Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 152

Chapter 152: Spiraling Rumors and Absurd Truths

“It’s about time to go.”

The morning air was crisp and carried the faint, crackling residual energy of the city’s defensive arrays. After watching Celestine’s ethereal form dissolve into a cascade of soft, silvery light as she returned to the Land of the New Moon, Luke checked his watch and set off toward the venue.

“A joint graduation ceremony hosted by all three high schools simultaneously… I’m pretty sure a grand event like this is a first in local history,” he muttered to himself, stepping out into the bustling streets.

With the three major schools holding their dismissal ceremonies on the exact same day, and the Capital Lord of Cang Capital personally attending, the scale of Cangling City’s graduation this year was entirely unmatched. Banners fluttered overhead, and holographic Magic Card projections illuminated the morning sky, guiding the masses toward the central plaza.

“It’s a literal sea of people.” Looking at the dense, suffocating crowd packed shoulder-to-shoulder ahead of him, Luke couldn’t help but shake his head. While he didn’t particularly hate lively atmospheres, witnessing this sheer crush of humanity instantly reminded him of traveling during national holidays in his past life. There really wasn’t much of a difference between the two—just an endless tide of heads bobbing under the sun.

“Look, over there! Luke is here!”

“Whoa, really? I haven’t seen him around campus for the past few days. I honestly thought he was going to ghost the graduation ceremony entirely.”

“Are you kidding? How could he? Our Cangling City has only produced a single Eastern Region College Entrance Examination top scorer in decades. Who knows if we’ll ever see another one in our lifetimes? Even if Luke wanted to sleep in, Principal Gu and the higher-ups would have dragged him here out of bed.”

“Exactly. Luke brought an unimaginable amount of glory to Third High School this year. He left First High School and Second High School choking on our dust. If I were the principal, I wouldn’t miss a prime opportunity like this to rub it in their faces either.”

“I bet you anything Principal Gu only agreed to this joint ceremony just so he could flex on the other two principals in public.”

“A youth without flexing is a wasted youth—and I guess that applies to the older generation, too.”

“Would you guys shut up about the school rivalry for five seconds? I heard a rumor that the real reason the three schools merged their ceremonies is because the Capital Lord is attending!”

“Hiss! The Capital Lord is actually coming to a high school graduation? Oh my god, I can’t believe I get to be part of this. The scale is way too high! I’m definitely bragging about this to my parents when I get home.”

“I mean, it’s just a rumor. Who knows if it’s true? Besides, even if the Capital Lord does show up, it’s not like he’s here to see you.”

“If you ask me, if a heavyweight like the Capital Lord is really gracing our little three-school ceremony, it has to be because of Luke. Sure, Luke took first place in the Eastern Region, but there are still plenty of larger cities with way more overall strength than Cangling City.”

“Who cares about overall strength? The Capital Lord is attending our graduation, not theirs. That’s all that matters!”

Luke’s arrival acted like a spark in a powder keg, pushing the already bustling atmosphere to a fever pitch. Whispers and wild theories circulated through the crowd, mutating with every passing ear. Eventually, the gossip spiraled into absolute absurdity, with some students swearing on their decks that the Territory Lord, the Night Queen herself, was en route to attend the ceremony.

Naturally, the vast majority of the crowd maintained a shred of common sense and dismissed the nonsense. The Capital Lord showing up was a stretch, but still within the world of possibility. But the Territory Lord?

The Night Queen was a living myth. She rarely appeared in public, and ever since she took Dream Consort Meng as her personal student, her public sightings had dropped to near zero. More often than not, she simply relayed her decrees through Dream Consort Meng rather than showing her face.

It would take a genuine miracle for the Night Queen to descend upon a humble Cangling City graduation ceremony. Even the City Lord, Cang Fenghua, had only managed to catch a glimpse of the Night Queen a handful of times over his entire career. What chance did ordinary citizens have?

The only logical way she would ever appear was if Luke had somehow followed in Dream Consort Meng’s footsteps and become the Night Queen’s second student.

However, the crowd quickly brushed that thought aside.

Yes, Luke was this year’s top scorer in the Eastern Region College Entrance Examination. But over the decades, the Eastern Region had produced dozens of top scorers. Out of all those generational geniuses, only Dream Consort Meng had ever caught the Night Queen’s eye.

In the hearts of the masses, Luke was still miles behind Dream Consort Meng. Over the years, she had built a flawless reputation that connected deeply with ordinary Magic Card Masters across the entire Eastern Region. She was the gold standard, the ultimate goal every young student strived to reach.

, when the Night Queen first took Dream Consort Meng as her student, the news had triggered a massive shockwave across the Eastern Region, echoing all the way through the Ancient Kingdom. If the Night Queen had truly taken a second disciple, the media would be in an absolute frenzy. The kingdom would be turned upside down. How could things be this quiet?

Therefore, almost no one entertained the possibility.

It was a beautiful irony that only a tiny, terrified fraction of the city’s elite actually knew the truth: the Night Queen had come to Cangling City. Even Yu Xi and her peers had only stumbled upon that terrifying reality by pure accident, fleeing the scene immediately and sealing their lips out of sheer survival instinct.

These ordinary, gossiping students had absolutely no idea that the Night Queen had recently graced their streets, leaving City Lord Cang Fenghua and Chairman Yu sweating bullets for days. Nor could they possibly fathom the actual relationship between Luke and the legendary Territory Lord.

“Luke, you finally made it!”

A familiar voice broke through the noise. Zhang Ming squeezed out from an unknown corner of the dense crowd. Ignoring the staring eyes of the surrounding students, he grabbed Luke’s arm and began pulling him forward. “The Capital Lord has already arrived, let’s hurry up and get to the front.”

“He’s here this early?” Luke blinked in genuine surprise, letting himself be dragged along. He hadn’t expected the Capital Lord to be so punctual. Generally speaking, didn’t VIPs of that caliber always arrive fashionably late to build anticipation?

“I heard the Capital Lord has a massive mountain of paperwork and meetings to deal with today,” Zhang Ming explained in a hushed voice, his eyes darting around, unable to completely mask his giddy excitement. “So, even though he made the trip to attend our graduation, he won’t be staying for very long. He’s on a tight schedule.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Luke nodded in realization. Principal Gu had conveniently left that little detail out when they last spoke.

Weaving their way through the massive, suffocating throng of attendees, the two boys finally broke through to the main stage area. The first thing that caught their eye was the imposing figure seated at the very center of the head table: Cang Ao, the Capital Lord of Cang Capital.

Flanking him were the local heavyweights—City Lord Cang Fenghua, Chairman Yu, and a row of school administrators including Principal Gu, Zhao Chengyuan, and Da Baiman.

Off to the side of the VIPs sat the only two other students allowed in this exclusive zone: Wang Ping and Bei Hanyun.

Aside from Luke’s monstrous, curve-breaking performance, these two had achieved the highest scores in Cangling City during the college entrance exams. Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Chengyuan and Da Baiman had shamelessly dragged their respective star pupils to the head table. Even if the kids just sat there and breathed, the principals hoped they would leave a faint impression on the Capital Lord.

Of course, compared to Luke’s relaxed demeanor, the two top students looked like they were about to face a firing squad.

Both Wang Ping and Bei Hanyun sat rigidly in their chairs, their faces pale and their breathing shallow. Normally, just standing in the same room as City Lord Cang Fenghua was enough to make them nervous. Now, they were mere feet away from Capital Lord Cang Ao—a terrifying authority figure who stood an entire realm above the City Lord.

Under the crushing, silent pressure of so many important figures, the two students felt they deserved a medal just for not bolting from the stage in tears.

It wasn’t just the kids, either. Even the seasoned educators—Principal Gu, Zhao Chengyuan, and Da Baiman—were sitting unnaturally straight, their hands folded stiffly in their laps.

The only ones behaving normally were Cang Fenghua and Chairman Yu.

It made sense. Cang Fenghua was Cang Ao’s direct grandson, entirely immune to the man’s intimidating aura. Meanwhile, Chairman Yu answered directly to Shangguan Hong, a powerhouse who stood on the exact same hierarchical level as Cang Ao. Both men had spent their lives handling high-stakes political waters, completely unfazed by the heavy atmosphere blanketing the stage.