Ray

The idea of creating such a high-level card just for a set of body exercises made Chris want to slap himself—it was utterly absurd!

Remembering the figures that darkened as he completed the movements, Chris recalled his earlier speculation. Could this just be the first step?

Yes! The first step! He remembered the words spoken by that elderly voice at the time: "The first step, please complete the following eighteen movements!" It seems there are more mysteries to come.

He really had been intimidated by this card. Such a simple problem, and he had to take such a roundabout way to figure it out. Chris mocked himself inwardly, finally sorting out all his thoughts.

Chris had found his life goals once again. One was to unlock the secrets of this card, and the other was to improve his illusion card techniques. The mysterious card, with its incomprehensible illusionary world, deeply stimulated him. While attempting to create a three-star illusion card in the short term wasn't realistic, he could work on making his illusion cards more lifelike, just like the illusion created by the mysterious card.

He still needed to continue making one-star energy cards every day, as he'd been running low on funds lately. Chewing on a piece of bread, Chris began planning his future. With a snap, a freshly made schedule was stuck to the wall, and Chris nodded in satisfaction.

Life for Chris remained unchanged. The only thing that surprised him was that his efficiency in making one-star energy cards had nearly doubled. Perhaps it was because he had learned how to use his perception, but now making one-star energy cards felt surprisingly effortless. This also gave him more time to focus on the other two tasks in his plan.

The progress on the other two tasks was relatively slow. Chris could only perform half of the eighteen movements. These movements required a high level of physical fitness, including strength, flexibility, and reflexes. Nonetheless, the practice over the past few days had significantly improved his physical condition, which was an unexpected benefit.

His progress with illusion cards was minimal. Making them indistinguishable from reality was no easy task, and he could only keep observing—observing everything around him. Chris wasn't in a hurry about this; he knew it was a process that required slow and steady accumulation, and rushing wouldn't help.

With the one-star energy card he had made in hand, Chris arrived at Uncle Hua's grocery store. Uncle Hua didn't look well, but he was still happy to see Chris. "Ah, Chris, it's been a while since I last saw you. What have you been up to lately?" he asked, followed by a bout of intense coughing.

"Uncle Hua, are you okay?" Chris asked with a hint of concern. Uncle Hua was one of the few people in the world who genuinely cared about him.

Uncle Hua gasped for breath and forced a smile. "Don't worry, it's probably just a cold. I'm still as strong as ever. And you? I haven't seen you bring any energy cards lately, and I was starting to worry something might have happened to you."

Seeing Uncle Hua's pale face, Chris felt a lump in his throat and forced a smile. "What could happen to me? I've been learning to make illusion cards recently, so I've been delayed a bit."

"Oh, have you learned it?" Uncle Hua's interest was piqued.

Chris nodded, "Yes, but I've only learned to make one-star and two-star cards so far."

"Haha, I knew you could do it! You're so smart and hardworking, you have a bright future ahead," Uncle Hua said with great joy as if hearing about the success of his own family. His excitement triggered another round of coughing. Chris watched Uncle Hua with concern, unsure of what to say.

Once the coughing subsided, Uncle Hua's face shifted from pale to flushed. He smiled and said, "Chris, you need to keep working hard. I've always wanted an illusion card billboard, preferably with a blue orchid on it—that's a specialty from our hometown."

Uncle Hua's eyes were filled with deep nostalgia.

"Alright," Chris nodded vigorously.

As Chris stepped out of Uncle Hua's grocery store, he felt a bit heavy-hearted. 

"Wood!" 

Suddenly, Chris heard someone calling him. He turned around to see a man dressed in a very extravagant manner running towards him.

Chris recognized the man as Ray, a friend he had once wandered with. Ray had been adopted by a family with a good background and had occasionally helped Chris. Since his adoptive parents passed away recently, Ray had to interrupt his studies and return to a semi-nomadic lifestyle. 

He was wearing a brightly colored, oversized shirt that looked loose and ill-fitting. His hair was in disarray, and he had two large metal hoops dangling from his ears. On his feet were a pair of dirty-looking sandals. The whole outfit startled Chris.

Chris stopped and waited for Ray to catch up. 

"Hey, running into you on the street—am I seeing things wrong, or has the world changed?" Ray said with an exaggerated expression.

"I'm here to sell energy cards," Chris said, skipping the pleasantries since they were quite familiar with each other.

Ray nodded in understanding, knowing Chris well. "I was wondering why you were out and about. Oh, by the way, I recently got a new job," Ray added with a mysterious look.

"What job?" Chris asked with genuine interest.

Ray's adoptive parents had been very kind to him, always supporting his education, which had been Chris's dream. However, Ray's adoptive parents had passed away in a car accident, cutting off all their financial support and forcing Ray to interrupt his studies. Chris had offered to help fund Ray's education, but Ray had refused. Chris knew that people like them had a strong sense of pride about such matters, and he understood that he would probably react similarly in Ray's place.

Ray had been diligently searching for a job. These days, Chris had been deeply immersed in making illusion cards and cracking that mysterious card, leaving him little time to focus on other matters.

"I found a job at a small card play company," Ray said. "Mostly doing some miscellaneous tasks related to scriptwriting."

"Card play?" Chris knew what card play was. A card play is a dynamic image created using illusion cards to portray a story. The number of illusion cards required for a card play depends on the length of the content. Typically, a card play requires around twenty to fifty illusion cards. The characters and animals in card play are often exaggerated and appear very cute, which makes them popular among people.

Card play appeared thirty years ago, but it only started gaining popularity about ten years ago, making it a relatively new industry.