The Card Apprentice

When they arrived again at the testing room, the staff looked at Chen Mu in a completely different manner. Each of them was adoring and respectful. No matter where he went, such a person with genuine talent and learning would always be admired.

Xi Ping carefully took out the stack of cards.

That stack of cards was possibly the largest—no, it was definitely the largest batch of goods for that year.

Xi Ping was really looking forward to the craze the folding Yanbo card would stir up. When he thought about that miraculous creation from his own auction house—and born from his own hands—it was hard to suppress his excitement.

He couldn’t expect the pile of cards now in his hands to be of the same top quality as the folding Yanbo card. The way he saw it, something like the folding Yanbo card should never exist in quantity.

So, he wasn’t too discouraged when he heard Chen Mu say he had no way to make another folding Yanbo card. Besides, he knew those 22 cards wouldn’t be anything ordinary, given Chen Mu’s power.

Everyone there had plenty of reason to anticipate testing the cards.

Jin Yu was still responsible for the testing. She looked eager as she hotly stared at the stack of cards in Xi Ping’s hands. When she had personally tested the folding Yanbo card, it had made an unparalleled impact on her. But she knew she couldn’t have such top-notch products as the folding Yanbo card. So, although it had made her happy, she wasn’t going to overstep. There were so many in that stack of cards—no fewer than 20. If one were truly suited for her to use among them, she would ask for it, and the boss shouldn’t be too stingy.

It looked like hard work for her to be the tester, but she really liked it. Apart from Chen Mu, she reckoned she best understood which cards were good and which ones suited her.

Chen Mu waved over Xi Ping, who immediately came to his side, holding the cards respectfully. Chen Mu needed to provide a general introduction to the cards to help Jin Yu reduce her time exploring them.

He casually picked a card from Xi Ping’s hands and took a look at it. Chen Mu said confidently, “This is a shuttle card, or I should say it’s a kind of cluster shuttle card. It can fire off 16 to 32 energy shuttles at a time with mid-range firing frequency. Its strength is unparalleled firepower, and its shortcomings are that there is no way to conduct precise attacks, and the power of the individual shuttles is limited. Energy consumption is also pretty fast.”

The first card brought endless pleasant surprises for the group.

The light cyan-colored energy shuttles made the sky look as though it was filled with needles, with spray after spray of attack having shocking power. The issue with accuracy Chen Mu talked about didn’t seem like an issue in the eyes of those looking on. Each attack wave covered an area with a diameter of seven or eight meters and didn’t leave any place to hide. The waves became even scarier as Jin Yu gradually became familiar with the card.

After she got used to it, Jin Yu could fire 24 energy shuttles at a time. What kind of scene did it make when 24 energy bodies flooded an area of seven or eight meters? Imagine it like 24 card artisans firing at the same time from a shuttle car! The onlookers had never seen anything like it, and they all turned white in amazement.

Even Jin Yu turned a little white. She wondered if she could evade it if she were ever to face such firepower herself. She nixed the possibility to dodge or evade it in the first instant. Without being able to dodge or evade, she would have to hold out. Holding out required having an energy cloak card with outstanding performance!

But when she saw the damage value for each energy shuttle reported by the instruments, she completely gave up on that. Each of the individual energy bodies had a damage value of 300! While that result naturally didn’t mean much compared to the folding Yanbo card they’d just tested, it was still enough to chill her heart.

The diameter of an energy cloak was about two meters, more or less. That meant for each attack, the energy cloak needed to sustain an attack value of about 1,200 to 2,400!

Although that wasn’t enough to leave a person hopeless, it was enough to terrify Jin Yu. To be able to resist over 1,200 damage, an energy cloak would have to be the best of the best! Their scarcity made such high-quality energy cloaks something money couldn’t buy on the market.

However, Jin Yu had also found the card’s shortcoming. It consumed too much energy. One three-star energy card would only suffice to fire off ten attack waves!

Even so, that didn’t overshadow how tough the card was. It was an out-and-out, relentlessly effective attack device. It was like a sharp spear without a horse; once the offense made it to the extreme, weaknesses in the defense wouldn’t be important at all.

The fatty remained gracefully composed off to the side but was inwardly bursting with joy. While that card was far from the folding Yanbo card, there would be a big enough market for it. One card would be enough for an unnatural card like the folding Yanbo. Any more would greatly dilute their value. But that new card had a clear advantage despite its shortcomings. Its price also wouldn’t be as outrageous as that of the folding Yanbo card, so a lot more people could buy it.

That price point was where most customers would be. And the fatty knew how amazingly hyped the prices would become.

Xi Ping then respectfully asked, “What will you call the card?”

Chen Mu casually said, “001.”

Everyone turned to stone.

Chen Mu probably didn’t realize his casually-named card would later become highly sought after. No one realized the most famous numbered series in history would actually be called something its creator said thoughtlessly just to avoid the bother of naming it.

Nobody knew how many cards there would be in the numbered series. But those numbered cards would become something every mid-grade card artisan dreamed of. They were the worthy kings among that level of card.

Later on, the Register of Numbered Cards would become the register every card master had to have. In that book were collected all the numbered cards that could be found at the time, arranged according to their numbering and listing the patterns of their compositions. There were a lot of missing numbers inside, however, which was painful in the minds of countless card masters!

Writing about the first card in the numbered series, the Register of Numbered Cards commented on it this way: “No one knows what the mysterious card master had in mind while making this card. We believe the grand master might not have realized he would leave behind such a store of precious riches. Even if it were placed within the entire history of cards, this set of cards would always be an incomparably radiant pearl.

“That pearl 001 made a decisive impact in the initial glory of its making. Its amazing destructive value remains surprising even now. It would be difficult for us to determine whether the cluster attack style of card was started with 001, but its outstanding performance has given it the top-gun spot among the numbered cards.”

Xi Ping didn’t know how many times he had cursed Chen Mu to himself. He felt such a powerful card should at least be called something like the Torrential Rainstorm of Pear-Blossom Nails or some such glorious name. But Chen Mu’s ability and power had already utterly awed him. Although he might have thought it too bad in his heart, he didn’t dare show the slightest dissatisfaction.

This old man really is a god of wealth!

Number 002 was then quite a strange card. It could emit a kind of utterly unique energy wave that could influence nearly all energy structures. It was inspired by the Star Academy’s star lure card from his time at Eastern Wei Academy. The theory of 002 was that it could influence any energy composition. In practice, though, it would be difficult to get to that point.

Still, that unorthodox card was powerful! It didn’t have any attack qualities, but when used as backup, it could greatly increase the fighting strength of the side using it.

Good things would certainly have good prices! The masterful fatty’s eyes had already narrowed to slits.

Each card was demonstrated, from 001 to 022, and Jin Yu was so tired she was drenched in fragrant sweat. All of the staff were so tired they were about to fall over. But nobody was complaining. Everyone’s face was flushed with excitement. They hadn’t seen such an exciting test for many years. They were doomed never to forget that day for their whole lives.

Every time a card was tested, it would be placed into a high-grade, fragrant wooden box, the inside of which was lined with soft swan’s down velvet. On the box’s face were detailed markings, and a sheet of more detailed test results was placed inside.

Looking at one after another of the exquisite card boxes, Chen Mu felt full of accomplishment, which reduced the exhaustion of his body by no small amount.

“I have an idea, young brother,” the fatty whispered.

“What’s that?” Chen Mu asked right away in curiosity.

“Ho ho, these cards will certainly cause a sensation in Pomelo, and we don’t need to worry about their price. Let’s just sell half!” The fatty laughed craftily.

“And the other half?”

“We’ll exchange those for materials,” the fatty said, laughing. “We’ll use the first half to make a stir, which I believe will cause their fame to soar. When the time comes, I’ll put out a rumor that the rest of the cards will be exchanged for materials and won’t be for sale! I think those guys will certainly think of some way to come up with some precious materials. After having the materials, my young brother wouldn’t have to worry about being short of supplies.”

Chen Mu was immediately in awe. What a great idea! He was in a surprisingly good state that day with a high rate of success, even though he had failed seven or eight times, which used up a large quantity of materials. Although it looked like there were a lot of materials in the warehouse, there was a serious shortage of quite a few of them after that day’s consumption.

The two of them briefly discussed it and were soon unanimous. They would sell half of the cards made from then on, and they would exchange the other half for materials.

Chen Mu immediately went back after he finished everything. He really needed to rest. Not only did his body need to rest, but his brain needed to rest too. That burst of inspiration was unexpected, and he needed sufficient time to digest it. After it was completely digested, his card making ability would have shot up by a length.