Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu felt refreshed after he woke up. He'd slept for two days, which showed how much strength and energy he'd used up.

What he'd gained was pretty rich as well. Not only did he earn recognition from the fatty, but he'd made a new breakthrough with his card making. His ordinary approach had suffered from a lack of materials and the inability to implement it. Now, he could use the fatty's materials and had experimented with most of them. Among those experiments, he sometimes succeeded and sometimes failed. But, whether success or failure, there was always a great benefit for Chen Mu.

He now understood why so many card masters wanted to join institutions or organizations. They wouldn't need to worry about materials, capital, or equipment. Whatever fancy ideas they had, they could use the organization's solid strength to be able to do their experiments.

The Craze