The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu didn’t try the card right away but rested first. He needed some time for his perception to be restored to its normal level. But he wasn’t idle; he’d already slid the Wheel into his apparatus, which was in an activated state. He closed his eyes and rested while using his perception to closely examine the new card’s internal composition.

The vast universe of its energy was like a void filled with fog, all gray and misty. In the midst of all that emptiness, 1,024 round energy wheels roamed through the void like a school of fish. They would gather and scatter in a lively fashion. On every energy wheel was a stream of light, cycling back and forth across its surface like hands on a clock.

That was similar to when he was training his perceptual acuity with those five energy models—especially the fifth type of energy model, which had fascinated him the most.

Making 1,024 energy wheels was his limit. If those were converted into the fifth energy model’s energy blocks, that 1,024 would be equal to more than 7,000 energy blocks. That far exceeded the fifth energy model’s 5,000 blocks.

Under Chen Mu’s fine perceptual control, those energy wheels started to gather around one wheel among them. In the blink of an eye, 1,024 energy wheels had gathered into a circle. Then, still under Chen Mu’s control, they suddenly lined up into a square, then a round shape, followed by a cube, and then into other odd shapes…

Something strange happened when Chen Mu formed them into the shape of shooting flower petals. After a jolt to his perception, everything around him suddenly became clear. Chen Mu was startled.

Although his perception had become perfectly sensitive to the surrounding environment, his perception was basically all on the inside of the Wheel now. In that situation, he should be able to slow down the surrounding environment.

His perception could “see” the world outside the card perfectly clearly even though he was deeply immersed in the card. It was so clear it was as though it was being presented right before his eyes. The strangest thing was that when he put all of his attention on some one thing, it seemed to be pulled closer to appear in still more detail.

Very interesting! Although that card had come from his own design, quite a few aspects of the finished product far exceeded his expectations.

That was an ordinary situation. When a card master realized an energy composition he had never thought of before, he might discover its energy compositions would have quite a few characteristics he’d never even thought of. No card artisan would dare say they were truly proficient in the rules of energy. That was currently the most advanced science. It was also the most obscure and difficult area of the card system.

Soon after that, Chen Mu discovered the aligned structure of several kinds of new wheels. The thing that discouraged him was that his perceptual acuity was obviously not sufficient to bring all of the card’s power into play. Once he could control the smallest unit of ten energy wheels, that would then mean he had no way to control those energy wheels when they were adjusted to a still finer structure.

Having completed five types of energy composition models, Chen Mu’s perceptual acuity had already reached a rather shocking place. But the Wheel had still higher requirements for perceptual acuity!

That hadn’t been unexpected for Chen Mu. It was a four-star card, and it was much more outstanding than any ordinary four-star card. It had used up all of Chen Mu’s precious materials. It would be common for such a card to have high requirements of the one who used it.

The rule was that the more awesome the card, the higher the requirements of the card artisan. Although card artisans with a perceptual strength of four could use a four-star card, it would be hard for them to bring all of the card’s power into play. The consumption of perception would also be a lot quicker than for card artisans with level-five perception. Thus, very few card artisans with a perceptual level of four would use four-star cards in battle.

Card artisans who were skilled in using a four-star card generally had reached level five in perceptual strength. There weren’t many of those in the federation, but there weren’t so few, either. Zu Ning, for example, had perceptual strength at the lower end of level five.

Card artisans from the Big Six were a lot different from other card artisans. It was like the Cross Section of Styles and that sort of legacy, which had gone through generation after generation of perfecting. Its system went from shallow to deep, from low to high, all having an extremely complete connection with skills. That was why they would often be much more awesome than those using different cards at the same level.

Chen Mu opened his eyes. His perception had finally been restored to its normal level. He stood up and said to Ru Qiu, “Let’s go.” Ru Qiu assented with her face full of excitement. She was curious to see what sort of effects that card might have.

Just as Chen Mu was going out the door, he ran head-on into a white-haired man.

“Yikes!” Chen Mu couldn’t help his look of surprise upon seeing the white mist surrounding the white-haired man.

His gaze fell onto Chen Mu. In midair, the two sides’ nearly undetectable perception made contact. Surprise showed on both of their faces. His perceptual acuity was higher than Chen Mu’s, which gave him a chill!

The expression on the face of the white-haired man seemed to have become a little confused as he smiled at something deep. The ball of white mist around him started to transform.

Chen Mu’s expression changed, and he yelled to Ru Qiu in a low voice, “Retreat!”

Ru Qiu was stunned. Her face, which had just been red as an apple with excitement, suddenly turned white. She ran back into the room with a flustered look as she was floundering to call Bogner’s communications card.

Chen Mu immediately calmed down now that he didn’t need to worry about trouble behind him. He couldn’t change his card by then. The Wheel was what had been activated inside the apparatus! With a bitter smile, Chen Mu adjusted his perception without the slightest hesitation.

“A newcomer? Yikes, it’s been a long time since I’ve run into a worthy opponent!” A silky, magnetic voice came from the within the mist.

Chen Mu’s expression shifted. What changed his expression wasn’t what his counterpart had said but was his unfathomable energy fluctuations.

Without making any response, Chen Mu suddenly bent at the waist and shot at his adversary like a snake slithering along the ground. He was as quick as lightning as he flitted over. He wouldn’t even need to use a card if he could get close enough.

“Interesting.” His adversary’s speech was slow and leisurely with a hint of praise. But there wasn’t the least bit of mercy in his move.

A net quickly appeared in front of Chen Mu. It was composed of countless criss-crossing, glowing energy filaments, and he was certain to bump into it head-on. The energy filaments were incredibly sharp. He was afraid he would be chopped into pieces if he were to run into them.

With his belly pasted to the floor, he used the strength of his hands to suddenly shoot up from the ground, perilously evading the net. He still had no luck; the glowing net suddenly drew together and turned into a sparking electrical rope, which shook his spirit and caused his heart to race as it came rolling up to Chen Mu in midair.

Damn! Chen Mu desperately manipulated the big mudfish card, which abruptly blurred his image. For a short distance, the big mudfish card accompanied Chen Mu’s short-range explosive power to achieve a speed that made him drag several residual images behind him.

“You’re pretty fast,” that detestably smooth voice said.

The sparking electrical rope suddenly opened out and turned into a ball of electric netting, bigger than the one before. It completely enshrouded Chen Mu. Each of the strands was as thick a finger, and it was making a crackling sound.

He was trapped!

Chen Mu actually calmed down when he saw the rapidly shrinking electric net. He saw no way to avoid it. If he’d had the tailless shuttle card in his hand, he could still try to save himself. But only the newly completed Wheel was activated in his apparatus.

He had never thought he would run into such a situation as soon as he came out the door. But it wasn’t time to think about the timing. He would just have to try out the new card!

The battle between the two started in a spark of time before Ru Qiu could get through to Bogner’s communications card. She could only see Chen Mu trapped in the deadly electric net.

The sparks that would flash on the electric net from time to time made Ru Qiu’s pretty face lose color. She was a card master; of course she understood how deadly those electric sparks were! Their high voltage was far beyond those silvery threads Lucky Xi had emitted that day. If they only barely touched him, he would die without a doubt!

He had to think of something quickly! Ru Qiu was so stressed her heart had jumped into her throat.

Chen Mu’s perceptual world suddenly seemed to have slowed, and he could no longer hear the cracking of the electrical sparks in his ears. In the gray and misty energy world, there was one after another wheel under his control, which transformed at a shocking speed.

It was as though time had slowed in that energy world, and everything had become clear—so clear you could grab it with your hand.

The 1,024 energy wheels had gathered again in a short time. Each of the wheels was like one buddha bead after another as they strung into a huge, beautiful, round chain of energy wheels.

Just as the energy chain was forming, the streaming beams on 1,024 energy wheels suddenly adjusted automatically. They started to revolve at the same speed in the same position. All of the streaming beams formed into a circle when the huge chain of wheels abruptly lit up.

Chen Mu didn’t know what use that chain of wheels might have, but it was the only one of the card’s reactions he had tried.

In the minds of most people, round would always be synonymous with defense. Was it a defensive cloak? Chen Mu perceived a bout of energy fluctuation. When he opened his eyes, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when saw the fist-sized, glowing amber ball floating in front of him.

Damn! It’s not an energy cloak! Chen Mu’s expression involuntarily changed.