Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2498: Not A Holyland But A Prison

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

"Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. However, I gotta hand it to you. You’re every bit of what your reputation advertised. Congrats on finding a method to make a perfect clone/incarnation. Though its prodigal method, still you did," I assured Lucine and congratulated her on her enormous achievement before repeating myself, "Do you have any more soul sour fruit left on you?"

Lucine didn’t immediately answer the boy, feeling naked under his gaze. He didn’t seem like a villain, and Faust seemed to trust him, so she trusted him with her secret for now. "No, but I have their seeds. I will give you one if you follow me back to our present right now."

"Nah," I rejected Lucine’s offer without any hesitation. Yes, I know its Soul sour fruit’s seed, and with Dredre by my side, I could grow any seed into a tree until fruition. Yet, I rejected her because I had a better deal for her. So, I proposed to her, "How about you give me all the soul sour fruit seeds on you in exchange I will help cure your time rule dementia? That way, you can freely use your perfect incarnation in our present instead of hiding it in your divinity as a buffer to control your time rule dementia when your condition worsens."

Lucine was taken aback by the boy’s proposal. She felt he was capable after all he saw through her and her perfect incarnation, but she knew the time rule dementia was something that even plagued Celestials, it was incurable. So, she shook her head disappointedly and remarked, "Don’t joke around, Wyatt. That’s insensitive."

"Did I laugh or snicker? I’m being serious. I don’t make promises that I can’t keep. I might be late, but I will deliver," I said, not knowing how I would convince Lucine to give me a shot. She was not like my usual clients. So, I didn’t treat her appropriately without going into detail and leaving much to her imagination, "Look, Lucine, you’re a smart woman who managed to suppress time rule dementia, timeline dementia, and solve the perfect incarnation problem all with one move. So, I will not waste my saliva and get to the point. Agree with my proposal only if you trust me. Otherwise, don’t bother."

"I trust you. Alright, we have a deal then. Let’s head back to our present so we can get started," Lucine enthusiastically agreed, so much so she insisted we head back to our present and get started on it right away.

"Don’t get smart with me," I said passive-aggressively, deciding to fork the Soul sour fruit’s seeds from Lucine’s hands another way, one that I would not only enjoy but feel vindicated about this conversation with Lucine.

Seeing the boy take offense at her little trick to get him to return to their past with her, Lucine suddenly felt that she had made the situation worse than it already was. She immediately apologized, saying, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that this past is not what you think. We have to leave here before the time tunnel’s traces disappear in the temporal river."

"Come on, Wyatt. I said I was sorry. The place is not what you think it is. Please, just listen to me. I will give you all the Soul sour fruit’s seeds I have, let us just return to our present," Lucine tried tempting the boy, seeing that ordering him or pleading to him didn’t work. Also, he was too petty. A teenage girl being petty she understood that, but a teenage boy, what’s up with that?

Listening to Lucine willingly giving me all the Soul sour fruit seeds she had. I decided to forgive her. How could I not? Not only did she risk her life to save mine, but also came bearing gifts. "We have a deal. You can’t back out this latter."

"Alright. Take my hand. I will get us back to our present," Lucine gladly agreed, reaching for the boy’s wrist but he pulled back, informing, "I agreed to cure your time rule dementia and not return to our present with you."

"What? You are still on that," Lucine asked bewilderedly, and she finally gave up, revealing, "Wyatt, listen to me. This isn’t some Holyland to comprehend time rule. Unless you planned to become devil food, I advise you to stop with your antics and quietly follow me."

"I knew it. This is not our past but a variation of our past. Did we lose to the dark realm in the timeline of this past?" I exclaimed, hearing Lucine confirm my guess. She had already confirmed that this was a different past and not our past considering how she, like me, kept addressing it as ’this past’ and not ’our past.’ No wonder our present didn’t change despite Morningstar University meddling with the past using its Time Vestige.

Before Lucine could speak, I overzealously continued, "Have all the card apprentices been killed by the devils of this past? Does that mean we are the only remaining card apprentices in this past? Does that mean the devils are coming for us? And you are worried that with the Time Vestige and other parts of the array covering the ’garden of beginning’ having returned to our present, this array in this past is no-longer strong enough to hold the devils of this timeline back from breaking into the ’garden of beginning,’ am I right?"

"What? No, I wish that were the case—" Lucine paused midway, hesitating if she should tell the boy Morningstar University’s deep kept secret. However, he had already figured out most of it so she decided to reward him with the truth, no matter how dark it was and the bad light shone above Morningstar University’s unblemished record. "This is not the holy land for time rule that the five regions were led to believe. This is a prison designed to hold powerful demigods of the dark faction ’Ten Commandments.’"