The Amber Sword

In reality, the Deer Demon Elaine and the Pendulum Golem drew Brendel’s curiosity as soon as they appeared. After the battle in the catacombs, he finally realized that creatures summoned by cards could also use cards.

Though Elaine had said that she and the Pendulum Golem had only used Kelsie’s cards under a simulation, at the very least this proved that while the great Planeswalker had been alive, he had entertained similar thoughts.

It was indeed so.

Kelsie only left behind some scattered records. He had entertained this thought during the last years of his life – to build a new Law upon the creature cards; if a Planeswalker could summon certain creatures, then why couldn’t Planeswalkers summon other Planeswalkers?

This was, without a doubt, a preposterous thought that nearly approached genius. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to praise the hypothesis as imaginative. What was even crazier was that Kelsie succeeded. Or rather, he achieved some kind of success.

First, he reconfigured the Deer Demon Elaine and the Pendulum Golem, two of his strongest cards and the ones to which he was most emotionally attached to. You could say that Elaine and the Pendulum Golem were the product of his first experiments. Though the experiment hadn’t been perfectly successful, it did let Kelsie find his direction.

Unfortunately, this great genius, or madman, could not perfect his hypothesis. Before he could create a perfect summoned creature, the danger from underneath Trentheim exploded. In the end, he and the Queen of Witches chose to sacrifice their lives to seal the entire catacombs.

He also sealed his entire life’s work in the catacombs.

This record was finally given to Brendel by the Deer Demon. In truth, what Brendel got wasn’t the full hypothesis either, since Kelsie never got the chance to perform further experiments and refine it. All he left to Brendel was just a record with gaps.

But that was enough.

Just as Brendel thought, the hypothesis didn’t need to be perfect. He simply needed to use it to its fullest capabilities. Combining that with the experiences of his past life, it wouldn’t be impossible to create a set of the strongest cards that belonged to him alone.

“You want to summon a Planeswalker?” Tuman looked at him and asked nervously.

Brendel nodded.

Tuman immediately looked serious and asked, “But do you know that Kelsie’s method wasn’t perfect? Planeswalker themselves have special privileges. His powers are greater than anything you’ve mentioned. The way he summons Planeswalkers is more like a compromise.”

“I know,” Brendel answered. “What Master Kelsie really did was spread his Planeswalker privileges among his summoned creatures so that they could have the same powers of the Law as he did.”

“This meant he had to face two problems. First, dividing privileges naturally meant decreasing the upper limits to how many cards a Planeswalker could have. Second, because the summoned beings would have the same privileges as the Planeswalker himself, they could, at any given moment, turn on the Planeswalker.”

Brendel was actually someone who loved winning despite the deck being stacked against him. He was completely different from those who calculated and planned before acting. That was why the senior female student paid him the most attention when he previously played the Amber Sword. It was obvious what happened when an individual had both a sense of individual heroism and a desire for adventure.

But after all the adventures and his gaming experience, he was no longer the same impulsive young man as before. He now understood that even on an adventure, you needed to calculate the risk. Most importantly, you needed to know your enemies.

Therefore, even without Tuman pointing it out, he had already investigated all the possible consequences. “Besides,” he continued, “a Planeswalker’s privilege cannot be divided infinitely. Someone with Kelsie’s powers could, at most, produce four extra subdivisions. Considering my powers, I can do two at best.”

“So you know.” Tuman fell silent. The size of the card pool that Brendel talked about was a problem that a Planeswalker needed to face. In contrast to journeymen, who could use other people’s card pools without worrying, every card a true Planeswalker had was a representation of his own Laws. It was tied to his world, so he had to put aside a certain amount of energy to maintain each and every card.

This relationship was usually proportional to the pool of Elemental Powers, typically in a ratio of one to ten, though there were some whose pool was smaller or bigger.

Tuman thought about it and said, “Kelsie almost stood at the apex of the Planeswalkers. His powers could be said to be equivalent to mine. Further up would be Master Odin’s level, and that has only been accomplished by two or three people throughout history. That is to say, if you are thinking of walking this path, you can at most have four or five Planeswalker creatures. Plus, you have to carefully consider that these Planeswalker creatures themselves would have huge weaknesses — “

“I’ve thought it through, Master Tuman. But thank you for those reminders.” Brendel smiled. “Still, I think this is my best choice.”

“Oh… you.” The Elemental Emperor had to shake his head. Then he glanced involuntarily at Sanorso, who stood off to the side and watched all of this detachedly. He said, “This is also your precious student and you won’t even try to convince him?”

The Wind Empress held out her hands. “This is between you Planeswalkers. Besides, I believe in the little guy. So far, he hasn’t made a single misstep. Can you believe that? That, in itself, is a miracle.”

Tuman blinked in astonishment and then fell silent for a while.

Then he looked up and asked, “You’ve thought it through? Then what’s your plan?”

“Leave it to me.” Brendel was confident. From the moment he left the catacombs, he had been thinking about what to do at this moment. After experiencing the Battle for Ampere Seale, he was even more certain of what he wanted to do.

Furthermore, he had a secret he couldn’t tell. He only hoped to validate his hypothesis. If it were true, then he could walk a path that nobody dared even consider as a Planeswalker.

“First, I need to confirm the core cards in the knight card set; beginning with the construction of my Elemental Pool and card pool –”

Tuman nodded as he listened. “Very good. Unknown Laws are dangerous for anyone, and being cautious is a good idea. Then go ahead, I’ll be right here watching.

Brendel also nodded and then pulled out a card from the air.

The pattern on the card was so familiar. Under the starlit sky, a female knight holding a lance walked in the forest alongside her unicorn. It was such a peaceful image, as if it told a story that’s never changed throughout the thousands of years of history. Medissa in the painting was just as she had been during their first encounter in the Long Song Forest.

“Medissa, are you sure?” Brendel asked. “This may not be a good thing for you. It might even take away your eternal life.”

The girl’s voice sounded like she was smiling. It came from somewhere in the air, “Leader, Medissa has said this before –  it is my honor to follow you, Leader. Besides, have you forgotten that Medissa’s very existence is built upon your cards?”

Brendel understood.

He was slightly touched. Normally, when a Planeswalker divided his privileges, they would have to consider, to a certain extent, the possibility of retaliation by the summoned creatures. But he could be sure that Medissa would never do anything that was not in his favor.

He reached out a hand and pointed at the card. Then he followed the method outlined in Kelsie’s records and extended his Law onto the card. Tuman and Sanorso, present at the scene, saw in that instant a bright silver line of Law extending outwards from Brendel’s body and then surrounding the card with the unicorn knight.

The silver line of Law seemed to be more stable than Brendel’s Law of space. It slightly vibrated amongst the stone formations and within a second, it seemed as if all the Laws in the same space vibrated along with it, as if paying tribute to the highest Law.

And a few seconds later, a dark gold card slid out from the envelope made of the lines of Law and landed in Brendel’s palm —

Farland Knight

Long Song I

Light: 30

[Creature – Farland Knight/ Silver Elf (Level 1) ]

When the Farland Knight is played, it has 60 Elemental Points. Enchantments: Planeswalker.

Regain 10 Elemental Points.

The Farland Knight will become a permanent object on the field.

‘Her loyalty is like the truest blade, it would rather shatter than bend –’

(Planeswalker Enchantment: any summoned creature with a Planeswalker enchantment may, like any true Planeswalker, use its summoner’s Elemental Pool to summon cards of fate

. It can gain experience and use equipment as usual. But once a summoned creature with Planeswalker enchantment has burned through all its Elemental Points or life points, it will be completely destroyed.)

Time seemed to stand still for several seconds.

Tuman, Brendel, and Sanorso just kept watching the dark gold card. A long moment later, the Elemental Emperor from the age of the War of the Saints couldn’t help but sigh, “Though I didn’t support you doing so, I have to admit that Kelsie was truly a genius. In the exploration of the world of the power of Law, I am nowhere as powerful as him.”

“… This card has already changed the course of Planeswalker history.”

Tuman looked at the card as if looking at a piece of art, a trace of fascination in his eyes. But after several moments, Tuman had to shake his head and say, “But… this Law maynot be the best for you. Brendel, do you understand? You might have to put in a hundred or a thousand times more effort than anyone else. You and I have both forgotten this…”

He continued, “Though they are Planeswalker creatures, the cards and Elemental Pool they use would still be yours. Suppose you have four Planeswalker creatures, the proportion of cards in your deck that they occupy would probably destroy your entire card deck’s fighting abilities –”

Then the Elemental Emperor raised his head and looked as if he wanted to offer Brendel words of comfort. But he discovered that the young man he had always admired seemed to be standing there in a daze.

“Brendel?”

Not just Tuman, but Sanorso standing to the side had also discovered the strangeness. They saw Brendel’s eyes light up, as if illuminated by a flame within, as a strange smile spread across his face.

Soon, the latter raised his head stiffly, as if he was a puppet on a string. He glanced at Sanorso and then at Tuman. Then he said dryly, “You’d better look at this.”

“What?”

“My Elemental Pool…” Brendel faced Tuman and the Wind Empress before suddenly closing his eyes and putting his left and right hand together. The magic and Elemental Powers immediately began to gather in the triangular zone of his magic.

Just a second later, the Elemental Emperor stared wide-eyed.

“That’s impossible!”

Vaunte’s history was long and complex. Throughout the long course of its history, those that could be called an Elemental Emperor were few, and Tuman was among the best of them. Nobody in the past or the future could match his talent for using the Elemental Powers. After he died, the legend that spread amongst the commoners was that when he created his Elemental Pool, the astrologers declared that a future Elemental Emperor had been born.

Because Tuman had been, in the thousands of years of Vaunte history, the only one to have 100 slots for every element as soon as he gained an Elemental Pool.

But even Tuman himself had never seen and never heard of, or perhaps he had never even considered the possibility of the existence of  —

Two Elemental Pools!

Brendel had two Elemental Pools!

In that instant, Tuman and Sanorso thought their eyes had been mistaken. They both did something that was extremely unfitting for their station in life; they rubbed their eyes subconsciously.

But they immediately saw what the other did and realized the problem.

This was actually real!

There was actually someone who had two Elemental Pools –

Tuman looked at Brendel and, in that instant, could no longer keep his usual calm and composure. He couldn’t help but grab Brendel’s shoulders — of course, his subconscious move only made his hand pass through Brendel’s body like it was an illusion.

This Elemental Emperor from the War of the Holy Saints grasped empty air before he realized he was just an impression of himself. But that didn’t ease his shock. He couldn’t help but ask in shocked amazement, “Brendel, what exactly is going on?”

Brendel gave the two people standing in front of him a strange look.

Of course, he knew what was going on. At last, after such a long period of waiting, after crossing that invisible barrier and officially becoming a Planeswalker, Sophie, as the other half of Brendel’s soul, finally had his own Elemental Pool.

And things didn’t stop there.

He realized that both of his souls had the same privileges when it came to the powers of a Planeswalker. What did that mean? Brendel laughed wildly in his heart. It was as he had expected, he hadn’t guessed wrong.

He could partition out twice as many privileges as an average person!