The Card Apprentice

Like a long snake, an energy belt full of sparks had wrapped up the entire body of his energy cloak.

An electric belt! It’s an electric belt!

The electric belt wasn’t actually a powerful card; it was more like a card one might keep up one’s sleeve. It emitted an energy belt that brought a cleverly distributed electric charge along with it. It had no attack qualities but instead produced near-field electric charges that could suck things in or delay their motion.

Card artisans who were good at the electric belt were rarely seen among civilians; they were more commonly seen in the military. Upon entering school, no young person would choose such a card. It had no lethal power and no self-defense power. Moreover, the skill required by the electric belt card had a much higher level of difficulty than that of ordinary battle fantasy cards. Only select military support teams would specifically cultivate such unique card artisans.

The difficulty and the required expense to cultivate an auxiliary-type card artisan were a lot higher than for an ordinary card artisan. They were also more easily killed in battle and had no way to carry out independent operations. Once they were alone, that basically meant they were dead. Card artisans good at the electric belt were also seldom seen because it required the card artisan to have top-notch skills with perceptual control. That was the only way they could distribute the charges cleverly enough. Card artisans who practiced the electric belt card needed to start at a young age, and their training style was completely different from that of ordinary card artisans.

Surprisingly, he had encountered a card artisan who was an expert in the electric belt card! His body suddenly tightened as the powerful forces nearly froze him in an instant.

Could it be military? That irrepressible notion flashed through his mind. But he was very powerful. His jet stream card abruptly opened, its huge force immediately breaking him free from the electric belt’s power.

Still, during that brief period, the third and fourth attack waves on the heels of that one were unavoidable. His expression changed again as he realized what his adversary had in mind!

His adversary wasn’t thinking of using the electric belt to contain him. He only needed the electric belt to entangle him for a little while—not even half a second. His adversary needed that half second. As a matter of fact, Bogner’s team really only needed four-tenths of a second.

The two waves, composed of six attacks, solidly hit his energy cloak, and each hit had plenty of power that time! Even though it was a four-star energy cloak card, there was no way for it to meet such fierce attacks.

Crack! The light blue energy cloak had become a canopy of starbursts, like a light blue drizzle. In the dream-like drizzle of fragmented starbursts, the eyes on that resolute face glinted brightly with an overwhelming urge to battle. There were only scattered lights in the huge base from which those shots had been launched!

A moment later, his image gradually blurred until it finally disappeared.

What speed! Chen Mu watched, gape-mouthed. For the after-image to be sustained for such a long time would require some kind of terrifying speed! It looked like their adversary had one outstanding jet stream card. However you looked at it, their adversary’s flight skills were superb.

Bogner’s face remained as though it were all a matter of course. Of course, a card artisan who could use a four-star energy cloak would have such ability.

Someplace further from the base, the masked madam from Faya suddenly laughed. “It looks like our little friend has suffered a slight loss. Who would have thought the ace overseeing all of this would be so extraordinary?”

Butchie was watching the madam with a look of admiration. Her generosity at the last auction had immediately given Butchie good feelings toward her. The series of commands she had passed down during that period all clearly showed her extraordinary wisdom. Not only Butchie, but Hugo and the Beard also felt won over by that madam who had been sent down by those above.

“It’s about time for you to make your move, great Hugo.” The madam elegantly nodded her signal to Hugo.

“Yes, Madam!” Hugo’s face was filled with respect. He stood right up, bringing along a few card artisans before disappearing into the jungle.

* * *

Jie Yanbai’s shock was indescribable. That new base had brought him too many surprises. His adversary’s defenses were watertight, and its every device had been carefully arranged, all interlocking. Incredibly awesome! Such an awesome person would never be so little-known. But, from the materials he’d been able to dig up, he hadn’t found the least bit of a clue.

An outstanding commander was still more precious than an awesome card artisan. The commander was the brains of any troop and decided the fate of the entire team. Although some of the academies had such a specialization, any commander who hadn’t experienced actual battle hardening would never be anything more than a paper tiger.

A commander who qualified after starting as a rookie needed to spend a long time at an extremely high cost, which often meant hundreds of lives. To become an excellent commander, they would still need to have native ability and understanding beyond their military training.

Hence, an excellent commander was extremely rare and precious. In the Heavenly Federation, most of that sort of talent was in the military. Only a few existed in some large-scale card artisan firms or as private consultants to the rich and powerful.

His adversary’s moves were unusually masterful, and he would never have gotten to that point without ten or 20 years of tempering. Based on his investigations, Cao Dong couldn’t have had such power. But how could he recruit such talent? Not only that, but he surprisingly had a card artisan inside who specialized in the electric belt. Such talent was reserved for the military.

Could Cao Dong actually have some connection to the military?

If it were all coincidental, it would really have to be some kind of coincidence. But it was no wonder he would think that way. For an excellent commander and a card artisan specializing in the electric belt card to both appear at the same time had to make a person wonder.

He was suddenly alerted.

* * *

It dawned on Bogner. “No wonder—it’s Jie Yanbai.”

The card artisan, who had been surrounded in midair, was the intruder who had just approached the base, and they could finally see him clearly. They had just heard the sound of an explosion from the distance and cautiously came to see what was behind it. They came upon the scene in front of them just as those eight were arriving.

Chen Mu recognized the one in charge of those eight card artisans. It was none other than Hugo from Faya, wearing his trademark half-mask with its unspeakably grim and freakishly demonic feel. But, unimaginably, the one who’d gotten the upper hand was actually the freelancer, Jie Yanbai!

Jie Yanbai’s power was steadily holding off Hugo by a notch. Even encircled, he had plenty of room to maneuver and to handle his weapon with ease.

The energy body he emitted was a thumb-thick red beam, which had a terrifying penetrating power. With his own eyes, Chen Mu had seen a famous card artisan get run straight through after raising his energy cloak. Even more surprising was its staggering firing frequency. With just a slight flick of his index finger, the sky was filled with red beams woven into a net of light. Inside the splendid red net of light, Hugo’s aurora beam card gave Chen Mu an unexpected sense of powerlessness.

“Tsk tsk, that Jie Yanbai is no ordinary being after all. To actually learn such a common card as the rouged finger to that extent is really not so simple!” As one who seldom praised anyone, Bogner still couldn’t help but do so.

That name, rouged finger… Chen Mu felt it strange as soon as he thought of Jie Yanbai looking so imposing—such a firm and unyielding person so unexpectedly using such an effeminate card.

As though he had guessed what Chen Mu was thinking, Bogner explained as he stared at the group fighting in the sky. “Speaking of the rouged finger, it actually came from the hands of a female card artisan from the Central Repository of the Classics. No one knows what it had been called before, but ever since that female card artisan, the name rouged finger has been passed down. There were countless legacies in the Central Repository of the Classics that were higher level than that. The men felt that it smacked of effeminacy, so people would seldom learn it.

“Jie Yanbai came from one of the ordinary residential districts, and after testing into the Central Repository of the Classics, he got the cold shoulder from every direction. That was except for one professor, who rather looked after him. He simply followed that professor in his practice. She was a woman, and what she practiced was the rouged finger. He took up her same legacy. It was said that he was mocked by the more accepted people in the school because of that.

“They never thought that by dint of his diligence—on top of his perseverance and savvy—the rouged finger could actually develop so vastly in his hands. He once made it into the top eight in a school competition by virtue of those skills. Afterward, he never stopped tempering his strength in every direction until several years later, when he found out about the challenge from the president of the Federation Comprehensive Academy, Pavchek. He earned praise after that fierce battle. His value suddenly multiplied as his fame rose in the federation to become the famous ace of the younger generation. The rouged finger became widely known because of that.”

Chen Mu gave Bogner an inadvertent glance, never having thought Bogner would be so familiar with such gossipy news.

Still, facing Jie Yanbai’s power, Hugo and the others had made an adequate reckoning. Except for two card artisans having been shot through by the red beam during the first wave of confrontation, the other six had withstood.

Jie Yanbai rather dreaded Hugo’s aurora beam, which could be seen by how carefully he dodged it. However, he hadn’t thought Hugo was only putting up a front, and the true main attack would come from a different card artisan.

Hugo abruptly retreated, and the five card artisans suddenly raised their energy cloaks and plunged straight at Jie Yanbai!

Bogner’s complexion suddenly changed as he shouted in a low voice, “Withdraw!”

Chen Mu’s and Wei-ah’s reactions were equally quick, with Wei-ah dragging Bogner along with one hand while retreating with Chen Mu deep into the jungle.

Hong!

There was a loud noise behind them as the sky suddenly lit up with a fiery ball of bright red beams to sting the eye. The explosive blow swept the forest clear like a hurricane. The sound of huge trees snapping came incessantly from beside them. Chen Mu only felt the huge force pushing strongly from behind as his body plunged forward, almost hitting a tree. It was a good thing his reactions were quick. He let his body rock along with the continuous, driving force. That was how he could finally offset the force. Even though Wei-ah was carrying someone by his hand, his reactions were even quicker, and he just set his body.

“So ruthless!” Looking at that fireball in the sky, Bogner’s face alternated between green and red, half in admiration and half spitting out those two words in contempt.

Looking at that brilliant burst of a fireball in the sky, Chen Mu helplessly felt a bone-chilling sensation.

Just then, a body unexpectedly burst out of that fireball. Even Hugo couldn’t react for a while as he stared at his adversary disappearing into the horizon at an alarming rate.