Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 3018: Ice Rule Stream

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Void, Hundred Frost Domain, Frost Maze

Regaining control of my body and prowess from the Hive Spirit, I found myself standing in the eerie, silent expanse of the spiritual plane.

Even here, in my spiritual form, the raw violence of the multi-domain explosion rippled through the spiritual plane’s fabric. Violent spiritual tremors shuddered through the spiritual plane that overlapped from the physical plane where Thalorien’s hundred frost domain had just detonated.

I held my ground, deliberately choosing not to return to the physical plane even after the immediate shockwaves subsided. The fading of the tremors didn’t mean the danger had passed; it only meant the catastrophic aftermath was slowly bleeding off its peak energy. Stepping back out too early would be suicide—the lingering residual storms were undoubtedly still potent enough to tear through my defenses.

Since I was effectively sidelined in the safety of the spiritual plane while the void sandbox finished burning, I decided to utilize this forced downtime productively.

I turned my focus inward, reconnecting with the ice rule source to finish what I had been forced to abandon at the Ice Rule bifurcation point.

With one of the eight hidden meanings resonating with my Soul Pupils, my choice for my very first Ice Rule comprehension was practically set in stone. This ice rule meaning was too statistically anomalous and conceptually powerful to ignore. However, it wouldn’t hurt me to thoroughly inspect the other seven matches that had lit up against my abilities.

If anything, my attitude toward this element had undergone a massive shift. What had started as a boring, cautious preparation to deal with the Snow Elven Crown Prince had suddenly transformed into an absolute must-have addition to my arsenal.

Settling into a meditative state amidst the fading echoes of the explosion, I extended my consciousness back into the bifurcation point of the Ice Rule Source. I bypassed the meaning that resonated with my Soul Pupils and prepared to peel back the veil on the remaining seven resonant paths, eager to see there was a hidden synergy between three of these abilities.

This decision was critical, far beyond mere curiosity. I had to select my primary three rule meanings with the long-term goal of creating a unified Rule Stream firmly in mind.

Once one successfully forges a Rule Stream, they gain the ability to comprehend as many branching meanings as they want, simultaneously, without ever having to worry about the standard rule restrictions or backlash with exception of the rule contamination. In my case it wouldn’t be a problem since I comprehend directly from the rule source.

My absolute priority was structural compatibility. Even though the ice rule meaning resonating with my Soul Pupils was incredibly enticing, it would have to sit on the backburner if it didn’t seamlessly pair with the other two meanings required to forge the stream.

I had already seen first-hand how agonizingly difficult it was to fuse three disparate rule meanings into a Rule Stream while trying further my comprehension of the Blood Rule. I wasn’t about to repeat that same mistake and bottleneck my own growth with a poorly synchronized foundation.

Furthermore, having fought multiple Ruler-class entities who had successfully forged Rule Streams in various elements, I had come to fully realize the staggering, qualitative difference in raw power. The gap between those who possessed a fully functioning Rule Stream and those who didn’t was worlds apart.

I couldn’t help but recall the crushing disparity I experienced when my Celestial Rule Domain clashed with ordinary domains wielded by those who had forged Rule Streams. Although my Celestial Rule Domain ultimately prevailed, the margin was far too narrow. It was close enough that I abandoned it in favor of the Reality Isolation Seal, unwilling to risk relying on the Celestial Rule Domain again.

Those domains had put up a respectable fight. The truth was obvious, without the overwhelming, rule-bending authority of my Ruler-class curses bridging the gap, I would have struggled to match the Rule output of their Rule Streams. That was precisely why I focused so much on forging a Rule Stream of my own.

The logic behind this approach was simple: if my abilities were compatible with one another to a certain extent, then the ice rule meanings they resonated with should naturally possess a higher degree of conceptual compatibility with one another.

Of course, there was absolutely no guarantee of this working seamlessly. But the statistical probability of a successful fusion using this method was significantly higher than if I were to randomly select three blind rule meanings from the bifurcation point.

I was here to play the game knowing the odds were stacked in my favor, not to play under the delusion that victory was an absolute certainty. Believing the latter would be nothing short of foolish. Like I had always told myself, there was no true certainty to anything in the myriad realms—especially when it came to personal assumptions and unverified speculations.

Taking a deep, stabilizing second within the quiet void of the spiritual plane, I cast my awareness across the eight illuminated meanings among the millions of ice rule meanings at the bifurcation point.

I, with the help of the Hive AI, began to systematically scan the compatibility of the abilities, the degree of their compatibility. Then, observing which three abilities had higher compatibility as a trio to form the ultimate foundational triad for my Ice Rule Stream.

A bitter, hollow weight settled in my chest as the Hive AI finished processing the final compatibility matrices. The cold, hard data arrayed before my consciousness was deeply disappointing.

The logic had seemed flawless, but reality, as it so often did in the Myriad Realms, refused to bend to mere expectation. The brutal truth stared me right in the face. If these distinct abilities had truly been compatible enough to forge a Rule Stream, their effects would have already cross-pollinated, fused, or mutated during my previous baptisms.

Instead, the vast majority of my arsenal remained distinct, each serving a highly specialized purpose. While a precious few of my abilities did share overlapping effects, none of them were among the eight that had resonated with the Ice Rule meanings.

It was a bitter pill to swallow. Despite all my cheats, it seemed I wouldn’t be forging an Ice Rule Stream anytime soon.

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