Chapter 6
Ding. Emotion Points acquired from Professor Crowler: +500.
The system chime was a pleasant sound. Rowan's smile widened.
"That was a win. What a fun duel."
He raised two fingers toward Crowler, grinning.
It was a deliberate imitation of the exact pose and catchphrase Jaden had used after his own victory moments ago.
Rubbing it in, point blank.
Jaden stared.
Half the arena came extremely close to spitting out their water.
The collective internal commentary was immediate and unanimous.
Fun? Fun?!
You drew a perfect hand and ended it before it started, you absolute menace.
As for Crowler, he was biting down on the collar of his own pink jacket with both fists clenched at his sides, physically forcing himself not to implode.
Mamma mia.
Was that something a person could actually say out loud?!
This failure of a student was absolutely insufferable.
His composure was gone. Completely and utterly gone.
"Ah... ahem... Examinee 111, Rowan, has... passed the dueling examination."
The female announcer's voice drifted out over the speakers, slightly strained, doing its best to smooth over the atmosphere.
The result was official.
Examinee 111. Rowan.
Nearly everyone in the arena quietly filed the name away in their memory, attached to two firm impressions: absurd luck, and not entirely human.
The one exception was Chazz Princeton, whose expression carried something more complicated than amusement.
He took one long look at Rowan, turning over that strange pressure he had felt during the draw, and said nothing.
He had a feeling this was not simply a lucky hand.
"The new school year is going to be a little more interesting," Alexis said nearby, watching as Rowan drifted back toward Jaden and the others.
A small smile crossed her face. "At least there are some entertaining new students this time."
"Maybe," Chazz said, noncommittal, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
He gave one last look at Rowan, then at Jaden, then at Syrus, and turned and left without another word.
...
"Those two leaving over there are Chazz Princeton and Alexis Rhodes, aren't they," Rowan noted, watching the blue-uniformed figures slip out through the back exit.
He had recognized them at a glance.
He was the last examinee of the day.
With his test concluded, the Academy's admission process was effectively wrapped up.
It made sense that the upperclassmen who had come to watch would head out early.
"All examinees who have passed are asked to make their way to the top of the facility and prepare to board for Duel Academy."
A supervising teacher had walked over and was addressing the group of successful candidates.
"Wait, board? We're going somewhere?"
Jaden looked genuinely startled. "Isn't this Duel Academy?"
Rowan turned to look at him with a faintly pained expression.
"Please tell me you at least knew that the main campus is on an island out in the ocean."
Jaden laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
Rowan, someone who had not even belonged to this world until recently, knew that. It was basic common knowledge.
And yet this enthusiastic idiot, born and raised here, apparently had no idea.
Bastion and Syrus both stared at Jaden with the same peculiar expression.
This was the person who had beaten Professor Crowler?
...
A short while later, a large private helicopter bearing the GX Duel Academy insignia lifted off and banked out over the open ocean.
Rowan had taken a window seat. He glanced around the cabin.
Including himself, Jaden, Syrus, and a handful of others, the total headcount came to somewhere around a dozen people.
Chazz, Alexis, and the other upperclassmen who had left early were nowhere aboard. They had presumably taken a separate helicopter.
Crowler was also absent.
After losing to two examinees back to back, he was probably hiding somewhere, too mortified to share a flight with them.
Rowan could not blame him, and he did not particularly mind.
Crowler was petty, but he was not a bad person at his core.
And Rowan knew how things would unfold from here. He could handle it.
"System, open personal panel."
With nothing else to do for the moment, Rowan pulled up his status to take stock of what he had earned from thoroughly demoralizing Professor Crowler.
Name: Rowan
Skill: Still Water Clarity (Once per duel, guaranteed to draw any card you want.)
Current Deck: Dark Magician Deck (Underworld OTK Version)
Emotion Points: 800
Still Water Clarity.
This was the skill Rowan had received alongside the Dark Magician deck when he first opened the beginner's gift pack after activating the system.
It was also the reason he had looked at his five opening cards, seen four pieces of Exodia staring back at him, and calmly handed first turn to Crowler without a second thought.
Because he could guarantee the draw.
Once per duel, with absolute certainty, he could pull exactly the card he needed.