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Simulated Crafting had been worth every second of spiritual drain.
The process of building Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon in reality played out like a recording of something Luke had already mastered. His hands moved through the Card Editor with zero hesitation, no false starts, no second-guessing. Every stroke was precise, every energy channel pre-mapped. The simulation had rehearsed this construction dozens of times in the background, feeding experience back into his muscle memory until the whole thing flowed like water.
Fantasy Forge's proficiency boost cut his mana consumption further, and the Moon Spirit Ring's overnight nourishment had left his reserves topped off. For the first time since he'd started crafting cards, Luke felt like he was working with plenty of room to spare instead of scraping the bottom of the tank.
Mana stood nearby, watching the process with wide eyes. She'd seen him build Spell Tome and Magical Hats, but those were support cards. This was a full Card Spirit construction from scratch, Six-Star, dragon-type, and the scale of energy involved dwarfed anything she'd witnessed before.
「 Card background approved. Please complete the card art and add materials. 」
Luke's spiritual energy shaped itself into a brush. The image of Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon poured from his memory onto the Card Editor: dark scales, burning crimson eyes, wings spread wide against a starless sky. The details came fast and confident. He'd loved this archetype since childhood, and it showed in every line.
A low rumble filled the room. Not from outside. From the card.
Dragon roar. A phenomenon unique to dragon-type card construction, it only manifested when the process was about to succeed. The sound resonated through the walls, through the floor, through Luke's chest.
"The dragon roar..." Mana's voice dropped to a whisper, her eyes bright. She'd been studying card crafting theory on her own, and she knew what this meant. "Master's about to succeed."
Luke raised his hand. The Immortal Inferno Dragon's Reverse Scale and the remaining materials floated off the table, drawn into the Card Editor one by one. Each component dissolved on contact, breaking down into streams of red-black energy that flooded the card art. The dragon on the card drank it in. Dark scales deepened. Crimson eyes ignited. Wings stretched. The image looked ready to claw its way off the card and into reality.
Then the Creation Pillar erupted.
Golden light blasted upward from Luke's body, bright enough to bleach the room white. Mana moved instantly. A barrier of dark energy snapped into place across the ceiling and walls, containing the pillar before it could punch through the roof and announce Luke's achievement to the entire neighborhood.
"That was close!" Mana stuck her tongue out, relief on her face. "Good thing you warned me, Master. Another second and the whole city would've been watching."
The golden pillar compressed, fragmented, and rained back down into Luke's body as points of light. Power flooded through him. His Commander Realm foundation, already solid, surged upward.
「 Construction successful. Mana Surge received. Level increased to Two-Star Commander. 」
「 Construction successful. Mana Surge received. Level increased to Three-Star Commander. 」
「 Construction successful. Mana Surge received. Level increased to Four-Star Commander. 」
「 Construction successful. Mana Surge received. Level increased to Five-Star Commander. 」
Four level-ups. Not nine, like Mana's construction had given him back at Soldier Realm. Higher realms demanded exponentially more energy to advance. A Six-Star card's Mana Surge that could catapult a Soldier from One-Star to Nine-Star only pushed a Commander from One-Star to Five-Star.
Luke pulled the finished card from the Editor.
「 Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon 」 Race: Dragon Quality: Perfect Level: ★★★★★★ (Six-Star) Skills: Dragon Pressure, Star Flare Shot, Dark Star Soul, True Red Soul
Dragon Pressure: When facing non-dragon opponents, reduces enemy combat effectiveness by 10%. Passive.
Star Flare Shot: Compresses internal black flames into a high-density fire projectile. Massive single-target damage.
Dark Star Soul: Upon being summoned, quality increases by one tier. Passive.
True Red Soul: Upon destruction in combat, temporarily transforms into the true Red-Eyes Black Dragon (Seven-Star, Legendary) for one final battle. The legend made real.
"Six-Star Perfect. Same quality tier as Mana after her equipment fusion." Luke studied the stats, running calculations. "But Dark Star Soul bumps quality by one tier on summon. That means the moment I call Black Star to the field, he's effectively Six-Star Legendary. That's above Mana's current level."
He paused, running the matchup.
"Dragon Pressure on top of that. Ten percent combat debuff to anything that isn't a dragon. In a straight fight, even with all of Mana's skills and versatility, she wouldn't be able to beat him."
That was the dragon archetype for you. Raw, overwhelming, unapologetic power.
"And then there's True Red Soul." The final skill. The trump card within the trump card. "When Black Star goes down in combat, he doesn't just die. He temporarily evolves into the real Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The original. The legend. Seven-Star Legendary. I have no idea how strong that actually is in practice."
He let that sink in. The card he'd built was called Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon. A young dragon chasing the legend. And the legend it was chasing? Red-Eyes Black Dragon, no "Star," no qualifier. The genuine article. Seven-Star. The difference between the two was the difference between a promising fighter and a god of war.
Building Black Star as a stepping stone toward the ultimate Red-Eyes had paid off. True Red Soul was the proof. The young dragon's whole identity was built around pursuing that legend, and in death, it briefly became the legend.
Poetic. And terrifying.
Luke slid the card into his collection, resisting the urge to summon it immediately. One glance at the size of his room killed that idea. A full-grown dragon in a student apartment would end badly for the apartment.
Then the other shoe dropped.
Five-Star Commander. His mana reserves were larger than before. But maintaining even a single Six-Star Card Spirit was a massive drain. Summoning Mana alone gave him a persistent feeling of being hollowed out, his recovery rate barely keeping pace with the cost.
If he summoned both Mana and Black Star simultaneously? Two Six-Star card spirits at once?
He'd be dry in minutes.
Lily's setup had been one Six-Star and one Five-Star. That was already pushing the limits for a Commander Realm master. Luke's loadout was double Six-Star. More powerful, absolutely. But the mana cost was in a completely different league.
"Going to need a solution for that," Luke muttered, rubbing his forehead.
"Master!" Mana, who'd been hovering nearby with barely-contained excitement, finally threw her arms around his neck. Her face was pink, beaming. "Congratulations! You did it!"
"Yeah." He pinched her cheek gently, earning a squeak of protest and an even brighter blush. His gaze drifted to the window. The sun was already low. "There goes another afternoon."
Building Mana had eaten most of a day. Black Star had taken most of another. At least the time was decreasing.
"Come on." He took Mana's hand and pulled her toward the door. "I'm starving. Let's go find something to eat."
( Note - Red-Eyes Black Star Dragon is a fan-created Synchro Monster card, not an official Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG) card. It is not part of the official canon or released by Konami.
Origin: The card was originally designed by artist kingdom-neos on DeviantArt in 2010 as a recolored version of Shooting Star Dragon. )