On the other side of the Eleven Great Plains.
Ferrat, charging toward Lanqi at breakneck speed, wore a twisted, ferocious sneer, completely dismissing Lanqi's final struggles.
His bloodshot eyes flared with mad fire, resembling a wounded, famished wolf in the dead of night—wild, perilous, fueled by a blaze of hatred that threatened to burn the entire world to ashes.
Even if Lanqi wanted to trigger some special mechanic, a single card was nowhere near enough to form a synergy.
Even Extreme Feedback required a kit of at least three cards.
Ferrat knew that even if hell froze over and he let Hyperion off the hook today, he would never, ever let Lanqi go!
"Dammit! How can anyone protect you when you taunt him like that?!"
Chasing after Ferrat, Hyperion felt that all was lost.
The sheer level of aggro Lanqi generated as a healer exceeded her wildest imagination; he had even casually slapped an enrage buff onto Ferrat while he was at it.
A maddened Ferrat seemed to have tapped into unlocked potential; she had never realized he could be so terrifying.
In the distance...
On the ground where Lanqi stood.
"Teacher Ferrat, thank you for holding me in such high regard,"
Watching Ferrat descending through the air, Lanqi murmured earnestly to himself.
Originally, Lanqi had thought that in this entrance exam, helping his teammate slap [Friendly Communication] on the examiner would be enough to glide to an easy pass.
Unfortunately, he had run into a strict examiner.
Now that things had come to this, he had to show the examiner proper respect.
Dark clouds hung low over the sky, draping the entire Eleven Great Plains in an uncanny silence. The sun was shut out completely, leaving only faint glimmers filtering through gaps in the overcast cover to feebly illuminate the grassland.
In Lanqi's eyes, Ferrat's approaching figure was like an oncoming tempest—violent, inexorable, irresistible.
"Please, calm down!"
Lanqi's voice was clear and gentle. He smiled up at Ferrat as though wishing to soothe the man's rage.
Or perhaps he wanted to use the magic card in his hand to heal Ferrat's fury-consumed soul.
As Lanqi channeled mana into the card, a blazing orange light burst from his hand.
Points of light swirled and scattered, coalescing into a golden totem in midair!
The magic card in Lanqi's hand slowly dissolved and materialized into physical form.
A radiant, mist-like glow surged across the grassland, spreading in all directions like a divine blessing. In an instant, it swept over the land, rousing the vitality that had been stifled beneath the dark clouds.
Along with it came a gentle breeze rich with the scent of blooming flowers and the pleasant melody of chirping birds.
Up above, the gloomy sky began to brighten.
Beams of light filtered down from cracks in the clouds like pillars of gold, piercing the gloom and bathing the plains in brilliance.
At this moment, flowers bloomed, and mist gathered!
And the epicenter of this miracle lay directly in front of Lanqi.
...
Not only was the conference room of the School of Sages filled with gasps of astonishment as disorder broke out, but even the magic artificer instructors monitoring the backend in the School of Magic Engineering stared wide-eyed at the exam display.
"He actually pulled out an Epic card?!"
"Even among Epics, there are duds and god-tier cards. Who knows what his is."
Across all the prestigious academies on the Southern Continent, students who possessed Epic cards were exceedingly rare.
[Orange Epic] was the highest tier of magic card mortals could ever hope to witness in the world!
Every Epic card was unique, anchored to the world and etched into history.
Once bound to one's soul, it could never be unequipped until death, unless destroyed at the cost of permanently annihilating one's own card slot.
Thus, the vast majority of Epic cards perished into history alongside their bearers' deaths, never to be passed down.
This directly resulted in their scarcity in any given era.
"An Epic card doesn't necessarily suit a person, and binding it means permanently occupying a card slot. Committing to an Epic and locking in a build so early isn't necessarily a good thing."
What forged the mighty were Sacred and Epic cards, but what ruined the mighty were Sacred and Epic cards as well!
The higher a card's grade, the harder it was to unbind, and the less flexibility one had to customize builds.
Such was the cost of [Pink Sacred] and [Orange Epic] tier cards.
If one bound too many, flexible card slots dwindled, fixing one's build in place and stripping away the tactical adaptability of mixing and matching magic cards according to the flow of battle.
Thus, choosing whether to adopt a high-grade magic card required all the more deliberation.
Young teenagers like Lanqi certainly wouldn't take all that into account when binding a card.
"Setting aside whether this Epic card fits him, can summoning such a gentle card really stop a berserk Ferrat right now?"
In the conference room of the School of Sages, an instructor could not help but voice concern.
An Epic card often served as the core of an entire build.
Yet Lanqi's summon was clearly not some aggressive, offensive powerhouse.
Rather, it was a frail, support-type aura summon.
On the magic screen:
A breeze drifted by, carrying the fresh fragrance of flowers. Dewdrops on the grass glistened like countless translucent pearls, reflecting kaleidoscopic colors.
As if a fairy had descended upon the world, the grassland transformed from gloomy and stifling into a sunlit paradise after the rain, filled with the harmony and tranquility of a fairy tale.
The floral fairy Lanqi had summoned mirrored the ever-changing scenery, bathed in the hues of sunlight.
Time itself seemed to pause for her.
"What a beautiful card."
In the conference room, men and women alike could not help staring in awe and admiration at Lanqi's summon.
Like a work of art, a masterpiece of the Creator.
Just looking at it felt therapeutic.
At last, the hazy luminous mist parted.
Accompanied by a crisp, clear voice:
"In this world, there is no calamity—only great love!"
Dressed in a crimson gown, crowned, and entwined with thorns, the gray-haired beauty kept her eyes closed, hands cupped gently as though singing praise.
At that exact moment, Ferrat froze in midair. He felt as though something inside his body had snapped.
"Aaaaargh!!!"
A hoarse, shrieking roar tore from his throat like the desperate howl of a monster. The muscles in his cheeks twitched uncontrollably, unable to vent the unspeakable turmoil raging inside him.
The next instant, like a bird with broken wings, Ferrat plummeted from the sky!
Even Hyperion could not help being drawn to the Epic summon Lanqi had brought forth.
Hearing the floral fairy's praise, she felt a wave of disorientation and delirium wash over her.
The bloodlust she had long suppressed flared almost beyond control; she nearly gave in to the impulse to rush forward and carve Ferrat's heart out with her dagger.
She hastily clutched her heaving chest, striving to calm her erratic heartbeat.
She knew the change in Ferrat and her own bizarre state were definitely tied to this Epic summon card.
It didn't just affect enemies—it hit allies as well!
This floral fairy seemed to exert a mental influence over every target on the field!
Finally...
When Hyperion forced herself to concentrate and looked closely at Lanqi's summon, her pupils shrank violently.
A closer inspection revealed that the summon maiden, despite her angelic, pure aura—
Was actually a succubus with a subtle, sly smirk playing at the corners of her lips!
[Poet of Great Love]
[Category: Summon Card]
[Grade: Orange Epic]
[Tier: 1]
[Effect: Influences all living beings through demonic melody, magnifying their emotions tenfold.]
[Flavor Text: "Love can create all things, yet it can also destroy all things!"]
However...
Examiner Ferrat, crashing heavily to the ground, no longer had any chance to cast appraisal magic like Hyperion.
His sanity had snapped the very instant the Poet of Great Love's voice rang out.
Overwhelming emotions surged into his brain alongside a rush of blood.
Ferrat had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
Chapter 29