Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3126: Time Tourism Realm: Azorheim

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

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

I turned toward Henricks while others departed and instructed, “I have sent you the coordinates of a realm called Azorheim. Its native populace are not people even the devils dare to offend, so make sure you open the rift precisely at those coordinates. That location is their designated area for receiving visitors from across the Myriad Realms. If we arrive even an inch from that zone we will be in a lot of trouble.”

As I spoke, Hive Spirit transmitted the coordinates directly to Henricks, allowing him to verify the destination on his end.

Henricks studied the information for several moments before looking back at me. “Your Highness, just to double-check, are you certain these coordinates are correct?”

His caution was understandable. Inter-realm teleportation was not as simple as pointing toward a destination and opening a door. The coordinates had to account for the spatial structure between realms, dimensional drift, and the constantly shifting relationship between the realms themselves. Even a minute error in calculation could result in the rift opening several miles away from the intended destination, and depending on where it appeared, several miles could mean the difference between a safe arrival and an incident.

And in this case, getting the location wrong wasn’t something I wanted to explain to the natives of Azorheim. I double checked coordinates on my end and had Hive Spirit help Henricks with calculations, though his origin card would be doing the most of the heavy lifting.

I didn’t use the transportation function of the Demon Merchant Code this time. I needed a cheaper route to Azorheim because I had already decided to make it the place where I would fulfill the requests of the people who had exchanged their merits for my services.

If I were creating Origin Cards, bestowing acquired traits, modifying physiques, or performing any other service that required my direct involvement, I would need Card Apprentices physically present with me. That meant I needed Henricks to serve as my shuttle, transporting the Card Apprentices between the New Empire and Azorheim whenever necessary.

Why Azorheim? Because its natives had a rather useful business.

They rented out caves capable of slowing the flow of time within them while still allowing their occupants to experience conditions remarkably similar to their native realm. In practical terms, it was the physical-plane equivalent of the Demon Merchant Code’s inter-realm city.

More importantly, the Demon Merchant Code charged heftfully for access to its inter-realm city, while the natives of Azorheim offered their time-dilated caves at much more reasonable rates. Since I intended to spend a considerable amount of time there fulfilling requests, the difference would add up quickly.

Inside one of those caves, I wouldn’t have to rush my work with a clock constantly hanging over my head. I could take my time completing the requests of my forces, meeting the requirements of Card Apprentices, and handle everything properly instead of rushing through each task.

Once I finished everything, I would still have enough time to make it to the Dark Realm in time for Peyote’s appointment with Maestro Matteo. In other words, Azorheim wasn’t just a convenient stop. It was my workshop and waiting room, with access to all the time I needed. And unlike the Demon Merchant Code’s inter-realm city, it wouldn’t bleed my wallet dry every time I wanted to borrow a little extra time.

Previously, I didn’t dare come here. I had always stuck to the comfort and safety of the Inter-realm City, where the authority of the Demon Merchant Code offered a certain degree of protection. Azorheim was different. Once I stepped into a foreign realm, that authority would no longer extend to me. I was essentially a tourist in someone else’s territory, and if something went wrong, I would have to rely entirely on my own strength to deal with it.

Now, however, things were different.

I possessed enough strength to defend myself, and more importantly, I was no longer so afraid of attracting unwanted attention. Whatever dangers Azorheim might hold, I was confident in my ability to handle most of them. At the very least, I no longer needed to hide behind the Demon Merchant Code’s protection like I had in the past.

“Your Highness, all set,” Henricks said.

Before us, the spatial tunnel stabilized completely. Unlike the unstable rifts commonly used for long-distance travel, this one remained perfectly still, its edges firm and its interior devoid of the slightest distortion. Even the surrounding space seemed unusually calm, a sign that Henricks had calculated the coordinates with sufficient precision.

Following his lead, I stepped into the tunnel. The sensation of crossing through space lasted only a moment before my surroundings abruptly changed. I stepped out into Azorheim.

The first thing I noticed was the plaza. It was enormous, far larger than I had expected, with enough space to accommodate hundreds of thousands of spatial tunnels at once. Visitors were constantly arriving from different directions. Some appeared through the Demon Merchant Code’s inter-realm transportation function, while others arrived through their own spatial abilities, artifacts, or specially constructed passages, much like us.

For a moment, the plaza almost resembled a bustling inter-realm transit hub. Except this place felt much less artificial.

There were no towering mechanical structures or enormous buildings designed to dominate the surroundings. Instead, the entire plaza had been constructed around the natural landscape. Ancient trees grew between sections of polished stone, their roots deliberately incorporated into the architecture rather than cut away. Streams of clear water flowed through shallow channels along the edges of the plaza, disappearing beneath the stone before emerging somewhere else.

Above us floated several enormous holographic displays.

They contained maps of Azorheim, instructions for visitors, warnings about restricted areas, information regarding the native settlements, and guidelines concerning the use of spatial abilities within the realm. The displays continuously shifted between different languages and scripts, automatically adapting themselves to the races arriving from across the myriad realms.

I briefly skimmed through the information before following Henricks out of the plaza. The moment we left the designated visitor area, the scenery changed completely to a mountain valley.

The natives of Azorheim clearly had a preference for living with nature rather than conquering it. Their settlements did not attempt to replace the wilderness with endless layers of stone and metal. Instead, their structures were built around the environment, woven into it so naturally that it was sometimes difficult to tell where the settlement ended and the wilderness began.