Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3034: Null Domain

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Dark Realm, Gelid Alps, Snow Elven Region, Frosell District, Frosnow City

“Now, your turn,” the old goblin said. Although his tone remained steady, he was both unsettled and alarmed.

From a few vague hints, the curse master had pieced together the truth spanning several millennia of his life. That meant the latter possessed an astonishing understanding of him despite the two having never met before.

It made no sense. The curse master had come here because of the Snow Elves. Why would he know so much about a Snow Goblin Empyrean?

The old goblin couldn’t figure it out. Regardless of the reason, the situation had quietly reversed itself. His opponent seemed to know nearly everything about him, while he knew next to nothing about the curse master standing before him. That imbalance alone was enough to unsettle someone of his experience.

For the first time since he deployed the Frost Rule Domain, genuine wariness crept into the old goblin’s heart. He couldn’t shake the growing feeling that he had poked his nose into something far beyond what he had anticipated.

Initially, he had only intended to reap the benefits offered by the Snow Elven Crown Prince before adding a talented Curse Master to his clan’s breeding pool, further strengthening its bloodline and inheritance.

Now, however, it felt as though he hadn’t gone looking for an opportunity at all. He had gone looking for trouble. And knocked on its front door.

The more he learned about the Curse Master, the more convinced he became that he had underestimated someone he never should have provoked. The confidence he had carried into this confrontation was steadily giving way to caution, and caution was beginning to edge toward unease.

“Me?” I smiled. “Take a guess.”

As I spoke, I activated Null Strider. My existence synchronized with the Frost Rule Domain, descending until it matched just how close the domain itself had come to Null. Then, without the slightest hesitation, I stepped back into the existence I knew and deeply loved.

The transition was so effortless it was as natural as breathing. The old goblin’s eyes widened so far they looked ready to pop from their sockets. For the first time since we met, genuine disbelief replaced the confidence on his face.

Even though it was happening inside his own Frost Rule Domain, he couldn’t trust what his senses were telling him. With a mocking grin, I continued shifting in and out of Null, teasing him with every transition.

“Well?” I asked. “Do you give up already?”

I slipped closer to Null, once again, my presence fading to the edge of nonexistence before returning an instant later.

“Or would you like to take your best guess? Take your time. I’m not going anywhere, even though your domain might.”

I glanced around the increasingly unstable Frost Rule Domain. The Snow Goblin Empyrean fell silent.

He had only entertained my earlier questions because he wanted to buy time, allowing his Frost Rule Domain to creep ever closer to Null. Believing that I was using a trick to negate the influence of the domain growing closer to null. Hoping that whatever trick I was using would backfire or stop working the further we were close to becoming nothing.

Now he understood that every second he stalled was meaningless. Also, with me pointing it out, his greatest trump card had become his greatest weakness. The closer the domain drew to Null, the closer it came to reaching the very state it sought to imitate.

And once it did. It would cease to exist. The Frost Rule Domain would turn into nothing with everything trapped within it, including the Snow Goblin Empyrean. Once the domain itself became nothing he no longer would be an exception to its effect, seeing the same fate as those trapped in it until he undid it.

That was the greatest flaw in the old goblin’s masterpiece. It possessed a built-in time limit to self-destruct. Unfortunately for his countless opponents. None of them had ever survived long enough to witness it.

“How are you doing it?” The old goblin couldn’t hide the terror in his voice.

Watching me step to the brink of Nothing and return to existence as effortlessly as taking a breath had shaken him to his core. For a brief moment, genuine fear and unease filled his eyes. Then, they vanished. His expression gradually changed as realization dawned on him. If I could do it, then so could he. Or at least, he believed he could.

The thought ignited a blazing greed in his heart. If he could obtain whatever technique, inheritance, or secret allowed me to step near and away from Null at will, he would no longer be limited to merely imitating the Null Rule Meaning. He could wield it without fear of becoming Nothing himself.

At that point, he wouldn’t just be an Empyrean. He would become one of the most terrifying beings the Dark Realm had ever seen. The greed burning in his eyes completely eclipsed the terror from moments ago.

He no longer waited for his imitation of Null to slowly freeze me, dull my senses, and leave my body too sluggish to resist before capturing me alive. Having abandoned any hope of stalling, buying time for his domain to grow closer to null, the old goblin finally made his move.

He finally mobilized the Ice Rule Slaves. If the Frost Rule Domain alone couldn’t subdue me. Then he would do it by force. From every direction, the souls of his former enemies, forever cursed to serve as Ice Rule Slaves within his domain, surged toward me.

Each unleashed their strongest attacks without hesitation. Their coordination was flawless, moving with the precision of a machine. Not a single attack interfered with another. Watching the overwhelming assault converge upon me, I merely smiled.

“Old goblin, let me show you…” I slowly raised my hand. The smile on my face widened. “…what the true Null Rule Meaning looks like. Ice Rule Domain — Null Domain!