I Think I'm Turning Chapanese, I Think I'm Turning Chapanese, I Really Think So!

     Jaden had been quite impressed with the sight of the Royal Academy during yesterday's guided tour. The architecture was much more reminiscent of a fantasy castle, even if it was only about half the size of the King's castle. It had many fanciful spires and towers, including the center most portion of the castle having a steepled roof. 

     Terrance proved himself quite useful, making the process of getting inside and getting him tested quite a smooth process.

     Once he was led inside, one of the attendant Mages presented him with a blue crystal ball. He was told to place his hand on the ball and to unravel the knotted mana inside.

     Jaden found that this test was basically a much less intensive version of unraveling one's mana threads in their core. Once he came into contact with the ball, the image of a messy knotted ball of mana threads appeared in his mind. The ball was much smaller and much easier to unravel than his own core and so it took him only a few seconds to complete.

     With that out of the way, he was then given a brief orientation and was informed that the next official semester would begin a week from then.

     Jaden wasn't in a huge hurry about learning magic, now that he understood the nature of this world's power structure. 

     Although many other kingdoms were far more powerful than this one, due to them not putting weaklings like himself in their eyes, those kingdoms didn't currently pose any legitimate threat. Thus, he decided that this place should be safe enough to take his time familiarizing himself with this world and its magic. 

     Not to mention the fact that he was treated quite well here and leaving for a more powerful kingdom would most likely mean back to the woods for him.

     Jaden spent that week, of waiting for the academy's classes to start, seeking out information on nearby bandit hideouts. Terrance, once again, proved useful in obtaining this information and had even arranged a luxurious carriage to drive him to a drop off point at a safe distance from the targeted hideouts.

     Terrance was currently sitting on the driver's bench of that carriage watching Jaden walking into the nearby forest to hunt down yet another bandit gang. 

     Terrance and the King, to whom he reported, were both shocked at the ease with which Jaden managed to rid their surroundings of bandits.

     He always entered the woods alone and exited the woods alone, usually within less than an hour. Every time he did so, the bandits in that area would never be heard from again.

     On this particular outing, Terrence had requested that a contingent of soldiers be allowed to accompany them so that they might inspect the site of the hideout both before and after Jaden worked his magic.

     The soldiers had already returned from their scouting and had verified the hideout's location.

     Jaden suspected that they might actually send someone in after him to try and spy on his battle but he wasn't really concerned about this. He simply continued forward for a hundred or so meters, before summoning Flame Wingman and having it fly him swiftly towards the bandit encampment.

     Upon spotting the encampment, Flame Wingman swooped down low for his approach and scattered into a smattering of light particles, after he was past the encampment's barricades and Jaden recalled him.

     Jaden dropped down and landed squarely inside the bandit camp, leaving all the bandits completely stunned at the arrival of this intruder that was entirely too sudden.

     One of the first bandits to recover from this sudden and unexpected event began yelling at the other bandits. "What the hell are you all staring at? Attack that goddamn intruder!"

     All of the bandits then immediately rushed towards Jaden's position only to all disappear into scatterings of light particles, as soon as the first attack landed on him.

     Those particles of light then swiftly flew towards a large tent on the other side of the bandit camp. It was from here that he heard a female voice exclaim, "What the shit? What the hell is going on? Who's responsible for this?"

     A tall and muscular redhead with two war axes hanging from her waist, looking like some kind of barbarian Aloy, came storming out of that tent. She moved her head from side to side looking for the source of this bizarre event until her gaze finally landed on Jaden.

     "Greetings Ms. Bandit Lady, I was so very hopeful that you might have a friendly duel with me. Worry not, if you are defeated, the only thing you'll lose is your soul… and your core… and your body. So, really, nothing to be too concerned about."

     "What kind of sick game is this intruder? What the hell did you do to my men and what is all this nonsense about some kind of Shadow Game?"

     "Ah, you see, your men have all been sealed inside the cards you have in your deck. If you wish to free them, then you'll have to defeat me in a Shadow Duel. Although, my contract should have already explained all of this. Did you not understand the given explanation?"

     Once again using his classic overly dramatic movements, Jaden drew his seven cards.

     "Surely you understand the countdown timer in front of your face? You really should hurry up and draw. You see, I already have all of my cards and I'm ready to start making some moves.

     "First, I'll summon Neos Alius and Sparkman in Attack Mode! Then I'll play a Field Spell [Luminous Spark] and a Continuous Spell [The A-Forces]. Finally, I'll place a card facedown and end my Start Phase."

     The Bandit Queen was absolutely flummoxed by this absurd turn of events. Everything had happened so suddenly and absurdly. 'My men just vanished into nothing before my eyes and then that voice in my head.'

     A lifetime of crime, danger, and conflict had not, could not, have prepared her for such a completely unexpected and incomprehensible series of events.

     Her instincts were telling her not to attack this person but she knew that he was the culprit behind her men's disappearance and she wanted nothing more than to rip his limbs off.

     She was still struggling to grasp what kind of a situation she was in, whenever a sense of urgency overcame her after glancing at the countdown timer. She had more or less deduced that her opponent was a Contract Mage and she knew nothing good could come from ignoring that timer.

     Thus, she hurriedly drew her cards and made a few quick plays with the few remaining seconds she left, making sure that one of those plays was to summon some of her men, since the mage's contract had made it clear how important that was to whatever game he was playing at.

     She finished her last play just before the last second of the timer ticked off. She remained there, staring at the strange mage, who stood completely naked about forty meters in front of her, with an irritatingly smug and confident grin spread across his face. 

     She had only the voice in her head to give her any idea about how to proceed but she wanted to see how the mage did it before committing to any actions. She didn't know a lot about contract mages but she knew that they were bound by their own contracts and couldn't break the rules or else they would lose the power their contracts gave them. 

     Thus, she decided to be as careful as possible and hopefully glean some useful information from her opponent's actions. She knew these contracts only gave technically correct information and much could be misinterpreted or misunderstood without other information that the contract didn't require to be explained. She wanted to, if at all possible, avoid a situation where she made an incorrect assumption about the contract's rules and inadvertently hindered herself or helped her opponent.

     Once she ended her Start Phase, she screamed at her opponent in hopes of preventing an immediate attack. "I don't know what your game is but my name isn't Miss Bandit Lady. If you are going to so rudely barge into my camp, the least you can do is show me some measure of respect by addressing me by proper name, Bandit Queen Marla."

     To both her and Jaden's surprise, whenever she made this exclamation, the holographically displayed name beside her head and above her LP immediately rearranged itself to display the name she had insisted upon.

    "Interesting, it seems my contract has approved of your name change. Very well, since this is the case, I shall address you thusly."

     A light flickered across her eyes, as Marla took in the information she was just handed. 'Wait, does that mean he doesn't know the full extent of his own contract's potential? This could be a potential weakness I can exploit. If I continue to carefully observe his movements, he may reveal enough evidence to pinpoint another area of his contract he isn't fully familiar with.'

     Of course, Jaden had intentionally dropped this little tidbit specifically to give her the false hope she was currently experiencing. 'Drama, Flair, and Flamboyance all have their place, no doubt. However, subtlety can never be underestimated. It's super effective whenever properly utilized. Just look at her! I can practically see the little gears in her head churning away. Hahahaha! Oohhhh how good it is to be the King of Games!' Jaden thought merrily to himself, while maintaining his smile of smug confidence.

     Marla quickly finished processing this revelation and realized that not only had Jaden bothered to answer her in the affirmative, he also didn't seem to be in any hurry to make his next move. 'He just stands there with that insufferable grin like everything in the world has no choice but to go his way. Perhaps, this fact in itself is exploitable. He seems to be infinitely overconfident. An insidious vice that certainly has been the ruin of better men than him. Yes, this should be my primary focus in terms of gaining an advantage. It's his one weakness that's right out there in the open. I'd be a fool not to exploit it. As for his other weaknesses, I'll simply have to be cautious and observant and see how things play out.'

     "So, Jaden the Pervert, what's the deal with you being naked? Did you really just show up like this?"

     "Ohh, this?" Jaden asked obliviously, while looking down at his nakedness and giving his balls a good scratch. "Don't mind that. It's just another aspect of my contract. Nothing to worry yourself over. Are you finally ready to get this game started? Or were you waiting for me to make the first move?"

     Marla couldn't help but 'tsk' after witnessing this bit of indecency. 'Turns out he really is a pervert. What a fucking creep!'

     Of course, being the Bandit Queen she was no stranger to either indecency or perverts and so it didn't really bother her all that much.

     "I'll be honest in this part. Even though your contract has explained many things I'd prefer if you'd make the first move. It's my first time, you see. I've never fought a contract mage before."

     "Hahahaha! Bandit Queen Marla, why, you seem almost bashful! If you truly are so hesitant, then I shall oblige you! Neos Alius, eliminate her Bandit Brak! Sparkman, send that Bandit Camp Guard to the Graveyard."

     Both of his Heroes sped towards their targets and eliminated them both. Of course, not before Marla remembered that her LPs were vulnerable when Attack Mode monsters were destroyed and switched them both to Defense Mode. She saw that they were both outmatched in speed and attack and didn't bother trying to maneuver them.