Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 127

Chapter 127: Land of the New Moon, Shipgirl Magic Card!

“How exactly do I use this?” Luke turned the card over in his hands, examining its complex design. The material felt entirely foreign to him—smooth, exceptionally cool, and pleasant against his skin.

Unfortunately, the surface bore no written instructions, leaving Luke completely in the dark on how to trigger its magic and cross over into the Land of the New Moon.

“That is a New Moon Token. Only those holding it are permitted to enter and leave the Land of the New Moon,” the Night Queen explained, her voice slow and melodic. “Your personal spiritual signature has already been bound to it. Even if the token is unfortunately lost or stolen, it will remain useless dead weight to anyone else.”

She shifted slightly, her mature presence commanding the room. “As for how to use it, the process is quite simple. You merely need to inject a thread of your mental power into the core. That will activate the token and tear open a localized teleportation gate directly to the Land of the New Moon.”

“However,” she added, raising a slender finger, “the New Moon Token is strictly a single-use artifact. Once successfully activated, its internal matrix will burn out. It is impossible to enter the realm a second time with that same token.”

In just a few concise sentences, the Night Queen laid out the exact mechanics and limitations of the artifact. As for why an Undying Realm master like her possessed such a rare token in the first place, Luke knew better than to ask such a foolish question.

“I understand.” Following his teacher’s guidance, Luke gently extended his mental power, allowing it to envelop the cool surface of the token. Almost instantly, he sensed a dormant spatial coordinate locked within the material, waiting for the final spark of activation. He also noticed that unless this specific coordinate was deliberately touched by his mind, the token remained entirely inert—a brilliant failsafe against accidental activation.

Essentially, he was holding a highly advanced, portable, biometric teleportation device.

‘As expected of an Undying Realm Magic Card Master. Her experience and sheer depth of insight make me feel like a whole new world has just been cracked open.’ The Night Queen had already settled into his home. To be completely honest, sharing a living space with a woman of such overwhelming, mature beauty left Luke feeling more than a little restless.

But the moment Luke had tapped into the experience card the Night Queen gifted him earlier, that restlessness was entirely swallowed by absolute focus. He became deeply engrossed, unable to pull himself away from the sheer volume of knowledge. Even armed with his unique system and the vast pop-culture memories of his past life, Luke was acutely aware that he was still just a novice stumbling along the path of Magic Cards. Compared to a top-tier sovereign who had lived through countless eras, the gap in raw, practical experience was staggering.

This was exactly why he had agreed to become her disciple. Having a teacher of this caliber meant he could bypass decades of blind trial and error.

The Night Queen had clearly taken his unique, dual-system situation into account., she was an Original Magic Card Creator herself. The experience card she provided carefully detailed the evolutionary stages and branching developmental paths of Magic Card Masters, illuminating blind spots Luke hadn’t even known he had.

“It’s already evening?” Luke blinked, pulling himself out of the mental trance. He felt as though he had only been studying the insights for a few minutes, entirely blind to the hours slipping by.

‘Master, are you awake?’The sweet, familiar voices of Mana and Xiaobai echoed simultaneously in his mind.’Hmm. Where are you two? Oh, and where is Teacher?’Luke stood up, stretching his stiff shoulders as he replied through their mental link.’Master, your Teacher just finished having dinner. She told us not to disturb you and mentioned that you would wake up on your own soon,’Mana replied obediently.’Would you like to have dinner now, Master?”Not just yet.’ Luke paused, weighing his options for a few seconds.’I still have a few important things to take care of.’

Severing the telepathic link, Luke held up the New Moon Token. He planned to strike while the iron was hot and secure the New Moon Blessing tonight. After all, holding a treasure in his hands only brought true peace of mind once its power was fully absorbed.

His mental power surged forward, wrapping around the token once more. The moment his consciousness brushed against the engraved spatial coordinates, the card flared to life. It dissolved into a brilliant light, rapidly expanding and tearing open a swirling teleportation gate right in the middle of his room.

A wisp of crisp, freezing air drifted through the portal from the world beyond, instantly invigorating his spirit and clearing the last dregs of fatigue from his mind.

Taking a firm step forward, Luke’s figure vanished into the swirling vortex.

Just a single wall away, the Night Queen sensed the subtle spatial ripple of his departure. A faint, knowing gleam flickered in her alluring peach-blossom eyes. Moving with a languid, mature grace, she picked up a silken yukata draped over a nearby chair and walked slowly toward the bathroom, the quiet rustle of fabric trailing behind her.

“So this is the Land of the New Moon?”

Luke stepped out of the spatial tear, his eyes sweeping across the stunning landscape. The environment was deeply serene, wrapped in a heavy, almost sacred silence. Stretching out as far as his gaze could reach was a massive, mirror-like lake. And rising from the very center of those still waters was a towering, colossal tree that seemed to pierce the heavens.

‘Even massive dragons like the Red-Eyes Black Dragon or Timaeus would look like mere hatchlings fluttering before its colossal trunk,’ Luke thought, his breath catching in his throat. Despite standing on the distant shore, the sheer scale of the verdant giant made him feel as though he were already standing directly beneath its sprawling canopy.

High above the branches hung a brilliant crescent moon. Its pale light cascaded down like a physical shawl, draping the tranquil lake and the ancient tree in a shimmering silver veil. The entire realm looked like a flawless, poetic painting brought to life.

“If this place existed in my past life, it would absolutely be the most exclusive, top-tier resort on the planet,” Luke murmured, thoroughly impressed by the view.

Even from this extreme distance, he could feel a tidal wave of pure, overflowing vitality radiating from the towering tree. This dense, almost suffocating life force made it immediately obvious that the giant tree was a divine entity.

Though it was his first time setting foot in this realm, his instincts screamed the truth the moment he laid eyes on it: that ancient tree was the exact location where he would receive the New Moon Blessing.

The lake separating him from the trunk was vast, and crossing it on foot was impossible, but mobility was hardly an issue for a Magic Card Master of his caliber.

‘Still, looking at all this water… it’s definitely time to start considering the creation of dedicated aquatic combat Magic Cards. I’m bound to face environments exactly like this in the future,’ Luke mused silently, staring out over the rippling silver surface.

Aquatic combat Magic Cards. He had plenty of source material to draw from. Both the Digital World and the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe boasted terrifying monsters capable of dominating the seas.

In Digimon, there was the loyal MetalSeadramon evolutionary line; Gomamon’s Mega forms, Vikemon and Plesiomon; the sovereign Xuanwumon of the Four Holy Beasts; and the legendary AncientMermaimon, the goddess who governed the Net Ocean.

Over in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, entire archetypes were built around the Water attribute, such as the Deep Sea, Marincess, and White Aura decks.

Armed with two massive original worldviews, Luke wasn’t the least bit worried about finding suitable aquatic fighters. However, when it came to finalizing his selection, he had a very specific tactical requirement in mind.

The surface of the sea was volatile, never offering the stable footing of dry land. Therefore, any aquatic Magic Card he created couldn’t just possess raw offensive firepower—it absolutely had to excel at shielding and transporting the Magic Card Master across treacherous waters!

It wasn’t that Digimon or Duel Spirits were incapable of this. GigaSeadramon, for instance, boasted a metallic length that far exceeded even Whamon, essentially functioning as a heavily armed, amphibious assault carrier. The problem was his current realm; Luke simply didn’t possess the raw spiritual capacity to craft a mechanical leviathan of that absurd tier just yet.

But as he stared at the moonlit lake, a different, far more perfect concept surfaced in his mind. There was a specific military-themed force from his past life that perfectly married devastating naval firepower with absolute, personalized protection.

Shipgirls!