The Card Apprentice

Ru Qiu followed Chen Mu into the card making lab. The more she went along with him, the more she admired him. Inside the lab was piled all kinds of new-looking equipment that must have been recently acquired. While the equipment would be considered high-grade goods on the market, that would only be in the eyes of ordinary card artisans.

It really surprised her for a grand master like Cao Dong, who had made the numbered series of cards, to be in such an ordinary card making lab. That grade of card making lab could be seen all over the Origins Academy, mostly for student use.

In her mind, a grand-master-level person should be sitting in a top-notch card making lab, enjoying the adoring gazes of the large gang of assistants supporting him. He shouldn’t be in some beyond-ordinary lab working silently and alone.

She really wanted to ask if the numbered series of cards was made in that card making lab.

Chen Mu didn’t feel his card making lab was shabby in the least. It was the most advanced lab he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t even name many of the pieces of equipment. For him to be so calm and composed was an expression of self-confidence in Ru Qiu’s eyes.

She thought about what it must have been like for him to be able make the numbered series of cards in such a difficult environment. Even with her scant ability, she still occupied the best lab at the Origins Academy, which made her feel somewhat ashamed. Because of that, her demeanor became more respectful as she blindly followed Chen Mu.

The equipment had just been moved in. Chen Mu still hadn’t gotten around to arranging it, so the card making lab seemed a little messy. His recent little accident had left a mess in the corner, too.

Chen Mu’s gaze fell onto the half-finished item on the desk, and he couldn’t retract it. His brain was full of Bogner’s scheme, and that half-finished card was his most successfully completed up until then. However, it was still far from the specifications Chen Mu required.

Sitting at the desk, he was quickly lost in thought and forgot about Ru Qiu off to the side.

Ru Qiu was quite deft. Within half an hour, that small card making lab of Chen Mu’s had become brand new. Ru Qiu had noticed how deeply lost in thought Chen Mu was, and she was curious about what kind of problem could stump such a grand master.

She quietly walked over to beside Chen Mu and glanced at the card that had been placed on the desk.

After only that glance, she was transfixed. She could see it was an incomplete card, but the completed part was mostly made up of compositions she’d never seen before. She could roughly make out the shadows of compositions she was familiar with, but they were only shadows. The compositions on the card were strange, though they actually gave a sense of where they were going.

For Ru Qiu to be designated as the next dean of the card making division, there had to be something special about her. Although she hadn’t studied Token Theory, she could still vaguely recognize enough of it to show how advanced her intuition about card making was.

The composition wouldn’t be considered complex, though it gave her a sense of difficulty. She clearly didn’t understand it, but it felt as though something were dawning on her. When those conflicting feelings were woven together, Ru Qiu turned whiter the more she looked.

She had become too absorbed! Although she had been studying cards for only a brief while, when it came to her concentration, even Jiao Si had been moved by it. That was precisely why Madam Pei had selected her to be her only student at the outset.

But she still didn’t have the ability to understand those compositions. No matter how elevated her intuition was, without her knowing it, the exhaustion of her mental capacity had already exceeded the range she could endure. That was also why her face had turned white.

“So, how can different instances of energy be lined up?” Chen Mu was unconsciously muttering to himself.

That was the biggest issue he was facing. The most critical part of dividing the attack into several parts was how to line up those separate steps, so the energy would be smoothly delivered among them.

Chen Mu’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was quite clear in that utterly silent lab.

Ru Qiu was taken by surprise, and she abruptly came to when she heard what Chen Mu had said. She responded instinctually, “Energy synchronization can be transmitted.”

As soon as she said it, she immediately felt her face get hot. Good lord! She had actually told a grand master a piece of knowledge any card artisan just starting out would know. Wouldn’t that insult the grand master’s intelligence? Ru Qiu’s face got even hotter, especially when she thought about the new composition on that card she’d just seen. Her shame grew more powerful. She didn’t even understand the compositions on other people’s cards. When she dared to call out, what she’d said was common knowledge that didn’t imply any skill.

Ru Qiu couldn’t wait to climb into some hole in the ground.

“Energy synchronization?” Chen Mu murmured as his eyes lit up. So, energy synchronization could then be transmitted? Chen Mu quickly did a calculation to himself. What Ru Qiu had said was exactly right. As though all of his issues had been tied together in a flash of insight, he felt a sudden urge.

That urge made him plunge right into his work like mad.

Before he entered into that state, he still couldn’t help but praise her to himself. That ace from the Origins Academy was indeed worthy. She could point out the key with a single phrase. Awesome! He wasn’t paying attention to how embarrassed Ru Qiu was next to him.

That was precisely the difference between Chen Mu and a card master who had undergone systematic, specialized cultivation. Not having received any systematic education, his foundation in card making had a serious flaw; he was always stumped by the most common issues. Then, when it came to the astronomically tough designs and optimizations that were difficult for ordinary card masters, those were the things he was best at.

If those like Ru Qiu wanted to make that card, the biggest difficulty they would encounter was how to get the control of energy to the right level of synchronization. For Chen Mu, that was something natural, and he had at least five ways to achieve it.

With the basic issue resolved, the process of Chen Mu’s work advanced by a huge step. The things he had to face now were some matters of detail, which weren’t really a problem for him. So long as he had enough time, he could complete them rather perfectly.

At that point, Ru Qiu saw with her own eyes how crazily that grand master, who was about her age, worked.

***

During that time, Pomelo had become a boiling cauldron of chaos. The disturbances weren’t limited to Pomelo; they had already spread to the entire Heavenly Federation.

The Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy both posted statements saying they would make the sternest blows against Faya’s bad behavior. At about that same time, several of Faya’s strongholds were attacked by the two academies, with heavy casualties!

The strongholds in Pomelo had received the most powerful attacks, and it was said that even Hugo had been badly wounded. Within a single night, Faya’s power in Pomelo was uprooted. In order to keep the peace, the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy sent some extra reinforcements to be stationed in Pomelo.

The other four of the Big Six also made statements to express their condemnation of Faya’s behavior. However, they didn’t make any essential moves and merely looked on from the side.

Those four not having moved, no one else could make a move. The Big Six were bigger than any of them, not to mention two of them joining hands.

But those with clear eyes all knew that following the behavior of Faya, the situation in the federation had come to a turning point. It had been so many years that no one had dared to provoke the authority of the Big Six. For the same number of years, the Big Six had never made such a radical response.

To maintain the traditional power structure of the Big Six meant the balance of rights among the Big Six would face challenges like never before. Would it change? If so, how?

Under the combined attack of the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy, Faya disappeared without a trace. While countless people still harbored doubts, they didn’t understand why Faya would do something so stupid.

Just then, another big affair broke out to completely muddy the water!

An alliance of 13 organizations in the Western Sheng District suddenly mounted an attack on the neighboring district of Bai Dong. Within three short days, they occupied half of the Bai Dong District. All of the evidence showed it was a premeditated operation.

If one were to say the local wars in the Eastern Reaches District had previously gotten the attention of the entire federation, then this war’s influence far exceeded that of the previous one.

Since nearly everyone knew the Western Sheng District was the site of Desert Camp, the alliance among the 13 organizations had been formed from there. Moreover, the Bai Dong District was within the traditional scope of Moon Frost Island’s power. That battle was then really a war between Desert Camp and Moon Frost Island.

The insiders of the Big Six were acting up! That news stunned quite a few people at the time.

Of course, it wasn’t good to bully Moon Frost Island. Their power and influence was firmly ingrained in the Bai Dong District. The alliance of the 13 organizations quickly met with strong resistance. When the Bai Dong District came back to its senses, they felt a little bit of a chill in the counterattack.

Both sides involved in the fighting were part of the Big Six, but the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy were both busy with their unpleasant fight with Faya. Only the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple could mediate. But, no matter which of them, they both had the style of not being so involved with the affairs of the world. It wasn’t unexpected that the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple both issued statements hoping for a truce and then remained silent.

In sum, the situation in the entire Heavenly Federation immediately became tense, and quite a few places restricted the large-scale circulation of troops.

It was then that Chen Mu finally stepped out of his card making lab.