the field to the graveyard, to summon the next monster of its series, ignoring its summoning conditions! Rise and Shine, Silent Magician LV8!"
Silent Magician LV8 (Level 8/ Light/ Spellcaster/ 3500 ATK/ 1000 DEF)
Well as before the crowd took time to understand what they were seeing, the reaction when seeing the beautiful adult form of silent magician's next stage was immediate.
The crow went ballistic, I had pulled in the first turn, the most powerful (attack wise) spellcaster monster in the game, stronger than the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, stronger than Dark Magician.
"I activate the Field Spell Secret Village of Spellcasters and set two cards face down."
The arena changed sprouting old trees and camouflaged huts, slightly reminiscing of a Hobbit home.
"Before I end my turn I activate Card of Demise, allowing me to draw until I have five cards, at the cost of discarding my entire hand five turns from now, but we both now this duel isn't going to take that long, don't we Koichi?"
Drawing what is practically an entirely new hand, I can see this duel is already over for him.
Something interesting about the Heart of the Cards that I have learned from talking to the members of my family is that it doesn't always work at its maximum capacity.
What this means that your 'luck' in some duels is different from others.
This can happen due to multiple factors, from who you are dueling, to what you are dueling for, and your relationship with your cards.
It is the combination of these factors that determines how much your deck will respond to you.
A shadow duel, or duel for your ideals, will put your deck in overdrive against your opponent.
This comes with a consequence however, if you are dueling for the fun of it or just casually, your deck will simply not help you as much as it can.
Venus said it simply, they won't coddle me, make me weak and lazy by giving me the hand I always need, they want me to grow stronger, for when they are truly necessary.
Coming back to the duel at hand, this fool challenges my right to hold my most precious cards. My purpose is to teach him a lesson.
My cards understand that and stop 'holding back' the heart of the cards as it were, I am basically going at full capacity with my connection to my cards, against someone who doesn't even have a spirit in his deck.
Yeah, he is fucked.
Turn 2
I can see it now his brow is sweating he is nervous, he is having doubts his resolve is wavering, his confidence and connection with his cards are dropping.
"Draw!, if you think I will let myself be intimidated by a powerful monster you are dead wrong Jack!" He tried to sound sure of himself, but I could hear his voice wavering at the end.
That was clearly meant to convince himself as much as me.
"I discard a card to activate the spell card Lightning Vortex destroying all monsters on the field." He said with a sadistic grin before he saw his spell card sputtering and failing.
"Denied!" I shouted at him. "While my field spell is in effect you can't activate spell cards unless you got a spell caster type monster on the field"
He started paling at that, but he shook his head and continued his turn.
"Fine then! I summon Sage of Silence in defense mode and activate Lightning Vortex again!"
Sage of Silence (Level 4/Light/ Spellcaster/ 1400 ATK/ 1000 DEF)
He discards the card for real this time and grins when he sees the effect go off, nuking my field with concentrated lightning.
Of course, that grin vanishes when she sees my Silent Magician perfectly safe, flipping her hair, like the lightning vortex was just a mild annoyance.
"Denied! Silent Magician is unaffected by your spell cards effects." I say in a matter-of-fact tone, this is fun.
He seemed embarrassed, to not know the effect of one of the most popular spellcasters cards currently out there.
"Fine then! I set two cards and end my turn"
He definitely has something in that back row of his, it is so obvious it ain't even funny.
Turn 3
"Draw," Mage Power, overkill it is apparently.
"I summon White Magician Pikeru in attack position" A girl very similar to Dark Magician Girl appeared in the field.
White Magician Pikeru (Light/ Spellcaster/ 1200 ATK/ 0 DEF)
"So many people looking at us, how exciting!" Pikeru was wide-eyed looking at everything.
"That is not all, I activate the equip spell Mage Power and equip it to my Silent Magician LV8, this equip spell boosts my monsters attack by 500 for each spell and trap card on my side of the field, and I am counting four!"
Silent Magician LV8 (Level 8/ Light/ Spellcaster/ 5500 ATK/ 1000 DEF)
People in the stands were going crazy, seeing a monster pass the 3000 attack points mark was already uncommon, and I just flew past 5000.
"This is the end for you little man, White Magician Pikeru attack Sage of Silence!"
Magicians Valkyria started charging her attack before a card from my opponent's back row was raised.
"I activate Widespread Ruin when you declare an attack your most powerful monster is destroyed, say goodbye to Silent Magician!" He seemed really satisfied with that, a real shame I will have to...
"Denied!" Comedy comes in three's people; I really am having too much fun with him.
" I activate my own trap card Trap Jammer stopping the activation of trap cards used in the battle phase"
Following through unimpeded Pikeru's spell impacted Sage of Silence in the chest breaking her into pieces.
"Silent Magician LV8 attack his life points directly, Silent Burning Attack!"
Silent Magician flicked her rod with contemptuous ease, throwing a white fireball directly at him, triggering a massive explosion that raised dust everywhere.
When the dust cleared Koichi's field was empty and his life points had dropped to 0.
Koichi Shiraishi LP: 4000- 5000 = 0000
Between the cheering of the crowd and the sound of despair of my opponent, I focused on Silent Magician and Pikeru sending them a stealthy thumbs up, that they reciprocated.
"Winner Jack Greywarden! this marks the end of the exhibition match, and the start of the test from the rest of the students"
I heard Crowler say from a microphone so everyone could hear.
Do I, do it?
Fuck it, I won't get another chance like this one in a long time, I don't remember exactly when I will probably duel Jaden but it will be at least a month.
"Doctor Crowler, would you please be so kind to lend me your microphone for a minute? I have a message for my fellow students"
He seemed irritated for a second before he passed me the mic.
"I suppose you deserve that much at least, and you ARE going to become one of my blues after today, you have a minute."
Showtime.
"Attention students I have something to say to all of you" I spoke after checking everything was working right.
I can see people stop talking and start focusing on me.
Man, I am a little nervous, but it must be done.
"I just wanted to tell all of you one simple fact" People are getting curious about it now.
"And that is... That I am the BEST duelist on this Island! Nobody here can beat me!"
People were stunned by what I said before they reacted, some cheered at the bravery and others started to jeer at me for being so arrogant.
The reason I am making this anime protagonist ass speech is the following.
"That is right NO ONE can beat me! Not the third-year students, not the teachers, there isn't a single duelist in this island who stands a chance against me"
As I said this line, I caught eyes with the Hell Kaiser himself, he had a raised eyebrow, at the indirect statement that I was better than him.
"It is because of this that I am doing you all a favor!" People were downright confused by this comment.
"To inspire you to reach new heights, I will be giving a reward to the first student who manages to best me in a duel!" Of course, nothing gets a crowd excited quite like the promise of a reward.
"Whichever student who manages to beat me will get..." I paused for a second for suspense.
"100.000 Duel Points!" I shouted out to the crowd
The crowd was stunned for a second with the magnitude of the amount, before they cheered, imagining what they would do with that amount of money.
Of course, I don't actually have that amount of money even after betting all my savings from cleaning house with the Obelisk Blue student body on Aster Phoenix's last match I am still short by about 20.000 DP.
But that is what the next part is for.
"Of course, this will be also a learning experience, so there will be a prize attached to the opportunity to beat yours truly , for the small cost of 5000 DP just one twentieth of the prize pool, you will be able to put your name forward, in a waiting list."
The simple fact of the matter is that I ain't making money at the speed I desire, people are getting scared to duel me, like they are Zane, the humiliation of losing in front of their peers being the main reason.
And with betting being forbidden here, I had to look at the rule books and bend them a little bit.
It is actually allowed to pay another student for tutoring; this of course includes dueling tutoring.
So no, they aren't betting money against me, they are paying for the education that one of the best students in the academy can bring.
It sounds great for them what is the equivalent of 10 months of stipend for the Obelisk blues for just beating somebody.
They would be willing to literally pay me 500 dollars for the 'right' to duel me.
This also fixes the problem of random students coming to duel at odd hours of the day.
They must enter the list first, if your name isn't included, I have an excuse to not duel you.
"So, everyone, I will let you enjoy your promotional exams, I expect great things from you all, brush up on your card knowledge, check up your deck's synergy, buy a new card, after all...
You will be needing it"
I dropped the microphone to the gaping Doctor Crowler and started leaving the field, making eye contact with the Chancellor I see him laughing his ass off, about teen youth.
That is good news for me, I had the rules on my side, but the Chancellor's support is always helpful.
After leaving the arena, I blushed a little about forgetting to do something.
"Whatever I will just send him a videomail at his PDA." I thought out loud.
Walking at my (for now) dorm, I feel my duel spirits manifesting around me all four of them.
"That was risky Jack, but I suppose the funds are necessary," Joan said with a slightly worried tone.
"The least does weaklings can do, is pay tribute for the chance to face me" Venus on the other side of things has no mercy from the students of this island.
"Greedy" Silent Magician murmured pointing at me.
"Don't worry about it Jack, even if you are a greedy man, we still like you" Pikeru at least soothed the pain of Silent Magician's trademark no-nonsense attitude.
"What can I see I only want the best for my family, and that includes me," I said laughing out loud, I probably look crazy right about now.
"Man, this island is just too much fun."
And that was the chapter, my fellow people.
I know the speech makes Jack sound Kind of like an Anime protagonist, but what you have to understand is that is bait. Jack doesn't really care about being considered the strongest on the island, but he sure as fuck cares about the money.
So he basically put a bounty on himself and told people to come.