Ability Extraction, Freed from Bonds!

"Forget it. Now that the ability value consumption is clear, extract one of your abilities," Ling said with a sigh.

"I can do it now? There's nothing else I need to confirm?" Fang Ran asked one last time.

"Nope. Go ahead."

Fang Ran did not know whether it was an illusion, but he felt like he heard an indifferent tone of none-of-my-business in her voice.

"But have you thought this through? If I remember correctly, not all the Clow Cards you have are useful, right?" Ling's leisurely voice asked in return.

Fang Ran froze at once.

Damn!

That really was true!

Honestly, as someone who had watched Cardcaptor Sakura as a child, Fang Ran still had no idea what the "Flower," "Bubble," and "Sweet" cards were even for.

Bang!

The Magic Book appeared with a bang and landed in Fang Ran's hands. He swallowed nervously.

There were fifty-two Clow Cards in total.

The sun-aligned Light Card, which controlled the Fire Card and Earth Card among the Four Great Elements.

The moon-aligned Dark Card, which controlled the other two great elements, the Water Card and Wind Card.

And the other forty-six cards, all governed by the two supreme attributes and the Four Great Elements.

Among these Clow Cards, which had fourteen Dual Cards combinations and many individual cards broadly divided into attack cards, spell cards, and special cards, it would not be easy for Fang Ran to draw a useful, powerful card.

Not easy at all.

"God bless me! God bless me!"

Fang Ran kept chanting aloud, while his heart continued to pray for one card.

That was right!

That card!

The ever-reliable Wind Card!

Ling floated beside him without disturbing him. Before she had walked into his trap, she had briefly gathered information on Fang Ran's abilities. Unlike certain abilities whose origins were difficult to trace, Fang Ran's ability had a very clear "origin."

It came from a magical girl anime called Cardcaptor Sakura: Magic Card.

Ling was not particularly surprised by that. After all, she had already been surprised when she had once faced a Devil Fruit user.

But—

From that casual glance back then, Ling had actually realized that this was a very bizarre ability.

Although Ling was an unconventional person in her own category who used Magic Energy Value, she was still a Tech Side person through and through. She did not know much about the abilities of her Mystic Side rivals, but she naturally had some understanding of them.

Spell slots, spiritual power, magic power, mediums, sacrifices, magic circles, incantations, spell formulas...

As a Wandering Night Angel on the Night Web, she had naturally heard all sorts of strange names used by different abilities, and she understood the methods of those called witches, mages, spellcasters, Sages, and arcanists.

Certainly, for those people, playing with fire or summoning a demon was nothing special.

But still, there was a but.

As far as Ling knew, no Mystic Side person possessed an ability capable of interfering with extremely high-level concepts such as time and space.

Yet Ling knew that among Fang Ran's fifty-two cards, there seemed to be cards capable of doing exactly that. And he had many other inexplicable cards as well.

And then there were his highest-level cards, the Light Card and Dark Card. Ling frowned as she thought. What exactly did those two cards do?

A flash spell? A blindness spell? Some kind of dark-element spell?

And what about that fifty-third card mentioned in the records—the Nothing Card?

Ling considered these questions in secret, temporarily burying them in her heart. Then she saw that Fang Ran's various prayers seemed to have reached completion, and he slowly extended his hand toward the Magic Book.

"This time, I'm definitely going to call out properly! Come forth! I command you in the name of your new master!!"

"Ever-reliable Wind Card!!!"

Fang Ran roared!

Then the locked Magic Book opened by itself. Its golden pages flipped one after another, and Fang Ran's expectant eyes stared fixedly at them even though he could not understand what was written on them. His lips kept moving.

"Wind! Wind! Wind!"

Then the pages stopped. It was as if the force turning them had vanished, and only one page stood upright on the open book.

Fang Ran suddenly fell silent, staring at it in a daze.

"Just as I thought... really..." he murmured softly.

Ling found it strange. What was wrong with this guy again? Why had he gotten weird again? Just like that night?

But before Ling could continue observing him, Fang Ran quickly came back to himself. That strange aura disappeared, and he stared fixedly at the Magic Book!

"Wind Card! It has to be the Wind Card! On TV, the protagonist gets one of the Four Great Elements right away—the Wind Card, practically an all-purpose card!"

Fang Ran loudly muttered to himself. Then, from the glowing page, a rectangular light detached itself. It was the same size as the Sword Card and made of an unknown material.

Patterns and words gradually appeared on it.

The Float (THE FLOAT)

Symbol: Freedom from bonds, freedom.

Description: Possesses the magic to make people or objects float, and can move at high speed.

Fang Ran: "Pfft!"

"Oh my, not bad. Freedom from bonds, freedom. It sounds pretty impressive~"

Ling's voice was brimming with schadenfreude.

Fang Ran stared wordlessly at the card that floated into his hand. Then he roared viciously in his heart at his Summoned Beast, furious but not daring to say it aloud!

Damn!

Why!

Why did it have to be this card?!

I remember this card only appeared once in the anime, and was transformed once.

Then it never showed up again!!

And it makes people float around and move at high speed.

Though his heart was filled with silent speechlessness, Fang Ran still held the card properly in reality. Only the corner of his eye twitched continuously.

"Damn it! I still have one more chance! I refuse to believe I'll get another useless card next time!"

Fang Ran angrily prepared to extract another card. But just as he placed his hand on the Magic Book again, Ling leisurely floated away from his side and said flatly:

"I suggest you save one extraction chance~"

"Why?" Fang Ran stiffly stopped moving and asked Ling in confusion.

"Hah! Do you think chances to improve your ability come often?" Ling's voice was lofty and cold. "A Night Battle Participant improving their ability is nowhere near as simple as you think."

"Listen carefully. This time, you only got two chances because you stumbled into some dogshit luck," Ling said as she floated before him again, her words carrying a warning. "Don't think you'll be this lucky every time."

"Your luck is obviously bad right now. Save one chance for yourself. At least it'll be a hope, so that when you're in a desperate situation, heh heh~"

Then Ling floated away completely, leaving behind those ambiguous words.

Fang Ran stood alone in the living room, his expression conflicted. In the end, he still slumped his shoulders, lowered his hand from the Magic Book, and let out a long sigh.

Silver Severing Dragon Tooth, maintaining the Sword Card form and spreading Dragon Wings, continued consuming Magic Energy Value in his hand. Fang Ran stared at the card he had drawn at this moment, lost in thought. In the instant Ling was not paying attention, he softly spoke under his breath.

"Freedom from bonds..."