The Card Apprentice

Could he defeat Tang Hanpei? Chen Mu really wanted to express his own profound disbelief, but when he looked at those emotionless eyes of Caesar’s, he discreetly swallowed what he was going to say. But Caesar still clearly saw the noncommittal attitude revealed in his eyes.

“What’s not to believe, kid? The things I’ve been refining for these past few years, hmph! They aren’t necessarily deficient from Tang Hanpei!” His voice exuded pride.

Caesar continued on coldly, “While your perception isn’t quite the same as my Materials Refinement Code, it’s pretty close. You’ll still be able to use most of the things. Yeah, and although your perception isn’t quite so overbearing as mine, the good part is that it won’t harm your body so much. The critical thing is your youth!” Caesar was clearly most satisfied with that aspect. “Ha ha! Do you know what the biggest asset of a card artisan is, kid? Legacies? Cards? It’s none of those. It’s youth! Everything’s possible so long as you’re still young!”

Although Caesar was laughing heartily, Chen Mu still detected a sense of self-pity in his voice. He looked at Caesar’s mask, noticing it didn’t cover his gray sideburns. Chen Mu was deeply moved when he thought of someone so wild and super strong still constantly struggling against fate while still losing out to time without even realizing it.

“Of course, there would be something in it for you for me to make you do such a dangerous thing,” Caesar said firmly. “Don’t think I want to scare you. Although your perception hasn’t quite made good, you had no one to guide you, and there are a few areas where you haven’t been practicing right. Those little issues aren’t a big obstacle by now. By the time your perception is more powerful, however, you’ll really suffer for it.”

He once again harrumphed and said, “It’s not that I’m boasting; not even a few in the entire federation are as strong as I am about perception. Even I still have no way to fully practice the Materials Refinement Code. Having been riddled with serious wounds for so many years, the sweat and blood I’ve spent in that regard is beyond any calculation. Ha ha! That’s about all I have to say.”

Hearing that, Chen Mu was moved. He knew what Caesar said wasn’t wrong. There were many aspects of the extreme training method in the mysterious card that he had groped his way through recklessly. If he were to have said there were no problems, Chen Mu wouldn’t have believed it anyhow. Caesar was so well-known that he couldn’t even quite conceive of such fame. But, as far as how powerful Caesar was, he had just personally had a taste of it. Chen Mu didn’t have the slightest doubt about that.

Still, Chen Mu didn’t actually ask any questions about perception but asked something else instead. “What if I don’t beat Tang Hanpei?”

Caesar was taken aback, not having thought that after he had said so many good things, the first thing Chen Mu would ask would be that question. He laughed and said with some appreciation, “You’re not bad, kid! Let’s do this. I’m not saying anything about you beating Tang Hanpei, but I am requiring that you go to the Federation Comprehensive Academy to issue a challenge to Tang Hanpei within five years, even without regard to whether you win or lose. How about it?”

“Within five years?” Chen Mu didn’t quite feel he could be up to the level of Tang Hanpei within five years. He was no genius. Furthermore, if one was talking about geniuses, who was more of a genius than Tang Hanpei? He shook his head and said blandly, “I can’t beat him in five years.”

Caesar sighed. “Whether or not I can survive another five years is still an issue. In any case, I don’t want to be beaten, either. I only want for you to have a fight with him. How about it?”

Chen Mu weighed it for a moment before finally nodding. “Okay.” Since there was no issue of winning or losing but simply issuing a challenge to Tang Hanpei, he wasn’t actually so afraid. Anyway, if worse came to worst and he were to concede when the time came, he didn’t feel there would be anything humiliating about it.

Caesar still didn’t look too happy, only nodding and not wasting any words. “Mmmm. Let me talk a little about your perception first.”

Caesar then started to point out a few things about Chen Mu’s perception. Caesar’s understanding of perception was extremely impressive, for sure. Chen Mu had been puzzled about quite a few areas, and Caesar could use perfectly clear language to easily provide an explanation. He could point out the hidden damage to Chen Mu’s perception piece by piece and could then provide a way to resolve them. Sometimes, his smooth explanations could even give Chen Mu a feeling of things becoming clear all at once.

Having a teacher or not was completely different from having a good teacher or not, after all. Chen Mu couldn’t repress a strong feeling as he thought over those geniuses in the Big Six. They certainly did have a lot of talent, but their superior learning environment and conditions gave them a much better chance of winning right from the starting line.

The pointers Caesar gave him took a whole two hours. Caesar didn’t have the least bit of his tyrannical bloodlust during that time but was like a mentor, full of wisdom and erudition. Chen Mu tried hard to remember it all since he knew how hard that opportunity was to get. He firmly memorized every explanation Caesar gave, afraid he might not understand it when he needed to. He didn’t dare to be lax.

During those two hours, not a single person came along that huge road, and no one disturbed the two of them. Chen Mu felt like his mind was suddenly packed full of things, making him dizzy and light-headed. But he still didn’t dare to relax, repeating to himself what Caesar had just told him for memorization purposes, afraid to miss out on a single bit.

Finding Chen Mu with his head lowered in thought, Caesar didn’t disturb him. He raised his head to look off into the distant sky, his gaze peaceful and spellbound.

Chen Mu was rubbing his forehead in pain. Anyone who had ever stuffed so much stuff into his head would never have been any better than Chen Mu then was.

“Have you memorized it all?” Caesar retracted his gaze, which then fell onto Chen Mu.

“Mmmm. I have.” Chen Mu had repeatedly gone over everything Caesar had said many times. Although he wouldn’t be able to recite it back so smoothly, he could still remember it perfectly clearly.

“Your perceptual training method is quite good, but it’s too bad you still haven’t crossed the threshold. I still can’t speculate about how you should practice next. Take this.” Caesar took out a card and gave it to Chen Mu.

Chen Mu took it with a puzzled expression. “What is this?”

“This is some of what I have learned these past few years. Your perception is quite similar to mine, and some of it I can learn from myself. Still, some of yours isn’t so suited for you to use. How far you can get later depends on you.” Caesar spoke with an indifferent expression.

“Oh.” Chen Mu nodded to show he understood.

“Don’t forget the challenge.” Caesar tossed that out as he immediately soared away before Chen Mu could say anything. Chen Mu could only watch him disappear from his field of view. He finally found out how terrifying Caesar’s flight skills were as he quickly disappeared like a stricken rainbow.

Chen Mu had originally wanted to ask Caesar if he knew anything about the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus and the green thread in his body, but he had been one step late in saying anything. He couldn’t see any sign of Caesar by then.

He started to review what had happened that day. His heart told him he had undoubtedly gained a huge amount. From what Caesar had disclosed, he should have at least taken note of his own performance when he had battled against Jin Yin and Dang Han. Mmmm. It was possible! He reckoned that had been the time when he had only just discovered that his own perception and the Material Refinement Code were somewhat similar.

What felt strange to Chen Mu was how Caesar had been able to find him. That was what he couldn’t quite think through. He had just swapped his mask not long ago and was then found by Caesar. Was that by accident? Or, did Caesar have some unique way? Chen Mu rather tended to make guesses after the fact. In the end, it would have been quite strange if Caesar hadn’t had some awesome moves.

Another thing he felt strange about was the card Caesar had given him. He still hadn’t seen it, but it seemed like Caesar had gotten it ready earlier. Could it be more than something Caesar had thought up on the spot?

Moreover, once Caesar had said he was leaving, he had left, as though he wasn’t worried at all about him not fulfilling their agreement. No matter how Chen Mu looked at it, Caesar didn’t seem like that sort of person, which was puzzling.

With so many loose ends, Chen Mu, who was already a little dizzy in the head, felt overwhelmed. He shook out his head and decided to put those issues aside for the time being. Although he still hadn’t been able to understand quite a few things about the whole ordeal, that didn’t prevent him from making his trade-off. The things he had gotten went a lot further than what he would need to pay.

The first thing Chen Mu had to face was the green thread and the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus. If he couldn’t get beyond that threshold, everything else would basically be useless. Facing that threshold, Chen Mu’s urgent need was to increase his own power. Caesar’s appearance had given Chen Mu the thing he then needed the most. Even though they weren’t talking about winning or losing, to challenge Tang Hanpei would be an extremely dangerous matter. But if he couldn’t get the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, everything would be meaningless.

Without realizing it, Chen Mu’s attitude had changed. Having gone through as much as he had, he had long since understood that he couldn’t be as passive as he used to be. So long as he proactively strove, there would be the chance to get what he needed. Even if his hopes were so slim that he might not have one chance in a thousand, if he didn’t strive with his life on the line, he wouldn’t even have that one chance. He had no other choice!

Chen Mu let out a long sigh and gathered his thoughts before rising into the air. He flew straight back to the building. Sang Hanshui came groveling near him, full of laughter when he saw Chen Mu return. Chen Mu was direct and threw the Bomb right into his hands. “Well, this card is for you. Go try it out.”

“Ah!” Although he’d had some thoughts prepared, Sang Hanshui was then immersed in such great joy. The flesh on his face had so transformed that it led to the general’s mask on his face being a little twisted. He couldn’t even say thank you but charged into the training room as though he were flying.

The card artisans who were training all stared at the card in Sang Hanshui’s hands. When they discovered Chen Mu’s gaze turning in their direction, though, they put on looks of diligent training.

Notably, that gang of card artisans would be deemed different people from two days before. Given their daily high-intensity training along with Sang Hanshui’s supervision—with assistance from Tai-shu Ying—it was as though they had been suddenly dragged into hell.

Unfortunately, before they could even regain their composure, they had to give in to a violent burst of power right in front of them.

Hong! Hong! Hong!

The sound of a huge explosion came from inside the other training room, and the floor seemed to be shaking. All of the card artisans froze, and even Tai-shu Ying had a dull expression. The training room Sang Hanshui had entered was dedicated to firing practice, and it would have been considered be the most robust. So, why would the floor be shaking?

Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong! Hong!

The muffled sound of incredibly dense explosions came out from the training room, and the floor under everyone’s feet kept shaking. All of them still had dull looks on their faces, and their hearts were trembling along with the shaking of the floor.

After a full five minutes, there appeared in everyone’s field of vision a blackened and smoking mask. A puff of smoke was spat out through the mask’s nose hole with a whoosh. The black smoke that was belched out went curling up into the air, much like a smoke ring blown while smoking.

“Cool!”