The Card Apprentice - The Old Line of Work?

5The conflict between the Ning household and the Zuo household was getting more and more intense and was pulling in other powers who were taking advantage, disrupting the connections between Eastern Shang-Wei City and Amay City. The territory between the two cities had already become the most intense part of the conflict, which is where the vicious wild beasts would face those crazy humans, and discreetly give way in the face of their superior power.
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At the outset, the Zuo family was on their heels facing the Ning household, which had prepared early. But the Zuo family had very quickly united with all the powers in Eastern Shang-Wei city, which brought the two sides quickly to a stalemate. The other powers who were trying to get a piece immediately complicated the situation.
    

But no matter which side, neither wanted to enrage the government of the Heavenly Federation. So, despite the intensity of the conflict between them, all the fields of battle were selected outside the cities. Neither Eastern Shang-Wei City nor Amay City had been seriously harmed, even though scattered conflicts would be staged from time to time.
    

It still wasn’t a very good time for the populations of the two cities. Because the conflict between the two sides was so violent, there was some serious obstruction of materials transportation, and the commodity prices in both cities soared. And things like power cards which were used by both military and civilians rose to outrageously high prices.
    

While the state of deadlock seemed comparatively smooth and boring, the ones taking to the battlefield were the aces on both sides.
    

They were engaging in incessant small-scale engagements in the intersecting zones of the two cities. Both sides’ troops had already been depleted in similar amounts during that time. And these areas had become the elite proving grounds for both sides, with the ones contesting all being mid and high-grade card artisans.
    

The localized conflict had quickly gotten the attention of the entire Heavenly Federation. But the attitude of the Federation government toward it was strange. It didn’t take any appropriate measures apart from giving some insipid warnings.
    

But there was no doubt that this conflict had already drawn the eyeballs of quite a number of great powers. The Heavenly Federation had been peaceful for too long, and practically none among the new generation of card artisans had ever experienced a large-scale military campaign. They were all closely watching the conflict, hoping to find within it some way to make use of the methods that those card artisans were using to advance their large-scale war.
    

And while the Star Academy had been one of the triggers for the conflict, they seemed to have disappeared from the scene altogether. And the other five among the big six academies were all keeping silent.
    

It looked as though, apart from the corners of these two cities, all the rest of the Heavenly Federation was as peaceful as it had been before.
    

* * *
    

Ning Peng looked a little haggard, and that eye-catching bald head was quite a bit darker. He had just returned from the front lines, whose ferocity far exceeded what he’d imagined.
    

The territory in the hundred and fifty kilometers between the two cities had become a veritable card artisan’s blood bath. The Ning family by then was basically losing one or two dozen high-grade card artisans there every day. But their adversaries were paying a correspondingly high price.
    

This rate of attrition was difficult even for the Ning family with its hundred-year foundation. By that time, losses among the high-grade card artisans who were direct descendants of the Ning family had already grown to one hundred and seventy-five in the short space of a week. Those card artisans had all gone through dozens of years of Ning family cultivation. Most of them were extremely outstanding offspring of the family.
    

Once the front-line command did the tally, it was finally decided to deploy the vassals of the Ning family to participate in the fighting, to reduce the casualties among Ning offspring.
    

That was one of Ning Peng’s responsibilities upon returning.
    

After he returned, he didn’t go back to the front lines. That was because he had still another responsibility, which was to ensure sufficient three-star and above power cards for the front lines.
    

By that stage in the conflict, those taken to the field were all mid and high-grade card artisans, and their need for power cards was naturally much higher than those low-level card artisans who had started there.
    

It was a good thing that there were enough card masters around. The first item of business when he got back was the job of releasing large quantities of three-star power cards. What ensued included the use of the commissions model to employ those dependent card artisan vassals, and then send them to the front lines.
    

Whether it was a commission to make three-star power cards or the job of employing high level card artisans, the compensation was stunningly high. Especially the mission of the card artisan, whose compensation was so high that it made many card artisans scramble for it.
    

* * *
    

His last ‘raining shuttles’ card had gotten him thirty contribution points, which kept Chen Mu pretty excited for a while. After all, being able to find a way to get contribution points was for him then sufficient for him to be able to survive there.
    

But when he had given Ning Yan the two three-star cards that he had restored along with the other eighteen fourth level cards that he hadn’t repaired, she could hardly conceal her contempt, which made him very uncomfortable. But there was nothing he could do about it.
    

He had only just come into contact with the theory of fourth level cards, and if he wanted to advance to the ability to repair four-star cards, he still had a long way to go. Not to mention that he was still doing that damned perceptual sensitivity training which was torturing him to the point of wishing he were dead.
    

By that time, Chen Mu felt that the one who made the mysterious card was a rather interesting person. He had to acknowledge that the unnamed card master had a pretty accurate grasp of human nature.
    

Whenever he would finally pick that fruit that he’d been craving for so long after struggling along with his innumerable trials and tribulations, some other tempting fruit would then appear some distance away. In the end, his incessant forward progress would again be impelled. Even though picking the fruits wasn’t something easy to accomplish, and even though he still had to use up endless amounts of sweat and blood, and even though he still had to cross barrier after barrier before getting what he wanted, it was still a very real lure.
    

It was only those with a genuine love for card making – and who had the tenacity and perseverance – who could hold out until the end.
    

Chen Mu had felt indebted all along to that mysterious card and the nameless card master who made it. If it weren’t for the card, he might still be making one-star power cards for subsistence. Then his whole life would be spent at the bottom reaches of society.
    

It was just his grateful heart which enabled him to remain calm and peaceful no matter the circumstances, instead of resentful. His childhood struggles had developed in him a powerful awareness of crisis, and a consistent focus from which he didn’t dare to slack off.
    

The perceptual sensitivity training was a struggle for him. That kind of mind exercise didn’t put any burden on his body, though it had a lot of impact on his spirit. That was especially true so someone like Chen Mu whose perception was already strong, and whose six senses were sensitive.
    

Fortunately, he had gradually found some tricks. If he wanted to make his perception more sensitive, then he should try to increase the number of perceptual tendrils. The more perceptual tendrils there were, the more easily sensitive his perception would correspondingly become.
    

Increasing the tendrils was related to two things. One was the size of the perceptual vortex, which went along with the strength of his perception. The stronger the perception, the easier it was to divide out more perceptual tendrils. And the other point was that there was a relationship to the speed of rotation of the perceptual vortex. The faster it was, the more tendrils could be divided out.
    

The strength of perception would only grow slowly, and Chen Mu couldn’t think of any way around that.
    

The speed of the vortex was also a thorny issue for him.
    

According to the theory, when his vortex was spinning at its highest speed, that should also be when perception was the most sensitive.
    

But the problem was that although he could urge the perceptual vortex to its highest spinning speed, he had no way to maintain it there.
    

To maintain the uniform rotational velocity of the vortex, he would have to enter that kind of strange state. And moreover, when the spin of the vortex was at its highest, it was also the most difficult to control.
    

This was now his training goal.
    

Once the perceptual vortex was spinning at a steady high speed, he could then enter that very strange state. And while in that state, his six senses could achieve a stunning level of sensitivity. The so called perceptual sensitivity training was just helping him to enter that state.
    

Chen Mu sometimes couldn’t help but think that if he could enter the state at any time or place, then his own reactions would be greatly enhanced. He guessed that by that time, he would certainly no longer seem human.
    

It turned out that a small amount of imagination could greatly enhance the results of the training. But never mind maintaining the perceptual vortex at a high rotational speed – or even speeding it up – he would still have no way to maintain its absolute stability as Chen Mu was just then.
    

As for the reward for the swordfish challenge, Chen Mu didn’t have time to practice. He was so busy just then that he was about to be knocked over, always wishing that he could fit two days into one.
    

After a week of hard practice, Chen Mu was feeling a little oppressed. So, he went out to where Li Li was, to see if there were any suitable commissions as a way to earn some contribution points.
    

Although he didn’t see her very often, Chen Mu had made a deep impression on Li Li. She showed her enchanting pair of dimples, “Mr Chen Mu, are you looking for a commission? The recent commissions are extremely lucrative.”
    

“What all commissions do you have?” Chen Mu responded, while flipping through the screen.
    

“Most of them are commissions for three-star power cards. We provide all the materials for free, and you can get five points for every card you make.”
    

Chen Mu was taken aback, and didn’t quite believe it, “Five points?” When had contribution points ever been so easy to earn?
    

“Yep! Five points. But there are some requirements for this commission. You have to complete it within three days, and the number you must complete can’t be lower than forty cards. If the three-star power cards that you complete within three days exceed forty, then for every ten over that, the compensation for each card increases to six points. In the same way, if you are able to complete seventy cards, you would receive seven contribution points for each card. But if you exceed forty and don’t get to fifty, then it is calculated at the rate of forty.” Li Li very neatly explained.
    

Forty three-star power cards in three days was pretty tight. He would basically have to spend all of his time making power cards.
    

If he were able to get to fifty cards, he could get three hundred contribution points for the commission. While for forty, he would make two hundred.
    

This number immediately floored Chen Mu.
    

I’ll do it! How could I not with such a great opportunity?
    

Power cards just happen to be our specialty!
    

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