Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified .

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central Region, Central Academic City, Morningstar University District, Morningstar University Campus, Garden of Beginning, Time Vestige, Morningstar University 2nd Campus

The Time Supreme, I said to Lucine, watching her face closely to see if my deduction hit the mark. And as expected, Lucine proved she would be terrible at poker.

How did you figure that out? she burst out, genuinely shocked. She stared straight into my eyes, as if she could dig the answer out of my soulthough she knew she would never get what she wanted.

Ill tell you if you tell me how you got the Time Supreme to help you, I offered, seeing just how frustrated she was that I had uncovered Morningstar Universitys deepest secret. She could only blame herself for that, after all she was the one who dared me to it.

Now that I was certain the Time Supreme was the one giving Lucine the confidence to challenge me inside the time vestigewhile we were drifting through the temporal riverI felt cold sweat run down my back. I silently thanked my fortune for not falling for her taunt and pushing my luck. Not that Id ever be foolish enough to destroy the time vestige. It was the only thing shielding meand countless other innocent soulsfrom being lost in temporal river who knows how far away from our original timeline. But it didnt stop me to threaten Lucine using it.

Deal. But you go first. I dont trust you, Lucine said. And dont you dare lie or try to act clever this time. Ill break the deal immediately. Her warning was blunt and honestif I wanted to know how Morningstar University secured the Time Supremes help, I had to play straight. Yes, they paid a hefty tribute for Time Supremes cooperation, but that alone couldnt have been the reason. If Supreme beings could be hired with offerings, card apprentices would have attempted it ages ago. Unless the Time Supreme was different from the others of its kind.

The answer was obvious, I replied. Who else would dare promise protection inside the temporal riverlet alone safeguard an entire time vestige? It had to be either the spirit of the time-rule stream or its herald, the Time Supreme. And with that massive tribute of time-rule liquid, only the Time Supreme could consume that much on a regular basis. It also explains why youre all so weak despite your outrageous progress in time-rule comprehension.

I kept my tone steady, showing I was honoring her conditions. Now it was her turn.

As simple as that, Lucine muttered after hearing how I deduced that the Time Supreme was their backer in the temporal river. Her cheeks puffed in irritation, feeling cheated yet again. But they slowly deflated as she realized I had answered her honestly and upheld my side of the deal.

She shot me a grudging look before letting out a long sigh, fully aware that she wouldnt be able to stop herself from telling me everythingjust like she had with the Labyrinth of the Myriad Pasts and the second campus of Morningstar University. For reasons she couldnt explain, she always ended up wanting to brag about Morningstar University to me.

What she didnt realize was that she was like a rancher boasting to a wolf about how plump her pigs were. So, she shouldnt blame the wolf if it slipped in under the cover of night to take a few.

Lucine began, When we first discovered the time vestige, we learned it was the home of the Time Supreme, Kronos. And unlike every other supreme being, Kronosjust like the vestige itselfwas a unique existence across all timelines of the Card World. However, unlike the time vestige it can also exist in every timeline at once if it choses to.

It was unimaginably powerful, second only to the Card Worlds will and the spirit of the time-rule stream. But it was also unbelievably lazy. It refined bare minimum time-rule power it needed just to maintain its realm and existence, and then it simply lay here, doing nothing. Even when it noticed my ancestors trespassing in its home, it didnt bother to act. As long as they didnt bother it, it didnt care that they were running around inside its house.

My ancestors were stunned by its temperament. It was nothing like any supreme being they had ever encountered. So a few of them decided to try approaching it, hoping to establish some kind of trade. But anyone who tried to disturb it was simply thrown into the temporal rivernever to be seen again.

Even so, my ancestors refused to give up. The possibilities of working with the Time Supreme were too great to ignore. So they sought help from the progenitor of the Unparalleled Bloodlinethe founder of the Southern Region and the Southern royal familywho happened to be the adoptive brother of the Blood Supreme, Bloodette.

With Blood Supreme Bloodettes mediation, our ancestor finally reached an agreement with the Time Supreme, and thats how we secured its help in our endeavors.

So, correct me if Im wrongeverything you and Morningstar University have today is thanks to Bloodette and the progenitor of the Unparalleled Bloodline helping you broker a deal with the Time Supreme? I asked, fixing Lucine with an unkind stare as the memory of the Southern Familys demigods struggling helplessly against Belphegors Worldhog incarnation resurfaced in my mind. They hadnt had enough time-rule based cards to defend themselves, all because Morningstar University had been cutting the Southern Regions quota for decades.

It would be one thing if those cards were charity. But they were sold at inflated pricesseveral times their true cost. And when the Southern Region tried to buy more, offering even higher prices, Morningstar University still refused. That wasnt business, that was repaying kindness with betrayal.

Lucines eyes widened as she realized she had revealed far more than she intended. Her expression twisted with guilt as she sensed exactly where I was steering the conversation. She knew Morningstar Universitys treatment of the Southern Royal Family had been deeply unfair, especially considering the friendship between their ancestors. But she also knew the truth: she wasnt in charge, and things had changed. In the current times, trust and loyalty always came second to interests.