Chapter 31: Where Were The Bulls?!

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

What could seven Rampaging Bulls Encirclement Cards integrate into?

More bulls!

Perhaps…

The Minotaur tribe?

Lu Ming came up with many guesses. He would not be surprised if Zhang Xiaopang, the Minotaur, showed up on the card. After all, they were of the same origin.

However, the image rendered on the card was something that he had never seen before.

A boundless stretch of plains.

A collapsed mountain range.

There seemed to be a cold wind blowing. It seemed desolate.

There was nothing more.

“That’s all?”

Lu Ming could not sit still.

Where were the bulls?!

Where were my bulls?

One had to know that what was on the card surface was the image that was rendered by the energy felt from the lines. At the very least, this was how it was taught in the textbooks, therefore…

Where were the bulls?!

What was this? “Portrait of bulls grazing the grass”? Where was the grass? It might have been finished by the bulls. Where were the bulls? They might have run off after finishing the grass.

This was crazy!

“Calm down! Calm down!”

Lu Ming took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

The desolate card face as well as the lightning that was engraved on the card made it looked especially strange. Lu Ming had the impression that the bulls had been struck dead by lightning…

“Forget it.”

Lu Ming calmed down.

Whatever it was, he would create the card first!

He did not believe that the forty nine bulls would go missing!

Furthermore, he was most concerned about the card creating techniques!

At the thought of this, Lu Ming flipped the Original Card to stare intently at the lines on the back of the card.

How much energy was needed?

How many bulls were there?

He could no longer make sense of it.

The lines had exceeded his understanding. These lines were intertwined to the extent that Lu Ming was confused and could not tell the direction, or how to tell them apart.

“This is the intersection of lines.”

Lu Ming looked at one part of the card.

Over there, two lines intersected but did not interfere with each other.

“Elsewhere…”

Lu Ming got a rough idea of how the lines looked.

This small card adopted the intersecting lines technique in every node and every necessary place. Obviously, this was for optimal optimization.

Therefore, the difficulty of drawing the card was alarmingly high!

“Card creating techniques…”

Lu Ming was thrilled.

“I will learn them!”

“I have to master this technique!”

Lu Ming was determined.

To him, this technique was as important as the function in programming.

He wanted to learn this technique, but he had no way to learn it. He was not eligible to join the Card Creators Association, and he did not have enough money to purchase it on the black market. There was no other way.

But now…

Buzz—

Lu Ming stroked the Original Card gently.

He stroked each and every line and he could feel the energy that was flowing in the lines. He could ‘see’ how every line looked.

The intersection of lines meant that two lines intersected with each other.

On the context that the lines intersected with each other on a logical basis, one had to ensure that the energy could have a steady flow in the original lines and energy streaming would not occur.

A few simple strokes would not be able to do it.

This required techniques.

To him, it was a good opportunity that he would need to use such techniques in the Original Card. However, it was entirely up to his understanding and efforts as to whether he could grasp the chance and master it.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Lu Ming could feel the flow of energy.

The unique nature of the Original Card was that no matter how much energy was stimulated, it would not activate the abilities within it.

Therefore, Lu Ming could feel the process of energy flow over and over again, sensing and capturing the differences in every node where the lines intersected.

Once!

Twice!

Ten times!

Hundred times!

…

To Lu Ming, he could only see the two intersecting lines. The energy on the two lines became clearer and they eventually intertwined.

So, that was the case.

It suddenly dawned on Lu Ming how it was supposed to be.

He used to ponder multiple times over how to solve the problem.

Separate it into upper and lower layers?

Add an energy traffic light?

Now he finally knew the answer.

The two lines intersected with each other and eventually ended up on a larger node. He took a careful look and sure enough, the node where the lines intersected was much thicker than ordinary lines.

The energy would flow through the nodes and became normal naturally.

Wrong!

All wrong!

His way of thinking in the past led him to look at problems at the physical level. When he finally saw the result, it turned out to be so simple and rough!

This was the energy route!

There was no need for logic!

He sensed the energy flow in his mind. The energy had been flowing down a straight route, but faults occurred naturally as the lines became wider!

It was similar to the flow of water!

The water flow in a small water pipe was continuous. But when it flowed to a pipe that was twice as big, the water would naturally be cut off. However, the overall volume was constant.

It was the same with energy flow.

One could even control the speed of this section with lines!

Therefore…

Lu Ming could clearly see…

The total amount of energy on the first line did not change when it flowed on the widened route, turning from the longitudinal path to the lateral path. Instead, it made space for the energy that was flowing laterally.

Sure enough.

When the energy from the second line flowed through, it was able to streak through the gap.

Perfect!

After that section, the lines would become narrow again.

This was the technique of intersection lines!

This was the transportation hub of energy flow!!!

Lu Ming finally understood.

In fact, if he thought carefully about it, the traffic in the previous life was exactly the same. The significance of the traffic lights was to stop and control the traffic.

In terms of energy…

It could be accomplished by adopting techniques!

If each grain of energy was likened to a vehicle, one could not only control their speed, but also to change the width of the road. What else could one not be able to do?!

Lu Ming never had such clarity of mind.

If that was the case…

What about three-way interlace and four-way convergence?

These two techniques were the advanced progression of the intersection lines. He used to think that it was very mysterious. However, it seemed that in essence, it was controlling energy traffic through cutting off the flow!

Now that he had figured it out, everything seemed simple.

“Let’s try it out first.”

Lu Ming took a deep breath and decided to start.

How should he draw intersection lines?

He could draw them with different speeds and widths!

Shush!

Lu Ming, the Card Creator drew two lines, one horizontal and one vertical line. He controlled the energy when he reached the intersection points of the two lines.

He paused.

He then started to draw the nodes carefully.

He drew the horizontal line first. The path was obviously wider than before. It was more delicate and the speed of the energy in this section of the path would naturally be much faster!

What did wider and faster traffic mean?

Cut-off!

This would leave a space for the energy from the horizontal line to pass through.

It was just that…

After Lu Ming finished drawing the longitudinal lines and tried to make it work, he realized that the energy from both sides had indeed distributed and left a gap. However, they still ended up hitting against each other!

That was because time had overlapped!

They made the gap at the same time and started to pass through at the same time!

“Well…

It was better that time did not overlap so that the energy will not collide and cause an energy disorder.

It is best to have the same speed so that a tailgate will not occur.”

Lu Ming tried again.

The second time!

Success!

There were two lines on the blank card. They were working perfectly under the stimulation of the energy.

“Success!”

Lu Ming was elated.

Apparently…

He had no idea of how extraordinary he was.

According to statistics from the Card Creators Association, the average learning cycle of intersection lines was ten days! The fastest learner still took two days to learn it!

What was the difficulty of the intersection lines?

Understanding?

Of course not.

For those who had the means and money to buy the tutorial, they would naturally have the best teachers, and they would be able to understand the concepts and ideas clearly.

However…

Their progress was still very slow!

That was because the most difficult task was drawing the nodes!

It was the hardest of all to draw the energy transportation hub!

Energy speed?

Energy flow?

It was not that easy to keep it under control!

Any single movement that might result in a failure?!

It was a different story for Lu Ming.

He had learned his basics through drawing three hundred basic advanced lines. His basic skills had improved tremendously and were far beyond the ordinary. Because of this, the average person might find it difficult to control and draw the nodes, but to him, it was a simple task.

It was simply to control the energy speed and flow on the lines.

It was too easy!

How hard could it be?

Whoosh!

Lu Ming put the pen to paper again and was successful in drawing the lines.

Lu Ming had mastered the card creating technique of intersection lines. Not only that, the first thing that Lu Ming did after completing it was to try out a three-way interlace!

He felt that there was still room for improvement in his energy control.

More widths!

Faster speed!

More space!

He could give it a try!

Shush!

Shush!

He tried a three-way interlace and drew a node.

Lu Ming began to draw the node very seriously, leaving plenty of space and energy gap, ensuring that the energy could flow through perfectly.

Of course.

The difficulty level of creating this card was much higher.

Lu Ming could even feel a slight tremble in himself. This was his limit, but he still continued drawing seriously.

He failed the first time.

But he carefully observed and realized that the space he left was too much, leading to the cut-off of energy flow. The energy reduced its speed after the node and resulted in failure.

He failed the second time.

The space might be just right, but the energy hit each other due to the problem with the angle.

He failed the third time!

…

Lu Ming stopped eventually.

The difficulty level of a three-way interlace was far beyond his imagination.

For example, he had to make sure that the three different lines in different angles and directions could pass through the same node smoothly, without any collision, and the energy would not be cut off…

It was amazingly difficult!

“My current control is not enough.”

Lu Ming was very sure about that.

He had to wait until he had improved to come back to drawing it.

However, although he had yet to master this technique, Lu Ming was able to understand the entire energy line system!

“True enough.

My guess is correct.

All the energy exchanges are energy transportation hubs.

As long as my card creating abilities are strong enough, I will be able to create more powerful cards.”

Lu Ming was in high spirits.

At this moment, he finally knew why the Card Creating Master despised him so much.

The foundation was indeed the most important of all!

If the foundation was solid, he would be able to learn anything quickly.

The reason why he could pick up the technique of intersection lines easily today was due to his strong foundation. If it was in the past…

Lu Ming would even despise himself.

Even if the master imparted a skill to him personally, he would be stuck and would not be able to complete it for months.

This was the root of the problem.

Thankfully…

That were already in the past.

Now, Lu Ming had thoroughly mastered this technique!

In the future, it would not be a problem for him to draw intersecting basic lines! As long as he improved on his drawing skills, he would be able to handle more intersecting lines!

“Perfect!”

Lu Ming felt very satisfied.

In that case…

He could create this card now.

Of course, he would soon find out where those damn bulls were!!!

PS: Just realized that today was Programmers’ Day. It was 1024… or am I remembering it wrong? My impression is that 1024 is a certain holiday?

Well… I don’t know.