The Card Apprentice

The gang of card artisans looked worried, their faces ugly. The attack from the wavy snow bats hit them hard, and the mysterious ace had left them covered in a dense layer of impenetrable haze.

Before he had gone far, the lead card artisan suddenly looked on guard. Needing no orders, the card artisans immediately became battle-ready, like birds on edge from the twang of a bowstring.

“An Sa! It’s me!”

The resonant voice came from far away before a dark-faced stalwart built like an iron tower arrived in front of them in the blink of an eye. He had 30 card artisans along with him.

When An Sa saw who they were, he breathed a sigh of relief. “How did you get here, Mo Ta?”

“The big chief thought something had happened to you, so he had me bring these people along to find you.” Mo Ta spoke carelessly, though he was taken aback when he saw how miserable An Sa looked. “So, something really did happen to you?”

An Sa smiled bitterly. “That’s right. We ran into a cloud of wavy snow bats and lost several of our brothers. Then, like people out of luck just from drinking unboiled water, we get something stuck in our teeth. There was some f****ng ace inside the snow shuttle vessel!”

“An ace?” Mo Ta squinted. “What sort of ace?” An Sa was a pretty sharp and decisive fellow who had earned the affection of the big boss. The boss obviously had confidence in his ability, given that he had turned over the first ambush to him. An Sa hadn’t become well-known because of his battle ability, but rather for his ability to be the captain of a team, although his individual fighting strength wasn’t shabby.

Mo Ta and An Sa had a great relationship, and An Sa knew Mo Ta wasn’t interested in any kind of internal power struggle. There was no conflict of interest between them.

An Sa gave a detailed account of what had just happened. The more he spoke, the more serious the look on Mo Ta’s face became. They were both men who’d licked blood from the tip of a spear; once an adversary made a move, they would know his strengths and weaknesses right away.

Mo Ta’s face had turned gloomy. When he opened his eyes, they flashed with a quick decision. “The big guy has been preparing for this action for a long time, and we can’t let anything get out about it until we succeed. Turn that guy over to me. You go back, and report to the boss.”

Mo Ta wasted no more words after that, only clarifying in which direction their adversary had escaped before immediately springing into action.

Watching Mo Ta disappear into the forest, An Sa felt some relief. There were several top-notch people from the troops among that small team of Mo Ta’s, and Mo Ta himself was ranked third in battle strength among the seven team captains.

Mo Ta had a forthright look, though he was actually very meticulous. He knew nothing was likely to go wrong, especially with Ah Xin along.

* * *

The thousand kilometer long-distance communications card required the accompanying communications array to be used. Without the Central Island Firm to listen in, Chen Mu could deploy the thousand kilometer card without too much worry. After activating the silvery metallic communications array, countless eye-dazzling parts came to life at once. They quickly arranged themselves along the floor as five tree-shaped metal antennae formed into an array.

Remembering their joy the day Bogner and Xi Ping had found out about the Thousand Kilometer, Chen Mu felt some sudden satisfaction. It felt pretty good to be able to get affirmation from those two, especially to get the agreement of those beside him.

The Thousand Kilometer he was using had undergone his redesign. His deeper understanding of Token Theory had made him dissatisfied with the previous thousand kilometer card. The new one could communicate at a greater distance with a stabler signal. So long as it was within the Heavenly Drum Village District, it could basically realize communications anywhere.

It could theoretically communicate still farther. Due to the limitation of the communications array, however, there was no way to play out its full potential. Chen Mu didn’t know how to get beyond that since the communications array was technology from the underground city base, which had come from a different system.

If he were able someday to thoroughly comprehend the technology of the communications array and improve it, he could possibly once again communicate with Alfonso and the rest.

Chen Mu had made three sets altogether: one for himself, one for Wei-ah, and one he left back at the snow silkworm ravine. In that way, he would be able to find someone to discuss it with if he ran into any issues.

“Boss!” Xi Ping appeared on the screen.

Chen Mu briefly told about being looted and the problems he had encountered. Hearing he’d encountered some danger, Xi Ping was startled and rushed to call Bogner.

“Where are you now, Boss? Your exact position!” Bogner looked serious as he rushed to ask. How could he not be worried for the boss to have encountered such danger while alone? Although the boss did have some power, he wasn’t indestructible like Wei-ah.

Exact position? Chen Mu couldn’t hide his sneer. “I’m not so clear about where I am. It must be in the forest between Bida and Zargan.” Once he had boarded the snow shuttle vessel, he had fallen into a deep sleep, so how would he know where he was?

When Bogner transmitted a map over, Chen Mu was a little dumbfounded. It was all forest between Bida and Zargan, and there were seven or eight routes through the forest linking the two cities. He had no way to tell which route he was on nor what his current position was. Still, the map was a little useful since he could at least know roughly in what direction Zargan lay.

There was then a fine bout of energy fluctuation that came flitting from the forest, spreading like ripples on water.

A probe card!

Chen Mu turned around to look behind him and said to Bogner in a low voice, “Get Wei-ah to wait for me in Zargan.” He then shut off the communication and quickly packed up the communications array.

That wasn’t his first time to perceive such a thing. When he was at Eastern Wei Academy, he’d had a taste of a similar energy fluctuation, which was right when he had first realized his shuttle-shaped perceptual composition.

However, the fluctuations this time were more concealed than last time and were a lot finer. His own perception had almost unconsciously excluded such weak fluctuations until they formed a peculiar, corrugated structure all around him.

Trouble! Chen Mu’s face shifted, not wanting to deal with such a fluctuation again. He bolted off in a dash.

* * *

A young card artisan with a pair of dimples was pointing in a direction in the forest. “He’s over there!”

Mo Ta was the first to shoot up into the air, and the other card artisans followed him. In hot pursuit, the 30 card artisans made a formation, fanning out in the direction the card artisan had pointed. Each of them was a veteran; whatever their forward speed was, they all kept their unruffled looks, showing no urgency. They looked as though they were just going on some excursion.

Mo Ta didn’t put up his energy cloak and let the cold, cutting wind blow on his face, where he maintained a rather pleasant expression. Hearing An Sa’s description of the ace, Mo Ta could feel his blood starting to boil! It had been a long time since he had encountered such an interesting adversary, and he was rather looking forward to the battle to come.

He wasn’t so worried that his adversary would get away; no one could get away from him. That was because he had under him a super probe card artisan—Ah Xin!

Although Ah Xin’s power was only so-so, his attainments with probing were almost freakish. Until then, no one had been able to slip through his hands. The other captains had long coveted Ah Xin, but no matter what sorts of inducements they put in front of him, they couldn’t budge him.

The reason was simple. Mo Ta had saved his life.

Ah Xin’s origins were mysterious; not even Mo Ta knew them. He had never told anything about them himself. But everyone knew Ah Xin didn’t have an ordinary background. Even the big chief marveled at that five-star probe card of his.

Ah Xin hadn’t missed that time, either, as he quickly discovered the adversary’s general position.

So, the hunt began!

* * *

Just as the hunt was underway in the forest, the situation in the federation changed again. Faya’s abrupt rise in power had provoked some sorrow while causing panic among the Big Six at the same time. Just as everyone thought the Big Six were about to unite once again to attack Faya, Faya joined forces with the Central Repository of the Classics to attack the Federation Comprehensive Academy.

No one understood what kind of bad drugs the Central Repository of the Classics had taken, nor what kind of inducements Faya had presented them with that they couldn’t refuse. But the counterattack of the Central Repository of the Classics proclaimed its collapse before the alliance among the Big Six was even established.

Not only that, but allied with the House of a Hundred Depths, the Central Repository of the Classics was tough as never before as they swept clear their previous decline.

The joining of hands between Faya and the Central Repository of the Classics immediately made the situation of the Federation Comprehensive Academy precarious. No organization was willing to assist them at that time. Without being able to choose an alliance, no one could be the equal of those two organizations. But, no matter who it was, they weren’t about to form an alliance with the Federation Comprehensive Academy. That would be like throwing themselves into a pit of fire.

The death of front-line commander Di Bo put the Federation Comprehensive Academy in imminent danger. Facing the combined forces of Faya and the Central Repository of the Classics, their front lines were as flimsy as paper.

Faya and the Central Repository of the Classics aggressively approached the Federation Comprehensive Academy from two directions. Previously at the head of the Big Six, the Federation Comprehensive Academy was now at the end of its road. Its formerly vibrant campus had become desolate, with only a few students around, all of whom looked aggrieved.

All the members of the Federation Comprehensive Academy Board of Trustees had panicked. It was like a joke; just a few months before, they had been infighting in a scramble for power, no one having expected things to plummet overnight. Once Di Bo died, those old guys immediately went into a panic. Some of the cowardly board members even took their families quietly out of the capital.

Pavchek helplessly watched the old, fat creeps in front of him. Those greedy bastards were normally itching to seize power. Now, however, the position of the president had become a hot potato that no one wanted to occupy. The meeting that time was only attended by one-third of the trustees.

Could the Federation Comprehensive Academy have been destroyed in their hands? Pavchek was pondering that in a funk. The thing he really couldn’t fathom was that the military had made absolutely no response.

Wei Yueqing didn’t make any moves. Could he not know his alma mater had already been destroyed?

“I’m going to leave!” One of the trustees stood in a panic and said, “Everyone, get out of here! Staying here is a death sentence!”

With a pop, blood blossomed from that trustee’s forehead.

An erect figure then appeared right in the middle of each of the trustees’ field of view.