The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 47 - 48: Derivative Entry - Paper Card Technique
Chapter 47: Chapter 48: Derivative Entry - Paper Card TechniqueIn the confined and narrow space, Jiang Shu opened his tablet, which displayed surveillance footage from several other Tablet Spirits. After confirming that there was no one in the Magic House and the fourth-floor corridor was also empty, he quickly crawled out from inside the Magic Table.

While the table wasn’t small, accommodating a six-foot adult male was a bit of a stretch; it was fortunate that Jiang Shu wasn’t overweight and could curl up into a ball to hide inside.

He recalled the four Tablet Spirits and eagerly opened his Character Card, looking immediately at the entry section.

Firstly, this performance had brought him two stage performance-related entries: ”Acting” and ”Control”.

- Passive·Acting (Blue): Acting +3.

- Passive·Control (Blue): Control ability +3.

Beyond that, there was another entry that Jiang Shu couldn’t quite say was necessary for stage performance, ”Star”.

- Passive·Star (Purple): Attention level +3.

Setting aside these entries, he swiftly scrolled through the entry page until he saw the derivative entry for Deception.

- Active·Deception·Card Technique: Manipulate playing cards.

Like the previous derivative entries, this one’s description was equally succinct: manipulate playing cards.

In addition, he saw another note.

Note: Derivative entries are full. Before triggering ”Deception” again, you can choose to give up a derivative entry to prevent random overwriting of the entries.

Can I choose to give it up?

He thought and felt slightly relieved.

Card Technique and Shadow Cutting were certainly more useful than Spirit Perception. If Shadow Cutting were overwritten, he’d be upset for a while.

Then, Jiang Shu began to experiment with his new ability.

He drew a playing card from his pocket, the three of hearts, threw it into the air, and with a thought, it immediately hovered in the air as directed by his mind, circling and then speeding up like a Sword Immortal controlling a sword in cultivation stories—extremely agile.

”A, B, C, Ding, record the data,” he ordered the Tablet Spirits with a rigorous attitude.

From one end of the Magic House to the other, the straight-line distance was about eight meters. Jiang Shu controlled the card to accelerate from complete stillness to full speed, reaching about thirty meters per second.

With such speed, it could chop vegetables fine, but for lethal power, it probably needed to target vulnerable parts of the human body.

Jiang Shu frowned slightly; those top card-throwing experts in his previous life could throw cards with a terrifying speed of over forty meters per second. If you were to say this counted as an Extraordinary Ability, it still seemed a bit inadequate.

”Right, spin.” He realized that cards flew fast because of spinning. He had not applied any spinning force to the card he controlled earlier; thirty meters per second was a controllable speed that allowed for flexible maneuvering.

So, Jiang Shu tried a card at high rotational speed to see how fast it could go.

The card shot out and ”whooshed” against the wall, scraping off a large piece of plaster before bending and getting damaged.

A: 120m/s.

Jiang Shu nodded; this card-throwing speed was unattainable for a human’s physical capability, and although he could not control the card further once it was shot, its power was indeed much greater.

However, such a card, if fired at a prosthetic body made of an alloy or Internal Armor, would probably be akin to a tickle.

A card flew out of his pocket, then split into two, and quickly into four, until sixteen cards appeared at his side before stopping.

”Merge,” Jiang Shu commanded, and the duplicated cards recombined into one.

Next, he tried changing cards. Under his control, the size of the playing card could be altered at will; it could become as large as a door panel or as small as two fingers wide and four fingers long.

The color and pattern of the card’s back and face could also be changed at will. Although quite flashy, these derivative entries could not be used during a Magic Performance, and they probably wouldn’t be practical in real combat.

Secondly, this ability did not consume much energy. He estimated that it could be used continuously for about half an hour.

Finally, Jiang Shu decided to try the closing effect of the magic just performed, asking who could reject being turned into a cloud of flying playing cards?

---

At the entrance of the theater, most of the audience had left. Kirie Tsukimiya stood leaning against the railing by the roadside, staring blankly at the ground, her mind a complete blank.

Unlike last time, this time she couldn’t understand at all how Jiang Shu did it—it appeared she had lost.

But then, she suddenly renewed her confidence, clenching her fists. An obstinate voice echoed from the depths of her heart—

He, Jiang Shu, the Wizard, must have cheated using witchcraft!

How could those playing cards possibly change like that!

So, as long as she confronted him face to face, he would definitely have no way to deal with her!

Comforting herself with these thoughts, Kirie convinced herself and, as a result, felt much brighter.

It must be that Jiang Shu simply couldn’t come up with a magic trick as ingenious as last time that could deceive her again and was resorting to crooked schemes to forcibly claim her!

She looked out at the night sky. Since Black Currant Theater was located in the suburbs at the junction of the Third District, the area oddly had fewer buildings and lights; there wasn’t an industrial zone nearby, so the sky was filled with stars.

The tranquil night was refreshing to the soul. Kirie Tsukimiya took a deep breath, her face full of righteous indignation, and strode toward the theater.

I’m ready to charge in! I’m super brave!

Kirie slipped into the theater while it was still not completely closed and headed straight for the fourth floor.

The corridor on the fourth floor was dimly lit, with only a faint light coming from in front of the Magic House at the end of the hall. Only Jiang Shu had a performance that night, so the other regular performers at the theater had left work early.

Before long, Kirie arrived in front of the Magic House, gently pushed the door, and this time, it was no longer ajar.

She looked at the electronic lock, activated her wristwatch, called up a program, first turned off the lock’s alert sound, and then unlocked it.

”Click—” The extremely soft sound of the lock springing open seemed so loud in the quiet corridor and to Kirie, who felt like a thief in the night.

She quickly held onto the doorknob, preventing the door from opening, and waited. When no sound came from inside, she sighed in relief, opened the door slightly to leave a gap, and peered inside with practiced ease.

In the room, the wizard was making playing cards fly through the air as if enjoying himself immensely.

The card sometimes enlarged, sometimes changed color, constantly shifting without any fixed pattern.

Finally, the card stopped in front of the wizard’s chest; he reached out to take it and slid it into his coat pocket, then leaned backward.

As he fell, his body turned into a myriad of playing cards that fluttered down, and when they hit the ground, his figure had vanished.

”Heh.” Kirie scoffed disdainfully. She knew it all along.

This time, witnessing the witchcraft from up close, she was entirely unfazed. Wasn’t it just witchcraft?

As the best technician at Lonely City’s Seventh Police Station, Kirie could confidently assert that there were certainly things in this world that science couldn’t explain.

She pushed the door open fully and walked straight in, just in time to see Jiang Shu struggling to climb out from the Magic Table.

They stood facing each other, silently looking at each other for a long time without speaking.

Did I forget to close the door again?

Jiang Shu criticized his own carelessness.

”Do you know everything?”

”I know everything.”

The two suddenly spoke at the same time.

”Fine then.” Jiang Shu shrugged his shoulders; being seen coming out of the Magic Table wasn’t a big deal—it could at most allow someone to deduce the final part of his magic act.

As for whether she saw him using his Card Technique just now...

Of course not. Would a normal person react like this to superpowers?

With an assured expression on their face?

Hmm?

”Well, go ahead and tell me about the first part then. If you get it right, you win the bet,” he continued, looking Kirie straight in the eyes.

Kirie: Looking steady as an old dog but actually freaking out.

Jiang Shu glared at her, having been struck a nerve.

That girl with her absolute certainty—could she truly have seen through his act?

No way, right? Could centuries of the evolution of magic, all those ingenious props, mechanisms, and techniques created by countless magic geniuses, be penetrated by a twenty-year-old girl in one viewing?

Is this what Cyberpunk is all about?

”You... You used magic, right!”

Kirie pointed at him, her face the very picture of ”there can be only one truth.”

Jiang Shu: ”???”