The Card Apprentice

The battling seemed to have resumed a state of balance. Being more concerned with Zu Ning’s death, Tang Hanpei hadn’t taken advantage of the perfect opportunity to attack with Qiao Yuan having been wounded.

There were a lot of doubts about the entire affair. According to the reports of those under Zu Ning, they had set up a defensive card artisan that night. Since there was only one, that clarified quite a few issues.

The card artisan had been educated in the orthodox reconnaissance type of card. His accomplishments in the Federation Comprehensive Academy had always been excellent. Not only that, but he also excelled in his tactical curriculum. What gave Tang Hanpei still more faith was that every teacher had included the same item when assessing him: He had a rigorous attitude, he was never negligent, and he was very self-disciplined.

The chance of such a card artisan making any low-level errors was minuscule. Moreover, Tang Hanpei had interviewed him personally, and his manner had made him still more certain on that point. So, the only possibility was that the infiltrator had evaded his scanning. That wasn’t impossible.

Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance were like a sword and a shield. For example, Tan Hanpei knew there were several kinds of cards that could evade the fluctuations of that level of scanning. He had quite a few ways to avoid it.

But any card required a card artisan. The effectiveness of a card was half dependent on the card itself and half directly related to the level of the card artisan.

As it happened, counter-reconnaissance cards made high demands on the card artisan. The ones who were best at that were card artisan assassins, as anyone with a little common sense would say. The crowd that moved in the dark were doubtlessly among the best at that kind of card.

The infiltrator hadn’t aroused anyone else before silently killing Zu Ning. That was the classic style of the assassin.

But, without a doubt, it wasn’t done by an assassin. For example, no assassin would ransack the storehouse. An assassin could carry only a few things on his person. Carrying anything would greatly influence the success of an operation.

The most incomprehensible thing was that among the cards taken away, most of them were worthless power cards plus a few three-star and four-star fantasy cards. As Tang Hanpei saw it, those had no value.

Was it a smokescreen? At the outset, Tang Hanpei thought the assassin’s goal might be to obfuscate his actual thinking.

But nearly 2,000 cards had disappeared into thin air. That many cards would require at least two cases to carry. So many cards could never be taken away by the strength of a single person without alerting someone. That was virtually impossible.

From that, he deduced that the adversary hadn’t been alone.

That corresponded with his suppositions. Card artisan assassins were seldom seen by that time, and only a few powerful firms would be able to keep them. There were really no independent card artisan assassins to speak of.

That was how he could shrink his target.

Only three organizations in Pomelo had enough power to use card artisan assassins: the Central Repository of the Classics, Faya, and the Federation Comprehensive Academy.

The Central Repository of the Classics was eliminated right at the outset. If it were them, even if they had killed Zu Ning, they would never have been interested in the Cross-Section of Styles. They had no fewer legacies than the Federation Comprehensive Academy. What they most needed was to get the core technology from the Central Island Firm and then to get out of Pomelo.

If Qiao Yuan had used a card artisan assassin, he would certainly have made a concurrent outside attack to capture the encampment in one fell swoop before retreating to the Central Repository of the Classics as quickly as possible.

Most of his suspicion was on Faya. They had always lurked in the dark and were clearly ill-intentioned. They liked to take advantage of the difficulties of others, and no one felt they did things out in the open. While the Central Repository of the Classics didn’t care about the Cross-Section of Styles, it had a lot of attraction for Faya.

Still… He was more concerned about something else. What if the assassin had come from within the Federation Comprehensive Academy itself?

That actually wasn’t impossible!

The Federation Comprehensive Academy was bristling with sects, and the one Zu Ning was in wasn’t the strongest. If someone took advantage of the situation to suddenly make his move, no one would ever put the suspicion on their heads. Thinking of that, Tang Hanpei’s face turned ashen, and his eyes went as gloomy as an overcast sky.

Uncharacteristically, Tang Hanpei didn’t do anything. All the platforms had experts discussing the matter daily, and everyone was trying to guess what Tang Hanpei was calculating.

There were even quite a few dissenters within the Federation Comprehensive Academy who thought Tang Hanpei had missed his chance to fight. But his prestige in the academy was too high, so there wasn’t a large market for such questioning.

Tang Hanpei didn’t make a move, and the other two organizations didn’t dare to jump right into things.

A person’s name was like a tree’s shadow. Tang Hanpei’s prestige across the federation was beyond that of almost anyone. Compared to Zu Ning, or Jie Yanbai and those who came later, he had made his name much earlier and had a lot more power. He was in the same age class as the presidents of the Big Six, but he hadn’t weakened; he was still younger than they were.

No one could guess what Tang Hanpei had in mind.

People were also interested in a different topic. The sudden surfacing of Faya had been totally unexpected. People with any intelligence connected that to Faya’s stupid previous moves, which were the fuse that set off the chaos.

Faya had been secretly fanning the flames. Quite a few people thought that way. What had followed had confirmed everyone’s thinking. When Faya surfaced, their disguise was ripped off, and they suddenly attacked some of the Central Repository of the Classics encampments.

The Central Repository of the Classics clearly hadn’t adequately prepared, and they were hit hard. Such a veteran powerhouse as the Central Repository of the Classics wasn’t just going to swallow it, however, and they swiftly mounted their counterattack. The warring between the two sides immediately shot up, and the Federation Comprehensive Academy didn’t have the least notion of getting involved in the battle between the two.

None of that had much to do with Chen Mu. When the situation returned to balance, as far as he was concerned, it provided him with some buffer. The training of those novice card artisans wasn’t reduced in the least with Bogner personally in charge of it.

Their temperament was completely different from before. There was none of the previous impetuousness and immaturity to be seen, all of them accustomed to stiffening their faces and sharpening their gazes. If anyone thought about it, they would have found that their seriousness was an imitation of when Bogner was serious.

No one talked on the huge training field. With three to a group, they were ceaselessly practicing their firing.

Any fine card artisan climbed over countless power cards to get ahead. Such was the well-known saying of some famous card artisan. Bogner was clearly a faithful adherent of that saying.

Beside every small team was placed an entire box of three-star power cards. Their responsibility was to use it up within ten hours. Not only that, but they would have to hit a fixed target over 98 percent of the time, along with an over 70 percent hit rate on a moving target with a difficulty level of eight.

That was a rather stunning standard. It would be fine for a stationary target, where a 98 percent hit rate wouldn’t be that hard to achieve—especially since every small group included two who could triangulate, thus greatly increasing their accuracy.

By comparison, using up an entire box of three-star power cards within ten hours was a lot more difficult. That required their firing rate to reach a standard of six shots each second.

The hardest was the second requirement of hitting a moving target with a difficulty of eight over 70 percent of the time. Such a hit rate at that level of difficulty couldn’t be achieved by even high-grade card artisans.

In the situation of level-eight difficulty, a moving target traced a completely erratic path with a speed quite a bit faster than the jet stream card of an ordinary card artisan. Each moving target wasn’t more than the size of a box of matches. Such a small target moving at high speed would be very difficult to track with bare eyes. That required the use of perception.

It was perfectly deadly training, and once it started, some were left idle. Bogner used extreme means and kept several high-grade card artisans by his side, so no one could discern a pattern. Bogner had rich experience in that regard and had set up an utterly perfect incentive mechanism, which greatly stimulated everyone’s enthusiasm.

Everyone in that world had a lot of self-esteem, and they all had a sense of honor. Although they were rookies, and although they had never been proud, that didn’t mean they wanted to sink down. So long as they were given hope, they would bring a lot of ability into play. They were well-aware of the difficulty of survival. They were also a lot better managed when compared to arrogant and unruly high-level card artisans.

“Everyone show me some spirit! I’m telling you, I’m not leaving any trash behind! If you want a f***ing place here, then show me some strength!” Bogner’s growl made the entire training field tremble.

Hoo-yah!

The youths were grunting through their training, all of them sweating bullets. But no one rested; they gritted their teeth and strove to make their shots faster and more accurate!

All of those identical youths were between 20 and 28. That age range covered the hottest blood and the most obstinance.

If anyone had told them before that they could achieve a hit rate of 70 percent on a moving target with a level of difficulty of eight, they would certainly have thought it to be a fairy tale. Given that they had only just reached the fourth level of perception, to be able to achieve a 50 percent hit rate with a level-six would be pretty darned good.

But they had hope now. That bit of hope came from their mysterious boss and from the mysterious set of cards in their hands. Even if they weren’t under Bogner’s gaze, and even with most of them having gotten the orthodox education from the Origins Academy, they knew how powerful the set of cards they were learning to use was.

That bit of hope had been stimulating their advances. If they had been limited to talent, they would have fallen far short of genius. When it came to diligence or hard work, however, they wouldn’t fall behind anyone.

They were full of gratitude toward their boss. What would their fate have been if it weren’t for him? They would probably just be hanging out at the lowest level among card artisans.

The thing that most urged them on was that the boss was investing so much in them, which even they found inconceivable. They well knew the cost of the power cards they consumed every day. No one except their boss would spend so much money on such low-level card artisans! The human heart was mostly flesh, and you’d get back what you put in. That was the way they thought about it.

Having washed his hands of the training, Chen Mu really didn’t know Bogner’s training method was something no one else would use. The number of three-star cards they used every day was shocking. If it hadn’t been for how rich the materials were that the fatty had left behind, then given their pathetic foundation, there would have been no way to support such a scale of strength training.

Bogner was satisfied with the impeccable performance of those card artisans, though he seldom smiled in front of them. On the contrary, he would be still more strictly demanding of them. He was more aware than anyone of the huge outlay required for such training. But his thinking was straightforward. He knew what the boss cared about and what he didn’t.

The most crucial thing was that he had sufficient confidence in the tactics they had devised. Ha ha, the tactics of that set of cards would give a real pleasant surprise to the entire federation when the time came. Bogner couldn’t stop his mischievous laughter as he rubbed his chin. When the card artisans to his side saw that, they quickly retracted their gazes and looked straight ahead.

* * *

Chen Mu and Wei-ah were sparring on the training field, that already being their 35th training that day. It was evident how wretched Chen Mu was from the black and blue on his face.

Chen Mu didn’t feel any of that as he stared fixedly at Wei-ah like a wolf. His body leaned in, poised with one foot ahead and one behind, as though his body were an arrow that could be released from the bow at any minute. The apparatus on his right hand was in an activated state.

Wei-ah’s expression was composed. Maybe he should try that himself, Chen Mu thought.

He suddenly moved as though he’d disappeared and suddenly reappeared five meters to the right of where Wei-ah was. Three tailless shuttles formed into an inverted triangle, enshrouding Wei-ah. Chen Mu didn’t remain where he was. In a flash, his body made a sharply angled dash.

Wei-ah easily dodged the three tailless shuttles when his right fist nearly grazed the edge of his clothes. Chen Mu had long grown used to such a situation. Without turning around, he had three more tailless shuttles in counterattack. He didn’t fire them off at Wei-ah, however, but to where Wei-ah would be moving.

Wei-ah had stunning explosive power in a straight line—the most Chen Mu had ever seen. He just blocked the straight path where Wei-ah was headed, so Wei-ah would have to trace an arc. Compared to a straight line, an arc would be a little longer.

Of course, that length was limited—maybe half a meter—and it might have been 30 centimeters. But half a meter or 30 centimeters would possibly determine the outcome of the battle for Chen Mu.

Like a ghost, Wei-ah chased after his own tail, and Chen Mu didn’t dare to stay in one place.

That was a characteristic of their paired training unlike everyone else’s. If his lingering in one place were the slightest bit longer, the battle would likely have ended.

Wei-ah was best at close, hand-to-hand combat, and the best way to oppose it was not to let him get close. But given Wei-ah’s demonic speed and Chen Mu’s current strength, there was no way Chen Mu could do that. What he could do, however, was interfere with him somewhat.

Two shadows were chasing each other around in the stuffy training space, too fast for the eye to see.

Chen Mu concentrated his spirits, a tailless shuttle hanging from his right index finger. With a high-speed move, that tailless shuttle, formed of pure energy, was dragging a light green trace of light.

The distance between the two kept closing. Wei-ah seemed to have a hunter’s natural intuition in the pell-mell chase. That matched his speed, making it hard to escape his pursuit.

Chen Mu’s right index finger flicked imperceptibly, and the tailless shuttle that had long since formed sprang from this finger and shot silently toward someplace behind him. That tailless shuttle didn’t look the same as normal, having no circular patterns on its body; instead, there were many rings of green halos.

Hong!

The tailless shuttle suddenly exploded when it hit the ground. The shock wave gave Chen Mu the boost he had been long prepared for. It slightly adjusted the big mudfish card, which used the boost to increase his speed.

The explosion had happened too suddenly. Wei-ah hadn’t thought Chen Mu could do it, which put him instantly at a slight loss.

A sense of accomplishment flowed over Chen Mu; it was first time he had made Wei-ah so miserable. But he still knew if he wanted to wound Wei-ah by such an attack alone, that would be a fool’s dream. However, that was only the first trick he had prepared.

Without hesitating, Chen Mu flung another tailless shuttle from his hand with the enhanced speed of the big mudfish card. That tailless shuttle was completely different from the one before, its body taking the form of a wave split into three segments. It was also a lot longer than an ordinary tailless shuttle.

Si xiu!

The whistling sound of that tailless shuttle was clearly different than a normal tailless shuttle. For an ordinary person, even if they could hear the difference, they couldn’t react to it. But it was enough to put Wei-ah on alert.

No emotion had shown on Wei-ah’s dull face during the explosion, his gaze as steady as ever. It was enough to cause anyone to lose hope. But no one knew Wei-ah’s power better than Chen Mu.

Without a pause, he shot off 12 tailless shuttles in a single breath, and they criss-crossed like a canopy of deadly raining arrows. The training space filled with the wailing of tailless shuttles tearing through the air, which was enough to separate the soul from the body.

In that fog, Wei-ah’s gaze sharpened and calmed, and his slightly squinted eyes felt really menacing. He suddenly took on a strange posture. Pivoting on one leg while the other tapped the ground, his upper body arced, and his lips opened.

Just then, the wave-shaped tailless shuttle exploded in midair, splitting into three short shuttles, the speed of which had surged.

That sudden change surprised Wei-ah. Before he could even blink, those three short shuttles all pressed in front of him. Wei-ah pulled his legs from the ground they had barely touched and formed a bow around the axis of that leg. He then bent his whole body from the knees, forming into a sideways “7” shape.

He was too fast, and the afterimage was incredibly life-like while the three short tailless shuttles swept past him. Still more inconceivably, each of the three shuttles were so far from him that if he hadn’t moved, they still wouldn’t have wounded him. If he had dodged to the side, he might have been wounded.

It looked like that move of Wei-ah’s was completely useless since the 12 tailless shuttles to follow had nearly sealed off any place he could dodge to.

Chen Mu didn’t really understand Wei-ah’s move. The objective of the three-segment wave-form tailless shuttle wasn’t to hit Wei-ah; it was to force him to stay within the scope of the 12 tailless shuttles that followed. They formed a kind of net, which went shooting face-on to Wei-ah. No matter in which direction Wei-ah moved, he would have no way to escape it.

Just then, the leg Wei-ah had pulled up suddenly sprang toward the floor. The other leg, which was bowed, stomped at the same time, so his whole body went shooting along the floor toward the tailless shuttles!

Wasn’t that suicide? Chen Mu was stunned. This was only training, and he certainly didn’t want anything to happen. He had just been about to move when he suddenly seemed to have been enlightened.

Sticking to the ground, Wei-ah was slithering like a snake but with amazing speed. Chen Mu finally understood what Wei-ah was doing. Those 12 tailless shuttles hadn’t completely sealed off the corners, leaving a tiny bit of space. When Chen Mu had planned out that tactic at the outset, he hadn’t considered the time difference. He didn’t think Wei-ah would so immediately grasp that flaw.

So, with that stunning skill, a finger was already at his neck.

“You’re stunned.” After he said that, Wei-ah retracted his finger and went away.

It was all a huge encouragement for Chen Mu. It was the first time he had ever put Wei-ah into such a desperate situation.

That was all the result of his studying the Cross-Section of Styles those last few days. He had deeply indulged in its dazzling tactics.

Before then, he would never have thought of tactical issues. Only when he touched the Cross-Section of Styles did he understand that his previous fighting style almost completely depended on his own ability to respond, along with some special skills in support of that. There wasn’t much tactical content. When he drew from the Cross-Section of Styles and honed some small tactics inspired by it, he changed the composition of the tailless shuttles, which had then allowed him to benefit.

Compared to the mature tactics from the Cross-Section of Styles, the little tactics he designed could be considered rudimentary. But in his vision, that trial had made him into a completely different person from before.

Sometimes, even though he only punched through a layer of paper, it would be a new world.

Inside the Cross-Section of Styles were rich and variegated tactics, which were what determined the card’s characteristics. Having gone through generation after generation of advancement, those who had refined it in each generation were all outstanding in their wisdom. Therefore, what was left behind were fine goods tested countless times.

The Cross-Section of Styles wasn’t the most powerful battle fantasy card in the Heavenly Federation, but if you were speaking of an emphasis on tactics, it was certainly among the top three. That was also why it could become one of the most important legacies of the Federation Comprehensive Academy.

He had no idea about the position of the Cross-Section of Styles among the fantasy card legacies of the federation. But he certainly did know those tactics were highly advanced and powerful as far as he was concerned. Quite a few of them had the sense of having been through so many revisions that even such a rookie as him could clearly feel it.

Although that trial wasn’t quite perfect, it already made him excited. He had realized the power of tactics. To be able to push Wei-ah into such straights had already explained the issue.

To have a plan was better than no plan, and to have tactics was better than having none. The level of tactics was directly related to the outcome of a battle. That bout of resistance training had brought Chen Mu the most direct evidence of its influence. The importance of tactics thus entered into the scope of Chen Mu’s vision.

Most of Chen Mu’s time every day was spent studying the tactics in the Cross-Section of Styles. Compared to the standard curriculum about tactics in the federation at that time, the tactics in the Cross-Section of Styles were more advanced and more rigorous in their line of thinking. But they were only examples with no theory.

Chen Mu’s methods were also simple. He would just study them one by one, along with their combinations of ideas. It was about the same as when he had studied the basis for token cards.

When he had first studied token card knowledge, he was completely in the dark, just gnawing steadily away until he could unexpectedly chew them up. With that foundation in card making and with that knowledge of token cards, that was the style he was best at and most familiar with.

Without realizing it, having suffered through learning those tactics, Chen Mu advanced at a stunning rate. Even he himself didn’t realize it. The Cross-Section of Styles was like a dictionary of tactics, as vast as the oceans.

Wei-ah also seemed to understand what Chen Mu was doing and didn’t bother him during that time. Opposing that, however, Chen Mu had realized that the more he drew Wei-ah into the resistance training to try out his newly designed tactics, the more he could summarize their benefits and shortcomings.

A knock on the door cut off Chen Mu’s study. When he opened the door, he saw Xi Ping with a thoughtful expression. Chen Mu knew something important had happened.