Date: Unspecified
Ti: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City, TSR Guild Headquarters
I looked at Pax. He was already on the verge of breaking into the Card Emperor realm. Through his bloodline, he could use the Demigod Godson’s runes as if they were his own. Most of them were of ti and space rule, which allowed him to slip past the squad of card demigods guarding the campus and reach Saintess Catherine in ti.
He had summoned his Iron Flesh cha to shield her from Corey’s flas, then recalled it, successfully extinguishing the eternal fire. His combat awareness was far sharper than it had been during his first fought death duel with Paul. Seeing that kind of growth, I couldn’t help feeling a little proud.
I was also intrigued by how perfectly he wielded those runes. Having the bloodline alone wasn’t enough to do what he was doing. Too many factors were involved, especially the purity of that bloodline. Also, inheritance did not guarantee mastery. What Pax displayed was more than simple lineage.
It would appear one of the Godson Bloodline’s effects seed to allow its bearer to pass their abilities down to their descendants carrying the sa bloodline.
My soul pupils told that Pax had already upgraded his grimoire to Diamond Grade. He had also ford his second origin card. On second thought, it was more accurate to say he had inherited it. If I had to guess, that Diamond Grade grimoire once belonged to the Demigod Godson himself.
"Wyatt, you can’t delay your promise to any long. I can’t keep holding my realm back. Even Pax has beco a Card King before us," Corey complained. She clearly didn’t like that her friend’s younger brother had surpassed her in terms of realm when she was stuck getting her boss to take ti out of his busy schedule and help her gain a soul trait as he promised.
"Does the realm even matter when you’re obviously stronger than him?" I tried to coax her. The last thing I wanted was to get dragged off to help her form a soul trait. However, she didn’t fall for it, "I’m not stronger than him. Lil’ Baem is."
"That’s basically the sa thing," I said dismissively. "Why don’t you go find a few array masters and fix the formation your baby snake broke?" I added, trying to send Corey on her way.
I didn’t hate what Corey had done here. If anything, it served a purpose. The card apprentices, and even so within my own organization, needed a reminder. Age and realm ant nothing if you underestimated the wrong person.
And when I called Lil’ Snake a baby, I wasn’t trying to be cute like Corey. I ant it literally. From what I saw in its soul pathways, it was still in the early stage of its life cycle. By the standards of its race, it was very much a child.
"They’re already on it. Those freeloaders are finally taking initiative and earning their keep," Corey said, referring to the freedom fighters.
The freedom fighters had received plenty of perks just for joining, which earned them a lot of ire from my other employees. I too thought they were lazy. But lately, most of them had stopped waiting to be asked. Instead of standing around or asking for instructions, they began taking on work on their own. That shift was starting to prove its value. After all, they guys were the real deal that managed to survive in the harsh conditions of the yellow plains.
Still, they were the newcors. And in any organization, the new guys had to endure a fair share of heat from the veterans.
No matter how efficiently I tried to run my organization, so things were unavoidable. My employees weren’t machines. They were people with emotions. And once emotions entered the equation, pure logic rarely worked. So I let things run their course. I only stepped in when it looked like that course was about to turn ugly.
"Master Wyatt, if you don’t mind asking... since you were the first demon rchant of our world, why didn’t you purchase the rights to the Devil rchant Code?" Pax asked suddenly.
There was a sharp edge in his eyes. Self-righteous, restless. The kind of fire only an ignorant and angry young mind could carry without noticing the burn. Guilt was gnawing at him. That much was obvious.
After all, he could have purchased the rights to the Card World and prevented the second demon invasion. But he hadn’t. He hesitated. He couldn’t bring himself to sell his inheritance for the sake of the world. That choice had stayed with him. For soone his age, it was a heavy burden to carry.
"Oh shit," Corey muttered under her breath. Then she looked at and encouraged Pax adding, "Yeah, Wyatt. Why didn’t you?"
"Because I didn’t stumble into a vast fortune overnight," I replied. "It took ti to build my wealth. By the ti I had enough, Belphegor had already made his move through Gideon Grim."
I let that sink in. It was a deliberate jab at Pax’s inheritance. Then I t his guilt-ridden eyes, telling him what he desperately needed to hear, "Pax, it’s not your fault."
"No, you don’t understand. It is my fault." Pax’s composure cracked as the guilt finally spilled out. "The New Age rchant Guild warned this would happen. They even offered a loan so I could buy the rights from the Devil rchant Code. But I refused. I was afraid of taking on that kind of debt. If I had agreed... things would have been different..."
His voice trailed off, heavy with regret.
Hearing Pax’s confession, the final pieces fell into place.
Now it made sense why the New Age rchant Guild had handed a Devil rchant token to Demigod Godson and left it with him, even though he had shown no interest in becoming a demon rchant. It had never been a gift. It was a seed for their nefarious plans, planted in advance and waiting for the right mont to be used.
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