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( Bonus chapter )
The Darkwater Plane materialized around them, and Selene immediately summoned her card.
The divine bird emerged from the summoning circle like a piece of the sky breaking free. Its wingspan stretched sixty feet, dwarfing even the Red-Eyes Black Dragon that had terrorized the Fae Spirit Hollow days earlier. The body was ethereal, shimmering with deep sapphire light, as though the creature existed halfway between the physical world and somewhere else entirely. Only the head bore solid substance: a golden helmet-like crest covered in circular cross-shaped sigils that pulsed with ancient power.
The Simurgh released a crystalline cry, and the ambient mana in the Darkwater Plane churned in response, as if the Plane itself was acknowledging a superior presence.
"Similar to your old Arcane Hawk, but the Hawk was Nine-Star." Aldric studied the bird with the appraising eye of someone who'd seen thousands of card spirits across centuries of life. "This one's reached Ten-Star."
"Nothing gets past you, Governor." Selene ran her hand along the Simurgh's neck, a note of pride breaking through her composure. "This is my Simurgh. Ten-Star Rare. I created it by using Optimization on the Arcane Hawk's background and lore, refining and expanding the worldview foundations until it could support a higher tier."
The Simurgh wasn't a true Original Card. Its core identity was still rooted in the Arcane Hawk, a well-documented Nine-Star card with established lore. But Selene had taken that existing framework and improved it, rewriting aspects of the card's background, adding depth, refining the worldview connections, until the card outgrew its original tier.
Nine-Star to Ten-Star. A leap across the boundary between high-tier and super-tier cards. In an era where true Original Card creation was essentially extinct, this kind of iterative improvement was the next best thing.
And it was only possible because of Optimization.
"New Moon Blessing," Aldric said. It wasn't a question.
Selene nodded. "Every generation, the top scorer in the Eastern Region's entrance exam earns the right to enter the New Moon Grounds. Inside, they receive a unique ability called a New Moon Blessing. Mine was Optimization: the power to refine and upgrade existing cards by improving their background lore and worldview foundations."
"But it's not as simple as it sounds," she added quickly. "The higher the card's existing tier, the harder the optimization becomes. Pushing the Arcane Hawk to Simurgh took me years, even with my master's guidance. If I had to do it again from scratch, I'm not confident I could reproduce the result."
Aldric nodded thoughtfully. The New Moon Blessing gave Selene a higher ceiling, but her own talent determined how far she could actually reach. A powerful tool in talented hands, but not a shortcut.
"Still," Selene continued, a flicker of something wistful crossing her face, "even Optimization has its limits. My master operates on a completely different level. She mentioned that once Circe's reconstruction is complete, she's planning to craft an entirely new Original Card."
Aldric's expression didn't change, but internally, every sensor in his mind lit up. This was the opening he'd been waiting for.
"Speaking of Original Cards," he said, keeping his voice perfectly casual, "it's funny you mention that. A student in Ashenvale, one of the satellite cities under my jurisdiction, recently produced one."
Selene's hand froze on the Simurgh's neck.
"A student." She turned to face Aldric fully. "An Original Card. You're serious."
"His name is Luke Mercer. Commander Realm. He's produced two Original Six-Star cards so far. One Spellcaster-type, one Dragon-type."
Selene stared at him for a long, silent moment.
"Two Six-Star Originals," she repeated slowly. "At Commander Realm."
She knew what that meant. She'd spent years studying under the Night Empress. She'd heard the stories. The Night Empress herself, the most powerful Card Master in the Eastern Region, had crafted her first Original Card at peak Monarch Realm.
And it had been Four-Star.
Luke Mercer had produced Six-Star Originals at Commander Realm. Two of them. Including a dragon-type, the single hardest category to craft.
Selene's mind raced through the implications and arrived at a conclusion she immediately tried to reject.
His talent at this stage is higher than my master's was at the same point in her career.
The thought felt like blasphemy.