"What is... this?" Brand was a bit stunned.

"As you can see, my lord," Hu Que pursed his lips into a straight line, pretending to appear calm and mysterious, yet his light brown eyes were sparkling with excitement: "These are Destiny Cards!" He opened the book, separating his thumb and index finger, pointing at the six cards pasted on the pages one by one.

"I know," Brand asked without taking his eyes off them, "but how can there be so many?"

He looked at the booklet, calculating that if there were six cards per page, there would have to be at least forty or fifty cards.

"Uh," Hu Que shrugged his eyebrows: "It would be better to have Mr. Char answer this question for you, my lord."

"Char? You know him too?" The young man turned his head and looked at Hu Que in confusion.

"Of course, the creatures from the cards are interconnected. In a sense, we exist in the same subspace opened by you, the Travel Mage," the Mercenary Captain said naturally, holding the book in one hand: "When we are not summoned, we live in territories constructed by Land Cards. In another sense, the wealth and elements you pay are the 'rations' that maintain our activity in the Material World. However, the higher the level of the unit, the higher the maintenance costs."

"Hmm," Brand noted the term subspace, and when Hu Que mentioned 'rations,' he instinctively glanced at his remaining resources: Nature 6 points, Water 6 points, Wealth 67 points, Reputation 17 points. Of course, he also had some leftover Element Crystals in his bag from last time, with Fire taking up half.

Then he looked at Hu Que suspiciously: "These words don't seem like something you would say."

Hu Que laughed: "Hehe, you are wise, my lord. These are Mr. Char's exact words; I'm just acting as a megaphone."

"Can you contact him?"

Brand suddenly felt he had asked a redundant question, as he already saw the Mercenary Captain nod. "Alright then," he said, "since that's the case, can you tell me what's going on now? I remember Tu Men telling me that unless the Travel Mage himself agrees to show them, others cannot see the Destiny Cards. But how come this guy has so many of these things, could he actually be a Travel Mage or have some potential, or are these things not found on the Dark Priest's body?"

"No, they were indeed obtained from the Dark Priest's body. But unlike ordinary Destiny Cards, this is a Card Collection—"

"What's different about a Card Collection?" Brand interrupted.

Hu Que paused for a while, as if waiting for an answer from the other side. Then he raised his head and said: "Mr. Char says that a Travel Mage's life is not infinite. When a generation of Travel Mage reaches the end of their life, the cards they have collected will be sealed together. In this state, the cards become materialized; even ordinary people can see and touch them, although for them, these things are no different from ordinary paper cards that fortune tellers use. But for another Travel Mage, this is a valuable inheritance. Some other situations can also result in a Card Collection, but the most common case is the former."

"So you're saying the Dark Priest happened to get this Card Collection but didn't figure out its use?"

"It's very likely, but Mr. Char also thinks your speculation cannot be ruled out, my lord."

Brand shook his head; if that guy were really a Travel Mage, he wouldn't hesitate to use the cards against him. What Char said was likely the truth; he knew the young man was just subconsciously flattering him. But he thought for a moment and then asked: "So, does this mean Travel Mages can potentially plunder each other's cards?"

"Indeed, that's possible." Hu Que earnestly played the role of a megaphone: "However, fights between Travel Mages rarely end in death, because most cards are not unique. Unless someone is truly mad, few would kill for Destiny Cards."

"Not unique in what sense?"

"Yes, most cards are not unique. They might exist as multiple copies in different places at the same time, even newly born card sets. But each card is special to the Travel Mage personally. My lord, you can summon Highland Followers, and I am at your service. Other Travel Mages might also possess cards named Highland Followers, but they might not summon Char—it could be Mo Duncan or Aifa. In short, the rules are manifested based on the summoner's subconscious, and once established, they do not change—" The Mercenary Captain spread his hands and explained: "So, my lord, even if you wanted to summon a pleasing blonde, blue-eyed Mercenary Captain 'nightingale' next time to serve you, it would be impossible. The first half of the sentence was Mr. Char's original words; the latter half was my addition."

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