The Card Apprentice

“You’ve turned handsome, Boss!” Bogner circled Chen Mu, clucking his amazement. To his side, Xi Ping was also astonished. The boss had completely changed his look right before their eyes.

Compared to his previous yellow, waxy look, his appearance was now a lot more pleasing, though still quite ordinary. There was nothing handsome, formidable, or ferocious about him, and his perfectly ordinary look made everyone who had become used to his sickly, waxy yellow quite excited. It was also easier to tell his age.

He was so young, after all! He looked to be about 20, although there was none of the peculiar tenderness and impetuousness of youth to be seen on him. On the contrary, the boss exuded a kind of calm that felt entirely comforting. Without knowing whether it was because of the influence of the boss’s temperament, he was more and more pleasing to look at.

When they had first seen Sue Lochiro walk out of the boss’s room with a stranger, everyone was stunned. But when that stranger opened his mouth to say something, they realized the guy was actually their boss.

“The boss had some strange disease that caused his skin to turn yellow; it transformed his face and flesh. I hadn’t thought of the reason before, but I finally discovered it when examining the boss’s physique just now. It’s a very odd disease, and I just happened to find it among my professor’s notes; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.” Sue Lochiro wore a natural expression and spoke about the so-called “disease process” professionally.

It then dawned on everyone.

Chen Mu looked at Sue Lochiro, having been feeling some headache about how to explain it to Bogner and Xi Ping. He hadn’t thought she would so easily explain away the issue.

Sue Lochiro looked at Chen Mu without seeming to and maintained her professional smile.

“Oh!” Bogner drawled, speaking as though something had dawned on him. “The two of you being in the room so long was to do a physical exam!”

Once he said that, everyone’s expressions turned abruptly strange.

Xi Ping, who hadn’t said anything all along, suddenly became serious. He said in an extremely mature tone, “Mmmm, we can’t let anything happen with the boss’s health. You’ll have to do more of that sort of examination. A lot more!”

Sue Lochiro couldn’t keep her pretty face from turning red. Her white skin flushed as her long eyelashes dropped, helplessly showing off her absolutely gorgeous modesty. That made everyone feel as though their hearts had been clutched, and they were having some difficulty breathing.

Chen Mu wasn’t feeling a thing.

What he mostly felt was that he had been relieved of a burden. The disguise on his face had been like a curse that was always with him. Maybe he hadn’t thought so much about it, but even without him knowing, it had been like a dark haze enshrouding his life.

So, once he was restored to his own natural appearance, he felt relief from the deepest recesses of his heart as though the sky had suddenly cleared. The pleasure he felt made Chen Mu’s expression naturally more soft, and that pleasure inadvertently influenced everyone around him.

Everyone felt more relaxed. Whether it was Bogner or the experienced Xi Ping, none of them could help but tease Chen Mu and Sue Lochiro. The careful-seeming Bogner and Xi Ping had both found a slight change in the way Sue Lochiro spoke.

She had previously always called Chen Mu “Mr. Cao,” but she now called him the boss along with everyone else. Although that was just a tiny detail, it still made everyone feel a lot better.

That was something everyone had wanted to see. Nearly everyone loved Sue Lochiro; she was such a kind-hearted lass. Even Lu Xiaoru, who was a woman just the same, couldn’t have any bad feelings toward her.

Lu Xiaoru was smiling along with everyone else, though a slight sense of loss flashed through her eyes, unnoticed by anyone.

“How are things outside?” Chen Mu asked with a smile. He didn’t know if it was getting rid of the disguise, but that uniquely calm temperament made him feel still more powerful to everyone.

When they heard Chen Mu’s question, the card artisans all around self consciously scattered, and Sue Lochiro left with Lu Xiaoru. That left only Bogner and Xi Ping.

Bogner bared his teeth while the whiskers on his face trembled. “Haha, Wang Ze and Jing have gone looking for Tang Hanpei and Qiao Yuan. They are hoping the two of them will permit them to divide off a safe space in the city for the civilians to recuperate.”

Hearing that, Chen Mu looked shocked. “The two of them are really taking a lot on themselves.” Chen Mu remembered in detail what Wang Ze had done when he was at Eastern Wei Academy. It looked like Wang Ze had grown a lot over the past few years.

Bogner laughed some more. “I was the one who gave him the idea.”

Seeing Chen Mu and Xi Ping both focusing their gazes on him, Bogner said with no urgency, “It’s a good thing for us, as well as for the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple. We’ll be rid of a lot of hidden trouble. If the two can accomplish this, they would gain a lot of prestige, which is just what they want. Moreover, I believe Tang Hanpei and Qiao Yuan will certainly agree. Haha, the news would get out if anyone didn’t agree, and they would be attacked from all sides. They aren’t that stupid.”

Chen Mu was sharp enough to grasp the crux of the matter. “Won’t you be drawing Faya’s attention? They will probably not meddle though.”

Xi Ping furrowed his brow in thought, not yet having quite understood what was going on.

Bogner smiled darkly. “Of course Faya won’t meddle. They’re not stupid enough to fight against four establishments at once. Also, so many people are going to need food.”

Xi Ping’s eyes brightened, and he suddenly raised his head. “Now I get it! So many people need an awful lot of food. There are still many places in the city with a lot of food, along with the storehouses of those local powers, all of which are now under the flag of Faya.” He couldn’t help a word of praise. “Man, you guys, they won’t even know what hit them! I reckon Wang Ze will really appreciate it.”

Chen Mu finally understood what Bogner was scheming and couldn’t help but exclaim to himself how awesome it was. By doing that, Bogner would be roasting Faya on a spit.

Chen Mu believed Wang Ze would certainly do his utmost to get it done. So long as he accomplished it, it would have a lot of benefit for his future advancement. Wang Ze wasn’t the same as Jing, not having any capable patron. If he wanted to get established in such a big team from the Star Academy, he would have to demonstrate sufficient ability.

The Big Six had always looked down on other powers, including Faya. That attitude had also increased the possibility for conflict between the two.

To be able to cause some trouble for Faya made Chen Mu pretty happy. What Bogner was thinking about was really messed up. Poor Faya! They probably won’t know what hit them or who snuck up on them.

Wang Ze certainly wasn’t going to tell anyone it had been Bogner’s idea. Otherwise, the credit on his head would be immediately diluted.

“What about the other aspects?” Chen Mu asked.

Bogner’s response was perfectly simple. “Not bad at all.” From Bogner’s mouth, it wasn’t easy to get an assessment of “not bad.” Bogner had just made the assessment that it wasn’t bad at all, which showed how good the situation was.

Sighing deeply, he said, “We probably still need one or two months before those newbies become a fighting power. But they won’t have gotten any battle experience, and it’s still hard to say how much fighting power they can bring into play. Also, the deployment of the Starfish Fortifications will take some trouble and requires time.”

Chen Mu wasn’t surprised by any of that. He well understood the gap between novices and card artisans who had actual experience. That was how he had advanced step by step himself.

Chen Mu turned his gaze toward Xi Ping, whose report was very detailed. “Our current supplies are perfectly complete. Apart from leaving behind the necessary informants, I’ve already called together some of the capable people from the previous auction house. There are also some materials we couldn’t move over, which we just sealed off at the time. Given the recent relative calm, it would be a good time to move them over here. We’ve been rapidly consuming three-star power cards, but with our current reserves, we can still hold out for about half a month. There would then be the most recently transferred materials on top of those, some of which include three-star power cards. Altogether, we could probably hold out for about two months. We have enough reserves of four-star power cards and plenty of everything else. Apart from that, the card masters of the Origins Academy have been making all sorts of cards during this time, totaling 426 cards, including 12 four-star cards. Converting all of that, we’ve made a 15 to 17 percent profit.”

Three-star power cards were a big issue. Chen Mu knew how shockingly many they used every day. It was already surprising to him that they could hold out for two months.

After thinking about it, Bogner said, “We’ll only need about another month at our current level of training. The consumption of three-star cards for the rest of the actual battle training will be reduced by quite a bit.”

Chen Mu and Xi Ping breathed a sigh of relief hearing that. They had plenty of money but couldn’t buy anything because there was nowhere to spend it.

The 400 card artisans were the most important strength Chen Mu had on hand. They might have still been quite weak then, but they had huge potential. Both Chen Mu and Bogner had high expectations for their completely new style of fighting.

Chen Mu suddenly noticed some movement outside the window. A flow of people had slowly started to move toward Pomelo, and the three of them looked at each other and smiled.

At the same time, at the Federation Comprehensive Academy encampment, Tang Hanpei was looking serious. There was a card artisan standing in front of him. That card artisan was among the first group sent to Pomelo with Zu Ning. He was a little bit on tenterhooks, not understanding why Master Tang Hanpei had suddenly called for him.

“Have you ever heard of a base on the outskirts of the city on the edge of the jungle?”

The card artisan shook his head with a dazed look. “I have not, Master. I’ve never heard of there being a base there. There shouldn’t be any bases in the Outer Reaches around Pomelo.”

Tang Hanpei didn’t look surprised as he waved him away. “You may leave.”

“Yes, sir.” As he was leaving, the card artisan was at a total loss, wondering if the master had called him over just to ask him that.

Tang Hanpei was thinking about what Wang Ze had just said, and he had a serious expression. It had rather surprised him that Jiao Si was in Pomelo too, only just now finding out about that rather important piece of intelligence!

He had fought with Jiao Si and knew how awesome he was. What was he doing coming to Pomelo? And, what kind of person was the boss of that base Wang Ze had spoken about?

After a full half hour, he raised his head again and opened his apparatus to give a few orders in a low voice.

The same kind of situation happened at the encampment of the Central Repository of the Classics. The situation had calmed by then, and when Qiao Yuan got Wang Ze’s alert, he remembered that mysterious base in the city.

What kind of guy was it, after all?