The Card Apprentice

“That year?” Bogner bared a dreary expression but spoke in an unusually calm demeanor. “There were five of us that year. We were very close; the Black King, Knife Pull, Enticer Fox, Flying Knit and I. Do you remember the card you fixed? Celia was Flying Knit, she was my wife. We were the Black Hibiscus Card Artisan Team, and had never failed to win a battle or to take down a city! Even the military lost to us.”

Bogner had an elated expression at the mentioned of their glory, but his elation disappeared in a flash; he suddenly sounded low-spirited.”But then we found a transit window in the jungle by accident. Everyone was very excited and unanimously agreed to explore it.” Bogner looked more bitter than ever before.

“A transit window?” Chen Mu felt shaken up at the mention of a transit window, “Was it the one we walked through?””No.” Bogner shook his head. “That transit window was located at Fanasi District. We discovered the transit window deep inside the forest during our mission. We were extremely strong at the time, even stronger than our team right now. We could easily get into the deep forest. That transit window was inside a small, obscure canyon. I’m afraid I can’t find it now.”

As he spoke of this, he couldn’t help but remind Chen Mu. “Boss, we need to explore this ash stratum as soon as possible to find any other transit windows. Otherwise, the security of this base can’t be guaranteed.”

Chen Mu nodded.They had a tremendous advantage in exploring the ash stratum. Other than the mighty exploration device Spinulosa Disk, they also had long-distance telecommunication cards like “thousand-kilometer card.” The ash stratum was flat; hence, communication was possible even to extremely remote places.

A look of nostalgia and sadness was on Bogner’s face. “It went well initially. We found shelters during the first few sandstorms. And we were beginning to figure out the frequency of the sandstorms; that made us feel at ease. Unexpectedly, shortly afterward, we fell into trouble.”

At the mention of that, Bogner couldn’t hold back himself and began crying.”That storm came all of a sudden and without warning. Unlike previous sandstorms, the storm was a horrendous cold spell. And it was accompanied by an astounding load of sand and dust, engulfing the earth. Due to the low temperature, the surface of the sand and dust all condensed into ice. Some of them were as big as eggs, while others were as big as fists. The largest piece was the size of a shuttle. They smashed down like raindrops. The canyon we hid in was crushed into pieces.”

“In order not to be buried alive, we had to fly out. However, we underestimated the power of that Cold Crystal Storm. The wind was so strong that we were all blown away as soon as we got out. I was lucky enough to roll into a cave and survived. Only my leg was broken.”

Bogner was overwhelmed, and he looked like he had lost himself. He had a blank expression. “I had no medicine with me and stayed in the cave for three days. During these three days, I dialed their telecommunication cards every day, but there was no reply. Three days later, when my legs were slightly better, I went out of the cave. I was starving and wanted to find food. But as soon as I’m out of the cave, I found many corpses. They were badly mutilated from the massive hits. It was hard to tell who they were, but I knew they were my companions. Later, I found a shuttle with food, and I survived.”

Bogner’s voice was light, but the story made Chen Mu shiver. He could imagine the tragic scenes. “They were all dead, and I thought I was going to die too. I didn’t think I could get out of the sandstorms, so when the sandstorm came, I didn’t hide at all. I thought to myself that I was going to die anyway. I was swept into the sky by the sandstorm. I thought I was going to die, but when I opened my eyes, I saw a transit window. I thought it was absurd. I wanted to die, but God wanted me to survive.”

Chen Mu was at a loss for words, and he could only listen in silence.”The Black Hibiscus Card Artisan Team perished. It perished in silence.” His sentence was overwhelmed with lament, sorrow, and emptiness. “Among us, the Black King had all our admiration. All four of us respected him, and the team members highly appreciated him. He was the most successful leader I’ve ever seen. Maybe only Tang Hanpei could be compared with him. Interestingly, the Black King had a younger brother, but we didn’t know who he was. Once, he said, he hoped that I can impart tactical knowledge to his brother. I wouldn’t do it if it were for anyone else. But since he requested it, as the savior of my life, I promised him. Later, it took me a long time to sort out a set of notes and gave them to the Black King. Unfortunately, I didn’t know who his younger brother was. Otherwise, I could go and find him.”

Bogner’s smiled as he was soaked in old memories. Chen Mu didn’t interrupt him. “Enticer Fox was a glutton, slept all day, lustful and stingy. Haha, but he was also the most interesting out of the five of us. He always had strange things on his hands. Whenever Celia was angry with me, I would get some funny things from him to coax her. But that fellow was a stingy man. It cost an arm and a leg to get something from him. His tracing skills in the forest was second to none in the Heavenly Federation. We really admired his abilities.”

“Knife Pull was a cantankerous man. All provocations would spark his anger; he was very hot-tempered. But he was afraid of Celia. He would only control his temper when Celia was angry with him. He was a madman and loved challenging others. In the words of the Black King, he was getting into trouble everywhere, and we were always cleaning up his mess for him. Do you remember Xiao Liqian’s Hughes Chamber of Commerce? Her uncle Huges fought with him too. They exchanged blows and befriended each other. They were pretty close after that.”

“If I were to say among the five of us, the person with the highest position was not the Black King, but my wife, Celia. Haha, she was our princess. Even the Black King adored her. No one in the team dared to offend her. If you offended her, Knife Pull would be the first to wage war. Celia…” Bogner was left dazed, with tears in his eyes and voice choked with emotion. Suddenly, he looked a lot older; bleak and agonized.Chen Mu still didn’t know how to comfort Bogner so he could only accompany him quietly.

The construction of the base was in full swing. Bogner’s Cold Crystal Storm gained Chen Mu’s attention, and his demands for the base dramatically increased. At last, he decided to station the base on the crack of the cliff wall. For safety precautions, the base was built into a fully enclosed structure.

Fortunately, the mineral resources here were plentiful, and all the materials needed could be obtained locally. They could even mix rare minerals into the metal to improve the quality of the alloy to an exaggerated level. Chen Mu wouldn’t be able to afford such a base if he was building it in Heavenly Federation. Even the Big Six couldn’t afford to use such high-quality and rare minerals for such a luxurious base.

Chen Mu was extremely busy. He wanted to make a card appliance, to be on the front line. Of course, he was less knowledgeable than Alfonso in metallurgy. But he was better than Heavenly Federation’s card appliance experts. Since he was pressed with time, he didn’t focus on his smelting but made a crude smelting card appliance. That card appliance wasn’t efficient in the utilization of ore, but he didn’t care; ore was abundant. Large cracks on the cliff were filled with rare ores everywhere.

All card artisans other than those responsible for exploratory and vigilant missions were deployed as mining card artisans. No one objected. Even those Grade Seven card artisans, who were usually lofty, were doing their best. Everyone knew that as long as they could establish a stable footing in the ash stratum, they would basically have a hen that laid golden eggs.The more resources the team had, the more room they would have for future development, and the better the treatment their families would enjoy.These people either followed Chen Mu for a long time or were trained by Chen Mu. They were extremely loyal.

The base area planned by the team’s construction card artisans was a small shelter. It could accommodate up to 3,000 people and storage for some resources. Other functions of the base were neglected. The base was built with the sole purpose of allowing them to wait for assistance from Eastern Wei Base.When the reinforcement force arrived, the base would serve as the main body for expansion.

Because of its simple functions, the project was progressing fast. They only had to construct by welding thick metal alloy sheets together. With everyone working together, the progress was fast.Finally, they completed the construction of the base before the second sandstorm. The base was like a huge steel castle, most of which were hidden in the cracked cliffs, with only a few parts exposed. To increase its defensive capability, there were reinforced support structures everywhere, which made the base looked a little messy and ugly. But no one cared.

During the second sandstorm, everyone retreated into the ugly steel castle. Through the surveillance probe, they could clearly see the terrible scenes of the sandstorm. The base was as warm as spring, and people drank all kinds of hot drinks leisurely and chatted in groups. It was in stark contrast to their bad situation previously. Everyone’s face was bright with excitement. They knew the purpose of constructing the base.The rare minerals that could be seen everywhere had become the most popular topic among them. Even the most experienced card artisans had never seen such exaggerated wealth.

None of the Big Six from Heavenly Federation would know that a base was secretly built in the ash stratum. A young lion was about to enter its high growth stage. Perhaps some of the others had foreseen it, but none could stop its growth. All eyes were on one person; Tang Hanpei, who led Tang Team, he pressed on determinedly towards Star Academy.

Inside the army, a fair, slender hand gently opened the black notebook in front of him.A line of words was written on the title page of the notebook.

——”To my brother: I hope you can be a hero!”