"From the moment you started building your card all the way through the end of the exam, City Lord Ashford and the principals from all three academies were watching." Harlow saw the confusion in Luke's eyes and decided not to play coy. "Your Card Spirit caught their attention. Because of how exceptional she is, the City Lord chose to upgrade your reward by one tier."
He didn't mention the Original Card. That was the agreement the four of them had reached beforehand.
Even the decision to only bump the reward by a single tier, rather than something more dramatic, had been deliberate. Victor Ashford had weighed the options carefully. Too generous and people would start asking questions. The upgrade needed to look like recognition of talent, not a signal that something unprecedented had occurred.
This was the first time any of them had witnessed an Original Card. The last thing they wanted was for that information to become an obstacle in Luke's development. Unwanted attention from the wrong people, rival cities trying to recruit or pressure him, political maneuvering from factions in the Capital. None of that would help a Card Master who was still in the earliest stages of his career.
The reward upgrade was also a gesture of goodwill from Victor. A signal. Luke's talent spoke for itself. A Card Master who could build a Six-Star Original Card on his very first attempt was going places, and Victor wanted to be on good terms with him before "going places" turned into "being courted by every power in the country."
"I see." Luke's expression cleared. He hadn't realized the City Lord and all three principals had been watching his construction process in real time. A little unsettling in retrospect, but the purple-grade materials in his hand made the invasion of privacy easy to forgive.
Graves and Tanner, standing off to the side, processed Harlow's explanation with growing curiosity. Neither of them had recognized Mana as an Original Card. Harrison Cole hadn't either, at first glance. Their knowledge of the Card Compendium was even more limited than the Association president's.
Harlow's phrasing had been careful. He'd called Mana "exceptional" and "special" without specifying why. Graves and Tanner could only assume Luke's Card Spirit had hidden abilities that hadn't been demonstrated during the exam. Maybe a secret skill. Maybe a unique trait that the City Lord's eyes had picked up on.
If the card they'd already seen was this terrifying, and there was more she could do?
Both of them quietly suppressed a shiver. Neither Luke nor Harlow offered further explanation.
"Beyond the reward I just gave you," Harlow continued, shifting to the next topic, "there's actually one more prize tied to this exam."
"There's more?" Luke pocketed the Storage Card and raised an eyebrow. Blue and purple-grade materials were already more than a rookie Card Master had any right to expect. Additional rewards on top of that seemed almost excessive.
"The top five finishers in the unified exam earn a pass to enter Fae Spirit Hollow."
"Fae Spirit Hollow?" Luke had never heard the name.
"It's a Dimensional Plane attached to Ashenvale City," Graves explained. "It's known for producing fairy-type and spirit-type materials in high quantities. One of the most valuable resource sites under the city's jurisdiction."
Dimensional Planes. Special sub-spaces that existed alongside Magic Card Civilization's main dimension. According to prevailing theory, they were born from the remnants of destroyed worlds, compressed and reformed over eons into self-contained pocket dimensions. Magic Card Civilization had thousands of them, each one accessible through designated portals in the Dimensional Hall.
Fae Spirit Hollow was one of Ashenvale's crown jewels. Its fairy and spirit-type material output made it a critical resource pipeline, which was why the City Lord's Mansion managed it directly. Access was restricted and tightly controlled.
"Fairy and spirit-type materials?" A thoughtful look crossed Luke's face.
The words "fairy" and "spirit" triggered an avalanche of card art in his memory. Yu-Gi-Oh had plenty of fairy and spellcaster-type monsters, and several of them would benefit enormously from materials sourced in a place like this.
The evolutionary history of the fairy type in Yu-Gi-Oh was actually kind of inspirational, now that he thought about it. From humble beginnings to becoming one of the most versatile types in the game. Really, only the succubus archetype had a comparable glow-up story.
"If it weren't for your performance," Graves added, a note of genuine gratitude slipping through her usual composure, "Westbridge probably wouldn't have had a single student qualify for Fae Spirit Hollow access this time."
The overall student level at Westbridge had been climbing, but the gap between their top students and Crestfall's and Ironvale's best was still significant. Without Luke's first-place finish carrying the banner, Westbridge would've been shut out of the top five entirely.
"Here." Harlow produced another card from his pocket. "This is from a certain old man who asked me to pass it along."
Another card? Please don't let it be another Storage Card. Luke took it and turned it over. It looked different from the Storage Cards he'd been accumulating. At its center was a distinctive diamond-shaped emblem that gave off a subtle, almost imperceptible energy.
The emblem looked familiar. Luke had seen it somewhere before but couldn't immediately place it.
"That's a Card Master Association membership card!" Tanner blurted out, eyes wide. "It's proof of membership after being accepted into the Association. But... don't you have to pass the entrance assessment to get one of those?"
Tanner was a member himself. He knew the process intimately. He'd submitted three applications before finally passing the assessment and earning his card. Three attempts. Years of preparation.
And now Harlow was just handing one to a student?
"Under normal circumstances, yes, Card Masters need to pass the assessment." Harlow waved a hand casually. "But Luke's situation is a bit special. This was directly authorized by Harrison Cole himself. No assessment required."
Harrison Cole. The name clicked for everyone in the room. The "old man" Harlow had mentioned could only be the branch president of the Ashenvale Card Master Association. In this city, only Victor Ashford operated at the same level.
"There's more," Harlow added. "Harrison's exact words: including the card Luke already built, if he can successfully construct three Six-Star cards before the college entrance exam, he'll be granted Elite Member status."
Tanner inhaled so sharply it sounded like someone had stepped on a cat.
The information density of that single sentence was staggering. But what really hit Tanner was the math. He was a Standard Member. Had been for years. And his student now had a clear, realistic path to becoming an Elite Member, potentially within weeks.
Was he... was he getting overtaken by his own student?
"A direct exemption from the Association president." Graves rubbed her forehead. "That's a first, as far as I know. Luke, joining the Card Master Association and becoming an Elite Member comes with a lot of benefits."