The Card Apprentice

“All present, Master.” A card artisan made a respectful sign toward Tang Hanpei.

Tang Hanpei took a look at the time and nodded. “Move out.”

“Yes, sir!”

Five card artisans flew off in five different directions, disappearing into the vast night in the blink of an eye.

Standing at the highest point in the newly purchased base and overlooking the expansive jungle along with the indistinct lights from the region of Pomelo, Tang Hanpei resembled a statue. He looked on silently with a gloomy haze in his eyes as thick as the unending night.

The night breeze blew open his robe, which danced along with the long hair at his temples. He closed his eyes to feel the cool of the breeze on his face, his expression ever so gradually transforming. By the time he opened his eyes again, all of his gloomy haze had been swept away. His clenched lips showed none of his normal mildness but were firm—as firm as a sharp knife!

There was a rumbling sound, and the ground under his feet suddenly started to shake! The scale of the rocking in the base made it nearly impossible to stand. Tang Hanpei had removed the roof and slowly flew into the sky to see into the distance.

All of Pomelo was quaking—and quaking violently! Buildings kept toppling, roiling up endless dust while the originally sparse lights were extinguished one by one. The jungle around Pomelo was seriously impacted as patch after patch of the woods toppled in the quaking. The stunned beasts would give out terrified squeals from time to time, and all sorts of birds left their nests in a panic, circling darkly into the sky.

All of the card artisans departed the base into the sky, floating behind Tang Hanpei. They were arranged in orderly ranks, silently upright with determined looks.

“Are you afraid?” Tang Hanpei’s calm voice followed the wind into everyone’s ears.

They puffed out their chests instinctually and replied in loud voices, “We are not afraid, Master.”

“Then fight!”

In the dark, Tang Hanpei looked at the Central Repository of the Classics encampment with indifference, a cold glint in his eyes.

“We will follow you to death, Master!” the card artisans behind him vowed, their voices seeming to have come from the depths of their chests, deep and powerful! That night would be something they would never forget.

Tang Hanpei, the flagbearer of the Federation Comprehensive Academy, had brazenly deployed the weapon of mass destruction battle card, the Geomagnetic Charge, which had caused the severe quaking in all of Pomelo. Both the Central Repository of the Classics and Faya had heavy casualties.

Earlier, in order to open the transit routes into Pomelo, they had arrayed a lot of manpower. The card artisans who were in the middle of working were all buried alive, not one surviving. Not only that, but the quaking had utterly destroyed the underground environment around Pomelo. It had become impossible to even think about getting through the transit tunnels. Even the deeply buried communications lines had been destroyed in the disaster without exception.

The jungles on the edge of Pomelo were also heavily damaged, and the geography was changed beyond restoration. Because of the quakes, the crazed, shocked beasts ran pell-mell to the periphery. That led to a dense band of beasts forming with Pomelo as its center, utterly cutting Pomelo off from the outside world. If anyone were to try breaking through that band of beasts, the price they would pay would be several times higher than before. Pomelo had been transformed into a truly isolated city!

Tang Hanpei’s crazed move had shocked the federation! No one understood why he would do that.

The geomagnetic charge card was in the category of a weapon of mass destruction; its power was massive. It could disrupt the underground structures in a region and was certainly able to cause earthquakes. However, given how powerful it was, it was difficult to set off. It required a card artisan with a perceptual strength above level five to launch, and the one who launched it had a 70 percent chance of being killed.

Every academy organized their experts to develop a plan in the shortest time possible, finally getting a unanimous and horrifying result—Tang Hanpei had set off at least five Geomagnetic Charges at the same time. Wanting to achieve such a terrifying result, those five Geomagnetic Charge attack sites had been rigorously laid out.

That confirmed what everyone had guessed: it was a premeditated and meticulously planned action.

The reactions of the Central Repository of the Classics and Faya were the most violent. They immediately dispatched extremely large-scale troops of card artisans that were prepared to traverse the jungle to rescue their card artisans already deployed in the city.

No one found the response of the Central Repository of the Classics to be strange. Whether it was Qiao Yuan or Mi Xiaqing, they were the biggest heavyweights of the Central Repository of the Classics. If both of them were hobbled at the same time, it would a huge blow to their academy.

But Faya’s reaction was beyond what anyone had expected, and it inevitably led to some guessing. Could Faya have some heavyweight in Pomelo?

The Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple presidents both called Pavchek at the first opportunity. They questioned him repeatedly. Pavchek became enraged for his first time at an internal leadership meeting. He denounced his own proud disciple.

Facing the accusations of all of the powers as well as the populous, the Federation Comprehensive Academy could only remain silent. They couldn’t even guess what Tang Hanpei really wanted to do.

No one knew what Tang Hanpei was thinking, just as no one knew what was going on in Pomelo!

Chen Mu and his party were continuing through the jungle, cut off from the outside world as well. Of course, they didn’t know something so huge had developed in Pomelo.

Chen Mu’s head was full just then, having gone through the battle against the wolves. The morale of the new recruits had plummeted. Chen Mu and Bogner hadn’t realized the first battle they would run into would be so violent. Their luck wouldn’t have been considered so good.

Plus, some weaknesses had been exposed with the tactics of the set of cards. They weren’t suited to dynamic warfare since they required three people to remain in sync. While it was extremely powerful for positional warfare, the tactical requirements for the team members were extremely high. The card artisans didn’t need a lot of strength, but their tactical qualities and compatibility certainly had to be outstanding.

Another bothersome aspect was that if the card artisan responsible for energy output in a fighting unit were wounded, the fighting unit would be wasted.

Two of the issues they confronted couldn’t be resolved. They were determined by the peculiar nature of the tactics for that set of cards. In that world, there were never any faultless tactics.

Chen Mu and Bogner discussed the final issue for a long time and were able to reach a compromise of sorts. The one who had been the second in firepower among the original three would no longer be required to simultaneously learn energy output. He would be designated the fighting unit’s sub; no matter who was wounded, he could replace them. Although he wouldn’t have as much power as the other two paired people, he could insure the team wouldn’t become a dud. In ordinary circumstances, the existence of a substitute would improve the cross-locking-in and could greatly improve their hit rate.

He knew Bogner had some way to resolve the issue of morale. He didn’t intervene in that matter since specialized things should be turned over to the specialists.

By comparison to before, Chen Mu was a lot more relaxed. Most of the time, he paid attention to the materials in the Outer Reaches. He still considered himself a card master in his bones. But because they were still on the fringes of the jungle, the materials were all pretty ordinary and far from comparable with those of the Moqi Clan’s village.

Suddenly thinking of Alfonso and the rest in the underground city, he realized he hadn’t connected with them since getting cut off the last time. He felt stirred, so he told Bogner and Xi Ping he’d be leaving. He and Wei-ah went off a short distance.

Wei-ah had the fleshy dog in his arms and asked, not quite understanding, “What are we doing?”

“We’re going to connect with Alfonso and the rest.” Chen Mu then took out the thousand kilometer card and the signal transmitter. Wei-ah’s rock-like expression finally showed a little emotion, still having a lot of feelings for the Moqi Clan—especially for that little devil Li Duhong.

They still hadn’t left the Ming Zheng District, and their connection with the underground city hadn’t been cut off. If they were to wait until they got to the Heavenly Drum Village District, they would be too far away from the underground city, and he reckoned the thousand kilometer card wouldn’t be able to connect.

“Mr. Teacher!” Alfonso’s voice was overjoyed. “You were suddenly cut off last time, and we were never able to connect afterward. We were all left hanging. We could only guess you might have run into some trouble. Everyone has been desperately training, hoping to be able to help you out. Now we’re just glad to know nothing’s wrong!” Alfonso rattled off a ton of stuff in a single breath.

Chen Mu felt warmed, and he couldn’t help but grin as he calmly listened to what Alfonso was saying.

Not until Alfonso finished did Chen Mu ask how things were with them. Everyone had been getting along quite well in the underground city, training madly every day. Alfonso had organized the youths Chen Mu had led there, and they had been incessantly researching some of the things within the “System.” They called it research, but it was actually mostly study.

Still, they had figured out a few little tricks. It was too bad they couldn’t show Chen Mu, which Alfonso clearly regretted.

Then, Li Duhong was called over, and Wei-ah asked how his training was going with a cold face. The normally bizarre Li Duhong was completely compliant in front of Wei-ah and completely honest. He clearly understood that Uncle Wei-ah truly cared for him.

Chen Mu didn’t bring up anything about materials. He knew the possibility of getting back to the underground city from the Heavenly Drum Village District was about nil, and he didn’t want to let Alfonso and the rest waste any energy on his behalf.

But he did transfer some knowledge he thought would be useful for Alfonso and the rest. Chen Mu’s current ability was far beyond what it had been, and his insights in all aspects had been broadened quite a bit. His understanding of cards had also become a lot more profound. Although he didn’t know if Alfonso and the rest could understand it, he still transmitted everything he knew without hesitating.

He hoped those people, who truly did care for him, would be able to get by a little better! That was a simple wish.

Wei-ah also set up more content for them to advance their training. Wei-ah’s methods were straightforward, but they always required endless, persistent repetition. If someone didn’t have great perseverance, there would be no way to complete them. That was something Chen Mu had plenty of experience with.

Chen Mu and Wei-ah finally returned to the troops. Bogner and Xi Ping were clearly relieved, and the rest of the troops showed more relaxed expressions.

Chen Mu didn’t quite recognize he was the true core of those troops. Although he didn’t normally take charge, he had been influencing everyone around him without even realizing it.