The Card Apprentice

Fifteen days went by in the blink of an eye.

During those 15 days, Chen Mu put all of his attention on deepening his understanding of the two cards in his hands. That wasn’t much time, but he still got obvious results. He didn’t know if it was because he had more insight or because his ability to control his perception had gotten stronger, or because of the two combined, but he gained a lot during those 15 days.

He mostly focused on the Bipolar Thunderball and the Snake Lens. His messed up experience with the Golden Word Shackle had scared him away.

Since the Snake Lens included a legacy fantasy card, that made studying it a lot easier. Since there wasn’t much time, though, he had only just begun to understand a little about it. If he wanted to really master it, he would need more time.

The Bipolar Thunderball was a lot more complicated. Fortunately, since Chen Mu made cards and had already researched it quite a bit, he made a pretty quick breakthrough given the corroboration of both aspects.

Chen Mu really enriched himself over those 15 days, even to the point that he wasn’t wanting to leave the forest. But the green tattoo on his arm seemed to have a new change. The fine green lines were deeper than before; they had become dark green. Although there were no further changes to his body, Chen Mu still had a bad feeling about it.

Since the color had deepened, the deep green blossom also became more eye-catching and visible from a distance. It was a good thing it looked like a tattoo, so no one would wonder too much about it.

The changes in the green blossom were enough to make Chen Mu decide to leave the forest.

Before he had flown very far in the direction of Zargan, he suddenly stopped. He had discovered an enemy ahead! The Snake Lens really was a powerful probe card to have been able to discover the situation from such a distance.

He didn’t recklessly charge ahead but carefully examined the position of his adversary’s team members. On the wall of mirrors in the Snake Lens, there was a picture emerging on every six-sided energy body mirror. Chen Mu could even clearly see his enemies’ faces.

Anxiety showed on their brows, which stirred Chen Mu. That was something he could use. He probably didn’t consider he was the reason they were so agitated. Anyone would be agitated after searching for 15 days in such icy and snowy terrain.

How could he know Jin Yin’s mood could no longer be described as just agitated? Even though he really hadn’t gotten along well with Mo Ta, the two of them had similar power despite having opposite dispositions. He didn’t have many good feelings, of course. But seeing how miserably Mo Ta had died, any of their daily conflicts had entirely disappeared. Once that enmity disappeared, it was turned to their common enemy.

But he had searched for 15 days without finding any traces at all. Captain Yuchi had already sent someone to tell him the chief had announced that if the affair wasn’t concluded satisfactorily, they wouldn’t have a good time upon their return.

When he thought about that, Jin Yin’s mood became still more agitated. Bao Le and Jeremy were both greedy fellows, and they could make things miserable for him.

Aside from Captain Yuchi, each of the captains was scared of the chief’s methods. The relationship between the chief and Captain Yuchi wasn’t comparable to that of any of the others.

Suddenly, Jin Yin’s expression shifted, and a look of joy appeared on his face. Energy waves! Even though the bout of energy waves was almost undetectable, Jin Yin still caught them. They were perfectly familiar to his perception since it was that probe card of Ah Xin’s!

Ah Xin had died, and the Snake Lens had fallen into that mysterious ace’s hands, of course. If it were Ah Xin manipulating the Snake Lens, he wouldn’t necessarily have been able to detect the waves. Too bad you’re just a beginner!

A hint of a dark, chilly grin flitted across Jin Yin’s mouth while he silently gestured with his hand. It was time to get his prize! Jin Yin wasn’t as good a fighter as Mo Ta, but he still couldn’t suppress his martial spirit!

He had carefully examined the vicinity of Mo Ta’s corpse for clues and determined that the mysterious ace was good at controlling wild beasts! That was how Mo Ta had been taken.

It wasn’t like he could do nothing up against such an adversary. He just had to be evasive and stall the card artisan from controlling the beasts to be able to accurately find his adversary’s position. Then, he could make his one deadly strike. The most powerful aspect of a card artisan like that would be his ability to manipulate wild beasts; his own fighting strength would be his weakness.

Jin Yin was best at close combat.

* * *

Chen Mu carefully observed the card artisans’ positions, but his brain was spinning. The card artisans had fanned out, blocking off his movement in the direction of Zargan. If he wanted to bypass the defensive line, he would have to make a big circle, the size of which would greatly increase the possibility of his losing his direction.

The most frightening thing was that the card artisans weren’t just blocking that one direction. There were also groups of card artisans in the other two directions. Were they all looking for him?

Three groups with nearly 100 card artisans formed a huge surrounding net. Chen Mu sneered inwardly; they were showing him way too much respect!

Those three groups looked like they had tacit internal communication. The layout of the encircling net was full of hidden traps, especially between each of the three groups. It looked like those would be the best places to break out, but he would immediately be caught in a siege.

He didn’t understand how his adversary knew he would go in that direction. But he couldn’t consider that issue just then. He needed to concentrate his energy on examining his adversary’s surrounding net to find some way to resolve it. Thankfully, he had learned from Bogner and wasn’t as ignorant as he used to be about tactical stuff.

Chen Mu pondered for a moment before he decided to break through straight ahead. Once he broke through the top of the arc of a semicircular ring like that, it would be wide open for him to bolt. When the rest of them chased after him, he could leave them behind.

The most critical part of the battle would be to conclude it in the shortest amount of time! Otherwise, if he were to get the least bit entangled, the surrounding card artisans would come rushing in like a tide. Then, he wouldn’t have half a chance.

Pondering it for just another moment to be sure there were no flaws, Chen Mu decided to attack! He didn’t immediately charge when he came to the ground but first examined which cards were in his apparatus. He swapped out for a new four-star power card.

If he were at all careless in that battle, it would be the end of him. With so many card artisans, any one of them could turn him into a sieve with a single energy body. Still, although Chen Mu was cautious, he wasn’t the least bit nervous. He was as calm as a seasoned hunter.

Finishing the work of preparation, Chen Mu raised his head to the sky and started patiently waiting.

* * *

That bout of energy waves was there all along, but their adversary had strangely not made the slightest move. Jin Yin felt inwardly awed that his adversary would be so brain-dead, after all. But, knowing he was nearby, Jin Yin wasn’t going to do anything rash. Like a single pulled hair moving an entire body, if he were to make a move then, he would waste the huge efforts put into the encirclement. If he caused a hole to appear, his adversary would take advantage of it. Not only couldn’t they move, but they had to pretend they didn’t know he was there just to lure him in.

The news that the enemy was in the vicinity had been spread to everyone in some special fashion. The other two groups finally swept away their sense of bad luck, and their spirits were refreshed. After a long period of regret, Bao Le and Jeremy now expected to get the Snake Lens. They also hoped to be able to return without receiving the chief’s punishment.

Every member of Constellation had experienced hundreds of battles, so of course they knew what to do in that instance. All of them maintained their ordinary expressions, looking perfectly listless, though that was just cover for the nervousness they felt.

However, they wouldn’t have imagined their adversary wasn’t fooled at all, never having moved. Seeing the night deepen, everyone became a little impatient. But they still didn’t dare to make any reckless moves. They had deep experience with how capable the Snake Lens that had fallen into their adversary’s hands was. If they were to be the least bit lax, their adversary would possibly slip past them.

Could their adversary be that patient?

The same thing simultaneously popped into the minds of Jin Yin, Bao Le, and Jeremy. By that move alone, they knew how tough their adversary was. They found themselves in an awkward situation. They were like a carefully placed mousetrap with all their sophisticated production and huge power, but they could still only wait for their adversary to trip it.

It was a good thing they were all vicious types who could keep their composure. What kept them feeling a little safer was the presence of the fine energy waves, which made it clear their advisory was still hiding in the vicinity. But they probably never imagined Chen Mu wasn’t more than 300 meters from the nearest card artisan.

Watching the sky darken bit by bit, Chen Mu finally decided to make his move. He memorized the positions of every card artisan in his main direction and reviewed each step of his plan over again in his mind.

The forest was so dark he couldn’t even see the fingers on his hands. Even given Chen Mu’s stunning eyesight, he couldn’t clearly see the enemy only 300 meters away. Still, he didn’t need to see his adversary clearly anymore, as the card artisans’ positions were firmly imprinted in his mind.

He shut down the Snake Lens, no longer needing it. Like a ghost, Chen Mu drifted silently toward the apex of the arc of encirclement.

Just as the energy waves disappeared, Jin Yin’s heart skipped a beat. His adversary was about to make his move!

Without hesitating, he gave the signal. The entire encirclement became like a steel wire, suddenly tightening. The card artisans, who had been wanting to sleep, became suddenly murderous-looking, as though they were facing some huge enemy.

Everything was pitch-black and utterly calm. Perception rippled past like ripples on the water, but they couldn’t discern any energy fluctuations.

There were no fluctuations, no beasts, no noise, and no light! Jin Yin felt his heart drop for no reason. Could he have guessed wrong?

Before he could think clearly, an alarm suddenly arose in his mind as the sound of wind entered his ears. Horrified, Jin Yin abruptly jerked his legs, and a powerful blast of air pushed him to the side. He couldn’t control his body as he went rolling to the side like a gourd.

A blue beam of light as fine as a hair stuck to his scalp, pulling along a bush of hair and a chill from the forest, which nearly scared him out of his wits.

Damn! How can this be?