The Card Apprentice

Chapter 250: Fascinating Compositions

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After the materials had been sent over, Chen Mu quickly discovered a problem. Having squeezed in 20 more people, plus the materials, the little five-floor was getting more and more crowded. The Heaven’s Wings employees were working on the first floor.

What Bogner had said wasn’t wrong, after all; the defensive capabilities of the building were really deficient. If anyone were to try a high-powered attack from a distance, such as from a siege-style, highly destructive attack card, the building could likely be blown to bits with one hit. The people inside would have no way to survive.

Those kinds of large-scale battle cards weren’t widely used and were seldom seen in card shops. It was a rather specialized card with a slow firing frequency. Some of the cards could only be used once before turning to scrap. But no other card could match their terrifying lethality or the stunning power they had always brought into play during a battle.

They were often deployed from a long distance and used for sneak attacks. The energy cloaks of ordinary card artisans basically had no way to block such an attack, and only card artisans who specialized in energy cloaking might survive.

Fortunately, the conditions for using that kind of card were extremely harsh, and they made a lot of demands on the card artisan. Some of them required an extremely high perceptual strength, and some required freakish perceptual acuity. Not only that, but they required a lot of energy from a five-star card at minimum.

No matter the card, it would be conceptually different once it rose to the five-star level; energy cards were no exception. Just to mount a single attack would cost a huge amount, which wasn’t something an ordinary team could afford. However, it wouldn’t be difficult for Faya or the Big Six to mount such an attack.

Chen Mu couldn’t help but smile bitterly when he thought about that. No one would want to face off against such leviathans as the Big Six or Faya. An ordinary person would have long since yielded.

Chen Mu was determined. Although he had no way to avoid the hassle of such issues, he wasn’t going to be easily shaken.

As Chen Mu thought about it, it looked as though he really would have to change locations. But it was useless to worry about it, and he would have to wait until the folding Yanbo card was sold to have the funds to change locations. He suddenly felt how different the world he had entered was. He remembered when he had been making dozens of 100-Oudi one-star power cards every day. Now, hundreds of millions would pass through his hands. Even though he was handling more money, however, he didn’t have any feeling of wealth. On the contrary, it seemed he was a lot poorer now, with his need for money so urgent. But, since it was useless to worry, he would just do what he had to do.

Having bought the materials, he couldn’t make anything with them just yet. Those three kinds of materials were troublesome to process, and it would be a sin in his eyes to waste such fine goods.

There weren’t many materials recorded in the mysterious card. Most of those were some peculiar and rare alternative types, like the black and white chrysanthemum rock, which was specifically used to make the token card. Chen Mu felt an indescribably pleasant surprise when he found materials listed in the mysterious card.

There were too many people in the small building; it wouldn’t be easy to get work done, especially for a card master who needed the right environment. When he had repaired the card for Cheng Ying in the jungle, he had had to wait for the right opportunity. Card making was such a meticulous discipline.

He simply kept up his perceptual sensitivity training in the small building. The training had been progressing perfectly ever since he’d gotten beyond the one energy block that had given him such headaches.

He finished the second model in only half a day. It also looked like a kind of energy composition. It was simpler than the first type of energy composition, though several of its nodes were clever. It was unexpectedly strong where the composition looked fragile, which surprised him. After carefully analyzing it, he couldn’t help but be amazed.

Those several nodes looked like they couldn’t support anything, but they were actually the core of the entire composition. If they were destroyed, the balance would be destroyed. If the balance were destroyed, that would destroy the entire composition’s external power!

It was a rather stable composition, but it was a pity Chen Mu had no way to know its use for the time being. One thing he could determine, however, was that nothing that appeared in the mysterious card was useless.

The third model was a lot more complicated and required 5,000 energy blocks to build.

He had gradually learned to like such training, with each model like a huge, complicated piece of engineering. When he looked at the completed model, he felt the unique charm of the composition along with a feeling of accomplishment.

It wasn’t a simple matter if he wanted the construction to succeed. He first needed to analyze the composition and what kinds of peculiarities it had. Where was the balance point? Which parts were critical? How were the energy blocks sequenced?

That all required thought and analysis, especially regarding compositional models that had taken thousands of energy blocks to construct. He didn’t know where to start upon first look. Upon closer analysis, he was mesmerized. Still, Chen Mu had figured out how to open a few doors.

Balance felt like his greatest accomplishment during that time. He mastered the balance of the nodes, the balance of entire composition, the energy, its center of gravity, and so forth.

Without knowing it, he had already forgotten how much sensitivity was required for the training; those exquisite compositions had drawn him in. Diving in head-first to the construction model, Chen Mu forgot himself as he mastered its every aspect, losing all sense of time.

After ten days, the model was finally finished! It was three meters tall and 20 meters at the base, having five levels of energy blocks.

Chen Mu looked with satisfaction at what he’d made, having derived his analysis countless times during the ten-day process. The number of failures during the assembly process were beyond counting.

During that time, he once accidentally pulled out a thumb-sized energy block. He hadn’t expected the half-finished model to come crashing down. That tiny energy block made him start all over again. When he analyzed it afterward, that energy block just happened to be one of the critical nodes. He also figured out why there were five layers of energy blocks protecting it on the outside.

Personally building those energy composition models really deepened his understanding of them without him even knowing it. Before then, he hadn’t understood any energy composition very well. By comparison, taking down the energy blocks he needed from the turntable had become as easy as eating and drinking for Chen Mu.

Nothing had happened during those ten days. Apart from the Heaven’s Wings workers feeling it was a little unnatural to have so many strangers suddenly showing up in the building, everything else was as usual.

He could hear Bogner growling out his orders every day. “Everyone get up for me! Drill! Drill! You still need a lot of training! You’re still a long way from qualifying, as weak as babies! Tsk tsk, you should be ashamed of getting faced down like that! Do you understand? Ashamed! Such shame is something you’ll have to shake off! Let’s have some spirit, everyone. Three to a group, close-range positional training! Damn! Wasn’t I just talking about tactics with you last night, Crow Feather? Are you going to give that whole evening back to me? Haven’t you eaten, Hertha? Or were you having some erotic dreams last night that drained all your energy?”

It looked like Bogner was still brooding over those card artisans who had been faced down by Wei-ah that day. But Chen Mu didn’t have the least notion to appease him. It looked like those card artisans were all drumming up their energy, apart from some unhappy looks toward Wei-ah.

Since the building was so small and didn’t have a training arena, they could only do some close-range running-in-place tactical training in the room.

The defensive qualities of the little building were really lacking, and only one or two could use battle fantasy cards inside before they would quickly tear up the building. Still, Bogner always had some way. Since there was no way to use battle fantasy cards, he conducted training by running in place.

That so-called stationary training referred to showing small groups how they should make the proper adaptations when they ran into special situations. For example, in a group of three, there might be one defensive card artisan and two attackers. It helped them to know how they should adapt in their foot and hand moves when encountering some sudden situation.

Defensive card artisans needed to move the initiative ahead, using energy cloaks to block the adversary’s blows. The remote card artisans would need to attack at the first opportunity to carry out suppressive firepower. Then, the close-combat card artisans could take advantage of their comrades’ covering fire to get closer to the adversary and so forth.

Simple stationary training was extremely boring, requiring endless repetitions. Three of them could be seen constantly sprinting inside the room and adjusting their positions relative to their comrades. Apart from the strong card artisans like Crow Feather and Happy Padding, the other card artisans were all as tired as oozing mud every day. Some of the defensive card artisans were still more tired; they not only had to run, but they also had to control their energy cloaks.

The ones who got the most training were the three Bogner had originally planned for Chen Mu’s personal protection. Without a doubt, Bogner had been dissatisfied with them that day, so their training was about double that of the rest. Those three also knew their performance had been lousy and were all gritting their teeth to power through.

Chen Mu didn’t really understand tactical coordination. But nothing made him happier than how few energy cards that kind of running-in-place training wasted. That was definitely good news for Chen Mu, who was tight with money just then.

However, because of the need to conserve their battle power, the training was done in batches. Bogner would prepare every day, and his work was impeccably rigorous and thorough.

* * *

Chen Mu had just gotten some good news.

The folding Yanbo card had been sold, and the one who bought it was Jiao Si, whom the fatty had spoken of. Jiao Si used 200 million Oudi to buy it and also wanted the fatty to send along another message: If Chen Mu wanted to sell him the method to make the folding Yanbo card, he would pay any price.

Once the fatty had explained what that meant, it finally dawned on Chen Mu.

Jiao Si’s other identity was as Dean of the Origins Academy card artisan division. If he could buy the method of making the folding Yanbo card, it would be astronomically good for the Origins Academy. Given Jiao Si’s power, realizing how to use the folding Yanbo card would happen sooner or later. If the way to make the folding Yanbo card were added to that, it would only have to go through a few generations of striving to perfect it before the Origins Academy would have gained another powerful legacy.

Given Jiao Si’s insight, of course he knew the folding Yanbo card could become the real ace among the cards at the Origins Academy! Its power would surge, and at the very least, every generation could cultivate some outstanding aces. They could really increase the reputation and competitiveness of the Origins Academy. Lots of youthful geniuses would turn toward the Big Six in admiration every year because of the outstanding legacies they passed along.

No wonder Jiao Si thought it was worth any price. But Chen Mu was still clear that no one was stupid enough to give their card making methods to someone else, especially the way to make such a top-notch card. No matter where, they wouldn’t pass along their secrets.

The fatty admitted that if Chen Mu didn’t mind, it would be a cinch to use that method in exchange for tens of billions of Oudi. Moreover, he would have the powerful friendship of Jiao Si and the Origins Academy. Although the Origins Academy wasn’t up to the Big Six, it did have considerable power. On top of that, such an ace as Jiao Si was there, which did give the Big Six some pause.

After thinking it over, Chen Mu still nixed the proposal. The folding Yanbo card involved quite a bit of Token Theory knowledge to make, and those who hadn’t learned it would really have no way to make it successfully. In Chen Mu’s mind, Token Theory was the core secret. How could he let it get out?

There were other ways to resolve money issues, like making cards.

* * *

“Pay attention, and don’t leave any tracks.” A middle-aged man wearing simple clothes was looking around alertly while whispering to his comrade.

His comrade was in his early 20s and looked intelligent as he laughed. “Stop worrying; nothing is going to happen.”

There were all sorts of emergency measures taken at the Yang Clan Auction House. Card artisans had been hired to tightly protect the entire auction hall. That day, every place and every shop in the auction house had taken the day off. The normal hubbub of an auction house had gone strangely quiet.

That was the day of the auction of 012 to 022 among the numbered series of cards.

All those attending the auction were powers. Some were large-scale card artisan firms, and some were materials marketplaces. There were also all kinds of academic institutions and so forth. Entry was by invitation, and every invitation admitted two people.

The two of them walked to the entrance of the auction hall, and the middle-aged man took out his invitation. After the gate worker looked it over, he rushed to invite the two to enter.

The auction hall wasn’t too different from last time, and it was already more than half full when they entered. Everyone looked eager. The two sat right in a corner, and the young man looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to him before he quietly pulled out a fist-sized object.