The Card Apprentice

So Sue Lochiro could examine him more completely, Chen Mu had compressed his perception into an unimaginably tiny ball. Even though his control was a lot more powerful than before, the extremely compressed perception’s sudden fluctuation made him nearly lose control.

That wasn’t the first situation where Chen Mu had encountered a loss of perceptual control, so he didn’t get flustered. In truth, he hadn’t gone through any systematic study about how to control perception. What he could do was partly from his conjecture according to the principles elaborated in the mysterious card, and the rest was from his own explorations.

The perceptual spring coil’s composition was something he’d thought up out of thin air. So, he wouldn’t be surprised if some strange situation appeared with his perception.

But, he was clear that once his perception really lost control, it could hurt Sue Lochiro. Her perception had a mild quality, while his had a powerful aggressiveness. No one could be certain what would happen in the sudden shock of losing control, but whether good or bad, something would happen.

The marvel of perception was something only a handful of people in that world could understand clearly, and that handful certainly didn’t include Chen Mu.

By comparison, Sue Lochiro was clear about the dangers of near-field perception. That was why she had never used it before. Also, the technology was advanced by that time, and there were countless kinds of examining instruments. She was using the most advanced equipment.

But, the devices hadn’t detected Chen Mu’s physical peculiarities, so she had thought of that method. What she hadn’t thought about was that it would be so embarrassing. To be a doctor naturally meant you would be very familiar with the human body and wouldn’t be any stranger to the male body either. But, to perceive it so clearly and so close-up was something she had encountered without having mentally prepared herself. So, she naturally had a powerful reaction.

Chen Mu didn’t know anything about that. He didn’t even know why her perception had fluctuated. The biggest problem was that he didn’t have any great way to restrain the restless perception in his own body.

Given his pitiful understanding of perception, he had exhausted all of his efforts.

That was no exaggeration. All of Chen Mu’s his concentration was focused on that compressed perception. He didn’t have any more perception to use as a medium, added to which was his high degree of concentration. He would have lost any connection with the outside world from any point of view.

If anyone wanted to kill him then, it would be trivial.

Sue Lochiro was silently surprised. The fluctuations between them were subtle, and she could clearly perceive him. That sort of understanding was a direct perceptual understanding, which was a lot more rapid and realistic than any other mode of understanding.

She couldn’t help but feel greatly appreciative of Chen Mu. Such appreciation wasn’t because of his demonstrated ability to control his powerful perception. That ability was truly powerful, but for a medical card artisan with higher requirements for accuracy, it wouldn’t be so surprising.

The thing that surprised Sue Lochiro, and that she appreciated, was the calm and concentration Chen Mu demonstrated. To be so concentrated and cut off from the outside under such circumstances not only required courage, but it also required sufficient resolve.

From that aspect, Chen Mu wasn’t only the most outstanding person she had ever encountered. To have such resolve while being so young was a first.

In that world, most geniuses would all have something out of the ordinary. But, if one imagined a more advanced development, that would require possessing still more qualities. Precise focus was a highly important quality among those.

This card artisan named Cao Dong clearly wasn’t any ordinary person, even though she had never heard of him.

Sue Lochiro turned serious as she carefully let her perception slowly penetrate Chen Mu’s body. That procedure was the most dangerous part of near-field perception. Every person’s body had self-defense awareness, and card artisans were especially outstanding in that regard. When someone else’s perception entered their body, it was easy to cause a reaction.

The process was slow, but under her control, her perception penetrated firmly. Since he’d said there was something wrong, and the instruments hadn’t detected it, then it must have been buried too deeply or had a powerfully concealed nature.

By that time, Sue Lochiro had forgotten any of her embarrassment. Her concentration was not the least inferior to Chen Mu’s.

Chen Mu’s body was really like a battlefield, and her perception was like slowly advancing troops. They carefully searched everywhere there could be any issues without missing the tiniest thing.

A powerful, uncomfortable feeling was transmitted to Chen Mu’s brain through his nerves. With his concentration completely focused on that compressed perceptual coil, Chen Mu didn’t immediately realize her perception had entered his body. He didn’t panic; the restless suppressed perception kept his mind empty and focused.

At the same time, Sue Lochiro’s expression became still more serious. Her absolutely beautiful face, with eyes closed, didn’t show any of the normal warm and cozy smiling expression. It was replaced by a very solemn expression.

She had discovered the anomaly!

Starting from Chen Mu’s skin, her perception had slowly advanced. By then, Chen Mu’s entire body was within the scope of her perception. That kind of full-line closing-in might have looked a little crude, but it was quite effective.

There was something there that would drill down deeper into Chen Mu’s body once it touched her perception.

At the same time, it rattled her spirit. She was quite surprised.

What was it? Although she hadn’t completely scanned it just then, she felt certain it was something.

Her heart surged with curiosity. She was quite indifferent to power and wealth, but if she encountered any kind of strange illness, she would become immediately excited. Having been encouraged, the speed of her perception’s advance immediately increased.

How big could Chen Mu’s body be? Everything inside had been searched by her perception in a short time. She had previously hoped to be able to understand it a little more deeply, and she tried to slow her advance. But, that acceleration had suddenly transformed the situation.

That thing was extremely flexible and slippery, as well as extremely vigilant. Sue Lochiro suspected it must be alive. Maybe a parasite, she thought to herself. As a high-grade medical card artisan, she had seen what might be called some very strange things. She didn’t even know how many. Quite a few parasites were scary. Once they entered the body, whether one wanted to kill them or extract them, it was very difficult.

She was careful. If it really was a parasite, then it was the first or second most troublesome she’d ever seen.

It suddenly stopped!

She was overjoyed as she scanned that unidentified object over and over with her light-wave-like perception.

Good lord! What is it? She carefully observed every aspect of that unidentified object in her surprise. The flexible and agile object was actually a hair-fine green thread!

A roundworm? It didn’t look like it. Although the green thread was fine, it was shockingly long. It went throughout Chen Mu’s body like it had become a capillary. If it had been red and wasn’t moving, Sue Lochiro couldn’t be certain she ever would have found it.

Such a fine roundworm could never have grown so long.

She finally understood what Chen Mu was suffering from. There was a green thread in his body that could drill anywhere at any time. That certainly wouldn’t be any fun. She’d already felt how tough it was. Because she’d caught it with her perception, it was now tightly stuck to Chen Mu’s bones as though there were a layer of fine green mesh covering them.

She couldn’t help but frown. What was that? She couldn’t make any accurate judgment for a while. For a high-grade medical card artisan, that was something not seen often. But, she couldn’t match it to any of the information in her head.

Lost in thought, Sue Lochiro didn’t realize the danger approaching.

Her perception slowly became unstable like a current stirred up from the bottom of a river. It started to interact constantly and with impact.

When Sue Lochiro realized something was wrong, the situation had already gone beyond her control. Having just wandered off to study the green thread, she hadn’t been paying attention to her perception touching Chen Mu’s perception. The perceptual spring, which had been compressed to its limit, was like an extremely dangerous powder keg that the slightest spark could explode!

Her perception was precisely such a spark.

Bam!

Struggling to suppress that perceptual spring, Chen Mu called out to himself how bad it was!

A storm had formed in a tenth of a second. The perceptual spring, which had been compressed into a ball, suddenly blew apart. Countless perceptual tendrils scattered violently, shooting off while the perceptual spring coil’s main body suddenly expanded outward!

If it were only Chen Mu alone, that wouldn’t have caused much of a problem. However, there was a different perception with different properties within the scope of his original perceptual control.

Having been caught off guard, Sue Lochiro couldn’t react. Her perception had been engulfed by a bout of different perception.

If judging purely by quantity, although Chen Mu’s perception was a little more powerful than hers, it wasn’t that much stronger. But, because he had previously compressed it so much, the suddenly released impact immediately made Sue Lochiro lose control of her own perception.

What kind of transformation would two different-natured perceptions undergo when they were blended together?

Maybe Chen Mu didn’t quite understand the inherent danger, but Sue Lochiro’s face went abruptly white.