The Card Apprentice - The Blue Moon Gun
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The Blue Moon Gun
Alfonso, who was familiar with its power, couldn’t bear such a powerful weapon being so ugly. Alfonso was a good colleague with aesthetic leanings from any point of view. He clearly understood the function of every part from Chen Mu and quickly grasped the design of the weapon, apart from that little card.
Though Alfonso had no way to become a fine card master, he was a genuine specialist in metallurgy. He re-commenced the optimization of the weapon’s design, taking only two days. The new weapon didn’t look anything like Chen Mu’s original one. Since Chen Mu had no interest in any sort of naming rights, Alfonso also took that part of the work. The new weapon was dubbed the “Blue Moon Gun.”
The body of the gun wasn’t actually blue, but was instead pure black. After three tries, Chen Mu still couldn’t remember the long string of words describing the alloy that Alfonso said he’d used. The body had undergone some sandblasting technique which gave it a nice feel, but what Chen Mu appreciated most was that it wouldn’t reflect anything in the dark.
The gun was a meter long, completely pitch black, with its muzzle curved back like an ancient crossbow. If one were to see it from directly in front, its level muzzle would look like the slightly scolding mouth of a shark, giving anyone a chill. The main energy box had been placed toward the back of the gun, just where the right hand could grip it comfortably. Apart from the power case, Alfonso had made other improvements, which included adding a second power case. It had been placed somewhat toward the muzzle, where the left hand could support it very nicely.
Alfonso had also made further adjustments to its core components, which would save even more effort.
The thing Chen Mu most appreciated about the improved Blue Moon Gun was its weight. It was only half the weight of Chen Mu’s original model, which could only be called a prototype.
The Blue Moon Gun was still too unwieldy from Chen Mu’s point of view. However, he didn’t have any way just then to improve it further, since its heaviest parts were the energy cases.
There was a small-scale, moonlight-stone vein near the village, which was the only energy mine in the area. The most important material in the energy cases of the Blue Moon Gun was the moonlight stone. The Blue Moon Gun had a very low rate of power utilization, and if the situation hadn’t been so dire, Chen Mu certainly would never have made a weapon that had such low efficiency. The power utilization efficiency of card artisans was generally over 80 percent. The Blue Moon Gun was at only 40 percent.
An important reason for the low power efficiency was the technology of the energy cases. As compared with the technology of energy cards, they were a lot less efficient with their energy utilization ratio.
For the time being, Chen Mu would just have to compromise. The energy capacity of a one-star power card was just too low, with no use in battle. And there was no one there apart from Chen Mu himself who could make two- or three-star power cards. Chen Mu had no choice but to use the technology of power cases. That was the village’s technology, which Chen Mu only borrowed.
The lethality of the Blue Moon Gun’s wavy blades was probably about 200, which Chen Mu thought was just passable. What to the villagers was a terrifying firing rate was still unworthy of mention from Chen Mu’s point of view. The wavy blade firing rate of any card artisan would be a lot faster.
The only part of the Blue Moon Gun that wasn’t completely wrong was that it could be used by ordinary people. So what if the power and firing rate were a little off? No stalwart soul would be any match for large numbers, and with each person paired with one gun, they could constitute a certain battle power even if they weren’t professional battle card artisans.
Apart from the Blue Moon Gun, Chen Mu also designed a small-form cluster cannon among his weapons, which had been an improvement upon Alfonso’s cluster cannon. Provided that an adult male was wielding it, its flexibility was greatly improved. It’s power output reached about 500, with more scope. Still, it was a power hog, with a fiercer utilization than the Blue Moon Gun.
Alfonso also made some new optimizations to the small-scale cluster cannon, lightening it by a third.
Afonso was bowing down in admiration of Chen Mu. The little teacher had designed two kinds of fierce weapons just through casual manipulations. To design two entirely new weapons in three days’ time—they had never heard of such speed. Alfonso was very clear about his own limitations in the design of weaponry. From his point of view, it seemed as light and easy as raising his hands for Chen.
No one in the lab had the slightest doubt of Chen’s power. Teacher Chen was a lot more awesome than the most awesome master of card matters in the village, and the alchemical refinement of his technique was something they could only admire; it filled them with reverence! The most unbelievable thing to them was that Teacher Chen wasn’t much older than they were, and everyone — including the villagers—believed he had an incomparably bright future.
It was hardly realistic to put any extravagant hope in becoming such a genius as Teacher Chen. But to become the student of a card master with such a bright future made people proud and full of hope. It was much more feasible now than it had been for their ancestors.
And so, starting that day, many of the villagers would run one after the other to the village chief to entreat him in hopes that their own children could study under Teacher Chen.
There was no need to doubt Teacher Chen’s power and knowledge. As notable as his power was, so was his ignorance of aesthetics and his clumsiness with his handicraft. That terrifyingly powerful and ugly prototype had long become the laughingstock of the villagers.
All the scholars, including Alfonso, were firmly resolved that the next time Teacher Chen came out with something new, it would absolutely never leave the lab before it had been optimized! That had nothing to do with keeping it secret; they just believed they would all lose face.
“What do you think about this weapon?” the clan elder asked Elder Bafu. His tone displayed unprecedented seriousness. One of the brand new Blue Moon Guns had been set up in front of him. That model was a simple, smooth, unique weapon, which drew everyone’s gaze. They had long since heard rumors of the weapon, but it was their first time seeing the finished product.
Elder Bafu was the authority in that regard, and as soon as he gave it a try, he quickly mastered the usage of the Blue Moon Gun.
He put it down a little reluctantly as he excitedly said, “Fantastic! So long as we can assemble such a weapon at scale, our battle power will be raised many-fold.”
“How many of that sort of weapon can we get?” Kang Lade asked coldly, voicing the question concerning everyone.
“The production is very limited.” The clan elder was rubbing his brow with a headache. “The rest of the parts have already been prepared, while that strange card, which is its core component, can only be made by Little Mr. Chen.” Because of Chen Mu’s age, everyone had gotten used to adding “little” when they were talking about him.
Elder Bafu couldn’t hold back his praise. “Such card technology is really magic. It would be great if we could learn it!”
Everyone couldn’t help but nod, and even such a life-long ice-man as Kang Lade couldn’t stop himself from showing an expression of praise.
“We’ll speak again after we get through the current difficulties.” The clan elder cut off everyone’s imaginings, as the meeting room returned to silence. The gummy cloud layer catastrophe was impending, and the small puffs that fell from the sky had been getting more frequent recently. This made everyone agitated.
Chen Mu was making cards every day; his card making ability far beyond what it used to be. When the “weak water” pen set was added to that, it was as though the “tiger had grown wings.” The compounding of the ink had all been delegated to the students. Although they weren’t old, they were meticulous in getting things done. Chen Mu had discovered that all he had to do was give the order and the students would memorize all of it without him needing to be concerned.
Such great kids! Chen Mu had something of an older person’s attitude toward them.
That was how Chen Mu’s productivity went up. It was less difficult to make those not-quite-three-star cards than to make ordinary three-star cards. For Chen Mu, it was very easy work. He was able to make 40 core cards for the Blue Moon Gun every day, along with two of the core cards for the small-scale cluster cannon. He didn’t need to concern himself with any of the other parts since Alfonso couldn’t be picky about that. And to increase production, the clan elder had increased the numbers of meticulous villagers he dispatched.
After 20 days of work, they had produced 800 Blue Moon Guns altogether, as well as 40 small-scale cluster cannons. As each of the weapons was produced, they were given to the village’s warriors at the first chance. They all needed to become accustomed to the new weaponry quickly.
By that time, it was discovered that the gummy cloud layer had been in a strange condition for nearly a month. Its activity was more frequent and unsettled, which made everyone in the village more agitated.
Only the day before, a puff about ten meters in diameter had suddenly fallen from the sky, scaring everyone there at the time. Everyone realized the danger was closing in on them. Even Bo Wen, who had made nothing of the gummy cloud layer at the outset, wasn’t saying anything.
The pace of work was stepped up, and the clan elder ordered that the first divisions would set off in five days. Everyone had prepared their luggage. The busiest during that time were the villagers gathering the materials, since they were making their final dash.
Chen Mu wasn’t slowing down either. He was using every free minute desperately making three-star power cards. Power cards were like food and medicine to a card artisan, and he also had to make last-minute preparations.
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