The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu used up all 63 bottles of card ink, but his rate of success was still rather low. He succeeded in making six cards, bringing his success rate to nearly ten percent. But that was still progress from the day before.

Going through 105 bottles of ink had cost 500 million in materials. On average, that would mean one bottle was worth 1 million. Such huge consumption was giving Chen Mu some heartache, but he also understood it was a process he had to go through. Fortunately, while he was short of most everything at that time, he wasn’t short of money. Most of the more than 50 billion worth of materials he’d gotten from the Downstream Alliance were card making materials.

Chen Mu’s gains weren’t only in his rate of success. The high demands on perception for four-star cards included every aspect, such as strength, perceptual acuity, control, and so forth. Every time he made a card, Chen Mu got another training session. That further tempered the strange new perception in his body, making him slightly more familiar with it. His power progressed a little every time he finished making a card.

The difficulty of that training was huge, and there was a lot of it before Chen Mu was making rapid progress. After he had consumed those 63 bottles of card ink, Chen Mu was surprised he still had some strength left. Without his even knowing it, his perception had made a qualitative leap.

Since he was able to make cards at the same time as training his perception, he was essentially getting two for one. Chen Mu felt that his progress controlling his perception in just one day was significant. Thinking about that bit of progress costing 300 million Oudi, however, his excitement was mixed with pain. It could be called a kind of pained happiness.

* * *

Mobley was slowly manipulating the perception in his body, “holding” a glowing red ball in his hand. With no visible motion on his part, the glowing ball suddenly flew into quite a few bright red birds. Each one of them was just a bit bigger than a walnut. Each time a little red bird flew out, the ball on Mobley’s hand would get a little smaller.

The ball finally disappeared when the last bird flew out. There were then 20 small, bright red birds spinning merrily about his head. That beautiful scene made all the members of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team look at him in awe.

Mobley suddenly opened his eyes, and the small red birds whirling about the top of his head turned into 20 streams of light, which flew toward the target in front of him!

Pa! Pa! Pa!

The 20 streams of light hit the target in succession. Each of them easily pierced the target and turned back into red little birds afterward. They turned around and flew back, once again swirling merrily around the top of Mobley’s head.

Amazingly enough, there were 20 holes on the target in the shape of snowflakes, which was the logo of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team.

Mobley retracted his gaze, rather satisfied. His perceptual control had become somewhat more refined during that time. When power got to his point, it would be hard to advance it any further. During that time, he was enjoying a rare moment with no work to bother him, which had enabled him to devote himself to training and to get that little bit of progress.

As the number-one person in charge of a famous card artisan firm, he had a lot on his mind, and it was difficult to come across such a slice of leisure. Still, that sort of life was about to end.

Ah Zhe said, “All the goods we ordered will probably have arrived in three days.”

“That fast?” Mobley looked surprised, and the 20 little red birds under his control then made all sorts of fun maneuvers. If Xiaobo were there, he would certainly have found that those small birds of Mobley’s were similar to the birds he had demonstrated before. While the two were quite similar, they did have one essential difference. Mobley’s birds were beautiful, but they were deadly killing machines!

“Right. I didn’t think they would be that efficient, either. They customized some parts over the past little while, wanting to use them to increase production.” Smiling, Ah Zhe said, “We can finally move. Staying in this remote place where even birds don’t sh*t is depressing me.”

Mobley laughed. “It looks to me like you’re missing those women of yours. Still, this Pascal District really is a little remote. Who knows why the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm wants to stay here? But it would be worth it for the purple fluorescent ore.” As he was speaking, he was still manipulating those small birds.

Ah Zhe made a long, languid stretch, mumbling to himself, “I don’t have the energy to be concerned about his little card artisan firm. I don’t know if Ah Yu has gotten fat or not. She hasn’t got any heart or soul. Allie is a little better. She’s certainly gotten thin. The painting of Yue Qian was only half completed when I left. I wonder if it’s finished.”

Mobley cursed laughingly, “Man, you’re certainly going to die on a woman’s belly.”

Ah Zhe wasn’t going to disagree. He laughed and said, “Don’t be talking about me, Captain. That woman of yours is still your heart and soul. But I’m not sure she really appreciates it.”

The little birds fluttering in the air suddenly paused, and Mobley lost interest. He walked to the resting place to the side of the training ground and plopped into a seat. The little birds slowly dissipated in midair.

Ah Zhe gave a little smile and sat beside Mobley. The two of them had a great relationship and were as close as brothers. But since Mobley was older, he had always looked out for him. Ah Zhe also knew Mobley had such high standards that he wouldn’t even notice ordinary girls. It wasn’t easy for him to run into a woman who would stir him, though of course that implied both gains and losses.

Mobley spoke in a low voice. “Qing Qing is exquisite. She’s intelligent and quick-witted, just as tall as I am, and no one on the team is her equal. She’s also very knowledgeable, a good talker, and still gentle and soft. I don’t deserve her.”

“Ha ha, you sell yourself short, big brother! Who are you? You are none other than the captain of the great Snowflake Card Artisan Team!” Ah Zhe was smiling at first. Then, he turned a little puzzled. “Now that I think of it, I still don’t get that woman.”

Mobley laughed as all the haze disappeared from his face, and he patted Ah Zhe hard on the shoulder. “There’s finally a woman you don’t get!”

Ah Zhe shook his head. “Think about it, big brother. If it’s really the way you say it is, that lass Qing Qing is certainly extremely capable.”

“Right!” Mobley then said categorically, “Even though I haven’t seen the lass make any moves, I can describe her power in a word—unfathomable.”

Ah Zhe nodded and asked pointedly, “But how could such an impressive ace pop up out of nowhere, big brother? Have you inquired into Qing Qing’s background?”

Mobley’s expression turned a little serious. Ah Zhe wasn’t wrong in what he said; an ace at her level wouldn’t only have a hard time remaining unknown, but she would certainly have a track record. He then realized he had been ignoring an important issue.

“I did some investigating. There are quite a few card artisans named Qing Qing, but there are only five with a perceptual strength above level six. But I’ve already looked into those five. I’ve been thinking she might not be a Heavenly Drum Village District card artisan,” Ah Zhe said without expression.

Mobley remained silent, but he was listening closely to Ah Zhe’s analysis.

“A female card artisan with first-rate power and insight would never be so unknown. The most hard-to-find quality about Qing Qing is that the lass has such a generous temperament. No wonder my big brother likes her.”

“That’s right.” Mobley nodded. “She’s so easy-going that I don’t feel anything’s going to bother her.”

“I’m sure Qing Qing was born into a lot of wealth. Such an awesome person couldn’t have been educated by just any ordinary power.” Ah Zhe hesitated and took a look at Mobley before finally deciding to speak out about the conjecture on his mind. “In the entire federation, the most likely to have the ability to educate such a person as that lass Qing Qing would be a giant like one of the Big Six.”

Mobley raised his head at the realization, sparks shining from his tiger eyes. “Do you suspect she’s from the Big Six?”

“That’s the most likely possibility. You tell me, big brother; apart from the Big Six, who would dare to say they could advance our team’s power? Isn’t that what Qing Qing promised?” Ah Zhe retorted.

Mobley remained silent. After a long while, he said something else. “If she’s really from the Big Six, there’s nothing she couldn’t do. Why would she need our help?”

“That’s not for sure.” Ah Zhe’s smile turned a little cold. “The Heavenly Drum Village District is basically the realm of Moon Frost Island. If anyone else wants to get something done, they’d have to go around Moon Frost Island. We’re obviously not a bad choice.”

Mobley’s voice deepened. “What does she mean to do by finding us?”

“I don’t know.” Ah Zhe shook his head and glanced at Mobley, sighing to himself as he said, “It must be something big. She’s been throwing enough weight around, so she must be after something big. Still, so long as she doesn’t want us to attack Moon Frost Island, whatever the specifics are, we’ll have to see what she finally pulls off.”

He looked a Mobley with some concern. “Don’t worry, big brother. She hasn’t even shown her weakest card. It’s still too early to know what she’s thinking. Moreover, I certainly don’t believe she would have come just for us. Our relationship with her is nothing more than a collaboration.”

Mobley’s eyes grew lighter. Seeing Ah Zhe looking at him with a smile that didn’t seem like a smile, he couldn’t keep his face from reddening. “Don’t worry, Ah Zhe. No matter what, I’m not going to cause any harm for my private wants! The Snowflake Card Artisan Team is not going to decline under my watch.” When he said that last phrase, Mobley’s expression firmed up, and his voice resonated with power.

Ah Zhe resumed his languid look. “Ooh, ooh! I know! I know! I say, big brother, why don’t you come clean about Qing Qing to some other people…”

Mobley’s old face reddened again, and he stuck out his hand to grab Ah Zhe’s neck, rattling Ah Zhe’s speech to a halt.

Mobley’s gaze had become a little too complicated to understand.