The Card Apprentice

Among those under Chen Mu were Lu Xiaoru, the bar-browed man, Crow Feather, Happy Padding, and Lucky Xi. They had been making the fastest progress—especially Lu Xiaoru. Her strength had been somewhat beneath that of the bar-browed man, but ever since Chen Mu had explained the secrets of the sound beam card to her, the increase to her strength had been the most rapid.

Among all of them, only she had gotten that treatment. All the others had had to hone their skills with their cards by themselves.

The bar-browed man was an exception. Chen Mu hadn’t made many changes to his card, but the guy was a thoroughgoing battle genius. Especially in the circumstance of training with so many aces, his abilities surged rapidly. Of course, the other important reason was that Wei-ah seemed to have taken a shine to him and had occasionally been giving him a few pointers.

When it came to Crow Feather and the others, who were truly the most outstanding among the group, the speed of their advance was of course quite steady.

None were more miserable than the three card artisans who Bogner had intended to give Chen Mu as bodyguards. Every time he saw their sullen looks, Bogner would inwardly hold his breath. The amount of their training was the most among any of them.

The two among them who were defensive card artisans had already become pure tortoise-style card artisans. They deployed energy cloaks superbly, and the freakishness of their defensive capability was utterly frightening. How would it not be frightening to take the incessant bombing from their colleagues every day? The close-combat card artisan among the three had been the most tortured; he had been sparring to the point that he wished he were dead.

The strength of each of those 22 card artisans had shot up one or two levels. Although Bogner was sullen every day, he was inwardly blooming with happiness.

Their transformation was obvious to Jiao Si, who was watching in secret. His vision was quite shrewd, and he had rich educational experience. He could see at a glance how the card artisans’ abilities would continually advance every day.

Although his expression remained the same, he was inwardly surprised. Unlike the students he’d brought with him, those card artisans should have been set in their ways. Even if they were to progress, it should have been extremely slowly. But those card artisans were progressing at a speed beyond what anyone could have imagined. That utterly destroyed his accumulated experience across dozens of years.

Reasonably speaking, such an explosive increase should have appeared among those young card artisans who weren’t yet set in their ways. However, most of these card artisans were unorthodox and followed an untamed path. Unlike the sects within the academies, most of the unorthodox card artisans came from card artisan firms or were cultivated among local powers. Card artisans who were cultivated like that didn’t often have a solid foundation, though because of their previous rich battle experience, they were still awesome compared to the card artisans from sects in the academies. Still, their stamina was quite lacking.

The card artisans in front of him seemed to have broken the convention. It was his first time ever to see unorthodox card artisans at that level who could still demonstrate explosive improvement. What he had found most inconceivable was that it wasn’t some individual exception—they all collectively advanced.

There were so many things about that base that went beyond common sense! Every time he thought of those, he would always feel how inscrutable that youthful master was. A card artisan doubling as a card master? How had he done that?

He would have been an underclassman in the Origins Academy at such an age. As young as he was, to be able to establish such a foundation was something Jiao Si couldn’t help but admire.

The two commanders under him weren’t such simple people either. Bogner had a mysterious past, and he still hadn’t found out where that shaman was really from, although it seemed he must have heard of him somewhere. He was absolutely one tough character. Whether it was his occasional show of grandeur or his endless moves, it would all be frightening.

There was also Xi Ping, who was such an experienced manager. Jiao Si couldn’t quite understand how some furry-headed kid not yet 20 could have someone near 40 with such rich experience in managing affairs so willing to work for him.

Those two talents both turned Jiao Si’s eyes red with jealousy.

Then, there were the construction card artisans who had been able to build the Starfish Fortresses. He had contacted them. Although Borna, who was their lead, was very respectful, he politely refused his inducements. They only seemed to trust Bogner.

“Headmaster.” Ru Qiu broke into Jiao Si’s thoughts.

Jiao Si was startled, though his expression relaxed seeing that it was Ru Qiu. “Little Qiu, how are you? What have you learned recently?”

“Mmmm!” Ru Qiu nodded forcefully. “I’ve learned how to make the folding Yanbo card!”

Jiao Si was overjoyed. “You learned how to do it? Excellent! Now there’s one more legacy for our school!” The biggest reason he had agreed to come forward to help was to score the method to make it.

Ru Qiu was biting her lip. She hesitated before saying, “But, Headmaster, even though I’ve learned how to make it, I still haven’t realized its principles. It is completely different from the card systems I’ve previously studied.” Saying that, Ru Qiu was on the verge of tears. She knew how high the expectations of the headmaster and professors were toward her. She had spent so much time without gaining anything, which made her feel awful.

Seeing Ru Qiu looking so unhappy, Jiao Si couldn’t help but sigh to himself, knowing they had been putting too much pressure on her. At root, she wasn’t more than a girl. When he thought of that, he couldn’t help but speak comfortingly. “Don’t be upset, Little Qiu; take it easy, and don’t worry about it. After we get back, we’ll gather up all the aces of the entire school to research it. Anyhow, as long as you can make the folding Yanbo card, we won’t have come in vain. Ha ha, you rest for a few days, and don’t wear out your brain. Otherwise, your professors will have to break my weary bones!”

Seeming to have realized the professor was covering for her, Ru Qiu stopped her tears and smiled, though her eyes were still red.

Seeing Ru Qiu’s face relax, Jiao Si felt a lot better. The mysteries surrounding Chen Mu got much deeper, however. Where did that young guy come from?

* * *

Wang Ze and Yin Chenjiu were so busy they had no time to rest, and it wasn’t only the two of them; everyone was unusually busy. Word had gotten out that the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple card artisans were treating everyone for free, and there were lots of the civilians gathering there.

With the Star Academy and Bitter Solitude Temple card artisans there, it was safe in the minds of the ordinary civilians. So long as they were still alive, the civilians were swarming to the base.

In the space of a day, the civilians in the area had increased to 200,000. The terrain was all black looking off into the distance. The card artisans from the two academies maintained order conscientiously. Under those conditions, no one would dare to be disorderly.

Still, there was another issue giving Wang Ze a headache that they could do nothing about—the lack of food. With so many gathered there, food had become their biggest problem.

The problem of water supply had been resolved under Bogner’s suggestion. Wang Ze had borrowed Borna and his construction card artisans. With their help, they dug out several hundred deep artesian wells in a single breath.

But Bogner couldn’t do anything about the problem of food either. Although the base had reserves of food, they were no more than a drop in a bucket for 200,000 people.

Looking around and seeing all the hungry and pale civilians, Wang Ze had a heavy heart. Seeing his scowl, Yin Chenjiu tried to console him. “Don’t overthink it, Ah-Ze. Things will sort themselves out. We’ve done our best with a clear conscience.”

Struggling to smile, Wang Ze said in a gloomy tone, “When we were at the school, I always thought I should have grand ambitions, as though I were really shouldering some burden. But now, I find that we are still too lazy and not capable enough. Look at these wells. If Bogner hadn’t alerted us, we would never have thought of that solution.”

Yin Chenjiu had opened his mouth to console him, but he didn’t know what to say.

“Just look at this base. I don’t think it’s inferior to the bases our school has in the Outer Reaches. Although they only opened the first floor to us, even the first floor is very well-arranged and has many unique aspects. Just look at how efficient they are. In only one hour, they provided some scenarios for improvement, and they built them in five hours. Have you ever seen such efficiency anywhere else?” Wang Ze smiled coldly. “In the school, they sit at the bottom of a well looking at the sky, always thinking the Big Six are invincible. I dare say this kind of efficiency is something we couldn’t achieve in the school.”

Yin Chenjiu forced a laugh. “You’re inflating someone else’s ambitions. The people in the school wouldn’t necessarily not achieve it either.”

“Right!” Wang Ze took a deep sigh. “They wouldn’t necessarily not achieve it. Enough of that talk. We should be careful on their base, and alert those guys under us. They are all haughty, and they shouldn’t create any conflicts with the people in the base. I’ve always felt I couldn’t quite discern the power of this base. Again, this is someone else’s site; if we create any conflicts, we’ll be the ones to take a loss.”

Yin Chenjiu nodded with a serious expression. “Don’t worry, Ah-Ze; I’ll look out for them. To tell the truth, I can’t quite read this base either. I find it strange that reasonably speaking, with the base being here, why wouldn’t Tang Hanpei and the rest know about it?”

“Mmmm, that is very suspicious.” Wang Ze’s eyes flashed, and a determined look arose on his face. “I’ll look for Jing in a while. The two of us can pay a visit to Master Tang Hanpei and Master Qiao Yuan. If they allow these civilians to be in the Outer Reaches like this, it won’t take more than a few days before half of them are dead.”

Yin Chenjiu was startled. “Isn’t that a little rash, Ah-Ze?”

“Don’t worry; Masters Tang Hanpei and Qiao Yuan aren’t going to argue with us younger generations.” Wang Ze smiled naturally, though there was a glint in his eyes.

Thinking about it, Yin Chenjiu was still a little worried. “Why don’t I go with you? Again, if you were to allow these people into the city, they wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it. Although it’s dangerous here in the Outer Reaches, it’s still a little safer than in the city.”

Wang Ze shook his head and said with a determined attitude, “You’ll have to stay here and watch over these people. I’ll request them to divide out a safe area to place the civilians in. The storehouses in the city ought to still have a lot of supplies they haven’t yet been able to move over, and we can leave the food for them on top.”

Yin Chenjiu was stumped for words. “And get the attention of all the local powers?”

“Mmmm, by this time, we might as well offend them.” Wang Ze had an indifferent expression.

“Not bad. That’s actually a pretty good idea. But I don’t know if the two of them are likely to agree. And what about Faya?” Yin Chenjiu asked.

“The two bosses will certainly agree. As for Faya, if they dare make any trouble, humph!” Wang Ze groaned.

After thinking about it, Yin Chenjiu was put at ease.