The Card Apprentice

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

Eastern Shang-Wei City was in the boundary lands of the Eastern Reaches district, and outside the city was all wilderness. Every once in a while, Eastern Wei Academy would organize students to go out into the open country to do combat-related training. But in order to guarantee student safety, many teachers would have to accompany them. Although they didn't go deep into the wilderness, the school stipulated strict protective measures to avoid unnecessary danger,

That time, since some students from Star Academy wanted to participate in the combat training, and since they hadn't prepared ahead of time, there weren't enough supervising teachers. But those willful Star Academy students were extremely persistent, which put Eastern Wei Academy into a bit of a dilemma. If the Star Academy students who were at Eastern Wei Academy were put into any danger, the consequences would be unthinkable. So Zuo Tingyi ran over without delay to talk it over with Wang Ze, hoping he could restrain those few Star Academy students.

Wang Ze immediately understood what Zuo Tingyi was getting at. He gave a dry smile, and said in a detached way, "My junior classmate doesn't need to worry about them. Earlier before I left, the president of the Academy made it clear that if anything should happen, our school would naturally take responsibility. Many of my school's students have ways to protect themselves, which is all the more reason not to worry."

Although the tone was mild, there was no mistaking the self-confidence with which he spoke. Zuo Tingyi was taken aback, yet also relieved. Those others were Star Academy students after all, and they must have many ways to get things done.

Nodding, Zuo Tingyi said goodbye to Wang Ze, and left to do some work consulting with each of the two sides.

Watching Zuo Tingyi's back as he moved far away, Wang Ze got a little lost in thought. He was responsible for all the relevant matters regarding the exchange and the responsibility on his shoulders was heavy. Looking all around him, his expression became a little complicated, though it promptly returned to normal.

When he thought of the glory of his alma mater's former times and how it had fallen recently, Wang Ze felt his blood boil, and he resolved deep in his heart to handle things well that time.

* * *

As soon as he woke up, Chen Mu felt bright and clear in spirit and qi. He ate a little something and then began to arrange the drafts on the table.

After a while, Copper also very lazily woke up.

"You woke up." Chen Mu didn't lift his head, while his hand was arranging drafts.

Copper replied with a grunt, stood up and stretched, and languidly gave a couple of groans before turning around, "Blockhead, aren't we going to buy supplies today?"

"Mmm, I was just wanting to talk with you about that."

Outside the store, Copper's look was steely grey, and his face muscles were twitching. He squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, "We really got robbed!" His whole face was pained by how few Oudis were left in his hand.

Chen Mu didn't understand Copper. He was now completely immersed in a kind of satisfaction. Everything that was inside the bag that he carried in his hand was card material, and card-ink concocting materials. He had never possessed so many materials.

Returning home, Chen Mu got rid of Copper. He needed quiet when he was making cards, and he thought that keeping Copper quiet was about as easy as wanting a mute to open his mouth and talk.

Looking at the mountain of materials in front of him, Chen Mu suddenly felt a kind of elation in his bones that he'd never felt before. Although the things at hand were only raw materials, that didn't inhibit his passion for card making.

Chen Mu didn't immediately get to work. Although every detail of the story was already seared into his mind, he still had to transform every detail of the story into every design on the card. And there weren't abundant materials at hand, so every mistake he could avoid would save a lot of money.

Chen Mu never considered himself to be more talented at card making than others, but he did sometimes think that what he made stood out more than what others made.

That was because he was sufficiently diligent! In order to economize, he had no choice but to desperately stuff the card composition into his brain. In that way, not only would he be saving a lot of money, but he would also be able to become still more familiar with how a card master composed a card.

That was all the work of preparation.

A little chen stone, silk heart juice, combined with a comparable amount of blue ink paste, cook for ten minutes over a small flame until the chen stone is completely dissolved and the card ink that has been concocted is slightly viscous, then while stirring with a paddle, bright blue ripples spiral out around and around, and there is a spicy astringent smell. When Chen Mu looked up, he didn't look like a card master, but instead looked more like a storybook wizard.

Chen Mu had already completely memorized the story which they had called "Chance Encounter."

Without waiting for the card ink to cool, he quickly grabbed a blank card, and picked up a penknife-style pen with his right hand, anointing it lightly in some card ink. The penknife fell to the card without the slightest hesitation.

The pen moved like a snaking dragon, flowing like water, without the slightest pause in the motion. The ink flowed off along the pen nib onto the blank card, still holding a few calories of heat, and radiant with a light glow under the control of Chen Mu's perception.

Chen Mu's gaze was concentrated, without the slightest urgency to his expression.

Chen Mu had learned this from the fantasy mirror in that mysterious card: If you take advantage of the time when the ink is warm when you start drawing, the drafting style will be soft and fluid, and the marriage between the ink and the card surface will reach a higher level, thus perfecting the resulting fantasy card.

But from the time it is ready until it cools, there were only about two minutes. Which is to say that Chen Mu must finish making the entire card within two minutes. This is also why Chen Mu planned out and projected the entire composition of the card over and over.

He had long since cooked every detail of the card's composition into his brain. And the steadiness of the hand which had drawn innumerable one-star power-cards didn't fall the least bit short of the precision of the finest mechanical instrument.

But compared with what could be considered his finely tempered hand, Chen Mu's wielding of perception fell short by quite a bit.

Still, what made him really happy was that up until then, he hadn't made any careless mistakes.

A pattern looking like a rose-blossom slowly spread out little by little from the pen nib, becoming more and more complex, with every line of the resulting design radiant with a faint glow, pulsating as though it were breathing.

The expression on Chen Mu's face was still concentrated, and showed no urgency, but the beads of sweat seeping out from his forehead made it quite evident that it was no easy work.

Even though he had made so many preparations, he had neglected a critical issue, which was the wielding of perception! He was so focused on how to become totally conversant with the composition, that he had overlooked that issue.

His breathing started to become a little disordered, and wielding his perception was using up nearly all of his energy, in particular because he wasn't advanced with that sort of perception. And also because among those who wield it, not many talk about it. He felt things getting more and more strenuous. Although the feeling coming from the pen nib was still smooth and fluid, and although the entire composition still floated freely up in his memory, he had already started to feel as though he was falling short of what he wished for.

The radiance of the pattern on the card started to darken.

If the radiance from the pattern were to vanish before the card was completed, then that card would be completely wasted.

The tendons on his forehead were popping, his rough breath was scorching hot in his nose, the beads of sweat changed from small dew drops into a stream. The only thing that hadn't undergone any change was the pen in Chen Mu's hand.

Being drained of perception made Chen Mu extremely uncomfortable, but he already had no choice.