Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2726: Switching To Plan B

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters

Listening to Corey, my frown only deepened. She had said exactly what I was afraid of hearing.

But instead of arguing further, I let out a slow breath and informed, ”Yeah. Hearing you say that tells me everything I need to know. This isn’t going to work. I’m going with Plan B. We’re not using Agony’s unholy core to help you acquire a Soul Trait anymore.”

Corey’s eyes widened exaggeratedly as she exclaimed, ”Hey, hey, you don’t get to just say what you want and change the plan without explaining yourself. What did I say wrong that suddenly changed your mind out of nowhere?”

I had already started sorting the ingredients for Plan B. Without stopping, I looked straight into her eyes before answering her, I asked her, ”First, you tell me something. What do you think we’re shopping for here? A Soul Trait? Or a sister you never had? Because I signed up to help you acquire a Soul Trait. Not to make siblings out of our enemies.”

Hearing my question, Corey instantly went quiet. I didn’t look away from her as I continued, ”Do you even understand what’s at risk here? Or what we’re actually trying to achieve? Tell me, because right now, I don’t think you have the slightest clue. If you did, you wouldn’t have said those words.”

She remained silent, her eyes got teary, but I didn’t stop, I pressed further, ”You should be assuring me that if push comes to shove, you’re prepared to erase Agony’s will. That you’d give up on refining her as your Ego Flame and prioritize your safety and focus on our objective, upgrading your title demon core, and acquiring a Soul Trait. Everything else is secondary.”

I paused before giving her one last opportunity, ”I’ll give you another chance. Tell me, what exactly are we trying to achieve here?”

”Wyatt, don’t worry, I know just the way to subdue Agony. Trust me,” Corey repeated, still avoiding my question.

”That’s not what I asked you,” I replied calmly. ”But fine, I’ll bite. Could you humor me and explain what exactly gave you the confidence that you can subdue Agony?” I played along, though I found it hard to believe Park was completely fine with this decision.

”Just trust me on this one, will you?” Corey said, locking her eyes with mine. That look alone told me she was making this decision based on emotion rather than logic. So I rejected her answer without hesitation. ”Nope. I’m not in the business of helping someone plan and attempt suicide. Either you tell me what you’re relying on, or I’m switching to Plan B.”

Corey stared at me. When she saw that I wasn’t backing down and continued staring back at her, she finally caved and revealed, ”I plan to share all my memories with her. You know how every time I awakened a memory of my past life, I changed and became a better version of myself? I think that if I share my memories with Agony, she can understand and see things from our perspective. It might help her realize that Belphegor is the last person she should be trying to please. She’ll see him for the devil he really is.”

”Are you dumb or what?” I snapped the moment she finished. ”Now I’m certain we should switch to Plan B, even if it means you have to give up on becoming the best version you could have been.”

She knew too much about me, my organizations, and my loved ones, and she was talking about handing over all that sensitive information to our enemy like it was nothing. Even if that enemy eventually became her Ego Flame, it would still be reckless to share all her memories with Agony.

Doing that wouldn’t just endanger me. It would put her all current-life and past-life comrades at risk as well. That was assuming that if Agony managed to pass all that information to her father by exploiting the same weakness Corey Park once used to conspire against her with me.

Then we would be creating new problems for ourselves. Problems that never should have existed in the first place.

”Wyatt, that’s my decision to make—” Corey snapped, but I cut her off, speaking louder than she did. ”Yes, it is. But as your friend, if I don’t stop you from making a mistake that could cost you your life, then I would become everything you’ve ever accused me of.”

She looked like she was about to argue again, but I wasn’t having it. ”Corey, stop. There isn’t anything you can say that will change my mind.”

”I just... I don’t want her to die!” Corey said, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face. ”I want her to live, but I also want her to pay for what she did to Lil’ Baem.”

I fell silent and could only watch as she cried. Little Baem expanded and wrapped around her, snuggling close in comfort. Its head turned toward me, staring daggers in my direction. But it didn’t attack. Maybe it didn’t want to add to Corey’s distress. Or maybe it had learned its lesson from the last time it picked a fight with me. I preferred to believe the latter.

”Park, I know you want Corey to learn how to handle her day-to-day social life and work on her own, but do you mind telling me what I’m missing here?” I called out inside the card lab, casting a helpless glance at Corey, who was still crying.

She had already realized the truth. The only way she could successfully fuse Agony’s unholy core was by erasing her will, not by refining her as an Ego Flame, the ego spirit of undead flame of agony.

She would have chosen Plan B, but she also knew that integrating Agony’s unholy core properly would give her an incredible power boost that she couldn’t achieve with any amount of training at her current realm. Allowing her to lay a solid foundation. She couldn’t afford to miss out on this opportunity.