Card world

The razor-sharp nib gently glided across a greenish-grey card. Slim blue lines smoothly extended from under the pen tip. The pale blue lines on top of the palm-sized card continued to grow, and gradually, a complicated and arcane pattern continued to become more perfect as the pen tip slid. Chen Mu's eyes stared intently at the card, breathing gently, as if he was afraid of disturbing something. If one looked carefully, one could find that his right arm had not moved at all since the beginning, and only his wrist had moved. His right wrist was as flexible as a snake, as soft as non bone. The tip of the pen gently turned, and an elegant arc appeared on the card. Suddenly the tip of the pen gave a heavy thump, changing from the lightness of a moment ago, followed by a fierce sharp side hook, the hook of the pen was like a blade! The pattern on the card suddenly lit up, and then quickly dimmed and returned to normal! Chen Mu casually put it into a pile of cards stacked on one side of the table. His movements were skilful and natural, and there was not the slightest hint of a lag in his movements. His face remained as focused as ever as he completed this card, he had only completed fifteen cards now, and there was still a difference of ten cards from today's task. What he was making now was a one-star energy card, as the lowest level energy card, it was one of the most widely used and most consumed cards at the moment. It was at this moment that the room suddenly went dark. 'Damn it, the energy has run out again!' Chen Mu muttered a few words, his left hand casually pulled out an energy card from the pile of cards, and then gently pressed it on his right wrist, the degree meter worn on his right wrist shot out a bright beam of light. With the help of the beam of light, Chen Mu carefully walked to the corner of the wall, the room was really too cluttered, he didn't want to touch over anything. On the wall in the corner of the room there was a square meter, under the meter there was a slot, Chen Mu inserted the energy card in his hand into the slot of the meter. The room returned to light just as soon as the energy card was inserted into the slot. The number one hundred was displayed on the meter. I didn't expect the energy to run out, it seems that today's task will require one more card. Returning to the table Chen Mu quickly plunged into his work, all of his sources of livelihood relied on this most paper-grade card. Since he had learnt to make this energy card three years ago, he had never had a single day of interruption in his daily workload of twenty-five cards. Chen Mu's room was very small, less than forty square metres, with a half-used work desk placed inside. Apart from the working table which was still relatively clean, the rest of the room was filled with piles of sundries. These sundries were also varied, piles of old books, scattered various raw materials. In this humble place, Chen Mu had lived for three whole years. This place was a relief room specially provided by the federal government, and a small room like this could be occupied by paying only one hundred and fifty eudi per month. For a poor person like Chen Mu, there was really no place cheaper than this place. What's more, in his opinion, he was already doing relatively well, he had even seen his entire family of four crammed into the same size room. At five o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Mu finally finished today's day's work - twenty-five energy cards. Carefully counting the number of cards, he counted them twice in a row, making sure that there was no mistake in the number before he carefully packed the energy cards into the card bag in his clothes. Walking up the street, the night was already getting thicker. The glittering lights lingered in the night, and the fireworks spewing out from the tails of the shuttles that flew by from time to time in the sky trailed a brilliant trajectory that passed by one after another. Chen Mu slightly tightened his coat and tilted his face up to look at the sky. The cold air was getting heavier and heavier, it seemed that winter was coming soon. There was no need to lament about the passage of time, just that there would be an additional consumption for heating in winter, Chen Mu calculated in his heart. Passing in front of the back door of the Dongwei Academy, Chen Mu had already travelled this road for three years, but every time he saw those trainees coming in and out in pairs, he still couldn't help but feel an inexplicable emotion rise up in his heart. Straightening his mind, Chen Mu walked quickly towards a small shop next to the schoolhouse. The name of the shop was 'Dongwei Grocery Store' - in the vicinity of Dongwei Academy, there were at least twenty similar shops with the same name. In the past three years, Chen Mu had visited this small shop every day, rain or shine, without fail. Only he didn't come here to buy things, instead, he came to sell things. As soon as he entered, the shopkeeper noticed and greeted him, 'Amu is here!' 'Well, Uncle Hua.' He replied towards the shopkeeper. The shop owner, Uncle Hua, was an old man around fifty years old, and the years had left marks on him that could not be hidden. Fine wrinkles, half-white flowery hair, and a pair of old-fashioned glasses on his frame. 'This is today's goods.' Chen Mu carefully took out the card bag from his pocket, drew out the stack of energy cards and handed it to the shopkeeper, 'Twenty-five.' Uncle Hua took the cards in Chen Mu's hand and casually placed them on the shelves without looking at them, smiling, 'Luckily, there's Amu you send the cards every day, otherwise I'd be short of goods here.' Chen Mu smiled faintly but did not answer, he knew that Uncle Hua's words were largely meant as a joke. The one star energy card was the cheapest energy card, but it was also one of the most consumed cards, not to mention that this place was located in the vicinity of the Dongwei Academy, where could it be possible to sell only twenty five energy cards a day? Uncle Hua also knew Chen Mu's temperament, and without any nonsense, he directly asked, 'Does Mu need cash or transfer?' 'Transfer.' Chen Mu replied dryly, after saying that, he handed a light green disc card that he had already prepared to Uncle Hua. After settling the bill, Chen Mu said goodbye to Uncle Hua and then wanted to turn around and leave. Uncle Hua suddenly called out to Chen Mu, 'Ah Mu wait a moment.' Chen Mu stopped his steps and turned to look at Uncle Hua with slight surprise, 'Is there something else? Uncle Hua.' Uncle Hua took out a goose-coloured paper pad from a drawer and looked at Chen Mu with a smile, 'I almost forgot something. This is a card maker training course attendance card, which was attached by the dealer when he bought the goods yesterday. Putting it here with me is also a piece of waste paper, so take it, Amu.' Looking at the compassionate Uncle Hua, Chen Mu could not help but be touched for a moment in his heart. He knew how much this old man in front of him had helped him over the years, and if it wasn't for him, Chen Mu believed that the life at hand would be just as out of reach for him. Three years ago, when he had just learnt to make energy cards, he had gone around peddling them, but few people asked for them, and no merchants were willing to acquire them. The amount of one-star energy cards required was very large, and merchants were more willing to buy in large quantities at a time. Chen Mu could only make thirty cards a day at most, which was a small amount that could not even be counted as a fraction for the merchants. Fortunately, he met Uncle Hua. Uncle Hua agreed to buy his energy cards, but the purchase price for each card was 103 eudi, which was two euros lower than the wholesale price of energy cards in the market. Nonetheless, Chen Mu was still incredibly grateful to Uncle Hua. Four years ago, Chen Mu was still a vagabond with no place to live. Once, he met a card maker, a card maker who was already dying. He exchanged the five months' worth of stored food that he had accumulated for this card maker to extend his life by seven days. During those seven days, he learnt one skill, that of one-star energy card making. The card maker did not leave any relics for him after his death, and Chen Mu buried him in the middle of nowhere. He still didn't know what the card maker's name was to this day, but his fate began to change from then on. He spent a year doing his best to work as a short-term labourer, during which time he worked as six different short-term labourers, and that year, he was twelve years old. It was also during this year that he finally had a small savings, a thousand eurodollars. This thousand eurodollars, he bought all the raw materials needed to make energy cards. The card maker had once told him that the wholesale price of a one-star energy card in the market was one hundred and five eudi, and the uniform retail price was one hundred and ten eudi, while its cost was only ninety-eight eudi. One-star energy cards were made by every card maker, yet not many people knew about the difference, and even if they did, almost no one would hit on this aspect. The one-star energy card was one of the simplest cards, and it was already fully capable of industrial production. Even for a master card maker, he could only make twenty to thirty energy cards a day, which was a pitifully small output. Moreover, for a card maker, this amount of money earned through the difference, they wouldn't even bother to pick it up if it fell on the ground. But for Chen Mu, this money was enough to feed him. He managed to make eight of them for the first time, almost losing two hundred eudi, yet it gave him hope. But what he didn't expect was to be hindered when it came to marketing the energy cards. The merchants were not the least bit interested in the few energy cards he had in his hands. He ran for a whole day without eating, and at eight o'clock in the evening he stepped into Uncle Hua's shop. His legs were shaking a little when he entered the shop, and he was almost on the verge of passing out after not having any rice drops all day. The price of one hundred and three eudi was lower than the wholesale price of one hundred and five, but Chen Mu felt himself surrounded by great joy. After selling all the energy cards on hand and buying the cheapest food, the rest of the money was all spent on the ingredients for the energy cards. From then on, Chen Mu's life finally stabilized. Twenty-five energy cards a day, he didn't have a single day of interruption. This time passed, it was three years. During these three years, he only made one type of card - a one-star energy card. In the second year, he had been able to keep the cost at ninety-seven eudi. Although it was only a difference of one eudi, it was a great encouragement to him. In addition to making energy cards, he spent all his time researching how to reduce costs. Finally in the third year, the cost of the energy cards was controlled by him at ninety-five eudi, and he was able to make a profit of eight eudi for each energy card, and his daily income stabilized at two hundred eudi, which three years ago, was a figure he would not have dared to imagine at all. A monthly income of six thousand eudi already allowed him to live an ordinary life, but as always, he was still living in a relief house that only required one hundred and fifty eudi per month. Returning to his senses, Chen Mu smiled at Uncle Hua, 'Thank you Uncle Hua!' Receiving the attendance card, he carefully placed it inside the card bag in his arms. Training courses, especially those for card makers, were one of the most ubiquitous types of training courses in the present day. They were often advertised with incomparable splendour, for example, this lecture card said something like 'Dongwei Academy recognizes academic qualifications', 'Dongwei Academy senior senior card maker authoritatively speaks in person', but in fact, what exactly was inside it was crystal clear to Chen Mu. The organization that hosted the training course and the Dongwei Academy only had a little relationship with this organization, which had to pay a fee to the Dongwei Academy every time, as a price for them to maintain this nominal 'joint organization'. Chen Mu still intended to go and listen to what exactly was being taught in the training course. Card making was one of the most difficult disciplines, and for so many years, he had never given up on self-study, yet with little success. It wasn't until last year that he understood exactly what was going on. His foundation was simply too poor, and for more than ten years of wandering, he had not received any cultural education. For a teenager without the slightest foundation, it was naturally much harder for him to teach himself the card making science, which was known for being difficult and obscure. However, he didn't have the slightest doubt about his own intelligence, being able to learn how to make a one-star energy card within a week just from memory, the card maker had praised his talent back then. Since then, he put aside this goal, which was too high for him for the time being, and began to turn to the most basic theoretical studies. Every day, no matter how tired he was from work, he would find time to study this boring knowledge. After bidding farewell to Uncle Hua, Chen Mu headed south along an alley. Today was Saturday and he had another job. After crossing two streets and walking for about twenty minutes, he came to a second-hand scrap card buying station. 'Hey mate, coming!' Waving to him was a dark, skinny, black-looking bald guy named Blackie. He was also the owner of this buying station. Every Saturday and Sunday night, Chen Mu would come here for three hours of short-term labour. Chen Mure nodded slightly towards Xiao Hei, only with a vaguely wooden face. Xiao Hei had long since become accustomed to this face of Chen Mure. When Chen Mure had come here to ask for a short term job, Xiao Hei had originally refused. This buying station had always been taken care of by a single person since his father, and when it came to him, it had likewise always been taken care of by himself. Hire someone? Xiao Hei couldn't afford to pay for that labour. But when Chen Mu said that he didn't want the labour money, Xiao Hei finally agreed. Of course, Chen Mu was still paid, and usually Chen Mu would pick a few waste cards to take away as his wages. Sometimes Chen Mure would also pick out a few unused energy cards from these waste piles, Xiao Hei calculated an account, every month, the amount he saved on this was a large sum. Just for the silent Chen Mu, he couldn't help but be a little curious, how did this guy know that there was still energy left in these cards? However, since then, every time he saw Chen Mure, he was all smiles. Chen Mure squatted down and began to sort through the piles of used cards. There were many types of cards, there were energy cards, item cards, anthropomorphic cards, and even some that had some relatively rare plant cards and animal cards. However, all the cards here were useless without exception, and all Chen Mu had to do was to sort these cards into different categories. The work went quickly, and it was evident that he was very familiar with the work. Chen Mu flipped his wrist and threw over a card towards Xiao Hei, 'Here, this card can still be used for a while.' This two-star energy card still had at least half of its energy inside, Chen Mu couldn't even figure out why the original owner of this card would be so wasteful. The capacity of a two-star energy card was one thousand, which meant that there was still almost five hundred of energy inside. 'Hehehe, thanks little brother Chen!' Xiao Hei looked at the two-star energy card in his hand and his eyebrows opened up in a smile. He ran to the energy measuring instrument and inserted the card into it, and when he saw the number '523' lit up on it, Little Black smiled so much that his features were almost squeezed into a ball. Chen Mu paid no attention to it, as he single-mindedly carried out his rummaging. Although there would be some used intermediate cards in here, such as three-star and four-star cards, the probability of them appearing was still quite high. But it was of little value to him. The only thing he was interested in now was the one-star energy cards. His three years of crafting career had given him his own understanding of this most common and low-level card. There wasn't just one method of making one-star energy cards, Chen Mu had already collected twelve differently structured one-star energy cards from such. These differently structured one star energy cards inspired Chen Mu quite a lot, and it was precisely because he borrowed some of the techniques from these cards that he managed to lower the cost of making a one star energy card to ninety-five eurodollars. However, this kind of luck would not come every day, so far, he had only collected twelve of them. But today's luck seemed to be good. Looking at the one-star energy card in his hand, from the structure pattern on the surface, it was a one-star energy card with a new structure that Chen Mu had never encountered before. He put this energy card aside and continued to bury his head in rummaging. The number of one-star energy cards was simply too many, but Chen Mu was not tired of examining them one by one. His speed was extremely fast, and he could almost tell if he wanted one of these one-star energy cards just by gently brushing his hand over them. All of this came from his familiarity with one-star energy cards. This familiarity was left over from three years of uninterrupted crafting, and he didn't need to look at it, he could tell whether the card was a one-star energy card or not, whether it was a structure he had seen before or not, just by the feel of his hand. He was simply too familiar with them, to the point of every detail of them. The finger that skimmed from the edge of the card suddenly stopped. This card ......