Alimite Card

Paqi looked at the roomful of miscellaneous junk Luo Yifang had bought, and felt her own mind becoming just as much of a mess. More than a dozen [World Coins]—more than a dozen! This guy had spent them just like that. Two or three months of her salary had been exchanged for a roomful of games and figurines. Paqi felt as though her character setting was about to collapse. She looked at Luo Yifang, who was squatting on the floor fiddling with something, and could not say a word for a long while.

"Finally got it done." After installing the last piece of equipment, Luo Yifang wiped his forehead and stood up from the floor. Though he really wanted to play right away, there was indeed something that had to be dealt with first.

Luo Yifang sat back down on the sofa, picked up the thick project proposal, and began flipping through it with a grave expression. When he reached the final page, his face abruptly changed. "Just as I thought, something's wrong!"

"What could possibly be more wrong than you?" Paqi's voice was filled with indescribable resentment.

"The reward from the [Book of Ten Thousand Worlds] must be related to the Absolute Ability User Project. At the very least, my not participating is already a major change. But whether I participated or not shouldn't have caused too much of a problem, because those ten thousand Misaka Sisters—the ones most affected—weren't created solely for this project." Luo Yifang tossed the proposal onto the coffee table, his expression unpleasant. "But the [Book of Ten Thousand Worlds] gave me such a generous reward. That means something very important must have gone wrong!"

This was precisely what baffled Luo Yifang. "Originally, the Tree Diagram Designer calculated that I was the only one who had a chance of becoming Level 6. Though that calculation itself might have been wrong, now there's another one!" What was worse, according to the data provided by the Tree Diagram Designer, that person's probability was much lower. In other words, more Sisters would very likely be manufactured, and more Sisters would be killed as well.

"This is going to be a little troublesome..." Luo Yifang rose from the sofa and walked to the window. Looking at the sky gradually sinking into darkness and the colorful neon lights of bustling Academy City, he realized that since even the people involved in the project had changed, the timeline was following its original course while being vastly different at the same time. Luo Yifang seemed to understand why the [Book of Ten Thousand Worlds]' reward had been so high, but this hypothesis still required more practical verification.

But now was not the time to verify his hypothesis. Luo Yifang had to do something to stop this utterly idiotic project. An artificial god? As if it were that easy! Paqi had thought Luo Yifang had been rummaging through figurines and games just now, but he had accidentally found a paper—a paper applicable to this world. That paper alone had cost five [World Coins]. If Luo Yifang had originally thought there might be the slightest chance of creating an artificial god, after reading that paper, he understood that it was not impossible—it simply was not permitted. Not permitted by this world!

It was like taking an exam. You claimed your grades were good enough to get full marks, but when the exam came, they would not even give you the test paper. What the hell were you supposed to take? Taking ten thousand steps back, even if this project could succeed, Luo Yifang would still go stop it. There was no other reason—he wanted to.

"Come to think of it, can I really smash No. 2?" Although Luo Yifang knew that guy was definitely no match for him, No. 2 and No. 1 were Academy City's only two unusual espers. If all the espers after No. 1 combined were still no match for Luo Yifang, then all the espers after No. 2 combined probably could not beat No. 2 either. But if Luo Yifang fought No. 2, the commotion definitely would not be small. Even if he was weaker than Luo Yifang, he was still someone who had nearly overturned Accelerator in the original work. Moreover, the Tree Diagram Designer of this world had calculated that No. 2 here possessed the potential to become Level 6. Luo Yifang could therefore assume that this No. 2 might be even stronger than the normal version.

All in all, what Luo Yifang worried about was how much he could hold back in a battle of that level. The chances of him being able to protect the surroundings and prevent the aftereffects of battle from spreading were truly not high. As for taking No. 2 out of Academy City? That was even less possible. At the very least, Academy City's upper echelons were unlikely to allow an esper to leave Academy City's boundaries.

"You don't need to worry about the battle affecting innocent people," Paqi suddenly said, making Luo Yifang's eyes light up. "I can temporarily send you and your opponent into another dimension to fight. Any destruction caused there will not affect this world."

"Good. Then what I need to do now is find out exactly what has changed in this damned project."

It had already been nearly two months since this proposal had reached Luo Yifang's hands. He did not even dare imagine how many Misaka Sisters had met a tragic end during that time. After all, that guy had always regarded him as an obstacle in his path. With an opportunity to surpass him, he would definitely proceed without hesitation.

"I hope you won't die too ugly, 'Uncreated Substance.'" Luo Yifang muttered under his breath. Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he said to Paqi, "Didn't you say I had some kind of drawing chance?"

"Uh, it's probably just an opportunity similar to a draw. You actually have no idea what it is, but the moment you see it, it exists. It could be a bottle of cola, or it could be an artifact." Paqi explained. "Are you sure you want to use it now?"

"A Schrödinger-style draw, huh? Saving it is still just saving it. Take it out and let me see." Luo Yifang shrugged. He had thought it was some sort of targeted draw, where he might get something useful. But now it seemed this was no longer a problem that mere luck could solve, so it had no real value.

"Then catch it."

As Paqi's words fell, Luo Yifang felt his hand grow heavy. A card that seemed to be made of metal landed in his palm. He picked it up and examined it, but could not make heads or tails of it. Confused, he asked, "What is this?"

"How is that possible? How could you draw this?!" It was as though Paqi had seen something incredible, and her voice was filled with unprecedented shock.

"Huh? Is this something good?" Luo Yifang asked in confusion as he shook the card in his hand.

"Try squeezing it hard."

"How hard?" Luo Yifang felt that this thing seemed like an ordinary metal card. What if he crushed it?

"As hard as you can. It doesn't matter if you break it. That would just mean I was mistaken."

Hearing that, Luo Yifang did not hesitate. His five fingers closed slightly, and immense force sufficient to crush any metal pressed down upon the card. But something that shocked Luo Yifang happened. Let alone being damaged, the card did not even bend or deform. He simply increased the force in his hand, but even when his vectors reached the limit of his precise control, the card remained utterly unmoved, without the slightest change.

"My god, it really is that thing!" Paqi looked at Luo Yifang with a strange expression. "I don't know whether drawing this means you're lucky or unlucky."

"Could you tell me what this thing is first?" Luo Yifang had become interested in the utterly ordinary-looking card as well. The material alone, capable of withstanding who knew how much pressure, was enough to pique his interest.

"An Alimite Card... a genuine artifact capable of destroying worlds!"

"What the hell?" Luo Yifang looked at the pitch-black card in his hand, unable to connect it with his consistently terrible luck. "Could it be... I've finally gone from unlucky to lucky?"

"Your focus has been wrong from the very beginning!"