"The crazy woman is bringing a team here for an exchange?" Harrison Cole blinked, then connected the dots. "No wonder you all look like that. I'm guessing this isn't a casual social visit."
His tone made it clear he was well-acquainted with Helena Frost's reputation. But since this was a challenge directed at the academies and the City Lord's office, it wasn't his place to intervene. The Card Master Association operated on a different track.
His attention shifted to the display screen, and almost immediately, his gaze sharpened.
"Interesting Card Spirit. I don't think I've seen it in the Card Compendium."
Even as the Association's branch president, Harrison didn't claim to know every Card Spirit in existence. The national Card Compendium was comprehensive but not exhaustive. Plenty of cards existed outside its pages, especially those originating from allied nations. Cross-border cultural exchange had been a fixture of policy for decades, and Card Masters occasionally built cards based on foreign frameworks.
The thought of an Original Card didn't cross his mind. Why would it? Original Cards hadn't appeared in living memory. Not in Ashenvale, not in the Capital, not anywhere in the entire country as far as anyone knew.
"It's not in the Compendium because it can't be," Victor said, his expression caught somewhere between pride and disbelief. "That Card Spirit is an Original Card. And we're fairly certain it's Six-Star."
Harrison's brain took approximately one second to process the words.
Then it caught up.
"Hold on." His eyes went wide. "Did you just say Original Card? Six-Star?"
He didn't need anyone to answer. The looks on their faces said everything.
"HA!" Harrison threw his head back and laughed, loud and genuine and utterly unrestrained. The sound bounced off the chamber walls like a thunderclap. "I don't believe it! Our little Ashenvale actually produced a Card Master genius of THIS caliber?"
His fist slammed the table.
"I KNEW IT. I kept telling those smug bastards at the Capital meetings that Ashenvale had potential. You should've seen the branch president from Stormgate City last month, sitting there polishing his nails, bragging about some prodigy his Association dug up. My blood pressure nearly killed me!"
He was pacing now, unable to contain the energy.
"A prodigy? A PRODIGY? Can your prodigy build an Original Card? Can ANYONE'S prodigy build an Original Card?!"
Harrison's grin was practically predatory. He'd spent years at inter-city Association meetings watching other branch presidents peacock about their talent pipelines while Ashenvale sat quietly in the middle of the pack with nothing to brag about.
Those days were over.
This wasn't just vindication. This was ammunition. The kind of once-in-a-generation achievement that would shut every rival branch president up for the next decade.
"Oh, this is beautiful. This is so, so beautiful."
He also understood now what Victor had meant by "unexpected wildcard." Forget Ashenvale. An Original Card appearing anywhere within the Capital's twelve satellite cities would be the biggest story of the year. Maybe the decade.
"Harrison." Grant Harlow's voice cut through the celebration with surgical precision. "Luke is still a student. He hasn't applied to join the Association. He hasn't taken the entrance exam. As far as your organization is concerned, he doesn't exist yet."
Harrison froze mid-laugh.
"Harlow." His eyes narrowed. "We've been friends for years. I've always treated you well. You're not seriously going to stand between me and this kid, are you?"
After centuries of drought, Ashenvale had finally produced a genius worth fighting over. If anyone, anyone, tried to get between Harrison Cole and recruiting Luke Mercer into the Association, there would be blood. He didn't care if it was the Capital's main branch. He didn't care if it was the Supreme himself. This kid was his.
"Calm down. I'm saying the Association has rules," Harlow said, looking mildly offended. "Card Masters need to apply and pass the entrance assessment before they're admitted. Luke hasn't submitted an application. You can be as excited as you want, but he's technically not a member."
"Oh, is that all?" Harrison's intensity dropped from volcanic to merely aggressive. He waved his hand dismissively. "Luke successfully built a Six-Star Original Card. That exceeds the Association's standard admission requirements by approximately... a lot. I'm authorizing a direct exemption. No assessment needed. He's in."
Nobody in the room blinked. This was exactly the kind of executive decision a branch president could make, and in this case, it was so obviously justified that questioning it would've been absurd.
Harrison wasn't done.
"Furthermore." He paused, weighing his next words. "If Luke can successfully build three Six-Star cards before the college entrance exam, including the one he's already made, I'll grant him Elite Member status."
That got a reaction.
"Three Six-Star cards for an Elite Member promotion?" Victor's eyebrow twitched. "Harrison, that's generous even by your standards."
The normal path to Elite Member required crafting a Seven-Star card. Seven Stars meant Advanced tier. The jump from Intermediate to Advanced wasn't a step, it was a cliff. By dropping the requirement to three Six-Star cards, Harrison was cutting the difficulty by an enormous margin.
But it wasn't charity. Luke had built an Original Card. If anyone alive could crank out three Six-Star cards before exam season ended, it was the kid who'd already done something no one else in the country had managed in living memory.
Harrison was making an investment. Get in early, offer support when the talent is still growing, and reap the dividends for decades to come. Waiting until Luke was already powerful and then trying to build a relationship would be too late. Every other Association branch in the country would be doing the same thing.
"It's the right call." Victor understood. In Harrison's position, he'd have done the same.
Townsend and Brandt exchanged yet another glance. The bitter kind. Neither Crestfall nor Ironvale had ever produced a student who'd received a direct Association exemption. And now Westbridge, the perennial underdog, had one.
The taste in their mouths was becoming a recurring theme.
Back in the livestream, the students were getting restless.
"Where's the next wave? Come on, I want to see how far Luke can go!"
"That was the best fight I've ever watched in my life. Don't stop now!"
Storm Sparrow was gone. The exam arena was empty. And every eliminated student was glued to their terminal, hungry for more, desperate to see what Mana's limit actually was.
Nobody wanted this to end.