The Master of Cards Chapter 23: His Own Path

Alex felt the sudden arrival of a thunder, just as his seed which was turning dimmer and dimmer, suddenly disappeared.

The disappearance of the seed stunned him. He didn't understand what was going on, but before he could scream, a bolt of world destroying lightning struck his body, electrocuting him. The previous time he was hit, he didn't feel any pain or discomfort, but this time, the lighting burned through his body, leaving thousands of scars on his skin as the lightning penetrated into his body and hit the point where his seed had just disappeared.

However, Alex then saw a scene that stunned him. The lightning seemed to have become trapped in a kind of invisible vortex that was slowly swallowing the lightning up and digesting it. As the lightning was slowly digested, a white glow was emitted from the invisible vortex, which provided existence for its otherwise undetectable presence.

The white glow healed Alex's body again, before returning into the invisible vortex. Still, there were a few lightning like scars left on Alex's right chest.

Finally the skies calmed and the violent source energy absorption ended. However, Alex could feel that the invisible vortex which had resulted from his seed transforming, was now constantly absorbing a source energy of the world at a gentle pace, without any conscious effort.

Alex opened his eyes to see a terrified duo of old men. He bowed his head. "Thank you for your help."

Old Ren gulped. "Why did you get hit by heavenly tribulation again?"

Alex smiled. "I think... my seed transformed. I might have entered an unusual path."

Alok tremored. "Your seed... transformed?"

Alex nodded. "My seed seems to have disappeared. Something else has appeared in its place."

Old Ren sighed. "Don't tell us anymore. And never disclose this matter to anyone."

Alok nodded. "You absorbed a crazy amount of source energy. Are you ready to form your card?"

Alex shook his head. "I still have a month before the exams."

This month, Alex calmed down and visited school. He didn't over exert himself. He just allowed the transparent vortex to passively absorb the source energy gently from his surroundings.

In school, things were no longer the same again. Many students had died and many had even transferred schools at the last moment. Alex didn't say much, he sat for the usual non card lectures.

Sometimes he would play truant from class and sit on the rooftop. He intended to spend the last few days in school with relaxation.

As he was sitting on the rooftop, he heard footsteps of another person arrive. The person sat beside him quietly. Alex smiled.

"Lily, how come you are here?" Alex asked.

Lily didn't speak for sometime. "Attending class just feels unreal after what happened." She finally said.

Alex agreed. Lily looked at Alex. "What are your plans after high school?"

Alex looked at a few birds flying in the sky. "I've been thinking about that for the past few months. What about you?" He asked.

Lily sighed. "I am planning to join Star University. Enter the battle card department."

Alex nodded. "Good choice. I heard it is the best university in the country for card research and training."

Lily's puppy eyes continued to stare at him as if asking him to give an answer.

Alex sighed. "I think I will join the special department's training program."

"You won't apply to university?" Lily asked.

"No." Alex shook his head.

"But the government's training programs can't compare to star university..." Lily asked.

"I know. But the university isn't a path for me. Besides, my training has been too slow, I am still only at the seed stage, while I believe you need to not only form your base card, but also your first active card to be eligible for Star University." Alex said with a smile.

Alex quietly spent his time relaxing and calming himself. One day on the rooftop he mentally realized his peace with his estranged family and firmly decided not to depend on them. He cut ties with his family.

When he came to this understanding, his body glowed. The invisible vortex and the space around it was suddenly frozen in place as the boundaries of a card began forming around the frozen space before gradually solidifying. The frozen space, including the vortex, were engulfed by the card and became a image that was a part of the card.

Alex realized that this was his base card. The card seemed to have a window into a space where the vortex seemed to be revolving around an axis. The color on the borders of the card which determined the attribute of the base card actually surprised Alex.

The card's boundaries were striped in three shades, white black and transparent, striping the card in a regular pattern.

Based on his studies, Alex had learned that cards were always a solid color. Every person had one or two attributes in tune with their body. But when the base card formed, the colors attributing to the attributes would fuse together to form a solid color. It was very unlikely that two people's physical attribute affinity was identical, thus two people having identical solid colored Base cards was usually extremely unlikely.

Alex didn't have time to be surprised at his three stripe card as he suddenly found the card form an intimate connection with him and actually appeared within his inner world. The card floated right beside the statue, that was Alex.

Suddenly, Alex felt that he could control the base card. Within his mind, he learned some innate knowledge that shocked him. His base card had four forms.

A white card with a blank white image, a black card with a blank dark image, a transparent card with the transparent vortex and the striped card form. He could freely transform his card into any of the four forms when he manifested the card in reality.

Alex quietly summoned the card in his hand in the real world and a blinding white card with a similarly bright white blank canvas for its image appeared in Alex's hands. This was his base card.

Chapter end