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「 Magic Cylinder: a special spell that only a vanishingly small number of magicians ever master. 」
「 A magician who has mastered the Magic Cylinder can, through long use of the spell, study it at a deeper level and unearth the power hidden within it: the Loaded Cylinder Drum. 」
「 Only a magician of the very highest talent on the path of dark magic can reach the Loaded Cylinder Drum. It stacks the upper limit of attacks the Cylinder can receive and raises the ceiling on the strength of its counter. 」
「 A magician of the first rank, the Dark Magician Girl has at last unlocked the Loaded Cylinder Drum. 」
After a day of rest, and once the Simulated Crafting authority had made the final adjustments to the cards he'd conceived, Luke threw himself into crafting them. And as he worked, a peculiar resonance came off him.
Luke's crafting had always carried that resonance. Harrison Cole, who had once watched him work up close, knew it well. But the Corridor's scouring of his soul had loosened it further still, until it now bordered on a state where the man and the work were one and the same.
Though that owed something to how recently he'd left the Corridor. In time, it would draw inward again, and no longer be so easily felt by anyone nearby.
As for the Night Empress and Selene, the two of them sat to one side and quietly took in the changes in him.
"Teacher, what do you suppose Luke will make this time?" Selene had curled herself onto the sofa, arms wrapped around her fair calves, and asked with open puzzlement.
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?" Lilith, reclining lazily along one side with a startling allure pouring off every inch of her, rolled her eyes at that. Did this girl think her teacher lived inside Luke's head?
"Er." Selene laughed sheepishly and decided to hold her tongue. Her gaze went back to Luke.
I never noticed at the exam, but my junior brother is quite handsome when he crafts, and he has such presence doing it. Little by little, Selene's eyes lost their focus, drawn completely into his movements.
To an ordinary person, watching Luke craft was simply pleasing to the eye, and never dull. But to a Card Master, that same quality showed itself as something else entirely.
A Card Master was pulled toward it by instinct, and one of high talent could even take a new understanding of crafting from it, slipping into exactly the state Selene was in now.
Only a Monarch, and in crafting Luke has already brushed the threshold of the Grandmaster realm. Now that is an unexpected joy. Lilith had noticed Selene's state, and she let it be. For her student, this was a fine experience to have.
Her eyes settled on Luke, and Lilith found that she couldn't quite see through him. It stirred something in her unlike anything before, and her interest in him rose another degree.
...
「 Card background approved. Complete the card art and add materials. 」
Luke let out a soft breath. His mental energy turned to ink, and the Loaded Cylinder Drum's card art surfaced. The Mobile Shell Drum and the rest of the prepared materials went in, dissolving into a solution that gradually seeped through the whole image.
「 Construction successful. Mana backflow obtained. 」
A fresh surge of mana rose in his body, then quickly settled without any further change. That didn't surprise Luke much. The mana gained from crafting a special card had always been far thinner than a regular spirit card's. His attention was on the new card's attributes.
「 Loaded Cylinder Drum 」 Type: Counter Enhancement Card Effect: When equipped, reduces the cost of summoning Magic Cylinder by 50%. After each summoning of Magic Cylinder, can absorb and store any damage received within ten seconds. When countering with Magic Cylinder, may release all absorbed attacks at once, up to the total absorbed. Restriction: Requires the Counter Card Magic Cylinder to activate.
"Mana's been grumbling forever about how each summon of the Cylinder only ever absorbed and reflected a single attack. That's solved now. It still can't take anything more than one major tier above her, but soaking up everything that comes in for ten seconds is as good as ten seconds of invincibility, and the counter ceiling's up a fair bit too. The Drum and the Cylinder together make a counterattack weapon worthy of the name."
At heart the Loaded Cylinder Drum was an enhancement to the Magic Cylinder. Without the Cylinder it couldn't be used at all, so the restriction was only to be expected.
He rested a few minutes, then set to work on the second card.
「 Chaos: a very special power in the world of Duel Spirits, recorded only in scattered fragments across that world's history. 」
「 It is rumored that only Duel Spirits of certain races, such as Dragon, Magician, and Warrior, can undergo Chaotification upon contact with Chaos. 」
「 A Chaotified Duel Spirit gains strength far beyond the ordinary, and each is born with a unique Command effect. 」
As Luke entered the Chaos Ritual's data into the Card Editor line by line, his mental energy fell in step with it, though it stayed within his control.
"A special card?" Noticing the change in Luke, Lilith raised a brow and shifted where she lay, slow and tempting, into a new pose.
"It seems this new student of mine has quite a personality. Is he that fond of making special cards?" She'd sensed Luke's mana thicken a shade just now, which meant his crafting had succeeded. But no Creation Pillar had appeared, and from that she'd guessed he wasn't making a regular spirit card at all, but a special one.
Thinking back to the exam, he had crafted a fair number of cards there, and apart from Sistermon Blanc, every last one had been a special card.
"Has crafting special cards gotten easier these days? Even so, they can't be something you just knock out at will." That was the part Lilith couldn't work out. She knew exactly how much trouble they were. Even at her Undying realm, she seldom made them.
Luke had already proven in practice that special cards paired with spirit cards made for a formidable combination. But at the root of it, the former still relied on the latter to function, and spirit cards were a crafter's foundation.
"Still, every Card Master walks a road of their own. Perhaps special cards alongside spirit cards is exactly the road that suits Luke best." Lilith let the point go there and looked toward Selene, who had come out of her trance at last. "How do you feel?"
EXTRA CHAPTER FOR EVERY 500 POWERSTONES.