Date: Unspecified Time: Unspecified Location: Myriad Realms, Lil. Red Storm, Seed World, Trophy Section, Inter-realm city, Sector DS0909, Chaos Dwarven District
Duel Realm, as the name suggested, was a realm specifically designated for conducting duels—whether in combat, crafting, intellectual challenges, or aesthetic competitions. All forms of duels were possible in this unique realm. Over the millennia, the Devil Merchant Code spell had perfected the Duel Realm into a place where anyone could duel over any aspect they preferred. The parameters for judging these duels varied greatly depending on the preferences of the participants, making each duel unique and subjective to the "eye of the beholder." However, for combat and crafting duels, the parameters were simpler: only the strongest fighter or the creation closest to perfection emerged victorious.
There was another reason why the Duel Realm was its own independent realm under the devil merchant code's reign and not just a sector within the Inter-Realm City or a district in one of its sectors. Those who chose to duel in the Duel Realm often sought the ultimate prize—the blood of their opponent as their winnings. Materialistic rewards were rare in such duels, as seen in the case of Wyatt and the Chaos Merchant. Fortunately, both of them had been scholars, experts in their respective fields. Otherwise, if one had been feral or had a blood feud with the other and demanded the death of their opponent as the stakes, nothing could have stopped them except the other contestant's resistance.
True death, however, was a complex matter in the Inter-Realm City. While weak mortals might have faced permanent demise, stronger beings often had an array of tricks up their sleeves to evade certain death. Additionally, the fairness of duels conducted purely in the spiritual plane was often contested, as some species were stronger in their spiritual forms while others were significantly weaker.
To address this, the Devil Merchant Code, with its infinite wisdom and power, had consumed a realm from an unknown corner of the myriad realms and transformed it into a place that existed between the physical and spiritual planes. This allowed the Devil Merchant Code to let Duel Realm function with the same absolute control and dominance over the demon and devil merchants that it exercised over the Inter-Realm City. Most importantly, in the Duel Realm, both demon and devil merchants could enter in their complete forms—both spiritual and physical—ensuring fair duels without complaints about bias.
This design offered another critical advantage: contestants no longer needed to pay exorbitant fees to the Devil Merchant Code spell to convert their weapons, resources, and items into spiritual form for use in spiritual plane or in the duels. Wyatt, for example, had never encountered this issue. He rarely brought anything to the spiritual plane apart from his grimoire and cards, which were unique in their ability to exist in both the spiritual and physical planes. This capability allowed Card Apprentices to summon their grimoires in the physical plane only when needed it.
Additionally, Wyatt's ability to manipulate soul energy had enabled him to craft spiritual items like clothes, etc for his needs without relying on external resources. Eventually, he had gained dual existence—the rare ability to exist simultaneously in both the physical and spiritual planes. This had rendered him largely independent of the Devil Merchant Code's functionality, which was essential for others who required their physical resources in the spiritual realm.
Leaving the Chaos Dwarven District, Wyatt returned to the Seed World to take advantage of the temporal difference between the Dark Realm and the Card Realm. He decided against heading to sector WS9909, where one month would equate to one hour in any other sector, because he wanted to avoid running into MayMay. He still hadn't been able to completely rid himself of the disgust he felt toward himself for what he had done to her.
Moreover, if he returned to the study room, he doubted MayMay would let him leave. Now that she had learned his compiled knowledge on how to arouse him and experienced her first withdrawal symptoms, her addiction to him would likely only intensify and she wouldn't leave him until she had sucked him dry. While he could avoid the study room and head to a gym instead, he had a nagging feeling that if he entered sector WS9909, she would find him. Such a scenario was unheard of but not impossible, especially considering her claim that the Librarian didn't restrict the freedom of elder pixies as much.
Waking up on one of the floating islands in the trophy section in the seed world, and finding Dredre still resting, Wyatt used his Demon Merchant Codex to access the Infinity Library's personal realm network. He searched for and borrowed the books he needed to learn everything about corpse puppet crafting. Although one hour in the Dark Realm corresponded to nearly a day in the Card Realm, Wyatt had roughly twenty hours to master knowledge that would typically take years for most beings. Fortunately, he had 1,024 primordial spirits with whom he could share the workload, along with the assistance of the Hive Spirit.
Initially, it was challenging to distribute tasks, as all the primordial spirits had to familiarize themselves with the basics of corpse puppet crafting. However, once they grasped the fundamentals, they divided the workload based on the various branches of the field. Thanks to their extensive experience in learning foreign and dark languages while searching for Corey's perfect trait, they saved significant time decoding the original texts.
To Wyatt's surprise, he and his primordial spirits, aided by the Hive Spirit, compiled the study material on the fundamentals of corpse puppet refining within 18 hours. This left Wyatt two hours to study the anatomy of various beings across the myriad realms, as well as techniques and methods to address the challenges involved in refining their corpses into puppets. It would take him years to digest such vast material, even with the help of his primordial spirits and Hive Spirit.
However, Wyatt, possessing the Primordial Soul Pupils, didn't require extensive study of anatomy of various beings across they myriad realms, as his Primoridal Soul Pupils could reveal all the secrets of a being with a single glance. Nevertheless, he had his primordial spirits copy the texts into the Hive Spirit as a precaution, ensuring he could refer to the techniques and methods mentioned whenever needed. He didn't bother studying the material in-depth but stored it in the Hive AI for future reference.
As the time for the duel approached, Wyatt called Dalie and Ceed, entrusting them with the still-asleep Dredre. Using his Demon Merchant Codex, he instructed the Devil Merchant Code to transport him to the venue of his duel with the unnamed Chaos Dwarf in the Duel Realm.