Card Apprentice Daily LogCard Apprentice Daily Log
Date: Unspecified
Time: Unspecified
Location: Lil Red Storm Planet, Unspecified
No longer pondering on why the Celestial Core Spirit was using the same attack despite repeated failures, Wyatt gladly accepted its celestial force to increase the spread of his plague. By the time he reached the core, his plague cell count had grown enough to cover every inch of its surface with his World Devouring Blood Plague.
As soon as the plague cells attached themselves to the core, they began to devour it. Soon, painful screams filled Wyatt's consciousness, followed by the words, 'Aw, it hurts. Why are you hurting me?' Listening to these words, with their immature voice and pain-filled tone, Wyatt was stunned for a moment, feeling like a villain bullying a child. However, he quickly recovered and focused on devouring the core before running out of energy. Though it was a pity, with the core devoured, the entire realm and celestial array formation would collapse.
As opportunistic as Wyatt was, after investing his entire fortune into this realm, he would not have preferred such an outcome under different circumstances. But it was a matter of life and death right now, and he had little choice but to watch his investment crumble by his own hand.
Still, he did not give up. In hindsight, he wondered if there was a way to salvage the situation. Thinking about preventing the destruction of the Lil Red Storm realm, Wyatt pondered the plague responsible for it, 'What should I do with the plague after it devours the core?'
After devouring the celestial array formation core, his plague would have grown enormously. Should he use it to devour the remains of the realm, along with its multiple moons, or let the plague starve to death in the void? He could not afford to cultivate the plague on such a massive scale so he could only abandon the plague before escaping to the dark realm to deceive anyone attempting to retrace their steps.
Since Wyatt was still a Card Grandmaster, he couldn't refine the energy collected by the plague after devouring the celestial array formation core, like how Card Demigods use the energy to nourish their divinity and move closer to transcendence. If Wyatt attempted it, he would break through to higher realms in one leap. Given the size of the plague, the possibility of him reaching the Card Demigod realm in a single bound wasn't far-fetched.
However, Wyatt, who valued perfection over speed in his cultivation, didn't want that. Even if he used his plague to devour the realm's remains and its multiple moons, he would eventually have to let the plague starve in the void. It was better to leave the scene of the crime as soon as possible, fearing that the destruction of the celestial array formation core would summon its creator. It had already taken everything Wyatt had trying to defeat the core spirit, so he didn't dare imagine confronting its creator.
Wasting the power of a celestial, accumulated within the plague, didn't sit well with Wyatt. So, instead of fleeing to the dark realm, he wondered if he should take the plague to the Red Alps and use it to rid the reign of the dark races, who had successfully invaded and were busy looting it. Wyatt wasn't a hero, but he wanted to test his plague against the dark races in a real fight.
However, knowing the Red Alps' natives would face the dark races' wrath after he left, Wyatt decided against it. He then considered another possibility-draining the energy from his plague and transferring it to the Field Marshal. If he could do that, he would help the Field Marshal grow stronger and take a step closer to transcendence. That would be better than letting the plague go to
waste.
However, the plague's energy wasn't pure; it was contaminated with other energies, such as blood curse energy. It would be difficult for the Field Marshal to digest it in a single attempt, as she didn't seem to possess the same blood curse immunity that Wyatt had. This caused Wyatt to agonize over the potential loss involved in this process.
Still, such a return was better than losing all his investment and the energy contained within the plague. Just as Wyatt was consoling himself, an idea struck him. Why not use the Myriad Devil Transformation skill on the plague to turn it into a new celestial array formation core, replacing the destroyed one and gaining full control over the realm and its celestial array formation?
With the celestial energy contained in the plague, this was possible. As the new celestial array core, it could use the formation's ability to harvest energy from its twin suns, sustaining itself without relying on Wyatt for power. This way, Wyatt wouldn't lose the plague he had painstakingly cultivated and would make the realm his in every sense-at least until the creator of the celestial array formation came to check on it. Perhaps new core could even avoid the suspicion of the celestial array formation's creator, but only time would tell.
Regardless, Wyatt, still in his plague form, had to complete devouring the celestial core to choose any of them as his next step. His plague hadn't yet broken through the outer layer to reach the spirit at center of the core. Seeing the speed at which his plague was devouring and multiplying, Wyatt realized that if he didn't slow their reproduction, he wouldn't be able to sustain the plague long enough to break through the core's outer layer.
This realization caused him to panic. It turns out though the core spirit was lacking in offense, its natural durability was incredibly high, slowing the devouring power of Wyatt's plague. He feared running out of energy before he could break through the outer layer let alone devouring the entire celestial array formation core.
'Please, stop. Stop hurting me, the spirit's wailing continued, offering Wyatt a glimmer of hope after his cruel realization about his circumstance.