Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2548: My Perfect Heir

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning, Time Vestige, Morningstar University 2nd Campus

Lucine’s behavior was unbecoming of someone of her age and standing. It was the inevitable result of relying too heavily on her Future Finding time rule meaning for far too long. The side effects were finally catching up to her—and the stakes had never been higher: death or rejuvenation. And in truth, she had no real choice left. Wyatt had already trapped her with an oath in the presence of the World’s Will, and her concern was no longer for herself but for Morningstar University. If Wyatt’s motive was to kill her, what assurance was there that he would stop with her? Especially now, after she had spilled the existential secret of Morningstar University to him, trusting instincts that had long since grown unreliable. She no longer knew what kind of future she had just set into motion, and that was unsettling for her.

As I pieced Lucine’s mental state together, I understood what I needed to do to put Lucine at ease so she could cooperate with my treatment without fear or hesitation.

”Lucine,” I called, pulling her out of her daze. Meeting her eyes, I declared, ”I swear in the presence of the World’s Will: if you die or become bedridden because of my treatment, I will take on all your responsibilities and carry them out to the best of my ability.”

As my oath settled in the air, the confusion in Lucine’s gaze cleared. She could see that my intentions in treating her time rule dementia were genuine. She still wasn’t confident I could cure a celestial disease, but my oath told her one thing unmistakably—I believed wholeheartedly in my own method.

”I knew I hadn’t misjudged you,” Lucine said softly, a relieved smile touching her lips. Then her expression tightened. ”However, I’m not entirely sure I can trust all my responsibilities to someone who thinks he can cure a celestial disease. That would be rather irresponsible of me.”

”Technically, I’m not curing you. I’m just helping you craft a perfect pasty to take the punishment for breaking the time taboo in your stead,” I said—anything to help Lucine feel more at ease with the procedure.

”Then, technically, you’re experimenting, and I’m your guinea pig. I can die knowing that,” Lucine replied with a resigned nod. Then, almost too casually, she added, ”If you put it that way, I’m tempted to sabotage the treatment myself, just so you’d be stuck with my responsibilities. At least then I could die knowing I’d chosen the perfect heir.”

”Don’t even joke about that,” I said, the weight of my oath hitting me all over again. I didn’t need the Card Celestial to enforce my promises—I was a man of my word.

”Alright then, let’s get started,” Lucine said, her voice carrying a newfound enthusiasm—that came from believing she was helping me run an experiment. If it succeeded, she would finally be free of her time-rule dementia. And if it failed, she took comfort in knowing that I would serve as her insurance to her beneficiary, Morningstar University.

Lucine had already gone through the file I’d sent her and fully understood what I needed her to do—and how to do it. She had only been nitpicking and acting difficult to irritate me to death before I forced her into a treatment she believed might kill her. But now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up, she dropped the act and began refining the three bodies of the Triunion Four-Petal V. Vine using her time-rule meanings with great concentration. Each body was refined with a different time rule meaning, turning them into V. Vine Past, V. Vine Present, and V. Vine Future.

It was for this reason that I’d been so desperate to swear an oath in the presence of the World’s Will—to put Lucine at ease. I needed her to give her full effort when refining the three bodies of the Triunion Four-Petal V. Vine with her time-rule meanings. Only then would the results be not merely satisfactory, but exceptional—perhaps even miraculous. Her own oath to me only ensured that she would undergo the treatment procedure; it didn’t require her to approach it with sincerity. Even if she cooperated half-heartedly, the oath wouldn’t trouble her. That was what I wanted to avoid. I needed her focus, not her indifference.

I observed closely as Lucine refined the three bodies of the Triunion Four-Petal Viltronian Vines. Her technique and precision were excellent, but she was still much slower than I had been.

With the Breath of Erosion and my primordial Soul Pupils, my refining speed was on an entirely different level. The Breath of Erosion accelerated the process, while the Soul Pupils left no room for error.

Even though Lucine was in a higher realm than I was, that alone wasn’t enough to bridge the gulf created by those two abilities. After all, both the Breath of Erosion and the primordial Soul Pupils were coveted even by peak ruler-class beings. So it was no surprise that her refining process took far longer than the time I needed to finish preparing the rest of the treatment.

”I’m done,” Lucine muttered, drained to the core. It had taken everything she had to refine the three Triunion Four-Petal Viltronian Vine bodies into Vine Past, Vine Present, and Vine Future.

She couldn’t help glancing at me, remembering how easily I had refined them earlier, mutating them into what they had become. To her, it must have looked effortless. But that was only because Breath of Erosion handled most of the work while I simply guided it with the precise insights from my Primordial Soul Pupils.

For me, a card master, the process that left even a card demigod like Lucine exhausted was effortless because of the difference in the methods we had at our disposal. Proving why Breath of Erosion was coveted even by beings who had reached the pinnacle of the Myriad Realms.