Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2503: Origin Card: Premortem Savant

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning

”What? I never heard of that,” I exclaimed in shock as Lucine revealed to me that comprehending time rule in a looped timeline would lead to being inflicted with time rule dementia. There was no mention of this in the book I learned about Time Rule Dementia.

Considering that the book stated that Time Rule Dementia was a disease that mostly plagued Celestials and was not seen among any known races in the Myriad Realms, when Lucine was the living contradiction to that, I’m guessing the book was outdated.

Wasn’t it outdated? It did mention that except celestials, no known races could survive Time Rule Dementia. So, they never had a living subject to determine the cause and effect.

Lucine’s case was special. She only managed to survive because she boldly cut most of her infected soul and had two Soul sour fruits to save whatever was left. It was a gamble. She lived to tell the tale, but she didn’t manage to fully get rid of her Time Rule Dementia.

It took two miracle fruits to save Lucine’s life, but still she wasn’t fully cured and lived as a memory challenge loon. This was enough to tell how deadly Time Rule Dementia was: hundred percent mortality rate excluding celestials.

”Um, that’s not surprising. I only knew that comprehending the time rule of a looped timeline causes Time Rule Dementia after I comprehended the time rule of this past in desperation to save Ahalya. I guess you are not stupid after all,” Lucine answered, explaining how she was inflicted with Time Rule Dementia.

”Ah, that explains why your soul pathways were vanishing into this past of all the pasts when in our present. No, no, that’s not right—” Midway through my realization, I paused and glanced at Lucine to find her grinning with ecstasy. Ignoring her weird expression, I continued, ”You used your incarnation as an anchor to ensure that the soul pathways of your brain that vanishes into the past because of time rule dementia vanishes into this past and not across the various possible pasts of the Card World.

By doing so, you not only ensured your divinity knew where to find the vanished soul pathways to help with you passively recover and also use the soul pathways that vanished to this path to nourish you incarnation that way it wouldn’t be tainted by this pasts’ energies yet continue to grow until it was ready to help you actively manage the Time Rule Dementia.

I thought it was all a coincidence, you lucked out and managed to create a perfect clone without getting it tainted with this past’s energies, but turns out you knew what you were doing. That’s just ingenious. How did you manage to think and calculate all that while protecting yourself and rescuing Ahalya? That’s no longer in the realm of the card apprentices.”

I was really impressed by what Lucine had done to survive the Time Rule Dementia. She not only thought of a solution to a mortal disease in a few seconds but she thought of a solution that she could use and perform at that instant. That was to say, a solution within her capability and means. For one to have that kind of presence of mind and concentration when you were surrounded by certain death, it was just monstrous.

Lucine immediately became a living reminder for me not to underestimate the Card Apprentices.

Lucine allowed herself to bask in the admiration of the boy for a few seconds before she shook her head and humbly revealed, ”No, I’m no genius. It’s just the effect of my origin card ’Premortem Savant.’ It turns me into a savant a few seconds before I die. The triggering conditions of my origin card are very strict and demanding. I don’t dare simulate these conditions just to trigger it, fearing the consequences to follow will not be something I can handle. So, it’s basically useless in regular times. If anyone should be considered a genius, it should be you. I can’t believe you managed to figure out the solution I opted for... how did you even manage to do it? I didn’t even reveal anything to you. It’s as if you just saw right through me. It’s just uncanny.”

”Premortem Savant, that’s an interesting origin card. But be honest, you never really tried to trigger it by putting yourself in harm’s way in a controlled environment?” I said, not believing Lucine for a second when she claimed that she didn’t try to trigger her origin card. From what I learned about her so far, she had a curious brain like mine and it was simply impossible for her not to try and figure out ways to control her origin card. It would go against everything we stood for.

Lucine rolled her eyes and reluctantly agreed, ”Yes, I did try to figure out how I can control my origin card. But I learned that as long as I knew I was safe, it was simply impossible for me to trigger my origin card. So, I had my colleagues fake try to kill me without telling me, even erased the related memories, but nothing worked. It was as if my origin card had a mind of its own. Soon, I stopped trying. So far, I only managed to trigger my origin card that one time.”

”You know what that tells me? It tells me you’ve never stepped outside the bubble that Morningstar University has created around you. And it also tells me that you’re in the wrong profession—or that your fated ingredient chose the wrong card apprentice. You should have joined the army or one of the guilds. With your origin card, by now, you would have become one of the strongest in the Five Regions, or even found a way to grow beyond the limits of the Card World’s power system. Your card is clearly meant for someone who embraces danger, someone who doesn’t let the risk of death wash away their greed.”

I spoke my mind to Lucine the same way I would to a friend. I believed she always possessed an adventurous spirit suited to her origin card. Otherwise, she never would have found her fated ingredient to create such a origin card in the first place. I suppose life simply happened.