The Card Apprentice

Chapter 114: Verification

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

“What are you chatting about?” A young man with an easy manner came walking toward the two of them with a smile.

Hearing the voice, the two turned around in unison. Seeing it was Bo Wen, Cheng Ying’s eyes lit up, “Don’t you have any practice today, Bo Wen?”

Bo Wen’s smiling face was as enchanting as ever, and he said with a smile, “I’m too lazy to train today. Sister Cheng Ying is still so industrious that it puts me to shame.”

Will and Cheng Ying had known one another for a long time, and they both later met Bo Wen. Bo Wen was a little mysterious to them. His power was inscrutable, and Cheng Ying had always doubted whether even Mark Victor could be his equal. If one were to judge from the commissions he took, he had completed all of them very easily.

Cheng Ying had always felt that Bo Wen was one strange guy. He seemed to be really interested in everything while he didn’t seem to care about anything. But one thing was certain; Bo Wen had a lot of power!

That was sufficient. In that society, people with power were the ones worth getting to know. Both Will and Cheng Ying understood that very clearly.

There weren’t many women card artisans on the base. But provided that their appearance was the least bit remarkable, if they were to look at Bo Wen it was as though they wanted to swallow him up.

In comparison, Chen Ying was much calmer and more normal, which was one of the reasons Bo Wen looked upon her so favorably.

Bo Wen was someone that no-one could dislike, and even a woman as picky as Cheng Ying couldn’t help that kind of thought, such was his charm.

“Sister Cheng had just been telling me that she had found an awesome guy.” Will explained after he and Bo Wen had greeted one another.

“Awesome guy? Oh, if someone can get sister Cheng Ying to say ‘awesome,’ he must really be something.” Bo Wen looked a little interested.

Seeing that both of their gazes had fallen on her, Cheng Ying talked a little about what she had seen that day, “I ran into a guy today who had scored above 80 in the close-range dodging and evading training which had a difficulty rating of 80. One out of three of his scores reached 90. Awesome! It stunned me.”

Will had been shocked, “Close-range dodging and evading training with a difficulty level of 80, and scoring above 80, With one out of three at 90?” He was a close-combat card artisan, and he knew what that meant more than an ordinary person would. He would only score 65 in the situation of close-range dodging and evading that had a difficulty level of 80. He could sometimes hit a score of 80, but to steadily hit that score time after time was a lot more valuable, and a lot scarier.

“Oh.” The ever-calm Bo Wen didn’t change his expression, “There’s that kind of a close-combat ace here? That’s a great score.”

Cheng Ying nodded in deep thought, “I find it surprising too, I don’t know if even Mark Victor could get that kind of result.”

Bo Wen said, “If there were someone, it would be him.”

Mark Victor had been making a lot of noise during that time. His rate of success with commissions was extremely high, and he finished every commission in outstanding fashion. Not only that, he had also defeated another card artisan called Alan in a conflict, who had also made a bit of a name for himself in those circles. He was easily defeated by Mark Victor.

The thing that made people pay attention was that Mark Victor was also a close-combat card artisan, while Alan was a classic long-range card artisan, and the battle between them lasted only five minutes when Mark Victor claimed victory. Three people witnessed the fight between the two of them, and it had made a deep impression.

It wasn’t permitted on the base to just casually kill people unless the adversaries had joined in a duel, which would then be life or death. That was how Alan had been killed in Mark Victor’s hands.

The dead are dead, and no one cares about the loser.

Will’s expression became a little serious. If a close-combat card artisan could get those kinds of scores, then he could evade most attacks. If anyone wanted to hit him, it would be very difficult.

In general, card artisans like that had sensitive nerves, and were the hardest type to deal with.

Seeing Will’s serious expression and Bo Wen deep in thought, Cheng Ying wasn’t thinking of saying anything casual. But since the atmosphere had gotten so serious, she wanted to liven it up a little, so she said with deliberate lightness, “Let’s not worry about him anymore. Even though he has such high scores, he doesn’t look like an ace to me. Will, seeing you so happy just now, did something good happen?”

Will came back to his spirits, remembering what had happened that day, and couldn’t help smiling, “Ha! With such bad luck all my life, I finally ran into some good luck today!”

Bo Wen had also been awakened from his deep thought, and seeing Will’s excited look, he smiled lightly, “What is it that’s made you so excited?”

“Ha! You’ll never guess! I issued a commission yesterday, wanting to buy a somewhat better close-combat fantasy card, having always wanted to change mine.” Will said laughingly.

Bo Wen was dumbfounded, and then smiled, “You wanted to exchange a fantasy card? I know quite a few pretty good card masters. Would you like me to introduce a few?”

Will quickly waved him off, “No need, no need. A card master just took the commission today.” His face had a pleased expression.

Cheng Ying laughed out, and made some fun, “Didn’t you issue it so that a card master would take the commission? What’s so surprising about that? Aren’t card masters everywhere these days?”

The satisfied look on Will’s face didn’t fade, “There sure are a lot of card masters, but what if there were one who had gotten an “A” level of contribution points?”

“A contribution level of ‘A’?” Cheng Ying’s face was full of disbelief, “You think that a contribution level of ‘A’ is some cabbage you can just stick your foot out and kick?”

Bo Wen was lightly smiling, as he slowly said, “I’m afraid that there are only five card masters on the base with an ‘A’ level of contribution.” Both Will and Cheng Ying knew that Bo Wen was always likely to have insider information, so if he said five, then that would have to be pretty close. The two of them both tucked that number away in their memories.

Seeing that the two didn’t believe him, Will deepened his look of satisfaction, “Ha ha, I didn’t believe at the beginning either, but then I saw his room card, on which was written an ‘A’ which couldn’t be faked.”

Cheng Ying showed some astonishment in her face, “Why would a card master with an ‘A’ level of contribution rush to take your commission? How much were you offering?”

“It was only for two hundred contribution points. I didn’t get it either why some big guy would pay attention to my little commission.” Will shrugged his shoulders, with a look of not knowing why it had been so, “I only know that he’s called Chen Mu, and he’s very young – even younger than me. I really don’t know how someone so young could rise to the ‘A’ level.”

“Chen Mu?” the ever-unperturbable Bo Wen suddenly raised his head, with a strange look to his eyes.

Cheng Ying and Will’s gazes fell on Bo Wen at the same time, and Will asked, “You mean you know Chen Mu?”

“Ha ha, no, I’ve only heard the name, and it’s said that he has pretty good strength.” Bo Wen’s expression looked a little forced. Cheng Ying caught the look in his eye but didn’t say anything.

Will became more excited, “So you mean he really is an ‘A’ level card master?”

Bo Wen couldn’t help smiling, “Those points aren’t a mistake.”

“Ha! Fantastic!” Will was so excited he didn’t know where he was, which make Cheng Ying beside him a little envious. Not knowing what that strange look in Bo Wen’s eyes was about, there wasn’t any worry that the “A” contribution level card artisan’s identity was in question. And you could see from Bo Wen’s reaction that the “A” level card master might have something special about him.

Despite her envy, Cheng Ying was still happy for Will. Will might not have had the subtle depths of Bo Wen, but he was a lot more simple and upright and sincere toward people, which was something that Cheng Ying appreciated. She knew how strong Will was, and that the power of that original card of his was just too low.

Then when Will talked about how Chen Mu had wanted to see him practice, the envy in Cheng Ying’s heart shot up to its highest point.

Almost every card artisan had the ideal of using a card that had been tailor-made just for them. But that was only a dream for most card artisans.

A card master who had the ability to make a three star or above card specifically designed for someone wasn’t someone ordinary.

Bo Wen was standing to the side with a smile, with his eyes sometimes looking as though he had something on his mind.

* * *

Chen Mu didn’t start making the fantasy card for Will right away when he got home, but rather pulled out the bipolar thunderball card to study. He wasn’t only interested in the design on the face of it. But to be a card master, Chen Mu still had to delve into studying the design first.

After spending about two hours, he had finally gotten a little bit of a clue. It was naturally only a clue. The design on that card was original, and clearly in an utterly different category from any theory that Chen Mu had learned about.

He probably understood about a quarter of it, and could probably guess the purpose of another quarter, but he didn’t’ understand the remaining half at all.

The bipolar thunderball card was a fine piece, and the card master who had made it was a powerful card master. To use the word ‘powerful’ about a card master seemed to have become a little unreliable, but Chen Mu had used that word without any reservations at all.