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Seven-Star cards were no common goods. They had crossed into the ranks of high-tier cards, the sort that a great many Card Masters would struggle to so much as touch across an entire lifetime.
Take this year's cohort. The examinees who had successfully crafted Seven-Star cards, Luke included, numbered only four in total. Even the likes of Lyra, whose talent trailed Elise's by a single hair, and Serena Frost had not managed that step.
But even Elise and her peers were nowhere near as outrageous as Luke, who had produced three Seven-Star cards in this short a span. Even a card wholesaler had no business being this absurd!
Of course, owning Seven-Star cards hardly meant one could simply graduate from Celestial Academy. The four-year program still stood exactly where it was. And since the academy ran on the credit-ranking system, the higher a student's rank, the more resources they received each year.
The thing was, even within the Four Great Academies, not just anyone owned Seven-Star cards. The mainstream, for most, remained a long grind at the Six-Star level.
With resources that generous to be had in such comfort, naturally no examinee would be foolish enough to graduate ahead of schedule.
To Lyra's understanding, the Red-Eyes dragon before her had plainly been crafted by Luke only after the exam had ended. Thinking of all her own hard work this past stretch, and of the gap between her and Luke that only kept widening regardless, Lyra sighed in spite of herself.
"What's wrong?" Catching Lyra's sigh, Luke asked offhandedly, and the answer he received very nearly made him choke.
"Nothing. I just suddenly realized Elise had it right. You really are a monster." With that, Lyra even pulled a face at Luke, brimming with youthful vitality.
???
"Then let me show you what a monster actually looks like!" At Lyra's little display, mischief got the better of Luke, and he reached out, pinched Lyra's cheeks, and tugged them out to either side. "Also, don't go thinking you can muddle your way through on cuteness."
"Owww! I was wrong!" Cheeks captured, Lyra hurried to beg for mercy.
"Good that you know it." Luke didn't take it any further, releasing her the moment his point had landed. "Now stop burning time. Even with Red-Eyes Black Dragon flying at full tilt, it'll take a good while to reach the Capital."
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon? That name's rather imposing." Lyra's exquisite face carried an alluring flush, though whether it came from Luke's pinching or from something else entirely was anyone's guess.
ROAR!
As though it had understood Lyra's praise, Red-Eyes Black Dragon loosed an exhilarated bellow, and a violent rush of wind swept over them, setting both their clothes snapping and cracking, Lyra's long dress lifting a little in the gust.
"You behave yourself too." In the next moment, Luke gave the great lowered head of Red-Eyes Black Dragon an exasperated pat. "Don't go picking up bad habits."
"You're honestly so petty." Lyra stepped over to Luke's side and huffed at his words, and then, with his help, climbed up onto Red-Eyes Black Dragon's back.
"Hold on tight." Paying Lyra's commentary no mind, Luke gave her the one reminder, then patted Red-Eyes Black Dragon once more. "Let's go."
ROAR!
With a heaven-shaking bellow, Red-Eyes Black Dragon let out a long cry and shot skyward, streaking off toward the distance.
"Uh. If I said that wasn't on purpose, would you believe me?" Looking down at the Lyra now bundled in his arms, Luke rubbed at his forehead.
The jolt of force at the instant of Red-Eyes Black Dragon's takeoff was no light thing. Luke, long since accustomed to it, had adapted as a matter of course, but this was Lyra's first time riding a dragon-beast of this kind. However far a Card Master's command of their own body surpassed an ordinary person's, under that sudden, sky-launching pressure, she simply hadn't managed to react in time.
It was fortunate Luke's hands had been quick, catching Lyra up in one sweep of his arm, or the girl would have gotten a thorough personal taste of the thrill of aerial freefall.
And though Lyra spoke not a single word, the ferocity in her glare, together with those bun-cheeks puffed round with indignation, spelled out her meaning plainly enough: do you think I believe you?
Fine. There'd be no talking my way out of this one no matter what I said. At the thought, Luke gave up on explaining altogether, and simply tightened his arms around her instead. It wasn't as if he were the one losing out here anyway.
"Heavens above, is that a giant dragon? Don't tell me it's a fierce-beast attack?"
"Fierce beast, my foot. That's a dragon-type card spirit! This is exactly why people call you ignorant."
"Hold on. Our Mooncrest City actually has a Card Master who owns a dragon-type card spirit? How have I never seen it before?"
"A big shot of that caliber obviously keeps a low profile day to day. Odds are something urgent came up, and that's the only reason they summoned the dragon out at all."
"That roar just now was genuinely terrifying. If I could have a dragon-type card spirit of my own, this whole life would've been worth it."
"Forget this life. You won't get the chance in the next one either. Dragon-type cards rank among the very hardest to craft in the entire card system. As if they come that easily."
"Don't be like that. A person's got to have dreams, no? Otherwise, what separates you from a dead fish?"
"The problem is that you genuinely are one."
Red-Eyes Black Dragon's departure drew no small amount of attention. For ordinary people, and even for ordinary Card Masters, a single glimpse of a dragon-type card in a lifetime was far from guaranteed, so the volume of chatter was naturally considerable.
"A dragon-type card spirit. Never once seen in Mooncrest City before now, and I've heard of no family that owns a dragon species. So it truly is Luke's card spirit, then." At the Sinclair residence, Meredith had likewise sensed Red-Eyes Black Dragon's departure, and a thoughtful expression crossed the beautiful woman's face. "It would seem Lyra's friend hides himself even deeper than I imagined."
"The Monarch Realm, and a dragon-type card. What a genuinely singular young man. If it had been you I'd met back in those days, how would things stand now, I wonder?"
"Still, this is for the best. For Lyra, it makes for a spur of its own. If she can keep pace with him, then with her talent, perhaps she might even surpass me one day."
"And that way, Lyra will be all the safer in the days to come." Within her murmured words, Meredith's tone seemed to fold away some secret known to no one else.
---
"A good deal faster than the Cold Skylark. The gap between Seven-Star and Six-Star cards really does show up across the board." After roughly half a day, Luke and Lyra arrived above the outskirts of the Capital. And holding the Capital's Airspace Pass as he did, Luke didn't have Red-Eyes Black Dragon descend at all, instead flying straight on toward the site of the Card Master Association's Capital branch.
"Luke, flying in the Capital's airspace without the Governor's permission gets you treated as an intruder. The Capital's defense mechanisms will activate too." Lyra, however, had no idea Luke held an Airspace Pass, and assuming he simply didn't know better, she hurried to warn him.
"Relax. It's not a problem." Luke's left hand turned over, and the Airspace Pass Aldric had entrusted to him appeared upon it. The very instant Red-Eyes Black Dragon crossed into the sky above the Capital, the Airspace Pass gave off pulse after pulse of uncanny power, settling over Luke, Lyra, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon alike.