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With the injection of Celestine's source-core energy, the World Seed abruptly contracted inward, then violently burst open, dissolving into a sheet of nothingness.
Within that nothingness, a new dimensional space gradually took shape. The changes within his body naturally drew Luke's attention, and by his perception, the dimensional space taking form was far from empty. On the contrary, it brimmed with dense life-force and mana.
If the Governor saw a scene like this, I wonder what would go through his head. A World Seed that demanded enough mana to instantly drain several Sovereign Realm Card Masters dry merely to sprout and undergo its transformation had completed its nurturing in this short span of time, becoming a dimensional space. Taking it in, Luke couldn't help a flicker of dazed wonder, musing quietly to himself.
Why does this look somehow familiar? Noticing the form of that phantom, sky-piercing tree, Luke felt a flicker of recognition.
At the very center of the dimensional space, Luke watched a small, illusory sapling break through the soil. In the span of mere seconds, it grew sturdy and vast into a sky-piercing tree, though it still carried a faint trace of the illusory about it.
Newly grown as it was, this phantom sky-piercing tree couldn't compare to the Ancient Spirit Tree that blanketed nearly half of Crescent Moon Land's sky, but the main forms of the two looked remarkably alike.
Taking Celestine's earlier words together with it, this was very likely the World Pillar supporting the dimensional space within his body. It was just that Luke found it rather strange. Hadn't Celestine needed this World Seed? Why, then, had it fully nurtured into a dimensional space now?
But the mutation was far from over.
The special card that had originally fused into Luke's body, the Crystallization Technique, seemed to be drawn by some pull, reverting once more into card form before plunging into the dimensional space, and at last, under Luke's gaze, transforming into a round sun hung high in the dimensional space's sky, mana endlessly circulating within it.
*「 Space Seed nurtured successfully. Host has obtained a dimensional space. 」*
*「 Ancient Spirit Tree tree-spirit Celestine has forged a source-bond with the dimensional space. Congratulations, host. You have obtained a World Pillar, Phantom. The dimensional space expands into a dimensional plane. 」*
*「 Special card Crystallization Technique has fused into the dimensional plane. Affected by the World Pillar, Phantom, it has transformed into the Eternal Sun. 」*
The string of system prompts that rang out left Luke momentarily stunned. These changes were wholly beyond anything he'd imagined.
As much as he wanted to examine the changes right now, Luke still forced down the impulse. From absorbing the Space Seed to the present appearance of the dimensional plane and the Eternal Sun, the whole process seemed exceedingly brief, but the time it had actually consumed was anything but. Aldric and the others were still gathered around him at the moment, and although he was confident they couldn't see through the changes upon him, there was no need to rush.
Drawing a deep breath, Luke reopened his eyes to find every one of Aldric's group's gazes fixed on him. But having already prepared himself, he paid it no mind whatsoever.
"Luke, did the Space Seed's absorption go more or less normally?" The shock in the depths of Aldric's eyes had already receded, and he asked calmly, dispersing his control over the surroundings at the same time.
He could feel that the rioting mana within Luke had all settled back into calm.
Lilith having made a move, that was absolutely beyond question. Still, Aldric added the query just to set his mind at ease. As for the others, they said nothing, but their eyes swept rapidly over the whole of Luke.
"No major problems." Luke nodded in response to Aldric's question, but said nothing further beyond that. He had successfully fused the Space Seed and even opened a dimensional plane, yet Luke himself hadn't yet made sense of those abnormal changes.
"Then that's good." Receiving Luke's affirmative reply, only then did Aldric let out a breath inside. With a turn of his hand, he produced another card. "This is the Capital's Airspace Pass. With this pass, when you travel to the Capital in the future, you can enter directly, without triggering the Capital's defense system."
An Airspace Pass. At the sight, the hearts of those present lurched once more. It meant Luke could fly freely through the Capital's airspace from now on, and even across the whole of the Ancient Kingdom, not many people held a privilege like that.
"Thank you, Governor." Luke understood the meaning of the Airspace Pass just the same, and didn't refuse Aldric.
"All right. It's getting late now, and since everyone's assembled, let's begin the closing ceremony. We can't keep the others waiting too long." Seeing Luke accept the Airspace Pass, Aldric nodded in satisfaction and sat back in the main seat.
"Understood." With Aldric having spoken, the others naturally raised no objection, and Victor drew a deep breath and rose to his feet.
At this, the perpetually clamoring crowd gradually settled, turning their eyes toward the main stage, and the sight of Luke seated beside Aldric in particular drew looks of anticipation and envy.
To be able to sit upon the main stage at a moment like this, one had to be at minimum the three principals' Emperor Realm level, then the Sovereign tier of Victor and Harrison, and finally, of course, the Immortal Realm of Aldric.
As for Mark, Bella Hartley, and Warren Pike, the three had tactfully withdrawn the moment Aldric spoke. They hadn't the standing to stand on the same platform as the others.
Apart from those six, Luke was the only other person still seated upon the main stage, and he was a same-year student just like them. At the thought, envy and jealousy welled all the higher in the hearts of the crowd below, no small number of them quietly stewing over why it wasn't they who sat upon the main stage at this moment.
Of course, there were also plenty of girls whose eyes glowed green as they looked toward Luke, some already scheming to engineer a chance run-in with Luke during the ceremony to come. Miss this opportunity to attach themselves to a rising powerhouse, and a chance this fitting might never come around again.
Were they to manage a romantic evening of it, there'd be a fair chance of making things official. The exam was over now, after all, and everyone was an adult.
"Students!" Victor's voice, brimming with vigor, spread out from the main stage in every direction, gathering everyone's scattered thoughts together as one. What followed was the speech they'd all anticipated. This was a segment there was no avoiding, after all, and the crowd below could only quietly endure it.
Compared to the many teachers and students who could only stand there dumbly below the stage, Luke, seated up on it, had a far more comfortable time of things.
Still, Victor knew Aldric wouldn't linger long, so this time the speech was trimmed considerably, taking only ten minutes before he declared the closing ceremony officially begun.
"Luke, I look forward to you finding even greater room to grow and develop once you've reached Celestial Academy." About ten-odd minutes after Victor's speech concluded, Aldric spoke up, rising slightly.
Seeing this, the others guessed he was preparing to leave.
"I won't let you down, Governor." A smile rose on Luke's face. There was no grand, stirring declaration to it, yet it infected everyone who saw that smile with a powerful sense of confidence.
"Good. That's exactly the confidence you should have." Patting Luke on the shoulder, Aldric looked toward the others, a trace of goodwill in his smile. "I'll be heading off first. If I stay here, I'm afraid the rest of you won't be able to let loose."
As his voice fell, Aldric summoned the Glacial Sea-Fang and shot into the sky amid the crowd's cries of astonishment, vanishing in a blink without a trace.