Chapter 123

: The Great Mark Victor
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

I don’t know whether or not you’ve come into contact with many card artisans, but what I’m talking about now is my understanding of fighting. Use your perception to check it out!

Shielded by the coiled vine, Mark Victor took on a martial spirit with his hair bristling. Gone was any sign of his normally droopy-eyed schlumpy look.

Indeed, no matter if it is a close-combat or a remote card artisan, the core is always defense.

Suddenly, Mark Victor pulled back his right leg slightly, and assumed a forward weighted half crouch.

This is defense!
Mark Victor shouted, as the energy-body thorny vine contracted around him like a suddenly tightening spring, sheltering Mark Victor’s entire body within dense airtight coils. The light golden energy vine which had formed itself into a protective ring suddenly glowed with such an intense light that it couldn’t be looked at without one’s eyes being burned as though looking at the sun.
Since he didn’t need to inhibit himself, Chen Mu had fully deployed his perception, needing to carefully capture every fine detail in the transformations of Mark Victor’s thorny vine energy-body. He knew very well how rare it was to be allowed such deep examination of the uninhibited moves of someone like Mark Victor. For a card artisan, that would be like announcing your every weakness. When card artisans deal with one another, if one of them emits perception in front of another, it would not only be impolite, but dangerous. It would be a signal of utter enmity, and if you were to run into a card artisan with a bad attitude he would likely attack without any hesitation.
There were many energy structures which could emit light, having all different colors among the many kinds of structures. Apart from cards especially made for illumination, there were very few cards designed specifically to emit light. In general, the structure of energy emitted by a card included the capability of emitting light, which is to say that these energy structures contained within themselves the capacity to emit light. It was said that there were a few aces who could make the energy they emitted invisible by reducing the energy structure to an extreme. But to get to that point not only would you require a deep understanding of the composition of energy, you would also require the ability to control abnormal forms of perception.
As far as Chen Mu was concerned that possibility was far too remote, since he was still a rookie who had just completed his basic training.
Perception wasn’t at all influenced by the bright glow from the energy vine, so that he could very clearly capture every subtle transformation of the twisted thorns.
Coil after coil of the energy thorns was spinning at a stunning speed. Its spring-like body took on a bizarre frequency of rhythmic expansion and contraction, which gave Chen Mu the illusion that it was breathing.
Chen Mu had a sudden flash of insight, seeming to have grasped something, though as soon as he thought about it, there was nothing there. And at just that moment, he was cut off by a shout from Mark Victor,
This is offense!

The crystalline shuttle of the energy thorns shot out in a flash, like a python long laying in wait.
So fast!
Chen Mu’s complexion changed. Never mind not being able to see it with his bare eyes, even his perception couldn’t keep up. As quick as a flash, it made a stunning blow! There was truly no way to imagine how anyone could resist such an attack. Although the scope for the attack was only nine meters, it’s speed had exceeded that of the tailless shuttle. Unless you kept your distance, once you were within the scope of Mark Victor’s attack range, you would basically be considered dead.
By then he understood more clearly why the energy thorns kept up such a high-speed spin, since in that way they could greatly increase the initial velocity of the thorn shuttle attack.
A human form could be dimly seen within the dazzling golden glow, out of which came Mark Victor’s steady voice,
The advantage of this kind of attack is its speed. You need to keep firmly in mind that our time is short as close-combat card artisans. Endless energy is spent trying to close the distance with your enemy. But most of the time you have less than a second. You must launch your attack and hit your adversary within that time. For this demonstration, I have slowed things quite a bit so that you could see it clearly.

A look of panic flashed across Chen Mu’s eyes, since to him that kind of speed was already too fast to react to. But according to what Mark Victor had said, that was a slow speed move, which then made him feel deeply just how unfathomable the power of the number one ace at the base really was. Even if Chen Mu were to know Mark Victor’s weak spot, he still wouldn’t have the least chance of victory if faced with that kind of speed.
Mark Victor’s demonstration still wasn’t over, with his twisted thorns transforming again.

If you run into a defensive style card artisan, they would generally have some kind of defensive energy cloak card. What we need to consider then is not the time, but how to exert oneself to increase the power of the blow. For example, like this. . .

The crystalline thorny shuttle suddenly spun up crazily like a drill, making a deep humming sound.

Hunh!
Mark Victor grunted his commencement, as the thorny shuttle spun into a phantom, like a rapidly shrinking tornado booming out toward the target.
Boom! The test target was disintegrated in all directions within an instant.
Chen Mu sucked in a deep breath of cold air.
What kind of power was that? Good lord! What kind of power that was! Chen Mu was muttering, as his gaze lingered where the target had been, now pulverized by the blow from Mark Victor. The numbers were jumping around wildly on the screen, though it very soon displayed
Damage Unknown.

The highest damage which could be endured by that target model was about 1200. Considering the way that debris had been scattered around where the target had been, Chen Mu guessed that the damage of that blow just inflicted by Mark Victor must have been around 1500.
His face turned white. That blow from Mark Victor really dominated!
The damage of the tailless shuttle could hit a value of 756, about half that from Mark Victor’s blow. And that hundred blades card that he had just made would seem like a toy if faced with such a dominant blow. Never mind a three-star energy cloak card, most normal four-star energy cloak cards would be shattered – and shattered like glass – by a damage level of 1500.
The number one close-combat card artisan on the base hadn’t been called that in vain!
And Chen Mu believed that it had certainly not been Mark Victor’s most damaging blow. He really couldn’t imagine what kind of a scene that blow would make.
Having seen Mark Victor’s blow, Chen Mu finally understood what an ace was! Among those he had come across, only the demonic woman and those students from the Star Academy had gotten to such a level. Even those Zuo family card artisans that he had been cornered by that time – whom he had killed in the end – were far from comparable with Mark Victor.
As the golden glow dispersed, Mark Victor maintained his cool demeanor, though it gave Chen Mu an entirely new feeling.
Seeing the surprise on Chen Mu’s face, Mark Victor laughed, and then said to encourage him,
You will become more awesome than me!

The he very solemnly admonished,
Don’t ever be superstitious about cards. Ha ha, this twisted spinning thorns card has a standard damage rating of 423.
He uttered that last statement very casually.
But when Chen Mu heard it, it was like thunder.
The so-called standard damage rating was under conditions where there had been no regulation of the structure of the energy-body emitted. Chen Mu was familiar with how that sort of rating would often be used by card artisans to express the perfection of the internal structure of a card. Chen Mu’s opinion toward Mark Victor filled with admiration, since he couldn’t fake that he had taken a card with a damage value of 423 to a damage level of 1500.
That demonstrated the depth of Mark Victor’s understanding of the composition of the energy in that card. Chen Mu bowed down in front of such ability to adjust the energy-body emitted to a damage value over a thousand.
That was a genuine ace!
Mark Victor then showed him a few other skills, including the scope of their application, and their tactical significance.
The cards used by the two of them were entirely different, and so there wasn’t much reference-value in piling on skills. But the tactical intelligence inherent in those skills were the crystallization of Mark Victor’s countless battle experiences, and their value far exceeded that of the skills themselves. Chen Mu paid close attention, lest he miss a detail. By grasping those archetypes, and paying close attention to what they meant, Chen Mu immediately felt his range of vision greatly expanded.
Only then did he finally understand how lucky he had been in his own victorious battle experiences, and how crude his battle tactics had been.
After an hour, Mark Victor stood,
That’s it for today. Think it over carefully when you go back, since we’ll begin actual combat tomorrow. You don’t have a lot of time, so that’s how we’ll have to do it. I’ll teach you everything I should, but you’ll have to count on what you learn from actual battles for the rest.
The gains from that day far exceeded what Chen Mu could have imagined, and it would take him a long time to digest and absorb it all. Previously he had never had such knowledge and experience to call his own.
As he was walking, Chen Mu suddenly remembered that sudden insight he’d had while watching Mark Victor’s demonstration.
What had he realized just then?
That kind of feeling must have meant something, and it must have been something important or it wouldn’t have made such a deep impression.
But, what had it really been? Chen Mu sat right down in the hallway, as he frowned to ponder it.