Anime Magic Card Era

Chapter 127: Chapter 126: This Woman Knows How to Flirt

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If Luke remained at her side at all times, then short of The Supreme arriving in person, Lilith feared no one, not even an equal-tier existence. One came, she’d beat one. A pair came, she’d beat a pair. That was the confidence afforded by holding both the Undying Realm and the status of a Millennial Sovereign.

But keeping him beside her at all times was obviously impossible.

Luke couldn’t realistically stay glued to her, and as the Eastern Region’s Governor, she couldn’t realistically keep him with her everywhere she went. Even Selene had spent large stretches of the past years effectively left to her own devices.

Which meant that if Luke’s situation leaked, the risk it brought him would far outweigh any benefit. At the very least, before he’d grown into his own strength, Lilith had no intention of taking that gamble.

Before leaving the Capital, she’d specifically instructed Aldric to handle the relevant matters. Fortunately, the people who’d witnessed Luke craft his cards in person were few, and none of them would carelessly expose his secrets.

There was also the matter of her taking a student. If word of that got out, it could draw covetous attention of its own. Selene had experienced exactly that in the past.

Granted, everyone who’d dared set their sights on her student had subsequently been dealt with. But that itself proved there was no shortage of people who didn’t fear death. The Ancient Kingdom, and the Eastern Region, were not nearly as stable as their surfaces suggested.

This time, Lilith had no intention of letting anything similar happen.

"I understand, Master." Selene nodded gravely. "I’ll handle these matters."

Luke had only just become Lilith’s student, but as the sole other member of their lineage, Selene wasn’t about to allow her junior brother to be bullied at will, nor did she want him to weather the same incidents she had.

There was one more thing. From Luke’s exam performance, Selene had actually gleaned something of value herself. The continuous evolution and tier escalation of his nun-themed card spirit had opened a door to a new world for her.

She knew she couldn’t replicate something as absurd as Luke’s work; she wasn’t an Original Card crafter. But she possessed a special talent for optimization, and this might serve as a reference direction for her own card creation down the line.

Is this the premonition Master mentioned? Selene mused, and felt as though she was beginning to understand Lilith’s thinking.

"Master, my place is fairly ordinary. There’s only one guest room left, so you may have to make do."

After Selene and Victor had departed, Luke led Lilith back into the house.

Beyond a certain baseline respect, Luke didn’t treat Lilith any differently from anyone else, and that, in itself, pleased her.

She was, by nature, a casual and easygoing person, especially around those she had a genuine connection with, never one to put on airs. Unfortunately, across all these years, the only person in the Eastern Region who’d been close to her was Selene.

Going forward, though, perhaps that circle would expand to include Luke.

At the thought, Lilith glided forward. A single step closed the distance between them, and she raised one slender hand, pressing a fair, scallion-white fingertip to the center of Luke’s brow. A peculiar mark flashed and vanished.

"What I just gave you is access permission to the Night Palace," she said, her peach-blossom eyes lifting to hold his gaze. "Remember this. If you ever face a danger you can’t handle, activate this permission and you can teleport back to the Night Palace immediately."

The Night Palace was Lilith’s domain. Card Masters below the Undying Realm, and card spirits or beasts below the Ten-Star tier, had no means whatsoever of even detecting the space the Night Palace occupied. Breaking into it was further still beyond possibility.

Only an Undying Realm existence like Lilith herself, or a Supreme-tier being, or a Ten-Star-and-above card spirit or beast, could rupture and invade the Night Palace.

The reconstruction of Circe had been an extreme outlier, of course, but only because the entire Night Palace space had been rendered exceptionally fragile at the time. And even then, any invader’s strength would be suppressed to a degree once inside.

So if Luke retreated into the Night Palace in the face of danger, there were genuinely very few people in the entire Magic Card Civilization who could harm him.

It wasn’t only Luke. Selene held a similar permission. It was Lilith’s safety guarantee for her students.

"Master, aren’t you afraid I’ll just hide in the Night Palace forever?" Luke raised an eyebrow once he’d processed the information, meeting her gaze directly.

"In that case, I’ll protect you for the rest of your life. Until you’re confident facing any enemy at all." Lilith smiled faintly and lifted a hand to tuck back a few slightly disheveled strands of hair near her ear, her languid, gentle voice carrying a thread of barely perceptible dominance.

Even an action that simple, that ordinary, stirred a rising heat in the chest. She was allure made flesh.

This woman is far too good at flirting. She was a woman beautiful to an extreme degree, and even Luke couldn’t locate an obvious flaw anywhere on her.

That said, he had to admit, living off the generosity of a peerless beauty like this had its own particular appeal.

"In that case, Senior Sister might get jealous," Luke said. Hiding in the Night Palace forever was, of course, just a joke. But having a life-saving option like this meant that, for a good long while into the future, he wouldn’t have to worry overmuch about his personal safety.

As for any notion that fleeing was shameful, Luke harbored no such illusions. If he could win, he’d put the opponent down. But charging stupidly at something he couldn’t beat, throwing his life away for nothing, was the behavior of a clown.

"Selene isn’t nearly as petty as you imagine." Lilith rewarded him with an elegant eye-roll, then produced a card from within her robes. "Recorded here are my experiences and insights along the path of card-crafting. In the future, when you’re constructing cards, you can draw on the ideas and experience within for reference."

The card-crafting experience of an Undying Realm Card Master. If word of it leaked, it would drive the entire Eastern Region into a frenzy.

"But remember this," Lilith continued. "Every Original Card crafter walks their own path. Another’s experience is only ever for reference. Immerse yourself in it too deeply, and it will hinder your own development."

She had no plans, for the moment, to tell Luke about the Millennial Sovereign matter. Knowing too much might place unnecessary pressure on him, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.

"Understood, Master." Luke nodded, holding the card, which still radiated a faint warmth, and registered her meaning clearly.

Original Cards were bound up with Original Worldviews, and even the creator of a worldview found it no easy task to fully internalize it.

That, however, wasn’t an obstacle for Luke. His two worldviews, Yu-Gi-Oh and the Digital World, both sat at one hundred percent comprehension. He had, in the truest sense, fully mastered them.

"There’s also this. It’s for you, or rather, it’s what you’re owed." As if performing a sleight of hand, Lilith closed her fair, slender fingers around empty air, and a card stamped with a crescent moon insignia appeared, which she once again held out to Luke. "As the reward for placing first in the Eastern Region exam, you’ve earned a slot to enter Crescent Moon Land. This is the Crescent Moon Token that grants entry."