Card Crafters created cards, but they also served as repairers. Ordinary cards were rarely taken in for repairs, because repairing a card could easily impair its performance, and the cost was extremely high. A rare card, however, might well have a price but no seller; even with money, one might not be able to buy it. If such a card was damaged, repair was the only option.
Chen Mu's perception was very low. The Card Crafter he had met years ago had never taught him how to train it. Although professional textbooks described the process, and Chen Mu had long since begun following their instructions step by step, he had achieved very little so far. On reflection, he accepted this. Naturally, anything circulating on the market would only be commonplace material. For a Card Crafter, a unique method of improving perception was a core secret. In a society where competition was so fierce, who would be selfless enough to make it public?
There were many methods of improving perception, and quite a few were well known. Each of the Tianyou Federation's Five Great Districts had its own renowned schools of Card Crafters.
In fact, in the Five Great Districts, Card Crafters and Card Adepts were not separate. A single school often included both. The Bitter Solitude Temple in the Fanasi District, for instance, used the mind as a medium, tempering its mind medium through ascetic practice to improve perception.
The Five Great Districts had five famous academies: the Desert Camp in the Beilian District, Zhongda Academy in the Shanggan District, Star Academy in the Zuohe District, the Bitter Solitude Temple in the Fanasi District, and Frostmoon Cold Isle in the Tiandongli District. Together with the Federation Comprehensive Academy in the Capital, they formed the Six Great Academies, the most famous academies in the entire Tianyou Federation.
The Tianyou Federation had five Huahua Districts and twenty-two ordinary districts in all. Dongshang Guard City, where Chen Mu lived, was a city in the Dongxing District, one of the Common Districts. People could move freely between the twenty-two ordinary districts. Settling in one of the five Huahua Districts, however, was not so easy. It required a professional qualification at or above a certain skill level. Conditions in every respect were far better in the five Huahua Districts than in the ordinary districts, and settling there was the lifelong dream of many people.
Short stays for tourism and sightseeing were not subject to these restrictions.
Who knew how far down East Guard Academy stood in the national academy rankings, but locally, it enjoyed a considerable reputation. Unfortunately, even this school was beyond Chen Mu's reach; he had no opportunity to study there. The method he practiced was an exceedingly rudimentary one, and his talent in this area was decidedly limited. Thus, despite two years of practice, he had made very little progress.
Chen Mu was not discouraged. He simply kept practicing every day. His method placed no special demands on its medium; practically anything in everyday life would do. Chen Mu had therefore chosen the thing most familiar to him: a One-Star Energy Card he had made himself. The Energy Card he used to train his perception had now undergone a noticeable change. It had become finer in texture, clearer and more translucent. The card seemed to share some profoundly mysterious connection with him, though he could not say what that connection was.
Thanks to his long, unflagging efforts, his perception, though still very low, was barely sufficient to make one-star and two-star illusion cards.
He had gone over the structure of a one-star illusion card countless times and knew it by heart. He began attempting to make his first one-star illusion card.
Oh no! That stroke was wrong! The first card was ruined.
The second card failed as well.
The third failed!
Beads of sweat began seeping out across Chen Mu's forehead. He finally understood just how making illusion cards differed from making One-Star Energy Cards.
In terms of materials, a card consisted chiefly of two parts: card stock and card ink. The card stock was the substrate that held the card ink, while the card ink was used to draw the structural pattern. Card ink had an extremely complex composition, and learning how to prepare it was a fundamental requirement for every Card Crafter.
Making an illusion card was no longer a simple matter of drawing with a pen. It required the controlled use of perception to bind the card ink and card stock together. This greatly increased the difficulty of making one.
Chen Mu already felt unable to keep going. His perception had been low to begin with, only just sufficient to make one-star and two-star illusion cards. This string of attempts had left him mentally exhausted.
This feels even more tiring than making twenty One-Star Energy Cards!
Without realizing it, Chen Mu slumped over the desk and fell asleep. This time, he slept deeply. He was utterly exhausted.
Outside the window, stars filled the sky. The weather was turning cooler, and the stars strewn across the heavens added to the chilly stillness. Their cold, clear light streamed through the open window and fell across the desk where Chen Mu lay sleeping.
The mysterious card lay quietly at one corner of the desk, bathed in those scattered rays of starlight.
The room was utterly quiet, save for the soft rise and fall of Chen Mu's snores.
Suddenly, the tangled silver threads on the card's surface, as fine as spider silk, began to brighten little by little, while the black body of the card grew ever deeper and purer.
Gradually, sections of the silver threads began to dim, some fading until they were almost impossible to discern. The spiderweb-like structure of silver threads on the card's surface began to undergo a new change.
The points where multiple silver threads intersected remained unaffected. On the contrary, they continued to brighten little by little.
These changes continued for ten minutes.
The face of the card had undergone an earth-shaking transformation. All the immensely complex silver threads on its black surface had disappeared, leaving only countless bright silver points, like the stars suspended across the night sky.
Five hours had passed by the time Chen Mu woke. The nighttime chill pouring through the window had startled him awake. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he shook his head hard. Still somewhat dazed, he struggled to his feet, trying to drive the heavy drowsiness from his body.
He drew a deep breath, and the slightly chilly air quickly cleared his head. His gaze swept across the desk out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, his body stiffened, and he stood motionless, as though he had turned into a clay statue.
A full five minutes passed before he came to his senses. The first thing he did was pinch his arm. I don't often dream, but this must be a dream, he thought. Yet the sharp pain in his arm told him that the sight before him was no dream.
The mysterious card was now utterly unrecognizable. All the countless silver threads on its black surface were gone, leaving only a disorderly scattering of silver dots of varying sizes. Before, he had at least been able to tell that it was a high-grade card. In its current state, he could not judge it at all.
The card's transformation lay completely beyond Chen Mu's understanding. He stared blankly at the card in his palm.
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Today's second update.
(End of chapter)