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"Under normal circumstances, you'd never come knocking of your own accord. So tell me, what's the reason for this visit to your old man here?" Tobias gave the fishing rod in his hands a sharp jerk, and a plump, healthy fish was hauled up out of the water. "A strong opening. Not bad at all."
"The reason I've come to you, Head, is actually on account of a new student." Pulling her thoughts back, Selene stated her purpose. "He's the first-place finisher of this year's Eastern Region exam."
"A new student?" At Selene's words, a trace of surprise rose on Tobias's face. He hadn't expected this to be what brought her. "If I recall correctly, this year's exam champion is a young man. Selene, surely he isn't some little sweetheart of yours?"
Tobias wore a teasing expression, nothing like the anxious urgency Fabian Reyes and the others had displayed earlier. Celestial Academy was one of the Ancient Kingdom's four premier institutions, and it never lacked for excellent students.
So Tobias was merely surprised that Selene would come to him over this year's exam champion, rather than impressed by the fact that the person was the exam champion.
"Head!" Teased by Tobias, Selene felt a headache coming on, and had no choice but to play her trump card. "Luke and I are not the sort of relationship you're implying. He's actually my junior brother."
"Junior brother? No wonder you came to me in person." Tobias nodded. And then, in the very next second, the fishing rod in his hand shuddered violently, scattering the fish in every direction.
Tobias paid the disturbance no mind whatsoever. He simply stared hard at Selene. "Child. Did you just say Luke is your junior brother?"
Senior sister, junior brother. Ordinarily these were perfectly common forms of address. But when the person in question was Selene, the terms took on an entirely different weight, because her teacher was the Eastern Region's sole Region Governor, the Undying Realm powerhouse stronger than any Immortal, Lilith.
Which meant that Luke, the "junior brother" in Selene's words, was likewise a disciple of Lilith.
Lilith took another student in this short a span of time? In that instant, Tobias felt his whole body begin to tremble.
He still remembered the grand spectacle when Selene had been taken on as Lilith's student. And now, not long after, someone had become Lilith's student all over again.
More to the point, if Selene hadn't come to him in person, he'd have remained entirely in the dark about it.
Has the old girl gotten lonely? Tobias dearly wanted to pose the question aloud, but he suspected that if he actually let it out of his mouth, he'd be beaten so hard he'd cough up something unspeakable.
"It seems Lilith left a precaution in place this time, on account of what happened with you." Tobias possessed a respectable degree of self-mastery in the end, and after that initial shock, he quickly settled himself again. "No wonder you came to me personally, child."
When Lilith had taken Selene as her student back then, it had shaken the entire Eastern Region, and the whole of the Ancient Kingdom besides, propelling her squarely into the eye of the storm for a time, and inviting no small amount of covetous attention as a result.
A Region Governor's deterrent force was beyond question. But the world always held its share of madmen who didn't fear death.
It was precisely because of those past experiences that Lilith had kept the matter of taking Luke as a student so thoroughly low-key this time around. Lilith feared no one, but neither did she want her own student exposed to needless danger.
In the span of a few racing thoughts, Tobias had already pieced together the rough shape of the situation.
"Yes, Head." Selene nodded. "Master took Luke on as a student. My coming back this time was, in fact, to arrange the matter of his enrollment at the academy."
So that's how it is. Hearing Selene's confirmation, even though he'd already guessed as much, Tobias still couldn't suppress the surge of excitement in his chest.
"To think that after so little time, Lady Lilith would take on a student again. If you hadn't said it with your own mouth, this old man would never have believed it." Heaving a long sigh, Tobias couldn't help shaking his head.
To be taken on as Lilith's student was to be utterly divorced from mediocrity. The Selene before him was the finest possible proof.
"Since he's Lilith's student, then his talent and strength can't be far below where you stood back in the day," Tobias said, his interest in Luke thoroughly stirred now.
"Head, that's truly not a comparison worth making." Selene shook her head. "You have no idea how much pressure I'm under right now."
"Even if Luke's talent matches yours, crossing the gap between you is no easy feat." A flicker of surprise crossed Tobias's face. "Selene, there's no need for excessive modesty. You've already reached the peak of the Emperor Realm, just one step below Sovereign. That's a height many Card Masters can't attain in an entire lifetime."
I'd love to be modest, but I'm afraid I simply can't afford to be this time. Calling to mind Luke's performance at the exam, Selene felt the pressure of being his senior sister mounting to an extraordinary degree.
Original Cards, Special Cards, the Millennial Sovereign. Any single one of them was enough to throw her several streets behind, and the words she'd just spoken truly weren't modesty.
Still, she knew this wasn't Tobias's fault. Academy Head though he was, he likewise had no authority to view footage of the exam. On that point, at least, the Ancient Kingdom treated everyone equally.
"Head, I'm genuinely not being modest." Selene gave a faint, helpless laugh. "Luke is an Original Card crafter."
Whether it was the Special Cards, or the card spirits that could evolve endlessly and shatter the limits of their tier, all of it rested on a single premise: that Luke was an Original Card crafter. That was the root of everything.
This information, too, Lilith had granted Selene permission to disclose. Only this way would Tobias grasp the full meaning of it.
And Tobias's reaction was exactly as Lilith had predicted.
"An Original Card crafter!" Tobias, who had been sitting so serenely at his fishing perch, shot to his feet. Now, at last, he understood why Selene had spoken as she did, and he understood the full chain of Lilith's earlier maneuvers!
Original Cards! The legend of the Millennial Sovereign!
As a fellow Immortal Realm powerhouse, and one of the four Academy Heads besides, Tobias's raw strength might only rank alongside that of Aldric and Edmund. But in this particular domain, what Tobias knew far exceeded what either of them did.
When Selene had become Lilith's student, it had already drawn no small amount of covetous attention. But if it became known that Luke might very well be this era's Millennial Sovereign, what he'd draw would be no mere covetousness. It would be a calamity of lethal proportions.
There was such a thing as a thief who stole for a thousand days, but no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand. Lilith was strong, all the more so within her own Eastern Region territory, but she couldn't possibly devote her every waking moment to Luke. Were she to try, the operation of the entire Eastern Region might well grind to a halt.
"So this is the real reason you came to your old man here. I have a rough grasp of Lilith's true intent now." Tobias rubbed his head. "This really has handed me quite the thorny problem."
Lilith couldn't pour all her energy into Luke, and Luke would be spending the next several years at Celestial Academy. Any dangers that might surface during that time would naturally fall to Tobias to handle, which was, without question, the most reliable arrangement of all.
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