The Card Apprentice

Corpses were all over the place, and the air was permeated by the thick and pungent reek of blood. The ground was dotted with countless charred pits. The dark-faced, burly man was covered in blood and in the midst of battling the last mille-feuilles flying locust.

The mille-feuilles flying locust seemed to understand, too, that Mo Ta was already past his prime and close to the end, so it was merely toying with him. Mo Ta’s reaction speed was much slower than before, and he took in breath in huge puffs. Only the ruthless hostility in his eyes remained much the same.

The golden-yellow energy chain was lusterless, and half of it had already vanished. Is there not much energy left in the energy card in the apparatus, or has his perception already been used up? Chen Mu was secretly making guesses. Looking once more at the scattered bodies of the wild beasts, he couldn’t help but gasp.

That dark-faced, burly man was so powerful! The bodies of the wild beasts on the ground weren’t just common goods. Dingbirds, mille-feuilles flying locusts, snow wasps—they were each infamous. If Chen Mu had been in his shoes, he admittedly couldn’t have possibly managed that feat.

Though Mo Ta had relied on his overbearing power to wipe out most of the crowd of beasts, he himself had been severely injured. The most serious was a cut on his back deep enough to show the bone, almost dividing his back into two. The next was his shoulder, badly mutilated. Blood trickled down along his arm, looking as terrifying as could be.

He was the only one still standing on the battlefield. The other card artisans had all perished. A trace of grief flashed through Mo Ta’s eyes. It would be difficult to avoid a complete annihilation of the whole gang.

He had carried out innumerable missions, but not once had it gone so poorly. Mission? He recalled the current mission with a jolt. That mysterious ace! Mo Ta’s feverish head seemed to have been doused with a basin of ice-cold water.

How could I have forgotten him? That guy had been the starting point of everything! The enemy had long disappeared, however. Looking at the corpses of his companions littered on the ground, a bout of hatred arose from his heart instantly.

An unnaturally vivid red appeared on Mo Ta’s face as he shouted hoarsely, “Come out, you coward!”

Mo Ta’s sudden bellow gave the mille-feuilles flying locust a fright. It shrank back abruptly and put some distance between itself and Mo Ta.

Is he referring to me? Chen Mu wondered to himself with some suspicion as he lay in hiding. Suspicions were just suspicions, and he wasn’t silly enough to jump out at that point in time. Once a card artisan staked his life on it, it would be extremely scary. Wouldn’t it be even more so with a card artisan overbearingly powerful like that dark-faced, burly man?

If he were to implode… The mere thought of it sent a shiver down Chen Mu’s spine.

No reply came from the surrounding area, and the ruthless hostility in Mo Ta’s eyes increased. He knew the adversary was lying low and might deal him a fatal blow at any time. The adversary’s tactics were simply inconceivable, and Mo Ta wasn’t actually as angry at heart as he appeared to be.

It seems like I’m going to be buried here today. Once the thought popped into his mind, the anger in his heart seemed to evaporate in an instant. He felt an unfounded relief. To be defeated at the hands of that kind of adversary, there was no grievance in his death. Having licked the blood off blades for so many years, he had long been mentally prepared for his fate.

The adversary’s tactics drew Mo Ta’s endless admiration. How did he manage to attract such a crowd of dangerous beasts in one go? After all, every type of creature had their own territory; if he had attracted one or two, he wouldn’t have been so surprised. However, the adversary actually managed to lure dozens of them in one go. It was incredible!

That had been the root cause of their failure. Besides, the tactic with which the adversary escaped from the scene of battle had also left Mo Ta a deep impression. Wave-shaped, high-frequency evasion—how amazing a battle tactic!

To lose at the hands of such an adversary, he had nothing to say. How could he know the adversary had not done it deliberately? But, even if he knew, he had no solution. The adversary’s managing to attract such a mass of powerful beasts, plus having a great flying technique, had destined that result. Their strength in numbers had become their weakest point at that moment.

As though it had discovered Mo Ta’s thoughts were elsewhere, the crafty mille-feuilles flying locust suddenly attacked! Dozens of tentacles abruptly shot at Mo Ta from various directions, piercing the air with a crack!

The sound interrupted Mo Ta’s thoughts. Seeing the tentacles sweeping and shooting toward him, a trace of vehemence flashed across his eyes! His feet stumbled, and Mo Ta laughed bitterly to himself. In his usual state, he could avoid such attacks with ease. At that moment, however, his legs were as heavy as lead and didn’t have the strength for even a single stride.

Innumerable tentacles stabbed into Mo Ta’s body, and his face gradually showed signs of pain. But that pair of eyes was filled with ruthlessness! The remaining half of the energy whip in his hands jumped up abruptly like a poisonous snake and deftly entangled the mille-feuilles flying locust.

The mille-feuilles flying locust chirped in panic, and the little wings all over its body were flapping madly. It, too, sensed danger.

Mo Ta, whose whole body was pierced with tentacles, grinned, and blood foam dripped from the corner of his mouth. Indistinctly through the blood foam, he managed to shout, “Explode!”

The mille-feuilles flying locust entangled by the golden-yellow energy chain disintegrated into countless pieces with a bang. The energy chain turned into a shower of golden-yellow fragments of light and faded away, and Mo Ta, too, fell face-up at the same time.

The fallen Mo Ta gazed vacantly up at the dense foliage, clustered and bunched together, sensing the icy coldness from the fallen snow and the flowing of blood incessantly draining his body of life.

Precisely at that moment, there was an abrupt thump like muffled thunder.

Mo Ta smiled—you’ve finally made a move.

Just before his view went black, Mo Ta’s heart was full of praise. Still so cautious even at this moment! He was suddenly a little hopeful. What surprise will this fellow bring the boss and the other team leaders? It’s a pity I won’t be able to see it…

Chen Mu stepped out of the darkness. Seeing the corpses littered everywhere, he didn’t feel much of the joy at heart of having survived a calamity. However, he quickly put aside his emotions. The forest, with dangers from all around, was not a good place to be melancholic. He began rummaging through the personal effects of those card artisans. His first target was the dark-faced, burly man. He was full of curiosity about the card that could release an energy chain.

Chen Mu removed all of the cards in Mo Ta’s apparatus. He removed not only those, but also everything on him. Waste had always been a vice loathed by Chen Mu. Therefore, as expected, he searched all of the card artisans. That probing card of Ah Xin’s once again impressed him. Restraining the urge to study it right then and there with great difficulty, he put it into his own card case.

Chen Mu looked at the 30 silver cards placed before him. They were divided by a black centerline into two, and a serial number was on the lower right corner of every card. Beneath the serial numbers were the symbols of stars. Some had one star, some had two, and the bottom right corner of the silver card found on the dark-faced, burly man had three stars.

What cards are these? Every card artisan had one on him. Chen Mu’s first idea was that they were similar to cards that proved one’s identity.

Regardless, Chen Mu knew he needed to leave at once. The reek of blood there was too strong, and many wild beasts would soon swarm the area.

Carefully flying in the forest, it wasn’t long before Chen Mu suddenly became aware of a problem. He had felt puzzled all along. Why are there so many powerful beasts here? That phenomenon, which went glaringly against common knowledge, baffled him. His heart wavered. Hesitating for a moment, he changed direction and flew toward the area where he had attracted the throng of beasts earlier.

Thankfully, the multitude of beasts had left many marks while pursuing Chen Mu. Otherwise, in that place where north, east, south, and west were hard to discern, finding the place where the beasts had been lured earlier would have been simply the delusion of a fool.

That time, Chen Mu didn’t run into a single wild beast.

Carefully recalling the place where the throng of beasts had charged out from, he began searching the forest cautiously. He didn’t know why those beasts had gathered together, but a phenomenon so against the conventional made him very suspicious. He vaguely sensed there must be something peculiar.

The surrounding area was utterly silent; apart from the howling of the wind, nothing else could be heard.

Soon, Chen Mu discovered that the marks on the ground were increasing, which lifted his spirits. He hadn’t found the wrong direction! As he went onward, the marks on the ground kept increasing, rather shocking Chen Mu. Now that I think about it, my luck is actually pretty good. If it wasn’t for the accidental luring of beasts precisely in this area, I probably would have died at the hands of that gang of card artisans.

The curiosity in his heart was getting stronger still. A little farther on, large amounts of battle traces began to appear. The snow on the ground was a mess, wounds were all over the tree trunks, and there were broken branches and fallen leaves everywhere.

Suddenly, Chen Mu stopped dead, and his gaze was turned to somewhere not far off.

A little hot spring no more than five meters in diameter was sending up clouds of heated white mists. Speaking of oddities, the fallen snow around the little hot spring had suffered no damage.

The appearance of a hot spring in the forest wasn’t really a thing worth puzzling over. Hot springs were typically produced by geothermal heat. In the vast expanse covered by the forest, a few geothermal hot springs were indeed normal.

Yet, that little hot spring had firmly attracted Chen Mu’s gaze.

Energy fluctuations! Strong energy fluctuations!

Chen Mu sensed incredibly strong energy fluctuations from the hot spring in front of him. Such energy fluctuations were so intense that they could measure up to those generated when that dark-faced, burly man had used the energy chain to trigger explosions.

How did this happen?

Chen Mu approached the hot spring with great caution. The mist blocked his view, but thankfully his perception was sensitive to tangible objects.

There were no living creatures in the hot spring! That allowed Chen Mu to heave a sigh of relief; what he feared most at present was to run into some unknown organism. An unknown organism meant unknown abilities, which was undoubtedly quite dangerous. Moreover, creatures that survived there couldn’t possibly be weak. Just the chance of such an organism being there meant the level of danger was rising further.

Though he discovered no creature in the hot spring, Chen Mu was still very much on guard. Such intense energy fluctuations were really the height of peculiarity.

Carefully and cautiously, he came to the side of the hot spring. The clear spring water showed everything in full view, yet Chen Mu’s gaze seemed to have been attracted by a magnet and couldn’t be shifted away in the slightest.