The Card Apprentice

Chapter 169: The Discovery

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

Although there might have been some who still harbored misgivings, no one was likely to be so stupid as to stand out. Having established confidence those last few days, that still wasn’t at all sufficient for Bo Wen to compete with the long-established ideas in those soldiers’ hearts.

The arrival of more than 200 soldiers caused the capability of the encampment to surge. Those who had been able to survive were all shock troops, whether from their discipline and obedience or their fighting strength. They were a lot better than ordinary soldiers, and they were all very familiar with food gathering.

Chen Mu found their methods quite mysterious until he learned that among the materials each unit had brought was a kind of seed that could be used to grow food—the gray radish. Those light gray seeds required energy for their activation, and they could grow rapidly, producing edible fruits within a very short period of time. The gray radish was actually a kind of parasite, which required that they live on a living plant, such as a tree trunk. They got all the nutrients they needed by robbing the host, allowing them to survive in short order.

Thankfully, the one thing the encampment wasn’t lacking was fresh vegetation. There were trees reaching to the sky all over. After a while, all the trees around the camp had been planted with the light gray seeds. The gray radishes made them look like they were covered with a layer of gray glass beads, each the size of a walnut. They were said to have a chewy, gummy texture. But, it was also said that when the gray radish seeds were packed into a sealed bottle, they required tools to be removed.

Chen Mu felt really curious when he first saw the gray radishes growing.

He saw the soldiers digging thumb-sized holes into the tree trunks, putting small pieces of moon-colored stone in with the gray radish seeds, and sprinkling them with water. Probably several hundred gray radishes could be planted on a large tree, and they required three days to ripen.

All the larger trees had been planted with the gray radishes. After asking Xi Weide, Chen Mu finally understood that the planting of the gray radishes had always been the adult soldiers’ responsibility.

The gray radish was an extremely invasive plant that had a certain danger to it, which was why only adult soldiers could handle them. It had been a long time since they had been planted in the village since the gray radish could cause a lot of serious damage to the surrounding environment. But, they had been stockpiled as wartime materiel.

That had also led to no one recognizing those several bottles of gray radish seeds until Xi Weide arrived with his people.

After three days, the gray radish seeds had born bright purple fruit, which had a very high starch content and could be used for food. Apart from their bland flavor, there was nothing else wrong with them.

The most pressing problem had been solved, and Chen Mu was able to let out a long sigh of relief. Feeding 2,000 or 3,000 was a big problem. By then he had understood how the clan elder and the rest had long prepared. But, no one had thought there wouldn’t be a single soldier left in that unit of Chen Mu’s. Wei-ah was a soldier, though he ordinarily did only bodyguard work. He had never handled the planting of gray radishes.

Apart from soldiers planting the gray radishes, everyone else was putting their effort into digging mines. Alfonso had already determined there were rich mineral resources hidden there. Not only were there metal ores, there were also energy ores! That news had really boosted everyone’s martial spirit. If there were energy ores, they didn’t need to go back in time.

Alfonso’s crude lab had already started to be productive. He wasn’t making tools; rather, he was making some required parts to improve his lab. Chen Mu didn’t dare stand in the way of Alfonso’s progress since he didn’t feel he had any right to speak in that regard.

There was soon a bumper crop of gray radishes! All the thick, solid trees were hung full of row after row of purple fruits, each the size of an almond, with glistening skin and a unique smell. It wasn’t dangerous to gather the gray radish fruits, so many of the children participated. It was also their first time to see such strange fruits. The sound of children laughing could be heard echoing in the forest.

Approaching where the soldiers had previously dug holes, Chen Mu discovered the gray radishes had a highly developed root system, which penetrated deeply into the tree trunks.

“What an amazing thing,” Chen Mu couldn’t help but mutter in admiration.

Xi Weide was laughing to his side. “Yes, the gray radish certainly is a scary kind of plant. But, it’s a good thing it requires energy stones to be activated; otherwise, it would be the only thing left in the entire jungle.”

Holding one of the gray radish fruits and pressing on it lightly with his fingers, it popped open, showing the white flesh inside.

“You can eat it raw,” Xi Weide said. “The taste isn’t bad, though it would be better if it were a little sweeter.” Xi Weide was motioning for Chen Mu to try it as he continued on, “But, if you were to eat it every day, you would quickly tire of it.” His expression showed that he was reminiscing. “Before, I would sometimes bring along a few gray radish seeds when completing an obligation. One time, when I was trapped in a valley, that thing saved my life.”

“Now it will save all of our lives,” Chen Mu said.

“Ha ha!” Xi Weide laughed. “Yes, that makes clear what a good thing it is!”

“What about the tree?”

“It’s already dead! Its nutrients have all been used up, and there isn’t anything left apart from some shredded wood fibers. The wood fibers are about as much use as straw. After another couple of days, you’ll be able to see this tree come crashing down.” Xi Weide showed a look of some regret. Their life was in the jungle, and their feeling toward living things was different from that in the Heavenly Federation.

The quantities of gray radish fruits gathered that day were stunning. Until he had seen the mountainous piles of it, Chen Mu hadn’t understood the real strength of that kind of plant. Xi Weide had purposefully left a small part of the gray radish fruits unharvested, so they could gradually turn into gray radish seeds.

The harvest really did make everyone happy, but since the gray radishes required energy to be activated, the planting had used up nearly all of the energy among their materiel. It was fortunate there were energy ores in the vicinity, or they would only have been able to muddle through a single meal.

After Chen Mu taught his exercise gymnastics to the few children, they had all continued to practice every day. The utility of the set of exercise gymnastics had also gradually revealed itself, as the children’s physical condition made stunningly rapid progress. Wei-ah hadn’t expected that, and he stepped up his training. It surprised Wei-ah that Chen Mu was feeling so successful.

Xi Weide was really surprised at Wei-ah’s willingness to transmit his skills to the children. No matter who in the village might want to study skills from Wei-ah, they would all be refused entrance to his gate. Apart from Xi Weide’s surprise, he was quite pleased. There was no one in the village who could surpass Wei-ah’s skills. For those children to be able to study them, they would certainly become much stronger soldiers in the future than the present ones. The Moqi line would surely be a lot more powerful as well.

Apart from learning from Wei-ah, Li Duhong also practiced something else. He was training his perception. There were several other children learning with him—all students from Chen Mu’s lab.

Alfonso’s lab had already been through three upgrades. It had been moved into a cave in the deepest part of the valley for security. All of the raw materials from the encampment had been unconditionally given to Alfonso’s lab over the last few days. But, the returns were equally great; after the upgrade, the lab could already produce quite a few laser tools, which immediately increased the output of the camp several-fold.

The camp had entered a period of rapid development, changing its appearance almost every couple of days.

Everyone believed that before long the camp would catch up to the level of the village again. Everyone was in a frenzy as they felt the joy of a new life starting to bubble up in themselves.

A soldier urgently rushed up to Chen Mu, his expression betraying a lot of excitement.

“Teacher! Take a look at what I discovered!”

He presented the thing in his hand to Chen Mu; it was a piece of something flat that was damaged. Upon seeing it, everyone immediately gathered around.

As Chen Mu received it, his expression suddenly changed. To his side, Bo Wen and Cheng Ying’s faces changed at the same time!

“What is it?” Xi Weide couldn’t help but ask. It showed clear signs of having been man-made.

“It’s the remnant of a card!” Chen Mu explained as his expression turned serious while he closely examined the card remnant.

Card remnant? Everyone immediately entered into a discussion, having long since seen the marvel of cards. But, the thing in front of them was far different from the cards used by Chen Mu and the others! It was mottled on its surface, with some parts already rotted away.

The more he looked, the more startled Chen Mu became. That card was from a very early period. It had already started to look degraded, though the composition could still be vaguely discerned. But, the thing that made him the most nervous was that the composition on the surface of the half-corrupted card was, surprisingly, something he had never seen before!

If it had been earlier, it would have been perfectly ordinary for him to never have seen it. However, Chen Mu could now handily make three-star cards and could even make a few kinds of four-star cards. Compositions he couldn’t recognize at all were generally four-star cards at the very least, or even higher.

In the entire card system, four-star cards would never be considered low grade. Moreover, that card was from a very early period. Everyone knew earlier card theory was far less developed than current theory, and the average capability of ancient cards couldn’t be placed on par with current cards. A four-star card in the ancient times was already an extremely high-grade card.

Could it have been something left behind by card artisans from ancient times who had entered the jungle?

Chen Mu’s expression changed even further by what the soldier said next.