The Card Apprentice

Chapter 139: Card Artisan? Not Me

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

Cheng Ying stopped what she had been doing and looked at Bo Wen surprised. She found it a little strange that Bo Wen would ask such a question. Bo Wen had always been very direct in his speech, and since he had asked it that way it must have implied some sort of issue. She also took a look at Chen Mu wondering to herself whether Chen Mu could have the hobby of gathering materials.

“I don’t know how to collect materials.” Chen Mu responded very plainly.

“Ha, a card master with an ‘A’ level of contribution points actually doesn’t know how to collect materials!” Bo Wen was taken aback and suddenly started to laugh a little wildly and with a hint of ridicule.

A card master with an “A” level of contribution points? Cheng Ying’s gaze went straight, suddenly thinking about that “A” level card master that Will had spoken of. Cheng Ying immediately said in a halting voice, “You . . . you’re the card master who made the ‘hundred blades’ card for Will?”

“Do you know Will?” Chen Mu’s gaze turned toward Cheng Ying. He didn’t look at Bo Wen at all, as though he had no good feelings toward Bo Wen after he had shown such contempt toward him from his deepest reaches.

“Um, right, we have a pretty good relationship.” Cheng Ying was suddenly feeling a little nervous. In her mind, an “A” level of points card master was someone she would look up to. That kind of respect wasn’t based on any difference in position but was because of the person’s knowledge. It was well-known that card masters needed to have deep theoretical understanding. And an “A” level card master, whose number could be counted on one’s fingers, represented someone who had deep and broad knowledge in her mind.

Looking on, Bo Wen’s eyes flashed.

“Oh.” Chen Mu didn’t say anything but made a sound in response. He and Will had never talked about friendship, and their connection was nothing more than making a card for him. Well, there was also that bipolar thunderball card that he’d gotten at such a bargain.

“Are you a card artisan?” Cheng Ying asked very cautiously. She had subconsciously used the honorific. Bo Wen was also listening very closely from the side since he was also very curious about the question. After Heiner Van Sant, no one had succeeded with simultaneous study as both card master and card artisan. A person had limited energy and being a card master or a card artisan were as different as night and day. To give a very simple example, both card artisans and card masters practice perception, but in opposite ways. It was in the nature of the two of them to have entirely different demands, which was the most basic point on which it had been decided that one couldn’t simultaneously study to be both a card master and a card artisan.

There wasn’t anyone who could practice the two types of perceptual training at the same time.

Besides that, card masters had to spend a lot more time on theoretical knowledge, and a card master had to be a knowledgeable student regarding all kinds of meanings. That was why Cheng Ying unconsciously felt so nervous upon hearing that Chen Mu was an “A” level card master.

A high level of power makes a person afraid while deep and broad learning gives a person respect.

“Card artisan? Not me.” Chen Mu said, shaking his head. How could a dabbler like him be considered a card artisan? From the very beginning with his tailless shuttle card, he had only been following his whims. And the bipolar thunderball card he had now was from after he had studied to be a close-combat card artisan for only a month. Card artisan? Whatever sort of card artisan could he be? He had a clear understanding of himself.

Chen Mu had no sense of himself as a card artisan, or maybe he had never thought of himself as a card artisan.

Cheng Ying was stupefied that someone having such terrifying skills would so seriously say that he wasn’t a card artisan. What did it mean?

What did it mean indeed? Bo Wen’s face looked so bad that it was about to squeeze out water. For a person who had cornered him in a frontal assault to then say with such understatement that he wasn’t a card artisan. What Bo Wen was hearing really stung in his ears. Fine. So Chen Mu says he’s not a card artisan. Then what about himself? What does it mean for him to be pushed into such a tough spot by someone who’s not a card artisan.

Bo Wen was stifling himself to the point of going mad, with absolutely nowhere to vent.

Cheng Ying’s expression had also turned strange, though when she looked at Chen Mu’s expression, she didn’t think he was faking. Could it be that he really thought that his power was lacking? From the point of view of her long experience she immediately erased that ridiculous thought, since she didn’t want to be made a fool!

She looked out of the corner of her eye at the terrible-looking Bo Wen when it dawned on her that Chen Mu had originally provoked Bo Wen. But Cheng Ying thought that if two people were going different ways then it was very common for their language to be provocative.

So, she skipped over that phrase, feeling that her thoughts were pretty good. But her respect for Chen Mu had only grown, since there wasn’t anyone anymore who could learn to be both a card artisan and a card master. A card master with a “A” level of contribution points and a card artisan who could push Bo Wen into a tough spot, those two things combined were enough to make a person bow his head in worship.

Most of the people in the world including Chen Mu would never achieve even one of their goals, never mind being able to accomplish two of them.

Bo Wen was off to the side with a dark look, also feeling that it was inconceivable. Although Chen Mu had said that he wasn’t a card artisan, Bo Wen actually knew how strong he was. And he had seen Chen Mu’s ability making cards.

How could one person be so accomplished at being a card artisan and a card master at the same time? He had also seen a few paranoids chasing after the footsteps of the ancient card masters, studying to be a card master and a card artisan at the same time. But not one of them had been an exception to the iron rule that a person could not simultaneously learn two professions.

But in front of him was a living exception!

Could he be the darling of heaven, and a so-called genius? Bo Wen’s expression was cloudy and uncertain.

Chen Mu didn’t think there was anything strange about himself. At the beginning he had also felt that a card master was a card master and a card artisan was a card artisan. But then he had come across the theories in that mysterious card, where he discovered that there wasn’t any conflict between the two. He accepted that concept very naturally, since he wasn’t very confident in the theory he had studied on his own previously. And then he had proven to himself very quickly that the theory described in that mysterious card was correct.

While he was at the base, Chen Mu had often steeped himself in the library. But that had been to study four-star fantasy cards. The obvious good point about that goal was that he could improve his ability in a short time by focusing his energy, while the bad thing about that approach to learning was that it was easy for his scope to narrow. Chen Mu hadn’t realized that he was quite different from anyone else.

There was quite a difference between what he had studied and what ordinary card artisans or card masters would study. For example, regarding the collecting of materials. That was a skill that both card masters and card artisans had to learn that he hadn’t studied at all. The only unusual materials that he remembered had been described in the mysterious card, such as the black chrysanthemum stone, which was the only material he kept with him. When it came to gathering materials there also existed such a thing as materials markets in that world.

It was a good thing that Cheng Ying was there as a seasoned professional card artisan who had mastered the collection of materials, which was also her most important source of funds.

He watched her practiced way of scraping the fur from the twin hook beast, or of cutting away the tail hooks and even her collecting several bottles of its blood. Throughout the entire process both Chen Mu and Bo Wen were looking on with curiosity. One of them was accustomed to shopping for finished materials while the other was a princeling who had only fought on the practice fields or the dueling fields, without any hands-on ability.

She gave a bottle full of the twin hook beast’s blood to Chen Mu, “The twin hook beast’s blood makes a really good compatibility agent.”

Chen Mu carefully examined the blood. The compatibility agents that he normally used were all processed finished products, and that was his first time to see the raw materials in their original form. He really wanted to try out the twin hook beast’s blood to see what kind of results it would have but scanning Bo Wen he immediately scrapped that plan. He also didn’t have the equipment for it.

Having packed up the twin hook beast, the three of them started to move ahead carefully. Because of what Chen Mu had said at the outset, they couldn’t go back the way they came and there was nothing Bo Wen could do about it. If he and Cheng Ying were to turn back, they would certainly die along the way. They were both relying on Chen Mu’s strength. Although they didn’t know what lay ahead of them, the three of them together had more strength which gave them a better chance of survival. If their luck was any good, they might even be able to reach Amay City or Eastern Shang-Wei City.

But he probably didn’t know that Chen Mu’s great power wouldn’t last more than 150 seconds. And outside of those 150 seconds Chen Mu was nothing more than an ordinary novice close-combat card artisan.

The three of them were extremely careful since no one knew what was ahead. And Bo Wen and Chen Mu had to be separated by Cheng Ying.

Across several days the three of them hadn’t run into any wild beasts. That had to be considered good luck. And among the three of them, Cheng Ying had been the most useful since her experience had been at the root of their survival. It was hard to imagine that she even carried such things as a sewing kit with her. Chen Mu’s tattered clothes could finally be put to bed, as what he was then wearing was sewn together by Cheng Ying in two days from the fur of the twin hook beast.

Although it was crude, Chen Mu had gladly accepted it since the rags on his body could no longer be called clothes.