The Card Apprentice

The Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm had found that, throughout the past few days, several commanders looked much happier than before. Even Jiang Liang, who seldom smiled, had changed his tune. Although that was odd for him, everyone still felt relieved. Basically, Jiang Liang was responsible for all of the training and had become the second fiddler in battle command.

In many card artisans’ hearts, Bogner had reverted back to his true colors after the recruitment speech. He threw all of the jobs into the hands of Deputy Commander Jiang Liang. Apart from sleeping every day, he did nothing. He would only appear in the office once in a long while, which had become normal to the people there. Aside from him making jokes with everyone, the only advantage he had was good socializing skills. Other than that, hardly any valuable traits could be found inside such a lazy man.

On the contrary, Jiang Liang was a role model for all of the soldiers. His uniform would always be tidy. His eyes were sharp, and his words were short but powerful. He would always work vigorously. However, he was ruthless, and the card artisans were in awe of him. Although the training was difficult, he would make himself a role model for all. He would only execute the training better every time without missing a single step.

The superiors were satisfied with the training implemented by Jiang Liang. According to the performance of the card artisans under them, their future would be better. They were no longer the newbies who had just entered the group. Under such hardcore training, they were tortured but reducing their own weaknesses at the same time. Several of them had been trained by the Card Artisan Youth Team. However, compared that team’s training, the training implemented by Jiang Liang was much more thorough. The training repetition and the risk faced were beyond their expectation. While most of them were discussing privately, they were guessing whether Deputy Commander Jiang Liang had brought the military training method there.

Jiang Liang’s military resume was no longer a secret. Moreover, following the recovery of his senses, the card artisans had felt the aura of a soldier from him. However, the military training method wasn’t as complicated as they had observed. The repetition of the training wasn’t intense. That was especially true of the overpowered snow pit method, which also known by the card artisans as the buried alive method. All of that seemed to have nothing to do with the man who was always sleeping.

However, no matter how unfaithful they were on their talents, they could feel the rapid growth in their strength. That result was shown after the practical combat began.

A few months prior, a massive amount of unknown card artisans had suddenly appeared around the base. After the heist of the purple fluorescent extract on a delivery, Bogner had placed an order to eliminate all card artisans in the area. If nothing unexpected happened, the leader would still be Deputy Commander Jiang Liang.

Due to their lack of combat experience, they had lost some manpower in the fight. However, with more improvement in combat experience, the results from their hardcore training had finally come into use, allowing them to continue achieving victories in the coming war. In just a short period of time, the card artisans surrounding the base had been swept away. The wandering card artisans who had previously looked down upon them were running away in fear when they heard about the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm. As a result, that had made the card artisans on the team proud.

However, Jiang Liang felt unsatisfied with the outcome of the war. He hadn’t even given them a word of compliment. Commander Bogner’s compliments were ignored by the card artisans. Xi Ping was making a suffering look every day, as if someone were cutting his flesh.

Jiang Liang’s expression had been strained for a few days had become even more so. Moreover, following the orders given, the base’s atmosphere had gradually become filled with nervous tension. Tons of teams could be seen pulling cargos in and out of the ravine, making the narrow space increasingly crowded. With the increase of patrols in the ravine, even the dumbest card artisans could sense something was wrong.

In the conference room, the atmosphere was dignified.

“According to the information from the Snowflake Card Artisan Team, the one planning to lay hands on us is the Blood Red Card Artisan Group.” Xi Ping was responsible for communicating with the Snowflake Card Artisan Team. He then continued to explain the situation. “The Blood Red Card Artisan Team is broad in scale. Their extraordinary combat effectiveness makes them popular. They are as strong as the Snowflake Card Artisan Team!”

Everyone was showing ghastly expressions. Before having worked with the Snowflake Card Artisan Team for so long, they’d had no idea how powerful the Snowflake Card Artisan Team was. However, after having cooperated with them, they finally understood their true abilities.

“The Snowflake Card Artisan Team has already shown their stance toward this matter. They mentioned they will provide information to us because their leader is currently in a closed-door training status.”

“Well, it seems like they have already prepared for what’s coming and therefore decided not to get involved in the fight,” Xi Ping said coldly.

“We aren’t really planning to depend on them, but we do lack of some information,” Bogner said while lazily lying on the sofa.

“What was the information from them?” Beside him, Jiang Liang was sitting properly, contrasting his behavior to Bogner’s.

“The Blood Red Card Artisan Team has mustered up their main force, the Blood Hammer Troop. This is their elite troop, with manpower of up to 3,000, and all of them are experienced battle card artisans. Their average perception is of level five and above. Moreover, to fight against our Starfish Fortresses, they have even prepared a dedicated battle card. The Blood Hammer Troop has 120 members with level-six perception and 11 members with level-seven perception.” Xi Ping looked terrified.

“Such an impressive power. It seems they are planning to end the battle fast.” Bogner was still lying on the sofa, but his posture and attitude reduced the tension in everyone who saw him.

Xi Ping nodded and said, “True. They’ve also spent a lot of resources. Several forces around us were asked to seal off the land, preventing anyone from passing through. This is obviously to prevent us from escaping.”

“Such a big card artisan team wouldn’t get into a fight with anyone like us, right?” Bogner said, yawning.

“The Blood Red Card Artisan Team is well-known for their power, but they also have their weaknesses, which they aren’t good at managing. The Blood Red Card Artisan Team is also the team that lacks funding the most among other popular card artisan teams. As compared to the Snowflake Card Artisan Team, they are much weaker in that aspect. I believe they are probably jealous of the purple fluorescent extract formula in our hands. With their strength, they could probably find a few mining spots for the ore. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have the method to make the extract. Therefore, the ores are only worth as much as ordinary rocks and are undesirable,” Xi Ping said, grinding his teeth in anger.

The base’s largest source of income was undoubtedly the marketing of the purple fluorescent extract. It was a lucrative business. Taking money out of Xi Ping’s pocket was as painful as cutting his own flesh away. Surprisingly, the Blood Red Card Artisan Team wasn’t content with just taking the business. Instead, they were trying to swallow the entire business. That was unacceptable to him.

Bogner pouted, unsatisfied. “The boss is even lazier than I am. I can’t believe he would ignore this!” They had already reported the situation to Chen Mu, but the answer they had gotten was that Bogner would be fully in charge and was granted the rights to take any action.

Bogner struggled to sit up while ruffling his beard and said, “Of course we cannot give up the method to them. We wouldn’t trade something like this for our lives. They are robbers; if we gave up the method to them, we would only be left for dead. We also can’t depend on the Snowflake Card Artisan Team. We can only depend on ourselves from now on. Defending in such way is indeed an unrealistic strategy. Even though the Starfish Fortress is a strong defensive weapon, these guys have even brought the battle cards. I believe they have already thought of a counter-strategy. This will be a tough battle!”

Everyone went silent. What Bogner had said was the unexaggerated truth. Those 3,000 card artisans would be the true elite troop. Considering the combat effectiveness, the number of troops, and the resources, they were way stronger. In terms of allies, the Snow Silkword Card Artisan Firm was now isolated. No one dared to lend a helping hand at such a time. Furthermore, the Blood Red Card Artisan Team had managed to surround them easily and to cut off their escape route… They were at a disadvantage in many ways.

“How are we supposed to fight them?”

“What’s our situation now?” Bogner asked Xi Ping.

“We have always been gathering resources. Hence, we have even included the power cards as part of the resources we have. We have more than enough for now. Moreover, following our request, Qiao Fei has utilized her remaining funds in exchange for power cards and shuttles to further strengthen our resources. She is indeed a kind lady. We definitely owe her big time.” Xi Ping was touched by her actions. Normally, it was hard to tell whether someone was treating them with kindness or with flattery. However, anyone willing to lend a helping hand during a sensitive period would undoubtedly be a loyal person.

“The most precious resource we have is the purple fluorescent extract, which is stored in our warehouse. I assume that’s the reason they declared war against us. These robbers don’t even know how to do business. No wonder they are poor. Our production will be expanding constantly. However, in order to avoid affecting the market price of the purple fluorescent extract, we didn’t sell it abundantly. The second important resource is the various cards we have, which don’t take much space. As for the raw materials, they aren’t worth much. Unfortunately, we are unable to bring the equipment with us,” Xi Ping said.

“True. The fact that we aren’t over-encumbered is our advantage,” Bogner said, nodding.

Jiang Liang switched on the fantasy card player. A huge three-dimensional holographic map appeared in front of everyone. The estimated fighting power of various forces were shown on the map. They had gathered most of the data in the dark, and some had been provided by the Snowflake Card Artisan Team.

Looking at the map, Bogner went into deep thought. He suddenly raised his head and asked, “Where is Dongrui?”

Jiang Liang immediately pointed at the map and said, “There.”

“Hmm… That’s far.” Bogner stroked his beard while looking at the map. After a while, he squinted and started slowing down the movement of his hands. His face revealed a cunning look.

“Hmm. Since they want to come to us, we shall allow them to have a taste of our strength. Ha ha…”