Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 110

Chapter 110: This Magic Card Looks Very Ordinary

“Out already? I was only one second away! Why couldn’t they just give me one more second?!”

“It’s over. When I get home, my old man is definitely breaking my legs!”

“Repeating, repeating, always repeating! This is my third year retaking the exam. Can’t I just pass once in peace?!”

Across the originally empty plazas of various high schools, flashes of teleportation light flared in rapid succession. Dozens of examinees were unceremoniously dumped onto the hard paving stones. As they took in their familiar surroundings, the blood drained from their faces, leaving them pale and trembling.

This scenery meant only one thing: they had been eliminated in the very first stage of the college entrance examination.

It wasn’t just the students who were suffering. The expressions of the supervising teachers soured considerably as they watched the familiar figures of their own students materialize in the square. Being knocked out in the preliminary round was a massive loss of face for the instructors who had trained them.

Unfortunately, no matter how frustrated the faculty felt, they had to swallow their disappointment and immediately step in to manage the emotional fallout. If they let these eliminated teenagers spiral into despair, the resulting psychological backlash could cause real trouble, and the teachers would be the ones held responsible.

While the instructors busied themselves comforting the weeping failures, the elite few who had survived the first trial were already being transported to the second assessment venue.

“A new location for the second stage?”

As the blinding white light faded, Luke found himself standing in an entirely different domain. Unlike the previous arena, this new four-hundred-square-meter room lacked the oppressive giant clock suspended in the sky. Instead, a solitary, shimmering gate of light stood at the far end of the chamber.

Confusion rippled through the minds of the surviving examinees across their respective instances. What exactly were they supposed to face now? What was waiting on the other side of that glowing threshold?

A few overly curious students, driven by a reckless desire to tempt fate, reached out to touch the luminous surface of the gate. Before their fingers could even brush the light, a mechanical chime echoed through the space, interrupting them.

[Congratulations to all examinees who passed the first stage. Welcome to the second stage of the college entrance examination!]

[Second Stage: Breakthrough!]

[In this stage, all examinees must continuously advance through the light gate before them to enter the next checkpoint. Within these checkpoints, you will encounter fierce beasts or rival examinees. You must defeat the enemy in your current zone to unlock the path forward. This gauntlet will continue until all others are eliminated or you emerge as the final victor. Being defeated means instantly losing your college entrance examination qualification.]

[For every enemy defeated, the victorious examinee will be granted ten minutes of rest. If you do not enter the next stage before this rest period expires, it will be treated as a voluntary forfeit.]

[The second stage will officially begin in ten minutes. Examinees, please make your preparations!]

“So, behind the gate, it’s a coin toss between a fierce beast and another student. It doesn’t matter. No matter who or what I run into, I’m not losing.”

“I just hope I don’t draw a monster of an opponent right out of the gate. My strongest Magic Card is only Three-Star. If I get knocked out too early, my chances of getting into a top-tier university are completely shot.”

“This whole setup is basically a massive test of luck. But speaking of luck, I’ve never lost a gamble in my life.”

The ten-minute countdown ticked away, thick with mounting anxiety. The moment the timer hit zero, the solitary light gates in every examinee’s isolated room flared with a brilliant, pulsing glow, stabilizing into fully formed teleportation portals.

“Let’s go, Xiao Bai. I’m leaving the upcoming battles in your hands.” Luke glanced back, gesturing for Sistermon Blanc to follow him.

Although the second stage placed absolutely no restrictions on the number of Magic Cards an examinee could summon, Luke had no intention of swarming his enemies. Unless some unforeseen disaster occurred, he planned to let Xiao Bai handle the gauntlet solo. This was the perfect environment to field-test the raw combat power of his new Digimon Magic Card.

“Understood, Tamer Lord.”

Gripping her staff, Sistermon Blanc followed closely on Luke’s heels, stepping through the shimmering portal.

The scenery shifted instantly. The moment their boots touched the ground of the new arena, a massive, predatory feline—easily the size of a fully grown adult human—materialized from the shadows directly in front of them.

[Shadow Leopard]

Race: Beast

Quality: Rare

Level: Two-Star

Skills: Extreme Speed, Hunt, Shadow Stealth

“A Two-Star Rare-grade Shadow Leopard? Its specs are a bit lacking,” Luke muttered, analyzing the beast’s data.

As he evaluated his opponent, the Shadow Leopard locked its glowing, slit-pupil eyes onto Luke and the petite nun standing beside him.

With a low, vibrating snarl, the beast activated its Shadow Stealth skill. Its dark fur seemed to melt into the ambient lighting, its massive frame vanishing completely from sight. Simultaneously, the activation of Extreme Speed caused the air to ripple as the invisible predator launched itself silently toward Luke’s throat.

“Protect Wave!”

Sistermon Blanc didn’t even blink. She raised the heavy trident-cross staff in her hands and slammed the blunt end brutally into the stone floor. A violent, concussive shockwave erupted outward from the point of impact. The invisible Shadow Leopard, caught mid-leap in its high-speed ambush, took the full force of the blast. The kinetic wave shattered its stealth, throwing the massive beast backward through the air as it let out a startled yowl.

“Divine Pierce!”

Before the feline could even attempt to adjust its posture in mid-air, Sistermon Blanc pivoted on her heel and hurled her trident-cross staff like a javelin. The heavy weapon tore through the air with a vicious whistle, impaling the Shadow Leopard cleanly through the chest. The beast let out a single, gurgling cry before its body went limp, instantly killed.

The entire sequence was executed with terrifying fluidity. There was no hesitation, no wasted movement, and absolutely no sign of unfamiliarity from Xiao Bai. It was as if she had rehearsed this exact slaughter a thousand times over.

Even Luke raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised by the sheer lethality of the exchange. His Xiao Bai was vastly different from the gentle image he had in his head; she was actually incredibly fierce.

But the very next second, the illusion of the battle-hardened war goddess shattered. Having retrieved her staff, Sistermon Blanc immediately reverted to her delicate, timid demeanor, shrinking back and hiding her face behind the metal shaft of her weapon as she peeked nervously at Luke.

Good lord, the gap moe is lethal. I almost thought she had triggered her Awakening skill just now. Luke couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly at the sheer contrast.

Every iteration of Sistermon possessed an Awakening skill. For Xiao Bai, the trigger was the holy brand stamped into the center of her nun’s wimple. Once activated, she would enter an awakened state, completely shedding her conservative, shy personality to become a berserker driven purely by raw combat instinct, tearing across the battlefield with furious, unhinged violence.

But the moment she powered down from that state, she would snap right back to this delicate, easily frightened girl.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring room back in Cangling City, Zhao Chengyuan and Da Baiman exchanged bewildered glances.

“Why do I feel like Luke’s new Magic Card is a bit… ordinary?” Zhao Chengyuan muttered, scratching his chin.

Having grown accustomed to the dazzling, complex spell combinations of Dark Magician Girl, and the suffocating, apocalyptic presence of the Red-Eyes Meteor Dragon, watching this timid, fragile-looking Sistermon Blanc poke a leopard with a stick felt incredibly underwhelming.

They had obviously seen how smoothly she had instantly killed the Shadow Leopard just now. But given Luke’s track record of summoning literal nightmares, wasn’t one-shotting a Two-Star beast just basic operation for him? Overall, Sistermon Blanc’s visual impact was miles away from what they had come to expect.

“Even among Original Magic Cards, there are natural variances in raw strength,” Principal Gu noted, keeping his eyes on the screen. “Besides, Luke’s Magic Card is drawn from a completely new worldview. This might just be his first attempt at mapping out a new system.”

Zhao Chengyuan nodded, acknowledging the logic in the Principal’s words, yet he still felt an overwhelming sense of obnoxious flexing radiating from the screen. Damn it, they all desperately wanted the talent to just casually ‘try out’ creating a completely new, perfectly functional Original Magic Card!

Even just once! Just once would be enough for a lifetime of bragging rights!

“Luke’s new Magic Card might look a bit ordinary right now, but don’t forget his history. He has consistently created Magic Cards that dominate the absolute peak of their respective grades,” Cang Fenghua interjected, her sharp eyes tracking Sistermon Blanc’s movements on the monitor. “A Two-Star Shadow Leopard, even as a mere testing dummy, is simply far too weak to force out her true colors.”