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Time slipped by, and Luke set down the pen and paper in his hands. Arrayed before him sat a considerable stack of card background and design drafts.
"Half a month and change, and thankfully not much of it went to waste." Luke's face carried a trace of fatigue, but a trace of satisfaction along with it.
More than half a month had passed since he'd laid out that plan, and across that stretch of time, aside from Elise and Lyra, that pair of best friends, reaching out to him now and then, Luke had essentially holed up at home conceiving cards and reorganizing and fusing materials.
"Kisara's Simulated Construction has been advancing steadily the whole while. The progress has passed twenty percent now, which doesn't stray far from the time I originally projected." Briefly sensing the state of Kisara's simulation, Luke raised a hand and began tidying the drafts off the desktop.
"Guilmon's background and design are finished too, and on top of that, I over-delivered and completed the evolution designs for the evolution cards as well. Call it an unexpected bonus." Among the drafts Luke was gathering up, a good number concerned the backgrounds and designs of Digimon cards, while the remainder involved the shipgirl cards.
"The shipgirl cards' background and design have made some initial headway too, but they involve a whole new worldview, so that's going to demand a good deal more time yet."
"Somehow it always feels like there's never enough time." Having sorted the draft materials in his hands, Luke turned a thought, and his entire person vanished from sight, entering the dimensional plane.
"Luke, you're here?" As the World Pillar of the Eternal Land, even though she hadn't yet relocated from Crescent Moon Land, not even the most minute change within the Eternal Land could escape Celestine's perception. Almost the very moment Luke entered the dimensional plane, Celestine was the first to react.
Hot on her heels, Mana and Blanc, his two little cuties, likewise sensed Luke's aura and came running toward him with cheers.
"Mana, have you gotten heavier again?" Catching the girl who'd come flying at him, Luke put on a show of straining under the weight.
Compared to Mana's enthusiasm, Blanc appeared considerably more reserved. Though a cute flush colored her face as well, she didn't pounce at Luke, instead coming to an obedient stop at his side.
Taking in Blanc's well-behaved little expression, Luke reached over and rubbed her head. That was simply this girl's nature. Even after all this time, she still turned this bashful in front of people she knew well.
Under Luke's head-pat, the flush on Blanc's face deepened further. As for Mana, her lips had already pushed out into a pout deep enough to hang a bottle off of. "Master, I have not gotten fat!"
She'd even made a point of checking herself over just now; there wasn't an ounce of spare flesh anywhere on her. That was one of the advantages of being a card spirit. After being crafted, their body shape didn't change, barring the use of certain skills, or the case of Digimon cards like Blanc, whose forms changed through evolution. Though evolving was, in effect, becoming a different card spirit altogether.
"And you actually believed me?" Luke gave Mana's little cheek an unrepentant squeeze, drawing an indignant huff from the girl, then asked, "So, how has life here been treating you all lately?"
Where the card spirits' life inside the Eternal Land was concerned, Luke hadn't interfered much at all, leaving Mana, Blanc, and the rest to do entirely as they pleased.
"Mm-hm! Big Sister Celestine taught us all sorts of things about the dimensional plane, and we built a wooden cabin here to live in too." Blanc bobbed her head like a little chick pecking at rice.
"That's genuinely impressive." At that, Luke dealt Blanc another head-pat, then turned his gaze toward Celestine. "You've had your hands full this whole while. But being away from Crescent Moon Land this long, will it have any effect on you or the Ancient Spirit Tree?"
From the moment he'd entered the Eternal Land, Luke had automatically received the state of the entire plane, the wooden cabin Blanc spoke of included, all of it already known to his mind. That was another of the special authorities belonging to the Master of the Plane.
There were still only that same handful of residents, but compared to half a month ago, the whole dimensional plane had grown far more alive, and considerably more livable besides. And the one capable of accomplishing all of that could only have been Celestine.
"It's fine, truly." A faint smile rose on Celestine's face. "Though I haven't yet merged into the Phantom, I am every bit the Eternal Land's World Pillar all the same. Whether I stay here or stay in Crescent Moon Land makes little real difference to me."
"Crescent Moon Land only opens once each year. Even if I returned now, I'd merely go back into the Ancient Spirit Tree's core and sink into slumber." At this point, Celestine's lovely eyes blinked, carrying a hint of mischief. "Besides, you entrusted Mana and Blanc to me. I could hardly just run off, could I?"
"You really have changed quite a bit." Watching this side of Celestine, so unlike her old self, a thoughtful look crossed Luke's face. "This has to be Mana's influence."
His card spirits all lived within the dimensional plane, but Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Timaeus mostly kept to themselves. And given Blanc's personality, it was a wonder she hadn't been the one influenced by Celestine instead. So the only one who could have rubbed off on Celestine was, without question, Mana.
Not that Luke minded the change in Celestine. If anything, he was glad to see it. In fact, the better the relations among the three of them grew, the happier it made him. The last thing he ever wanted was infighting breaking out under his own roof.
"Why is it me again, Master!" Mana's little mouth, which had only just returned to normal, pushed right back out into that bottle-hanging pout, and the sight of it set Luke laughing outright, which promptly earned him an assault of pink palms. Off to the side, Blanc watched, and sympathy flickered through her eyes once more.
Her personality guaranteed she'd never manage open affection the way Mana did. Instead, she was the one who got teased silly by Luke every single time, left with no recourse but to run to her big sister for help.
As for Celestine, she simply watched quietly from the side. The scene was very much like a mother looking on as her daughter played spoiled before the father, warm beyond words.
"All right, time for the real business." After horsing around with the girls for a while, Luke finally brought up the actual purpose of this visit.
At Luke's words, Mana's eyes lit up. "Master, you're going to craft a new card?"
It had to be said that, as the card who'd stood at Luke's side longest of all, Mana understood the workings of his mind better than Celestine or Blanc did.
"It is a new card, yes, but the card this time is a Digimon card, same family as Blanc. You may find yourself disappointed." Just as Mana understood Luke, Luke understood his first card every bit as well, and he tapped her lightly on the head. "Wait for next time. Next time, I'll craft you another piece of external gear."
"Hehe, I knew it. Master really is the best." Seen straight through, Mana felt not the slightest embarrassment. On the contrary, she planted a firm, resounding kiss on Luke.
At that, Luke could only surrender to it. This girl genuinely never tired of this routine.