Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2549: Lucine’s Burial

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning, Time Vestige, Morningstar University 2nd Campus

"You’re a monster. What’s your secret?" Lucine groaned, letting out a long sigh as she shook her head in disbelief. In her long life, she had met countless geniuses, but none quite like me. From the look on her face, she seemed on the verge of weighing death during the treatment as a viable option.

"I have too many secrets," I replied calmly. "Which one are you curious about? And before you choose, think carefully. Are you sure you can bear the weight of knowing even one of them?"

I wasn’t boasting. Every one of my secrets was far too dangerous to reveal—my transmigration, my primordial origin card, my little charm Dredre... the list went on, and not a single one was something Lucine could safely hear or accept. The consequences of any of them coming to light were far too heavy for someone to manage. And for a person who couldn’t make decisions without relying on her Future Finding time rule meaning, it was better she stayed unaware.

"As if you’d ever tell me your secrets. Hmph." Lucine snorted, clearly unconvinced. After spending enough time with me, she knew one thing well—I would sooner take my secrets to the grave than share them with anyone.

"Opportunity was right in front of you, and you didn’t take it. So don’t come crying later, saying I’m never willing to tell you anything. It’s simply that you’re not strong enough to hear them," I said, shaking my head, wondering why I even considered sharing one of my secrets with Lucine.

Somewhere along the line, she had unknowingly found my weakness. She shared everything with me—every worry, every vulnerable truth—trusting me in ways I never expected. Somehow, that slipped past my defenses. For a moment, the cautious part of me couldn’t help but doubt whether she truly couldn’t use her Future Finding time rule meaning on me. Because her strange, almost foolish honesty had made me lower my guard around her.

She was the third person to ever manage that, after Susan and Anna. And what surprised me even more was that I hadn’t known Lucine for long at all. That was why I couldn’t help but wonder—was Lucine really unable to read my future, or was she using her time rule meaning after all?

No, it was just Lucine—her kindness, to be exact. She never had hidden motives or schemes directed at me from the moment we first met. Yes, she wanted me to join Morningstar University, but only because she genuinely believed it suited me. If she had felt otherwise, she would never have tried to push me into it, no matter how talented I was.

It was her warm nature, the gentle presence she had cultivated over her long life, that made me feel at ease around her. She was the kind of elder / mentor everyone deserved—someone whose very existence made you feel cared for, valued, and safe. Sometimes she could be a little silly, but that was part of what made her so endearing.

"So, what’s next?" Lucine asked, brushing off my earlier comment. She clearly didn’t believe me. The one time I was actually willing to answer her, she didn’t push for it. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

"You’ll bury yourself in the fourth stone pot. It will not only protect you from the turbulent raw time rule power in the chamber, but the clay in it will provide you with the required nutrition lasting you for the entire procedure using the raw time rule power. I’ve also carved an array into it that will let you share your blood essence with the three Viltronian Vine bodies. And once they reach devil rank, the array will help you transfer your divinity into them—"

Before I could finish explaining the next stage of her treatment, Lucine had already moved closer to the fourth pot. She examined the inscriptions carefully, tracing the array with her eyes until she suddenly interjected, "I understand. But are you sure these clay pots can protect me and the Viltronian vine’s root bodies in them from the raw time-rule power swirling around the chamber?"

"Yes. I can guarantee it completely," I said with confidence. After all, the Hive Spirit had run millions of simulations on this procedure, and in every single one, the pots held up perfectly and performed exactly as needed.

"Alright, I understand now. From inside the pot, I need to feed the three vine bodies, monitor the growth of their root bodies, and refine them with my time-rule meanings while comprehending their development as they evolve into devils. That way, when I transfer my divinity into them and leave my old body for my incarnation, the process will be much smoother," Lucine recited as she floated over the pot and settled into it.

She prepared to sink herself into the clay using only her intent, not even bothering to ask how long the process would take or whether she would remain conscious through it. It wasn’t haste—she simply didn’t want to know. Those details would only make her hesitate, and she’d already decided to go through with this. For her, it was better not to hear anything that might shake her resolve.

"All the best," I said as Lucine sank into the pot. She called back, "See you on the other side."

I left the time-expansion chamber and sealed the door behind me. Then I keyed in the configuration for the chamber’s time-expansion array and fed in the raw time-rule power drawn from the temporal river the time vestige was currently sailing through. Once the time expansion array was powered and everything was set, I activated the chamber.

Based on my calculations, it would take only an hour outside for the Viltronian Vines inside the chamber to reach the devil rank completing the several billions of years growth, and then less than a fraction of a second for Lucine to transfer her divinity into her new bodies and acclimate to them. Meaning, Lucine should step out of the chamber in an hour.

Such incredible speed was possible only because of the overwhelming abundance of raw time-rule power at our disposal. If not for the time-rule vestige at our disposal, none of this would have been possible. Seeing what it could accomplish, my desire to make an artificial time vestige of my own grew into an itch in the back of my head.