The Card Apprentice

Chapter 118: Three Moons

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

Since Will was satisfied, Chen Mu breathed a sigh of relief. There were a lot of things about the bipolar thunderball card that he hadn’t yet explored, and he was hoping he didn’t have to return it to Will. But he still very conscientiously reminded Will, “This one has slightly higher strength requirements for perceptual ability. You should be able to use it now, but it will take some effort.”

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter.” Will was excitedly rubbing his hands, dying to grab the hundred blades card from Chen Mu’s hands right away.

Chen Mu couldn’t help smiling, seeing Will looking so much like a monkey in a hurry.

“This card still has one more tactical technique, developed from that moon shape just now, with still higher requirements for perceptual control. Pay attention.” Chen Mu’s expression was serious, since the technique required a serious approach in his opinion.

Like rain drops, several dozen zipping light rays converged accurately on a spot in front of Chen Mu, where a crescent moon appeared floating. The same as before, Chen Mu gave a light push.

The crescent moon darted hissing toward the target, looking no different from the last time.

Will looked a little uncertain.

Just then, in the middle of its high-speed flight, the crescent moon suddenly changed from one to three, so that three identical looking crescent moons were in midair.

Poof!

Three crescent moons hit the target at the same time, leaving three comparatively light impressions. The numbers on the screen started to jump around, but this time there were three data, which finished at 375, 372, 373.

What? What is this? Will was struck dumb looking at the target. After five or six full minutes, he finally came back to life. Without being able to conceal it at all, his face was wild with joy to reach the sky. Will knew that if he could grasp the technique, in an actual battle it would have tremendous power. Even though their power was slightly less than the single crescent moon, these were so much more deceptive, to divide mid-flight into three without the slightest warning. If he were to run into such a thing, he would certainly be hit.

Will had already determined for himself that no matter what, he needed to master that technique

“It’s called ‘three moons!'” Will firmly planted Chen Mu’s faintly spoken words in his memory. Three moons. Not a bad name!

“Tell me what needs to be modified.” Chen Mu continued in consultation with Will.

“Let me try it first!” Will said excitedly. Although he had already been conquered by the hundred blades card, he would still be prudent. Without saying anything else, Chen Mu pulled the card from his apparatus.

Will very carefully took the card, not as though what he was receiving with both hands was a card, but more as though it were some priceless piece of fine porcelain. As though looking at something very complex, he looked at the silver grey hundred blades card. And then all the joys and sorrows of his life inexplicably surged up in his heart.

Seeing Will at such a loss reminded Chen Mu of himself. Remembering when even if it were a one-star fantasy card it could excite him for half the day. Now, the more abstruse his learning became, the less he felt such simple joy.

That was something to cherish, as Chen Mu thought back to those carefree times.

Will inserted the hundred blades card into his own apparatus and started his trials.

Chen Mu returned from his reveries breathing a sigh, as that pure and simple life was getting farther and farther away from him. He turned his attention to Will, who was practicing the hundred blades card.

Compared with Chen Mu, Will’s perceptual strength fell short. Chen Mu could very easily fire twenty little energy blades at a time, while Will could only release about fifteen. And there were differences in the battle scene, with all the wavy blades within a three-meter area around him.

Chen Mu gave it some thought, and then praised Will to himself for his rich experience after all. Even though the scope of his control was a fair amount smaller, it still required a lot of strength to maintain control within a three-meter area. And sacrificing some distance to increase the rate of success with the hits was a classic close-in battle play.

Will could also form the crescent moon, although the one he formed had a damage rating of about 350, which was about the same as what Chen Mu had later gotten with each of the three split-out wavy blades. Will didn’t look the least bit disheartened. On the contrary, his smile stretched from ear to ear.

Chen Mu didn’t understand why Will was so happy, but that was because he didn’t understand the market. There were a lot fewer close-battle cards than there were remote attack cards, and card masters who were good at making close-combat cards were scarce. Being able to achieve a damage level of 330 wasn’t uncommon among remote cards, but it was hardly ever encountered with close-battle cards. And the hundred blades card had three modes of attack, on which Will placed a great deal of importance. A card artisan having only a single tactic wouldn’t have much chance of survival in the outer reaches, if it didn’t complement someone else’s tactics.

Seeing that Will wasn’t about to let the hundred blades card out of his hand, Chen Mu felt a strong sense of accomplishment rise from the bottom of his heart. Probably every card artisan would be very happy in that kind of situation.

Will was extremely pleased with the hundred blades card and didn’t have any thoughts about modifying it.

Seeing that, Chen Mu was getting ready to leave when he suddenly thought of a question and stopped himself, turning around to ask Will, “Do you know who the most awesome close-battle card artisan is on the base?”

“The most awesome close-battle card artisan? Do you want to issue a commission?” Will asked quizzically. Will found Chen Mu’s question a little strange, since apart from issuing a commission, he couldn’t think of any other explanation. But if he wanted to issue a commission, what kind was it that he couldn’t do without a close-combat card artisan?

“I’m rather interested in close combat cards and want to find a card artisan who understands close fighting.” Chen Mu had found a pretty good justification for himself.

“Oh.” It suddenly dawned on Will that Chen Mu wanted to find a partner. Quite a few card masters who made close-combat cards had partners who were close-combat card artisans. A close-combat card artisan could correctly determine the practical value of a card’s capabilities. Or to be blunt, their usefulness was to test the close-combat cards made by the card master, and then report their experience to the card master, to facilitate the card master’s improvements.

Probably only an “A” level card master would ever dare to use that manner of speaking right in front of him, talking about ‘the most awesome close-combat card artisan.’ He would assume it was a matter of course that someone else would have such power.

Although he knew that being this card master’s partner would have countless advantages, he still knew himself well, and he was nowhere near that level. After thinking about it, he said factually, “In that regard, there is someone called Mark Victor who is probably one of the most awesome close-combat card artisans on the base. Oh, and my friend recently ran into an extremely awesome close-combat card artisan. His close range dodging and evading scores were all above 80 under conditions of a level 80 degree of difficulty, with one out of three above 90.”

As Will was saying that he was looking out into space, since those results were so far away from him.

Chen Mu was taken aback, “Close-range dodging? Difficulty level of 80, getting 80 points?” He was remembering that he seemed to have recently done that kind of training, and that his scores seemed to correspond to those numbers.

Will thought that Chen Mu wasn’t understanding, and patiently explained, “Close range dodging and evading is a training that close-combat card artisans have to learn, since it can improve their ability to survive. To get a score of 80 at an 80 level of difficulty makes it clear that this card artisan has an extremely outstanding dodging ability. That would be quite a scary close-combat card artisan.”

“Oh.” Chen Mu looked like he was trying to understand. Could he have remembered his scores incorrectly? That must be it, though no matter what, these two scary terms card and artisan would never be linked together with him.

“I unfortunately don’t know that card artisan’s name.” Will looked full of regret, though he immediately looked at Chen Mu and said, “But with your strength, it shouldn’t be difficult to seek him out.” Will couldn’t believe that an “A” level card master wouldn’t have that kind of privilege.

“Who would be more awesome between him and Mark Victor?” Chen Mu asked.

Will thought for a moment, “I haven’t seen that card artisan, and I’m also not really clear on Mark Victor’s actual strength. But I think they must both be at the same level, and if there were any difference, it wouldn’t be very large.”

“Hmmm, Thanks!” Chen Mu said. One had a name, and the other he needed to ask about. Chen Mu naturally chose Mark Victor.

It suddenly struck Will as he thought of Cheng Ying, “If you need a remote card artisan, there are a few comrades I could introduce you to. They all have outstanding power.” This wasn’t a watery phrase for him, since on the base, Cheng Ying’s power was top-notch. And Bo Wen was more inscrutable to Will.

“Hmmm, I’ll look for you if I need someone.” Chen Mu nodded.

Will hesitated, and then with sudden resolve, gritted his teeth, “You are the most awesome card master I’ve even seen. Would you be able to leave me a way to contact you?” His heart was pounding. For someone of his status to say such a thing made him feel greedy. And many card masters’ dispositions weren’t nearly as good as their abilities.

Chen Mu felt nothing of it, and casually gave him his room card number, “This is my room card number, if anything comes up, you can leave me a word.”

‘Leaving a word’ meant to leave it at the consignment office. You would input a certain card number, and then write down the information you wanted to leave, and that would temporarily remain in the terminal at the consignment office. The next time that the owner of that number came to the consignment office, he would receive the news. Except that Chen Mu wouldn’t need to bother, since his terminal had the same capability.

Will was overjoyed, and rushed to reassure him, “Don’t worry, I certainly won’t just casually bother you.” He was already very content to have gotten the card number, even though it was a little bother. He didn’t hold out the extravagant wish that Chen Mu would give him his communications card number, though that would be the most convenient method.

“No worries.” Chen Mu waved his hand, saying that it wasn’t important, when he thought of something else, “Do you know who it was that made that bipolar thunderball card?”