The Card Apprentice

Chapter 117: The Hundred Blades

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

Will arrived at the number 2 comprehensive training room with his heart full of anticipation. What would a card made by a card master having an “A” level of contribution points be like? Chen Mu looked very young, which stuck out among card masters where so much stress was put on qualifications and experience. But getting to the “A” level was something that even the so-called high-level card artisans couldn’t match.

Hadn’t Bo Wen said that there were only five “A” level card artisans on the base? Will knew the principle that rare things are expensive.

No matter how he looked at it, everything made Will extremely enthusiastic about that card which would be his.

He suddenly thought about Bo Wen and Cheng Ying, who had said that they wanted to meet the awesome card master. Should he contact them or not? Will was hesitant, since he still wasn’t very familiar with Chen Mu’s temperament. He wondered if doing that might offend him. If he made Chen Mu unhappy, then he would be miserable. Will finally abandoned the idea, deciding to hold off his boldness, and first become familiar with Chen Mu before bringing up such a request.

With that matter off to the side, Will’s heart filled with joy as he thought of the awesome card that he would soon have.

Chen Mu was already waiting in the number 2 comprehensive training room. Will quickened his step upon seeing him, and hurriedly apologized, “I am really embarrassed to be so late.”

“It’s not important.” Chen Mu waved it off, not minding, “The card is finished. This time is for you to try it and see if there is anything which needs to be adjusted.”

Will felt immediately comfortable seeing such an unexpected attitude; an “A” level card master who was so amiable and so dedicated! He sighed to realize that the more powerful a person was, the more easy-going they could be.

Will wasn’t going to do anything the least bit rash just because Chen Mu was so easy-going. Even if it were before, when he had been awed to see the “A” on the card to indicate Chen Mu’s level of contribution points, Chen Mu would still be worthy of Will’s deep respect.

“I am so sorry to trouble you.” He said very sincerely as he bowed.

Chen Mu looked at Will a little surprised. Being born poor, and having become accustomed to human sensibilities, it was easy for him to tell if Will’s praise was genuine or fake. He simply didn’t quite get it, since he knew that he hadn’t done anything that was so great.

But he didn’t question it and changed the topic to the card that he had made for Will.

“This is called the ‘hundred blades’ card. Of course, if you don’t like the name, you can change it.” Chen Mu said as casually as always, as he pulled a silver-grey card out from his card wallet.

The card’s light profile had some significant differences as compared with an ordinary card. The dark silver-grey card was understated but extremely touchable, having gone through a water-based polishing process, which took away any reflective qualities. But compared to its understated physical qualities, it’s composition was dazzling. Its light silver design was fine and balanced, giving a kind of illusion, as though a liquid were flowing on the surface of the card, and they were the silvery veins.

As soon as he looked at it, Will fell in love with the card. He stared wide-eyed at the hundred blades card in Chen Mu’s hand, with an obsessed look in his eyes.

Chen Mu was concentrating on explaining the “hundred blades” card. He had decided to demonstrate it himself, and he inserted it into his own apparatus and then activated it.

“The special thing about this card is the number of finger-sized energy blades it can emit in an instant. I thought this style would be rather suited to you for short range attacks. If your perception is strong enough, you can certainly reach the value of a hundred, but in general you could reach twenty shots, which isn’t bad.”

Chen Mu raised his hand and his look turned serious, then without any visible movement, several dozen light green rays of light flashed by all around his body.

“Were you able to see that clearly?” Chen Mu asked Will.

Will was so excited he was shaking, and with a trembling voice, “I see . . . saw it clearly! My god, that was great!” He saw those dozens of light rays very clearly, each one of them left by an energy blade. Those flashes of light were enough to show how fast the small light green energy blades were.

“The coverage of the hundred blades card is within a range of ten meters around your body. If you were to have sufficient control of your perception, you could control the speed and direction of each of the energy blades. Just now, you could probably only control their general direction. In this way you could form a fan-shaped attack.” Chen Mu did another demonstration, which flashed dozens of light-blue rays within a fan shaped area in front of him.

Will’s face had reddened, since Chen Mu had implied that his ability to control his perception was lacking, which was why Chen Mu had chosen that style of attack. But one must know oneself, and that was his weak point. He was just not good at it. Since that card could avoid those weaknesses of his, while it embarrassed him, he was very happy. And he had been paying attention to the density of the attack within that fan-shaped area, which simply lit up his eyes. With that kind of density, very few would be able to dodge and evade.

“The firepower of each small energy blade can’t be considered very high.” Chen Mu’s expression showed his regret at reaching his absolute limit, and this being the best that he could do. He walked over to an instrument that was specifically used to test attack damage, which had a round target in front of it. There was a screen beside the target which currently displayed all zeros.

He raised his hand and fired off a light green colored little energy blade, which hit with a pop, and then numbers on the screen started jumping around until they stopped at 330.

“That’s about the level, pay attention when you’re in a battle.” Chen Mu reminded.

Will was gaping at the screen, feeling like his brain had been short-circuited. My god! To consider 330 low? He looked at Chen Mu speechlessly. When he had just said that the power of the energy blades was insufficient, he had prepared himself mentally for something not very much out of the ordinary, like maybe 250. The destructive power of the two thunderballs emitted by his previous bipolar thunderball card didn’t go beyond 180.

He was scared stupid by the number 330! That was already a very high level for a three-star card, with the destructive power of ordinary cards probably in the low 200’s. He was wild with joy from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, and his brain felt like he’d been slammed with a rush of heat which made him feel giddy.

Don’t mess with me, brother, OK? Will was looking at Chen Mu resentfully, with these highs and lows bringing his fragile nerves to the point of collapse. But looking at Chen Mu’s serious expression, he felt the need to open his mouth and check the standards. Can “A” level card masters just ignore everyone else’s standards like that?

He swallowed hard, wanting to open his mouth, while Chen Mu was twisting his wrist and continuing on, “In order to compensate for this deficit, I’ve given it an additional tactical technique.”

Then he raised his hand again.

Dozens of green rays appeared at the same time and converged on a single spot with startling speed. There was a glowing spot floating in midair in front of Chen Mu, which gave Will the illusion that they were going all out to absorb all the light around them in that instant. The afterimage of that brilliant moment stuck in Will’s eyes, almost giving him a spell of fainting.

A twenty-centimeter light green crescent-shaped wavy blade floated quietly in front of Chen Mu, looking like a crescent moon, gentle and serene.

Chen Mu pushed his right hand slightly ahead.

Sssss! The gentle-looking crescent moon emitted a sound like a hissing snake, blowing up a sudden chill in Will’s heart.

Poof! The crescent hit the target with a sound like the previous one, so light as to be almost negligible. It left a twenty-centimeter clear impression in the center of the round target. And then the screen started jumping more crazily than the last time.

450!

Will stood in front of the screen, his gaze drifting, scared out of his mind. There was only the sound mumbling from his mouth, how could that be, how could that be.

To Chen Mu, Will’s losing control of himself made him think that Will wasn’t satisfied with the destructive value, when he calmly said, “This is the highest damage value I’ve been able to achieve. If you aren’t satisfied, I don’t have any way to raise it for the time being.” As he saw it, 450 certainly wouldn’t be considered high. The destructive value of his tailless shuttle was 756, after all. Besides, if he were to want to bring the hundred-blade card to that level, it would require a rather long energy accumulation process, which would be very inconvenient during a battle. Its usefulness would be very limited then, in his opinion.

Will gave a sudden shudder, and came back to his senses, and said almost incoherently, “I’m satisfied, I’m satisfied! I’m really too satisfied!”

Satisfied! How could he not be satisfied? Unlike Chen Mu, Will very clearly knew how rare it was to find any card which could achieve a damage value above four hundred in the marketplace. Not only would their price be sky high, even if you had the money they wouldn’t be available, and the money would be for naught.

How could Will have known that he would be given such a pleasant surprise by Chen Mu. He felt like he should go to a temple and light some incense. Not to light incense when such a thing happened would be too disrespectful to the Bodhisattva. He needed to bless the Buddha a little to get such good luck! He felt like every cell in his body was trembling, and trembling with extreme excitement!