The Card Apprentice

If it was really just doing problems, Chen Mu actually thought he could accept, though he immediately thought of Copper and the “Legend of Master Shi,” which had still not been completed. So, he was afraid he would not be able to do these problems for a little while. Even though Chen Mu really didn’t know what a technical director actually did, the one talking to him was sincere toward him, which was very rare. Copper had always said that when they finished the “Legend of Master Shi,” they would quit, so he still had to consider the question of work.

As far as Chen Mu was then concerned, money was not just for living any more. If he wanted to analyze that mysterious card still further, it would be impossible without the support of a large amount of money. Spending over two million on a tailless shuttle card wasn’t just in the name of burning money.

Chen Mu showed some consternation on his face.

Seeing that, Bai Zheyuan’s heart sank, and he immediately followed with, “If Mr. Chen has any issues, bring them up for us to resolve. We will resolve them immediately, and if we can’t resolve them right away, we will make every effort to come up with a solution.”

Thinking it over, Chen Mu could only say, “I’m afraid it won’t work for a little while yet, since I still have something else I have to do.”

“And how much time might Mr. Chen require to take care of these matters?” Bai Zheyuan asked without changing his tone. He could tell from what Chen Mu said that he really did have something he needed to do and wasn’t just making excuses.

“I’m not sure yet.” Chen Mu shook his head, “probably about half a year.”

The smile on Bai Zheyuan’s face didn’t diminish at all, “No problem, no problem, assuming that Mr. Chen will be coming here often, when you have taken care of these matters, please come look for me as you please.” After he finished what he was saying, he took out a white name card, and gave it to Chen Mu.

Chen Mu took the card and carefully put it into his pocket. In his eyes, it could be his meal ticket later on.

Bai Zheyuan looked on for a long while after seeing Chen Mu take the cryogenic case and leave the club.

“Can he really handle being the technical director, Mr. President?” Lan Feng stammered, having felt all along that the president was being a little rash in making such a quick decision on the technical director selection.

“Well, he has the ability.” Although Bai Zheyuan spoke very lightly, he was extremely decisive. Then he said to Lan Feng, “Stay in daily touch with him, and if he needs to draw out any materials, make it as convenient as possible. We certainly can’t let such talent slip by.” By the time he had finished speaking, although the president’s tone remained mild, Lan Feng could detect a note of severity.

“Yes, sir!” Lan Feng responded promptly.

“Your work lately has been quite good. The group will not be ungenerous to those who make contributions to the group. Starting today, you will become Wang Hao’s assistant.” As Bai Zheyuan’s voice faded, it lost none of its dignity.

“I am grateful for the president’s cultivation!” Lan Feng was bursting with joy; Wang Hao was the current director.

“Well done.” Bai Zheyuan was looking at the crowd still gathered around that large screen, and nodded toward Lan Feng as he turned around and left the club.

Although Chen Mu could start to make the tailless shuttle card, he didn’t get right to work, but kept deliberating. His deliberations weren’t only about the steps in making the card, they were also about its composition principles. Given his current abilities, it wasn’t practical for him to completely understand the principles of the tailless shuttle card, but Chen Mu was still determined to make it.

Although it looked as though he wasn’t being diligent, Chen Mu didn’t see it that way. As far as he could tell he wasn’t only greatly increasing the chances to successfully make the card, he could also gain more knowledge, killing two birds with one stone. He had always considered principles to be the most fundamental thing.

After two weeks of refinement, and having committed everything he’d learned to memory, Chen Mu finally decided to begin.

The first thing was to compound the card ink. That was quite a crucial step. He needed to concoct three different kinds of ink for that over two million in materials, each of them having different effects.

In card making, the degree of difficulty to make a card would go up by increasing multiples the more kinds of card ink were involved in making a card. The characteristics of each ink influenced one another. Different kinds of ink had different cooling periods, which would change after intersecting with other card inks . . .

Each of those factors would all influence the final result for the card.

Never mind not having ever made a card using three different kinds of ink, Chen Mu had never made a card which required even two kinds of ink before then. The things inside the mysterious card really did seem to give off a strange smell. Generally speaking, a three-star card would require two kinds of card ink at most, while the ones that required three kinds of card ink were all four or five-star cards.

Still, he didn’t need to consider the problem any further. What he wanted to do now was to make the tailless shuttle card.

The prerequisites for a card master were to do the work of sufficient preparation, to have a calm mind, and to have a precise and skilled pair of hands.

Chen Mu’s work in preparation to make even the card plays was already outrageously meticulous, letting alone being still more so for that card then.

All the materials had gone through their preliminary processing and had been precisely weighed. In front of Chen Mu were three different colored piles of powder. First, he put the pile of dull-green colored powder into a bottle, and added some of the blue alfonse fluid. In an instant the turbid green liquid in the bottle rapidly changed with a speed discernable to the naked eye, until five seconds later what was left was just a kind of slightly viscous transparent golden liquid.

Chen Mu immediately put the bottle in the heating furnace, which was a special purpose card master furnace whose heating card would concentrate its heat output on a specific region where the heat distribution would be extremely uniform.

In twelve seconds, the golden liquid in the bottle quickly deepened to become a brilliant orange. Chen Mu put the medium blade pen that he had already gotten ready earlier into the bottle, allowing it to draw enough card ink. The bottle never left the furnace for the entire process.

After a half minute, Chen Mu took the medium blade pen out of the card ink while in front of him was a blank white card that he had already prepared earlier.

Chen Mu’s pen didn’t hesitate at all as it fell, and the nib touched the blank white card in an instant, where the brilliant orange card ink turned into a dark golden color. A trail of smooth and full dark golden lines wound out from the pen nib, with Chen Mu’s perception firmly latched onto the interface between the card and the ink, where what had been a slight white glow was transformed by the dark golden lines into a golden halo.

Chen Mu’s every movement was extremely accurate, and his sight was sharply focused.

After two hours, this tailless shuttle card was finally finished.

During the short time while this tailless shuttle card was being completed, the dark golden glow from its surface was pulsing as though it were breathing. The light finally dissipated after that was repeated three times,.

A card full of a complex dark golden composition sat peacefully on the table, and if one were to look closely, two even finer silvery and light brown compositions would appear, scattered across the face of the whole card beneath the dazzling dark golden glow.

The tailless shuttle card had been made successfully!