Location- Sky Blossom City, Southern Watch military base.
Lorenzo's words made it seem like a card creationist certification was nothing serious compared to an array master certification. He got me a card creationist certification through back doors to prove his point that any regular card apprentice could be a card apprentice but not an array master. Seeing this, I felt that being a card creationist was not as prestigious as the people of this city made it seem.
"Okay, thank you," I said as I had no problem getting a card creationist certification through back doors.
"I will call you when I have made arrangements for your array master certification. Until then, please go through all the notes I have given you." Saying that Lorenzo left towards the core of the base's array to return to his research work.
"Once again, thank you, old man," I yelled gratefully. Like they say, sometimes connections are more critical than talent.
"Now that the old fossil is done hogging you. Can I have your time, Wyatt?" Anna said after Lorenzo left.
"That's new. As if you would leave if I said no. What do you need, Anna?" I said, rolling my eyes at Anna's polite act.
"Good to know that you understand your circumstances. Like I said earlier, I need your expertise in card creation." Said Anna as she flew near me. Hearing Anna, the three young soldiers looked at me with confusion.
"Yes, how may I be of your help?" I remembered Anna spoke about this earlier but was cut off midway by Corey.
"I want you to create the origin cards of these three rookies," Anna replied. The confusion in the three soldiers' eyes turned into shock hearing her words.
"What? Why me? Don't you have veteran platinum or diamond grade card creationists for your southern watch soldiers on the payroll?" I was confused why Anna would prefer me over the platinum or diamond grade card creationists at her disposal.
"I can, but they will not be able to create genuinely unique origin cards like you." What Anna meant by this was that the other card creationists followed a template for creating a card. The template was their safety net to ensure that they created the origin cards successfully. But following a set template did not make an origin card genuinely unique, despite the origin cards being known for their uniqueness.
Not everyone could see soul pathways like me and venture into new unexplored ways. The other card creationist only took the paths that they were similar with. To minimize their losses and maximize their wins. This way, the customers would keep coming. But in this process, the sense of uniqueness of the origin cards is lost.
"You may think that, but I don't believe they want my help," I said, pointing at the three young soldiers. Their faces clearly read that they didn't want me to create their origin cards.
"Their opinion doesn't matter. The southern watch is paying for creating their origin cards, so they will get their origin card made where I ask them to." Anna said calmly as she really treated these rookies as trash. Unless they become the official members of the southern watch, they could forget about her going easy on them.
"Well, their opinion matters to me. If they don't want my help in creating their origin cards, then I will not help them create their origin cards. That's as simple as that." I said.
"Fine. Rookies, tell Master Wyatt, whose help you want to create your origin card." Anna's voice was dreadfully chilly. The meaning behind her question was obvious to all three rookies.
"Master Wyatt, help us create our origin card." The three young soldiers yelled at the top of their lungs.
"Not sincere enough," I replied.
"You heard him," Anna yelled at the rookies, and they looked at me as if questioning, 'why are you adding salt to our wounds? Haven't we already given our origin cards to you? Was it not enough?'
"Master Wyatt, please help us create our origin card." The young soldiers added 'please' to their yell, thinking it would do the trick.
"Fine, since you desperately want my help with your origin card creation... I will help you guys but don't blame me if I fail." I said casually, looking at the ugly, forced smile the young soldiers had on their faces. This was my payback to them for targeting me earlier.
"Thank you, master Wyatt. We are blessed to get your help with creating our origin cards." The three young soldiers thanked me for agreeing to help them.
"So, before we start, let's get a few things cleared. All you guys need to do is tell me about your fate ingredients and what type of origin cards you want. With that, your part in the origin card creation is done. I will create the cards based on the amount the southern watch is willing to pay for your cards. Is that clear!" I asked the young soldiers.
"..." The three soldiers didn't know how to answer. The origin cards in question were theirs, but the people making decisions were their commander and some high schooler card creationist. They would like to think their commander was playing a prank on them, but it didn't seem like that. They didn't know what they did to deserve such treatment. So they could only look at their commander, hoping that all this was a prank.
"Why are you guys looking at me? Were his instructions too complex for you guys to understand? I will repeat it then. Tell him about your fate ingredients and the type of origin card you wanted to create with them." Anna ignored the three rookie's hopeful eyes and instructed them to tell the high schooler about their fate ingredients and the type of origin card they wanted to create.
"..." Hearing Anna's instruction, the three young soldiers despaired. They looked at each other, then shook their heads helplessly. They had finally given up on owning fancy and strong origin card.