Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3137: Smart Array Formation (Core Condensation Version)

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Azorheim, Temporal Cave Valley, Temporal Cave No. ES3030

Artificial Demon Cores were an idea, a starting point, but they were still far from what I was looking for.

For one thing, Demon Cores came with far too many side effects. The darkness contained within them was merely the most obvious problem. I had no intention of replacing one health problem with another and leaving my citizens plagued with ‘Corey Disease.’

Fortunately, unlike the Dark Race slave traders, I had the means to refine the Demon Cores properly.

I could strip away the darkness contaminating them, refine their energy, and tailor the resulting core to the specific Card Apprentice receiving it. I could even turn the refined core into a Card.

But there was a catch.

If I wanted that core to become an Origin Card, it would have to be created using the recipient’s own DNA. Similar to my initial Human Soul Core which later fused with my Soul Pupils Origin Card. That fusion had eventually undergone further evolution, transforming into what was now my Primordial Calamity Soul Gem.

The process has proven that I can create an origin card without needing to rely on the card apprentice’s fated ingredients. With the right foundation and refinement it was possible.

The question was whether I could reproduce that principle on a much larger scale.

If I succeeded, I wouldn’t merely be giving these Card Apprentices an elixir that temporarily extended their lives.

I could potentially give each of them a personalized Origin Card, one built around their own body and soul, capable of repairing their accumulated damage and sustaining their vitality far more naturally with every breakthrough and baptism.

Now that was a solution worth pursuing.

I began by tailoring a core that followed the same active soul control percentage progression as the Grimoire, but with an important addition. I incorporated both the active soul control power system and the martial arts power system into it.

That way, when the user achieved a breakthrough, both their spiritual and physical realms would advance together.

I didn’t want the spiritual realm to soar ahead while the physical body merely received enough strengthening to act as a vessel for the newly elevated spiritual power, like the traditional card system. That approach would leave the body perpetually playing catch-up.

I wanted both sides to grow together.

For the physical power system, I deliberately chose the martial arts power system rather than the Viltronian power system.

The reason was simple.

I didn’t want to create another Viltron Empire.

I wanted the New Empire to remain my Empire.

The martial arts system was also far more suitable for what I had in mind. It didn’t place an artificial ceiling on how far someone could develop their physical body, nor did it require them to possess some rare racial heritage to reach the highest levels.

More importantly it went hand in hand with the traditional card apprentice power system and the already established system in Card World now popularized by the VR-universe. If someone was willing to work hard enough, they could eventually achieve Sagehood.

Field Marshal Lorn was living proof of that.

She wasn’t the only one either. Across the Myriad Realms, there were countless examples of mortals who had walked the martial path far enough to break past their original limitations through nothing more than talent, perseverance, and an absurd amount of hard work.

The core wouldn’t hand them Sagehood.

It would simply give them a better foundation and a head start that Field Marshal Lorn and those others had never possessed.

They would still have to walk the path themselves.

But at least they wouldn’t have to spend the first half of their journey digging themselves out of a hole.

Now that I had incorporated the core with the traditional power systems of the Card Apprentices, the next challenge was tailoring each core to its respective owner.

The key was synchronization rate.

The higher the synchronization rate between the core and the Card Apprentice, the greater the talent the core would provide. In practical terms, I would be giving the Card Apprentice twice the reward for half the work. Their cultivation would become smoother, their foundation stronger, and their progress significantly faster.

There were several ways I could accomplish that.

The most straightforward was also the most labor-intensive. I could personally examine every Card Apprentice, determine exactly what kind of core suited their body, soul, cultivation, and potential using my soul pupils, then modify the core accordingly before implanting it into them.

Alternatively, I could use Pixie Dust or Primordial energy to forcibly increase the synchronization rate between the core and its owner.

Both methods worked.

Neither was particularly practical when I was dealing with thousands of people.

Then I considered another option.

I could create a core-condensation cultivation technique specifically for Card Apprentices. Instead of me determining their synchronization rate, they could develop their own core through cultivation. The final synchronization rate would depend on how much effort they put into the process.

That had its own appeal.

But then I thought of something better.

I could create a smart array formation that handled the entire process.

The array would first take a DNA sample from the Card Apprentice and use it to create a vegetative clone. The clone wouldn’t possess an independent consciousness. It would simply serve as a biological vessel for the core-condensation cultivation technique.

The array could then continuously run the cultivation technique within the vegetative clone, refining its body and condensing the core again and again until the desired result was achieved.

Once the core was successfully condensed, the array would extract it from the clone and refine it into an Origin Card specifically suited to the original Card Apprentice.

The Card Apprentice would then simply equip it.

The beauty of this method was that I wouldn’t have to personally oversee the entire process.

The array would do the repetitive work.

And there was an even bigger advantage.

If the client was a Card Lord, I didn’t have to stop the process after producing a Card Student level core.

The smart array could simply continue.

The vegetative clone could keep cultivating, breaking through one realm after another until the condensed core reached the same realm as its original owner.

Only then would the array extract it, transform it into an Origin Card, and hand it over to the Card Lord.

In other words, instead of giving someone a shortcut that stopped at their current level, I could create a foundation that grew alongside them.

That was considerably more useful.

And unlike simply pumping Primordial energy or pixie dust into every core, it also meant I wouldn’t have to personally spend my time babysitting thousands of individual cultivators.

Now I just needed to make the damn thing.