The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu came out from his trance, and checked on his points. One thousand three hundred points. The number baffled him somewhat, wondering how there could be so many. He shook out his head to make sure he wasn’t seeing things and then finally relaxed.

Ah, now I can buy those materials! That was the first thing on his mind.

He had been sitting for quite a while, and his legs had gotten numb, so he struggled somewhat to get up, then looking around a little, he was startled.

How could there be so many people? He looked quizzically toward Lan Feng, who was chuckling, “Mr. Chen is too magical, you have really rocked the club this time.”

“Oh.” Chen Mu responded, although his face still looked a little uncertain. He sure didn’t intend to get tangled up in the matter, and he asked Lan Feng directly, “I’ve already reached my eight hundred points, so can I buy the materials?”

“No problem! We’ve already prepared them for you,” Lan Feng said brightly, but she looked over the dense crowd, and showed some consternation, “but it looks like it will be a little while before we can get out.”

“No need, come with me.” Chen Mu grabbed Lan Feng by the hand, and plunged his body into the crowd.

If even those strong and tough water weeds in the simple water world couldn’t stop Chen Mu’s burst strength, then how could those card masters without the strength to bind a chicken?

He looked like a swimming fish, drilling and bending and then bursting out of the crowd pulling along a stunned Lan Feng.

Just as Bai Zheyuan was trying to think of a way in, two people suddenly drilled their way out from the crowd. Looking closer, he could see that it was Lan Feng and a young fellow he didn’t recognize. Bai Zheyuan’s heart jumped, and he quickly went over to welcome him.

“Lan-Lan, is this Mr. Chen Mu?” Bai Zheyuan asked before getting over in front of the two of them.

Lan Feng looked up in surprise to see Bai Zheyuan, having come in person. She promptly nodded, “Unhuh, this is Mr. Chen Mu. Mr. Chen, this is the clubs highest officer, president Bai Zheyuan.” Lan Feng made ready to leave after making the quick introductions, since she didn’t have to be present for the chatting between them, and she was still going to help Chen Mu by delivering the materials.

She was really quite astonished, since she had never seen the president so solicitous, being always tepid toward anything, and he had never been so eager as she saw him that day.

“Materials!” Chen Mu reminded her.

Bai Zheyuan smiled warmly and said, “Mr Chen needn’t worry, Miss Lan-Lan has already gone to get them, and will bring them back in a short while.”

Chen Mu gave an ‘oh’ without saying anything.

Bai Zheyuan didn’t make anything of that, and said with a sunny face, “Mr. Chen’s card making ability is really amazing. What I saw this time was quite admirable, and I couldn’t wait to meet Mr. Chen. I didn’t know that Mr. Chen had such massive magic, ha ha, Mr. Chen is the very first in history to have been able to fascinate them to such an extent!” Bai Zheyuan’s tone was very even, enunciating each word clearly, with extreme affability, even to the extent of flattery.

Given his status, anyone else would be giddy to hear him talk that way.

But for one thing, Chen Mu didn’t know who Bai Zheyuan was, having buried himself in making one-star power cards, and making fantasy cards was only something from within a year if he were to work it out. He knew less about the world of card making than he did about the food markets. For another thing, he had never been very interested in that kind of empty talk, and his mind was completely occupied with those materials of his.

Chen Mu was so distracted that the didn’t really hear anything that Bai Zheyuan was saying.

Having a lot of self-restraint, the smile on Bai Zheyuan’s face remained natural, and he deftly realized the error of his manner of speaking. Then catching Lan Feng walking his way out of the corner of his eye, he smilingly said, “Here comes the fruit of Mr. Chen’s labor!”

Lan Feng was carrying a metal-bound case, which she very politely presented to Chen Mu with both hands, “Since the black string algae and the cloudy gum have to be kept at a low temperature, we used a cryogenic case.” Inside the cryogenic case was a cold-producing card, which could maintain the inside of the case at a steady low temperature.

Chen Mu took and opened the box, and a chill hit him in the face as he opened it. The material inside which looked like a roll of black hair was the black string algae, where there were also a few pieces of translucent amber-like cloudy gum, which would become gummy if it weren’t kept at a low temperature, and lose its potency if it weren’t used right away.

There were also a few other materials scattered about inside, and taking stock, nothing was missing. Chen Mu was very satisfied, although he was exhausted. Still, his spirits seemed high during such excitement.

Seeing Chen Mu so satisfied to receive the cryogenic case, Bai Zheyuan deepened his smile a bit. This was a very pure and simple person in Bai Zheyuan’s estimation, the kind of person most suited to technical things.

“Ah, may I take the liberty to ask what kind of work Mr. Chen is engaged in.” Once he had gotten to know Chen Mu’s temperament, he immediately changed his tactics to simply ask questions very directly.

“I don’t have any work.” Chen Mu didn’t lift his head, reverently taking the case. Those were the most high-grade materials he had ever come in contact with until that point.

Bai Zheyuan was secretly overjoyed, and with some difficulty hiding his eagerness, “Then I wonder if Mr. Chen might be interested to take on the responsibility of the position of technical director in our head office?” adding, “Of course, I believe that our proposed conditions would demonstrate our sincerity.”

To the side, Lan Feng quickly stifled a gasp, hurriedly covering her mouth with her right hand, to keep herself from making any sound.

Technical Director! What kind of position is that? Her immediate superior – the director – was two levels below the level of the technical director. As far as she knew, the president himself had taken the position of technical director for the past two years.

Was it possible that the youth was already awesome enough to take on the responsibilities as technical director? She couldn’t quite believe her eyes and ears. For their great president who had always been celebrated for his wisdom, to bring forward such an absurd-seeming proposal inside the office and mean it . . .

She was afraid it would scandalize the office! Lan Feng’s appearance changed.

“What does a technical director do?” asked Chen Mu, making Lan Feng nearly fall over.

There was no change to the expression on Bai Zheyuan’s face, and smiling as always, he said, “Oh, it’s actually very simple, pretty much like what you were doing today. And the work load isn’t that high, with only a few dozen questions a year.”

“Oh, problem solving.” Chen Mu looked as though he understood. While to the side, Lan Feng’s face was black, of course a technical director would answer technical problems as part of his technical work. . .

The smile on Bai Zheyuan’s face broadened, as he nodded his agreement, “Actually very simple, just doing problems. What do you think? Are you interested?