The Card Apprentice

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

Jie Yanbai was strolling into the small alley. However, because he had a typical face, wore plain clothes and had restricted the emission of his aura, no one was able to recognize him while he walked on the streets.

He seemed to be familiar with this area. After making a few turns, he finally arrived at a residential area.

This residential area looked rather shabby, especially that red door. The red paint had already worn out quite a bit, showing the black wood behind it. The copper ring on the red door made this residential area looked quite antique and appealing. Old style residential areas such as this was constructed about forty years ago and used to be popular for a time. However, this door could not even offer any protection at all. So it was quickly replaced with a new automatic door that can only be unlocked with a password.

Jie Yanbai went in front of it in a familiar manner and knocked on the door using that copper ring.

"Who is it?" The voice of a man could be heard from inside.

With the sound of a creak, the wooden door opened.

A middle aged man appeared before Jie Yanbai. He was wearing a grayish coat, and underneath the coat was a white t-shirt. He was wearing a pair of black framed spectacles that was so large that it almost covered half of his face. No matter which angle one was to look at him, he looked like a typical scholar.

"Zheng Qiu, you haven't changed. You're still the same," said Jie Yanbai with a smile.

"Hey! Yanbai, when did you come back?" said the middle aged man in surprise.

Jie Yanbai said with a hint of regret, "I think no one knows that I'm back."

The middle aged man laughed, "I was busy designing a new type of battle chess, and it is still unfinished. You know me, I will lose my job if I do not design something new."

Jie Yanbai felt disturbed by his smile which was not only filled with self-mockery, but also a hint of hardship.

"You are making a living by designing battle chess?" Jie Yanbai asked while following him into the house. While walking, he asked, "What about your research?"

"I stopped doing it ages ago. I wasn't even able to eat a decent meal, how would I have any motivation to do my research?" said the middle aged man helplessly. Then he hecticly arranged the books and documents that was as tall as a mountain and cleared a chair for Jie Yanbai to sit on.

Jie Yanbai also sat down without any hesitation. But when he did so, the chair made a sudden terrifying sound. Looking at the surroundings of the room, there were many books scattered all around and all sorts of maps were hung on the surrounding walls. However, what really attracted his attention the most was a sand table that occupied half the room. There were all kinds of labels on the messy sand table that he did not understand.

"Who made this?" Jie Yanbai asked while pointing at the sand table.

"It was me. Not bad right?" The middle aged man was slightly proud as he said, "I am rehearsing the battle of Hessen and Bell. Not many of its history was recorded, and I was very interested in that battle so I was trying to reconstruct how the battle happened. Since I did not have enough money to make a 3D fantasy map card, I constructed this sand table all by myself. However, this research of mine had halted for some time as I was busy designing battle chess lately. How have you been?"

"Me? Not bad." As soon as Jie Yanbai heard what he said, he knew that he had not gone out for a long time. All of the Federation already knew that Jie Yanbai took up the position of headmaster at Central Repository of the Classics. He then asked, "Before I went away, didn't I give you a sum of money for your research?"

"I did not touch that money," The middle aged man smiled, "You didn't even come from a rich family, if not for your teacher, you wouldn't have even been able to afford your cards. Someday you'll marry someone, and the money you left for me will be used as the monetary gift for you. Ha, then I would even be able to save the money meant to be your monetary gift!"

Jie Yanbai suddenly felt a warmness in his heart and his nose felt a little itchy. The man wanted to make him laugh, but instead he himself looked even worse than if he was crying, "Quit the battle chess job."

"How can I do that?" The middle aged man glared, "I have begged for a long time for this job. Do you want me to starve to death?"

Jie Yanbai felt even more sad. At school, this man was full of pride, but now he was begging for a job so humbly. He tried his best to make his voice sound like how it would be normally, "I'm still depending on you to help me with something, so how can I let you starve to death?"

"Help you?" The middle aged man was puzzled as he looked at Jie Yanbai, "What can I help you with? I cannot do anything besides research. Hey, could it be that you've become rich now?"

Jie Yanbai laughed cheekily, "Yes, I've become rich." He suddenly changed his tone to a serious one, "Oh right, the Central Repository of the Classics is not doing well lately, why don't you research about this?"

"The Central Repository of the Classics?" The middle aged man laughed coldly, "Between you and me, what does the Central Repository of the Classics has to do with us?"

"Indeed," Jie Yanbai nodded. To Jie Yanbai, the favors he had received were all basically from the middle aged man. However, this man was boycotted by his colleagues at the Central Repository of the Classics. In the end, after much disappointment, he left the repository. When the two of them knew each other at school, Jie Yanbai was a student while this middle aged man was the teacher of a very unpopular subject called 'The History of the Federation's Battle Strategy'.

As soon as the man finished talking, he immediately got angry and yelled, "Those pigs in the tactics room, when there are benefits, all of them want a piece of it, when they are supposed to do their work, all of them give all kinds of weird ideas. Look at what terrible strategy they gave, worker Hao is good at defending but not good at attacking, making him go to the front of the battlefield was obviously not the best choice. Moreover, they even proposed for him to initiate an attack! If worker Hao took a defensive strategy, with his capability, he would not have lost. If only he dragged the battle, once the situation stabilized, and Song Chengyan is flanked from both sides, he would have lost. Without a doubt, I knew that it must have been those bastards of the tactics room who encouraged worker Hao to do that. They should continue dreaming if they want to ever win a battle with only one strike!"

"True, those guys are too stupid. However, the situation has stabilized now. Song Chengyan died and the Federation Comprehensive Academy has retreated into the Binidia Mountains, so it should be fine now," Jie Yanbai put on an act as he continued.

"Bullsh*t!" The middle aged man violently swallowed a mouthful of water, and they flowed down like pouring beans, "As compared to those pigs of the tactics room, Tang Hanpei was way smarter. He only did that to solidify his power. The Tang Camp belonged to Tang Hanpei himself after the centralization of power. Now the whole Federation Comprehensive Academy and the city all belong to him! He is just like a boxer, only retreating so that he can deliver a more powerful punch afterwards."

His gaze was calm and wise, "The Binidia Mountains has a treacherous terrain, only a small force is needed to defend the spot. With this, he can put more effort into upgrading his army, Tang Hanpei who has finished his power centralization will only become much stronger after this! Now, he only needs a true general like Song Chengyan to lead his army. Actually, when you come to think about it, based on his various skills and tricks, how could people dare say that he did not understand anything about the military? After he has finished his preparations, it will surely be unstoppable like thunder, and he will most certainly launch an attack on us first."

Jie Yanbai listened to his explanation carefully.

"If my guess is correct, Tang Hanpei will use the Desert Camp to constrain Moon Frost Island and then think of a way to constrain Star Court and Bitter Solitude Temple. Although I do not know how Tang Hanpei will do this, but I know undoubtedly that he will be able to do that. Since we are the most vulnerable now, we are the most suitable target. As for Faya, their roots are at the common residential district, the Five flourishing districts are not their battlefield. Even though it looks calm now, in truth, they are already in danger!"

"Do we really have no way to fight against Tang Hanpei?" Jie Yanbai could not help but to ask, "We can't just wait for our demise here!"

"We do!" The middle aged man said firmly, "We fight power centralization with power centralization itself! Centralizing all the powers from Upper Gan District to fight against Tang Hanpei would put us in a distinct advantage! In the military aspect, we have to defend while waiting for an attack, so we need to build a complete defensive system. The longer we drag the battle, the greater our advantage will become. As the battle drags on, Tang Hanpei will lose his advantage and he will be flanked by the other four families. With us constraining him on the battlefield directly, he will undoubtedly be in danger!"

Jie Yanbai's eyes glinted and he thought for a moment.

But the middle aged man suddenly laughed coldly and said: "Sadly, our house master is too old now, he no longer has the sharpness in his mind and has gone senile! See for yourself, how corrupted is Central Repository of the Classics now? Even Tang Hanpei knows about the open inheritance! Those greedy elder pigs, all of them hang on to their own inheritance, they would never give up their power! Based on what I see, Tang Hanpei will undoubtedly win! After we collect some money, why don't we migrate to the Heterodox Brilliance District or the Fanasi District. Based on my observation, the Star Court and the Bitter Solitude Temple will undoubtedly be finished off in the end."

"Hehe, that is not certain," Jie Yanbai raised his thick eyebrows.

"Either way, that has nothing to do with us," The middle aged man who had calmed down a little took another sip of cold water.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you something, I am now the current house master of the Central Repository of the Classics," Jie Yanbai said with a sly smile.

Pfft!

The middle aged man who was drinking spurted out the water, spraying it on Jie Yanbai's face who was sitting opposite of him. Jie Yanbai was not angry at all, he wiped his face and smiled as usual.

"You, you…"

The middle aged man was dumbfounded by what he said. Pointing at Jie Yanbai, he could not think of what to say for a long time.

After this night, the newly appointed house master of the Central Repository of the Classics issued a second order, appointing a nobody such as Cao Zhengqiu as the Chief Officer of the tactics room!

Chen Mu's team was still advancing quickly. At the same time, how could the advancement of such a large team not attract the attention of various forces?

On the way, this team of people were all conducting high speed training.

"Oh my god, I think I'm becoming a rabbit that is collared and forced to run every single day! I've never heard of any houses that train people to run so aggressively," a card artisan from the team could not help but complain.

"Indeed. I tremble when I hear an emergency assembly! F*ck, for the past few days, there was not one day that I have slept for over four hours. I feel like I can sleep while flying now," another card artisan couldn't help but to add on as well.

"The boss probably wants us to strengthen our mobility," another card artisan who was possibly more knowledgeable said.

"Mobility? Mobility my *ss! If this continues on, we will die very soon. If only I had known this, I would not have volunteered," that card artisan continued to complain.

"Ha, then you can quit now. I don't know how many people wanted to get into this team, but we can be considered as the lucky ones. With the lead of the White Commander, our future is bright. Look at the card artisans who stayed behind at Tai-shu family, those are the true unlucky ones. Although they get more money than us, but what room for improvement do they have?" another card artisan continued.

"Indeed, look at what the boss showed us, we have never known anything that he showed us before. That disk was even stronger than a probe card, it does not even use up any perception."

"That is called a Spinulosa Disk. Old Huang, you are so uncivilized," another card artisan scolded him while laughing.

The card artisan called Old Huang did not even blush, "Isn't the Spinulosa Disk still a disk? Also, I'm jealous of those young guards, the cards that they use were all made by the boss himself."

"We have no say in this. The young guards were all handpicked by the boss himself, they are all youngsters with huge potential. Even though they might be weak now, after some training by the boss, they will undoubtedly be stronger than us!"

"That is not certain yet!" A card artisan said in discontent, "Did we stay the same all these years then? The boss's Ice Pit Method was very effective! In two more years, I think that even I can make a breakthrough to Grade 7."

"Grade 7, what can a Grade 7 do! Look at our team, there are 15 Grade 7 card artisans, yet they are all obedient towards the boss. Even the Hit Man and Chrysanthemum are way stronger than those Grade 7 card artisans, especially the Hit Man, his fierceness is that of a beast!"

"Ha, you have never been under the Chrysanthemum's command. The Chrysanthemum is the most vicious of them all. As the saying goes, one would rather offend the Hit Man than affront the Chrysanthemum. Tsk tsk, look at those young guards, they have all been so tortured to the point that they don't even look human anymore, even I can't stand it."

All the nearby card artisans nodded. The difficulty of a young guard's training was far more harder than theirs. That card artisan who was wearing a daisy mask was already a horrifying existence in everyone's eyes.

Chen Mu looked at the team which was advancing rapidly, even though they were fling quickly, the team managed to maintain a relatively uniform formation. For a large team of 2,000 card artisans, it was an impressive feat for them to be able to do this.

On his side were 15 Grade 7 card artisans. After the first day the six Grade 7 card artisans were recruited, nine more Grade 7 card artisans joined afterwards, and Chen Mu's powers had increased even more tremendously.

However, he also knew that there must be card artisans of other forces among them. This is an unavoidable fact, the way he recruited so openly undoubtedly made it easy for other forces to send spies in.

Hence, Chen Mu set up a strict military discipline, whereby anyone who makes any move out of ordinary will definitely attract the attention of other people. Moreover, everyone's communication cards have all been changed into communication cards that can only be used to communicate within the team.

However, he did not have time to think about this now. He did not have to worry about the Great Six obtaining the Ice Pit Method. Within the Great Six, what they did not lack the most were methods for perception training. Although the Ice Pit Method is clearly effective, but to the Great Six who had a deep understanding of such methods, it was nothing.

In comparison, the Spinulosa Disk was more attractive to the Great Six. However, Chen Mu could no longer care so much.

It was no longer time to hide his cards, power is the most crucial now! Even though the Blood Tinge Card Artisan Team was eliminated, the effect caused by the Oudi Burner and Whorled Sniper Shuttle no longer allowed them to hide their powers anymore.

Chen Mu still decided to act according to his plan.

All eggs should not be put in the same basket. Even though he had reached an agreement with Qiu Shanyu, Chen Mu did not want to put all his hopes on somebody else. This was because if any accident was to occur, even crying would be too late.

People should rely on themselves!

All of the forces they faced were astonished by the capability of this team!

They had never seen a Card Artisan Team of such quality. Every card artisan's perception was at Level 6 and above. Moreover, the number of Grade 7 card artisans surrounding the White Commander was staggering to the moment that it made everyone suck in a mouthful of cold air!

However, this odd team did not even stop for a moment. Instead, they went straight into the forest.