Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu agreed to restore Bagnell’s cherished card and hired him to help recruit people for one hundred million Odi a year. When the restored card played scenes from Bagnell and Celia’s wedding, Bagnell wept.

• The fat man introduced Chen Mu to his destitute old friend Bagnell, who asked whether Chen Mu could repair his card.
• Chen Mu identified the card as a damaged Three-Star Illusion Card and confirmed that he could restore it.
• Bagnell refused to accept the repair as a favor, and the fat man proposed that he work for Chen Mu in exchange.
• Bagnell demanded a salary of one hundred million Odi a year, and Chen Mu agreed after the fat man signaled him.
• Chen Mu restored the card in a little over half an hour, and Bagnell watched its wedding memories of Celia while tears streamed down his face.

Chen Mu hired Bagnell to build a local force that could deter the factions targeting him, while Madam Zhi Lian studied Super 007 and wondered how its creator had learned of Zhongda Academy’s [Bipolar Card]. The chapter left Bagnell beginning his work with Lu Xiaoru and Zhi Lian suspicious that Chen Mu might be connected to Zhongda Academy.

• Bagnell advised Chen Mu to use money to build enough strength in Luoyou City to make the Six Great Academies and other factions hesitate before acting against him.
• Chen Mu gave Bagnell a Money Card containing three hundred and fifty million, appointed Lu Xiaoru to protect and assist him, and Bagnell set out to begin building a force.
• Chen Mu returned to the Mysterious Card and resumed his Perception sensitivity training on the spinning turntable.
• Madam Zhi Lian examined Super 007 at Zhongda Academy, recognized it as an imitation of the [Bipolar Card], and remained unable to understand its creator’s structural patterns.
• Madam Zhi Lian decided to have a student test Super 007 using the inherited [Bipolar Card] control methods and wondered whether its unknown creator had a connection to Zhongda Academy.

Chen Mu finally made progress on the difficult Y09 energy block after more than a thousand failed attempts, while the Yang Auction House’s private auction of Digital Series Cards stirred intense interest across the Federation. The chapter ended with Xiao Man’s group suspecting Cao Dong might be the mysterious Card Crafter and Chen Mu breaking through on Y09.

• Chen Mu left the Mysterious Card to clear his head, then returned determined to keep working on Y09 rather than change his approach.
• Beard told Xiao Man and Yu Guo that the Yang Auction House would exchange eleven Digital Series Cards for materials, and Xiao Man chose card 013.
• Xiao Man connected Cao Dong to the mysterious Card Crafter through similarities between their cards, prompting Beard to order an investigation.
• Media platforms published the auction list, fueling speculation about card 013 and driving high-end material prices up across the Federation.
• After three days focused on Y09, Chen Mu made a breakthrough on his 1,612th attempt.

Chen Mu completed most of a mysterious energy structure but could not determine how to turn it into a card. Meanwhile, Yu Guo and Xiao Man decided to abduct Cao Dong after Beard identified him as the creator of the Digital Series Cards.

• Chen Mu removed Y09 after 1,611 failures, then rapidly completed most of the 266-block energy structure and realized its design was exceptionally optimized.
• Chen Mu recognized that his lack of formal training left him unable to identify the structure’s function or make it into a card, so he continued building the remaining models.
• Beard told Xiao Man and Yu Guo that his investigation pointed to Cao Dong as the creator of the Digital Series Cards.
• Yu Guo chose to take Xiao Man and five skilled people to abduct Cao Dong before rival factions discovered his identity, despite Beard’s concerns about Yang An and Jiao Si.

Bagnell brought twenty seasoned Card Adepts to protect Chen Mu and quickly established a surveillance and defense perimeter around the building. When Yu Guo and Xiao Man arrived to recruit or capture Chen Mu, they were detected and stopped by the defenders’ overwhelming show of force, leaving Yu Guo’s group facing a tense standoff.

• Bagnell returned with twenty expert Card Adepts and assigned them to protect Chen Mu.
• The team deployed reconnaissance equipment and positioned three specialists as Chen Mu’s close-protection detail.
• Yu Guo and Xiao Man approached the building, planning to recruit Chen Mu first and capture him by force if he refused.
• As Yu Guo’s group neared the building, the defenders locked onto them, forcing them to halt in midair.
• Yu Guo realized his intelligence was wrong and judged that attacking the building would be too dangerous.

Yu Guo withdrew after Bagnell’s forces killed three of his Card Adepts, while Chen Mu saw how valuable his new guards were. Bagnell then asked Chen Mu for more money to build up the group, train its members, and buy Energy Cards.

• Bagnell ordered his Card Adepts to attack Yu Guo’s group, killing three of Yu Guo’s men with coordinated strikes.
• Yu Guo restrained himself from fighting to protect Xiao Man and his two remaining subordinates, then ordered them to retreat.
• Bagnell let the four survivors escape and dismissed his men to eat and rest before morning training.
• Xie Yanbai watched the confrontation from a distance while holding an unconscious subordinate of Beard.
• Bagnell told Chen Mu that the experts’ recruitment money was spent and requested funds for reserve recruits, training, and a fortress; Chen Mu said he could not afford the fortress.
• Bagnell asked Chen Mu to provide three hundred three-star Energy Cards and forty-two four-star Energy Cards for training and combat reserves.

Chen Mu calculated the enormous weekly cost of maintaining Skywing and went with Wei'a to the Yang Auction House to buy Energy Cards and materials. He left after spending eleven million Odi, having found three rare materials recorded in the Mysterious Card.

• Chen Mu realized Skywing’s weekly expenses would reach seven or eight million Odi and asked Bagnell for a list of supplies.
• Bagnell urged Chen Mu to take guards to the auction house, but Chen Mu ordered Wei'a to knock out six skeptical Card Adepts, then departed with him.
• Chen Mu met Xi Ping at the Yang Auction House, where Xi Ping arranged a discount and gave him access to the materials list.
• Chen Mu found black-silk red thread, pattern fish grass, and double-row titanium-iron stone among the unidentified materials and selected them along with ordinary supplies.
• Chen Mu bought the materials and Energy Cards for a total of eleven million Odi.

Chen Mu arranged to sell one Folded Swallow Wave Card through Fatty and learned that the rare golden-spotted soft jelly fungus might be held by the Six Great Academies. Meanwhile, Madam took charge of Yu Guo, Xiao Man, and Beard’s group and considered how rival factions might pursue the creator of the Digital Series Cards.

• Chen Mu returned to the Small Building and found Bagnell training the guards by setting traps throughout the building.
• Chen Mu asked Fatty to find a quiet buyer for one of his Folded Swallow Wave Cards, and Fatty agreed to help without taking a share of the profit.
• Chen Mu learned from Fatty that golden-spotted soft jelly fungus was rare, might extend lifespan, and was unlikely to be obtained in exchange for a Folded Swallow Wave Card.
• Chen Mu discovered that the Federation Comprehensive Academy had offered golden-spotted soft jelly fungus to win Ren Wenzhou over, while Zhongda Academy increased its meetings with him and Faya stayed quiet.
• Madam met with Yu Guo, Xiao Man, and Beard, confirmed their failed attempt to capture Cao Dong, and heard that three of their people had died and one had gone missing.
• Madam concluded that powerful rivals might act on the information about the Digital Series Cards’ creator and anticipated a confrontation.

Chen Mu completed a complex energy-structure model while Bagnell trained the Card Adepts, and he refused Jiao Si’s offer to buy the Folded Swallow Wave Card’s production method. At an auction for Digital Series Cards 012 through 022, two suspicious men entered, and the young man secretly took out a palm-sized object.

• Chen Mu discovered that his crowded building was poorly defended and continued training with the Mysterious Card’s energy-structure models.
• Chen Mu spent ten days assembling a five-thousand-block model and gained a deeper understanding of energy structures.
• Bagnell drilled the Card Adepts in small-area tactical positioning while Chen Mu’s Folded Swallow Wave Card sold to Jiao Si for two hundred million Odi.
• Chen Mu rejected Jiao Si’s offer to pay any price for the cardmaking method because it would expose his Chip Theory knowledge.
• Two wary men entered the locked-down Yang Auction House for the auction of Digital Series Cards 012 through 022, and the young man quietly took out a palm-sized object.

The second auction for Digital Series Cards 012 through 022 began as the mysterious Card Crafter Chen Mu watched remotely from his newly purchased estate. While Bagnell oversaw extensive fortifications, bidding for card 013 erupted, leaving Chen Mu dumbstruck.

• A Low Illusion Platform crew and a Zhengde Trading Company manager prepared to cover the auction, which drew representatives from the Six Great Academies and other prominent figures.
• The auctioneer explained that bidders would exchange materials for cards and that the Card Crafter could help decide the winner when materials were difficult to appraise.
• The auctioneer displayed cards 012 through 022, stirring the audience with the chance to see the mysterious Digital Series Cards.
• Chen Mu and Wei'a moved into a large estate, where Bagnell used Chen Mu's money to strip the grounds and begin building stronger defenses.
• Chen Mu watched the auction through a viewing device and evaluated the material bids; card 012 sold without incident, but bidding for 013 erupted.
• Chen Mu stared in dumbstruck amazement at what happened during the auction for 013.

Jiao Si demonstrated Card 013, a controllable Wave Blade card that could form a swift, ten-meter energy chain, and Faya bought it for Xiao Man with rare materials worth three hundred million Odi. Chen Mu watched the auction’s lucrative sales, then found his estate transformed into a vast fortified building before receiving word that the requested items had arrived.

• Jiao Si demonstrated 013’s explosive, controllable Wave Blades and linked them into a fast, sharp energy chain, impressing the audience and Xiao Man.
• Faya won 013 for three hundred million Odi’s worth of rare materials, and Xiao Man happily accepted the card from the madam.
• Bidders bought the eight remaining cards at high prices, and Chen Mu watched the auction while excitedly checking the materials they offered.
• Chen Mu emerged from his room and saw that a huge metal-style building was replacing the manor as a defensive fortress for the expanding teams.
• Bagnell received a call from a young man who said the things Chen Mu had requested had arrived.

Bagnell strengthened the manor’s defenses with Bloodstripe Crocodiles, suckerfish, and a wilderness-base-style building while Chen Mu trained and the auction’s success made headlines. A convoy delivered the auction materials and equipment to the new base, which a hidden observer recognized as the place he had been seeking.

• Bagnell stocked the manor’s river with Bloodstripe Crocodiles and suckerfish, explaining how they could drain intruders’ energy and deter attacks.
• Bagnell identified Wei'a as an expert in the cardless style, and Chen Mu considered whether the river could stop him.
• News platforms reported that Faya had won Digital Series Card 013 for materials valued at about three hundred million Odi, and the broadcast ratings soared.
• Chen Mu resumed constructing the fourth energy structure model in the Mysterious Card and trained his perception in the bathtub.
• Bagnell completed a heavily fortified seven-story base, and Chen Mu worried about its daily energy costs.
• More than twenty transport shuttlecraft delivered the auction materials and equipment to the base as a hidden man watched and said he had found it.

Chen Mu welcomed Fatty’s valuable laboratory equipment to the base, but an intruder triggered the defenses that Bagnell had prepared. Bagnell launched a carefully coordinated attack on the airborne visitor, whose four-star Energy Shield began to buckle.

• Chen Mu stored Fatty’s equipment and materials, then went to the command center after an alarm announced an intruder.
• Bagnell identified a lone scout approaching the base and waited as the intruder triggered a hidden Card Machinery trap.
• The intruder raised a four-star Energy Shield and flew over the trapped lawn toward the base.
• Bagnell ordered four waves of coordinated attacks, and the intruder’s shield shuddered under the first two waves.

The New Base’s defenders ambushed Xie Yanbai, but he escaped and then overwhelmed Yu Guo’s Card Adepts. The chapter ended with Xie Yanbai breaking free of a devastating explosion and disappearing over the horizon.

• An Electricity Band briefly restrained Xie Yanbai, allowing the New Base’s defenders to shatter his Energy Shield, but he escaped at extraordinary speed.
• Faya's Masked Madam sent Yu Guo and several Card Adepts into the Jungle, while Xie Yanbai wondered how Cao Dong had assembled such skilled defenders.
• Bagnell recognized Xie Yanbai, who fought Yu Guo’s group with powerful [Carmine Finger] attacks and pierced two Card Adepts’ Energy Shields.
• Yu Guo retreated as five Card Adepts charged Xie Yanbai, prompting Bagnell, Chen Mu, and Wei'a to flee before a massive explosion.
• Xie Yanbai burst out of the fireball and escaped into the distance before Yu Guo could react.

After Faya attacked both Xie Yanbai and the Federation Comprehensive Academy, Chen Mu prepared his base for the coming conflict by improving his Card Adepts’ cards and accepting Jiao Si’s offer of support in exchange for the Folded Swallow Wave Card crafting method. Bagnell recruited inexperienced Card Adepts and began preparing them for battle, but his plan still required Chen Mu’s personal help.

• Fatty warned Chen Mu that Faya had attacked the Federation Comprehensive Academy and cautioned that Zhongda Academy might target him after Xie Yanbai was injured.
• Fatty transferred Chen Mu one and a half billion Odi, and Chen Mu gave Bagnell responsibility for strengthening their defenses and recruiting more people.
• Chen Mu modified the twenty Card Adepts’ cards overnight, while Bagnell recruited dozens of newcomers, including Unibrow Man.
• Chen Mu agreed to teach Jiao Si the Folded Swallow Wave Card crafting method in exchange for Siyuan Academy supplying young Card Adepts and Card Crafters.
• The recruits arrived at Chen Mu’s base, and Bagnell revised their training plan after the Card Adepts celebrated their newly improved cards.
• Bagnell went to find Chen Mu because the most crucial part of his battle plan required Chen Mu to act personally.

Chen Mu and Bagnell began preparing to strengthen their forces through a plan that divided card attacks among specialized team members. Jiao Si brought hundreds of recruits to the base, then introduced Ru Qiu as Siyuan Academy’s next Card-Making Division dean, who bowed to Chen Mu for instruction.

• Chen Mu was stunned by Bagnell’s proposal to split energy-construct adjustment, targeting, and attacking among separate card adepts, and he returned to his laboratory to test the idea.
• Bagnell focused on training the rookies and building discipline, while Lu Xiaoru continued her demanding drills and saw Unibrow Man among the recruits.
• Jiao Si arrived with several hundred people, praised the base’s defenses and teamwork, and brought more than three hundred card adepts to sign generous ten-year contracts with Chen Mu.
• Chen Mu emerged from the laboratory covered in soot, and Jiao Si gave him a solemn greeting as the visitors learned that Chen Mu was Mr. Cao.
• Jiao Si named Ru Qiu the next dean of Siyuan Academy’s Card-Making Division, and she bowed to Chen Mu and asked him to instruct her.

Chen Mu agreed to guide Ru Qiu in making the Folded Swallow Wave Card, while Jiao Si arranged for Siyuan Academy’s Card Crafters and Card Adepts to help at the base. The chapter ended with Jiao Si offering to train Bagnell’s subordinates as Chen Mu prepared to tackle a difficult problem.

• Chen Mu agreed to teach Ru Qiu the Folded Swallow Wave Card method without holding anything back, and Bagnell assured Jiao Si that he would guide her.
• Jiao Si introduced twenty Advanced Card Makers, and Chen Mu assigned them to produce Three-Star and Four-Star Energy Cards for the base.
• The Card Crafters took Chen Mu’s assignment as a slight and left determined to prove their abilities by making the cards.
• Chen Mu said he would need to postpone teaching the Folded Swallow Wave Card method, and Jiao Si offered Ru Qiu as his assistant.
• Ru Qiu asked Chen Mu for guidance, and he agreed, believing her skills could help with the difficult problem he faced.
• Jiao Si offered to exchange pointers with Bagnell’s Card Adepts, and Bagnell went to arrange the training.

Chen Mu solved a key problem in his unfinished card after Ru Qiu suggested synchronizing energy, then worked frantically to advance the design. As conflict spread across the Federation, Chen Mu finally emerged from the Card-Making Room.

• Ru Qiu cleaned Chen Mu's cluttered Card-Making Room while he studied an unfinished card and struggled to connect its attack stages.
• Ru Qiu examined the card, became overwhelmed by its unfamiliar structures, and answered Chen Mu's question by saying energy could transfer if it was synchronized.
• Chen Mu recognized that Ru Qiu's suggestion solved his central design problem and plunged into intensive work on the card.
• Zhongda Academy and the Federation Comprehensive Academy attacked Faya, driving its forces from Luoyou City and reportedly wounding Yu Guo, while the other four Great Academies condemned Faya without intervening.
• The Thirteen Families Alliance invaded Baidong District, triggering a conflict between Desert Camp and Frostmoon Cold Isle as Star Academy and Bitter Solitude Temple declined to mediate beyond calling for a ceasefire.
• Chen Mu finally stepped out of the Card-Making Room as tensions rose throughout the Federation.

Chen Mu reflected on his fight for freedom as chaos threatened the Federation, then learned that his new coordinated card system worked. The successful test dealt nearly a thousand damage, and Chen Mu planned to produce more sets for his people.

• Chen Mu considered how the coming disorder would make survival harder and resolved to defend his freedom rather than live servilely.
• Bagnell called Chen Mu to Training Room No. 3 after testing the prototypes and reported that they worked.
• Three Card Adepts synchronized their cards and used a three-person system to launch Chen Mu’s optimized Tail-Shedding Shuttle.
• The attack dealt 998 damage, convincing Bagnell that the card set could transform combat.
• Chen Mu accepted the result and planned to have his Card Crafters produce more sets before visiting them.

Chen Mu halted the Card Crafters’ production of Four-Star Energy Cards and sent them to other work, while Bagnell began basic discipline training for the four hundred and five Card Adepts. Bagnell identified Jiang Liang as a former soldier and questioned him about his five years of service.

• Chen Mu found more than four hundred Four-Star Energy Cards made by the exhausted Card Crafters, but told them the supply was insufficient and assigned them different work.
• Bagnell gathered the four hundred and five Card Adepts at Training Ground No. 9 and began strict formation and basic movement drills.
• Bagnell’s two expert guards helped enforce the training, and the Card Adepts learned that diligent work kept him from restricting their break-time conversations.
• Jiang Liang told the complaining Card Adepts that the drills were standard military discipline training and advised them to take it seriously.
• Bagnell noticed Jiang Liang’s precise movements, called him in, and learned that he had served in the military for five years.