Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3123: Thalorien’s Certainty

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Lil’ Red Storm Realm

Observing that Thalorien’s mind had gone blank from the shock, Dalia immediately seized the opportunity.

“As you can sense, each of the Frost Elves, despite being only in the semi-Ruler-class realm, is already fully capable of facing veteran Ruler-class beings. Some might even be capable of killing one.”

She gestured casually toward the nearly thousand figures standing behind her.

“Now imagine what they will be capable of once they break through into the Ruler-class realm.”

Thalorien had already been considering the implications of her words, but that final statement drew an involuntary chuckle from him. Then he laughed. It wasn’t a laugh of amusement. It was the laugh of someone who had just heard something so absurd that his exhaustion could no longer contain his disbelief.

As the creator of the Frost Elves, Thalorien understood their potential better than anyone. That potential had frightened even him.

The Frost Elves had never possessed a clearly defined ceiling. Or perhaps their ceiling was simply so high that even Thalorien, despite his vast knowledge and countless years of research, had been unable to see it.

That was precisely why he had feared them.

He had spent millennia trying to understand their potential, refine it, and push it toward the limits of what he believed possible. He knew exactly how monstrous they could become if given the right environment and sufficient resources.

But now hearing Dalia speculate about them breaking through to the Ruler-class realm, Thalorien looked at the nearly thousand Frost Elves again. His eyes swept over their bodies, their auras, and the faint traces of power radiating from their souls.

Even after the transformation had erased his curses, their foundations had not merely survived. They had become stronger, far stronger. Yet Thalorien still couldn’t accept what Dalia was suggesting.

In fact, the more he examined the Frost Elves with his Tarnished Glacier’s ability, the more convinced he became that accepting the seed had brought them closer to the Ruler-class realm while simultaneously making the final step vastly more difficult.

It was as though they had narrowed the gap between the door leading into the Ruler-class realm, only to reinforce that same door.

Their potential had increased. Their foundations had become more terrifying. Their current combat strength had risen to an absurd level. But their breakthrough had, in his estimation, become ten times harder.

Thalorien understood better than anyone that possessing the potential to become a Ruler-class existence did not mean actually becoming one.

The Myriad Realms were filled with beings who possessed extraordinary bloodlines, monstrous foundations, and seemingly limitless potential, yet remained trapped beneath the Ruler-class threshold for their entire lives.

A breakthrough into the Ruler-class realm was not child’s play. It required more than potential. It required an accumulation of resources, comprehension, foundation, opportunity, and, sometimes, an almost impossible degree of fortune. Even with the Frost Elves’ terrifying potential, Thalorien had never considered their ascension a certainty.

Before, he had believed they had a path toward the Ruler-class realm. Now, after examining the changes brought about by the Primordial Calamity Daughter Gems, he believed they had effectively built a ceiling over themselves. A ceiling they had already reached.

To Thalorien, that was the cruelest irony of all. They had gained an overwhelming increase in strength at the cost of the very possibility he had spent millennia trying to cultivate. They had traded their limitless future for freedom from him. And in his eyes, making the final step ten times harder was practically the same as making it impossible.

To Thalorien, the conclusion was obvious. They would never ascend. And for the creator of the Frost Elves, someone who had spent millennia studying their potential and fearing just how high their ceiling might truly be, that conclusion was so absurdly obvious that Dalia’s confidence could only mean one thing. She simply didn’t understand what she was looking at.

“Did you really think anyone could simply break into the Ruler-class realm?” His laughter grew louder. “Especially these mixed-race mutts who don’t even know their place in the Myriad Realms?”

“Hahaha!” He threw his head back and laughed openly, the sound echoing through the chamber. His bloodshot eyes returned to Dalia, carrying a mixture of ridicule and disbelief. “You are indeed ignorant and not pretending to be one.”

Listening to his words, Dalia’s brows immediately furrowed. She had been willing to let Thalorien laugh. She had even found his confidence amusing. But now he was insulting the very Frost Elves she had just accepted as her brother’s Bloodkins.

Her expression darkened. With a sharp snap of her fingers, one of the Frost Elves stepped forward from the formation behind her and stopped beside the golden throne.

Dalia didn’t even spare the Frost Elf a glance. Her attention remained fixed entirely on Thalorien, who glared back at her with surprising rebelliousness. The more time passed, the more comfortable Thalorien had become. He was beginning to understand that Dalia wasn’t going to kill him. Otherwise, she would have done it already. That realization had restored some of his old confidence, allowing his pride to resurface even in his battered state.

Dalia’s eyes narrowed, ordering, “Show this fool what true ignorance looks like.”

“Yes, Lady Dalia.” The Frost Elf bowed respectfully before it turned toward Thalorien with a smug smile on its face.

Thalorien’s expression remained disdainful. He had created the Frost Elves. He knew their foundations better than anyone. He knew exactly how much potential they possessed, how difficult their bloodline structure made the final breakthrough, and how the seed had altered their foundations. There was no way one of them could simply…

The Frost Elf’s aura suddenly erupted. The surrounding space trembled. Its semi-Ruler-class aura began rising rapidly, its accumulated power surging through every layer of its foundation. The Primordial Calamity Daughter Gem within its soul resonated with its existence, while the knowledge, experience, and accumulated prowess it had gathered over countless years finally converged toward a single point. The Frost Elf stepped toward the threshold and crossed it.

Boom!