Chapter 104: A Timely Lifeline — “Delivery Rowan”!

"So these are the Spirit Keys..."

Rowan studied the oddly shaped bronze-gold keys nestled in the case with genuine interest.

They looked more or less as he had imagined.

What he hadn't anticipated was the sensation that came with looking at them.

Since last night, after redeeming the Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Heart from the system, he had gained the Crimson Dragon's spirit communication ability.

And through it, he could faintly perceive something emanating from these keys. A subtle, curious energy.

Something designed to absorb and accumulate power.

"Each key to the Spirit Gates must be charged through shadow dueling," Chancellor Sheppard said, his eyes moving across the assembled group with evident sincerity.

"Only once a key has gathered sufficient dueling energy can it activate the corresponding gate in the seal."

"Which is why I am asking each of you to take custody of one key. To ensure the Sacred Beasts remain sealed, this time as before."

"There's one problem," Rowan said, glancing around the room. "There are more than seven of us."

He did a quick count. Alexis, Professor Crowler, Professor Banner, and the others. Eight people, all told.

His own presence here had added one extra body compared to how events would have unfolded in the original story.

And that was already excluding Jasmine, Mindy, Syrus, and Chumley.

"There's no need to worry about that," Chancellor Sheppard said with a mild smile, eyes drifting toward two people standing slightly to the side.

"Two of you were only called in as contingency numbers, in case we came up short."

...

Professor Crowler and Professor Banner exchanged a look.

They had some dignity, thank you very much.

"Professor Banner," Crowler announced brightly, pivoting immediately, "it appears the chancellor is saying that you and that failing delinquent, Jaden, were brought in purely as filler."

He redirected the implication with practiced ease, conveniently forgetting that moments ago he himself had been quietly plotting an escape route from anything that might involve actual shadow dueling.

He was Crowler. Professor Vellian Crowler. Last scion of a noble lineage.

The head of practical dueling at Duel Academy. To be called filler was simply unacceptable.

"A masterclass in saving face at any cost," Rowan noted internally, watching the performance with a twitch of his mouth.

This was the same man who had been sizing up the exit not five minutes ago.

"In that case, Professor Banner, please step back from the group of keyholders," Chancellor Sheppard said, resolving the situation simply.

Rowan's internal commentary was brief.

One insider eliminated.

He didn't hold anything against Banner personally.

The man was genuinely warm and well-meaning. But if Rowan remembered correctly, Banner's current identity was precisely one of the Seven Stars shadow duelists the chancellor had just been describing.

Handing a Spirit Key to Professor Banner would be roughly equivalent to gift-wrapping it and delivering it to the enemy.

...

After each of the seven remaining individuals had taken a key from the black case and hung it around their neck as a pendant, Chancellor Sheppard looked at them all with the weight of someone who understood what he was setting in motion.

"I am deeply grateful that you've all agreed to this. Please take every precaution. From this moment forward, the battle may already have begun."

"Be prepared for the possibility of encountering a Seven Stars shadow duelist at any time."

Rowan was not particularly concerned about the shadow duelists.

If anything, he welcomed them.

The entire Duel Academy campus had nearly run dry of people willing to duel him.

After celebrating the completion of his luxury cabin last night and redeeming the Dragon's Heart from the system, he had actually lain awake for a moment with the minor headache of wondering where his next source of Emotion Points was going to come from once the system's shop options refreshed.

The Seven Stars organization, with its seven shadow duelists arriving right on cue, was an answer to a problem he hadn't quite known how to solve.

Rowan privately deemed them a timely delivery service, dispatched specifically for his benefit.

Seven duelists, seven paychecks.

...

That evening.

Rowan reclined in the indoor hot spring of his luxury cabin, a glass of juice resting on the wooden tray floating beside him, and opened his personal status panel to review what the system had refreshed today.

He turned the question of which new deck to redeem over in his mind at a leisurely pace.

Nearby, the round Kuriboh floated on the surface of the spring with a tiny swim ring around its round body and a small towel draped over its head, contributing nothing and enjoying everything.

Intangible as it was, that didn't stop it from making the most of its owner's amenities.

The Ojama brothers had drawn the short straw, as usual.

The three of them hovered in the air beside the Kuriboh, providing massage services and keeping its juice glass topped up.

In the strict hierarchy of dueling spirits, Kuriboh's 300 ATK was a towering figure compared to the Ojamas' collective zero.

It might as well have been divine.

Ever since the round Kuriboh had administered a brisk scratching to all three of them with its small round paws the night before, the Ojama brothers had accepted their new rank without further protest.

They were now the Kuriboh's attendants, and they were committed to the role.

Rowan paid them no attention and focused on his panel.

Name: Rowan Skills: Spirit Vision, Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Head, Superior Still Water Clarity, Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Heart (Crimson Dragon spirit communication ability, enabling telepathic dialogue with duel monster spirits and other designated targets) Current Decks: Dark Magician Deck, Lava Golem Deck, Stealth Bird Deck, Shadow HERO Deck, Ojama Deck Emotion Points: 1700

The duel with Chazz had generated a clean 2,200 Emotion Points.

Combined with the 2,500 he had carried over from before, and accounting for last night's expenditure on the Dragon's Heart, he was sitting at 1,700 points remaining.

Based on past experience with the system's refresh cycles, Rowan was reasonably confident that whatever new options had appeared today, 1,700 points would be more than enough to redeem another deck.