Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Original Magic Cards Are Just That Willful!

Strictly speaking, the catastrophic Black Gate anomaly inside the Demon Spirit Home had been entirely triggered by Luke. If anyone owed damages, it was him. Even Cang Fenghua felt a lingering sense of absurdity as he stood there, preparing to compensate the boy.

But words spoken in front of a crowd carried weight, especially for a man of his station. If he went back on his public promise now, he had no doubt that stubborn old man, Principal Gu, would march over and tear his office apart.

Of course, Cang Fenghua also knew that Luke hadn’t intentionally triggered the Black Gate’s mutation; it was just a happy, albeit terrifying, accident.

“What type of materials do you need?”

Luke fell silent, his mind racing through his current deck and future blueprints. “Dragon-type magic card materials,” he finally said, his tone casual but precise. “Specifically, Dragon Eyes. That would be ideal.”

Since the City Lord was offering an open tab, Luke had absolutely no intention of being polite.

Having witnessed the sheer, unadulterated devastation of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Luke acutely understood the massive chasm between intermediate and advanced Magic Cards. Both the Dark Magician Girl and the Red-Eyes Meteor Dragon possessed overwhelming combat power for their respective star levels. Yet, when forced to clash with a genuine Seven-Star monstrosity like the Deep Abyss Hunter, they had only managed to force a grinding, desperate stalemate.

Bridging the gap between a Six-Star and a Seven-Star entity was no small feat. It was a cross-level leap in combat power that most Magic Cards simply could not survive, let alone conquer. This very defiance of logic was exactly why Cang Fenghua and the other veterans were currently looking at Luke as if he were a monster in human skin.

When Luke first forged the Dark Magician Girl and the Red-Eyes Meteor Dragon, he had already mapped out their evolutionary pathways. The next phase required a massive qualitative leap. And for that specific upgrade, high-tier Dragon Eyes were the absolute core catalyst.

As for the fairy and elf-type materials harvested from the Demon Spirit Home, alongside the rare drops salvaged from the Deep Abyss Hunter’s corpse, Luke had set them aside for a different project. He needed time to carefully untangle the fleeting flash of inspiration he had experienced during the heat of battle.

“Dragon-type materials? Dragon Eyes?” The relaxed atmosphere instantly vanished. Cang Fenghua and the surrounding officials stiffened, their expressions twisting into masks of shock.

While Dragon-type materials weren’t exclusively restricted to forging Dragon-type cards, alternative uses were exceedingly rare., anything bearing the bloodline of a dragon was notoriously scarce and astronomically expensive. By specifically requesting Dragon Eyes, Luke was practically broadcasting his intent to forge a brand-new Dragon-type Magic Card.

He had already succeeded once. The terrifying reality was that he could likely do it again.

Cang Fenghua exchanged a heavy, complicated glance with the others. When did Dragon-type Magic Cards become so cheap? Since when were they this easy to mass-produce?

“Is there a problem?” Unaware of the collective mental breakdown happening around him, Luke blinked in genuine confusion.

He actually had a vast reservoir of deck concepts waiting to be realized, but the prohibitive cost of dragon materials always bottlenecked his progress. Purchasing the Undead Infernal Dragon’s Reverse Scale last time had completely drained his savings, leaving his pockets painfully empty. If the City Lord was willing to sponsor the Dragon Eyes required to elevate the Dark Magician Girl, it would save him months of tedious grinding.

Cang Fenghua took a slow, deep breath, forcing his expression into solemn lines. “Luke, am I to understand that you are preparing to create another new Dragon-type Magic Card?”

Prying into a Magic Card Master’s creative process was usually a severe breach of etiquette. But after witnessing the apocalyptic firepower of the Red-Eyes Meteor Dragon and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, even a Sovereign Realm powerhouse like Cang Fenghua didn’t dare underestimate whatever this boy was cooking up next.

“You could say yes, and you could say no,” Luke replied, nodding before shaking his head.

Eye of Timaeus.

That was the exact Magic Card Luke intended to forge next. It was the incarnation of a Legendary Dragon, which dictated the absolute necessity of the Dragon Eyes. Naturally, the true, unrestricted form of a Legendary Dragon operated on a tier far exceeding the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. With his current soul strength, forging the actual entity of Timaeus was impossible.

But Luke didn’t need the physical dragon. He only needed its miraculous power. By concentrating the conceptual framework entirely on the ‘eye’, he could manifest the spell card: Eye of Timaeus.

Hearing this contradictory answer, Cang Fenghua and the others stared at him, utterly bewildered. You’re a genius Magic Card Master, for heaven’s sake! Don’t tell us you haven’t even finalized your own blueprint yet? A rare wave of anxiety rippled through the veteran masters.

Still, these men had weathered countless storms. Despite the burning curiosity gnawing at their restraint, they knew better than to press the issue. The creation of an Original Magic Card was a process shrouded in extreme volatility and uncertainty. Perhaps that very instability was the reason for Luke’s vague answer.

Even so, the thought of this teenager casually whipping up another Original Dragon-type card sparked a sharp, bitter pang of jealousy in their chests. If they had the talent, they would kill to create an Original Magic Card—even a non-dragon one!

How infuriating. A Magic Card Master with a proprietary original worldview really could just do whatever he wanted.

“If you needed standard Dragon-type materials, the City Lord’s Mansion has a few decent items in the vault,” Cang Fenghua said, rubbing his temples and spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “But if it absolutely must be Dragon Eyes… I really can’t produce them for you right now. I used the last pair we had three months ago.”

Only a handful of elite Magic Card Masters within the City Lord’s Mansion possessed the clearance to requisition dragon materials. As a Sovereign Realm expert, Cang Fenghua was naturally at the top of that list. Unfortunately, his ambitious creation attempt three months prior had ended in a catastrophic failure, vaporizing the precious Dragon Eyes into worthless ash.

The memory still stung. Wealth wasn’t the issue; finding a high-quality replacement on the open market was practically impossible. This severe resource bottleneck was the primary chain binding the progression of all Magic Card Masters.

“I see. That’s a shame,” Luke murmured, a flash of disappointment crossing his eyes.

If the Eye of Timaeus was off the table for now, he would just have to pivot. The Fang of Critias or the Claw of Hermos were equally viable conduits for channeling the power of the Legendary Dragons. He refused to believe he couldn’t scrape together the materials for at least one of them. And if all else failed, he had a dozen other non-dragon blueprints ready to go. It would just delay his ultimate strategy a bit.

Just as Luke opened his mouth to list his backup material requirements, Cang Fenghua’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“However,” the City Lord drawled, “just because my Mansion’s vault is empty, doesn’t mean you’re out of luck.”

Cang Fenghua slowly turned his head, his predatory gaze locking directly onto Chairman Yu.

Truth be told, the Magic Card Association’s foundation was easily on par with the City Lord’s Mansion. And when it came to raw, liquid wealth and hoarded materials… the Association was infinitely richer.