Yu-Gi-Oh!: Starting with a Hellish Deck, Depressing the World, Part 42

Only now, it was this bald chancellor instead.

And the number of people being punished had increased too.

But overall, not much had changed.

"But Chancellor Sheppard, there are five of us here. What should we do about the one left over?" Jaden Yuki raised his hand and awkwardly asked the bald chancellor.

He counted them as he spoke: Jiang He and Alexis, plus himself, Syrus, and Chumley. That made five.

If they fought two-on-two duels against the legendary duelists the chancellor had found, one of them would be left out. "Miss Alexis's circumstances are special. She had sufficient reason to go to that dormitory, so perhaps..." Chancellor Sheppard stroked his beard thoughtfully and looked at Alexis, preparing to make a suggestion.

"No, please let me participate too!" Before he could finish, Alexis Rhodes glanced at Jiang He and instinctively refused.

"Uh, is that so..." The bald chancellor looked troubled. "Then what should we do with this exemption?"

"Chancellor Sheppard, why don't we use my exemption from punishment for Chumley instead?" Alexis Rhodes thought for a moment, then offered the suggestion herself.

Jiang He thought it was a good idea and nodded.

Chumley's goal was to become a Duel Monsters card designer, and his dueling ability was considerably weaker than even Jaden's sidekick, Syrus Truesdale.

He was the type who would forget to set a monster with a flip effect.

If Chumley joined a tag duel, they might not actually win...

"Since Miss Alexis has said so, we'll do that." The bald Chancellor Sheppard quickly nodded in agreement.

"Once the two legendary duelists arrive tomorrow, you can pair up however you like. Once the teams are finalized, you'll duel them!" Clearly, that meant they couldn't change partners once they decided who would duel together.

And it wasn't enough for two of them to beat their opponents.

They all had to duel the two so-called legendary duelists, and each team had to win its own duel!

The losers would be expelled.

Though Jiang He figured the bald chancellor would probably change his mind even if they really did lose...

He wouldn't actually go through with it.

After they left the chancellor's office, Chumley thanked Alexis Rhodes on the way for giving him her exemption from punishment.

Jaden Yuki excitedly made Jiang He a proposition. "Jiang He, team up with me and let's take on those two legendary duelists!" "Big bro! Don't leave me behind!" Syrus Truesdale hurriedly cried out in a panic.

With two wavy streams of tears running down his face, he grabbed Jaden and dragged him back until he could barely move. "Syrus, let go! Let go! I get it!" "..." Jiang He couldn't help marveling at the sight.

What a scene full of bromance.

"Pfft." Alexis Rhodes couldn't help laughing as she watched.

Then she did her best to look as though she had no choice. She turned to Jiang He with a faint smile and said, "Since those two have already paired up, I suppose you and I can only team up for now to face the legendary tag duelists Chancellor Sheppard found." "Since you've put it that way, I couldn't refuse even if I wanted to, could I?" Jiang He spread his hands helplessly.

Besides, compared with teaming up with that hot-blooded idiot Jaden or Syrus Truesdale,

he would definitely choose Alexis first...!

As Jiang He saw it, whether she was pretty or not wasn't important. He mainly wanted to test whether there was any truth to the saying, "Work goes easier when men and women work together"!

Chapter 63: Only Four Left?! [Please Subscribe]

After arranging a time to discuss tactics and the like with Alexis Rhodes, Jiang He turned back toward the Slifer Red dormitory with Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale.

It was already noon.

Inside the Slifer Red dormitory's dining room, several plates of food had already been set out on a simple wooden table.

It was the same combination of pickled dried fish and curry mapo tofu as always.

Only this time, there were also several fairly large pieces of fried shrimp!

"Ah, Jiang He, Jaden, you're finally back!"

When the squinting Professor Banner saw Jiang He, Jaden Yuki, and the others enter the simple dining room, he sprang to his feet in delighted surprise. He had been sitting inside holding a fat cat, looking like an empty nester.

Then he came forward to hug them, moved to tears!

"!!!" Jiang He quickly stepped back and pulled Jaden Yuki in front of him!

"Uh... Professor Banner, what happened?!"

Jaden Yuki, Chumley, and Syrus were caught in his embrace, dark lines sliding down their faces as they hurriedly asked in confusion.

The situation had left them all somewhat bewildered.

Only Jiang He had been warned in advance by Sphere Kuriboh. Seeing that something was "off" after opening the door, he had stepped back and dodged the squinting Professor Banner's bromance-filled hug!

Soon, after they returned to the dining room and sat down,

the squinting Professor Banner wiped away his noodle-like streams of tears, held the fat brown cat named Pharaoh, and explained what had happened.

"Some of the students in Slifer Red found out they'd done quite poorly after this morning's written test. So while you were being called to the chancellor's office, they all withdrew, packed their things, and left."

"So there aren't many people left in the entire Slifer Red dormitory now?" Jiang He stroked his chin and asked with a curious expression.

No wonder he had always thought there were so few Slifer Red students in his memory.

So after this morning's written test, most of them had realized they had no future as duelists and voluntarily withdrawn from Duel Academy...?

Hearing this, Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and Chumley all looked questioningly at Professor Banner, waiting for his answer.

"To be precise, only the four of you are left." Banner wiped his tears and nodded in confirmation.

Then he gave an exact number for Jiang He's "not many people."

"..." Jiang He was speechless.

"..." Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and Chumley stared wide-eyed in stunned disbelief.

Even Jiang He didn't quite know where to begin commenting.

Good grief, the four of them were all that remained of Slifer Red.

Granted, Slifer Red hadn't had many people to begin with, only a dozen or so. But at least they had been enough to more or less fill this little dining room...

"So you absolutely have to win this tag duel!" The squinting Banner pressed his palms together and pleaded with Jiang He and the others, urging them on. "I really don't want to manage an empty dormitory!"

"Professor Banner, if you keep delaying and don't let us eat, I think Slifer Red might soon have four fewer students..."

Jiang He pointed at the plates of food on the table and spoke helplessly.

He had played cards for "a whole night" last night, and had only had time for a small bite in the morning. Now it was already noon.

He really was a little hungry.

"Ahaha, of course." Banner hurriedly laughed it off and responded with an awkward, sheepish smile.

He didn't know why, but he kept feeling that Jiang He had noticed something about him.

That included how he had deliberately leaked information about the abandoned dormitory to Jaden and the others yesterday, sending them there to learn about and get used to Shadow Duels in advance. Although the pupil and successor he favored was Jaden Yuki, who likewise had an exceptional talent for alchemy, Jiang He didn't seem ordinary in the slightest either.

What was more, Banner kept feeling that he could faintly sense a considerable protective power hidden within Jiang He! Clearly, the protective power Banner sensed was the Crimson Dragon's Power of Protection that came with the Mark of the Crimson Dragon: Dragon Head Mark ability, which Jiang He had recently exchanged for from the system.

As for Professor Banner's special circumstances, Jiang He had no intention of paying them much attention.

In any case, they wouldn't affect him at all for the time being.

Aside from that little secret, the squinting Professor Banner was a complete goofball.

Jiang He leisurely began eating the lunch in front of him.

Today was the rare day that came once a month when the Slifer Red dormitory served shrimp tempura.

Jiang He didn't mind eating it at all.

Besides, by this time, the deluxe boxed lunches and the like at the Duel Academy store were probably almost sold out.

That made him even less inclined to mind eating lunch in the Slifer Red dormitory dining hall.

Not far away, Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, and Chumley were already eating with blissful expressions all over their faces!

They had eaten pickled dried fish and curry mapo tofu for days on end.

They had practically gone numb from eating it.

And every day, they had to watch Jiang He eat deluxe boxed meals from the Duel Academy store while they could only look on enviously.

Now they had finally gotten their rare, once-a-month shrimp tempura "feast," and it was almost enough to bring the three of them to tears of happiness! Ignoring the three hot-blooded goofballs as they helped themselves to more rice and ate with abandon, Jiang He patted his stomach after eating his fill and headed out for a walk to the small grassy hill near the Slifer Red dormitory where he had arranged to meet Alexis Rhodes. "She's not here yet...?"

When he arrived, Jiang He muttered to himself and looked around, finding that Alexis Rhodes hadn't arrived yet.

But he noticed that the scenery was quite nice. Not only was there a small grassy hill, but there was also a tree he could lean against.

Jiang He promptly settled down against the tree, basking comfortably in the sun as he waited for Alexis. "Kuri kuri!"

Sphere Kuriboh appeared and settled on Jiang He's shoulder, basking in the sun along with him as naturally as ever.

Jiang He took the opportunity to open his system panel and tally up his gains from dueling the dark duelist Titan all night!

[Name: Jiang He]

[Skills: Clear Mind, Duel Spirit Sight Ability, Mark of the Crimson Dragon: Dragon Head Mark (the Crimson Dragon's Power of Protection, which grants immunity to Shadow Duel damage)]

[Current decks: One-turn kill Exodia the Forbidden One Deck, Lava Golem Deck, Stealth Bird Deck (hellish life-point burn style)]

[Emotion Points: 2000]

Chapter 64: Top-Tier Clear Mind [Please Subscribe]

"Two thousand Emotion Points. That means the unlucky Titan gave me 1,700 points last night."

Seeing the 2,000 Emotion Points on his system panel, Jiang He smiled in satisfaction.

After exchanging for the Stealth Bird Deck from the system during the day, he had still had 300 Emotion Points left.

Now he had 2,000. And the extra 1,700 points had clearly come from the unlucky Titan, who had still been providing him with Emotion Points even after passing out last night!

That was quite a haul!

Based on what Jiang He had learned through experience during this period, a duelist like Titan, who had neither much fame nor strength and didn't appear often in the original storyline, shouldn't have been able to provide more Emotion Points than Jaden's sidekick, Syrus Truesdale.

But perhaps because it had been a Shadow Duel, the Emotion Points he received had increased somewhat.

That was a pleasant surprise for Jiang He!

The only thing he found a little regrettable was that this Shadow Duel had been a bit too weak...

There hadn't even been a situation where his Life Points dropped, giving him a chance to test exactly how the Crimson Dragon's Power of Protection from his Mark of the Crimson Dragon: Dragon Head Mark worked.

Jiang He shook his head helplessly.

It looked like he would have to hope for another chance next time.

Then he eagerly continued checking the system shop's exchange options, which should have refreshed again today!

[System shop (refreshes randomly every two days, offering four exchange options each time)]

Today's options:

[Deck: Vehicroid Deck (Syrus Truesdale version)] 500 points.

[Deck: Ojama Deck (hellish version)] 1,500 points.