Chapter 56 - Cheated

"Damn. Good game, Aaron." Crystet admitted, as he stood up to shake hands with Aaron. "Thanks, Crystet. Didn't you read the card effect of El Shaddol Winda though?" Aaron replied, as he began to chuckle.

"Wait a second..." Crystet said, as he picked up El Shaddoll Winda from Aaron's side of the field. "You special summoned more than once while this card was on the field!" He yelled, realising that Aaron slightly cheated.

"Yup! It wouldn't have had any effect on the outcome of the game, but I wanted to see if you would notice!" Aaron admitted, as he began laughing out loud. This was because Crystet's face was the colour of beetroot, as he realised that, even though Aaron cheated, he still would have lost. He thought that if he exposed Aaron's cheating, he could see what was under his mask, but that wasn't a possibility, as he still would have lost.

"On turn seven though...how did you beat me that quick?" Crystet asked, as he thought his deck was unbeatable. "Well, I put my deck based around the prospect of fusing mine and your monsters together, so my board would be full, and yours would be empty. Your field was empty for most of the match, and this means that my strategy worked." Aaron answered, taking pride in his deck.

[I didn't think that you would have made such an impressive deck while you were human, Aaron. Quite the spectacle, considering that Crystet believed his deck to be unbeatable.]

'Well, all it takes is some good synergy and decent cards, and you have a decent deck, although, I do have to admit, there were better decks out there, but I never had the money to purchase them, going into the thousands of euros range, and plus, the thirty euro deck I had there is plenty for me.' Aaron replied to the system. It appeared that the system was interested in Yugioh, but only slightly. It probably won't ever come up again.

"Well, I'm impressed. I honestly thought my deck would win, but yours is so finely crafted to win, that I didn't stand a chance." Crystet admitted. He thought he could win, but Aaron wiped the floor with him.

"If you think that's impressive, you should have seen the decks I've played against or made before. They can defeat opponents on the first turn without attacking at all!" Aaron replied, trying to get Crystet to not feel too about losing, but that just made him feel slightly worse, as Aaron had accidentally said 'made'.

"So, that deck wasn't even your best deck? Well, I'll be damned. If that wasn't your best, I wonder what is..." Crystet thought out loud, trying to think of a deck which could do such a thing, but nothing came to mind.

"Well, now that we are done the duel, I believe you owe me fifty euros, as per our bet?" Aaron said, reminding Crystet of their earlier agreement. "Uh....about that....I don't have fifty euro on me right now, but I'll have it by the end of the day. Students are given fifty euro every day as a way to buy stuff like clothes, books, or equipment, so I'll be able to give you my portion today." Crystet answered, but Aaron simply but a grey clawed hand up, and stopped him.

"I don't need the money. I was just testing you to see if you actually had the money on you right now, but it seems that I've found something better. You were actually willing to pay the debt that you would owe, so that's all I need. Plus, I have my own little stash of money for myself, so I'm fine." Aaron replied.

"Also, the duel in itself was more than enough. I enjoyed it, and so, that's all that matters. Although, I'm still not showing you my face. We do need to look at your eyes though. If it is what I think it is, I'll let you know."

'Hey System, do you think that you would be able to scan to see what that black stuff is?' Aaron asked the system.

[Is this a one time thing?]

'Yeah. I just need to make sure that what is afflicting him is what I think it is.'

[Alright, give me a second. I'll scan it for you and portray the information in a different set of brackets.]

After a few seconds, a little information sheet appeared in the corner of his vision.

{Low-Tier Corruption}

{Not enough to come close to fully corrupting a person, but is able to grant slight stat boosts and change their eye colour.}

{Extra Detail}

{The Corruption that Aaron Stone is made of is known as Boundless Corruption, or Ultimate Corruption, which is the highest form of Corruption that can be obtained. It affects the body very differently from the other types of Corruption, which means that, unless you have Ultimate Corruption, you won't be getting pink eyes and a pink mouth like Aaron.}

'So, nothing to worry about then?'

[Nope. All that will happen is that he'll get slightly stronger, and his eyes will change colour, but that's it. The white outside eof his eye will be black, and the iris could either be blue or red, whichever one happens. It might even be heterochromic and he could get one blue iris and one red iris. We don't know until it happens.]

'Alright, thanks for that. I'm gonna relay some of that information to Crystet now.'

[Go ahead. It won't affect you in any negative way.]

Aaron took in a deep breath, before speaking. "Alright Crystet, so, what you are affected by is known as Low-level Corruption, and is the weakest form of Corruption. It only affects the eyes, and will simply give you a slight power boost and will change your eye colour. Nothing else." Aaron summarised. Crystet was shocked at what Aaron knew about this, so he decided to enquire about his knowledge.

"You were wondering if it's something similar to what you are afflicted with, so, is it?" Crystet asked, curious. "Well, there's no point in hiding it. Yes, it is of similar nature to what I suffer from, but mine is much more extreme, so you will not need a mask and a robe." Aaron answered.

"Well, that just makes me all the more curious as to what you look like, but I'm happy with the explanation you gave." Crystet then let out a yawn. "Anyways, I'm gonna take a nap, so you do what you want to do." And, with that, he laid down on his bed, and fell to sleep. He must have been exhausted.

Aaron smiled, as now, he could test out the menu that he'd been curious about for quite a while now.

The Crafting Menu.