Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 687 Array Formation

Time- 22:12

Location- Sky Blossom City, Southern Watch military base

”That was nice. A satisfying dinner with beautiful company. It’s late. I should head back now.” After finishing dinner with Ann, I decided to head back to the warehouse. 

”Wyatt, you flatter me. You, too, were a delightful company. It indeed is late. How about you sleep over?” Ann offered with an enthusiastic tone.

”Sleep over? Here?” I asked in surprise. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, she is Anna’s twin. 

”Yes, I can have my aid arrange a cabin for you.” Ann persuaded me.

”Oh! You mean a separate cabin. Sure, why not? This way, I will get to meet Luna when she is available.” The warehouse was cold and empty, and so was the southern watch cabin. At least the southern watch base was protected by a reliable array formation. 

”Okay, I will have them prepare the cabin and inform you when Luna becomes available.” Ann was very hospitable. I was touched. Her first impression is way better than Anna’s. She not only had arranged a separate cabin for me, but she also asked her aid to inform me when Luna’s schedule became accessible, “Thank you.” 

…

Getting comfortable in the military cabin arranged for me, I equipped the storage card handed to me by Lorenzo to summon his books on Basic Array Formation Mastery. 

Array Formation is to alter and modify the soul pathways and arrangements present in nature to our requirement using an external stimulus. 

Nature has its own soul pathways and arrangements that influence the weather, temperature, humidity, gravity, vitality, etc., of the region. The essential thing as an array formation master would be to feel them. One cannot become an array master if one cannot get insight into nature’s soul pathways and arrangements. 

Thanks to soul pupils, I don’t need to gain insight into nature’s soul pathways and arrangements. I see them. I could see each soul pathway in nature, where they are headed? How are they arranged? How do they react with other soul pathways in nature? What external factors are affecting them? How do they influence nature? I could see everything related to the soul pathways. Making array formation simpler. 

Other array formation masters had to spend hours in the field trying to gain insight into the soul pathways in surrounding nature and calculate all the variables that could become a liability when they arrange a formation array. They achieved this by studying and observing nature. 

They monitored nature to deduce the soul pathways and arrangements related to it. They did this because, unlike me, they couldn’t see soul pathways, they could only see nature. So they made use of what they could see to calculate what they could not see. Since I could see the soul pathways, I had a huge advantage. I did not need to deduce soul pathways by studying nature. 

For example, in a certain field, most array masters would start to gain insight into nature’s soul pathways and arrangements by seeing wind flow patterns, the vitality in the land, the soul energy in the surroundings, the presence of life forms such as grass, bushes, trees, the influence of elements, mountains, rivers, underground water, the habitation of different sentient life, the gravity, the water levels, the moisture in the air, etc. Considering all these factors, the array master thinks about what soul pathways can relate to the parameters they had calculated. After numerous calculations, the Array master finally has a rough grasp of the soul pathways and arrangements in the surroundings. 

Then they start to use Soul jades, graded cores combined with their mental strength to stimulate the soul pathways and arrangements externally and modify them according to the array formation blueprint. 

Graded Cores are refined monster cores that can be used as replacements for origin cores to create regular cards. In array formation, they are used as the core of the array formation. Unlike in the creation of cards, where all the soul pathways are stuffed into the core, here, the soul pathways in the core are extended out to connect with the soul pathways of nature. And the bond between the soul pathways of nature and the core is strengthened using the soul energy of the soul jades. Apart from that, the soul jades also act as power sources of the array formation to empower nature’s soul energy. If the grade of the array is equal to the realm of the array master, an external power source like soul jades is not required. 

To create a card, the soul pathways of various card ingredients are stuffed in the core and arranged strategically, forming a cocktail of soul pathways that form the card. Here in array formation, the ingredient is nature itself. Trying to stuff its soul pathway into a core would be stupid and impossible. Therefore the core is used as the crux to modify surrounding nature according to the blueprint and control it to achieve specific actions to the array master’s will. 

 There are three types of Formation Arrays, 

1. Temporary Array

2. Stationary Array

3. Permanent Array

Temporary Array- they are heavily dependent on nature. Since nature is volatile, the Array formation built entirely depending on it will become unstable if it is not able to adapt to the changing nature

Stationary Array- these arrays are created by altering nature’s soul pathway using external stimulus so that the specific parts of nature required for the array formation will not change with time. 

This can be achieved by modifying the array core so that it has the capability to make sure the soul pathways of the nature required for the array don’t change the changing nature. 

The core can be modified by introducing the soul pathways of certain ingredients to it, which can help it control the specific soul pathways of nature without affecting its usual flow. 

The City array formation and the array formation covering the southern region are good examples of stationary arrays. 

Permanent Array- field cards and trap cards are the best examples of this array. But the area of effect of these array formations will be limited. 

Various ingredients are used to modify the core of the card such that when the card is activated, the core will influence the soul pathway of the surrounding nature heavily. So much so that it will morph the soul pathways of nature of the specific region to its specifications. 

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