Something stirred in Chen Mu's mind. His nimble fingers drew a One-Star Energy Card from the pile, and he set it before him for a closer look.
Judging by the Structural Pattern on its surface, there was nothing remarkable about this One-Star Energy Card. It used the Bacchus structure, the most widely used and commonplace structure around. Yet Chen Mu still sensed something unusual about it.
Its weight-the card was slightly heavier than an ordinary One-Star Energy Card. Having made tens of thousands of them, Chen Mu knew their weight by heart. Whatever structure a card used, as long as it was a One-Star Energy Card, its weight would fall within a certain range.
Clearly, this card's weight fell outside that range.
Closing his eyes, Chen Mu gently rubbed the One-Star Energy Card's surface between his thumb and forefinger, carefully feeling its slightly raised Structural Pattern.
The Structural Pattern was too shallow, insubstantial and weak. This feeling... this feeling... Chen Mu frowned, trying to recall where he had encountered it before.
That's it... Chen Mu's eyes suddenly lit up. It feels like something drawn on a shallow layer of material!
But that isn't right. Greater doubts rose in Chen Mu's mind. The material felt extremely hard and substantial. By the usual rules, a pattern inscribed on it should have felt more pronounced.
Why would it feel like this? How strange!
He examined the energy card in his hand once more, but still could not discover what had caused this peculiar phenomenon. There were no errors in the pattern, and the fluid, graceful strokes were unquestionably the work of a master. Although he had spent three years making One-Star Energy Cards, his skills were nowhere near sufficient to draw lines so beautiful.
That only deepened Chen Mu's puzzlement. A master-level One-Star Energy Card-the very idea sounded strange. What master card maker would bother making one? Had he been holding a Five-Star Energy Card instead, he would have found it much more natural.
After a moment's thought, Chen Mu placed the odd card together with the One-Star Energy Card bearing the new structure he had discovered earlier.
With his work finally finished, Chen Mu let out a long breath.
Having worked with his full attention focused throughout, he now felt rather tired.
"I'm taking these two cards." Chen Mu waved the two One-Star Energy Cards at Xiao Hei.
"No problem, no problem." Xiao Hei beamed. He had done quite well for himself today: Chen Mu had found him five energy cards that still had power left. He was grinning so hard his mouth nearly went crooked.
To Xiao Hei, Chen Mu was a rather peculiar fellow. One glance at his clothes told you he came from a poor family. Children like that would never pass up any chance to save even a little money. Those partially used energy cards were worth a considerable sum in their eyes! Yet, oddly enough, Chen Mu showed little interest in them. Instead, he was fascinated by One-Star Energy Cards-and depleted ones at that.
Of course, he kept those thoughts to himself. He could hardly wish for anything better. If Chen Mu had been normal, those energy cards would never have ended up in his own hands. They were all money!
Congratulating himself inwardly on his earlier foresight, he saw Chen Mu off with a broad smile.
By the time Chen Mu reached home, it was already ten at night. He ate a little something without much care, then eagerly took out the two energy cards he had acquired that day to study them.
The first One-Star Energy Card immediately made Chen Mu's eyes light up.
It used a structure he had never seen before. An intricate Structural Pattern of pale blue lines covered its entire surface. The One-Star Energy Card was the size of a playing card, and its material had a slight flexibility. Its surface was smooth, but careful feeling revealed the raised Structural Pattern.
An ordinary person confronted with such a complicated design would probably have grown dizzy, with no idea where to begin.
Chen Mu, however, studied it with shining eyes. For three years, he had faced similar patterns every day. Though their structures differed from this one, their complexity was comparable. Those twelve new structures had also given him a considerable store of experience.
To work out a card's Structural Pattern structure, one first had to locate its starting point—the place where the first stroke began. Following the course of its lines from there made it easier to understand.
Although One-Star Energy Cards were complicated, they were still the simplest of all cards. Even so, it took Chen Mu three hours to truly understand the purpose of every stroke. To make an identical card, he would still need extensive practice. He abandoned that idea, however. Extensive practice meant extensive expenditure. Though he had some savings, at least for now they were not enough to let him squander money like that.
Most importantly, he had already calculated that a One-Star Energy Card using this new structure would cost slightly more than the kind he currently made. Spending a fortune practicing a new structure that offered him no benefit was not his style. Still, there was something worth borrowing from this energy card: a loop compression structure that might be incorporated into his own energy card structure.
As Chen Mu pondered this, his fingers unconsciously brushed over the other One-Star Energy Card. His gaze fell upon the second card he had just acquired.
There was nothing unusual about the way this One-Star Energy Card had been drawn. It used the standard method, currently the most widespread and commonly employed. What caught Chen Mu's attention, however, was the brushwork on its surface.
The lines were graceful and fluid, the strokes exceptionally accomplished. Every curve and turn was smooth and full-the handiwork of a master.
The card looked quite old, clearly showing its years. Presumably, it was some master's early work. Yet neither of those things had first caught Ye Chong's attention. Rather, it was the card's weight and thickness.
This old One-Star Energy Card weighed a tenth more than an ordinary energy card. A One-Star Energy Card weighed very little to begin with, so even a difference of one-tenth was difficult to detect. But Chen Mu had made so many that he had noticed the moment he first picked it up. The same was true of its thickness: this card was slightly thicker than an ordinary One-Star Energy Card.
That was the main reason it had caught Chen Mu's attention. One-Star Energy Cards were the earliest cards to appear and the most widely used. Their specifications had been established at their inception. Even now, their so-called standard structure and standard materials had remained unchanged since those earliest days.
How could a One-Star Energy Card made by a master differ like this?
Could it be...
Chen Mu naturally thought of the material. Had this unknown master discovered a new material for One-Star Energy Cards? To earn his living, Chen Mu had devoted himself to reducing their production costs, and this card aroused his keen interest.
He removed the energy card from the power unit, and the room immediately plunged into darkness.
After a moment's hesitation, Chen Mu gritted his teeth and inserted the strange One-Star Energy Card into his home's power unit.
Huh? No light! The room remained pitch-black, without even a glimmer.
Chen Mu froze. How could it fail to light up?
Impossible! That was the first thought that sprang into his mind. The card showed no signs of use, and Chen Mu could recognize a depleted energy card at a glance. He would stake his word on it: old though this card was, it had never been used.
Moreover, its structure was flawless, without a single error, and far superior to the One-Star Energy Cards Chen Mu made himself. There was simply no reason for an energy card like this to be defective.
Yet the fact remained that it could not supply even the tiniest bit of energy.
He inserted his own energy card back into the power unit, and the room lit up again. The power unit was not broken. He immediately ruled out that external cause.
Then where exactly was the problem?
Under the light, Chen Mu scrutinized the energy card.
As his hand rubbed over it, a possibility suddenly rose in Chen Mu's mind. Could this have been a Junk Card from the start?
Would a master make a defective One-Star Energy Card? That doesn't seem very likely. Chen Mu pondered.
He carefully ruled out each factor in turn. The structure was drawn correctly, there were no signs of use or energy depletion, yet it could not supply energy.
The material? Inspiration flashed through Chen Mu's mind. He suddenly recalled its slightly thicker feel. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that the material was involved.
Chen Mu held the edge of the card up to the light. On closer inspection, he did indeed discover something peculiar. Along the edge, which was less than a millimeter thick, were two extremely faint dividing lines. The card was actually made from three materials bonded together. Their colors were so similar that this was difficult to spot without holding it close and examining it carefully.
A failed experiment? That now seemed the most likely explanation. Many years ago, a master had tried to improve the One-Star Energy Card, only to fail in the end. Somehow, this failed experimental card had survived and happened to fall into Chen Mu's hands.
That seemed to be the most plausible conjecture.
Chen Mu felt a little disappointed. If that was really the case, this Junk Card was worthless.
His fingers unconsciously rubbed lightly along the card's edge. Suddenly, he felt something unusual.
Chen Mu hastily brought the card before his eyes again. Perhaps because it was so old, its edges had begun to peel. Having already lost interest in the Junk Card, he now felt a spark of curiosity. If his conjecture was correct, that master must have believed bonding these three materials together could improve a One-Star Energy Card. Chen Mu had a clear understanding of his own abilities. His skills were probably inferior even to those of an ordinary beginner; he had never received any formal training in card making.
Yet he had his own source of confidence: One-Star Energy Cards! From the very beginning, they were all he had studied. He could hardly have been more familiar with them. Since his last minor adjustment to the One-Star Energy Card, he had made no further breakthroughs. Today's card had given him another inspiration. If he could not achieve a breakthrough in structure, why not try the materials?
With that thought in mind, Chen Mu developed an interest in the materials used in this experimental card. Although it was a failure, it was undoubtedly a master's work, backed by knowledge in every area far beyond his own. It was precisely this desire to learn from it that made him decide to study the three bonded layers carefully.
As he cautiously peeled away the outer film that had already begun to flake off, Chen Mu could not help reflecting that even the toughest material could hardly retain its former luster under the erosion of time.
When Chen Mu peeled away the entire surface film, he suddenly froze. He stared fixedly at the card, as though struck by lightning, rigid as a clay statue!
Against a surface as black as night, hundreds upon thousands of silver lines, fine as strands of hair, spread across the entire card like a spiderweb. They appeared chaotic, yet any tiny section revealed graceful curves, rigorous structures, and nested patterns of unbelievable complexity.
The silver lines were so fine that even distinguishing them with the naked eye took effort. Yet they resembled the capillaries of the human body, creating the illusion that silver fluid was slowly flowing through them.
What is this? A card?
Chen Mu murmured unconsciously to himself, his mind all but grinding to a halt.
A full ten minutes passed before he emerged from that bewildered state. He rubbed his eyes hard, making certain they were not deceiving him.
His conjecture had been completely off course. A failed experiment? This was plainly a card that had been disguised. With his limited knowledge, Chen Mu naturally had no idea what kind of card it was. In fact, its complexity far exceeded his understanding. Lines so delicate, craftsmanship so consummate-he had never seen anything like them, or even imagined them.
It was not as though he had never seen high-level cards at the salvage station. Though they had all been discarded, he had never encountered a card so intricate and finely made.
What kind of card was this? Chen Mu's curiosity soared to unprecedented heights.
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(End of chapter)