Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3085: Unrestrictive Power System Of The Card World

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Five Regions, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

The strongest cards I had created so far were the dozen Unranked Frosling Corpse Puppet Card Spirits. I shared their information with Dyke’s Grimoire.

“Unranked Card Spirits?” Dyke exclaimed as he went through the data I had transmitted.

His expression changed repeatedly as he read through the information. At first came surprise followed by disbelief. Then something approaching genuine excitement. By the time he finished reading, he simply stared at me as though he were looking at a completely different creature.

“Your Majesty, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you make up for your lack of realm?” His voice carried genuine curiosity rather than skepticism. “Even with an Unranked Grimoire, creating a single Unranked Card would be an extraordinary feat. Creating a dozen Unranked Card Spirits, each with their own consciousness and abilities, should be demanding even for someone who has already broken through the power ceiling of the Card World. And you created twelve of them together, how?”

Dyke looked down at the information again, as if hoping he had somehow misunderstood it. He hadn’t. His fingers tightened slightly around his Grimoire.

Dyke himself had managed to create a steady stream of SSS-rank Card Spirits ever since he mastered the art of Soul Crafting. That alone was an achievement most Card Creationists could only dream of.

Yet even as a Card Demigod who had reached the ceiling of the Card World’s power system, creating a single SSS-rank Card Spirit placed an enormous burden on him.

The process drained him spiritually and physically. Even with his cultivation realm, Soul Crafting demanded an incredible amount of energy, focus, and control. He could produce SSS-rank Card Spirits with some regularity now, but every creation still left its mark.

That was precisely why he couldn’t comprehend what he was looking at. How had a Card Apprentice whose realm was clearly far below his own managed to create a dozen Unranked Card Spirits? And these weren’t twelve unrelated creations made over a long period. The connection shared between the Card Spirits as mentioned in the card info suggested that they had been created together. The resonance between their origins was too consistent to be a coincidence.

Dyke had enough experience with Card Creation and Soul Crafting to recognize how demanding the requirement to create multiple cards or items at once was. Especially, when one’s realm was not up to the task.

His mind began racing. He had spent enough time trying to overcome the same problem. Inside the VR-Universe he had learned the principles of Soul Crafting and created Unranked Cards but creating an Unranked Card in the real world remained an entirely different matter.

The Card World’s power ceiling was a wall he couldn’t simply smash through. He had tried everything he could think of. He experimented with different materials, altered his creation arrays, modified his Soul Crafting techniques, searched for ways to borrow or redirect external energy, and attempted to exploit every loophole he could find in the Card World’s existing system.

Nothing worked. Some attempts failed harmlessly. Others ended disastrously. Every failure only reinforced the same conclusion: his understanding had reached a point where his environment, the Card World’s Power System, itself had become the limitation. That was why he had become desperate for an Unranked Grimoire.

If the Card World’s existing power system refused to let him create an Unranked Card, perhaps an Unranked Grimoire could provide the authority and framework he needed to bypass that limitation.

And now, the man standing before him had apparently overcome that very same problem without even possessing the realm required to do so conventionally.

Dyke’s breathing became slightly heavier. For the first time since arriving, the Unranked Grimoire in his hands was no longer the most interesting thing in the room.

It was the person who had given it to him. His eyes gleamed with a mixture of curiosity, excitement, and barely restrained hunger for knowledge.

“Your Majesty…”

Dyke hesitated. For someone who had spent centuries building his reputation, asking another Card Creationist for guidance wasn’t easy. But this wasn’t about pride anymore.

“How did you do it?” His voice was quieter this time. “How did you overcome the Card World’s limit? If you’re willing, I’d like to learn from you.”

“The Card World’s power system is limited, but it isn’t restrictive. I simply created other power systems to supplement what it was lacking, allowing me to achieve this.” As I said that, I unleashed the pressure of my full strength on Dyke.

The change was instantaneous. The air seemed to become impossibly heavy as my aura erupted without restraint. The sheer pressure slammed into his senses, making his body stiffen as every instinct screamed at him to retreat. His eyes widened, and for an instant, he felt as though he were standing before an incomprehensible monster.

Dyke’s knees nearly buckled. His consciousness began to blur, and his soul trembled under the overwhelming pressure. The Unranked Grimoire in his hands almost slipped from his fingers. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the pressure vanished.

Dyke staggered backward, sucking in a deep breath as he struggled to regain his composure. His face had gone pale, and his chest rose and fell heavily while he tried to process what had just happened.

He stared at me for several seconds. Then he looked at the space around me before turning his gaze back to me. The realization slowly settled in.

The mixed aura he had sensed earlier hadn’t been a trick. It had been incomplete information. He had assumed my apparent strength came from borrowed power because he couldn’t reconcile my realm with the strength I had just displayed.

But that assumption had been terribly wrong. If what he had just sensed was truly my own power, then the young ruler standing before him might very well be the strongest Card Apprentice in the history of the Card World.

Dyke swallowed. For perhaps the first time in centuries, the number-one Card Creationist felt genuinely insignificant in front of another Card Apprentice. He finally straightened himself, took a breath, and gave me a slight bow. “Your Highness, forgive my bluntness, but…”

He hesitated, as though even asking the question felt absurd. “Are you saying that power wasn’t borrowed? That strength… is actually your own?”