Chapter Nine: Insight
1260 Words
"Yan'er, why the long face? Is there something bothering you that you want to share with your sister? Don't keep it bottled up inside," a woman's voice.
Soft and melodious, very pleasant. Chen Mu couldn't help but pass judgment in his mind, although he had no intention of opening his eyes. It didn't hold any allure for him.
He had once seen a woman, extraordinarily beautiful, ruthlessly stomping and cursing at a homeless companion with her high heels. He never imagined that such a melodious voice could spew out what he then considered the most venomous words in the world. And all this because his companion accidentally dirtied her high heels while begging for food.
Back then, his companion was only six, and he was eight. Without a second thought, he lunged forward, trying to push the beautiful woman away, but he was too young. The end result was that both of them were left with numerous bruises. His companion left him that winter, never to wake up again. That winter was too cold.
Since then, whenever he heard those melodious voices, he couldn't help but recall that scene.
Chen Mu furrowed his brows slightly, but then quickly relaxed them. He told himself it wasn't worth letting this voice ruin his good mood.
The voices of the two conversing, however, kept drilling into his ears.
"Sister, I don't know what's wrong, but I just can't make the Blue Skin Rabbit's illusion card. I've tried so many times, but it's just not working! My perception is the highest in the class! But I'm the only one in the whole class who hasn't made an illusion card yet!" The voice was fragile and disheartened.
It was a little girl, Chen Mu could roughly guess her age without even opening his eyes, definitely not more than twelve.
"Yan'er, tell sister, what does it feel like when you make a card?" the elder sister coaxingly inquired.
"Ah, I can't really describe it, it's just that I feel like the pen in my hand is out of control. I remember its structure clearly, but when I'm making it, I just can't finish it."
Chen Mu suddenly opened his eyes. Although he was facing away from the two sisters, his ears were pricked up high, afraid of missing a single word. The little girl's problem was almost exactly the same as his!
"Don't worry, Yan'er. Making a one-star illusion card is very simple. You're so smart, you'll definitely succeed. Yan'er, you've never made a card before, so even though your perception is high, it's normal to lack experience. Many teachers don't explain this very clearly. We don't use perception to control the cohesion between the materials, but to induce their cohesion. It's like a catalyst, just guiding it. The actual cohesion change still depends on the physical properties of the materials themselves. Do you understand, Yan'er?"
In Chen Mu's mind, it was like a bolt from the blue, instantly illuminated. Inducing... inducing... inducing, so that's how it was! It seemed like all the problems were solved at this moment.
By the time Chen Mu got up, the two sisters were already nowhere to be seen. He didn't know that they had been gone for over an hour, while he had been unconsciously contemplating for over an hour.
He couldn't wait to rush out. If only he had a flying card, he could fly back!
He almost ran all the way, bursting through the door. As soon as he entered the room, he sat down at the table and began making a one-star illusion card. He was full of confidence now; he had a feeling that he would definitely succeed this time!
Taking a deep breath to calm the turmoil in his heart, Chen Mu let himself calm down slowly.
After calming his chest, he picked up a blank card and placed it in front of him, lightly picking up the pen with his right hand.
Without hesitation, the tip of the pen fell onto the card.
Clear and smooth, the perception, as fine as a hair, enveloped the tip of the pen, sliding on the extremely smooth surface like skating on ice, without any hindrance.
The entire pattern was completed in one go, without any hint of difficulty. That feeling was wonderful!
With a satisfied expression, Chen Mu placed the completed card in front of himself to examine it. His heart was full of a sense of accomplishment. The world was indeed incredibly miraculous; just a thin layer of window paper, when pierced, led to another realm!
Plugging the completed card into the slot of the meter, he pressed the activation button.
A fist-sized ball of light floated in front of Chen Mu out of thin air, warm, emitting a soft white light.
Excitedly, Chen Mu reached out his finger and gently touched the ball of light. His finger seemed to penetrate into the air, entering the ball of light. This ball of light was just an illusion, or rather, an image, not a real entity. This was the characteristic of a low-level illusion card, while a high-level illusion card could simulate entities using energy. This was the fundamental difference between a low-level and a high-level illusion card.
The success of the one-star illusion card completely relaxed the tight string in Chen Mu's heart. The days of working day and night had brought his body to the brink of danger. Relaxed, Chen Mu was immediately overwhelmed by endless drowsiness.
He slept for a full two days and nights, until he was awakened by hunger.
Waking up, Chen Mu randomly found something to eat to fill his stomach.
Sitting in front of the table out of habit, Chen Mu seemed to be in a daze. The biggest problem that had been weighing on his mind, making a one-star illusion card, he had successfully accomplished. Now, continuing to develop towards a one-star illusion card was just a fine problem. It was a slow process that required accumulation day and night to achieve results.
Making illusion cards was Chen Mu's wish, and now that his wish had been fulfilled, he felt somewhat lost. A two-star illusion card? The principles of making a two-star illusion card were no different from those of a one-star illusion card, not a problem for him.
For a moment, Chen Mu felt like he had lost his goal. There was a time when a one-star illusion card seemed so unreachable in his eyes, and he had been striving for this wish all along. He never thought that after learning to make a one-star illusion card, he would have to learn something else.
Forget it, the days still had to go on, he might as well continue making one-star energy cards. He had spent a lot of money during this period, and his savings had also been severely depleted. Now he needed to replenish it.
Taking a card, Chen Mu was about to start making a one-star energy card when suddenly he thought of that mysterious card.
The pen stopped halfway.
That mysterious card seemed to have a strange magic to it, in his mind, he couldn't shake it off.
Putting down the pen, Chen Mu took out that card from the drawer. The complex silver patterns on the card had long since disappeared, and now the pure black card was dotted with countless silver dots, large and small. Every time Chen Mu saw this card now, he couldn't help but feel a
sense of vastness.
Vastness, this feeling is really strange! Chen Mu smiled self-deprecatingly.
- Writer
