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

Ru Qiu followed Chen Mu into the card making lab. The more she went along with him, the more she admired him. Inside the lab was piled all kinds of new-looking equipment that must have been recently acquired. While the equipment would be considered high-grade goods on the market, that would only be in the eyes of ordinary card artisans.

It really surprised her for a grand master like Cao Dong, who had made the numbered series of cards, to be in such an ordinary card making lab. That grade of card making lab could be seen all over the Origins Academy, mostly for student use.

In her mind, a grand-master-level person should be sitting in a top-notch card making lab, enjoying the adoring gazes of the large gang of assistants supporting him. He shouldn't be in some beyond-ordinary lab working silently and alone.

She really wanted to ask if the numbered series of cards was made in that card making lab.

Preparing for War (IV)