I have to go out for something, so I'm posting this afternoon's installment early~
At East Guard Academy, the "Encounter" cracking team had expanded from its original fifteen members to thirty. Many senior students from the Card-Crafting Department had joined in the excitement. Yet the cracking effort had made no progress whatsoever. No one had expected that almost all the top Card Crafters at East Guard Academy would be stopped cold by a set of One-Star Illusion Cards. Many of them had even earned intermediate Card Crafter certification.
But not every student in the Card-Crafting Department was willing to bow to these so-called beauties. Quite a few of those students were capable fellows. In this world, there were always people who would take neither salt nor oil.
At East Guard Academy, people could often be heard scoffing at this so-called cracking team.
Zuo Tingyi carefully studied the Illusion Card before him. He had taken this set of "Encounter" from his younger sister two weeks ago. Over those two weeks, he had poured all his spare time into this Card Film. He, too, was curious about why it could not be cracked.
Reality, however, was utterly merciless. So far, he had not made even the slightest breakthrough. This was quite a blow to him. Compared with his fellow students, he had received a far more advanced education from childhood. His family had an astonishing number of Card Crafters under its authority, some far more skilled than the so-called professors at the academy. Through constant exposure to their work, his own abilities had grown far beyond those of his peers.
It was simply that, given his standing and family circumstances, he had no need to bother with those blasted certification tests.
Zuo Tingyi was proud by nature. Setbacks only made it easier to rouse the pride buried in his bones.
And the set of Card Film before him clearly had what it took to do just that.
He was deeply dissatisfied that he had remained helpless against a set of One-Star Illusion Cards for so long. Of course, one important reason was that his sister treasured this Card Film beyond measure, and he did not want to analyze it with instruments. At home, he had a card-making room for his exclusive use, equipped with instruments considerably more advanced than those in the academy's card-making rooms. But analyzing cards with instruments could easily damage them.
Now, however, he realized that without using instruments, he had no way of seeing through the secrets within.
Less than five percent of the structures on these Illusion Cards differed from those on ordinary Illusion Cards. He believed that this five percent was what made this Card Film unique.
The image of an endearingly innocent girl surfaced in his mind. A trace of tenderness flashed through his eyes, and a wry smile tugged at the corner of Zuo Tingyi's mouth. His sister would probably make a fuss with him for quite some time over this.
Soon, however, his gaze grew resolute, and his expression turned cold again. Picking up the Card Film from the table, he strode into his card-making room.
Zuo Tingyi's card-making room covered a little over two hundred and seventy square meters and housed all manner of precision instruments. Ordinarily, no one but him ever came here. Even his sister never set foot in this room.
He switched on the Illusion Card structure analyzer. This instrument was designed specifically to analyze Illusion Cards, though it was generally used for high-level ones. Before now, the lowest-level Illusion Card it had analyzed had been three-star. This was its first time analyzing a One-Star Illusion Card. Indeed, this was probably the first time any instrument of its kind had been used to analyze such a low-level card.
Zuo Tingyi did not underestimate this Card Film because of its low level. On the contrary, he was probably approaching it more rigorously than anything else in his life. The ability to use structures he could not understand at all in a One-Star Illusion Card was itself proof of extraordinary skill.
Sitting upright at the console, Zuo Tingyi activated the Illusion Card analyzer. It was almost as tall as a person, and its core component was a highly advanced and unusual Detection Card. This Detection Card was rated as high as five-star, and its detection method was exceptionally unusual, completely unlike that of ordinary Detection Cards. This was why the Illusion Card analyzer was so expensive.
Only three corporations in the entire Tianyou Federation could manufacture this kind of Illusion Card analyzer, and all of them required orders to be placed in advance.
Bzz, bzz, bzz. A red light flashed steadily, indicating that the analyzer was probing the various structures of the Illusion Card.
The results would be displayed through an Illusion Card connected externally to the analyzer.
On the light screen before Zuo Tingyi, the various readings kept changing. He watched the shifting data intently, thoroughly familiar with what each reading meant. So far, he had found nothing abnormal.
The changing readings began to slow, but Zuo Tingyi's heartbeat gradually quickened. From experience, he knew the analyzer was about to probe those structures he did not understand.
He did not dare so much as blink, afraid of missing a single detail. His mouth seemed to have gone a little dry. Quickly realizing this, he could not help mocking himself. Getting nervous over a One-Star Illusion Card-how ridiculous. He forced down his increasingly rapid heartbeat, held his breath, and stared at the light screen.
Beep, beep, beep! Just then, a shrill, urgent alarm suddenly sounded.
This is bad! Zuo Tingyi's expression changed, and he rushed over to the analyzer.
He was still a step too late. Before him, wisps of bluish smoke rose from the Illusion Card resting on the analyzer. Clearly, the card was ruined. Its structure had most likely suffered irreparable damage.
Suddenly, he caught another, entirely different burning smell. Turning his head, he saw white smoke pouring out through a gap in the analyzer.
Zuo Tingyi's face instantly darkened.
Looking at the pile of materials before him, Chen Mu could not help feeling another powerful surge of satisfaction. How could he not be satisfied? He had spent a full five hundred thousand Odi on these materials. Every bit of money he had earned from the Card Film recently had gone into them, leaving him penniless once again, just as he had been before.
A small portion of these materials were things he would never even have dared dream of owning before. To him, the price of that small handful was simply staggering. Of the five hundred thousand, more than four hundred thousand had gone into them.
Twelve cards. They were so difficult that Chen Mu seriously doubted whether he could complete them. Even so, he threw himself into the task without looking back. He knew that if he could overcome every problem in these twelve cards, his card-making skills would rise several steps.
(End of chapter)