The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu stood up and gave the fatty one of the folding Yanbo cards. “I’d like to keep the other one. You may deduct the required fees from the income.”

Xi Ping carefully took the card the fatty handed him. Pearson, who couldn’t wait any longer, went over to them.

The fatty waved his hand and said without a care, “My young brother is too polite; just take it.”

“Since we’ve already decided the rules, how could I break them?” Chen Mu shook his head, insisting.

The fatty laughed. “Well, then let’s do as you say.” His appreciation for Chen Mu grew a few notches. A big business man like him treasured reputation and trust more than anything. They were the sort of people who followed the spirit of the contract. Not being petty, Chen Mu’s conduct gave him a good feeling.

“Let’s check this card out.” The fatty clearly wanted to know the true worth of the card. He turned around to say, “I still haven’t asked my little brother what the card is called.”

“The folding Yanbo card.”

“How many stars?”

“Three stars.”

The fatty responded with a grunt. Xi Ping felt a hot rush of blood to his head, and his face turned ugly. Three stars? Good god! That was 50 million Oudi in precious materials! To only make two three-star cards? Xi Ping felt his heart would drip blood.

An impostor! In Xi Ping’s heart, Chen Mu had already turned into the same kind of imposter as Pearson. But seeing his boss look as though nothing was wrong, he repressed his urge to curse.

The appraisal of a card’s value, and especially that of an excellent card, was a pretty troublesome process. When ordinary people spoke of cards, the first thing they would think of would be how many stars. For outstanding cards, however, or cards with the potential to increase in value, the number of stars was not the most important indicator.

More weight was given to the overall performance of cards like that. Sometimes special-purpose cards could bring in a good price.

The fatty was quite familiar with that principle, having built up string after string of classic cases, so he was completely fascinated after hearing Chen Mu. Pearson had a furrowed brow and a dull look all along, wearing an expression as though he were deep in thought.

Before long, the groups arrived at a training room.

It was a classic card assessment room. There were quite a few test instruments of every kind in the room, including some Chen Mu had never seen and didn’t know the purpose for. There were also quite a few people in the assessment room awaiting orders.

“Come on, Jin Yu,” the fatty ordered.

“Yes, sir!” With a cold voice, the pretty female card artisan stepped forward from beside the fatty and took the folding Yanbo card from Xi Ping.

“Is there anything my young brother would like to bring up?” the fatty asked.

After thinking, Chen Mu said, “This card requires pretty outstanding perceptual control.”

The fatty turned up his mouth in a smile. “Ha, you don’t need to worry about that.” The girl called Jin Yu flashed a look of annoyance. What she heard was that Chen Mu had doubted her ability.

“Begin.” The fatty spoke to Jin Yu. He was curious about what kind of outstanding qualities the card had, seeing as it was made by a card master who could get the attention of Faya.

Xi Ping and Pearson quickly looked toward the field. The assistants were all taking their places.

A half-dome shaped energy cloak covered the test field, which divided it from those watching. That was to avoid any accidents.

Jin Yu put the folding Yanbo card into her own apparatus. One could see at a glance what sort of high-grade goods that was. Chen Mu counted six card slots, which made him rather envious.

Jin Yu closed her eyes, carefully trying to understand the internal composition of the folding Yanbo card. The cold, jade-like face of Jin Yu wasn’t as cold as usual, but it was intensely focused.

Chen Mu didn’t really know himself what the power of the folding Yanbo cards was like. The tailless shuttle’s power had already become shocking, so he didn’t think the folding Yanbo card would fall far short of it. Moreover, when it came to the production costs, the folding Yanbo card cost several dozen times more than the tailless shuttle card.

The only thing he was worried about was that the requirements regarding the perceptual sensitivity index were too high. He’d gotten the reward of the folding Yanbo card only after his own perceptual sensitivity index had reached 65.

Jin Yu suddenly opened her eyes, and Chen Mu immediately felt a powerful energy fluctuation! It caused his heart to race. His gaze was fixed on Jin Yu on the field.

Jin Yu’s snow-scallion-like right hand was tilted down in midair. A fiery, bright red energy was taking shape below her slightly wagging fingers as though molten lava were flowing and snaking out of them.

An extremely simple bright red energy body floated in front of Jin Yu.

The arrowhead-shaped energy body wasn’t actually orderly; it gave out a crude feeling. The derision Xi Ping felt became still heavier. In general, high-grade cards emitted energy bodies with orderly compositions. They all had perfectly rigorous geometric structures. The arrow-shaped energy body emitted by Jin Yu was like a variable-thickness energy body with a fold in its middle. It was called the Yanbo—or swallow wave—and was probably the ugliest swallow in history!

The fatty’s expression hadn’t changed, showing neither discouragement or excitement. Pearson looked full of doubt, as though he’d encountered some problem that gave him a headache. His furrowed brow didn’t show any sign of relaxing.

A look of joy emerged on Jin Yu’s face.

Without any hesitation, she gave a light wave of her hand. The bright red folding energy body whirred into a trace of red that left a trail in everyone’s eyes, and it hit the target precisely.

Hong!

Everyone felt a shock under their feet, and Pearson nearly fell over. Luckily Xi Ping was quick-witted and held onto him. The fat on the boss’s body shook, which steadied him. The good thing about a heavy chassis at a time like that was its stability.

The shaking struck everyone, including Chen Mu.

Jin Yu remained on the field. The target that had been in front of her had already disappeared without a trace, and in its place was a big hole about a meter across and 30 centimeters deep.

All of the assistants stopped what they had been doing and looked onto the field in disbelief. The large testing ground was absolutely silent.

With a jangling, something fell to the ground from someone’s hands, and the sound of it aroused everyone from their shock.

“My god! What did I just see?” The creases on Pearson’s excited face shook like a roaring sea.

Xi Ping was completely flabbergasted, though he quickly responded. A hard-to-disguise look of ecstasy appeared on his face. It was clear to him how much money the folding Yanbo card could bring in!

His gaze remained on the big hole in the ground. The testing field was paved with high-strength bricks made of protective materials; if ordinary cards left a slight mark on it, they wouldn’t be bad. For the folding Yanbo to have effortlessly blown such a huge hole required unparalleled power.

The ever-calm fatty finally showed some excitement on his face as he quickly asked the assistants, “Has any data come out?”

One of the assistants stammered, “It has too much power. It destroyed the target, and we have no way to compute its power. The most destructive power this type of target can withstand is 1,200. If you want to continue the assessment, we’ll have to swap out a higher-grade target.”

“Change it, and do another test!” the fatty ordered without hesitation.

Xi Ping felt his mouth dry and his tongue parched, and he couldn’t help but lick his lips. What kind of concept is damage at 1,200? The damage value for ordinary three-star fantasy cards started at about 200. Above 300, it would already be considered a pretty good three-star fantasy card. When it reached 500 or more, a three-star fantasy card was already the finest of the fine. Not only had the fatty never seen a three-star fantasy card with a destructive value of 1,200, he had never even heard of one.

While the destructive value for a four-star fantasy card would fluctuate quite a bit, in general, they averaged roughly 600. The best among them could reach over 1,000. If they could get to 1,500, they would be absolute top-quality.

The three-star card in front of them had actually achieved a destructive value of more than 1,200. How would that not be incredibly stirring? For them, the card’s sales value was the most essential thing. A three-star card that could compare to the best of the four-star fantasy cards would have a sales value far beyond a four-star card with a similar destructive value.

The higher the star rating of a card, the greater the demands on a card artisan. The demands of a four-star and a three-star fantasy card were at completely different levels. Card artisans who were able to train to use a four-star fantasy card had already risen to quasi-ace stature. Those like Bo Wen could deploy a four-star fantasy card, though he hadn’t been very skilled at it.

That also meant the folding Yanbo card’s customer base would far exceed the target audience for a four-star fantasy card. For a businessman like the fatty, what could be more wonderful than that? Xi Ping was also clear about the folding Yanbo card’s value. His face reddened with the difficulty of hiding his excitement.

Meanwhile, Pearson remained shocked, but he was even more full of doubt about the things he had pondered a hundred times.

The assistants put up the target as fast as they could and connected it to the instruments. That time, they were using the highest-grade target, which could sustain a destructive value of 2,000. They were excited and didn’t need any urging from the fatty for each of them to be proactive as never before. They all knew they were possibly going to witness the birth of a new record with their own eyes!

What could be more exciting than that?

Jin Yu was also pretty excited, though she still felt some regret; too bad she wouldn’t be able to get that card for herself. Although the boss was good to her and basically met her requests, that level of card wasn’t something she could ever expect.

Still, to even have the opportunity to use such an outstanding card had great benefit for her. Being able to achieve such terrifying power was sufficient to clarify how perfectly formed the energy composition of the folding Yanbo card was. Although she couldn’t thoroughly understand it, she could still be greatly enlightened.

Aiming at the target, she again lightly flipped her right hand. Another bright red folding Yanbo shot out.

There was another explosion, and the ground under everyone’s feet shook again. Having been prepared this time, no one fell.

When the smoke cleared, the target had come through unscathed. On the floor below the target, however, another hole as big as the last one was blown open.

“My god! A destructive value of 1,502!” the assistant exclaimed, once again igniting the atmosphere on the scene.

There was a collective heavy breath, and everyone’s face was flushed. It was a miracle. A true miracle!

Among four-star cards, a destructive value of 1,500 was a watershed. Being able to achieve that value would be called top-quality, but 1,502 was a number that had definitely broken through that watershed. A super top-quality three-star card comparable to a top-quality four-star card? Xi Ping had already started to get some idea in his mind about how to plan for the auction of that card.

Of course, that wasn’t the only part of the assessment. The evaluation of a card had quite a few items, such as the card’s standard firing frequency, its rate of energy consumption, the specific qualities of the energy body, the environment where it could be used, and so forth.

On the field, Jin Yu was getting more and more excited about the folding Yanbo card. She was increasingly relaxed as she released it and didn’t need to use her fingers to assist it anymore; she could just casually let it go.

The fatty gave Chen Mu a thumbs up and exclaimed, full of admiration, “You are a card master worthy of Faya’s prostration after all, my boy. Powerful! From what I see, this work of my young brother isn’t something even grand masters could compare with. I would dare to assure this card will certainly become a miracle across the entire federation!”

“My older brother flatters me,” Chen Mu said humbly. To tell the truth, he hadn’t expected the folding Yanbo card’s power to actually be so terrifying. The tailless shuttle’s destructive power was 756 when it was assessed last time. Now that he had gradually deepened his attainments with it, it would reach 1,000 with no problem. Even so, it was still quite far from a destructive value of 1,502. Chen Mu believed the power could still increase over time as he became more familiar with the folding Yanbo card.

It was a truly terrifying card—even Chen Mu himself felt it so! Luckily he’d left one for himself. If he didn’t have such a powerful weapon in his hands, wouldn’t that be a great loss?

Xi Ping was looking at the folding Yanbo card in Chen Mu’s hands with a burning gaze, like he couldn’t wait to grab it.

Fortunately, fatty saw Xi Ping’s appearance and scolded him with a laugh. “You unpromising fellow, cut out that piggish look. It’s a complete disgrace to me!”

Xi Ping abruptly and sheepishly smiled, and Chen Mu couldn’t help but smile back.

In no time, the results of the assessment were out.

“Folding Yanbo card. Three-star. Standard destructive value: 1,502. Standard firing rate: 2.8 times per second. Characteristics: explosion. Coverage: a diameter of three meters. Environment for deployment: a non-water environment. Note: Those with higher perceptual acuity can increase the power…”

When the fatty saw the list, his mouth nearly curled up to the back of his head. Jin Yu pulled the folding Yanbo card from her apparatus with a glimmer of reluctance on her face. When Xi Ping took it, he carefully and quickly put it where no one could see it.

Chen Mu couldn’t wait to leave by then to go back and really test out the power of the folding Yanbo card in his hands. He understood their cooperation had already been completely determined, and he didn’t have anything else to do there. Having finally accomplished his goal, his mind became abruptly more relaxed.

Glancing at Pearson, who was about to scratch through his head, Chen Mu flet some sudden sympathy. Although he had long since made up his mind to do his utmost, he had used a lot of skills. If he were to put the composition of his folding Yanbo card together with the folding Yanbo card described in the mysterious card, it would be easy to discover that this card’s composition was quite a bit more complicated, having a few more lines where there previously weren’t any.

Chen Mu had used those lines to confuse people. They didn’t have any function but were purely decorative. But, mixed up as they were with the true composition, if one didn’t already know the composition of the folding Yanbo card, even Chen Mu himself wouldn’t have any way to accurately determine it. That was apart from any speculation about how the folding Yanbo card was made, on the basis of the card’s composition.

Chen Mu had paid more attention to the token architecture in the composition. Surrounding the token composition, there were a lot of lines to dazzle people, just in case someone slightly understood the token architecture. It would be difficult to determine what it actually was unless the other person’s attainment with token theory was far more profound than his, in which case those little tricks would be utterly useless. His counterpart would certainly be able to discover the mystery within them at a glance.

If that were really to happen, such a level of card master wasn’t someone he could contend with anyway.

“Young brother.” The fatty had a solemn look on his face. Seeing Chen Mu’s glance come around, he said with a sigh, “To tell the truth, I feel a little bit as though I can’t put out this card.”

Seeing that Chen Mu’s expression hadn’t changed at all, he smiled and continued on. “This card is really too powerful! Such a card—which has never before appeared in the Heavenly Federation—if I were to put out a card like this, it would doubtlessly be a blockbuster. I’m afraid it wouldn’t be a small storm, either. My young brother would be famous overnight. That’s for certain. But I’m afraid a lot of trouble would come along with our going ahead like that.”

What the fatty said was serious, and Chen Mu listened carefully, chewing over the fatty’s words.

“I’m ashamed by what I say. Your big brother is a substantial person in Pomelo, but if I were to swing over to the federation, I wouldn’t be much more than an ant. I’m afraid there wouldn’t be anyone who wouldn’t want such a person as my young brother. This card would certainly attract all the heavyweight powers. It wouldn’t even be impossible to get into the Big Six. Your older brother congratulates you in advance.”

The fatty’s expression was sincere, without the slightest put-on, which warmed Chen Mu’s heart. He knew that to be able to re-enter the Big Six was a future better than anything in the eyes of ordinary people. That was why the fatty had made his expression of congratulation.

Seeing the fatty still had something to say, Chen Mu restrained himself from interrupting and continued listening.