El Chapitan
The first thing Jaden did the morning after was to go through and activate as many card effects as he could before heading out. This way he wouldn't be caught off guard during a duel because of an unusually complicated or consuming mana pattern.
Once he felt familiar with the mana patterns of each card, he set off into the woods to continue his grinding. Only this time he would also be trying to train up his two new magic skills with every chance he got.
He continued with this practice throughout everything that had happened up until the present.
He had spent the last couple of days hunting down E-Ranked beasts and had just finished absorbing all of the cores he'd gathered.
"Hey, Sprite! Show me my status!"
[Status]
Name: Jaden Yuki
Class: Contract Mage
Race: Human
HP: 400
SP: 400
MP: 760
Strength- 40
Vitality- 40
Endurance- 40
Dexterity- 40
Psyche- 76
Willpower- 40
Perception- 68
[Skills]
Mana Sense Lvl 32
-Proficiency in this skill allows you to more easily, accurately, and thoroughly perceive that mysterious force known as Mana.
Mana Manipulation Lvl 9
-Proficiency in this skill grants one increased capability in manipulating both external and internal Mana Threads and even Sub-Manas.
Jaden was quite satisfied with much of his progress so far. If he was going to finally make the decision to start mingling with the humans of this world, he had a couple of final tasks he needed to accomplish.
There were a few cards he still needed to grind for but they were mostly Normal or Rare cards and should be easily obtained. He also wanted to reach D-Rank and get his Psyche and Perception up to at least the halfway point between D and C.
Since the Psyche stat in this world increased his Mana Pool, he had already decided to keep his total mana above his other stats and so this was an obvious move. Perception, however, could easily have a large impact on a battle.
Because there was no requirement to wait for your opponent to move, except in the case of drawing your first hand and summoning your first monsters, you were free to take any actions that the rules permitted any time you wished. Ultimately, Jaden viewed this process as something similar to bowing before a duel.
Once both players confirmed that their starting phase had ended, it was essentially a kind of team skirmish after that. With a few exceptions, you could attack with your monsters as much as you wanted. You could activate effects of various types, but many times if you didn't react fast enough the moment would pass along with that window of opportunity. The system provided each player with a sort of intuition about when certain effects could be activated but, if you couldn't decide within the incredibly short time window, you could only hope for another opportunity.
It was possible to have battles wherein a flurry of attacks were exchanged rapidly between two monsters and they weren't that rare either.
If you wished to defend a certain monster from attack, sending another monster with the same amount of AP as the attacking monster would force the attacking monster to somehow out maneuver the defending monster if it wished to destroy its target.
If the monster you sent had more DP than the attacking monster, then it could employ a swapping strategy. By quickly switching into or even staying in Defense Mode to intercept attacks, your opponent would be forced to sacrifice LP in order to continue battle with that monster.
These and other strategies could be deployed in rapid succession if one so desired. Ultimately, once the Shadow Duel began, its pace would be determined by whether the two players decided to play fast or slow.
Excluding the exceptions, this real time battling style of his new Shadow Game System, could actually be quite fast paced, despite all of the various restrictions being applied to how combat had to proceed.
With these possibilities in mind, Jaden had made an effort to also keep his Perception stat rather high. With this he would be better able to recognize, react, and adapt to any surprising tricks his opponent might pull.
Once he acquired the few remaining monsters he needed to allow him to safely deal with Human players, he would then only need to get his deck up to the D-Rank and then boost his Psyche and Perception. Luckily, he only needed one Ultra Rare card this time around, so that part should be taken care of rather quickly.
"Well, Sprite, I think we're doing pretty good so far. Even though it probably won't take that long to accomplish everything, I want to stay in these woods for at least another three months.
"Not only will it allow me to snatch up a couple of duplicates for some of my cards, practice maneuvering my monsters, and analyze and strategize the new composition of my deck but I might even be able to get some of my mainstay monsters into the 3rd Level of Intelligence.
"Just three more months, Sprite, and then we'll see what all this world really has to offer."
"Sounds like a plan, Boss! Now let's get to it!"
"Ummmm, I just spent all day 'getting to it.' I think I'll go to sleep first and then 'get to it' tomorrow."
===== Three Months Later =====
"It's finally time, Sprite! I managed to pick up quite a few duplicates, got four of my monsters to IL 3, and both my Psyche and Perception are closing in on C-Rank.
"If I hung around long enough to build my ideal deck, I'd probably be stuck in this forest for years. My deck is good enough for now.
"So... let's move out!"
"That's right!" Sprite said, as she stood in the air, her wings flapping furiously with one hand on her hip and the other pointing forward. "Look out world, here we come!" She then began buzzing around Jaden's head, while humming and eventually began singing. "🎵On the road again. I just can't wait to get on the road again.🎵" She began singing, as they headed for the northern exit of Forlean Forest.
"Wait, how do you even know that song?"
"Duh! Because I'm your system! I know everything you do, Silly Billy!"
This came as a bit of a surprise to Jaden. 'Although, I guess I probably should've guessed as much.' He briefly thought before confirming his direction of travel and picking up his pace.
He wasn't sure how far into the Forlean Forest his base cave was but he knew that he had not only come across a person once, while venturing north, he had also seen the distinct signs of Human civilization.
He witnessed various plants having been torn up and trees that had been cut down. Instead of a thick mat of mostly undisturbed dead foliage, much of the foliage was moved around and parts of the ground showed signs of having been repeatedly tread upon.
The system had told him that, if he wanted to find Human civilization, he only needed to travel north to exit the forest and should find there a road that travels parallel to it. It hadn't told him how far it was or what he might find in between but he couldn't bring himself to be upset about that.
His system had given him loads of information at first but it seemed that, once he had been given all that the system deemed he needed, the flow of information was heavily stemmed. Despite the fact that the system now projected itself as the much more sociable and agreeable Sprite, she was still his system and would usually not volunteer information unless he asked. Even then her responses were never as detailed or expansive as that initial deluge.
Jaden was satisfied with the amount of info he had received so far and was content to have the rest of the world remain a tangled mystery that he could slowly unravel as he continued his exploration.
It had taken Jaden and Sprite over an entire day of travel to get back to the place where he had first seen the signs of civilization. They had only just started their second day of travel a couple of hours ago and they were both enjoying their relatively peaceful stroll through the forest.
[Unauthorized Attack Detected]
[Modifying Life Point Total]
[LP: 2960 >>> LP: 3070]
His system informed him of the attack at about the same time as his IB activated on its own. Forming a white deck case on top of itself that kept his cards firmly in place, his IB also extended itself as it grew thinner and thinner. It eventually transformed into a white bracer that had the design of a gold colored egyptian eye on top and two stripes, blue and red, running down the middle of the underside. It then began forming a Duel Disk type arm attachment that had the exact look of a DiaDhank, with the exception of it having a primarily white color with the outlines being gold in color and forming a half circle fan shape, instead of the standard quarter circle fan shape. (Google 'DiaDhank,' if you don't already know. It's not something that's easy to describe.)
'Ahh! Is this finally it? My first real Shadow Duel against a Human player!' Jaden thought, as he saw an arrow that had appeared out of nowhere bounce off of his contract's shield and land on the ground.
As his IB was still transforming he decided to walk in the direction that the arrow had come from. Suddenly, another arrow bounces off of him and increased his LP once more.
'Wait, what the hell? Why would he attack again? Hmmm, could it be…'
In all his ponderings and contemplations about how a scenario like this might play out, for some reason he had never considered that perhaps a person hearing a strange voice in their head telling them to play by the rules or die might not actually take that voice seriously.
'I mean there are literally intuitions given by the system alerting players to when effects can be activated! Surely there must be something similar when they're being informed of the rules and their choices, right? Surely this guy isn't going to straight up inadvertently sacrifice himself to the Shadow Game, is he?' Jaden worried, as he frowned and his brow began to crease.
'I mean I don't mind the free Full Seal Human Shadow Card but I've been wiping the floor with these monsters for half a year and I was really looking forward to having an actually challenging duel.'
Jaden continued walking forward and yet another arrow bounced off his shield but he kept his eyes scanning the trees for wherever the Archer was hiding. "Why do you keep attacking? Surely, my contract must have explained the rules to you by now. Come and play my game. At least that way you'll have a chance of surviving. There is only death down this road you're walking. You must play my game or forfeit your life!" Jaden called out.
Just as Jaden started speaking this last sentence, he finally set eyes on the Archer in a nearby treetop. Jaden stopped moving forward and just stared up at the archer.
The archer seemed to grow increasingly panicked as Jaden moved forward without a care, ignoring all of his attacks. Seeing that Jaden had finally spotted him, he drew another arrow for one last attack.
This time, once his bowstring was fully taught, green and white energies began wrapping around the notched arrow forming a swirling vortex of wind mana.
Upon witnessing this spectacle, Jaden couldn't help but widen his eyes in excitement. "That. Is. So. Fucking. Awesome!" He uttered under his breath, as he smiled brightly.
The archer released the arrow just as Jaden was finishing his thought and, an instant later, a thundering explosion could be heard from hundreds of meters around the scene.
The magical arrow had exploded directly in Jaden's face and, having witnessed this, the archer wanted to rejoice for having successfully dealt with this trickster of a mage. The damned bastard trying to brainwash him or some such. However, he almost immediately noticed that Jaden had not moved at all. More than that, he hadn't been harmed in the slightest.
'That arrow was my most powerful attack... and that creepy fucking mage just stood there and tanked it. What the fuck is happening right now? This… this can't be real.'
Foolishly ignoring the voice in his head and turning to try and escape this freak of a mage at all costs, he immediately jumped out of the tree and started sprinting full speed in the opposite direction.
[Unauthorized Escape Attempt Detected]
[Escapee Player Has Forfeited The Duel]
[Escapee Player's Soul Will Now Be Sealed]
Jaden's smile quickly transformed back into a frown as he witnessed the archer's body slump to the ground mid-sprint, while the system's notifications went off in his head. However, he still threw out the Shadow Card and provided the extra mana required for a Full Seal.
"This… was incredibly frustrating. This was supposed to be my first real Shadow Duel and it was ruined by this guy's foolishness or ignorance or something. Either way, I really hope this isn't a common thing. It might make grinding easier but it really does suck all of the fun out of it. What do you think, Sprite?" Jaden asked the fairy-like creature, who had reappeared once the Full Seal was completed.
"I think you may be right about his ignorance and possibly his foolishness. There may be others like him but I think most people in this world, even if they aren't really that familiar with Contract Magic, would probably think a little harder about their situation than this guy. So, yeah, you might have just been unlucky this time. Don't worry though, you'll get'em next time, Champ." She said, as she flashed a teasing grin and gave him a thumbs up.
"Hahahaha! That's clearly not the problem, Sprite! I got 'em this time." He said, holding up the Shadow Card. "The problem is that it was incredibly unsatisfying. Then again, I suppose everything in life can't always go the way you want it to, so I guess I'll just hope for better next time."
Jaden reactivated his IB and summoned one of his now five total Avians. He then held up the Shadow Card that had just been sealed, with its picture facing Avian.
"Remember this guy's style of dress and gear. Fly around the area, until you find others that look similar to him." Jaden ordered his Avian and watched as it took to the skies in search of more bandits.
Avian was one of the four monsters whom he had upgraded to IL 3. With only five levels of Intelligence, the difference between each level was quite large. Thus, he could much more easily communicate his intentions to his IL 3 monsters than he could the others.
'I can't be certain but I suspect that IL 5 would be either near Human or equivalent to human Intelligence. Finally managing to get all of my monsters up to IL 5 should definitely provide some interesting results. Results that I can hardly wait to experience!'
[Elemental HERO Avian]
☆☆☆☆ / IL 3 / Normal
Attribute: Light
Type: Warrior
AP: 80
DP: 80
SPD: 104
Effect: Whenever this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, banish one random monster from your opponent's Graveyard.>
[Status]
Name: Jaden Yuki
Class: Contract Mage
Race: Human
HP: 800
SP: 800
MP: 1480
Strength- 80
Vitality- 80
Endurance- 80
Dexterity- 80
Psyche- 148
Willpower- 40
Perception- 140
[Skills]
-Proficiency in this skill allows you to more easily, accurately, and thoroughly perceive that mysterious force known as Mana.
-Proficiency in this skill grants one increased capability in manipulating both external and internal Mana Threads and even Sub-Manas.