Chap Along, If You Feel Like Chappiness Is The Truth!

     "Hmm, it seems there aren't too many weapons since most of the bandits probably kept theirs on their person. I'm guessing their equipment gets sealed with them, so no chance of sealing someone just to steal their stuff.

     "But Holy Shit if these bandits weren't loaded. I'm assuming this is some kind of standardized currency for the region, these gold, silver, and copper coins. They all have the same symbols engraved on them."

     Jaden continued mumbling to himself, as he wandered around the previously 'a bandit camp' and now his private estate.

     A couple of hours later, he finally had a reckoning of all the loot he'd acquired. He had sorted everything into different piles and then moved all of those piles into different tents, many of which held personal storage chests. Everything he felt was valuable and that he might be able to use, he buried inside a deep hole in the former bandit leader's tent, now his personal tent.

     After moving his bed over to cover where the hole had been filled in, he finally stepped outside the camp to resume his journey. A little over half the day was gone by this point, but he hoped that he would find the wood line soon and be able to exit the forest before sundown.

     As he trekked onwards, he held up his recently acquired Ultra Rare card that had taken nearly every single Full Seal he had acquired in order to exchange from the system. It was precisely the reason behind his fancy new threads.

     He was wearing an ankle length coat that was mostly a pure white similar to his bracelet. It was a hybrid slim fitting trench coat/tuxedo/wizard robe. Both the cuffs and the bottom of his coat were slightly flared out for a couple of inches just before the hem.

     Underneath, he wore a pair of ankle wrap sandals that covered three quarters of his shins, a knee length Egyptian type kilt, and an engraved golden Egyptian shoulder wide collar. 

     The ankle wraps were white with gold trimmings and the white kilt was held up by a golden sash with a dangling golden codpiece placed front and center, that was little more than half as long as the kilt.

     The hybrid coat was somewhat slim fitting and near the ankles had a very slim red stripe that covered just the very edge of the robe and the same on the cuffs. In both places, a blue stripe about three times wider than the red one sat directly on top of this red stripe. Spaced evenly above the blue stripe and apart from each other, various golden Egyptian symbols relating to Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Dark, and Light circled both the bottom of the robe and the cuffs.

     The red stripe and blue stripe also followed along the two hemmed edges of the coat's front opening, also accompanied by the same golden Egyptian symbols. Nearing the middle of his chest, the edges of the coat began to fold back on themselves forming a design similar to high end tuxedo necklines. 

     The point where the neckline began folding back is also where the symbols stopped appearing although the blue and red stripes continued all the way around the collar.

     The collar was a raised rigid collar that almost covered the entire back of his neck at its highest and tapered off to a point near the neckline.

     A golden rope wrapped twice around his waist and tied in the front, with dangling tassels, held his raiment closed at the waist, while its tuxedo-like neckline left his well built chest and his shoulder collar mostly exposed.

     On the side of the raiment's shoulders, the artwork featured on the Monster Reborn card was emblazoned there but colored only in varying shades of blue and red, while having its perimeter lined with gold.

     In the center of the raiments back, was emblazoned a large golden Eye of Horus and wrapped around his forearms were two engraved golden bracers, with his IB positioned just before the left bracer.

     A pointy white wizard hat with gold rimmed accents circling it at regular intervals sat atop his head. It looked as if the bottom part of Dark Magician Girl's hat was turned upside down and, instead of being partially detached, was fully connected to the top portion. The top portion then was properly fitting to his head and therefore much smaller around and the pointy top stretched up and curved backwards slightly.

     The pointy angled part of the lower section stretched down across his forehead and came to an end between his eyes, like some type of half visor.

     To top it all off, he held a staff only a few inches shorter than himself that was the same white as his bracelet, looking like some kind of polished ivory. The staff was wrapped by six golden wires that spiraled their way up its length. At the staff's tip, the wires came close together to form an end cap and then spread out again even further only to retract once more. This lead the ends of each wire to meet at a singular point at the top center of a swirling spherical golden wire cage formed from their previous departure from the staff.

     Wrapped snugly inside this spiraled golden wire cage atop his staff, was a crystalline ball that swirled with perfectly separated blue and red colors. It looked as though two amorphous creatures, one red one blue, not only filled out the crystalline ball perfectly but were also in a perpetual battle for supremacy over the sphere they occupied.

     All of these articles of clothing were born from the recently created Ultra Rare Spell Card [Royal Armament]. This card could not be activated in a duel, unless one had already activated four other Super Rare Spell Cards that didn't even exist yet.

     One might ask, "Well, if you can't activate it in a duel, then what good is it?" The answer came from Jaden's previous experience sending his Elemental Heroes to do manual labor, while he would grind for monster souls.

     In order to accomplish this, Jaden had to mark the selected Heroes as being Off Duty. Then and only then would the system not automatically recall them in the event of a duel.

     As Jaden was wandering around his estate trying on different recently deceased bandit's clothes, he felt incredibly dissatisfied with the options available and couldn't help but wonder if there was a better way. 

     As it turned out, there was a better way and that was using his system to add Off Duty and On Duty as possible customizable effect variables on his created cards. The system itself had actually come up with the Off Duty designation, he had simply integrated it into the possible variables available for manipulation whenever creating a new card.

     So, while the On Duty effects of this card were quite spectacular and were more in line with the card's name, the Off Duty effects were to simply be his singular spectacular outfit wardrobe.

     The effects of his impressive and regal looking get up were actually pretty decent although nothing compared to the On Duty version.

     The Ankle Wraps allowed him to have improved footing regardless of the type of surface he was walking on. 

     The Golden Bracers granted him an increase in his Mana Regeneration. 

     The kilt, sash, and codpiece were all connected as a single garment and granted him a larger mana pool. 

     The raiment controlled the temperature around his body, giving him a type of personalized mobile climate control aura. 

     His hat offered him the ability to designate one Off Duty monster and have its IL raised by one level, until it was recalled or placed On Duty.

     Finally, his staff increased the level of his Mana Manipulation skill by the number of his current rank. Meaning, at his current D-Rank, the increase it offered was four. It also helped in channeling the reformed mana outside his body and applying its effects at a distance.

     Jaden couldn't wait, until he had enough Full Seals to create the four Super Rare Spell cards needed to activate this in a duel. He knew that doing so would propel his deck's power to a whole new level.

     Discovering this fantastic new customization option had sent Jaden's mind into a whirlwind of ideas that could increase the Off Duty potential of his deck. His new outfit was seriously impressive both in aesthetics and functions, especially compared to the rags these bandits had worn. Hopefully, the rest of his deck would soon have a similar level of impressiveness, in their Off Duty capabilities.

     For now, however, his exploration still had priority, until he managed to find the wood line and the road beyond it.

     "Come on out, [Elemental HERO Avian.] Sprite, designate Avian as the target to have his IL raised."

     "Yep, you got it!" Sprite responded, as she waved her little Dark Magician girl scepter, twirled around, and pointed the scepter at Avian. The scepter let out an aura of light blue light that flew towards Avian and covered his entire body, before slowly fading away.

     Jaden didn't know whether all of that was necessary to activate the effect or if perhaps the system's personality emulation was just entirely too convincing,! while working in conjunction with its knowledge from his own mind. Either way, he wasn't complaining, just curious.

     "Thanks Sprite! So, Avian, how do you feel buddy!" Jaden asked only half seriously and not really expecting an answer.

     "I am... well… Master." Avian unexpectedly stuttered out.

     "Wow! You can talk now! That's sweet!"

     "Yes, Master." Avian said much more fluidly this time.

     'Hmmm… I don't have any particular problem with being called Master but, given how I'm dressed, my staff, and the fact that I pretty much own this incredibly minuscule part of the world I've just conquered, perhaps something a little more grandiose is in order.' Jaden considered.

     "That's excellent news, Avian, but, instead of calling me Master, you should call me Majesty or Your Majesty."

     "Yes, Majesty!"

     "Now, Avian, take to the skies, find the edge of the forest, determine how far it is from here, and then report back."

     "Your...Majesty…? Search forest, make report, come back?" Avain said, with a strained and anxious look on his face.

     'Okay, so apparently IL 4 is still a bit lacking in comprehension but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I already have loads of experience in dumbing down my commands.'

     "Sprite, can you track the location of my Off Duty monsters, more specifically can you determine how far they are from me?"

     "Yep,yep, yep! Can do! Can do!" Sprite responded enthusiastically, while flying around in loopty loops.

     "Nice! Avian, fly that direction, until you stop seeing these trees and then land at that location."

     Avian looked around at the surrounding trees, then in the direction Jaden was pointing, and then placed his hand on his chin as if considering the information.

     After a couple of seconds, he nodded towards Jaden and said, "Yes, Majesty!" and then immediately took off.

     After sending Avian away and waiting for Sprite to inform him of his success, Jaden inspected his new staff and thought of its ability to assist in the casting of various magics, while continuing forward.

     Jaden had yet to learn any actual spells himself, mostly due to the fact that all of his cards activated effects that were either specific to situations inside the Shadow Game or were simply too advanced for his level. Even the specialized Summoning Spell used when calling out his monsters, he guessed, would require his Mana Manipulation to be up around thirty before he could cast it.

     With his system and its associated artifacts being so overpowered, there just weren't any newbie level spells available for him to practice with. Also, he wouldn't have been able to do so even if he had them because he had yet to finish unraveling his mana core.

     That particular obstacle, however, was very close to being removed, since he was on the edge of a breakthrough and planned on sitting down to finish this task as soon as he returned to the estate.

     Once he managed to fully unravel his Mana Core and spool it back up all orderly like, he would be ready to cast his own spells, something that he was hoping to get assistance with from the humans.

     Until then, he would have to settle for only being able to practice his Mana Manipulation by using external mana. Something that was made much easier by his high level of Mana Sense, which continued to steadily gain proficiency every time he played a card, whether inside of a duel or out.

     "Found it!" Sprite alerted him.

     "It isn't that much further. Avian came to a stop about 1500 meters ahead. We should easily be able to reach there before nightfall."

     "Agreed, that's excellent news! Let's pick up the pace then. Maybe we can meet someone on the road who can give us more information."

     Jaden began walking faster, with Sprite easily matching his pace while flying acrobatically around his position.

     Once they reached Avian's position, they walked alongside the monster until they finally reached the road that had been foretold of long ago.

     "Hey, Sprite, can you set a timer or something and let me know when thirty minutes is up?"

     "You can count on me!" She said, giving him a thumbs up.

     "Very good! Avian, fly in that direction and don't stop, until I recall you."

     Once that Avian had taken off, he summoned up another IL 3 monster, Flame Wingman, and gave it the same order. This time the orders were much simpler and so he could rely on his lower IL monsters.

     Thirty minutes later, he had recalled and resummoned his monsters. "Let's hope this works."

     Resummoning Avian he once again designated him as the target for his hat's IL boost and asked him, "Avian, do you remember the last time I boosted your IL? Do you remember what you saw while flying earlier?"

     "Yes, Majesty! I saw grass and road."

     "Well, that's not exactly what I was hoping for information wise but at least now I know they can remember things, even if those things aren't particularly complicated."

     Pulling out [Elemental HERO Burstinatrix] and [Polymerization], he immediately resummoned Flame Wingman and then marked him as a target for the same effect. The fusion process then effectively 'recalling' Avian, involuntarily.

     "Flame Wingman, do you remember your flight earlier? Do you remember what you saw?"

     "Yes, Majesty! I saw grass, road, and big shapes."

     'Hmmm… big shapes, huh? Could those possibly be houses or some other human constructs? Oh well, considering their comprehension level, I suppose this is about the best I can get out of them.

     'My best guess is that traveling west, where Flame Wingman scouted, is the most likely route to lead to a town of sorts.'

     Jaden then was about to recall Flame Wingman but a thought suddenly occurred to him. 'During that duel earlier, there were multiple instances of monsters being thrown around by one another. It's not surprising they can do such things when their D-Ranked stats are considered but, if it's their D-Ranked stats that allow them to do so, why can't they do so outside of battle. Considering that Flame Wingman is C-Ranked in terms of stats, it should be fairly easy.'

     Instead of giving Flame Wingman commands he decided to take control of him completely as he would sometimes do in a duel.

     Guiding his monster through the process of picking his body up in a secure manner, he then caused Flame Wingman to completely unfurl his wings and take flight.

     "Hahahaha! Yes, it's working! Yeah! Wooohooo! Alright, let's go Flame Wingman! 🎵Won't you fly oooon freeeee biiiirrrd man!🎵"

     Flame Wingman continued flying higher and higher, until he reached an altitude that Jaden liked, and then took off soaring back towards the estate as fast as Jaden's jostling cheeks could handle.