Chapter 51: You have stolen Kinomoto Sakura's secret treasure and acquired the skill: Mirage!

"Sakura, are you alright? It really was the Illusion card causing trouble this time!"

Kerberos flew over, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Wait, Ye Hui, how on earth did you manage to seal a card?"

Without the Sealing Wand, shouldn't it be impossible to seal Clow Cards?

Why was Ye Hui able to pull it off?

Could Clow Reed have forgotten to mention something to him?

Ye Hui glanced at her—or rather, the beast. "This is called a sealing technique. Sealing a card should be pretty normal, right?"

Kerberos frowned. "But the runes on that thing look an awful lot to Chinese Taoist magic..."

To this, Ye Hui was utterly speechless.

Of course they looked like it!

This little immortal cultivation game had been developed by a bunch of Chinese developers, so naturally, everything carried a distinct Chinese aesthetic...

Taoist magic and immortal arts were actually quite similar, essentially originating from the same source.

At that moment, the chains formed by the ink runes slowly tightened, binding Sakura's "mother."

Finally, the flickering illusion sped up until it abruptly transformed into a card.

The card slowly drifted down to land right at Ye Hui's feet.

He stared at the card. In the very center of its illustration was something resembling a triangular orange stone.

"No idea what this is supposed to depict..."

Ye Hui didn't know much about Clow Reed's magic and had no clue what the symbol meant.

He bent down and picked up the card.

[Ding, you have completed the character side quest — Seizing the Secret Treasure!]

[Taking advantage of Kinomoto Sakura being trapped by the illusion of her mother and nearly losing herself, you quietly approached her and stole the secret treasure from her person!]

[Though you didn't dare to rob her openly, thievery is also a valid method. Thrilled by your good fortune, you used the secret treasure!]

[Ding, you have acquired the skill — "Mirage"! You can convert spiritual energy into mirage vapor, manipulating illusions to make the fake seem real...]

Just as expected, the reward matched the ability of the Illusion card!

This once again verified Ye Hui's hypothesis.

However, he would still need to grind the proficiency level of this skill.

It was ultimately different from the instantaneous use of a card.

Fortunately, the skill's growth rate wasn't low.

As he knew from his previous experience with Water Control, these abilities possessed a great deal of room for growth.

It could be said to hold a lot of promise for the future!

Ye Hui slowly opened his eyes.

Kerberos was looking at him nervously.

This time, Ye Hui had done the heavy lifting to subdue the card, and he had also demonstrated the ability to seal cards.

Now that this guy was holding the card, would he actually return it to Sakura?

Tomoyo and Sakura were also feeling somewhat uneasy.

However, their worry stemmed from whether Ye Hui would be able to master even more abilities from the Clow Cards.

Ye Hui looked at the two girls and smiled. "I feel like having you two by my side brings me incredible luck. By drawing upon the magical rules of the Clow Card this time, I've gained new insights once again..."

The two girls finally relaxed.

Classmate Ye had achieved another enlightenment?

Sakura felt a mix of joy and deflation.

Why was it that every single time Ye Hui touched a card, he managed to learn something new?

While she still hadn't figured out how to cast magic without relying on the cards?

Tomoyo stepped closer. "Is this the card that creates illusions?"

"That's right, this is the Illusion card."

Kerberos crossed his arms and hovered in mid-air to explain.

The Illusion card acted like a mirror, reflecting whatever was deepest in each person's heart.

Kerberos spread his paws. "Therefore, if you pay close attention to what someone caught in the illusion is shouting, you'll know exactly what they're seeing..."

(✿◠‿◠)

Facing this, Sakura could only maintain an awkward smile.

After all, she had just been shouting "Mom" at the illusion card.

Even though she had known beforehand that it might be a Clow Card...

She still used the desire to find out if that silhouette was her mother as an excuse to see her in the illusion...

And as a result, she had completely lost her composure.

Sakura bit her lip.

Kerberos and Classmate Ye were definitely going to make fun of her pathetic display of crying out for her mom at the edge of the cliff, oh no~

Tomoyo recalled Ye Hui's earlier deduction. "Classmate Ye, this card turned out exactly as you predicted!"

Sakura snapped back to attention and asked, "So, Ye-kun, were you thinking about immortal cultivation earlier, which is why you saw scenes of it?"

"Well, obviously?"

Ye Hui spread his hands.

Considering Li Syaoran would be arriving soon, if he didn't boost his strength, he'd quickly fall behind the power curve.

Could he afford to slack off on his cultivation?

Besides, once Li Syaoran transferred to Tomeda Elementary School, Sakura's card-collecting progress would only accelerate.

If he didn't work hard, he wouldn't even be qualified to play a support role!

He certainly couldn't end up reduced to carrying Tomoyo's camera, could he?

Ye Hui complained, "Kerberos, look at these cards. Aren't they getting more and more dangerous one by one?"

The earlier Dash and Fly cards had smashed people's windows.

The Water card had nearly cost lives.

Then came the Shadow card, which practically scrubbed the entire school's facilities clean.

The statue that had been smashed earlier had later been replaced by the school with a brand new one...

— And it seemed the Daidouji family had footed the bill for that.

Later on, if the Tree and Rain cards were combined, their range of effect went without saying.

And when the Jump card appeared, it even forced a shopkeeper to relocate from another town all the way to Tomeda-cho...

The influence and hazards of the Clow Cards were constantly escalating.

By the time even more broken bug-like cards appeared, what if they stirred up a massive disaster?

What would he do then?

Without strength, unable to change these events, he could only watch Sakura grind quests by herself and leave him behind!

"Therefore, striving to improve myself is never a bad idea, otherwise I won't be able to help Sakura and Tomoyo..."

Tomoyo blinked. "So, Classmate Ye is working hard at his cultivation entirely for our sake?"

[Daidouji Tomoyo emotional value +22]

Oh? Saying things like this could actually trigger emotional value bonuses?

Ye Hui had originally planned to say that even without Sakura and Tomoyo, given the chance to cultivate, he would still give it his all.

But seeing so many emotional value points rolling in...
It felt like a prime opportunity to speed up the defection progress!

Ye Hui's expression suddenly turned sheepish.

"Actually, I just think immortal cultivation itself is really interesting."

"But going on adventures together with you guys makes it even more interesting."

"I want to stay with you forever."

[Kinomoto Sakura emotional value +14]
[Daidouji Tomoyo emotional value +15]
[Kerberos emotional value +12]

"If I don't improve my strength and end up reduced to small fry in the team, won't you guys look down on me?"

[Kinomoto Sakura emotional value +8]
[Daidouji Tomoyo emotional value +7]

"Will you guys start thinking of me as dead weight?"

[Kinomoto Sakura emotional value +6]
[Daidouji Tomoyo emotional value +5]

The emotional value points were dwindling, signaling that he couldn't milk it for a huge explosion anymore, so Ye Hui wisely stopped.

He simply maintained a pitiful expression.

You shouldn't shear the sheep bare all at once, after all~

Kerberos blinked its bead-like eyes, seemingly actually believing Ye Hui's words. "I never expected a guy like you to think that way..."

[Kerberos emotional value +16]