The Card Apprentice - The Raining Shuttles Card
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The Raining Shuttles Card
He had a good eye, and so he always dredged up good stuff. He bought low and sold high, and although he only dealt in that small market, a lot of fortunes rose and fell there in that building, and he’d grabbed a lot of contribution points for himself.
He would always be waiting right on schedule for the detailed list to be delivered to his door, so that he could be the first to read it and see if there was anything which really stood out.
He carefully browsed through each item. The fantasy card was exquisitely made, and it included extremely life-like representations of every one of the goods.
From what he knew, there were over two thousand card artisans in the building, with another several hundred card masters. On top of those were the ones interested in card appliances, which made quite a number overall. It was actually a really good market, since the ones who could get in to the building were no ordinary people.
Everything traded there was of the highest quality, making it a really high-end market.
While their trading volume could be a little smaller, the higher the grade of the goods, the higher the profit on each item.
To make it into a business, Algoradicci was extremely industrious, more so than he was as a card artisan.
He mostly followed cards. The card artisans were the largest group in the building, and they were also the biggest consumers. For a card artisan, a powerful card meant that he would have a better probability of survival. While it was now calm on the surface, it was secretly an age of endless conflict, where your martial power dictated your right to speak as well as your position.
The fanaticism of card artisans toward cards could sometimes develop to a frightening extent.
Each week there would be a few new cards, since card masters had to sell the cards that they made to get enough points to buy materials, which would then allow them to continue advancing their experimentation.
His gaze went from one card representation to the next.
The giant wave chopping card could produce a five-meters in diameter giant round wavy chop, which had startling destructive power, and was sharp beyond compare. But Algoradicci set it aside after he saw the time it would take to activate it. This toy would take fully fifteen seconds before it was activated, and one could imagine that within fifteen seconds, a card artisan could be killed many times over.
That giant wave chopping card was typical of heavy firepower, only suited to large scale conflict, where if it were a siege, it could put a lot of power into play. But for a single card artisan, its use was too limited.
The blue polar snake-string card had middling power and was difficult to handle, and it would take a long time to master. But none of the card artisans there were novices, and they had all already become used to the tactics of their own specialty, which they would have had for a long time already.
They wouldn’t start any significant training with a completely new card. That would use up too much time, not to mention wasting money. It would also upset their existing practices. The only reason one would select another card would be to enrich their own tactics.
His gaze fell onto a card called the raining shuttles card.
The card had an intricate design on its surface, which immediately caught Algoradicci’s attention, as he went on to read the description.
Three stars was a little low, he sighed to himself, seeing that the price was also low. But he still looked further.
It had middling power, which was more interesting to him.
He saw the card master’s special emphasis, in the place where the card masters would generally stress the advantages of the cards they made.
Firing frequency: five shuttles a second. He froze when he saw that line in the scarlet red font.
Five shuttles a second? Algoradicci rubbed his eyes to be sure they weren’t blurred. And when he looked again at that price of thirty points, he screamed as he shot out of his chair without any hesitation and went out the door like the wind.
Algoradicci got to the consignment market in a single breath. Li Li was quite familiar with the chubby looking uncle, and laughed to show her two cute dimples, “What’s lit the fire under uncle? Have you set your sights on something good? Don’t be looking for another discount.”
Algoradicci had run into Li Li the first time that he had come to the consignment market, when he was full of sweet talk and hype, stubbornly wanting Li Li to give him a discount. That had pushed the newly arrived Li Li to the brink of tears. That’s how they got to know one another, aside from the fact that Algoradicci would come to the consignment area several times a week. They were already pretty used to one another.
Algoradicci’s face was hot, which he still refused to explain as he hurriedly asked, “Li Li, take a quick look to see if the card serial number 81782 has been sold.”
Without continuing to give him a hard time, Li Li smilingly said, “Alright, alright, I’ll take a look for you, don’t worry uncle.”
Algoradicci returned from the consignment market to his room with a very satisfied look. He had in his hands the card called raining shuttles. It was a three-star fantasy card.
Generally speaking, a three-star level card was of limited value, especially at that place.
But its five shuttles a second firing frequency shot its value through the roof. Algoradicci specially rented a training room to test out its firing speed. And although it didn’t hit the five shuttles a second in the description, it was more than three. This was already a pretty stunning accomplishment for someone who was using it for the first time. He didn’t have the least doubt that if he were to familiarize himself with it for a while, he could get the firing frequency to five shuttles a second. And in the hands of a card artisan who was proficient in the shuttle card, the power of the card would be played to its extreme.
He really wanted to know what kind of freak had made such a powerful card. But unfortunately, there wasn’t any introduction to the card master in the description of the card.
This wasn’t an unusual situation, since not every card master wanted to be well-known. Let alone that among the card artisans around there, who didn’t have outstanding power and wasn’t prominent and famous? Those people liked to stay low-key about their activities.
But he was already quite satisfied with what he’d gotten. At thirty points, that card master clearly didn’t understand its true value. This price was almost like paying nothing.
He activated the communications card in his apparatus.
“Hello? Ah Shen?”
“Fatty, what good stuff do you have now?”
Looking at the screen in front of him, Algoradicci saw a capable looking middle-aged man. He had a buzz cut, with his stiff hair looking like wires sticking up, and his two narrow eyes giving out a feel of danger. This guy called Ah Shen had already gotten the designation of a high-grade card artisan, whose power stood out even in the whole building.
Ah Shen had rich experience in actual combat, and what was more important was that he happened to specialize in a type of shuttle card.
Algoradicci laughed, as he truly was quite fat, which wasn’t often seen among card artisans, so he was often called ‘fatty.’
“I have a shuttle card in my hands, and I wonder if you are interested?
Ah Shen’s expression became serious, knowing that since this profiteer had come to him, it must be something good. He prudently asked, “How many stars? What card? How is its performance?
Algoradicci held out three fingers, “It’s a three-star fantasy card.”
“Three star?” Ah Shen looked a little annoyed. For his level of card artisan, the power of a three-star card was a little low. But he believed that if it was something that a profiteer like Algoradicci was interested in, there had to be something special about it, so he waited for him to say more.
“While the power of this fantasy card is ordinary, its firing speed is stunning; five shuttles per second. I believe that with your ability, the firing frequency might go even higher!”
“What?” Having been placid all along, Ah Shen finally showed some surprise, and his half squinting narrow eyes finally opened wide, “Five shuttles a second. You didn’t get that wrong?”
Algoradicci was pleased with himself as he smiled, “I haven’t made any mistake, you’ll know when you’ve tried it.”
“OK, the same place, wait for me.” Before the words were finished, Ah Shen couldn’t wait to rush out the door.
In the number nine training area:
Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. A string of light green power shuttles fired continually from Ah Shen’s hand, hitting the distant target with unsurpassed precision. The light coming from the energy was wicked beautiful.
Ah Shen’s expression froze as he lifted his right hand slowly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Shuttles fell like rain, row after row of light green brilliant rays covered the heavens and earth overwhelmingly as though they would tear space apart. The sound of them exploding as they hit the target was as dense as the sound of frying beans, which sounded like flutes from heaven in the ears of Algoradicci and Ah Shen.
“What a card! What a pity!”
Ah Shen couldn’t help gasping in admiration as he stood there, while still feeling some regret.
“Yeah, if this were a four-star fantasy card, then it really would be considered something awesome among the awesome.” Algoradicci also had some regret. The power of a three-star fantasy card was a lot lower than that of a four-star, and their value was also extremely far apart.
“Mmmm, I want this card, name your price.” Ah Shen very directly asked for the price. While its power was rather small, its stunning firing speed compensated for that shortcoming. And Ah Shen had already calculated that if he were to become more familiar with it for a while, it was very possible that he could increase it’s firing speed still more, to six shuttles per second.
That was an extremely scary number.
“A hundred fifty points.” Fatty quoted his price without any hesitation.
“OK.” Ah Shen very readily pulled out his room card and brushed it across fatty’s room card. Two separate screens shot up in front of each of them. Ah Shen entered the specified contribution points into his screen, and then confirmed them.
Seeing his points increase by a hundred and fifty, fatty took his card back with some satisfaction. The reason he’d looked for Ah Shen was to make sure about the card.
“Don’t forget me the next time there’s something good.” Ah Shen said to Algoradicci.
“No problem.” Making a hundred and twenty contribution points in a day was something that made a person happy. But that time Algoradicci was being a sly old fox, as he was considering how he was going to find the card master who had made that card.
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