Chapter 126: A Deck Straight Out of the Underworld!

"So, how exactly do we get Professor Crowler back to normal?"

Alexis couldn't help but ask, turning to Rowan.

Among everyone present, Rowan was the only one who knew anything about the rumors surrounding Shadow Duels, and he'd already been through two of them himself.

Seeing this, the others all turned to look at him too, having landed on the same question.

"Barring any surprises, defeating Camula in a Shadow Duel should be enough to lift the doll's seal automatically."

Rowan said, rubbing his chin as he considered it. He remembered that, along the original timeline, once Camula lost, the seal on the doll had indeed vanished on its own.

Still, Rowan was careful not to speak too definitively. After all, his own presence here could still cause small, subtle deviations of one kind or another.

Just as the manner and process of Professor Crowler's defeat this time around had already diverged slightly from how things had originally gone.

"Then there's only one path forward. Defeat that Seven Stars Shadow Duelist, the vampire woman Camula, tomorrow!"

Kaiser Zane Truesdale said seriously.

"I'll be the one to take her on tomorrow!" Jaden volunteered eagerly, pumping his fist.

"No, let me handle it!" Chazz stepped forward as well, competing with Jaden over the chance to take on this dangerous Shadow Duel.

"Camula already called me out by name in her provocation. I might as well be the one to deal with her tomorrow."

Seeing the situation, Rowan spread his hands and said as much.

He figured that if he wasn't careful, this perfectly good opportunity to farm Emotion Points would end up snatched away by these guys, and that would be a real loss on his part.

After all, while Camula's dueling skill was nothing to scoff at, compared to that hotblooded idiot Jaden, or Kaiser Zane Truesdale, the academy's top student who was every bit as strong, she still might not come out on top.

Especially since Camula still had some underhanded tricks up her sleeve.

If she pulled those out, then even if Jaden or Zane Truesdale had a real shot at winning purely on dueling skill, they'd probably still end up losing.

The result being, whether Camula won or lost against Jaden and the others, it wouldn't be a good outcome for Rowan either way.

Better, Rowan figured, to just handle it himself. It would save everyone a lot of trouble too.

Hearing this, Kaiser Zane Truesdale, Jaden, and the others exchanged a glance and didn't press the matter further.

"Since Professor Crowler is unwell and resting in the infirmary, I'll be covering today's theory class in his place."

A middle-aged teacher in a sun-god yellow coat, sporting a handlebar mustache, stood at the front of the lecture hall as he spoke.

Even with a Seven Stars Shadow Duelist attacking the academy, classes still carried on as usual regardless.

At that moment, Rowan sat with his chin propped in his hand, looking utterly bored as he pulled up his System panel, tallying up the rewards from his recent Shadow Duel with Atticus Rhodes, or rather, that Darkness.

[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] [Current Decks Owned: Dark Magician Deck, Lava Golem Deck, Stealth Bird Deck, Shadow HERO Deck, Ojama Deck, Buster Blader Deck] [Emotion Points: 2500]

After previously exchanging for the Buster Blader deck through the System, he'd had 200 Emotion Points left.

Now, he found himself right back up to 2500. Clearly, this Shadow Duel had earned him a full 2300 Emotion Points from Atticus.

That put a satisfied smile on Rowan's face. Especially when he considered that Alexis's goofball of an older brother, Atticus, likely wouldn't even remember what had happened during their Shadow Duel.

The smile at the corner of Rowan's mouth stretched a little wider at the thought.

He decided he'd wait a few days for Atticus to wake up, then keep farming him some more.

With that, Rowan turned his attention, a little expectantly, to the System Shop's refresh for the day, curious to see what new hellish decks might be on offer.

[System Shop (Refreshes every two days)]

Today's Options: [Deck: Red-Eyes Deck (Atticus Rhodes Edition)] 500 Points [Deck: Herald of Perfection Deck (Cursed Negation Build)] 1500 Points [Deck: Golden Castle of Stromberg Deck (Cursed Grave Stacking Build)] 1500 Points [Skill: Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Tail (The Crimson Dragon's punishing power to actively initiate a Shadow Duel against a target)] 3000 Points

"Mark of the Crimson Dragon — Dragon's Tail. So another exchangeable Crimson Dragon mark finally showed up..."

Seeing that last option, the Dragon's Tail, Rowan smiled with satisfaction.

Even though this Crimson Dragon punishing power, letting him actively initiate a Shadow Duel with a target, wasn't necessarily something he'd get much use out of in everyday situations, it was still pretty solid to have.

Better safe than sorry, after all. Some abilities he might never need to use, but that didn't mean he could afford not to have them.

The only thing that gave Rowan a bit of a headache was, once again, the steep 3000-point price tag.

His current 2500 Emotion Points clearly fell quite a bit short.

Especially since the hellish decks that had come up in this refresh of the System's exchange options both looked pretty solid too.

The Atticus Rhodes edition Red-Eyes deck, Rowan naturally didn't give a second thought.

But the other two decks genuinely had real potential. He'd happily call them his "Hell's Court" decks.

This Herald of Perfection deck was clearly a simplified, Ritual Summon-focused build, but the effects on the Ritual Monster it summoned were absurd even by ordinary standards.

The Golden Castle of Stromberg deck, meanwhile, was built around a hellish grave-stacking, direct attack strategy, with an utterly ridiculous amount of burst potential.

Whichever one he picked, if he used it against Camula, Rowan was confident it would bring her plenty of "warmth" and "laughter" in return.

Still, given his current Emotion Point total, after a good deal of agonizing over it, he ultimately made the decisive choice to go with the former.

After all, the former was sure to spike someone's blood pressure even higher.

Probably enough to make even a vampire's coffin lid refuse to stay shut.