Chapter 137 - 136: So This Is the Kept-Man Life
Chapter 137: Chapter 136: So This Is the Kept-Man Life
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"Luke, what are your plans for the coming stretch of time?"
Inside the private room, Luke and Lilith sat facing each other. Perhaps because there were no outsiders present, the staggering allure that Lilith had reined in earlier was slowly seeping back out of her, restoring her to that one-glance-and-you’re-lost-for-ten-thousand-years state.
After the Magic Card Civilization’s entrance exam, there was no holiday as such. Once the final admission results were released, accepted freshmen could report directly to their academies. But between the exam’s end, the release of results, and the academies’ tug-of-war over admits, a fair amount of downtime remained, and most candidates chose to use it to unwind their frayed nerves before plunging into the even more intense rhythm of university life.
"Before the exam, President Edmund mentioned a new dimensional plane to us. There’s still a good while before the entry date," Luke said, laying out his thinking at an easy pace, having by now developed a degree of immunity to Lilith’s staggering charm. "Before that, I plan to craft a few more cards and round out my combat strength."
The shipgirl cards could wait; he didn’t have much of a concrete plan for them yet. His next goals were to reconstruct Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon into Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and to craft the Swords of Revealing Light along with Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
There was still time before the full-moon night arrived. If he moved briskly, he could probably finish all of it before entering the dimensional plane, and somewhere in there, he also needed to handle his university enrollment.
The biggest problem among them was the construction of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. By Luke’s estimate, Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s starting level would exceed every card currently in his hand, and just as with Mana and Sistermon Blanc, Luke had no intention of crafting a merely ordinary Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"A new dimensional plane? The Eternal Night Plane that the three capitals’ joint expedition discovered?" At Luke’s words, recognition sparked in Lilith instantly.
As the Eastern Region’s Governor, how could she possibly not know of a freshly discovered dimensional plane? When the Eternal Night Plane had first been found, Lilith had personally visited the site.
"Just as well. The Eternal Night Plane very likely contains a Land of Finality. Raising your strength before going in to explore is a sound choice."
"A Land of Finality?" Luke repeated Lilith’s words, his brow creasing. "That’s not some sort of horror battlefield, is it?"
The name alone sounded ominously impressive. And why hadn’t Edmund mentioned any Land of Finality to them back then? More to the point, what was a Land of Finality?
"Your guess isn’t wrong," Lilith said with a nod. "When the civilized world that preceded a dimensional plane collapses because of war, the dimensional plane it transforms into may give birth to a Land of Finality."
"The Eternal Night Plane hasn’t yet undergone comprehensive exploration. But back when the entry restrictions were being tested, some information about the plane itself was also obtained. One piece of it is that the Eternal Night Plane’s predecessor was, in all likelihood, some manner of machine civilization."
"By my conjecture, that machine civilization’s fall was very likely tied to war, which means the Eternal Night Plane that collapsed and transformed out of it carries a considerable probability of having birthed a Land of Finality."
"If you do enter the Eternal Night Plane to explore when the time comes, you’ll need to guard carefully against the Land of Finality. It harbors the perished souls of the collapse and destruction, and they hunt every living thing that sets foot inside, relentlessly, without end. The place is buried in killing intent beyond counting. One careless step, and you could fall there."
"Master, doesn’t briefing me like this carry a faint whiff of cheating?" Listening to Lilith’s introduction of the Land of Finality, Luke rubbed his nose.
"You’re my student. Naturally, you have privileges that belong to you." Lilith was perfectly serene about it. "Anyone with an objection is welcome to raise it to my face."
For Lilith, there was no such thing as recusing herself for appearances. She was Luke’s teacher, and so she would take responsibility for her own student.
She wouldn’t obstruct Luke’s choices. But to know full well what dangers waited in the place he was headed, and to play riddle-keeper anyway under the banner of testing him, was, in Lilith’s view, nothing but an abdication of responsibility. A teacher like that would only end up destroying their own student, and deserved none of the title.
And of course, Lilith had no objection to anyone voicing their dissatisfaction to her. Whether anyone possessed the courage to do so simply wasn’t within the scope of her concern.
That was the privilege of the strong.
It had to be said: as Lilith delivered that supremely domineering declaration, the powerhouse’s aura radiating from her fused seamlessly with her natural allure, producing a peculiar, irreplaceable sense of security.
It was just that Luke suddenly felt as though he’d turned into some pampered pretty-boy. Though, honestly, the feeling was kind of great. No wonder so many people aspired to live off the generosity of a powerful woman.
"You mentioned a moment ago that you plan to craft new cards next," Lilith spoke again, just as that subtle feeling was settling over Luke. "Would you care to share your ideas with me? Perhaps I could offer some guidance."
She was Luke’s teacher, but card crafting touched on a Card Master’s secrets, so if Luke preferred not to say, Lilith wouldn’t take offense over it.
If he was willing to share, however, she would offer what advice she could, the same way she had when Selene crafted the Simurgh. The Simurgh had ultimately come from Selene’s own hands, but Lilith’s guidance along the way had mattered a great deal.
"I plan to reconstruct one of the cards I currently hold, and then craft a new dragon-type card." Luke didn’t particularly mind sharing. Even if he laid out every concept in his head, no one with designs on them could steal a single shred, not even someone as powerful as Lilith.
Card crafting was built on worldviews, and every worldview Luke held was an Original one. As long as he didn’t disclose the information inside those worldviews, then forget Lilith; even if The Supreme came in person and was handed ten thousand years to work with, they couldn’t craft a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Without the corresponding worldview as the foundation, everything else was futile.
The two of them hadn’t known each other long, but Luke also trusted that Lilith would never stoop to that. A teacher pilfering a student’s concept, a Region Governor stealing an examinee’s ideas, if word of something like that ever got out, the loss of face would be total. Whether anyone actually believed the rumor was a separate question, but a seed of doubt would be planted all the same. Where there was smoke, people assumed fire.
"I watched your performance at the exam, and I’ve heard about your earlier showings from others as well." Lilith regarded him for a moment. "It has to be said, you genuinely have talent on the card path."
Original Card crafting was anything but easy, yet in her student’s hands, it appeared almost effortless. More remarkable still, he was this young.
"But have you given thought to which race of card you’ll specialize in going forward?" Her tone pivoted as she continued. "For a Card Master to push their strength further, crafting more cards is unavoidable. But before that, every Card Master selects a primary card race to focus on."
"We generally call this the deck theme. A Card Master’s crafting revolves around that theme. It ensures the specialization of one’s cards, and ensures the cards one holds don’t conflict with each other, which would otherwise compromise the strength one can actually bring to bear."