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Selene shoved the comparison out of her mind the moment it formed.
The Night Empress was an Undying Realm master. One of four people in the entire Ancient Kingdom who had transcended death itself. Comparing a Commander Realm student to her, no matter how talented, was absurd. Disrespectful, even.
But the numbers were the numbers. And the numbers said what they said.
She forced herself to move on. Curiosity, though, was harder to suppress. It clawed at the edges of her composure like a cat at a closed door.
"There's more." Aldric watched Selene's internal struggle with carefully concealed amusement. "In addition to being an Original Card crafter, Luke recently destroyed a Black Gate. Independently. At Commander Realm."
Selene's composure, which she'd been carefully reconstructing, cracked again.
"That's not possible." The words came out before she could stop them. "Extradimensional beasts guarding Black Gates are Seven-Star minimum. Two Six-Star cards, even Originals, can't bridge that gap. I speak from personal experience."
"Under normal circumstances, you'd be right." Aldric's tone was measured, almost academic. "But Luke's dragon-type card has a unique property. When it's destroyed in combat, instead of reverting to card form, it temporarily transforms into a higher-tier dragon. Six-Star becomes Seven-Star. The death triggers an evolution."
Selene went very still.
Death as a trigger. Destruction as a power source. The card doesn't end when it dies. It becomes something stronger.
The design philosophy behind that concept was so far outside conventional card-crafting wisdom that Selene needed a moment to process it. Card Masters spent their entire careers trying to prevent their cards from being destroyed. Luke had built a card that wanted to be destroyed, because destruction was the activation condition for its strongest form.
She thought about her own Optimization ability. The years she'd spent refining the Arcane Hawk into the Simurgh, carefully improving lore and background within the existing framework. Incrementally. Safely.
Luke hadn't worked within any framework. He'd built his own from nothing and filled it with ideas that no existing Card Master would have conceived. Not because they lacked the intelligence, but because they lacked the imagination.
I've been thinking too small. The realization hit Selene like cold water. Her Optimization ability let her improve existing cards, but she'd been constrained by the original card's design philosophy. She'd never considered that a card's death could be designed as a feature rather than a failure state.
If she applied that kind of lateral thinking to Optimization...
A new idea began forming in the back of her mind. And with it, something else. Something more immediate.
"Governor Ashford." Selene's voice had changed. The polite deference was still there, but underneath it was a sharpness that hadn't been present before. "I hold a guest instructor position at Celestial Academy. If Luke Mercer takes the entrance exam and enrolls there, I would be in a position to take him as a student."
The Celestial Academy. One of the Four Great Academies, the highest-tier institution in the Eastern Region. Its Dean was an Immortal Realm Card Master, same tier as Aldric. Its faculty included some of the most accomplished Card Masters on the continent.
And Selene, despite never having taken a student in her career, held a guest instructor position there. Backed by the Night Empress, nobody at Celestial Academy would question her right to mentor whoever she chose.
"An Original Card crafter." Selene's eyes were bright. "My master crafts Original Cards. If I could study alongside someone who shares that talent, even as a mentor rather than a peer..." She trailed off, then finished with an honesty that surprised even herself. "Just thinking about it is exciting."
Aldric maintained his grandfatherly smile, but behind it, his mind was racing.
He'd mentioned Luke to Selene for a specific reason: he wanted her to relay the information to the Night Empress. If the Night Empress learned about an Original Card crafter appearing in her domain, she would almost certainly take an interest. That interest would translate into protection, resources, and political cover that Aldric alone couldn't provide.
What he had not anticipated was Selene deciding she wanted Luke for herself before the message even reached the Night Empress.
Well. That's an unexpected development.
Not necessarily a bad one. Selene Dawnford as a personal mentor was a significant asset in its own right. Emperor Realm peak, backed by an Undying, connected to every major faction in the Eastern Region. If Luke enrolled at Celestial Academy under her guidance, his development trajectory would accelerate dramatically.
But it did complicate the plan.
"We'll see how the entrance exam goes," Aldric said diplomatically. "For now, let's focus on the Glacial Wellspring. The Night Empress's needs come first."
"Of course." Selene turned back toward the Darkwater Plane's depths, mounting the Simurgh. But the spark in her eyes didn't fade.
She was already planning.
Back in Ashenvale, Luke sat at the kitchen table, eating the lunch Mana had prepared, while the Digital World simulation churned away in the background of his consciousness.
One percent per session. Each session draining a meaningful chunk of spiritual energy. Even with the Moon Spirit Ring's accelerated recovery, the worldview construction would take well over a week, probably closer to two when accounting for rest periods and the physical limits of sustained concentration.
"Slow," Luke muttered between bites. "But it only has to be done once."
That was the key. The Yu-Gi-Oh worldview had taken even longer the first time, back when he didn't have Simulated Crafting and had to build it manually. Every card he'd drawn from it since, Mana, Black Star, the upcoming Eye of Timaeus, all of them benefited from that single foundational investment.
The Digital World would be the same. Build it once, build it right, and every Digimon card afterward would slot into the framework automatically.
In the meantime, he could work on individual card backgrounds manually while the simulation processed. The two workflows ran in parallel. Simulated Crafting handled the worldview. Luke's conscious mind handled the cards. Maximum efficiency.
He finished his lunch, thanked Mana (who beamed), and settled back at the table.
Two projects running simultaneously. The Eye of Timaeus waiting for its Dragon Eye material. The Digital World worldview slowly taking shape. And beyond both of them, the entrance exam approaching like a deadline that would determine the trajectory of his entire career.
Luke set the simulation running and got to work.