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"Is something the matter?" Sensing Luke's gaze, Celestine turned to look at him, her emerald eyes clear beyond compare, giving the impression of gazing directly upon nature itself, soundlessly soothing a person into calm and peace.
"It's nothing." Luke shook his head. "My mana recovery's a fair bit faster than it used to be. I was just wondering whether it's because of you."
"Nature's Blessing." Faced with Luke's question, Celestine made no attempt to conceal it. "It's one of the Ancient Spirit Tree's unique abilities. So long as it's rooted upon a world, it can draw upon that world's mana without limit."
"Anyone the Ancient Spirit Tree acknowledges, so long as they remain within its range, has their mana recovery speed greatly accelerated."
"As a tree-spirit born of the World Tree, I likewise possess the ability of Nature's Blessing, though compared to the main body, the effect is considerably diminished."
"And you are my contractor, so when I'm at your side, you too come under the influence of Nature's Blessing."
"So that's how it is." Celestine's explanation confirmed Luke's conjecture, but hearing the description of Nature's Blessing, he still couldn't help smacking his lips, his mind turning, in that moment, to the chargers and power banks of his past life.
The Ancient Spirit Tree's Nature's Blessing was, to a Card Master, the equivalent of a charger, but it also restricted a Card Master's range of movement. Celestine's Nature's Blessing, while its effect didn't match the main body's terrifying degree, was still a respectable boost for a Card Master.
On top of that, Celestine had one further advantage: she wasn't bound by the Ancient Spirit Tree's restriction of being rooted within a fixed range, but could move about freely. Compared to a charger, that made her more like a power bank.
Doesn't that mean I've effectively gained a portable charger? The thought struck Luke unbidden. He hadn't expected the Spirit-Value Aegis blessing to bring along so many special effects.
"That said, to replenish mana at any time, I'd have to keep Celestine by my side constantly, which doesn't seem all that realistic." In the end, Luke still shook his head. "But in special circumstances, it could produce some unexpected effects."
"Mm, perhaps I can use these next few days to see whether I can fuse a few more of the materials for crafting Kisara." At the thought, Luke voiced his idea to Celestine.
Perhaps because his Spirit Core was linked with hers, Luke had an intuition that even if he exposed the Multiple Fusion ability in front of Celestine, she wouldn't do anything to his detriment.
"Is that so?" Hearing Luke's idea, Celestine tilted her head again, seeming to mull it over, but after a few seconds she nodded. "Mm. If it would help you."
Even if she went back, Celestine had nothing in particular to occupy her, so staying by Luke's side was much the same. Just as Luke sensed Celestine wouldn't harm him, Celestine held a special fondness for Luke in turn.
Mana welled up, and several blue-grade materials before Luke were blended together by a special force, ultimately becoming an inscription stone radiating white light, its quality raised to the purple grade.
"Even with the Rewrite and Reorganize and Multiple Fusion Authorities, gathering the full set of crafting materials for Kisara is no easy task." Putting the inscription stone away, Luke shook his head. "Fortunately, I got hold of the Holy Dragon Furnace Heart back at the youth competition. It's enough to serve as one of the core materials for the new card, which spares me a good deal of effort."
"Still, in just this little stretch of time, the materials for crafting Kisara are already a fifth of the way done, considerably faster than I anticipated. The power bank's effect really is no idle boast." As he spoke, Luke glanced at Celestine, sitting in a daze beside him. That this tree-spirit power bank deserved no small share of the credit was beyond question.
From the moment Luke had begun rewriting and fusing materials, Celestine, aside from a brief moment of surprise the first time she'd seen materials being fused, had spent all the time afterward simply sitting at his side, holding to a low-power-consumption state, serving as Luke's tree-spirit power bank, never once making a single request.
It was precisely because of that, too, that Luke had been able to gather so many materials so quickly. It was just that her quiet, endlessly accommodating manner left Luke with a slight twinge of guilt.
Sensing Luke's gaze, Celestine, who had been holding to that low-power state all along, turned to look at him, her emerald eyes as if able to speak. "What is it?"
"I was just thinking. Sitting here keeping me company like this for a whole day, won't you find it tiresome?" The two of them had been sitting close to begin with, and Celestine's peerless features filled nearly the whole of Luke's vision, the scent of natural fragrance all but washing over him.
Using a great beauty like Celestine as a power bank. I'm probably the only person who could pull off something like this. Luke mused quietly to himself.
"Tiresome?" A flicker of puzzlement crossed those serene eyes, and then Celestine wore a thoughtful expression and shook her head. "To you this may be a whole day, but to me, as a tree-spirit, it's no more than a single instant."
"All right." Understanding Celestine's meaning, Luke couldn't suppress a faintly exasperated feeling. Celestine came across as a bit of a natural airhead, and yet without making the slightest sound, she'd just revealed a humblebragging side of herself.
True enough. Celestine was the World Tree's tree-spirit. To this tree-spirit, never mind a single day; even the entire lifetime of an ordinary person might amount, in her eyes, to no more than an instant.
"Then again, staying by your side, I feel a sense of ease I've never known before." Celestine murmured. "Why is that, I wonder?"
As the tree-spirit of the Ancient Spirit Tree, Celestine had existed for who knew how many ages. To a near-eternal being, time held little meaning.
Never mind sitting like this for a whole day; even a month, or a year, wouldn't leave Celestine the least bit bored. Because to her, it truly was only an instant.
But just as she'd said, even doing nothing at all as a little invisible power bank, staying by Luke's side felt soothing in a way she couldn't place, and this was something Celestine genuinely couldn't make sense of from the bottom of her heart.
"It's probably the influence of the Spirit-Value Aegis effect." Seeing this, Luke shrugged and offered his guess, while reaching over to take up the documents set off to the side. "I'm heading back to school tomorrow. What are your plans?"
Over these past days, Luke hadn't spent all his time rewriting and fusing materials. Even with Celestine as a power bank, he'd still bottomed out his mana several times. A power bank, after all, didn't refill the instant it was tapped.
And the documents in his hand were precisely the preliminary conception for Kisara.
What Luke had in mind wasn't a simple Blue-Eyes White Dragon. But since Blue-Eyes White Dragon's essence was Kisara's soul, and the matter further involved Blue-Eyes White Dragon's subsequent forms down the line, after due consideration, Luke had ultimately decided to take Kisara as the core and construct an entire Blue-Eyes family.