Miracle Card Shop: All My Cards Can Be Actualize

Chapter 587: Obscured device

On the island, Daniel looked at the screen showing the ship Achilles had used to escape. At that moment, one of the VTOL officers entered to report.

"Sir, the bots have delivered the package. What should we do with it, sir?" the officer asked.

Daniel nodded. "I'll check it myself." He then turned to Albert. "Mr. Worseley, please accompany me. I may need your expertise."

"Certainly, my lord," Albert replied, following Daniel out of the VTOL—but not without casting a smug glance at Cao Cao, who gazed at him with disdain and skepticism. They were rivals vying for their lord's approval, after all.

"He's a snake. Our lord shouldn't trust him," Guan Yu muttered in disdain.

"Yes, but for our lord, he's a useful snake. A poisonous one that can't betray him but can only vent its cruel nature on our lord's enemies... a useful snake," Cao Cao remarked. Your next read is at mvl

Outside the VTOL, Daniel examined the package: a nuclear warhead, packed alongside several sophisticated pieces of equipment.

"Prime, did you detect any anomalies?" Daniel asked the super A.I. that was constantly with him as it scanned the warhead.

"No anomalies detected. The warhead is an old model from the Cold War between the USA and The Confederacy. Its destructive power is approximately 42 kilotons. Its origin is most likely from a remnant of the Confederacy's old armory," the super A.I. responded.

Daniel nodded, recalling one of Albert's reports that, during the early stages of the war with the Confederacy, the Whispering Hall didn't have enough manpower to eradicate all the nuclear warhead remnants.

This warhead was likely shady goods from the Confederacy's old armories, now traded on the black market and resurfacing here.

"Scanning... detecting inconsistency in the scanning data... correction... the inconsistency has disappeared... final result: 85% chance the inconsistency was caused by an anomaly, 14% by a glitch in the system, and 1% by other unknown factors," the A.I. concluded after re-scanning the warhead.

"Albert?" Daniel asked, turning to him for insight.

Albert fell silent, thinking for a moment before speaking, his eyes closed as if in nostalgia.

"Before I died... during the golden age of the guild, I heard rumors that some mage families were researching ways to use magic to obscure information. The idea was to conceal the results of any analysis, making it seem like there was nothing there."

He paused, then continued. "Of course, the research was abandoned because the cost was too high and there were better alternatives. Besides, anyone who used this spell or ritual would be vulnerable to the inventor of the spell, who could decode or dispel the magic." A disdainful smirk crept across Albert's face as he spoke.

"And you know how a mage's mind works, my lord. They wouldn't risk their secret magic being exposed. When push comes to shove... they'd rather let their knowledge be lost forever than fall into someone else's hands," Albert explained.

Daniel listened carefully, then concluded, "So you're saying that your former allies might have given whoever is behind this farce a helping hand? And that the reason Prime's scans didn't detect anything at first glance is because of this magic?"

"There's more, my lord… I forgot to mention, I'm the one who threw this project into an incinerator—along with the researchers," Albert added without a hint of remorse.

"Why!?" Daniel asked, incredulous at what he'd just heard.

"Because those researchers used this magic on one of my prized works—something I had just completed—just to prove their point. To read my own research properly, which the magic obscured as a furry porn novel, I would've had to approve their project and allocate more resources.

So I decided to toss both them and their project into the incinerator at the steel mill!" Albert said through gritted teeth, clearly still holding a grudge.

"And what happened to your research?" Daniel asked, curious.

Albert pulled out a thick novel from his suit, the cover featuring a white fox lady flirting with a man.

"Never mind... forget I asked…" Daniel quickly waved it off with a sigh, and Albert nodded, dropping the subject.

"Wait…" Daniel paused, as if recalling something important. "You said you threw the researchers into the incinerator… doesn't that mean they're already dead? So why…" His eyes turned back to the package, then to his wrist console, displaying the data from the A.I.

He noticed clear inconsistencies in the data. Each time Nexus Prime scanned the warhead, the kiloton range fluctuated between 15 and 40. The range was far too wide, and with Nexus Prime being a Super A.I., it was impossible for it to make such a low-level mistake.

"You said you destroyed both the research and the researchers. But when they ransomed your work, they said they needed your approval for their project. This means their project wasn't finished and must have some flaws... So, does this mean those researchers were resurrected?" Daniel muttered, piecing together the facts he knew.

Achilles had been resurrected by his enemy. Daniel had learned from Heracles that Hades was the one who guarded souls in the underworld. He was able to resurrect Heracles not because he had Hades' approval, but because Hades was powerless to stop the resurrection through the power of the shop. This meant that whoever resurrected Achilles must have had Hades' consent.

Daniel came to a conclusion. "It seems I'll need a few more godslaying cannons."

Seeing that his lord had reached a conclusion, Albert nodded in satisfaction. He could have shared his suspicions, but it was better if his lord came to the realization on his own.

Daniel turned his gaze toward the package. He now had to deal with it. But since the information about the warhead was obscured, judging from how Albert's research notes were once disguised as furry porn.

He feared that the object before him could be something entirely different, perhaps even more dangerous than a nuclear bomb. And since he didn't have precise information about it, he didn't dare to destroy it. So, Daniel decided to sink his mind into his mindscape.

Card Name: Reclaiming

Picture: An artificer repairs an artifact on a table, while someone at the counter brings in a broken artifact.

Rarity: Common

Type: Spell

Mana Cost: 1 Water, 1 Non-Element

Description: Return target artifact to its owner's hand.

Flavor Text: "Hey, this is the third faulty artifact this month! When will you learn, rookie?!" — Senior Artificer.

In the mindscape, there is a card that could help him. With this card, he could just forget this hot potato that's in front of him. Daniel cast the spell and the package suddenly vanished and went to wherever it was manufactured.

After dealing with the hot potato, Daniel decided to forget about it, it's already late tonight and he started to feel sleepy.

— Qing Empire - Court Official Estate —

In the conference room of the court official's estate, Zhuge Liang held a serious meeting with his allies who were resisting Daniel Emberweave's Order of Ember and its dominance over the Curtained World.

One by one, the allies he had painstakingly convinced were compromised. Some immediately fled without bothering to shut down their screens, leaving Zhuge Liang to cut the connection on his end, while others had their connections severed abruptly.

Each time a screen went black, Zhuge Liang's heart grew colder.

Daniel Emberweave was so ruthless. By offering rare treasures as rewards, he had effectively turned the masses into relentless hunters, tracking down Zhuge Liang's allies like dogs. Nearly all of them had been hunted, killed, and turned into magical materials for the hunters' research.

The remaining allies were turncoats. As soon as they learned of the rewards, they cut off their connections, betraying Zhuge Liang to curry favor with the Order of Ember, eager to hunt their former comrades.

In just one short night, everything Zhuge Liang had prepared for months was in vain. Moreover, his backup plan was in jeopardy. The group he had sent to New Atlantis to deploy the necro plague device had gone missing, and communication with them had been cut off.

But it didn't matter. The device had been pre-set and obscured by secret magic, discovered by the man in the owl mask. He makes it appear as a nuclear warhead aiming to mislead Daniel Emebrweave people in case the plan was compromised. The device was programmed to activate under three conditions:

First, if the team he had sent triggered it; second, if the device detected any attempts to destroy or disassemble it; and third, through the mere passage of time.

Even if the device were stored in a secure silo, the necro plague would still spread. The silos designed to house nuclear warheads were not equipped to contain bioweapons, and the necro plague device functioned as one.

"It seems the team has just lost contact," said one of the three remaining allies still visible on the screen. The speaker was Golden Scale, the last Grand Councilor of the Hightower.

"Patience, Lord Golden Scale," replied the man in the owl mask. "The team may be facing some difficulties, or it could simply be a communication hiccup."