The Card Apprentice

The sky had darkened completely at that moment. Dusks in the Heavenly Drum Village District were particularly short.

Fifteen hundred card artisans and 300 battle shuttle cars set off for the snow silkworm ravine with great energy. Wen Zuofu was dead set on removing that thorn in his side. Not one of the Dark Fog card artisans sent by him had returned last time. He was rather shocked that the opponent’s capabilities were beyond his imagination.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the look of those people. If anything was to be blamed, it was their choice of location, which made Wen Zuofu somewhat uncomfortable. The snow silkworm ravine was situated between the Downstream Alliance and the House of Qiao and slightly to the north. If they were to form a union with the House of Qiao, the two would undoubtedly be able to render each other instant mutual assistance.

That was also the main reason Wen Zuofu could not rest until he got rid of them. Moreover, Qiao Fei had paid a special visit to the snow silkworm ravine sometime earlier, which only strengthened Wen Zuofu’s determination in removing that thorn.

Therefore, the first thing he did after purchasing the fleet of battle shuttle cars was to lead all of his troops in an overwhelming attack to rid that stumbling block. They would then head over to the House of Qiao. His men needed time to get used to the newly purchased battle shuttle cars. In picking the snow silkworm ravine for his first battle, Wen Zuofu also had some intention of using it as practice.

In his eyes, the little valley would be obliterated instantly in the face of his great army.

The card artisans in his employ were mostly level-five card artisans, though the majority were not originally battle card artisans. Only about 50 or 60 could really qualify as battle card artisans, and those were Wen Zuofu’s best men.

Battle card artisans were not numerous in the Heavenly Drum Village District; they were generally found in the military or in the larger card artisan teams. The huge expense of developing a purely military prowess was not something ordinary forces could afford. Such battle card artisans referred to those who had been trained since youth for the purpose of battle.

Their training required long-term investments and also included undergoing a number of actual battles. The assessment for battle card artisans was extremely difficult, ranking as one of the top few out of all the different types of card artisan assessments. Not only did it test for the overall battling capabilities of an individual, but also for their discipline in combat.

Wen Zuofu had spent a fortune but only managed to enlist the services of 50 or so battle card artisans. However, those 50 or so individuals were already a rather formidable force.

Sitting inside a battle shuttle car, Wen Zuofu was high-spirited and smug. He had been worried about the abilities of his men because apart from the battle card artisans, the others had pathetically little experience in actual combat. Now that he had the battle shuttle cars, he felt more at ease in leading them out to war.

Those battle shuttle cars were certainly excellent! Even card artisan teams from the Federation Comprehensive Academy had suffered a heavy blow against them. Wouldn’t a mere ravine be captured easily? The only thing that made him cringe was that 40 percent of the final loot had to be given away to that organization. But, then again, to think he could form connections with such a huge organization, perhaps he could eventually expand his territories even farther!

Just as Wen Zuofu was indulging in the wonderful imaginings of the future, the troops had come to a halt.

“Big brother, the snow silkworm ravine is just after turning at the valley ahead,” Yi Song said respectfully, pointing to the valley shown on the screen.

Wen Zuofu didn’t like being interrupted from his fantasies, but he looked up and glanced at the screen. “Hmm.”

The valley was relatively flat. The hills at the sides weren’t that steep, and apart from some random trees, there was no cover. Wen Zuofu instantly felt more assured. It’s impossible to have a large contingent waiting in ambush in this sort of terrain. With that thought in mind, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at having been way too careful. Those people in the snow silkworm ravine are probably still snug in bed.

The troops marched into the valley. As the card artisans activated their energy cloaks, it seemed as though translucent eggshells were lighting up one by one in the darkness. When seen from afar, they looked like drifting stars. Fifteen hundred stars gathered in one place was quite a magnificent sight to behold.

For the sake of concealment, the battle shuttle cars and the card artisans had all been flying close to the ground. The higher one flew, the farther away the enemy could spot them from.

Wen Zuofu was just about to order his men to brace themselves. After that valley and a quick reorganization, the attack on the snow silkworm ravine would be launched.

Suddenly, however, something unexpected occurred!

Without any warning, extremely fine rays of red light lit up beneath their feet, dazzling in the darkness. Every beam was as fine as spider silk, and hundreds of them together formed a gigantic red spider web. The web was so large it covered almost the entire valley.

The first to react were the battle card artisans in the troops. Their expressions changed all at once! With no time to warn the others, they immediately tried to fly up. However, before they could rise into the sky, endless flames had already swallowed them up.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The whole valley was a sea of fire. The ground shook violently, and the roar of explosions could almost shatter one’s eardrums. Nothing could be seen apart from the raging flames of the explosions. No one could hold themselves erect against the shockwaves, and many were blasted into the sky.

Wen Zuofu was dumbstruck.

His guards reacted extremely quickly, protecting him with energy cloaks in the first instant. However, the battle shuttle car was not so lucky. With such intense explosions, it was blown into bits. The powerful shockwaves easily tore the metal into shreds.

Those few embattled guards carried Wen Zuofu gingerly. Shockwaves and blast winds kept crashing against the energy cloak, which was already encircled by flames.

Promptly, carrying Wen Zuofu with them, they flew straight up into the sky.

It wasn’t until they were more than 1,000 meters above the ground that they managed to get a break from the shockwaves of the explosions. The color drained from their faces as they glanced down.

The wreckage of battle shuttle cars was striking in the flames, and the hills at the sides had been flattened. The earth too was scorched black.

“Card appliances! It must be card appliances!” Yi Song shivered. “How many must that have been? Big brother, we… we’ve… lost all the battle shuttle cars.” There was a catch in his voice.

Wen Zuofu had finally recovered from the shock and realized the fleet he had spent his last penny on had been wiped out without even firing one energy body. The more he thought of it, the angrier he became. He was in a fit of rage and shaking all over, yet he could not make a single sound.

Indeed were they card appliances. Jiang Liang had gritted his teeth and deployed all the card appliances available in the ravine. He didn’t even save one from the military card appliances bought from Xiao Liqian previously. Hertha had spent a whole hour laying them out.

As for those beams of red light, they were a skill of Hertha’s called “Serial.” It allowed the randomly placed card appliances to form a whole, so all of them could be detonated at the same time. The impact would then be 20 percent more powerful than their individual impact added up.

Hertha had just learned the skill a few days ago. If it hadn’t been for the snow pit method, his perception wouldn’t have been strong enough for him to acquire it. Having seen the strength of his skill for the first time, the usually reticent Hertha couldn’t help but look proud and smug.

The power of military card appliances was stronger than those on the market many times over! The roar of explosions could be heard near and far.

In the sky, hard-pressed card artisans were everywhere. Since the 1,500 card artisans had kept their energy cloaks activated the whole time, the explosions didn’t cause many casualties.

With faces full of fear, the card artisans looked at the valley, which was almost red from burning. Not one of the battle shuttle cars was spared. Metal was as fragile as paper in the face of such explosions.

The sudden explosions rendered the card artisans dumbfounded. Only the 50 or so battle card artisans remained clear-headed.

In the intense heat, even the air seemed a little twisted and bent. It was impossible to see clearly.

They had had plenty of actual combat experience and understood the intention of their adversary. Their adversary must have gotten wind of the battle shuttle cars and thus set such an elaborate trap for them. Card appliances could do little harm to card artisans with level-five perceptual strength such as themselves, yet the adversary had spent an astonishing amount of them. There could have been only one goal—to destroy the battle shuttle cars first.

“Be careful. They must have prepared some other moves,” one of the battle card artisans said, reminding his companion. The shockwaves from the explosions had messed up their formation. They needed to reassemble, but that of course only applied to battle card artisans like themselves.

Just as the words left his mouth, shouts and yells sounded from across the sky. The two turned, only to see people continually falling from the sky.

Oh no! Their expressions changed slightly. The sky was filled with energy fluctuations. The two battle card artisans couldn’t distinguish which came from their own people and which came from the adversary.

“A bunch of greenhorns!” his companion couldn’t help but curse. He wasn’t completely wrong, either. With such chaos all around, the card artisans firing energy bodies were actually enabling the real enemy to hide in plain sight.

“Leave them be. Let’s gather our own people first and not give anyone any chances,” the battle card artisan said in a low voice. They couldn’t care less about the life or death of the ordinary card artisans. In their eyes, the ordinary card artisans in a contingent were merely cannon fodder and not fit to be their companions.

* * *

At that moment, Chen Mu was strangely calm. He was flitting about in the darkness like a ghost. Making the best use of the big mudfish card, he moved about with ease among the crowd. Darkness gave him the best cover. The energy cloaks of his adversaries looked so striking in the dark that he could find his targets with no effort at all.

He approached a card artisan noiselessly and saw his entire back clearly through the energy cloak. Gently, he raised his index finger. A tailless shuttle was spinning merrily.

Before that card artisan became aware of him, Chen Mu had already touched the energy cloak with his index finger with the speed of lightning. Ping—crisp and sharp, the energy cloak shattered instantly.

The card artisan was startled. Just as he was going to react, he felt a pain at the back of his neck and lost all consciousness, plummeting down head first.

After a few more card artisans were finished off in a similar way, the others began to stir. By the time Chen Mu had gotten rid of another ten or more, the situation was completely out of control.

Fear was spreading among the card artisans. They started being on their guard against everyone around them, and some of the chicken-hearted ones even unconsciously activated their own energy cloaks. The situation became chaotic immediately. In the darkness, energy bodies were flying everywhere. They did not know where nor whom the enemy was.

The difference between the professional and the amateur was now obvious. Even though the card artisans were each capable in their own right, their discipline in combat was too poor, which gave Chen Mu opportunity.

Sensing every minute change in the jet stream card, Chen Mu’s figure appeared increasingly eerier. Watching the energy bodies occasionally flying by in the sky, he had an idea. He stopped getting close and used tailless shuttles to attack from a distance. He especially picked on the card artisans who were farther away since the nature of tailless shuttles was quite different from that of other energy bodies.

For ordinary energy bodies, the shorter the distance, the larger the impact. However, tailless shuttles were the opposite; within the maximum range, the longer the distance, the larger the impact.

In order not to be noticed, Chen Mu wasn’t using his perception in locking on but was gauging visually instead. In that way, it would be even harder to detect him.

The energy fluctuation caused by releasing a tailless shuttle was already trivial in itself. Coupled with the fact that Chen Mu didn’t even use his perception to lock onto targets, the chance of discovery was minimal. By the time they did discover something, the tailless shuttle was already too close for them to respond.

Chen Mu flitted about amongst the card artisans, releasing a tailless shuttle every now and then. In the sky, the shattering of the card artisans’ energy cloaks was unceasing. The screams of their companions were constantly agitating the nerves of the remaining card artisans.

One by one, the stars extinguished. Who’s next? Me?

Chen Mu was not very well-off, either. To avoid being discovered, he had to make his flight path as unpredictable as possible. Likewise, he hadn’t been using an energy cloak. Flying without an energy cloak in such weather, his face was numb from the cold.

Seeing the increasingly chaotic situation in the sky, Chen Mu drifted downward without a sound. Unprotected by an energy cloak, a mere blade was enough to kill him. Besides, his mission was accomplished. Once on the ground, with a few leaps and bounds, he vanished in the snow.

At that moment, Wen Zuofu had finally recovered from his shock.