Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2812: Temptation

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment, Limitless Celestial Blood Fate Rule Domain

”Come on, finish me. What are you waiting for?” the Supreme Leader shouted, his voice echoing with forced urgency as I stood there, unmoving, simply watching him.

By now, it was obvious he was faking it. If he truly wanted to die, he wouldn’t be yelling—he would’ve acted. No, he was stalling, dragging out the moment, waiting for the Emissary of Light to arrive so he could try his luck again. The desperation was there, but it was carefully masked beneath that loud bravado.

That alone told me something important about the Eye of Prosperity—it had a limitation. It couldn’t evaluate actions that carried no real intent, no substance behind them.

I,e. as long as the Supreme Leader and the Emissary weren’t genuinely preparing to fight me, the Eye wouldn’t register their choices and calculate the success of their action. If it could, it would have told him that whatever he was planning held no value—that all this hesitation and noise amounted to nothing, and that I would win no matter what.

But because of that blind spot, the Supreme Leader still believed he had a chance. He didn’t realize that even if it was both of them the end would be the same. Regardless, their efforts, their calculations, and their faith, they were bound for something far worse than death the moment they chose to stand against me.

I wanted to keep waiting, to ignore him a little longer, but in the end I decided to begin my play. Maybe the Eye of Prosperity had already told him he could act like this in front of me, pushing me to finish him. Or maybe it hadn’t. That was the interesting part about fighting something that calculated every damn possibility before it even happened.

Enough time had already passed—more than enough for him to feel it. Every second the Emissary of Light failed to appear to rescue him breaking my Limitless Celestial Blood Rule Domain was another second of quiet despair creeping in.

”Fine, I’ll settle this with you now,” I said.

For a brief moment, the Supreme Leader’s expression froze when he heard me, but then his face immediately turned indifferent, as if he were trying to mask the shift, even as he felt my gaze lock onto him.

I grinned and used the Myriad Transformation Hex, condensing a Primordial Calamity Daughter Gem into the form of a black pill. With a flick of my fingers, I tossed it toward him, saying, ”That’s your chance to make it out of here alive.”

”Swallow it willingly, surrender yourself to me, and you’ll live—as mine. But if you resist, hesitate, or even entertain a second thought, it’ll turn into something worse than death. Go on, use your Eye of Prosperity on it. Check if I’m lying.”

He caught the black pill, his grip tightening for just a second before he activated his ability. Using his Eye of Prosperity to assess it, he saw the truth clearly—the pill’s value to him was worse than death, yet to me, it was worth more than the Supreme Leader’s own life.

Yes, the Supreme Leader hadn’t been entirely truthful about his Eye of Prosperity. Prosperity was never absolute—it was relative. A deal that profited one side could just as easily bleed the other dry. I arrived at this when he compared prosperity as one’s value, worth, and success, even without him having to say it.

He activated the Eye again, focusing on the pill—but this time, he adjusted his intent. He imagined swallowing it willingly, without resistance, fully surrendering himself to me. The result changed. Now, the value of the pill to him rose sharply, almost matching its value to me. Meaning, if he took the pill while surrendering to me without any resistance, his own value would rise to match mine.

He looked at me, learning that I wasn’t lying to him. I had truly given him the one way to walk out of my limitless celestial blood fate domain alive. But then it also baffled him. What kind of pill behaved like that? It’s worth shifting with intent, its outcome bending with choice—as if it possessed a will of its own. And worse, a will that clearly favored me.

”You truly are a one-of-a-kind genius,” the Supreme Leader sighed, a note of helplessness slipping through as temptation crept into his voice.

How could he not be tempted? The pill promised him everything he had ever chased—the power to crush the masters, eliminate the other two mischiefs, and stand alone as the ruler of the united five regions. But the price was just as clear: his freedom. Whatever he gained would never truly belong to him.

And yet... it was still better than certain death.

As long as he lived, there was always another chance, another move left to play. With that kind of power, that chance wouldn’t come to an end anytime soon. His thoughts spiraled, each one circling back to the same point—what the pill could give him, what it could make possible.

He was tempted. There was no denying it. Compared to certain death, the power to fulfill his ambitions wasn’t just tempting—it was a lifeboat. If he refused to climb aboard, he would be a fool.

”Did you give the Matron a similar pill?” the Supreme Leader asked, his mind racing. If it was something like this, then her betrayal made sense. Risking the backlash of breaking their oath wouldn’t seem so unthinkable anymore.

”You’re sharp. Yes, I did,” I answered plainly, offering no details about how I’d actually given it to her.

”What about the Tao Eye? Do I get to keep it, or will you—” the Supreme Leader began, already sounding like he’d made up his mind and was trying to squeeze as much as he could from the deal.

”No. Not you, not me,” I cut in, leaving no room for negotiation. ”It goes back to its original owner—Clown Mask.”