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"I'll process your elite membership upgrade as soon as I return to the Association." Harrison stood, brushing invisible dust from his sleeves. "Should be finalized within a day or two. You'll see the update in your member profile."
"Elite membership is a different world from standard. Material purchases come with a percentage discount. Mission boards give you priority access. And there are other benefits you'll discover as you go." He ticked these off with the practiced air of someone reciting a familiar list. "The basics alone make it worthwhile, and the deeper perks take time to explore."
"I'll keep an eye out, President Cole." Luke nodded. Any discount on materials was welcome. Card Masters burned through money faster than most professions, and every saved coin meant one more ingredient he didn't have to compromise on.
"Good. Now get some rest." Harrison headed for the door, then turned back one last time. "The Youth Training Competition is in a few days. Arrive in peak condition. The competitors selected by each branch president are no pushovers. Every one of them earned their spot. Don't underestimate anyone."
"And while your Original Cards give you an edge nobody else can match, an edge doesn't win fights on its own. Stay sharp."
Luke heard the genuine concern beneath the professional advice. He'd agreed to represent Ashenvale, and he intended to deliver. Showing up half-prepared wasn't in his vocabulary.
Harrison left. The apartment fell quiet.
-----
Darkwater Plane.
Aldric Ashford stood at the edge of a frozen cavern, watching Selene collect the Glacial Wellspring with careful, measured movements.
Beside him, his card spirit stood guard.
*「 Polar Sea Fang 」*
Race: Ice Beast
Quality: Epic
Level: ★★★★★★★★★★★ (Eleven-Star)
Skills: Rapid Ice Shot, Frost Fang, Ocean Hailstorm, Polar Storm
The creature was enormous. A mountain of pale-blue armor plating and frozen muscle, radiating a pressure so dense that the air within a hundred meters had crystallized into visible ice particles. It wasn't Aldric's strongest card, but it was one of his favorites, a beast whose speed defied its massive frame.
The Simurgh, perched on a ledge above Selene, had tucked its wings tight against its body the moment the Polar Sea Fang appeared. Ten-Star Rare against Eleven-Star Epic. One full super-tier gap. At that level, each individual star represented a chasm of power. The Simurgh was formidable by any normal standard, but next to the Polar Sea Fang, it was a housecat standing beside a tiger.
The beast lord that had claimed this wellspring as its territory lay in two halves fifty meters away, its massive body still steaming where the killing blow had split it from skull to sternum. The fight between two Eleven-Star creatures had been brutal. At that tier, every exchange shook the surrounding landscape, every technique gouged craters into the frozen ground. The beast lord had defended its territory with the ferocity of something that had ruled this region for centuries, and it had pushed the Polar Sea Fang harder than most opponents ever did.
But Aldric hadn't become one of the Eastern Region's three most powerful governors by owning weak cards. The Polar Sea Fang's speed, impossible for its size, had been the deciding factor. Every time the beast lord committed to an attack, the ice beast was already behind it. Death by a thousand cuts, each Frost Fang strike carving deeper into the lord's defenses until the final blow cleaved it apart. Even in death, its corpse still leaked pressure into the surrounding area, which, combined with Aldric's card, created a dead zone that no other beast in the Darkwater Plane dared approach.
"That should be enough." Selene sealed the last container and straightened. She'd collected roughly three-quarters of the wellspring's reserves, leaving enough for the spring to regenerate naturally over time.
The Glacial Wellspring was the final material needed for Circe's reconstruction. Everything else had already been gathered. Once Selene delivered this to the Night Empress, the process could begin immediately.
"Thank you, Governor Ashford. Truly." Selene offered a formal bow. "This trip would have been far more dangerous without you."
"Don't mention it." Aldric waved the gratitude away, scratching the Polar Sea Fang behind one of its armored ear ridges. The beast rumbled, a sound like an avalanche deciding whether or not to happen. "You're here on the Night Empress's behalf. Helping you is helping her. I'm not about to make life difficult for my own boss."
Selene smiled at that. Even an Immortal Realm governor answered to the Undying.
"Give my regards to your master when you see her."
"I will."
-----
The Night Palace existed outside normal space.
It wasn't located on the main plane of Magic Card Civilization. It wasn't hidden in a mountain range or buried beneath an ocean. The Night Empress had taken an entire Dimensional Plane, a small one, and reshaped it into her personal domain. The other three Undying domain rulers had done the same with their own residences. When you reached the level where death itself couldn't touch you, living among mortals lost its appeal.
Entering the Night Palace without authorization meant being classified as an invader. The consequences of that classification were not something anyone wanted to experience. Even Immortal Realm Card Masters couldn't locate the Palace's spatial coordinates, let alone breach its defenses.
Selene Dawnford was the sole exception. As the Night Empress's only student, she held unrestricted access, a privilege shared by exactly one other living Card Master: the Supreme.
The spatial transfer deposited Selene in a familiar corridor. She took a deep breath of the Palace's air, tinged with something floral and faintly intoxicating, and walked quickly toward the main hall.
"Selene. Welcome back." The voice reached her before the speaker did. Low, musical, dripping with a warmth that somehow made your skin tingle. Even after years of hearing it, even knowing exactly who it belonged to, Selene felt heat rise to her cheeks.
Then the Night Empress stepped into view, and Selene's thoughts briefly stuttered.
She always forgot. No matter how many times she saw her master, she always forgot just how much the Night Empress was.
A face so perfectly sculpted it looked like it had been designed rather than born. Red eyes that curved upward at the corners like peach blossoms, carrying an innate seductiveness that had nothing to do with effort and everything to do with nature. Cherry lips that seemed to be permanently on the verge of a smile that promised things you shouldn't want. A crimson mark at the center of her forehead, small as a teardrop, that somehow drew the eye more than anything else.
Silver-white hair cascaded past her shoulders, catching the light like liquid mercury. She wore a red formal gown cut in a Western style, cinched at the waist with a gold sash tied into an elaborate butterfly knot. The overall effect was less "powerful Card Master" and more "divine punishment wearing couture."
Lilith Crescent. The Night Empress. One of four Undying Realm masters in the Ancient Kingdom. Ruler of the Eastern Region. Two thousand years old.
She looked twenty-five. And devastating.
Even Selene, who was herself strikingly beautiful, felt the involuntary urge to shrink in her master's presence. Not from fear. From the simple, undeniable reality that standing next to Lilith Crescent made everyone else look ordinary.
"Master." Selene composed herself and bowed.