The Card Apprentice

Bogner was clearly familiar with the federation’s geography. “There are quite a few routes, Boss. No—” He suddenly looked at the pile of people behind him and said in a low voice, “I’m afraid some of the Federation Comprehensive Academy people are following us. I’ve already discovered quite a few.”

“So, what’s your idea?” Chen Mu didn’t believe the experienced Bogner would be helpless regarding the matter.

Sure enough, Bogner had something in mind. Laughing, he said, “It’s not so hard, Boss. If we want to shake off the ones following us, there are quite a few ways to do it. One way would be to kill them, though that would be better not to use unless we had to. We might be tweaking the Federation Comprehensive Academy. Another way would be to mess with their nerves to cause them to make bad judgments. That would also be better not to use. There are too many of us, and we’re too striking. If we were to advance normally, we would have to constantly make transfers. Given the power of the Federation Comprehensive Academy, it would be trivial to find us. We might as well give ourselves up to them.”

“Oh. So, what do you think?”

“From our current position, we could enter the Outer Reaches. I know a route. It was opened by some smugglers, and the wild beasts along the way aren’t so fierce. It’s a long distance along that private route, and there are a lot of bases along the way. Many of those active there are card artisans who don’t belong to any power. They are called jungle card artisans, who are normally based in the Outer Reaches, from where they hunt for wild animals or seek raw materials to sell. If they encounter a lone card artisan, they are likely to do a little killing for loot. Even if it were a small team of card artisans, this gang would eat them up.”

Chen Mu said in surprise, “Aren’t they just local bandits?”

Bogner laughed. “They sure are bandits. It’s quite easy to kill someone in the Outer Reaches. Nobody is likely to pay any attention. No one can investigate it, and if they did, they wouldn’t find anything. The Outer Reaches are heaven for criminals. Those guys are halfway professional criminals. Relax, Boss; we have a lot of people, and they certainly won’t make any wild moves. But those little tails behind us are miserable. Those people don’t even care if you’re from the Big Six, ha ha. To repeat what everyone knows, there are a lot of fat takes from card artisans from the Big Six.” Bogner was sneering.

Chen Mu thought it over and actually found it to be a pretty good idea. Those 400 card artisans had never gone through a battle. They could use the real-world training.

Since it was decided, everyone immediately mobilized. They arrived at a store, where they bought some things they needed to enter the jungle. Only then did Chen Mu discover that Bogner was a specialist in the jungle all along. While he didn’t have the experience living in the jungle that Wei-ah did, he doubtlessly knew more about using tools. He bought a pile of strange things Chen Mu had never heard of.

They directly entered the jungle once their purchasing was complete.

By that time, their team was completely different from before. Right in the middle of the troops were five transport shuttles, which were packed with things like food and medicine.

In a flash, the entire team disappeared into the jungle.

* * *

Pa! He slapped a mosquito. But the ring of blood in his palm reminded him that he’d been bitten and how much blood he’d lost.

“Damn! Is that gang nuts? Drilling into the Outer Reaches?” One of the card artisans couldn’t help but complain. “I know now that the jungle is no place for people to hang out. I really don’t know if these guys took some bad drugs!”

He was full of resentment. They had suddenly entered the Outer Reaches from Hammond while following the team. It was unexpected to everyone. Some of them had to report up to the top while following closely behind.

Those people were subordinate agencies of the Federation Comprehensive Academy, who ordinarily trained how to track in the city and had basically never entered the Outer Reaches. In order to not lose them, they had had to brace themselves and follow. Once they did, they knew what a nightmare really was.

The sting was from a swarm of grass mosquitoes, which were more awesome than any card artisan. They could suck your blood right through your clothes. There were also locusts and ants. Once that kind of creature touched your skin, they would desperately drill into your flesh without your feeling it.

There was also danger underfoot covered in dead leaves, which looked identical to the swamps all around. Extremely poisonous snakes were as thick as a finger and incredibly lively. If you stepped on the nests of the gray ants under the leaves, your disaster would have just begun…

Of course, an energy cloak could solve a lot of issues, but the power cards they carried weren’t sufficient to maintain the energy cloaks all the time while they followed. Once the energy was used up, they would be on the road to death.

“Stop complaining. Those on top have already dispatched people used to the jungle. If they don’t get here this evening, I reckon they’ll be here in the morning and catch up with us. We can return as soon as we finish our job. It’s a life-and-death order from above; no matter what, we can’t lose them.” The card artisan had furrowed his brow to remind his comrade. He hadn’t thought the job would be so tricky, and a nameless feeling arose from his heart.

* * *

Ru Qiu was carefully stepping over the dead leaves, and she was full of curiosity as she looked around. It was her first time to enter the Outer Reaches. She had always heard how dangerous it was, but she now discovered it wasn’t as terrifying as she’d thought.

On the contrary, her eyes were filled with greenery you never saw in the city. The birds calling from time to time were like a happy tune, full of the wildness of nature. There were bright flowers everywhere, along with all kinds of unfamiliar fruits, which caused her curious eyes to widen.

Just like her, it was Sue Lochiro’s first time in the jungle, and she also looked full of curiosity. But she was a lot more restrained than Ru Qiu as she carefully stuck to Lu Xiaoru.

The card artisans on the edges had their apparatuses lit up. They were all using a kind of card called the bug repellant card. The bug repellant card had no lethal power, but it could emit a kind of infrasonic wave that was a powerful repellent for insects and snakes. Experienced card artisans entering the jungle would always carry a bug repellant card. It used little energy and could be deployed for a long time.

The card artisans out in front had a palm-sized screen floating in front of them, slanting downward, on which numbers were incessantly jumping around. The screen was always maintained at a set distance from the card artisan. To someone from outside, the screen looked like it was moving ahead of the card artisan.

What they were using was the air assessment card. It could detect the concentration of harmful gases in the air and provide the danger index of the current air. Once that crossed a tipping point, it would sound an alarm. That kind of card was quite unorthodox, and most of those who used it weren’t battle card artisans but were mining card artisans.

However, it was extremely effective for use in the jungle. Apart from the terrifying beasts, there were also toxic, invisible miasmas in the jungle. Once you breathed those in, you could die right away. Especially while entering strange jungles, the air assessment card was irreplaceable.

Bogner’s endless cards made Chen Mu gape-mouthed and speechless. He had never thought there would be so many auxiliary cards to use. Those cards could really increase the rate of survival for a card artisan in the jungle.

Seeing Bogner tooling along as though he knew the way reminded him of the so-called jungle card artisans he had been talking about, and Chen Mu really wondered if Bogner had been one of them.

Xi Ping was also thinking along the lines of Chen Mu, though he and Bogner normally dealt with one another a lot more; they spoke more casually. “Were you once a bandit, old Bogs? Uh, then there’s that jungle card artisan something-or-other. Very skilled in the profession!”

Bogner shook his head. “No, I don’t like halfway professional guys.”

Just then, Bogner saw the time and said to Chen Mu, “Let’s rest a bit, Boss.”

Chen Mu nodded. “Ok.” Bogner’s command was professional along their way, precisely grasping the pace of their march. Chen Mu didn’t feel he could have done it any better, so he’d simply let Bogner lead.

The troops immediately stopped, and a few of the card artisans consciously scattered to stand guard. Each of the small groups pulled out a strangely shaped card appliance, which was also something Bogner must have purchased in Hammond. The card appliance was composed of two parts: On top was a soft, horn-shaped opening, which was stretched out to 20 centimeters in diameter, and the bottom was a flexible water sack that could hold three liters of water.

Pressing the button made the surrounding air quickly concentrate on the horn, and you could clearly see the misty water vapor. It was a condensing card appliance, the core card of which was a high-efficiency, suction-based refrigeration card. It could absorb and concentrate the water vapor in the air, turning it into pure water. It had a limited use in ordinary places. However, if you were in the jungle, where the density of the water vapor was several orders of magnitude higher than in other places, its utility was perfectly obvious. The condenser didn’t have very advanced technology, but when used properly, it was an efficient and convenient card appliance.

Whether it was the bug repellant card, the air assessment card, or the condenser, the prices were all quite low. Their utility, however, went far beyond their prices.

A card artisan suddenly came over quietly to report, “We’ve found some guys following us, Boss. There are seven of them, and they don’t seem to be in good condition.”

Take care of them! That was the first thought that popped into Chen Mu’s head. The feeling of being followed was like someone constantly staring at your back, which would always be unsettling.

“It’s easy to take care of, Boss.” Bogner was showing his signature bunch of white teeth.