The Card Apprentice

Inside the mysterious card, Chen Mu was conducting the incredibly boring training of his perceptual sensitivity. No matter the skill, and no matter how fantastic it looked, underneath that gorgeous exterior were dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of different monotonous, boring, and mechanical training regimes. Every one of those trainings required perseverance through upwards of thousands of repetitions, or even more.

While having talent provided a certain bonus to training and was just as powerful, it wasn’t the most important factor in success.

After his perceptual acuity broke through 60, the content of the training would change.

Increasing perceptual sensitivity was obviously beneficial. Perceptual sensitivity referred to how fine perception was. The finer it became, the more one could control still more refined power, and the more sensitive one could be toward the transformations of energy. Chen Mu had been able to make 23 cards in a day, which was inseparable from the increase in his perceptual sensitivity. With his perceptual sensitivity increased from before, he could greatly reduce the wear and tear to his perception from making cards. Of course, increasing the strength of his perception was another important reason.

The overall increase, and the increase in efficiency along with the decrease in wear and tear, meant the quantity of cards he could make shot up. If Chen Mu were to make one-star power cards at that time, he could make hundreds in a single breath.

Chen Mu’s current goal was to break through 70 with his perceptual sensitivity. That goal wouldn’t grant him the mid-grade token-card theory tutorial, although it could enable him to make cards the next level up. However, what he most needed then was the ability to protect himself.

He was settled on the folding Yanbo card.

Behind the way the folding Yanbo card was made was a rather large field for talking about how to use the card. It was mentioned there that if one wanted to manipulate the card comparatively freely, then one’s perceptual sensitivity had to be above 70. Otherwise, it would be difficult to play out its true power.

That was the only way he could think of to substantially increase his own power in the short term.

After his perception broke though 60, he would enter the second level of the mid-range training. That kind of training required a lot of patience and was extremely boring.

When Chen Mu put himself inside the mysterious card, there was a turntable spinning at high speed in front of him. He sat up straight and highly concentrated his energy. The turntable was quite large. On top of it were countless energy blocks, each of which was marked with a number. To his side was an incomplete model of a complex fortress. He needed to use perception to discern which blocks he needed from the rapidly spinning turntable, and then he had to use perception to accurately remove them. Afterward, he would again use perception to put them into the appropriate place. The ultimate goal of finishing the second-level training was to complete five kinds of models.

It sounded interesting, but after he’d actually tried it, he found out how boring and tedious it really was.

There were more than 3,500 energy blocks on the turntable, all in disorder. Finding the blocks needed from the vast turntable, which always maintained its high-speed spinning, wasn’t easy to do. Just to think of grabbing them was difficult. Each of the energy blocks had the method of getting it on its surface along with the number.

All around the blocks was a line of buttons. The buttons, made of energy, were even finer than needles. Chen Mu needed to use his own perceptual tendrils to accurately touch the fine energy buttons according to the order of the drawings on the surface of the blocks. Only if the order was entirely accurate could the energy block be removed from the turntable.

But he knew he couldn’t breathe any sigh of relief after taking the blocks down. The building of the model was just as difficult. Its complexity and detail made one’s hair stand on end. The entire building process required the use of perception to control the energy blocks. The slightest mistake would ruin the entire model in the end.

It was a way to torture someone, and Chen Mu was just then being tortured to within an inch of his life.

* * *

There was a different scene at fatty Yang’s auction hall.

Madam Zhi Lian was staring at Jiao Si in the middle of the field. The other one who saw the clue was Bei Dong, whose face showed a look of bewilderment.

The others didn’t know what they were seeing, but that didn’t stop them from making judgments. Madam Zhi Lian losing herself made one thing clear—the card was already outstanding enough to surprise even her!

There was no sound of talking or arguing; everyone was waiting anxiously for Jiao Si to demonstrate the card.

Jiao Si had his eyes closed and a strange expression on his face, as though he were drunk or gasping in surprise. He seemed excited. The 60 energy balls were calmly floating around his body to form a perfect sphere, enveloping him in its middle.

“What is he doing?” Someone finally had to break the silence.

But before he could finish what he was saying, Jiao Si moved on the field!

He opened his eyes, and his gaze was like a sword, as sharp as could be. At that moment, his power shot up to its peak.

With a whoomph, the energy balls floating around his body started to spin. While the large sphere composed of those energy balls was in the process of moving, it maintained the stability of the inner structure. It looked like a large ball spinning itself at high speed.

As the energy balls’ speed got gradually faster and faster, the black and the white started to become blurred. Even blurrier was Jiao Si’s image inside the shroud. The 60 energy balls were simultaneously moving at high speed, making an impressive display of force.

A card appliance suddenly lit up on the field, and a beam of light came shooting toward him! That beam of light was a full arm’s thickness and eye-piercingly white!

Some of the people in the stands couldn’t help but call out in concern about Jiao Si in the middle of the field.

An incomprehensible scene appeared.

When the light beam hit the large sphere of twirling energy balls, it abruptly stopped turning. The 60 black and white energy balls suddenly went completely static, floating around Jiao Si as though there were no change from before they were launched.

For the high-speed spinning to so suddenly go static felt so uncomfortable it nearly made people spit blood! It was completely against common-sense physics, and the onlookers stared with their mouths open, utterly silent.

Still stranger was the light beam. It had stopped in thin air, and it seemed time had also stopped in that instant.

Within the sphere, Jiao Si blinked.

The shockingly powerful light beam as thick as an arm hit a black energy ball. Surprisingly, it didn’t explode, but with stunning speed it was split up into countless fine, sparking starbursts. The zapping sound didn’t stop for a while as the thumb-sized sparks shot out and wandered among the black and white energy balls.

Those electric starbursts became finer and finer. In an instant, the 60 black and white energy balls that composed the sphere became calm again, though each energy ball had enlarged a little.

Could it absorb the energy bodies? Everyone’s eyeballs were practically falling out of their sockets, and even Jie Yanbai and Zu Ning looked incredulous.

Jiao Si’s demonstration still hadn’t finished. He extended a finger and lightly touched the nearest white energy ball.

Wound all around his body, the completely static 60 energy balls suddenly started to spin like crazy. In that instant, it was as though his body were surrounded by tons of black and white little wandering fish. The zapping that had just disappeared suddenly sounded up again as countless sparking starbursts jumped about among the energy balls.

Madam Zhi Lian’s expressed abruptly changed again. Not far away, Bei Dong looked horrified!

The sparking starbursts became thicker and thicker. The entire process was impressively the reverse of the previous absorption of the energy bodies!

Could it be…

Just when everyone’s mind was puzzled to the point of wanting to blurt out, a light beam exactly like the one before came shooting out of a white energy ball. It accurately hit the card appliance that had just shot out the light beam!

Hong! A loud noise sounded, and the card appliance was blown apart!

The impact wave formed by the explosion rolled to the demonstration field. When the swirling dust hit in front of the sphere formed by those 30 black energy balls and 30 white energy balls, it somehow didn’t infuse into the sphere.

That card could absorb the adversary’s blows and reflect the attack back!

Everyone was stunned, including Madam Zhi Lian, Jie Yanbai and Zu Ning, and Hugo and Butchie…

The field went dead. Even a pin could be heard dropping on the ground.

“007: four-star card. Specific parameters: confidential.” The auctioneer’s commentary showed up just right. It was very simple yet very powerful!

A four-star card! That was a four-star card all along! No wonder it was so powerful! That was the first four-star card to appear among the numbered series of cards, and its appearance was gorgeous and without parallel!

Everyone who had witnessed the scene had then entered the field, causing some chaos. They were extremely excited. Although a four-star card wasn’t as rare as a five-star card, it still wasn’t often seen. The 007 was obviously top-notch among four-star cards. Such a card would move anyone.

Madam Zhi Lian calmed down and sat there as though something were on her mind. Compared to her unperturbed face, her mind was completely the opposite. How could it have calmed down? She was undoubtedly more insightful than those laypeople. The power of 007 wasn’t because it was a four-star card; it was because of the unique qualities of its native compositional structure.

What most surprised her wasn’t the card’s power. Rather, it was the card’s concept, which was shockingly similar to a card from the annals…

Sixty energy balls was also strangely consistent with the results she had calculated…

That card had long since disappeared in history. Pretending to inadvertently glance at Bei Dong, she wasn’t sure if he had thought of the same card.

Cheng, cheng, cheng! The auctioneer knocked on the table, not too lightly and not too heavily. He said with a light smile, “I believe everyone must be satisfied with Card 007, so I have nothing more to say. The auction will now begin at 40 million Oudi!”

A reserve of 40 million Oudi was the highest starting price of those few days, but no one there found it strange. The card’s peculiarities were obvious, and everyone had taken the price for granted.

“Sixty million!” Someone raised his marker and made a lot of people draw in a cold breath.

“Sixty-five million!”

* * *

“What about us, Madam?” Jie Yanbai asked in a low voice.

Madam Zhi Lian seemed to have a card up her sleeve and wasn’t worried. She smiled at Jie Yanbai and said, “No need to worry.”

“One hundred million Oudi!” Bei Dong couldn’t keep from raising his marker.

The hall quieted down. For a firm, 100 million might not be that much, but it was a rather shocking number to use on a single card.

But it was a four-star card that could be considered one of the finest four-star fantasy cards.

“One hundred five million!” Someone couldn’t help but raise the bid.

Bei Dong was secretly annoyed, not having scared those people off. He raised his marker again. “One hundred twenty million!”

That time, everything turned quiet. At 120 million, the price was really terrifying.

“One hundred thirty million!” Jie Yanbai suddenly raised his card number.

The hall abruptly got excited! It was already an out-and-out, sky-high price for a card. That much could even buy an ordinary five-star card. Most people were just excited to witness the confrontation between the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy. To be able to see such a good show, the 300,000 Oudi they’d paid for entry wasn’t wasted.

For ordinary people, the Big Six were doubtlessly something they would look up to. They were actually fighting fiercely for a card right in front of them. How could they not be excited?

“One hundred fifty million.” A crisp voice sounded suddenly from the corner. Butchie raised the marker in her hand.

“Faya. It’s Faya!”

“Hey, what a great show this time! I had thought it was a power struggle between two hegemons; I never thought there would be a three-power melee!”

There was a sound of whispering down below.

Jie Yanbai’s gaze fell onto Hugo to the side of Butchie. He was undoubtedly the most attention-grabbing person there with his half mask. Jie Yanbai flashed a severe look through his eyes as he spoke in a low voice into Madam Zhi Lian’s ear. Her expression seemed to turn cold.

Bei Dong wasn’t stupid either. He knew such a price could only be considered the starting point of a fight among the three of them. He couldn’t help but feel concerned. Those above him had never thought he would encounter such a situation, and they’d given him a limit of 300 million Oudi. He had thought it would be more than enough—not that he could be strapped for cash.

“Two hundred million!” Bei Dong had taken the plunge to quote such a price, going all in. If worse came to worst, he would spend the entire 300 million on it. Zu Ning’s face had already shifted off to the side, and he secretly drew in a breath of cold air. He hadn’t thought the bidding in the field would be so bitter and bloody! He was normally also the lord of extravagance, but that was his first time to encounter such a crazy scene. Bei Dong’s madness was really unexpected.

The hall was filled with the sound of cold air being sucked in. Two hundred million was a crazy price!

Butchie’s face looked the same kind of ugly, while Hugo retained his easy grace. He took a look at Butchie and pulled the marker from her hand.

“Two hundred twenty million.” Hugo’s ear-piercing voice was strangely clear in the quiet hall.

“Two hundred fifty million!” Bei Dong stuck out his neck as his face turned red.

“Two hundred sixty million!” The ear-piercing voice was as though a knife were scraping glass, while Hugo’s expression remained as ever.

Bei Dong drew a line in his mind as he raised his marker another time. “Three hundred million!” Zu Ning blanched to his side.

Hugo shook his head and put down the marker in his hand, making a helpless expression toward Butchie. Butchie gave a smile of relief instead. She had been looking all along for a new card that suited her to replace the Tadpole. While 007 had excited her, the price had really gotten too high!

Seeing Hugo put down the marker, Bei Dong, who had been so uptight, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had just thought to rub the sweat from his brow when something sounded from the field.

“Three hundred fifty million!” Jie Yanbai once again raised the marker in his hands.

Bei Dong’s expression changed fast as he slumped into his chair, only then discovering that in that little bit of time, his back had somehow become completely saturated with sweat.

That price had exceeded everyone’s expectations. After a moment of silence, the hall suddenly erupted in applause.

The news of 007 being auctioned for 350 million once again made the headlines on all the platforms. No matter where, the discussion about the earth-shattering 007 filled the realm. What everyone discussed the most was what kinds of properties a 350-million-Oudi four-star fantasy card would have.

The specific parameters of 007 hadn’t been made public. Apart from the hubbub or its magical capability to reflect back attacks, what other functions did it have? No one questioned the card, however, since the one who bought it was Madam Zhi Lian!

No one in the entire Heavenly Federation had the qualifications or power to question Madam Zhi Lian’s insight into cards.

The evaluation of the other person in the know, Jiao Si, had made everyone still more curious about 007. Jiao Si’s evaluation was simple and could be stated in a single term: “Worth it!” It was said that after Madam Zhi Lian acquired the card, she left Pomelo at the first chance to return to the Central Repository of the Classics.

The fame of the numbered series of cards was a one-time happening. There wouldn’t be another. Even though that card numbered 007 had never been used even once in battle, it had won the Super 007 designation.

Along with discussions about the numbered series of cards always increasing, quite a few people wondered who—and where—the maker of that incredibly magical set of cards really was.