Card Apprentice Daily Log

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Southern Capital, Guild Association Mall, Warehouse No. 234, Limitless Celestial Domain, Gainover Manor, Unparalleled Arena

"Wyatt, is everything alright?" Anna asked her young groom in concern within his celestial blood fate domain. She was no longer being bombarded by the soul whispers of her ancestors, yet she could sense that those whispers had now shifted toward her young groom. She didn't know if she should be relieved that her ancestors were not bothering her or be worried that they were now bothering her young groom.

Having set aside her pride and asked him for help, she resolved to trust her young groom until the very end. Honestly, she had no choice as she was trapped in the unparalleled arena and slowly dying. After all, once within the unparalleled arena, neither participant could leave unless a proper victory was declared.

Gainover was not dead. That was for certain, as his flesh stubbornly infested her body and was spreading across her body, fighting all her defense mechanisms as if it had a mind of its own. What worried her most was that she had no idea what Gainover was actually planning.

She had clearly not achieved the clear victory required to leave the unparalleled arena and seek her family's aid to deal with flesh slowly borrowing into and spreading across her body. She was trapped there with her ancestors' wills, who couldn't communicate with her in a way she could understand them.

Had her young groom not arrived, she would have been lost and helpless by now, forced to ruthlessly slice away the infected flesh from her own body in the hope of stopping its spread and eradicating it. In his presence, however, she could still hope for a miracle.

As this thought crossed her mind, Anna suddenly recalled their first meeting. Memories of her young groom began to surface one after another. She was startled by her own lapse, for after forging Anne, she had felt little toward these recollections. They had been little more than information she needed to retain, not precious memories she cherished. Yet now, her heart unexpectedly fluttered and raced as those moments replayed themselves.

She was flustered, overwhelmed by the feelings she thought she had lost. Unable to resist, she tilted her head slightly and stole a glance at her young groom from the corner of her eye, tracing his figure with her intent sense. Seeing him focused intently on curing her condition with a one-track mind, she was suddenly reminded of why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. More accurately, she realized she was falling in love with him all over again.

With emotions she believed she no longer possessed bubbling up in her heart, Anna's face flushed as her heartbeat grew louder and faster. Confusion overtook her, and she momentarily forgot her surroundings.

"How is this possible?" Anna asked herself in shock. It was then that she realized something crucial. By taking the extreme path, she had not severed her feelings by pushing them to an extreme and giving them form. Instead, the form she had given them was merely the fruit borne by her branch of feelings. In other words, she had never truly lost her emotions. They had remained there all along, waiting to grow, bloom, and blossom.

Just as she began to lose herself in the torrent of emotions surging through her, her origin card suddenly reacted under the influence of her extreme divinity. Her excess feelings toward her young groom were being channeled into her origin card, more precisely into Anne. In the next instant, she felt her extreme divinity grow stronger.

At this realization, Anna's eyes widened in shock. It was then that she realized her origin card's ideal/ dumb/ crazy daughter was not the result of her unconsciously stepping onto the extreme path, but rather a gift from her bloodline and the card world, meant to aid her in traversing the extreme path that she had happened upon.

Nearly a century after the creation of her origin card, Anna finally understood the proper way to use it. She finally understood what her grandfather meant when he said that she was best suited for the Extreme path. She finally understood why, despite everyone's misgivings about her practicing the Extreme path, he had chosen her as his heir. She finally understood why her mother had forced her to practice the Extreme path, even when everyone believed that it was this very path that caused the estrangement between the mother and daughter.

It turned out that her mother and grandfather had long since uncovered the true purpose of her origin card while attempting to study it and create a perfect clone capable of wielding their own grimoire. Anna could not help but wonder why they had never shared this truth with her. Had she known earlier, what could she truly have done about it? Nothing.

After all, when it came to emotions, even the strongest of card apprentices were as helpless as mortals. Yes, they possessed greater discipline, but that did not mean they could control their emotions. If they believed otherwise, they were only deceiving themselves.

The Southern Ruler and the Southern Princess eventually realized that attempting to manipulate Anna's emotions and feelings would only backfire, as the extreme path was inherently unpredictable. What began as good intentions could easily result in the death of their princess, or worse, lose her completely to the extreme path. Therefore, they chose to let nature take its course, refraining from meddling in her affairs, especially where her origin card was concerned.

Now that most of her manic-level feelings toward her young groom had been transferred to Anne, Anna gradually calmed down. Still, enough remained for her to feel disgusted with herself for having wanted to shackle her young groom through their marriage. She was also deeply dissatisfied with how she had handled the situation when her young groom informed her that she, Susan, and Jill were now his and they had no choice in the matter.