The Card Apprentice

“We will next demonstrate the card numbered 013, which is also the only four-star card in this series of cards, as well as the second four-star card in the series up until now. I believe the previous Super 007 has left each of you with a rather deep impression, and for Madam Zhi Lian to have personally bought it has proven its value from a different angle. What kinds of pleasant surprises will 013 bring? Let’s find out!”

As the auctioneer’s voice fell, Jiao Si appeared on the field.

No one was surprised to see him, but the crowd felt all the more certain the boss of the auction house had pretty good relations with Jiao Si. Those who had been entertaining a different idea all now dispelled that notion. They may have been uncertain before, but Jiao Si arriving the second time thoroughly awed them.

If Jiao Si were provoked, his demonstration would be miserable. Jiao Si couldn’t belong to any true academic circle, and his power at graduation could only be considered average. It was all due to his actual fighting afterward that his power increased. It was clear how highly skilled he was in actual battle, being an absolute martial force in himself. Moreover, he had so many of the students from the Origins Academy behind him. Who would dare to provoke an old maniac bringing along a gang of young maniacs?

It wasn’t Hugo who was at Butchie’s side, but rather the madam wearing a mask. That really upset Butchie. If she hadn’t been so interested in 013, she wouldn’t have come.

“Jiao Si…”

Butchie looked at the madam as though by accident, having heard some special feeling in what she said.

But her attention quickly returned to the field, where Jiao Si had already started his demonstration. Everyone was rather pleased he had taken the field. The subtle aspects of such a truly high-grade card would be difficult to show without such an ace.

Jiao Si had his eyes half closed, and the apparatus on his wrist was in an activated state.

The gazes of Jie Yanbai and Zu Ning simultaneously fell onto Jiao Si, and their eyes flashed with endless splendor. Leaving the five flourishing districts, they had found out how big the world was, hiding so many dragons and crouching tigers. Such an ace as Jiao Si would be considered the top of the list even in the flourishing districts. What they really couldn’t understand was why such a top-notch ace refused to enter the flourishing districts or the Big Six.

Jiao Si opened his eyes, suddenly appearing impressively grand.

He extended his right hand with a slight bend to his elbow, not making any visible move. Suddenly, a light blue folding wavy blade left his hand and shot swiftly toward a target.

Butchie couldn’t help her disheartened look.

Although the demonstration of the card had only just started, she was already greatly discouraged. The wavy blade type of card was one of the largest card categories, with many different types within it. Across so many years, they had nearly been completely developed. It would be rare to see any of those cards full of creativity or with outstanding power.

For mid-grade card artisans, the wavy blade type of card was easy to manipulate. It didn’t require a high outlay, so of course it was popular. But for someone like her, who had already entered into the ranks of high-level card artisans, the wavy blade type of card really didn’t hold out the slightest bit of interest.

She was completely at a loss. She had been there when 007 was demonstrated. As she saw it, not only was 007 incomparably creative and powerful, but she could also tell it really tested the card artisan’s ability to control perception. That was exactly where her strength was.

Pow! The sound of a huge explosion broke through her thoughts.

The target had been blown to shreds by the wavy blade. Even the two targets next to it hadn’t been spared.

An explosive wavy blade? She was a little surprised.

The characteristic of the wavy blade was to be sharp and accurate, and one seldom saw a wavy blade with explosive characteristics. That wavy blade looked utterly like a standard light blue folding wavy blade—thin, with a steady, speedy flight. In general, most explosive energy bodies looked egg-shaped or cone-like. For such a thin wavy blade to have such explosive power was really interesting.

Jiao Si’s wrist gently shook. Within an instant, the sky was filled with wavy blades, looking like hundreds of blue swallows flying around in a dazzling display.

The crowd below all sat straight up. Any sign of contempt or indifference vanished and was replaced by seriousness and surprise.

Butchie was suddenly excited and nearly stood up, but she immediately responded and tightly restrained herself. Who knew if it was her excitement, but her red, flushed face made her look unspeakably charming.

Butchie had plenty of reason to be excited. Good lord, those wavy blades can actually be controlled! She felt she would quickly drown in rapture. The wavy blades emitted by ordinary wavy blade cards were like a released arrow, which couldn’t be controlled.

The larger the energy body’s composition, the harder it would be to control. That was common knowledge. Like her own Tadpole, every energy body was very fine, which reduced the difficulty of control by quite a bit.

Butchie’s gaze was hot as she looked at those high-speed flying wavy blades, utterly convinced there wasn’t any card more suited to her than that one. She probably hadn’t realized its creation was precisely due to Chen Mu simulating her Tadpole. Chen Mu had taken the folding Yanbo card and her Tadpole and blended them together—with the addition of another card he had seen—to make 013!

Several hundred blue wavy blades were circling around Jiao Si, making a scene similar to that of 007. Compared to the completely spherical black and white energy beads that composed it that time, there was less of the sense of mystery and more of a sense of speed and vitality. But they were both just as unforgettable.

The transformations of 013 didn’t stop there; Jiao Si’s arm lightly turned and stretched. The scene on the field suddenly changed!

Those hundreds of light blue wavy blades were like a flock of birds returning to their nest. They all were drawn to Jiao Si’s empty right hand, which had flung them off.

“Ah!””Yeah!””Careful!”

Those below couldn’t help but call out; those blue wavy blades had explosive power they had seen with their own eyes. As they saw it, what Jiao Si was doing was nothing other than suicide! Those with more advanced insight, like Butchie, flashed a startled look as they sat still. They deeply understood that an outstanding ace like Jiao Si would absolutely never make such a stupid, low-level error. There was certainly some other intention in what he was doing.

The shadow of light blue revolving around Jiao Si became smaller and smaller until the last blue wavy blade disappeared. The crowd could finally see the situation on the field clearly.

Hong! The crowd in the auction hall exploded in an instant. Many couldn’t help but stand from where they sat, Butchie among them, with her eyes glued onto Jiao Si’s hand.

The only thing to be seen on Jiao Si’s hand was a long energy chain.

It was just a chain composed of hundreds of blue wavy blades strung together. Between every wavy blade was a finger-sized space, giving the whole chain a strongly abnormal feeling. Several hundred blue wavy blades strung together was fully ten meters long.

People marveled at how the blue energy chain was gently swaying like seaweed in the ocean. Without any visible movement by Jiao Si, the chain intelligently wandered over his body like a long, docile blue snake.

Jiao Si slowly walked to in front of a target. Like a snake leaving its hole, the chain suddenly passed in a blue blur to exactly hit the target.

So fast! None of the crowd had seen clearly, and some were even oozing sweat from their brows. If a close-combat card artisan had approached with one of those cards, such a swift blow would be impossible to evade. All of the close-combat card artisans there averted their eyes.

The target on the field had already been shot through, and the explosion they’d expected never occurred. It demonstrated the standard characteristics of the wavy blade: sharpness! It was plenty sharp!

That trick had been an improvement Chen Mu had made based on Mark Victor’s Twisted Spinning Thorns.

The card integrated the three characteristics of the folding Yanbo card, the Tadpole, and the Twisted Spinning Thorns.

Sadly, since he had already bought the folding Yanbo card, Jiao Si couldn’t help but feel a little reluctant to part with that card. Even though it didn’t have the wild power of the folding Yanbo card, it was really outstanding with regard to flexibility! He could only imagine how much stunning power it would bring to bear if that card were to fall into the hands of an outstanding solo-combat card artisan.

Jiao Si had grown accustomed to seeing all kinds of cards, yet he still felt such reluctance to let that particular one go. The crowd below was totally thrown into a frenzy, and the temperature in the auction hall soared.

The Elemental Fantasy Platform staff person was already excited to the point of fainting. Good lord, I’ve really hit it this time! He believed once the recording of the auction was published, it would cause some kind of a viewing frenzy! As the one who shot it, the rewards he would reap likewise couldn’t be any smaller.

Jiao Si left the demonstration field, but the overheated atmosphere in the auction hall didn’t drop in the slightest. Quite a few people had taken off their jackets, loosened their ties, and rolled up their sleeves. They had the blood-shot eyes of crazed gamblers.

Zu Ning’s handsome, snow-white face had also flushed a little. If anyone familiar with him were there, they would know he had already become so excited he was about to shudder.

By comparison, Jie Yanbai was quite a bit calmer. But the dense blue veins on his fists clutching the arms of his chair made it plain that what he felt wasn’t as calm.

Even the masked madam beside Butchie couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, “What a well-conceived and ingenious card!” Butchie didn’t say anything, though her eyes were staring straight onto the field.

“I believe everyone has been rather pleased with the demonstration.” The auctioneer reappeared on the platform, and he was just as excited. He pulled himself together and said solemnly, “Let the bidding begin.”

All the talking below the platform disappeared, and everyone understood the battle had begun!

* * *

When Chen Mu emerged from the room, his eyes were bright red, which shocked Bogner.

“What happened?” Bogner asked with concern, that being his boss. Up until then, he had been utterly satisfied with that boss. There weren’t any wasted words and no unreasonable demands. He was plenty trusting toward him and never interfered with his plans. He was generous with his money and tried to satisfy Bogner’s every demand. Where could he find a better boss those days?

From the bottom of his heart, he didn’t want anything to happen to that boss of his.

“It’s nothing.” Chen My shook his head, though his rapid breathing showed how fired up he felt. Having just seen the entire auction process with his own eyes, the fanatical audience had really infected him. The auction had completely used materials in payment, which were a lot more attractive and had a lot more impact on Chen Mu than Oudi! To see the cards he had made being exchanged for such rare and rich materials left him with no way to contain his excitement.

Card 013 had finally been sold to Faya, who paid for it with 300 million Oudi worth of materials. But Butchie had actually hesitated when the price went to 200 million Oudi of materials. Although the boss-man had said he would allow her to select a card, he hadn’t set a limit. But she knew if some limit were actually exceeded, the organization wouldn’t entertain it.

He hadn’t imagined the madam would bid 300 million with no hesitation, completely using what where the most precious and rarest among their batch of materials.

Seeing the shock on Butchie’s face, the madam lightly laughed. “Relax; I have the authority for this.” When 013 really fell into Butchie’s hands, her good feelings toward the madam shot right up in the instant. She pulled on the madam’s arm and hopped and jumped like a child.

Who knew whether it was the stimulation from 013, but those who hadn’t won were left to let their gazes fall onto the remaining eight cards. That also led to those eight cards all being auctioned for huge prices.

The materials those people bid even included some Chen Mu didn’t understand. At the same time he was excited to hear their bids, he was quickly looking up the materials they were talking about in the Compendium of Materials. Every time he found one, it made him even more excited.

So, when Chen Mu emerged, his excitement was at its peak!

The chill air blew on him, and he quickly calmed down. He only then discovered that the once-classical manor had already been completely transformed into an exceptionally defensive, metallic-style building. The building was only built to three stories, though it occupied nearly half the area of the manor. Chen Mu believed it would hold several thousand with no problem at all.

Carefully totaling it up, there were only 24 people plus a dog there. To live in such a large place was really…

“Isn’t this a little too big?” Chen Mu asked, pointing to the main building, which was still incomplete. The efficiency of the construction card artisans they’d invited was really high, and the speed of construction could hardly be seen with the naked eye.

“It’s not so big. When the time comes, and we add the reserve forces and the youth brigade, I’m afraid we’ll have to expand. The training field also has to be moved in, but when the time comes, this will become a true defensive fortress. We can also concentrate our forces,” Bogner explained.

Just then, Bogner’s apparatus flashed. After taking the communication, a young man’s face appeared on the screen. “Boss-man, the things you wanted have all been transported.”