Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Your Card Play Is Wrong!

“One Moon Spirit Ring!” Lin Heling, who had remained utterly silent at the very front of the delegation, finally spoke. Her voice was cool and measured. “If Cangling City can actually win this exchange competition, then Cang Yue City will offer one Moon Spirit Ring as a wager.”

The Moon Spirit Ring was a unique, highly coveted piece of special equipment exclusive to Cang Yue City. Its effect was singular but deeply powerful: as long as it was worn, the artifact would continuously nourish the wearer’s spiritual power and drastically accelerate its recovery speed.

This potent effect remained fully applicable until a Magic Card Master advanced to the Sovereign Realm.

Magic Card Masters burned through colossal amounts of mental energy during the creation process. Often, even if a creator’s physical body could withstand the strain of forging a Magic Card, the rapid depletion of their mental reserves became the final straw that shattered their consciousness.

This was especially true in the later stages of cultivation. When forging high-level Magic Cards, the dual torment of physical exhaustion and mental drain severely tested a Magic Card Master’s willpower.

Therefore, an artifact like the Moon Spirit Ring—which retained its efficacy even for those in the Emperor Realm—naturally became the ultimate pursuit for countless Magic Card Masters.

Although Yu Chengye had been the one to initially propose the wager, if Lin Heling, the City Lord, had not given her explicit approval, a mere principal of Cang Yue Academy would never possess the authority to lay down such a massive stake in this setting.

After all, this was a direct confrontation between two rival cities.

“Lin Heling, are you serious?” Even Cang Fenghua was taken aback, completely unprepared for her to use a Moon Spirit Ring as a gambling chip.

The ring’s effects were legendary, but its production capacity had always been despairingly low. The entirety of Cang Yue City only managed to forge a meager five rings a year!

What made the artifact even more outrageous was its binding property. Once a Moon Spirit Ring was worn, it permanently bound itself to its current owner. Even if it was removed, no one else could ever use it!

This meant the ring could never be passed down as a family heirloom for future generations.

The underlying reason for this strict limitation was that the Moon Spirit Ring connected with the very first mental energy it touched. It permanently transformed its internal structure to match the exact wavelength of the wearer’s mental energy, and every single Magic Card Master possessed a completely unique mental wavelength.

If a subsequent user’s mental energy did not perfectly match that original wavelength, the artifact would refuse to function, rendering it nothing more than a slightly pretty piece of jewelry.

Because of this uncompromising characteristic, the Moon Spirit Ring was a desperately scarce commodity even within Cang Yue City itself. For Magic Card Masters hailing from outside cities, obtaining one was a near-impossible dream.

“Naturally.” Lin Heling’s gaze carried a sharp, unmistakable hint of provocation. Since she dared to initiate this exchange competition and lay a Moon Spirit Ring on the table, it meant she possessed absolute confidence in her victory. “Cang Fenghua, do you dare to accept?”

They had already pulled a similar stunt in Cangyang City; this was simply a repeat performance.

Both Lin Heling and Yu Chengye shared the exact same mindset. Neither of them believed that Cangling City possessed the capability to cause any significant ripples in this exchange competition.

The stellar achievements from the previous year’s college entrance examinations had injected the citizens of Cang Yue City with immense confidence., this year had given rise to Liu Yanran—a candidate whose sheer strength was absolutely on par with last year’s champion, perhaps even superior.

Cang Yue City’s ultimate goal for this year’s college entrance examination was to shatter their previous records and advance even further! Mere stepping stones like Cangyang City and Cangling City were simply not enough to impact their grand trajectory.

‘This crazy woman really has a good plan,’ Cang Fenghua couldn’t help but mutter internally, his eyes narrowing at Lin Heling’s blatant provocation.

Judging purely from the current battle situation, Cang Yue City indeed held a terrifyingly high chance of sweeping this exchange competition. After all, excluding Luke and Bei Hanyun, Wang Ping was already the strongest contender on Cangling City’s side. Yet, Li Yu—the student who had just effortlessly dismantled Wang Ping—only ranked among Cang Yue City’s top five.

‘In the past, you might have actually succeeded,’Cang Fenghua thought to himself, a subtle smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.’But this time, our Cangling City has also produced a monster. A genius that neither your Cang Yue City nor even the entire Cang Capital could ever anticipate.”Luke, whether we suffer a crushing loss or reap a massive harvest today all depends entirely on you.’ Thinking this, Cang Fenghua subtly shifted his gaze toward Luke. Seeing the young man standing there with an expression of absolute, unbothered calm, the City Lord nodded with deep satisfaction.

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” After a few seconds of feigned, heavy contemplation, Cang Fenghua responded with an indifferent shrug.

Although he didn’t explicitly state what he was putting on the table, everyone present understood the unspoken rule. If Cang Yue City won, Cang Fenghua would be forced to cough up a wager of equal, devastating value to the Moon Spirit Ring.

Of course, more, Principal Gu and the other higher-ups fully understood Cang Fenghua’s underlying intentions. They shared his unwavering confidence in Luke. Cangling City was not destined to lose this exchange competition.

As the leaders finalized their high-stakes gamble, new developments were already unfolding on the battlefield.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Luke.” Bei Hanyun took a deep, steadying breath, preparing to step forward into the arena. Wang Ping had already lost, and sending anyone else from their roster up there would just be humiliating themselves. Right now, only she and Luke possessed the strength to deal with Li Yu.

Compared to having their ultimate trump card enter the arena so early, Bei Hanyun felt it would be much safer to let herself test the waters first and systematically deplete Cang Yue City’s active forces.

Although Li Yu’s Inferno Knight and her Water Azure Beast were roughly comparable in both level and quality, her Water Azure Beast still held a distinct elemental advantage. Bei Hanyun was fairly confident she could dismantle the opponent with relative ease.

“No.” Luke reached out, his hand firmly catching Bei Hanyun’s shoulder to stop her advance. “Let me do it. I’m actually getting quite annoyed looking at this Li Yu.”

With those casual words, Luke stepped forward, smoothly bypassing the rest of the team and walking directly onto the ruined battlefield.

“Uh…” Seeing Luke actively intending to take matters into his own hands, Bei Hanyun blinked at his retreating figure and silently recalled her Water Azure Beast Magic Card.

Since the big shot was personally entering the fray, she might as well stay safely on the sidelines and cheer him on.

Although Luke’s early entry would likely rob her of any chance to show off her own skills, it was still infinitely better than being publicly defeated and dragged off the field, wasn’t it?

“Holy crap, Luke is actually going up right now? Isn’t it a bit too early for the boss to step in?”

“So what? I’m sick of looking at this Li Yu anyway. If Luke can go up there and teach him a brutal lesson, that’s even better!”

“Don’t worry! With Luke’s monstrous strength, he can definitely crush Cang Yue City into the dirt!”

Wang Ping and the other defeated students couldn’t help but get riled up upon seeing Luke enter the arena. Their initial gloom and disappointment instantly faded into fervent excitement. This sudden shift in atmosphere deeply annoyed the delegation from Cang Yue City, especially the arrogant remarks about being crushed.

“This isn’t a war of words. Save the big talk for when you’ve actually won a match.”

“Heh, crush us? If this Luke guy can take down Li Yu in under a minute, I’ll stand on my head and eat shit!”

‘Is that Luke?’ Within the Cang Yue City formation, Liu Yanran’s beautiful eyes also fell upon the young man, carrying a distinct hint of curiosity.

Liu Yanran didn’t bother participating in the petty verbal sparring of her peers; such things were entirely meaningless to her. Instead, her cool gaze remained entirely fixed on Luke. To be so highly anticipated and revered by the entirety of Cangling City, this Luke’s strength shouldn’t be too disappointing.

Yet, despite the hype, Liu Yanran still didn’t feel the slightest trace of tension. Thinking of the absolute trump card Magic Card combination she held quietly in her possession, the brief flash of curiosity in her eyes slowly cooled back into absolute indifference.

Regardless of who stood in her way, in this exchange competition, she would personally lead Cang Yue City to final, obvious victory!