Chapter 9
Rowan's reasons for wanting to tour the campus were straightforward enough.
Genuine curiosity about the surroundings, yes.
But also the same thing Jaden had in mind: find someone to duel, earn some Emotion Points, and along the way test a few things he was still uncertain about with the system.
For instance: did it matter who he dueled? Would demoralizing a background character earn the same points as demoralizing someone who actually appeared in the original story?
"There's a seriously impressive dueling arena over there! I can smell it! Someone's dueling!"
Jaden suddenly stopped, nostrils flaring, and pointed ahead with barely contained excitement before breaking into a run.
"The smell of dueling." Rowan's expression twitched.
Only the chosen one of this world could track a card game by scent.
Though thinking about it, he had a reasonable guess as to what Jaden was actually picking up on.
The boy had probably sensed the presence of nearby Duel Monster Spirits.
Not every duelist could awaken spirits within their deck, but even dormant cards gave off a faint resonance during an active duel.
Which only made Rowan want the Spirit Vision ability more.
He made a decision. Get the Emotion Points.
Get the skill. As soon as possible.
Now, which poor soul had wandered into range first?
"Does the smell of dueling actually exist?" Syrus was still murmuring to himself, genuinely uncertain, when he noticed Rowan already walking in the same direction.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Inside the Academy arena, Rowan found exactly what he expected.
A raised dueling platform surrounded by high-tech equipment, with tiered spectator seating on all sides.
Two students in blue Obelisk uniforms who had apparently just finished a match were standing near the platform, exchanging words with Jaden, who had arrived ahead of them.
The atmosphere was not friendly.
"Great, more Slifer Red deadweights. Don't you know this practice arena is for Obelisk Blue students only?"
The two blue-coated students had spotted Rowan and Syrus arriving and called out with open contempt.
"Enough."
A single word from the spectator area cut them off before Rowan could respond.
A figure stepped forward.
Black spiky hair, the kind of hairstyle that announced its owner played cards seriously.
Same blue Obelisk coat as the other two.
Rowan recognized him immediately and his expression shifted into something vaguely amused.
"Well if it isn't Chazz Princeton. The comic relief himself."
Not that the comic relief era had arrived yet.
Right now this particular individual was still firmly in his brooding, self-important phase.
"Big bro, who is that?"
Syrus whispered to Jaden.
Jaden looked equally blank. Both of them turned to Rowan.
"You don't even know who Chazz Princeton is?!" one of the two underlings exclaimed in genuine horror.
The other puffed up proudly and addressed Jaden and Syrus with the gravity of someone delivering sacred scripture.
"He is the number one duelist of our year. The man destined to inherit the title held by the great Kaiser Zane Truesdale himself."
"The one and only Chazz Princeton!"
Chazz absorbed the flattery with a deeply satisfied expression.
"Anyway," a lazy voice cut in at precisely the wrong moment.
"Are we actually going to have an exciting duel here, or what?"
Everyone turned.
Rowan stood there with his hands open at his sides, looking faintly bored.
Chazz's fist clenched.
The casual indifference was already irritating enough. The fact that it had interrupted the exact moment of his most enjoyable flattery made it worse.
"Oh, I know you. The lucky little Slifer rat. Rowan, wasn't it?" Chazz's voice dropped into a sneer.
"You're practically famous around here. The miracle draw who somehow beat Professor Crowler by pure dumb luck. Everyone's heard the story."
He was not wrong. In the half day since the examination, Rowan's name had already spread across the entire campus, attached firmly to the story of a student who had opened five-piece Exodia from hand and won without doing anything.
It was notoriety more than fame, the kind of story people repeated because it was absurd, not because it was impressive.
Plenty of students had quietly filed Rowan away as someone who had gotten extraordinarily lucky once and probably had nothing behind it.
Rowan found this extremely convenient. Low expectations and plenty of people willing to duel the joke.
"There's no point arguing about luck," he said, looking at Chazz with mild disinterest. "Just duel me and find out."
A deliberate provocation. Clean and direct.
After all, maximizing Emotion Points required maximizing hostility first.
Getting the target good and angry before the duel started was simply good preparation.