The Card Apprentice

Chapter 176: Preparation

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A conflict had arisen between the Qin household of the Nawen District and the aristocratic Lasorda family, with hundreds of casualties on each side. The ensuing conflict kept increasing, and the casualties kept mounting. The Nawen District was an ordinary residential district, and the two families wouldn't be considered such large clans. However, the conflict had attracted the attention of the entire Heavenly Federation. In people's eyes, the conflict was a lot more serious than the one in the Eastern Reaches between the Nings and the Zuos.

Everyone's gaze had turned toward the powers behind the two families. The Qin household had a tight relationship with the Central Repository of the Classics, while the Lasorda family was a subordinate of the Comprehensive Federation Academy. Up until that time, neither the Central Repository of Classics nor the Comprehensive Federation Academy had shown up, nor did they have any intention to stop the fighting. That left room for people's imaginations.

A short time before, the relations between Desert Camp and Moon Frost Island had gone cold. Now, it was the Central Repository of the Classics and the Comprehensive Federation Academy who were facing off. That filled a lot of people with anxiety since the influence of the Big Six Academies in the federation was without equal. If they were to unite, then even the government wouldn't have been able to oppose their vanguard.

The government just then couldn't be very happy. They couldn't afford to offend either side, and it was difficult to be the man in the middle.

For those few years, the federation government had found its infiltration by the Big Six Academies to be of serious concern. There were 12 corps in the military, and 11 of the 12 commanding officers had come from the Big Six Academies. There was only one who was outside the academy system, and he was in the twelfth-ranked corps among them.

The first corps was acclaimed as the federation's elite corps, which was half again as large in scale as the rest of them. It was the best equipped and had the richest fighting experience. The commanding officer, Wei Yueqing, had come from the Comprehensive Federation Academy and had always been the first among the Five Nobles of the Capital. Another of his junior disciples, Tang Peitong, was the last among the five.

Zou Bai, the commanding officer of the second corps, and Yang Zhirui, the commanding officer of the fifth corps, both came from the Star Academy.

Huang Fuxing, the commanding officer of the third corps, and Chang Longqi, the commanding officer of the ninth corps, then came from the Central Repository of the Classics.

Jin Wuwei, the commanding officer of the fourth corps, and the commanding officer of the seventh corps, Lun Haizhe, were then from the Bitter Solitude Temple.

Zhi Tingman, the commanding office of the sixth corps, and Jiang Zhenyan, the commanding officer of the eleventh corps, both came from Moon Frost Island. Zhi Tingman was the only female commanding officer among the 12.

Lu Ning, the commanding office of the eighth corps, and Chang Chourong, the commanding officer of the tenth corps, came from Desert Camp.

Only the commanding officer of the twelfth corps, Chang Liangqiu, had an ordinary family background, which was an anomaly in the history of the federation. Liangqiu was born in an ordinary residential district and joined the military after graduating from an ordinary school. He accomplished countless military victories, rising step-by-step to the top, finally becoming a commanding officer. He was also the only commanding officer among the 12 to receive the adulation of ordinary people.

It was clear how far the power of the Big Six Academies had extended. They were finally the true masters of the Heavenly Federation. But, at the same time, any friction or conflict among them would concern the people.

* * *

Star Academy

A young woman was leaning on a parapet, wearing a light blue robe, scanning the distance, seemingly lost in thought. Her looks would only be considered middling, though she showed her manners in every movement with her placidity exuding a gentle feeling.

"What is Qing Qing thinking of?"

The hoarse voice came from behind her where there was an old man strolling to her side. He gave her a look full of love, plus a little doting. All the old man's hair and beard was white, though he was quite robust in spirit. He wore a proper suit and had an unflustered temperament.

"Good morning, President!" Seeing that it was the academy president, Qing Qing greeted him with mild courtesy while her gaze returned to the distance.

"Will it get bad?" Qing Qing suddenly let out a frustrated sigh, the sunny and clear day seeming to be full of dark clouds in her eyes.

The president of the academy stopped himself from saying anything, though he also sighed.

* * *

Chen Mu was looking at the flying device in front of him, asking, "Are you certain it will fly?"

"It will certainly fly!" The sound rang out from Alfonso, who was full of pride. After getting the materials about the flying device, Alfonso had finally made the first copy of it. Though, in his eyes, it was his creation.

The flying device was six and a half meters long. Its two wings were more tightly raked than the original, which made the flying device look more swift and fierce. According to Alfonso, that would greatly increase its penetrating power. Its shuttle-shaped body had a sharp nose. The flying device had only used card technology, which meant the power card. Since no one knew how long it would take to fly out from the jungle, they had to prepare a lot of power. The power cards had the benefit of being easily carried and were naturally Chen Mu's first choice.

During that time, Chen Mu's contribution points had already reached 20, which was the highest in the whole base by then.

After reaching 25, Chen Mu could consult some of the materials, among which was the curriculum the children were studying. The knowledge in the curriculum wasn't entirely like what Chen Mu had studied; there was more about card appliances. It was more like what Alfonso had learned. Chen Mu would sometimes even conjecture that the card appliance technology the Moqi line had gotten might have unknowingly been learned from the base.

The curriculum was most useful to Alfonso. The card appliance knowledge he had studied had been applied completely uncritically and fell pitifully short of any familiarity with principles. From the point of view of theory, the core principles of card appliances and cards should be the connected, though there were still quite a few differences. Chen Mu had wanted to teach Alfonso some of the principles. He had made rapid progress, though it still couldn't satisfy Chen Mu. Still, the curriculum from the system had raised Alfonso's abilities by many levels in a short amount of time. Many of the areas he had only seemed to understand had suddenly become clear.

That was also why Chen Mu wondered whether the ancestors of the Moqi line might have had some intersection with the base. The things Alfonso called "card matter" technology showed some obvious signs of common lineage with the technology of the base. Though, he hadn't found any traces of it by then.

The flying device had two seats and could hold two people.

After everyone found out Chen Mu wanted to leave the jungle, they were all quite reluctant to part with him, though they very much understood and honored his decision. Chen Mu was also reluctant in his heart to part with everyone, but the biggest problem just then—security—wasn't something he needed to worry about anymore. Not only was the base hidden, but the exit from the elevator was completely under their control. So long as they didn't leave, no one would consider entering.

Following Chen Mu's incessant repairs, he had found the base was far more advanced than he had imagined. After restoring the observation lens, they could clearly observe the situation on the ground.

The critical item that made everyone agree to Chen Mu leaving wasn't the flying device Alfonso made, but was rather the communications equipment Chen Mu had found by chance in the warehouse. Such an advanced piece of communications equipment, which relied on pulse signals, was like a breath of fresh air to Chen Mu. Together with Alfonso, they combined that technology with the federation communications card technology to make an entirely new communications card!

That sort of communications card had extremely powerful signal reception; in theory, it would be able to provide a connection no matter how far apart the two parties were. Of course, that was only in theory, not considering all kinds of interference, as well as some other factors. But, that so-called "thousand-kilometer card" could certainly fulfill communication requirements of within 1,000 kilometers.

The most surprising thing was that when the token card was added to the thousand-kilometer card, its capabilities were improved many times over. But, that huge, boundless, forested stretch went a lot more than 1,000 kilometers. Chen Mu still wasn't optimistic he could use the thousand-kilometer card to get in touch from outside the jungle.

Still, Chen Mu had made another important discovery while incessantly repairing the base. Surprisingly, the base had a specialized large-scale communications signal transmitter. The equipment in every single room made Chen Mu and Alfonso both draw in cold breaths. The complicated wiring channels almost blew the two of them away several times. But, what they hadn't expected was the system's unprecedented enthusiasm for the repair of the signal transmitter! It even went so far as to provide all kinds of assistance, which was quite a bit different from its normal style of only wanting to talk about materials and the need for privileges.

The complexity of the signal transmitter wasn't something Chen Mu and Alfonso would be able to resolve by themselves. They expended a lot of time to repair a small part. But, the capabilities demonstrated by even that small part overjoyed the two of them.

They both believed that no matter how huge the stretch of forest was, establishing connections would surely be no problem given the thousand-kilometer card combined with the signal transmitter.

The base had given them too many pleasant surprises. Every discovery inevitably astonished Chen Mu for how advanced it was. But, there was nothing they could do about the system remaining silent about its own origins. It had never divulged the slightest related information.

The jungle was no longer an insurmountable barrier now that they could establish connections and had a flying device able to penetrate the gummy cloud layer.

Chen Mu was getting excited.

He ran over to Cheng Ying's apartment.

"I'm not going back," Chen Ying said mildly with a smile, cutting short Chen Mu's invitation. "I like it here. I can learn a lot here, and so long as I can learn useful things, it doesn't matter if it's about cards or something else."

Chen Mu stayed silent. He understood that Cheng Ying was talking about the skills transmitted by Wei-ah. So as not to delay the children's studies, Wei-ah had sought out Chen Mu to put demonstrations of his skills onto a fantasy card. Cheng Ying knew how hard it would be to find such high-level training outside. More so, with Bo Wen dead, maybe there wouldn't be so many people who could find Chen Mu. If they were seeking Chen Ying out, it would be a lot simpler.

Since that was the way it was, it would be better for her to stay at the base and wait until she was a lot stronger before leaving.

Having been designated as the next clan leader, Li Duhong really didn't need Chen Mu to appoint him. He repeatedly threatened suicide to be able to accompany Chen Mu, but he had faced everyone's opposition.

Wei-ah demanded to stay with Chen Mu, which exceeded everyone's expectations. Many people urged him to stay, but with the clan elder no longer there, there wasn't anyone who could restrain that wild beast. And, Chen Mu felt it wouldn't be a bad thing for him to have another "bodyguard," so he agreed.

Chen Mu's heart was full of excitement and longing, for he was finally about to return to his former life.

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