Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Final Boss of the Unified Exam

“Incredible! Good heavens, Luke’s expression is absolutely priceless!”

“Damn it, I thought he was just pretending to be cool by keeping his eyes closed. I didn’t expect him to actually let the Dark Magician Girl run the entire show on her own.”

“A master is a master. His realm is completely beyond our reach.”

“Does this guy really have zero fear that his Magic Card might fail?” Wang Ping and Bei Hanyun furrowed their brows, a bitter taste coating their mouths. Listening to the chatter around them, the harsh reality had finally set in: Luke had stopped actively directing the battles between his Magic Card Spirit and the fierce beasts a long time ago.

If it were them standing in that arena, they could never maintain such absolute calm. From that point alone, Luke’s sheer nerve already eclipsed theirs. Coupled with the overwhelming, devastating strength displayed by the Dark Magician Girl, the two prodigies felt entirely powerless.

From the very beginning, Luke had likely never taken this unified examination seriously. That quiet realization made a suffocating sense of frustration rise in their chests.

“If I am not mistaken, the upper limit for the fierce beast levels set for the second stage of this unified examination is strictly Six-Star.” Inside the opulent viewing room of the City Lord’s Mansion, Zhao Chengyuan slowly broke the silence. “Which means the second stage is about to end.”

From the exact moment Bei Hanyun and Wang Ping were eliminated, the final results of the unified examination had been set in stone. Even if Zhao Chengyuan and Da Baiman were reluctant to admit defeat, they were painfully aware of the massive chasm in strength between their students’ Inferno Knight and Water Azure Beast, and Luke’s Dark Magician Girl.

As Emperor Realm Magic Card Masters, their eyes were far sharper than those of ordinary students. Watching the Dark Magician Girl effortlessly execute the Wood Spirit Vine and the Angry Tiger with instant, lethal precision, they understood a terrifying truth: her true combat level had already shattered the Five-Star boundary.

To forge a Six-Star Magic Card on the very first attempt—and for it to be an Original Magic Card—forced everyone in the room to reevaluate the terrifying depths of Luke’s talent. Such monstrous potential, even if placed in the sprawling Cang Capital that governed their Cangling City, would easily rank him among the absolute chosen ones of his generation.

No one had expected such a favored child of heaven to emerge from their humble Cangling City this year. Because of this, every elite in the room leaned forward, burning with curiosity to see exactly how the Dark Magician Girl would handle the final boss of the exam.

“I am afraid the next phase will be rather troublesome. That Six-Star fierce beast is the Storm Cloud Sparrow.” Da Baiman tapped her finger against the armrest, slowly shaking her head. “Although the Storm Cloud Sparrow’s innate quality is not considered top-tier among Six-Star beasts, flying enemies inherently command the absolute advantage of the sky. Even if the Dark Magician Girl is a spell-type Magic Card Spirit, her effective range might not be enough to strike it.”

“But do not forget, Luke’s Dark Magician Girl is an Original Magic Card. She harbors countless unknown possibilities.” Principal Gu acknowledged the logic in Da Baiman’s assessment, yet a fierce hope for his student burned in his chest.

“Let us watch,” Cang Fenghua murmured, a heavy hint of anticipation lacing his voice. “Do not forget that Luke hasn’t even been directing her battles yet. Perhaps he is preparing to surprise us once more.”

Back in the exam space, the atmosphere shifted.

“Master, you’re awake?” Sensing the subtle change in Luke’s breathing, the Dark Magician Girl gathered the scattered materials from the bloodstained earth and quickly hurried to his side.

A considerable mound of loot had already piled up beside him, the physical remnants of the fierce beasts she had slaughtered during his rest.

“Mm. I’ve already conceptualized a portion of the pendant for you.” Luke nodded, his eyes lighting up with a sharp, predatory gleam as he scanned the harvested materials. Without warning, he reached out, pulling the Dark Magician Girl into a tight, sudden embrace, and planted a firm, passionate kiss on her cheek. “You really are my lucky star, Mana!”

Among the freshly dropped loot lay the exact, precise components required to forge a Magic Spellbook.

“Ah!” Ambushed by the sudden intimacy, Dark Magician Girl—Mana’s fair, delicate face instantly flushed a deep crimson. The sudden rush of color made her look exceptionally alluring in the dim light of the arena.

She didn’t push him away. Instead, she leaned into his chest, her bright eyes swimming with a heavy mix of shyness and obvious joy.

“Damn it! My goddess!”

“Luke, get out here! You damn well get out here right now! I demand a duel!”

The students from Third High School, who had previously been cheering for Luke as their champion, instantly exploded into a riot of jealousy.

Meanwhile, the students from First High School and Second High School suddenly felt a dark, vindictive sense of satisfaction. Let them show off, they thought. Even if Luke was a genius from Third High, that beautiful Dark Magician Girl certainly didn’t belong to the rest of them.

Chirp!

Suddenly, a violent, ear-piercing screech shattered the audio of the live broadcast room, reverberating like a physical shockwave throughout the entire unified exam space.

“Holy crap!”

“This is too brutal! How is anyone supposed to fight that?”

Watching the massive, shadowed figure descend from the artificial sky of the exam space, the crowd erupted into panicked shrieks. Even Wang Ping and Bei Hanyun sat frozen in stunned silence.

[Storm Cloud Sparrow]

[Race: Avian]

[Quality: Rare]

[Level: Six-Star]

[Skills: Cloud Movement, Wind Surge, Wing Slash, Sound of Chaos]

“A Six-Star Rare Fierce Beast… the Storm Cloud Sparrow,” Wang Ping muttered, reading the glowing data in the broadcast room word by word. A cold sweat broke out across his scalp.

Due to its aerial supremacy, the Storm Cloud Sparrow’s true combat power could not be measured by standard metrics. Factoring in the absolute advantage of flight, its lethality was entirely comparable to a Six-Star Legacy-level fierce beast. It was universally recognized as the specialized ceiling among Six-Star creatures—bar none.

If even the academy instructors encountered such a beast in the wild, the vast majority would be forced to flee for their lives. A teacher’s primary duty was education; raw combat strength was merely secondary. Unless a Magic Card Spirit possessed devastating ultra-long-range artillery, or was a flying Magic Card itself, securing a stable victory against the Storm Cloud Sparrow was nearly impossible.

“It’s a rigged stage! I originally wanted to see how far Luke could push his limits, but I never expected him to draw the Storm Cloud Sparrow.”

“Damn it, it seems the City Lord’s Mansion never intended for a single student to actually clear this exam!”

“The Dark Magician Girl’s attack power is terrifying, but if her spells can’t reach the target, it’s completely meaningless.”

The Third High School students sighed heavily, the wind knocked out of their sails. None of them had anticipated this brutal matchup. Even the teachers, Zhou Rong and Zhang Ming, exchanged grim looks. They possessed the strength to kill a Storm Cloud Sparrow themselves, but the one standing in the arena wasn’t a seasoned veteran—it was Luke.

“Storm Cloud Sparrow. A Six-Star flying fierce beast.” After calmly tidying up the dropped materials, Luke finally lifted his gaze to the massive avian predator circling above.

His face remained completely impassive. Not a single muscle twitched. Flying beasts were inherently more troublesome than grounded enemies, but that hardly meant his Dark Magician Girl was helpless against them.

Chirp!

The Storm Cloud Sparrow’s predatory eyes locked onto the Dark Magician Girl. Its massive beak opened, and an extremely sharp, highly compressed sonic boom swept down toward the earth.

Sound of Chaos!

It was a magical acoustic weapon, triggered by the violent manipulation of ambient magic power. Even filtered through the broadcast screens, the audience felt its terrifying, bone-rattling penetrating force. Countless students instinctively clamped their hands over their ears.

“I feel like if that sound wave hit me, it would strip the flesh right off my bones,” one examinee muttered, his face pale.

But in the very next second, the entire crowd widened their eyes in absolute shock.