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"They really do grow up before you know it." Seeing Blanc's awakened form once again, Luke let out a note of appreciation despite himself, and then his attention settled back onto Blanc's attributes.
Her basic attributes hadn't shifted much, and her level hadn't risen either. The single point of change lay in her quality, elevated from the original Collectible up to the Perfect grade.
"So that's how it works. The strength gains from X-evolution and Awakening can indeed stack further, but not with the back-to-back level jumps I'd imagined. Only the quality rises." Whether Awakening or X-evolution, the essence of both was activating the power a Digimon originally kept hidden. The first activation naturally yielded the greatest boost, and a second activation's effect dropped off considerably. Easy enough to understand.
"Even so, it lifts the ceiling of the entire Sistermon line. On the whole, the change lands on the good side of the ledger." With the test concluded, Luke waved a hand and had Blanc and Guilmon return to their original forms.
*「 Luke Mercer 」*
Level: 1-Star Monarch
First Authority: Fantasy Forge, Simulated Construction
Second Authority: Rewrite and Reorganize, Multiple Fusion
Items: Card Editor, Card Codex, D-Ark, Legendary Spirit Ring
Dimensional Plane: World Pillar Phantom, Eternal Sun, Libra Holy Sword Core
Materials: Holy Dragon Furnace Heart...
Skills: Extract, Circuit Link (Monarch)
Crescent Moon Blessings: Zero Hour Stray, Spirit-Value Aegis (Link Target: Celestine)
First Card: Dark Magician Girl
Second Card: Red-Eyes Black Dragon
Third Card: Sistermon Blanc
Fourth Card: Guilmon
Special Cards: Spell Tome, Magical Hats, Magic Cylinder, Eye of Timaeus, Hyper Evolution Unit S, Blue Card, Swords of Revealing Light, X-Antibody
"This panel qualifies as fairly spectacular by now." Looking over his own panel of attributes, Luke gave a satisfied nod. Setting all else aside, among his own generation there likely didn't exist a second Card Master with a panel this splendid.
The number of his cards ran a little on the low side, but every single card spirit's quality was absurdly high, more than enough to thrash opponents of the same level. A textbook case of quality suppressing quantity.
As for Circuit Link, that was the innate ability every Card Master gained upon stepping into the Monarch Realm.
"A very distinctive way of raising card spirits' strength." Mana had already gone off to find Blanc and Guilmon again, the three little cuties deep in animated discussion, while Celestine drifted over to Luke's side. "I recall that several thousand years ago, there was a Card Master who entered Crescent Moon Land and possessed special cards of a similar kind, though the effects were nowhere near as remarkable as yours."
"Is that so?" Hearing Celestine's words, Luke slipped an arm around her as naturally as breathing, and Celestine made no move to refuse, instead leaning in a little closer.
As a World Tree tree-spirit who had existed for who knew how long, Celestine had laid eyes on a great many Card Masters, and those Card Masters had, almost without exception, been the Eastern Region's most preeminent geniuses. That one among them had produced special cards didn't much surprise Luke.
"In two more days, I'll be setting out for Celestial Academy to report in. The Eternal Land will stay in your care." Luke's fingers combed gently through Celestine's golden hair, the fresh scent of nature drifting past the tip of his nose, and the nerves he'd kept wound tight through all his card crafting eased and settled, bit by bit.
"Mm." Celestine nodded. Even had Luke said nothing, she would have managed every corner of the Eternal Land all the same. This place would, after all, count as her own dwelling in the days to come.
"Thank you, for everything." At that, Luke lowered his head, and only after a long moment did he finally release Celestine.
"Wah!" Off to the side, Mana watched the two's exchange with her face full of avid interest. Compared to Mana, Blanc appeared a touch bashful, though her expression carried threads of expectation all the same.
As for Guilmon, the little cutie had no idea what that scene just now was supposed to signify, and upon seeing that Blanc and Mana were no longer paying it any attention, it simply trotted off to chase butterflies again.
Registering Mana's and Blanc's gazes, a thread of shyness rose across Celestine's face, lovely beyond the telling of it. Even having witnessed it many times over, Luke still stalled for a beat, and then, after making his goodbyes to everyone, he departed the Eternal Land.
---
"Luke, have you been waiting long?" In Mooncrest City, at the Sinclair residence, Lyra came striding out through the gate and stopped prettily before Luke, her exquisite face carrying threads of smiling excitement, giving Luke the distinct impression of a canary on the verge of slipping its cage.
She wore, as ever, a fitted goose-yellow gown, one that displayed to perfection a young woman's steadily blossoming figure. It had to be said the color suited the girl before him remarkably well, all the more so given that Lyra's voice rang ethereal as an oriole's.
"Not long at all." Shaking his head, Luke's gaze moved to the space beside Lyra, where a dignified noblewoman stood in quiet grace.
Compared to Lyra's still faintly unripened figure, the noblewoman was like a honey peach at the peak of maturity, suffused with a distinctively wifely poise, alluring in the extreme. Among all the women within Luke's acquaintance, only Lilith and the nine-tailed fox Circe could claim a figure that edged out hers.
Yet that air of mature, settled elegance about her was something even Lilith and Circe couldn't match.
In terms of features, Lyra and the noblewoman shared a nine-tenths resemblance; the younger simply lacked the elder's ripeness and allure. The relationship between the two was plainly no ordinary one.
"This is my mother, Meredith Sinclair." Registering the direction of Luke's gaze, Lyra spoke the introduction, her ethereal voice carrying a barely detectable thread of nervousness.
As expected. Hearing Lyra's introduction, Luke nodded inwardly. "Mrs. Sinclair. It's a pleasure."
Though Meredith made no deliberate display of it, the faint, half-present aura that drifted off her stood nearly on par with Victor Ashford's and Harrison Cole's, a full step above the likes of Geoffrey.
But more than Meredith's identity, what truly drew Luke's regard was precisely that aura upon her.
Meredith's strength solidly reaches the Sovereign Realm, more than enough to hold the seat of a City Lord. Which means the Sinclair family's standing in Mooncrest City is anything but low. Lyra's talent was very likely inherited from her mother. No wonder Helena Brooks thought so highly of her. Luke turned it over quietly in his heart.
And yet, Luke kept getting the feeling that the way Meredith looked at him was somehow odd, though he couldn't have said exactly what about it struck him so.
If their identities went unspoken, the two of them would honestly pass for sisters sooner than mother and daughter. Meredith was Lyra's mother, yes, but thanks to the nourishment of mana, a Card Master's features aged at a drastically slowed pace. Add to that Meredith's impeccable upkeep, along with the pair's nine-tenths resemblance, and they truly did look far more like sisters than like mother and child.