The Record of Time in Blanc's hand turned into motes of light after being absorbed, slowly fading away.
The book seemed to be connected to the Time God. If it was a Magic Book the Time God had left behind, its absurdly powerful effects were hardly surprising.
After all, gods had always remained in the background of the Fairy Tail world. They should have been beings superior even to dragons; it was just unclear why they had all disappeared.
This book was probably the only copy left in the world. Consuming it like this did feel like a waste.
But rather than relying on external things, I'd still prefer to succeed through my own hard work. System, add points!
A new system message followed.
"Travel to a new world detected. Randomly drawing a special ability from this world. Congratulations, ability drawn. Congratulations on obtaining the ability [Clow Cards Book]."
Blanc's eyes lit up, and his breathing quickened slightly. Clow Cards? I've hit the jackpot! Suppressing his excitement, he immediately examined the details of this ability.
After sorting through the information, Blanc more or less understood the rules-once adapted to this world, he had directly replaced the physical Clow Cards Book, becoming the vessel that sealed all 53 Clow Cards.
Unfortunately, he served as both the cards' master and their guardian beast. Neither Kero nor Yue had manifested from the book, or he would have gained two exceptionally powerful helpers.
Even so, the 53 Clow Cards at the heart of the ability filled Blanc with anticipation.
Now that the Clow Cards Book had become an ability, Blanc did not need a sealing key to unlock its power. He did not have one, either.
But after glancing around and finding no one in this desolate wilderness, he could not resist reciting that line etched into his DNA in a deep voice to the empty air before him.
"O key that hides the power of darkness..."
Then, with a thought, a stack of cards bearing antique designs on their backs appeared in Blanc's hand.
Blanc gazed at the cards in his hand, brimming with anticipation. These were cards created by the great magician Clow Reed, on an entirely different level from the ones he had made himself.
Clow Reed was a great magician who strode across the multiverse. In other worlds, he would have been a god-and no ordinary god, either.
Compared with Clow Reed, Zeref, who was also called a great magician, seemed far less impressive.
Although the Clow Cards were merely tools Clow Reed had created to introduce his descendants to magic, the magic within them was anything but child's play.
The weaker cards might not amount to much; substitutes could be found in the Fairy Tail world. But the powerful cards-Time, Light, Dark, Erase, Nothing, and so on-had effects that were practically blatant cheating, defying all reason.
Even setting those rule-manipulating cards aside, the conventional effects of the remaining cards alone, combined with Blanc's own Infinite Magic, could unleash terrifying destructive power on par with forbidden spells.
Better still, he did not have to worry about the cards breaking because they could not withstand his magic power. By comparison, the Card Magic he had created before, which turned his cards into expendable items whenever he pushed them too hard, was vastly inferior to the Clow Cards.
Blanc took a deep breath, turned the deck over, and looked at the card on top, murmuring:
"The first one... is Wind."
But before his words had faded, something suddenly changed!
Without warning, the Wind Card erupted with dazzling light. In an instant, the surrounding air went berserk, fierce winds howling as sand and stones flew.
Blanc instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, only for that violent gale to sweep straight toward his unguarded palm!
The thick stack of cards was torn from his hand in an instant, scattering high into the sky like a shower of petals beneath the hurricane's force.
Feeling something wrong in his hand, Blanc was momentarily dumbfounded.
Seriously? You're reenacting that iconic scene on me?!
Wasn't this exactly what had happened when Sakura first opened the sealed book and accidentally blew the other cards away with the Wind Card?
Blanc clearly had not used his magic power to activate the cards. This was entirely Wind acting on its own.
But Blanc was no novice like Sakura. His gaze sharpened as he instantly took on Mahoraga's power, his figure turning into countless afterimages too fast for the naked eye to follow, weaving layer upon layer of curtains through the air.
Before the cards scattered by the gale could even ride the wind any farther, Blanc's hands were already darting out like a driving storm.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The crisp sounds of his hands cutting through the air rang out in rapid succession.
With his terrifying speed and superb control, Blanc precisely tracked every card's trajectory in the wind.
Every time his fingers darted out, another struggling card was firmly caught in his palm.
In just a few short seconds, he intercepted every card that had been wildly scattering across the sky.
As the gale gradually subsided, Blanc landed lightly on the ground.
He let out a long breath and lowered his gaze to the neatly stacked Clow Cards in his hands. Not a single one was missing, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Then waves of lively consciousness flooded into Blanc's mind.
After communicating with them, Blanc learned the truth, unsure whether to laugh or cry-the cards, led by Wind, had grown curious about this entirely new world.
They had intended to seize the chance to fly around and "do a little sightseeing," only for their own master to forcibly catch every last one before they had gotten far.
Now they hummed softly in Blanc's hands, rather like children who had misbehaved and were wheedling for forgiveness.
Blanc felt a little helpless after hearing this. These copied Clow Cards had exactly the same personalities as the originals. They were surprisingly spirited.
"All right, stop messing around. There'll be plenty of chances for me to show you the world later."
Blanc soothed the lively cards, thinking that he certainly could not let them run around as they pleased.
Otherwise, won't I have to collect Clow Cards all over the world? That'd be exhausting. At least Sakura only had to collect them in one town. Searching the entire world would be way too hard.
Blanc spread the large stack of cards out before him one by one, preparing to take a proper inventory.
Soon, one card held his gaze.
On its face was an old man in long robes holding an inverted hourglass-the Time Card.