Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 169

Chapter 169: The Competition is Killing Us!

The crowd in the square parted like the sea, hastily making way the moment Shangguan Pu stepped forward. None of the gathered Magic Card Masters had expected a sudden Dragon-type manifestation to draw out the Deputy Head of the Association himself.

Then again, Dragon-type Magic Card Spirits were vanishingly rare. Missing a chance to witness one up close was a fool’s errand. More, this unidentified rider had bypassed Cang Capital’s formidable airspace defense mechanisms without triggering a single alarm. Whoever was descending upon them possessed an identity far from ordinary.

“Deputy Head, do you have any insight into who our guest might be?” asked an elder who usually shared a cordial relationship with Shangguan Pu. He stroked his beard, having rushed over with the rest of the onlookers the moment the news broke.

The surrounding crowd immediately quieted down, pricking up their ears to catch the insider information.

“We will know soon enough when they land. There is no need to be so anxious,” Shangguan Pu replied, his expression a mask of absolute calm, projecting the image of a man who had everything perfectly calculated.

Deep down, however, Shangguan Pu was viciously cursing the elder’s entire family tree. The old fool was usually so sharp, so why ask such a brainless question in public? If he actually knew who was riding the dragon, he wouldn’t have needed to rush down to the square in person.

‘You are just deliberately trying to make me look bad!’ he grumbled inwardly.

Standing nearby, Shangguan Wan’er had to turn her head away, biting her lower lip. She was genuinely afraid she would burst out laughing and completely shatter her father’s carefully maintained dignity.

“Roar!”

A deafening, primordial roar echoed from the distant clouds, vibrating through the very bones of the onlookers. The massive silhouette rapidly approached the airspace above the Cang Capital General Association, casting a vast shadow over the courtyard before circling down toward the central square in a tempest of displaced air.

“Heavens, what a magnificent beast! Those pitch-black scales and those burning crimson eyes… it is absolutely stunning.”

“The sheer pressure radiating from this Dragon-type is suffocating. It has to be a Seven-Star high-grade at the very least. Even if it were thrown into a deathmatch against an Eight-Star low-grade Magic Card Spirit or a high-tier fierce beast, it could probably hold its ground for a long time.”

“Forget the dragon, I am far more interested in the master commanding it. Wait a minute… those two figures on its back look awfully familiar. Especially the young man.”

“Now that you mention it, he really does.”

“Hold on, I remember now! Isn’t that Luke? I saw him summon a green dragon during the Youth Training Competition, but how did it turn into a black dragon?”

“Wait, the champion of the Eastern Region College Entrance Examination was also named Luke. My kid told me he summoned a Seven-Star Angel-type Magic Card Spirit during the finals!”

“The Dragon Knight Dark Magician Girl from the Youth Training Competition, Angewomon from the College Entrance Exam, and now this terrifying black dragon whose power is undeniably Seven-Star or higher. Does this mean Luke already commands three Seven-Star Magic Card Spirits?”

“Damn it all, are the young people nowadays really this terrifyingly competitive? Are they trying to out-compete us to death? They are leaving us old bones no way to survive!”

The heavy thud of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon landing shook the paving stones of the square. As the massive wings folded back and Luke stepped into the light alongside his companion, the surrounding whispers erupted into a feverish hum. Even Shangguan Pu found himself staring with a deeply complex expression.

‘It really is Luke!’

He had not expected his daughter’s casual guess to be perfectly accurate. This grand entrance also confirmed a staggering truth: Luke possessed a top-tier airspace pass for Cang Capital.

The only logical explanation was that Cang Ao, the Capital Lord himself, had personally gifted the pass to the boy during his recent visit to Cangling City. Shangguan Pu felt a headache coming on. The Capital Lord truly valued Luke to an absurd degree to hand over something of such immense strategic importance.

A city’s airspace was its most critical defensive vulnerability; any breach could jeopardize the lives of millions. Because of this, the requirements for issuing a pass were astronomically strict. Even among the elite nobility of Cang Capital, very few possessed the qualifications to fly freely.

Yet, as Shangguan Pu stared at the imposing, jagged silhouette of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, he suddenly understood Cang Ao’s unmatched gamble.

Dual Dragon-type Magic Cards and a continuously evolving Angel-type Magic Card. Such a devastatingly powerful deck might not even be found in the hands of Monarch or King Realm experts, yet they were all concentrated on a young man who had only just reached the Commander Realm. Forget Cang Capital; the entire Eastern Region had never witnessed a prodigy of this caliber.

It was not that the Magic Cards forged by Monarchs or Kings were inherently weaker than Luke’s creations, but rather a terrifying matter of potential. No one could predict what monstrous heights Luke would reach by the time he fully matured, making it only natural to invest heavily in him now.

‘But at this rate, the gap between him and Wan’er is growing too vast. How is she ever supposed to catch up?’ Shangguan Pu sighed inwardly, his chest tightening with parental anxiety.

He had originally hoped that the distance between Luke and his daughter would serve as a whetstone, providing her with the ultimate motivation to push her limits. Now, however, the sheer scale of Luke’s overwhelming talent had completely shattered the curve. He worried sick that this would backfire, drowning Shangguan Wan’er in excessive frustration rather than inspiring her.

Completely oblivious to her father’s spiraling anxiety, Shangguan Wan’er had already slipped through the crowd, practically skipping over to where Luke and Liu Yanran were dismounting. Staring up at the towering, jagged majesty of the Dragon-type, she shook her head with a wry smile.

“You really have to make a heart-stopping grand entrance every single time, don’t you?”

Despite her light tone, a fleeting shadow of helplessness flickered in the depths of her eyes.

Even though she had poured her soul into successfully creating the Seven-Star Wangchuan Higanbana during the exams, Luke had casually revealed Angewomon, and now he was parading a ferocious Dragon-type whose aura easily rivaled a Seven-Star entity. It was enough to crush anyone’s competitive spirit.

Standing beside Luke, Liu Yanran smoothed down her perfectly tailored long dress. Coincidentally, her outfit shared an almost identical cut to Wan’er’s dress, hugging her curves with mature elegance. However, while Wan’er wore an ethereal goose yellow, Liu Yanran was draped in an intellectual, deep sky blue. The moment the two beauties stood shoulder-to-shoulder, they instantly became the second most dazzling sight in the entire square.

The absolute most dazzling sight, naturally, remained the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Although the sisters were beautiful, a giant, armored dragon of destruction was a Magic Card Master’s ultimate romance. Staring at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon’s jagged horns and fiercely aggressive posture, countless veterans in the crowd were practically drooling with naked envy.

Pulling her gaze away from the dragon, Shangguan Wan’er finally noticed the lingering flush on Liu Yanran’s delicate neck and cheeks. A mischievous glint sparked in her eyes.

“Why is your face so red, Yanran? You two didn’t play a little too wildly up there in the clouds, did you?”

“What absolute nonsense are you spouting? Can you ever say something proper?” Liu Yanran retorted, her embarrassment flaring.

She puffed out her cheeks, turning to shoot a fierce, incredibly flustered glare at Luke. This absolute scoundrel. He simply did not know the meaning of the word gentle. Her cheeks and lips still carried a faint, tingling heat from his earlier aggression, and now she had to endure Wan’er’s merciless teasing on top of it. He was truly too wicked.

Unfortunately for Liu Yanran, her attempt at a lethal glare held absolutely zero threat in Luke’s eyes; she just looked adorably flustered. In fact, the moment he stepped closer and made a casual, teasing gesture as if to pull her close again, she squeaked and jumped back like a startled rabbit, desperately trying to maintain a safe distance in public.

Watching her flustered retreat, Luke let out a low, dry chuckle. He hadn’t expected the usually composed girl to be so easily rattled.