Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2591: Immovable Force In A Limitlessly Expanding Space

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Brothwork Manor

I understood where Jill was coming from. Landing at the top of the Masters’ hit list would do me no favors and might even disrupt my plans for them. However, leaving things as they were would run counter to the very reason I had come to the Central Region. It would send the message that no one could challenge me or eye what was mine—unless they were descendants of the Masters. That idea didn’t sit right with me.

I couldn’t overlook this. If anything, I was more certain now than before. Everything about the situation only reinforced that I was doing the right thing.

”Now you have two choices,” I said calmly. ”I can take you home first and come back later to settle the score, or I can settle it now and take you home afterward. Your choice.” It was, in its own way, my attempt to make amends for my earlier arrogance.

Hearing this, the tension in Jill’s expression eased. She smiled faintly and said, ”Fine. Take me home.”

I knew immediately what she was trying to do. Once I took her home, there would be no returning here. Realizing that, I withdrew the offer without hesitation. ”Too late. I’ve decided I’ll take you home after I’m done here.”

”Have you lost your mind?” Jill exclaimed. ”The array covering the manor is immovable.” Rather than wasting her breath arguing knowing once I made up my mind I wouldn’t change it, she tried to warn me instead.

”Jill,” I replied, ”do you know what happens to an immovable force in an endlessly stretching space?”

”What?” Jill asked, not even giving it a thought. She didn’t even try to guess. Now that was rude.

”Nothing,” I answered. ”Nothing will happen.”

Jill frowned and pressed, pointing out, ”Would it not move along with the space?”

”Yes—you would be correct if I were stretching the space actually occupied by the immovable force,” I replied. ”But that isn’t what I’m doing. I’m only stretching the surrounding space—the parts unoccupied by it. That way, the immovable force remains exactly where it is, while everything around it is pushed farther away.” By then, I had fully captured her attention.

”So you’re planning to stretch the space beneath the array covering the manor?” Jill said, her tone dripping with skepticism. ”The manor would sink along with the land below it, while the array stays fixed in place. This isn’t a cartoon. Don’t you think the Masters would have anticipated underground attacks and ensured the array protects the manor from every direction?” She scoffed, openly mocking the idea.

”Who said anything about stretching the space under the array?” I snapped. ”That’s your ridiculous idea, not mine. No wonder you and your father like to s—”

I stopped myself mid-sentence, realizing too late that I had crossed another line.

Jill was already staring at me with blazing eyes. ”Yes?” she barked. ”Tell me. My father and I like to what? Go on. Say it.”

”Sing—that’s it. You and your father like to sing,” I said, grasping at the first word that came to mind starting with ’S.’

”Sing?” Jill repeated, incredulous. ”Is that really the best you could come up with on the spot? And you still like to fancy yourself a genius. Hmph.” She sneered openly, holding nothing back. At this rate, I doubted we would even make it to our first date.

”Anyway,” she continued, regaining her composure, ”how do you plan to deal with the array after stretching the space around it?”

”Watch me,” I replied, offering no further explanation. There was no need for words when I could give her a live demonstration.

”Limitless Celestial Domain.” I invoked my celestial space-rule domain, expanding it from my immediate vicinity until it enveloped the entire Brothwork Manor and its surroundings. The array protecting the estate immediately detected the intrusion and reacted, but its influence failed to reach the Limitless Celestial Domain, becoming lost within the boundless expanse within the space rule celestial domain.

”What’s wrong with the array?” Jill blurted out as she watched it grow dimmer and thinner by the second. Then realization struck her, and her eyes widened. ”You’re killing the array by using its own design against it.”

”You not only realized that the array was customized to its surroundings—making it immovable like a mountain in this region—but also understood that trying to destroy those surroundings would only strengthen it,” Jill said, her thoughts racing as she watched my plan unfold. ”Any damage dealt to the environment would simply be absorbed by the array, since channels the array uses feed on the surrounding energy to keep running.”

Her eyes widened as the conclusion clicked into place. ”So, you stretched the surrounding space so far apart that the energy transfer between the array and its environment became inefficient. It can no longer sustain itself... such that it’s slowly dying.” She let out a sharp breath. ”Damn. It was right there. How did I not see it before?”

I nodded, assuring Jill that her deduction was correct. In truth, I didn’t need to do things this complex. I could have simply released the limitlessly stretched space itself—collapsing the array, its surroundings, and everything within the space in an instant. The pressure and temperature unleashed in that moment would have annihilated everything inside, evaporating it all to nothingness.

But doing so would have killed innocent people within the manor as well—people like Drew, for example. My grievance was with the Brothwork family, not with everyone under their roof. That was why I devised this method to deal with the array instead. Once it was neutralized, I would personally deal with every Brothwork inside the manor and leave the rest alive to spread the story across the Five Regions.

I watched as the array protecting Brothwork Manor slowly withered and died. Until the very end, the Brothworks’ array master never realized what was wrong. They attempted to call for reinforcements, but every signal, every plea, vanished into the boundless expanse of my Limitless Celestial Domain.

When the array finally collapsed, I extended my arm toward Jill and said, ”Come. Help me spare the innocent.”

The Brothworks—and, in truth, most descendants of the Masters—were an enigma to the Five Regions. I was no exception. Aside from the individuals I had already identified, I had no idea who among those inside the manor were Brothworks and who were merely their servants and guests. Hopely, Jill knew.