Teenage card master

Mysterious Cards

Chen Mu’s heart stirred. With nimble fingers, he plucked out a one-star energy card and held it up for closer inspection.

Judging by the surface patterns, this one-star energy card appeared unremarkable—it used the most widely adopted Barks structure, the most common of all. Yet, Chen Mu still detected something unusual about it.

Weight—this card was slightly heavier than a typical one-star energy card. Having crafted tens of thousands of them, Chen Mu had long memorized their exact weight range. No matter the structure, as long as it was a one-star energy card, its weight would never exceed a specific threshold.

Clearly, this card’s weight fell outside that range.

Closing his eyes, Chen Mu gently rubbed the card’s surface with his thumb and forefinger, carefully feeling the slightly raised patterns.

The patterns were too shallow, weak and insubstantial—this sensation... this sensation... Chen Mu frowned, trying to recall where he had encountered it before.

It came to him—Chen Mu’s eyes suddenly lit up—it was as if the patterns had been drawn on a thinner material!

But something wasn’t right, and Chen Mu couldn’t help but feel even more puzzled. Judging by the texture, this one-star energy card was extremely hard and had a substantial weight to it. According to general principles, the patterns engraved on it should have felt even more pronounced.

Why does it feel like this? How strange!

After carefully inspecting the energy card in his hand again, Chen Mu still couldn’t figure out what was causing this peculiar phenomenon. The patterns were flawless, and the smooth, elegant strokes clearly indicated a master-level craftsmanship. Even after three years of making one-star energy cards himself, he couldn’t produce lines as exquisite as these.

This only deepened Chen Mu’s confusion. A master-level one-star energy card—the very notion was odd. Which master cardmaker would bother crafting a one-star energy card? If it had been a five-star energy card, Chen Mu would have found it far more believable.

After some thought, Chen Mu placed this strange card alongside the one-star energy card with the new structure he had discovered earlier.

Finally done with his work, Chen Mu let out a long sigh of relief.

Having been fully absorbed in his task, he now felt somewhat exhausted.

"I’ll take these two cards," Chen Mu said, waving the two one-star energy cards at Xiao Hei.

"No problem, no problem," Xiao Hei replied with a grin. His haul for the day was quite substantial—Chen Mu had helped him find five unused energy cards, and he was practically beaming with joy.

In Xiao Hei’s mind, Chen Mu was a rather peculiar fellow. His clothing clearly marked him as a child from a poor family. Kids like that usually seized every opportunity to save money, and unused energy cards like these would be a small fortune in their eyes. Yet, strangely, Chen Mu showed little interest in the unused cards, instead focusing intently on the one-star energy cards—and only those that had already been depleted.

Of course, these thoughts remained in Xiao Hei’s head, and he was more than happy with the arrangement. If Chen Mu had been "normal," these energy cards would never have ended up in his hands—and that would have meant losing out on a lot of money!

Mentally patting himself on the back for his foresight, Xiao Hei cheerfully saw Chen Mu off.

By the time Chen Mu returned home, it was already 10 p.m. After hastily eating something, he eagerly took out the two energy cards he’d acquired that day to study them.

The first one-star energy card immediately caught Chen Mu’s eye.

This was a structure he had never seen before, composed of intricate pale blue lines that covered the entire card face. This one-star energy card was the size of a poker card, made of a slightly flexible material with a smooth surface. However, upon careful touch, one could feel the raised patterns.

An ordinary person would likely feel dizzy looking at such a complex pattern, unsure where to even begin.

But Chen Mu’s eyes gleamed with excitement. For three years, he had faced similar patterns daily. Though their structures differed from this one, their complexity was on par. Those twelve new structures had also given him considerable experience.

To decipher a card’s pattern structure, one must first locate its starting point—the initial stroke’s landing spot. Only by following the lines’ flow can one gradually grasp its logic.

Though complex, the one-star energy card was actually the simplest among all cards. Even so, it took Chen Mu three full hours to truly understand the purpose of every stroke. However, crafting an identical one-star energy card would require extensive practice. He abandoned this intention, as such practice meant significant resource consumption. While he had modest savings, they were far from enough for such extravagance.

Most importantly, he had calculated that this new structure’s one-star energy card was slightly more costly to produce than his current version. Spending heavily to master a meaningless new structure wasn’t his style. Still, this card had merits—a coiled compression structure that might be integrated into his own energy card design.

Lost in thought, Chen Mu’s fingers unconsciously glided over another one-star energy card. His gaze settled on the second newly acquired card.

This one-star energy card’s design was utterly conventional—the most widely circulated and used standard version. What caught Chen Mu’s attention, however, was its brushwork.

The lines were elegant and fluid, executed with masterful proficiency. Every curve and turn was perfectly rounded—a true master’s touch.

The card appeared quite aged, clearly having existed for many years, likely an early work by some master. But what first drew Chen Mu’s notice wasn’t these traits—it was the card’s weight and thickness.

This old one-star energy card was one-tenth heavier than a standard energy card. The weight of a one-star energy card is already extremely light, making even a tenth difference hard to notice. However, Chen Mu had crafted so many one-star energy cards that he detected the discrepancy the first time he picked this one up. The same applied to its thickness—this one-star energy card was slightly thicker than the ordinary ones.

This was the primary reason the card caught Chen Mu’s attention. One-star energy cards were the earliest type of cards developed and the most widely used, with their specifications and standards established at the very beginning. Even now, the so-called standard structure and materials remained unchanged since their inception.

How could a one-star energy card crafted by a master exhibit such deviations?

Could it be…

Chen Mu naturally speculated about the materials—had this unknown master discovered a new material for one-star energy cards? Driven by necessity, Chen Mu had long focused on reducing the cost of these cards, and this peculiar one-star energy card piqued his intense curiosity.

Removing the energy card from the energy meter plunged the room into complete darkness.

After a moment of hesitation, Chen Mu gritted his teeth and inserted the strange one-star energy card into his home energy meter.

Huh, it’s not lighting up! The room remained pitch black, without a single ray of light.

Chen Mu was stunned. How could it not light up?

Impossible! That was the first thought that popped into Chen Mu’s mind. There were no signs of use on this card, and he could tell at a glance if an energy card was depleted. He was certain that although this energy card was old, it had never been used.

Moreover, the structure of this card was flawless, without any errors, far superior to the one-star energy cards Chen Mu himself had made. There was no reason for such a card to be damaged.

But the reality was that it couldn’t provide even the slightest bit of energy.

Reinserting his own energy card into the energy device, the room lit up again. The device wasn’t faulty—this external factor was immediately ruled out.

So where exactly was the problem?

Under the light, Chen Mu examined the energy card carefully.

As his fingers traced the card, a sudden guess arose in his mind: Could this be a defective card from the start?

Would a master craftsman make a defective one-star energy card? That seemed unlikely, Chen Mu mused.

Meticulously eliminating each possibility—correct structural design, no signs of use, no energy depletion—yet it still couldn’t provide energy.

The material? A flash of insight struck Chen Mu as he recalled its slightly thicker texture. The more he thought about it, the more he suspected the material was the key.

Chen Mu held the card sideways under the light and, upon closer inspection, discovered something peculiar. The edge, less than a millimeter thick, had two faint dividing lines. It turned out the card was actually laminated from three materials. Their colors were so similar that it was hard to notice unless examined up close.

A failed experiment? That seemed the most plausible explanation. Many years ago, a master had attempted to improve the one-star energy card, only to fail. Somehow, this flawed experiment had survived and ended up in Chen Mu’s hands.

This seemed the most likely speculation.

Chen Mu felt a pang of disappointment. If that were truly the case, then this defective card was utterly worthless.

Fingers unconsciously brushed lightly against the edge of the card, and suddenly, they detected something unusual.

Chen Mu hurriedly brought the card back before his eyes. Whether due to its age or not, the edges of the card had begun to peel. Having already lost interest in this discarded card, Chen Mu suddenly felt a spark of curiosity. If his speculation was correct, then the master of that era must have believed that combining these three materials could improve a one-star energy card. Chen Mu was acutely aware of his own limitations—his skills were likely inferior even to those of a typical beginner, as he had never received any formal training in card-making.

Yet, he possessed his own brand of confidence, rooted in one-star energy cards! From the very beginning, he had focused solely on studying them, to the point where he knew them inside out. Since his last minor adjustment to a one-star energy card, he had hit a wall with no further breakthroughs. Today, however, this card offered him a new inspiration: if structural improvements were unattainable, why not experiment with materials?

Once this thought took hold, Chen Mu grew intrigued by the materials of this experimental card. Though it was a discarded product, it was undoubtedly the work of a master, embodying knowledge far beyond his own. Driven by this desire to learn, Chen Mu resolved to carefully examine the three bonded layers of material.

With great care, he peeled back the outer film that had begun to flake away. Chen Mu couldn’t help but reflect inwardly—no matter how durable a material might be, the passage of time inevitably dulls its former brilliance.

When Chen Mu finally lifted the surface film completely, he froze in shock, staring at the card as if struck by lightning, utterly stunned and motionless!

The card’s surface was as dark as night, covered in countless silver threads as fine as hair, sprawling like a spider’s web across its entirety. Though seemingly chaotic, even the smallest section revealed graceful arcs, meticulous structures, and nested complexities that defied belief.

The silver threads, though as thin as strands of hair and barely discernible to the n***d eye, resembled the capillaries of a human body, creating the illusion of liquid silver flowing slowly.

What is this? A card?

Chen Mu muttered unconsciously, his mind slipping into a semi-stupor.

A full ten minutes passed before he snapped out of this dazed state. Rubbing his eyes vigorously, he confirmed he wasn’t seeing things.

His speculation had completely missed the mark. What failed experiment? This was clearly a disguised card. With Chen Mu’s limited knowledge, he naturally couldn’t identify what kind of card this was. In fact, the complexity of this card far exceeded his understanding—such intricate lines, such masterful craftsmanship—he had never seen anything like it before, nor had he even imagined such a thing possible.

At the recycling station, he had seen his share of high-grade cards, though they were all discarded pieces. But one as complex and refined as this? Never before.

Just what kind of card was this? Chen Mu’s curiosity soared to unprecedented heights.