Chapter Summaries

While recovering from his injuries, Chen Mu awkwardly flirted with Su Liu Cherou and then reflected on the unconventional tactics that had won the battle. He spent several quiet days recuperating without seeing her, until she finally returned on the third day.

• Chen Mu teased Su Liu Cherou while she treated him, and she blushed before running out after his provocative remark.
• Unable to move, Chen Mu analyzed the battle and concluded that Uncard Flow, surprise, darkness, and the enemies’ detection gaps had helped secure victory.
• Chen Mu recognized that Lu Xiaoru’s [Soundbind] had disrupted the enemy and decided to develop tactics around it.
• Remembering the Card Adepts who had died, Chen Mu felt dispirited but resolved to become stronger so he could influence what happened.
• Chen Mu spent several days recovering in the Treatment Unit while Su Liu Cherou stayed away, then she came in on the third day.

After recovering from his injuries, Chen Mu divided the Kawashita Alliance’s spoils with Qiao Fei and sold her his share of its Small Forts and surplus supplies, then moved to rebuild his depleted forces. Meanwhile, the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps attracted recruits with its victory, and Mobley learned it might be the corps that had escorted Miss Vivi.

• Chen Mu assessed his losses and the captured supplies, then learned that Faya-backed forces were spreading across the federation under the Ant Alliance.
• Chen Mu agreed to sell Qiao Fei his eighteen Small Forts for 200 billion Odi and surplus supplies worth 80 billion, while Qiao Fei paid 20 billion upfront.
• Chen Mu decided to rapidly expand his forces because the battle had left his command dangerously weak.
• Card Adepts flocked to the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ recruitment drive, where Sanchez applied and described his nursing license and training experience.
• Mobley asked A Zhe about the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps, and A Zhe connected it to the corps that had escorted Miss Vivi.
• Mobley asked whether Miss Vivi had returned to Thousand Lakes City.

Mobley and his companions learned that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps had defeated the Kawashita Alliance and might produce purple glimmer ore extract, the commodity they had been sent to find. At the corps' recruitment station, Jiang Liang recognized Mobley and introduced himself, drawing the crowd's attention.

• Mobley and A Zhe discussed Miss Vivi's return to the Luo Family and wondered about the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps that had escorted her.
• Mobley explained that his group was stranded in Chile City because the routes to Thousand Lakes City were dangerous, and they asked a local card adept about the recruitment crowd.
• The card adept said the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps had destroyed the Kawashita Alliance's forces, including hundreds of combat shuttlecraft, and that Wenzuofu had died.
• The card adept claimed the corps produced purple glimmer ore extract, prompting Mobley to hurry to its recruitment station because his group had been commissioned to find its producer.
• Mobley's group passed the orderly applicants and met a stern young man who told them to join the queue if they wanted to apply.
• The young man identified himself as Jiang Liang of the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps and greeted Mobley as commander of the Snowflake Card Adept Corps, shocking the assembled crowd.

The Snowflake Card Adept Corps, led by Mobley, visited Chen Mu’s Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps to secure a supply of purple glimmer ore extract. Chen Mu agreed to a broad trading and support partnership, just as influential figures from across the Skal Region arrived.

• Mobley recognized Jiang Liang from their earlier encounter involving a flock of Xi Birds and entered the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ meeting room with his party.
• Chen Mu and Xi Ping learned that Mobley’s visit was prompted by rumors that their corps could produce purple glimmer ore extract.
• Chen Mu confirmed they could produce purple glimmer red, and Mobley proposed a long-term trade partnership that included commissions, intelligence, training, and security support.
• Chen Mu accepted Mobley’s proposal, and the two commanders shook hands to establish their partnership.
• Jiang Liang received a list of visitors that included Qiao Fei, Mr. Stender, Yuliang Xing, Leng Men, and Yu Tianxing, along with nearly every prominent figure in the Skal Region.

Chen Mu and Mobley appeared together before Skal Region leaders, boosting the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps' standing and prompting a conversation about the looming war between Faya and the Six Great Academies. The corps recruited five thousand Card Adepts, leaving Chen Mu to figure out how to equip them with new card sets at scale.

• Ricavill hosted Skal Region dignitaries as Mobley and Chen Mu emerged together, convincing the gathered leaders that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps had Mobley's support.
• Mobley declined local powers' invitations while Chen Mu left the socializing to Xi Ping, and Ricavill turned the gathering into a banquet.
• Mobley asked Chen Mu about his plans, and Chen Mu predicted that Faya's conflict with the Six Great Academies would become an unavoidable war between competing systems.
• Mobley doubted that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps could make good use of five thousand recruits, then wondered whether Chen Mu had a secret method after recalling his earlier team's strength.
• Chen Mu considered the cost of producing more than a thousand new card sets for the recruits and worried that making them himself would take too long.

Chen Mu tried to increase purple glimmer ore extract production by designing a planning card for the Separators, but realized he needed more knowledge and returned to the Mysterious Card to study its second lesson. As the base’s staff stayed busy rebuilding and treating the wounded, Ru Qiu received a summons from Chen Mu.

• Chen Mu ordered Xi Ping to recruit mining card adepts and began designing a planning card to improve Separator output for Mobley’s large order.
• After struggling for several days, Chen Mu concluded his planning-card knowledge was too elementary and entered the Mysterious Card again.
• Chen Mu’s perception sensitivity index rose to 72, and he set his sights on the Intermediate Planning Card Theory Tutorial.
• Jiang Liang trained new card adepts, Xi Ping handled base operations, and Su Liu Cherou treated the wounded while instructing the medical card adepts.
• Ru Qiu received a call from Chen Mu and agreed to go to him.

Ru Qiu began processing an enormous list of materials for Chen Mu’s new card, while A Zhe reported his observations of the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps to Mobley. Wei'a struggled with fleeting fragments of his lost memories, and Fat Dog remained asleep.

• Chen Mu gave Ru Qiu a list of 167 materials to process and demanded they be ready within three days.
• A Zhe tried to observe the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ training, but Xi Ping refused and sent Ru Qiu to him for urgently needed materials.
• A Zhe told Mobley that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps was exceptionally disciplined and well equipped, and speculated that Chen Mu might be a Card Crafter.
• Mobley said they would have to wait for the large quantities of purple glimmer ore extract they needed, then thought of a woman and grew troubled.
• Wei'a watched Fat Dog sleep for five days and pondered the blurry fragments of his lost memories.

Sanchez continued training with the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps as many recruits quit, while Chen Mu’s new Separators rapidly increased Purple Glimmer Ore Extract production. After recovering from exhaustion, Chen Mu learned that Bagnell had returned.

• Sanchez endured strict physical conditioning and formation drills as unruly recruits were expelled and disappointed Card Adepts left the Corps.
• Lu Xiaoru and One-Brow recovered from their injuries and advanced to the middle of level five.
• Ma Rui warned Xi Ping that ore was filling the warehouses faster than it was being used, but Xi Ping trusted Chen Mu’s plans.
• Chen Mu tested a new Separator design, and its twelve machines processed ore into extract far faster than the old Separators.
• After Chen Mu slept for two days, Xi Ping gave him nutrient solution prepared by Su Liu Cherou.
• Chen Mu went outside for fresh air and heard that Bagnell had returned.

Bagnell returned to Snow Silk Worm Valley with more than eighty Card Adepts and took charge of their training, easing Chen Mu’s worries and Jiang Liang’s burden. As Bagnell’s harsh methods reshaped the recruits, Chen Mu began designing a new card set.

• Bagnell returned with more than eighty Card Adepts, greeted Chen Mu, and exchanged suggestive jokes with Xi Ping about Chen Mu and Su Liu.
• Bagnell told Chen Mu about the dangerous journey with Miss Vivi and the benefits of building ties with the influential Luo Family.
• After hearing of the base’s victory and its rewards, Bagnell took over the Card Adepts’ work while Jiang Liang became his deputy.
• Bagnell imposed changing, punishing training and squad competitions that drove the Card Adepts to fight fiercely and improve within days.
• Bagnell considered extreme survival exercises, alarming Jiang Liang, while Chen Mu recovered his strength and started designing a new card set.

Chen Mu struggled to produce four-star cards for his growing force, while Ru Qiu prepared ink to support his work. After exhausting himself, Chen Mu's Extreme Limit Method began transforming his perception as he slept, and Xiao Bo's punishing Snow Pit Method training ended with a sudden surge of power.

• Chen Mu decided to make four-star cards for the newly recruited Card Adepts, but he lacked the skill and time to produce the roughly thousand cards they might need.
• Ru Qiu worked tirelessly to prepare card ink, while Chen Mu managed to make only two cards from forty-two tubes before collapsing from exhaustion.
• As Chen Mu slept, the Extreme Limit Method began growing new threads of perception inside him.
• Wei'a kicked Xiao Bo into a ten-meter snow pit and ordered the Card Adepts to bury him for ten minutes.
• After the Card Adepts pulled him out, Xiao Bo recovered and released an astonishing aura, secretly overjoyed by his breakthrough.

Chen Mu discovered that his perception had transformed into a double helix and experimented until he unlocked a far more powerful way to sense his surroundings. He then put his new perception to work producing four-star cards at a pace that left Ru Qiu exhausted.

• Chen Mu examined his new double-helix perception structure and found that its two strands could separate and rejoin with ease.
• Chen Mu spun the structure faster and discovered that at eight times his former limit, one strand became perception mist, greatly improving the clarity and range of his environmental sensing.
• Chen Mu tested the new structure's vibration and learned that one strand retained his False Breath-Concealing Method while the other could be shaped into a remarkably tough filament.
• Chen Mu began working on the Four-Star Card Set, drawing cards faster than Ru Qiu could prepare ink.
• Ru Qiu prepared sixty-three bottles of card ink, could not keep pace with Chen Mu, and collapsed into sleep.

Chen Mu improved his perception while making four-star cards, despite the enormous cost of the materials. Mobley trained with his crimson birds as he and A Zhe discussed their coming departure and questioned Qingqing’s origins and intentions, leaving Mobley’s feelings for her unresolved.

• Chen Mu used all sixty-three bottles of card ink to make six cards and discovered that his perception had undergone a qualitative leap.
• Mobley trained by sending twenty crimson birds through a target, piercing it with holes arranged in the Snowflake Card Adept Corps emblem.
• A Zhe told Mobley their ordered goods would be ready in about three days, allowing them to leave the remote Skal Region.
• A Zhe teased Mobley about his feelings for Qingqing, then warned that her abilities and unknown background suggested ties to a powerful faction.
• A Zhe suspected Qingqing came from one of the Six Great Academies and might need the corps to work around Frostmoon Cold Isle, while Mobley vowed to keep personal feelings from interfering with duty.

Chen Mu struggled to master the demanding techniques of a four-star card and relied on Ru Qiu to prepare ink, prompting him to recruit assistants. At the Card Adept Service Center, he selected several inexpensive Card Crafters whose specialties suited his needs, and they hurried in to meet him.

• Chen Mu raised his success rate above fifty percent after more than ten days of practice, while Ru Qiu worked exhausting hours preparing card ink.
• Xi Ping pointed out Ru Qiu's workload, and Chen Mu decided to recruit help in Chile City.
• Chen Mu saw Snow Silk Worm Valley thriving and learned that Mobley and the others had left for Thousand Lakes City after delivering their first shipment.
• Cavill welcomed Chen Mu and Xi Ping at the Card Adept Service Center and explained its Card Crafter skill assessments and specialist titles.
• Chen Mu chose several struggling Card Crafters without drawing-technique titles, insisting they were exactly the people he needed.
• Cavill contacted the selected Card Crafters, who rushed to the service center after hearing about the opportunity.

Ru Qiu’s five new Card Crafters dramatically increased card-ink production, forcing Chen Mu to work relentlessly to use it before it spoiled. Meanwhile, Bagnell’s trainees completed their first phase and most chose to stay; as the chapter ended, Chen Mu continued making cards, unaware that his Perception control had become far more refined.

• Ru Qiu’s five Card Crafters produced two hundred bottles of card ink on their first day, with daily output climbing to three hundred as Xi Ping bought materials and worried over the cost.
• After the Snowflake Card Adept Corps paid seventy billion Odi for its first order, Chen Mu worked for long hours to use the card ink before it spoiled.
• Bagnell announced that the Card Adepts had passed their first training phase and could choose whether to leave or stay, then urged them to take pride in their progress.
• Fifteen hundred Card Adepts chose to stay, far more than Bagnell expected, leaving him concerned about obtaining enough cards for them.
• Chen Mu continued making cards in a near-mechanical state, unaware that his Perception had grown tougher and that fine oscillations had become effortless for him.

After exhausting himself making cards, Chen Mu collapsed and endured relentless pain while unconscious, struggling to keep his consciousness from breaking. Su Liu Cherou revealed that a parasitic green thread inside him might be connected to the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus, and Bagnell and Xi Ping set out to find the fungus in hopes of waking him.

• Chen Mu collapsed in agony while gathering the cards he had made, then fell into a deep coma and struggled internally to withstand waves of pain.
• Bagnell, Xi Ping, Wei'a, and Su Liu Cherou waited anxiously as Chen Mu remained unconscious and his face twisted with pain.
• Su Liu Cherou told them Chen Mu might die or become vegetative if he did not wake, and explained that a thin parasitic green thread was growing inside him.
• Su Liu Cherou said the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus was the treatment with the best chance of helping Chen Mu, and Xi Ping recalled Chen Mu asking Master Yang about it in Luoyou City.
• Bagnell and Xi Ping left to plan how to obtain the fungus, while Wei'a also departed.

Mobley and Qingqing discussed their partnership and preparations involving Purple Glimmer Ore Extract, while Chen Mu endured waves of agony and learned to enter deep serenity. After maintaining it through a hundred waves, he saw the green line spreading through his body before fear shattered the vision and plunged him back into darkness.

• A Zhe agreed to search for Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus after Mobley said their ally needed to see what they could do.
• Qingqing told Mobley that the Purple Glimmer Ore Extract he had acquired was enough to begin the first phase of preparations.
• Mobley affirmed that he trusted Qingqing, and she assured him he would not regret their partnership.
• Chen Mu repeatedly practiced entering deep serenity between waves of agony and gradually learned to remain in the state longer.
• After enduring a hundred waves in deep serenity, Chen Mu saw his organs and the green line spreading through his flesh and blood, then his fear shattered the vision.

After waking from his coma, Chen Mu reunited with his team, who resolved to seek the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus that might help with the Green Line inside him. He then demonstrated new card sets, beginning with a powerful long-range Shuttle Card, and prepared to reveal another set.

• Chen Mu woke from his coma and reassured Bagnell, Xi Ping, Su Liu Cherou, and Wei'a about the Green Line inside him.
• Bagnell and Xi Ping found intelligence that the Taishu Family in Dongrui might possess the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus, and they planned to investigate.
• Chen Mu invited Bagnell to see his new card sets, while Su Liu Cherou went to rest and Xi Ping began investigating the Taishus.
• Chen Mu gave three Card Adepts an upgraded Shuttle Card set, which demonstrated a damage rating of 3,000 and precise attacks at ranges up to ten kilometers.
• Chen Mu took out a second card set consisting of two cards with fiery red patterns, surprising Bagnell.

Chen Mu demonstrated several new card sets to Bagnell, including the costly [Odi Burner], the defensive [Stasis Ring], and a weapon designed to counter Faya’s Shuttlecraft. After Bagnell and Jiang Liang began planning how to train and deploy the new cards, Chen Mu turned to replacing the cards lost with his Wrist Device and considered what suited his own fighting style.

• Chen Mu demonstrated [Odi Burner], a two-person set that launched 1,024 energy-draining flames but consumed enormous amounts of energy, and Bagnell named it.
• Chen Mu introduced [Stasis Ring], a three-person set that created a defensive zone where time slowed, and explained that its users could not move while it was active.
• Chen Mu showed Bagnell a more powerful three-person set modeled on the [Folded Swallow Wave Card] and intended to counter Faya’s Shuttlecraft.
• Ru Qiu finished sorting more than 2,700 cards, and the first set was finalized as [Threaded Sniper Shuttle].
• Bagnell and Jiang Liang spent several days discussing tactics, card distribution, and training for the new sets.
• Chen Mu decided to make a new Airflow Card and began considering close-combat and ranged cards to replace the ones destroyed with his Wrist Device.

Chen Mu completed three stealth-focused cards and trained with them while Bagnell worked out how to equip and deploy the new card sets. Xi Ping traced Dongrui Taishu to an ancient lineage and said their investigation suggested they might still find the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.

• Chen Mu redesigned [Big Loach], created [Myriad Change] and [Patterned Shuttle], and tested his growing strength against Wei'a and Xiao Bo.
• Bagnell evaluated [Threaded Sniper Shuttle], [Odi Burner], [Stasis Ring], and [Folded Shape Blast], then decided the Card Adepts needed standard four-star cards as well.
• Xi Ping reported that Dongrui Taishu was an ancient lineage with historical ties to the Luo Family of Thousand Lakes City, though his sources had not confirmed it possessed Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.
• Xi Ping told Chen Mu and Bagnell that their investigation gave them a chance to find the fungus, prompting Bagnell and Chen Mu to ask why.

Xi Ping and Bagnell planned to infiltrate the declining Taishu lineage to find the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus, and Chen Mu and Wei'a set out under disguises. Their journey to Dongrui began with Chen Mu training to use [Myriad Change] and ended when their Snow Shuttle suddenly lurched.

• Xi Ping explained that the Taishu lineage was recruiting card adepts and proposed that Chen Mu join its ranks to learn about the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.
• Bagnell and Xi Ping advised Chen Mu to build a reputation by challenging famous card adepts, while warning that he might attract Tang Hanpei's attention.
• Chen Mu prepared in the laboratory, then left the base with Wei'a in disguises arranged with Su Liu Cherou.
• Chen Mu and Wei'a traveled toward Dongrui for three months, sparring daily so Chen Mu could master [Myriad Change].
• Chen Mu rested aboard a Snow Shuttle in the Tiandongli District until the vessel suddenly lurched.