Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3024: Ice Rule Meanings: Speculum, Lattice, and Lens

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Void

[You have achieved ultimate comprehension and mastery of Ice rule meaning ‘Speculum.’]

[You have used your ultimate comprehension of Speculum Ice rule meaning with ‘If you see me, I see you’ ability to forge the ultimate ice rune, Mirror heart]

[You have achieved ultimate comprehension and mastery of Ice rule meaning ‘Lattice.’]

[You have used your ultimate comprehension of Lattice Ice rule meaning with ‘Primordial Resonance’ ability to forge the ultimate ice rune, Glacial Lattice.]

[You have fused the ice rule meanings Null, Speculum, and Lattice to forge your Ice Rule Stream.]

[You have achieved ultimate comprehension and mastery of Ice rule meaning ‘Lens.’]

[You have used your ultimate comprehension of Lens Ice rule meaning with ‘Soul Pupils’ ability to forge the ultimate ice rune, Soul Lens.]

“Phew!” I sighed in relief to myself after returning to existence after spending infinitesimal instant stopping just one step short of becoming Null with the help of my Ultimate Rune, Null Strider.

When I first stepped toward Null, my plan had been simple. I would exploit the Null loophole to not only forge my Ice Rule Stream, but also comprehend all eight Ice Rule meanings that had resonated with my abilities and forge each of them into its respective Ultimate Ice Rune.

Reality proved far crueler than my expectations.

That plan died the moment I spent what felt like an eternity comprehending my second Ice Rule meaning, Speculum.

Comprehending the Null meaning had been an entirely different experience. It had felt as though the Ice Rule Source itself had force-fed me its truths, tearing away every layer of ignorance until only perfect understanding remained. There was no room for doubt, confusion, or hesitation. The comprehension simply happened.

The comprehension of the ice rule meaning Speculum was the exact opposite.

The Ice Rule Source no longer spoon-fed me its wisdom. Instead, it merely opened the door and left me alone with an endless truth to decipher.

Imagine being forced to eat the exact same meal three times a day. Then imagine doing it every day, for centuries, for millennia, for what felt like countless eternities.

There was no hunger, no exhaustion, no distractions, and no passage of time to break the monotony. There was only one thing in existence: the Speculum meaning of the Ice Rule.

Yes, I possessed the highest affinity with the Ice Rule that any entity could possibly achieve. Every truth hidden within the Ice Rule Source lay bare before me, clearer than the lines on my own palm.

But there was a price. The closer I came to becoming Null, the slower time, causality, and existence themselves became. They slowed to such an absurd degree that even the birth and death of stars would have seemed instantaneous by comparison. Every infinitesimal moment stretched into what felt like countless eternities.

Caught between those two extremes, my comprehension of the Speculum meaning felt endless. There was no pain, no physical suffering. Only an eternity of relentless contemplation.

It was as if the entire universe had ceased to exist, leaving me alone with a single Rule meaning that I had to examine from every possible perspective, over and over again, until no mystery remained.

More than once, I felt my resolve begin to crack. I wanted to stop. I wanted to abandon the whole endeavor and return to existence.

But I couldn’t. I had made a promise to myself, and I intended to keep it, even if I could only fulfill half of it.

It wasn’t just about keeping my word. Deep down, I knew that if I retreated now, I wouldn’t have the courage to step this close to Null again for a very long time. The experience was simply too harrowing. It had already carved something akin to PTSD into my psyche before I had even returned to existence.

So if this was going to be my one and only chance for the foreseeable future, I couldn’t afford to waste it.

At the very least, I had to forge my Ice Rule Stream and comprehend the Rule meaning that had resonated with my Soul Pupils. Those two objectives were non-negotiable. That was what I had set out to accomplish. And I intended to see it through.

So I endured.

I soldiered on, comprehending the three primary Ice Rule meanings to their Ultimate Tier, forging each into its respective Ultimate Ice Rune before finally fusing the three primary ice rule meanings together into my Ice Rule Stream.

Even then, I refused to stop.

With what little determination remained, I forced myself to comprehend the Lens meaning as well, forging its Ultimate Rune, Soul Lens, before finally admitting defeat and stepping away from the edge of Null.

Returning to existence. Physically, I was in perfect condition. Mentally, my thoughts were sharper than ever. Spiritually, I had never been stronger. Yet, as I floated within the Void, I felt an exhaustion that transcended body, mind, and soul.

It wasn’t fatigue. It wasn’t weakness. It was as though every ounce of my will had been consumed. After enduring what felt like multiple eternities of uninterrupted comprehension, I no longer had the desire to think, move, or even exist for a while.

Objectively, only an infinitesimal instant had passed. Subjectively, I had lived through enough time to watch civilizations rise and crumble countless times over. No language I knew could accurately describe that contradiction. No experience in my previous life came remotely close.

So I stopped trying.

I simply drifted through the Void, savoring something I had nearly abandoned forever.

Time, Causality, Existence itself…

Things I had always known were important, yet had subconsciously neglected, even taken for granted, now felt strangely comforting. Time. Causality. Existence. The simple act of being alive had become the greatest luxury imaginable.

For the first time in a long while, I found myself questioning everything. My ambitions, my goals. The countless decisions that had brought me to this point. Were they truly worth chasing?

The questions came one after another, pulling me deeper into an unfamiliar sense of detachment, as though the countless eternities I had spent brushing against Null had quietly eroded something fundamental within me.

Then, without warning…

BEEEEEEP!

The Hive Spirit blared a soul-piercing alarm.

At the same instant, a violent jolt surged through every fiber of my existence. It wasn’t merely an electric shock. It was as though my body, mind, soul, and even my will were forcefully rebooted all at once.

The haze clouding my thoughts shattered. My drifting consciousness snapped back into focus, my scattered thoughts recentered all at once, and my sense of detachment vanished, as I couldn’t help but curse aloud, “That fucking hurt!”