The Card Apprentice

Chapter 195: Wei-ah’s Advice
Chapter 195: Wei-ah’s Advice

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Chen Mu finally emerged from the quiet room after a few days. The situation seemed to have taken a turn for the better. He had already started to gradually become accustomed to his heightened sensitivity. It wasn’t that he had found any good method, but rather that his body had begun to adjust itself. He felt pretty amazed about how marvelous the body could be.

Returning back on track, Chen Mu felt sincerely glad. Those last few days of torture had nearly driven him mad. And, if he hadn’t been able to get rid of those negative influences, he wouldn’t have been able to do a thing.

The reports sent up by Bu Qiangdong were clear that the work they were getting had started to pick up speed. Even though their profits were still small, Chen Mu was pleased. It was at least enough to support the workers’ salaries. Why wouldn’t he be pleased to have such results in such a short period?

Among the work were several projects put forward by Cleo. Chen Mu could only speculate about Cleo’s thinking, though he didn’t want to involve himself in such matters. So, he just used it as a kind of training, putting all affairs on Bu Qiangdong.

Those who had been scared off hadn’t actually made any trouble, and Clive wasn’t making any noises about it.

Afterward, Chen Mu made a few more models. When he gave them to Bu Qiangdong, he looked as though he’d been granted some treasure. He hadn’t realized Bu Qiangdong had actually made a special showroom in the company’s entryway. All of what had been placed there were Chen Mu’s creations.

Nothing needed to be said about the quality of Chen Mu’s works. Making ”Chance Encounter” and ”The Legend of Master Shi” had given him good experience. And, his subsequent card making accomplishment had provided deep benefits, which kept increasing his ability. As he was by then, he would already be considered a grand master with one- and two-star fantasy cards.

He hadn’t thought Bu Qiangdong’s creativity would have such outstanding results. Quite a few clients who had only come to consult were sold on the spot by those realistic fantasy cards on display. Bu Qiangdong had fattened his orders at a stunning rate within a very short time, and that fawning guy was smiling every day. The employees of the firm were all full of energy and spirit.

They all understood that so long as the firm’s work increased, their economic circumstances would take a turn for the better, and their daily lives would also improve. Everyone in Heaven’s Wings from top to bottom was now completely submissive to Chen Mu. Without realizing it, they had already made that young new boss, who had been so cold and violent, into their idol.

When each of Chen Mu’s works had been placed into the display room, they would all become objects for the employees’ imitation. But, although they were all one-star fantasy cards, Chen Mu had unwittingly used a few high-level skills and even some basic knowledge about token theory. For him, those things represented nothing more than a few basic and simple understandings, where for the employees of Heaven’s Wings, they were rather difficult.

It was a good thing they had their ways to find solutions. Each time a new work came from Chen Mu, then those fantasy cards imprinted with a ”C” would immediately become the employees’ course of study. The 25 employees would form themselves into a small study group, and they would pool their strength to tackle the issue.

Each of the boss’s works would draw forth bursts of admiration. And, once they cracked their unfathomable contents, it would feel like victory after a fight, making them all jubilant. Without realizing it, those low-level card masters, who had been nothing special, were making stunningly rapid progress. So long as they all moved ahead together, then none of them realized it.

But, there were always some clear-headed ones who did discover it. Bu Qiangdong was one of those.

Bu Qiangdong was always full of wonder; if it weren’t for the boss, then those few people would have just been muddling through the days waiting to die as they had been before. How would they have become the way they now were—so full of fighting spirit and the desire to learn? He would bet as the company was then, if any ordinary employee were to go to a different fantasy card company, they would certainly be able to get a pretty good position. But, he was also certain that so long as the boss didn’t leave the firm someday, there wouldn’t be a single person likely to leave voluntarily. They wouldn’t leave a company that would give them such fighting spirit and the ability to learn such advanced knowledge.

Sometimes, Bu Qiangdong couldn’t understand where such a youthful boss had learned so many high-level skills. The strangest thing was that every time he would stand in front of the boss, he would always feel chills up his spine from the boss’s calm gaze, as though it were something substantial. Bu Qiangdong had this feeling more and more deeply even though he was seeing the boss less and less frequently, and the boss said very little each time.

His work was very diligent. Whatever the boss would command, no matter how much effort it would use up, he would always complete it without daring to take any shortcuts.

* * *

Chen Mu took out the mysterious card. On its surface was the constellation-like design, deep and indistinct, as though it were itself full of some mysterious breath. It had already been a long time since he’d entered the mysterious card. He felt a kind of familiarity when he saw the card he’d brought with him all along.

The scene was the same as the last time he’d entered. Once there, he embarked on the test of his perceptual sensitivity index.

That time, he got a score higher than he’d ever gotten—65!

To be able to get such a result was entirely because of his perception increasing by 20 percent, which gave his perceptual sensitivity index a similar boost. Previously, the highest he’d been able to reach had been 45.

The score made Chen Mu immediately happy. He remembered very clearly that with 65 he could get a reward—how to make the folding Yanbo card. That was the way to make the second kind of battle card recorded in that mysterious card, with the one before then being the tailless shuttle card.

Although he didn’t know what kind of card the folding Yanbo card was, Chen Mu was still full of anticipation. When he’d started the tailless shuttle card, he had also thought it ordinary. Only when he’d truly started to make three-star fantasy cards and had seen more of the world did he know how advanced the tailless shuttle card really was. He’d made the raining shuttle card according to the principles of the tailless shuttle card, and the stir it had caused far exceeded what he could have imagined. He’d nearly been caught up in the Ning family base because of such a card.

The power of the raining shuttle card was far from being comparable to the tailless shuttle card. What kind of surprises would the folding Yanbo card have in store for him?

And, Chen Mu was even more covetous because of another prize: Knowledge about the middle-level token theory. However, that required 70 points, leaving Chen Mu five short. But, he couldn’t belittle those five points with the two sides as different as night from day. For Chen Mu to be able to get to 65 points by then was entirely due to the wild increase in his perception. To be clear, that wasn’t anything more than an increase to his perception itself. There hadn’t been any fundamental transformation in regard to his skills.

The remaining five points required him to advance bit by bit. At that stage, each point increase was extremely tough. So, although five points didn’t seem like much, in reality it was like a broad chasm. It wouldn’t be easy if he wanted to cross it.

The folding Yanbo card was a rather strange sort of card. The energy body it could emit was like a folded shape, which would be to say it was a simple swallow shape. As compared to the energy bodies emitted by other fantasy cards, it would be considered crude. It only had one approximate form, which was like an irregular cylindrical energy body folding out from the middle to form something like a chevron-shaped energy body.

The folding Yanbo card once again exceeded Chen Mu’s expectations. In his knowledge, high-level fantasy cards would always have extremely orderly external shapes. If they were imitations of something, then they would be lifelike shapes. But, the energy body emitted by the folding Yanbo card was so crude Chen Mu nearly suspected it wasn’t a three-star fantasy card. He really couldn’t tell from its composition how much power the folding Yanbo card actually had.

The difficulty of making the folding Yanbo card would have to be greater than that of the tailless shuttle card, not to mention the demands on perception and materials. It would also have to be quite a bit more expensive. Chen Mu didn’t have much money on hand, and that was yet another headache for him.

Although Heaven’s Wings had already started to make a profit, that bit of money wouldn’t even be enough to buy some dregs. Chen Mu was lamenting about why the things recorded in the mysterious card were all rare and uncommon materials.

He was quite skeptical about how the maker of the mysterious card could have had such a great quantity of precious materials on hand. The quantity of such materials must have been so great he could keep wasting them to specifically try making some strange cards. Perhaps the folding Yanbo card was created like that. But, that grand master certainly hadn’t considered that the one who got that card would actually be a poor vagabond!

Chen Mu was smiling bitterly to himself, half out of self-mockery and half from reconciling himself to the situation.

When Chen Mu came out from the mysterious card, he saw Wei-ah training in the pool.

Chen Mu was a little stunned!

The training method had been proposed by Wei-ah, but apart from setting a couple of examples, Wei-ah hadn’t gone in again. But, Chen Mu was then watching Wei-ah diligently train in the pool, which wouldn’t exactly be called keeping calm.

The water in the pool was opened to the highest speed, and the surging water drowned out any other sounds. Chen Mu was certain he wouldn’t even be able to stand under such a rush of water, while Wei-ah had a relaxed face as he moved forward with great speed. The whole process didn’t make Wei-ah look like he was expending any energy—as easy as eating and drinking.

Chen Mu opened his eyes wide to see that rare practice of Wei-ah, not wanting to miss a single detail.

Wei-ah’s body was blurred as though it had been reflected in numerous disordered ways. But, Chen Mu could still get some inkling of the shocking frequency of Wei-ah’s body swinging like a fish might swing its soft body and tail. Though, Wei-ah’s frequency was a lot higher, making the water all around his body become wave after wave of fine ripples. After the light rays traversed those disordered ripples, his body had immediately become blurred.

The more Chen Mu watched, the more entranced he became, unwittingly imitating him. But, he very quickly understood it wasn’t something he could do as he was then. To use such skills made huge demands on the body; it was probably only some strange monster like Wei-ah who could actually do it.

No. Maybe the demonic woman could do it! During the time he was with the demonic woman, it had simply been a nightmare. The most beautiful scene in that nightmare was the demonic woman’s inhuman strength. In that regard, Wei-ah and the demonic woman had stunning similarities—especially their indifferent ways. If they hadn’t actually been from the same gang, Chen Mu couldn’t help but wonder if the two were actually brother and sister.

Wei-ah came out of the pool soaking wet, and the contours of his muscles could be seen very clearly. While his size wasn’t that obvious, Chen Mu could sense the latent explosive power hidden in his body.

When he was in the village, Wei-ah didn’t actually have the most awesome body, though it was the strongest with the best physique and the most power. Thinking of that, Chen Mu lowered his head to look at himself. There were some similarities with Wei-ah from the shape of his body alone.

”Why did you think to train today?” Chen Mu asked in some surprise.

Wei-ah tilted his head and thought about it before saying, ”It felt very familiar.”

After spending a long time thinking, Chen Mu clarified what Wei-ah had been saying and quickly became interested. ”What did you find?” Wei-ah’s memory had been blank all along, and he couldn’t remember things from before. Chen Mu surmised that Wei-ah had probably done the same sort of practice previously; when he rehearsed the training that had previously been so familiar to him, it must have reminded him of something.

”I’ve done it before.” Wei-ah’s tone was certain, and then he thought some more. ”I was thinking about this issue recently. Last time, I suddenly said I’d learned how to exert myself in water when I was 10.”

Chen Mu nodded, still remembering Wei-ah saying that. It had seemed strange at the time. Could Wei-ah have remembered the past? But, once subsequent affairs overcame that occurrence, he had forgotten such things.

”I don’t know why I said that then. I’ve been thinking these last few days, but I haven’t come up with anything else. Therefore, I thought I’d give it a try,” Wei-ah said.

Wei-ah’s expression at that time induced a milder feeling.

Everyone probably has something on their mind they’d like to seek out, Chen Mu thought and sighed to himself.

”And the results?”

Wei-ah returned to his impassivity and shook his head. ”Nothing.” He then followed that with, ”You’re going to start training.”

The training was as hard as always, and nothing of Wei-ah’s easy, free style while training could be seen in Chen Mu. He was beaten up and exhausted and would often fall. He also tried again to imitate Wei-ah’s moves, though it was very clear he was then still unprepared for such conditions. He fell more frequently than the day before.

Having completed his training, Chen Mu sat limply on the floor, his body as soft as mud.

”Talk to me about battle, Wei-ah, ok?” Chen Mu opened his mouth with difficulty, his throat burning, which was caused by too much heavy breathing.

Wei-ah gave a look at Chen Mu and sat before him, saying, ”What would you like to know?”

Chen Mu carefully sorted out the lines of thought in his mind. He then said in a deliberate tone, ”Mmm, I think the things I have learned seem a little all over the place, and I don’t know how I should bring them together. How should I put them to use? In what direction should I develop them?”

Carefully sorting them out, Chen Mu finally realized how disparate the things he had learned really were. What he’d first encountered were the tailless shuttle and the skill to exert himself in water. Later, he’d learned some basic hiding and dodging skills from the demonic woman, as well as some simple bare-handed killing techniques. He’d learned some close-combat card artisan battle techniques from his short stint with Mark Victor, and the ”Methods of Using Perception in Close Combat” recorded in the mysterious card were quite useful to him. He also had in his hands a bipolar thunderball card from an unknown creator that had the amazing feature of both attack and defense. Added to that were the flying skills and all kinds of tactical maneuvers he’d learned from the training modules in the training space, which were too many to count. Then, there was the breath control, which was like a two-edged sword.

Those only included the aspect of battle. If he were to add on card making, that would simply make anyone collapse. That was also why Chen Mu felt there wasn’t enough time and that there were really too many things he needed to practice and study.

Chen Mu knew diversity wasn’t actually such a good thing; it looked like if you could do everything, you would not be a master of anything. But, he also didn’t really have a choice. From the start until then, he had never gotten any systematic training. The things he had learned were all scraped together from all over the place, some even having been forced upon him.

Although he’d learned a lot, every time he encountered danger, he would never know which type of skill he should use.

Therefore, he wanted to get Wei-ah’s opinion. In his mind, Wei-ah was a combat expert.

”When I was in the village, I found a strange phenomenon.”

Chen Mu was entranced listening to Wei-ah speak.

”All of the soldiers in the village wanted to do battle and to hunt. They had started to receive their training when they were very small, and Bafu was a pretty good instructor. Once the children grew up, their battle skills would mature day by day. But, because of interest and some other things, they would always choose different directions to develop.”

Hearing that, Chen Mu paid still closer attention.

”But, there were always those who would die, and there was danger all around the village. No one could be certain they would live to return the next time. Among those who had all received the same kind of education, there were some who would die and some who would live on.” Chen Mu suddenly felt that except for the hard lines on his face and his unchanging expression, Wei-ah was sounding like a philosopher pleasantly talking on.

”Among those who lived on, there were clearly two types. One type was the top among them, who possessed the best battle abilities and were the most excellent among the soldiers, attended to by all. The other kind was diametrically opposite.”

Chen Mu’s spirit was aroused, knowing the important part was coming.

”In the midst of battle, they didn’t stick out at all, there sometimes being no way to find any particular skill on them. They seemed to have a little bit of every kind of battle skill, but all of them were very balanced with nothing sticking out. They didn’t attract any attention among the soldiers, though they were among those who had the highest survival rates.”

”Why?” Chen Mu couldn’t help but ask. That had puzzled him, though he knew what Wei-ah said was certainly true.

Wei-ah explained, ”The environment around the village was very complex, and most of the time the soldiers who died outside the village didn’t die at the hands of the wild beasts. The second kind of person I was just talking about had a lot of abilities, so once they encountered danger, they had a lot more room for choice. Much of the time, solving a problem doesn’t require very high skills. On the contrary, among the situations one encounters, more than 70 percent can be resolved by running through some very simple and elementary skills.”

Chen Mu seemed to realize something.

”That sort of person would also often die outside the village. Their causes of death would be divided into two kinds, one of which was that they had encountered some difficulty that had exceeded their ability. But, most of the time it was that they hadn’t chosen the right means to respond, which is to say they chose the wrong skill.”

”Is the choice the crucial thing?” Chen Mu immediately grasped the crux of the issue.

”Right.” This time Wei-ah was showing a lot of patience. ”Every skill can play an important role, but the premise is that you must use it at the right time.”

Wei-ah suddenly asked back, ”Are you familiar with them?”

Chen Mu was stumped, having suddenly become embarrassed. Thinking very carefully, he was certain he wasn’t sufficiently familiar with the skills he had, never having considered how to use them and under what circumstances.

What Wei-ah had said was an eye-opener for Chen Mu. He’d been plagued by problems for a long time. Would he choose remote combat or close combat in the end? He had dabbled in both of those two diametrically opposed battle styles. As for which of those roads he should progress down afterward, he had always hesitated to choose.

After hearing what Wei-ah had to say, he was finally able to think it through. He hadn’t originally thought he would become a card artisan. What he wanted was to be able to protect himself when he encountered danger. But, just like those villagers with all sorts of mediocre abilities Wei-ah had just spoken of, he only wanted to survive and not to establish a name for himself.

Moreover, if he were to choose a specialty, that would mean he would have to study systematically. Although Wei-ah fought powerfully, his memory still hadn’t been restored. In regard to close combat, Mark Victor had only transmitted some basic knowledge to him, most of it being small, practical battle skills. And, as a remote card artisan, apart from the tailless shuttle card, he couldn’t do anything else.

He actually didn’t have any room for choice, so how would he ever have the opportunity for actual systematic study? It looked as though he could only depend on himself. To spend any more time thinking about it, no matter what, the only right thing to do would be to guarantee he could survive.

Having set his course, Chen Mu then started to put it into practice. He carefully combed through all of the theories he knew, and he endlessly simulated every kind of situation and how he should choose which skill.

In that regard, Wei-ah had given him quite a few precious suggestions. Chen Mu most admired some very simple skills that he felt had very limited use, but in Wei-ah’s hands would always be able to bring shocking power into play.

That was a calm period, and the situation with Heaven’s Wings had taken a large turn for the better. Not only had those public service advertisements continued to play a role, still more important were the large quantities of educational fantasy cards Bu Qiangdong was making. Once the making of those excellent educational fantasy cards was launched, they had become vigorously sought after by all of the schools; they were hot sellers and always out of stock. The schools that couldn’t buy educational fantasy cards put out by Heaven’s Wings on the market would come rushing directly to Heaven’s Wings to place their orders, causing orders to come flying in like snowflakes in a short time.

Bu Qiangdong was both happy and concerned. He was happy that the stunning number of orders on hand meant a lot of money, but he was concerned that there were still only 25 employees in the company. Their manpower was stretched to its limits. But, if he’d wanted to recruit a large number of card masters at that time, it wouldn’t do much good.

The card masters on the market just then wouldn’t live up to his standards. There was too great a divide between the ordinary card masters and the Heaven’s Wings employees. That was something he increasingly felt.

As he pondered the situation, it looked as though they would have to first recruit and then slowly cultivate.

He therefore wrote a special advertisement. Feedback from the boss was very quick, and the ad came right back to him with the boss’s approval. The somewhat worried Bu Qiangdong could finally breathe a sigh of relief. That was his first time to express an opinion to the boss.

Bu Qiangdong moved very quickly, and the news of Heaven’s Wings’ recruiting spread very fast. Almost without expending any effort, he received a large number of applications. Bu Qiangdong was busy all day with his job and didn’t know the reputation of Heaven’s Wings had shot up like a rocket in the world of Pomelo City fantasy card advertisement. It had become like the sun at its zenith.

During that time, Heaven’s Wings was the fantasy card firm most in the limelight in Pomelo. But, in the people’s eyes, it was low-key and mysterious. Apart from the public service fantasy card billboards along the street and on the communications platforms, there were the educational fantasy cards from Heaven’s Wings, which were so hot you couldn’t buy them. Up until then, those had been the most famous three cases of the Heaven’s Wings company. Apart from those, there wasn’t any news about Heaven’s Wings. They hadn’t even taken any initiative to pull in business, and you would have to go to their door looking for them in order to see them.

A conscientious investigation would find that the firm had originally belonged among the Lewin family subsidiaries and had already changed owners. It had also recently undergone a large-scale layoff. And, its backstage boss, Cao Dong, had a mysterious background with some saying he was a high-grade card artisan, while others said he was a veteran card master. There was endless speculation about him, which added some note of mystery to the Heaven’s Wings company.

There was no more amazing biography than the showroom in the entrance of Heaven’s Wings, which was said to have on display everything Heaven’s Wings’ boss, Cao Dong, had made since entering the company. Every guest who entered that exhibition hall couldn’t stop their praise after they left, to the point that quite a few low-grade card masters would go there to seek the famous. They would be immediately overcome after they saw those magnificent and exquisite fantasy cards.

That was also why they had received so many applications as soon as Bu Qiangdong had put out the news. Among them were quite a few who even wanted to give up a high salary to come.

To tell the truth, that had completely exceeded Bu Qiangdong’s expectations.