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Chapter 70: A Naked Floating Body

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

"Xiaoru, what are you thinking about?" Samantha pinched Ma Xiaoru's cheek and asked.

"Ah... Nothing..."

"No need to hide it, it is written all over your face."

"Really?" Ma Xiaoru touched her cheek out of instinct.

"Haha, it's never too late to consult the wise." Samantha suddenly closed in, wrapping her arms around Ma Xiaoru as if measuring her bosom. "Oh… The fire of love is strong with this one."

"Stop, you weirdo."

"Come here, you little girl, tell me what's on your mind!" Samantha commanded as if Ma Xiaoru was an innocent 6-year-old.

"It's nothing... It's just that I can feel that Wang Tong is not that into me," the words seemed to have taken the wind out of Ma Xiaoru's sail.

"Why do you think so? That Wang Tong does not deserve you, and you know it! How about your Tactics of the Enchantress? Isn't it suppose to be the best weapon for enslaving a man's heart? Even General Li Feng had fallen for it."

"I am not entirely sure myself, but even my tactics seemed to become sluggish as if I had hit a wall," Ma Xiaoru said helplessly.

"You are giving yourself way too much pressure. It's one of the top-five tactics after all. Seeing how much it had clashed with your personality, I was pretty surprised when you told me that you had learned it in the first place. Even if you didn't, your family was in a different line of business; your cultivation, therefore, was more of a symbolic gesture to demonstrate the friendship between the Ma and the Li."

"I know, I know. But I seem to have hit the wall too early; I start to wonder if I am really in..." Ma Xiaoru choked back, finding it hard to say the simple word out loud.

"Haha, so our princess was indeed in love with Wang Tong. I have no idea what about him had attacked you. Every time I saw him, I just had the urge to punch him in that sly face," Samantha said as she thought about the irritating face of Wang Tong. "Love makes one hesitant. Trust me, just be yourself and enjoy your life. Don't think too much."

Ma Xiaoru nodded blankly as she still didn't understand the cause of her sudden sluggish progress in her cultivation.

Any tactics that dabbled in physic abilities, to some degree, had its countermeasures, just like it was the countermeasure of many other tactics. Unknown to Ma Xiaoru, Wang Tong's Tactics of the Blade was the most effective countermeasure to the Tactics of the Enchantress, and that was the reason behind the sudden slow down of Ma Xiaoru's cultivation.

Hu Yangxuan had to carry Wang Tong home after their after-party. The first few cups of drinks seemed to have no effect on Wang Tong, but to Hu Yangxuan's surprise, Wang Tong planted his faced down quickly after a few more cups.

Hu Yangxuan was half way there as well, so he turned on his autopilot. It was already midnight when they arrived at Wang Tong's dorm.

Wang Tong had laid on his bed motionless for a while, and then suddenly his body started to elevate above the bed as two red glows appeared on his head and the belly.

Wang Tong had broken the rule of no liquor that Old Fart had set for him. Old Fart had forbidden him drinking alcohol not only because it was a bad habit, but also because of Wang Tong's unique body type.

The liquor had accelerated the movement of energy inside of his body; the 256 nodes were whirling around at speed beyond Wang Tong's control. Without anywhere to go, the GN energies were trapped in Wang Tong's dantian. The GN force also formed a GN field that surrounded Wang Tong, inside the GN field, GN force continued to pour out of Wang Tong's body.

Hu Yangxuan had already left, and no one was expected to visit the caretaker at this hour. However, a petite figure was standing outside of Wang Tong's dorm; she hesitated before she knocked on the door.

Zhou Sisi had been thinking a lot ever since the accident, but eventually, she came to terms with what had happened. After all, Wang Tong didn't do anything on purpose, and she had since increased her soul energy readings thanks to Wang Tong's intervention.

Hearing no reply, Zhou Sisi cracked the door open and was shocked by what she saw: a floating naked body.

Zhou Sisi's mouth was wide open, but she covered it with one of her palms and stopped the scream. She saw a few pieces of dirty cloth strewn about the floor; Wang Tong's body was elevated in the air and seemed to be packed densely with energy.

Zhou Sisi could only feel the magnitude of the power inside of Wang Tong's GN field, but she had no idea what was happening.

After having learned a lesson from last time, Zhou Sisi was more cautious and didn't touch Wang Tong's body. Instead, she studied her surroundings and lamented over the bizarre tactics that Wang Tong had been practicing.

She quickly noticed that Wang tong's body seemed to be bloated and registered the seriousness of the event. She turned on her heels to report it to the teacher.

However, the door suddenly slammed shut, and Zhou Sisi felt a force pulling her back toward Wang Tong. Her body spun around, and she punched out of instinct, but it caused no effect.

A powerful shockwave ensued and knocked her unconscious.

She woke up right before the dawn broke, and it was still pitch dark outside. She rubbed her body, feeling pain in many places. She was stupefied after she saw a few bruises splotched about her otherwise snowy white skin and found out that she was entirely naked.

She saw Wang Tong curled up his body like a baby, lying unconscious beside her.

Memories escaped Zhou Sisi; she could not remember what exactly had happened, and then she saw the blood stains on the bed, her face turned ghostly pale, and she almost fainted.

Slowly her memory came back, she remembered Wang Tong's firm hand clamped on to her waist, and a force that swept through her body and torn her cloth off violently. She remembered a warm wave of energy seeping slowly into her body as its intensity cranked up. Wang Tong didn't withdraw the energy until it started to feel like a burning fire inside of her.

Zhou Sisi couldn't remember the rest no matter how hard she tried. She gritted her teeth and wondered if she had so quickly given away her first time.

"Didn't they say it would hurt?" Zhou Sisi felt it strange that she didn't feel any pain, and as she studied the narrow streaky stain of blood, she found things didn't seem to add up.

Chapter 71: A Little Punishment From a Girl

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Zhou Sisi felt a stinging sensation on her arm and was shocked to discover that a long scar-like wound was left on her snowy-fair arm, but immediately relieved when she found out that the shape of her wound was a match with the line of blood on Wang Tong's bed sheet.

Yet Zhou Sisi couldn't recall how she got hurt, all she knew was Wang Tong was a dangerous man as she remembered this was the second time for almost giving him her virginity. She got mad and stood up when she thought about that and even felt like grinding her feet on Wang Tong, but she just couldn't do it the moment she saw his innocent, child-like face. Zhou Sisi then examined every scar on Wang Tong's body, and it gave her a little shiver, she couldn't help wondering what on earth had Wang Tong been through, and how could he hide all of these under his cheerful personality.

Zhou Sisi forgot that she was naked. She gently moved her fine fingers across the scar on Wang Tong's abdomen, her hands were trembling; it was a feeling that couldn't be expressed with words, and she realized their relationship was getting closer.

Thud…

Zhou Sisi blushed when she noticed someone was having a "situation" between his groin, it was indeed an indecent scene, but this was normal for a guy, it couldn't be helped.

Zhou Sisi cleared her mind, put on one of Wang Tong's T-Shirts and picked up the fabric fragments of her torn clothes. This was not something that could be explained properly, even though he was unconscious, but this… Zhou Sisi sighed and gathered herself, she shouldn't be thinking about that, at least not for now.

As Zhou Sisi was about to leave, she saw the blood stain on the bed sheet and was suddenly embarrassed by it. She had to remove and destroy this important evidence!

Zhou Sisi then carefully shifted Wang Tong aside and quickly rolled up and removed the bed sheet. "Dear God, please erase his memory on what happened!"

If Wang Tong was to find out that they had been naked together in his room, Zhou Sisi's life would be ruined.

After checking for the last time and made sure no evidence was left behind, Zhou Sisi escaped like a frightened bunny and disappeared into the night.

Meanwhile, somebody was still snoring like a pig… snored...

Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!

Wang Tong was awakened by the four strong sneezes. His body felt sticky, and that smell, what the…

Wang Tong thought that he was back on Norton. The smell wasn't a big deal, it was the sticky, sweat-like moisture that got his attention, alcohol was a dangerous substance for sure!

He could tell that something definitely had happened the night before, but he couldn't recollect his memory of the incident. Where were his clothes? Only fragments of fabrics were left on the ground.

Wang Tong sat up and gathered himself, he could hear Old Fart saying, "Too much alcohol would mess up the Tactics of the Blade…" But he felt great, like he had gotten rid of all the greasy stuff in his body, he became more energetic, his Tactics of the Blades were working just fine, and his speed was still the same. The only thing he felt different was the flow, like his two hundred and fifty-six GN nodes were merging into one. He wasn't feeling incredible, but it was definitely a fantastic sensation.

Wang Tong's spirit was lifted as he checked his body and found nothing special. Nevertheless, he would need to be cautious and not to have too much alcohol if he were to drink again. He could still bear the cost of losing a shirt this time.

Something wasn't right about the bed though…

The bed sheet! Where was it?

Wang Tong discovered that he had lost his one and only bed sheet… and his new T-shirt was nowhere to be seen too! He rubbed his eyes, hoping that this was only his imagination.

It was gone for real!

He cursed the thief for stealing from the poorest guy throughout the academy.

This wasn't happening!

The dormitory was only supposed to be his temporary residence, and the bed sheet was a public property. Wang Tong scanned his surrounding and tried to look for clues, but the thief was cautious and didn't leave anything behind, except a piece of a pink fragment at the corner of the room which didn't belong to him! It looked like some sort of fabric from clothing, and it had a faint nice smell, the thief was a woman? Stealing a man's bed sheet and clothes?

But Wang Tong sighed because he couldn't do anything about it. There was no time for him to question every girl around the academy with this piece of fabric.

"Who stole my bed sheet?!" Wang Tong yelled and followed up by a roar of abreaction.

A new sunny day has begun in Ayrlarng.

Meanwhile, Zhou Sisi was still wearing an oversized T-shirt and slept like a log in one of the rooms of Dorm No.5…

Wang Tong spent the whole morning cleaning up his room, got hungry afterward, and treated himself to a feast. Even though he tried to be thrifty, yet his money was still flowing out like a river, and all he could imagine was a penniless future.

That stingy Old Fart, he should have left him more money!

It couldn't be helped though, he had to respect Old Fart's decision. Nonetheless, Wang Tong knew that maintaining his body condition was way more crucial than earning money, one must retain his "assets" to ensure a brighter future.

All thanks to Samantha, the hardware and facilities in Ayrlarng were renewed and upgraded when she took charge of the administration, and Wang Tong was given full access to the facilities due to his participation in the competition so he wouldn't have to worry about his workout plans.

Skills and techniques could be trained through hand-to-hand combats, but the memory of the strength of his body could only be awakened by a strong gravity force. During his time on Norton, Wang Tong was training every second due to the five times stronger gravity of Norton, but the training stopped as he returned to Earth. Hence, he decided to have a hardcore training at least once per week.

Ayrlarng's academic atmosphere had improved quite a lot, but the new activity area and library were kind of deserted during the weekends, obviously because everybody wanted to take a break.

Wang Tong was amazed by the magnificent Gravity Training Chamber, he felt wonderful and couldn't wait to scrape the rust of his stiff body as he decided to start off his training by selecting the "Five times gravity" mode.

Most of the students were restricted from this mode, but Wang Tong's access has been modified to the same level of a teacher's; hence the system would not interfere as long as the user's life was not in danger.

Wang Tong had always felt like he was floating due to the lower gravity on Earth, but the familiar sensation returned as the five times gravity kicked in, and he was able to get used to it within five to six minutes. Wang Tong also noticed the speed of initializing the Tactics of the Blade was changing, probably reacting to the change of environmental pressure. Memories of the various battle arts he had seen began to resurface as Wang Tong closed his eyes, and then he began his own trials.

Chapter 72: Unexpected Discovery

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Earthlings, Ivantians, and Martians were all part of mankind, even though they all had unique styles of battle, their techniques were almost the same. Only Kaedeians were different ones, their physical conditions were still weaker compared to Earthlings after so many years. Moreover, unlike Earthlings, Kaedeians fighters were mostly women, and Wang Tong had always been curious about that, and also why they only gave birth to females in the Kaedeians' Monarchy.

Moving on to the topic of intermarriage between Earthlings and Kaedeians, since the reign of General Li Feng, the interracial bonding between Earthlings and Kaedeians has already been expressly stipulated for the coherence of the two races in order to ward off the Zergs. However, it was impossible for Earthling and Kaedeian couples to have babies due to genetical problems. Since then, the two races have been trying their best to seek solutions regarding this because Earthlings and Kaedeians placed great emphasis on their offsprings, and also to combine the genetic advantages of both Earthlings and Kaedeians.

The GN Force was an amazing power discovered by General Li Feng and the FFC Corporation. Since then, mankind has been learning to utilize this power and also invented various tactics based on it. Unfortunately, even though genetic modification was possible, mankind was still unable to alter the GN Force. Yet everybody knew that if they were able to decode the secrets behind the GN Force, the might of mankind's military would receive a tremendous boost.

Earthling, Ivantians, and Kaedeians never gave up on this, but it would take generations before they could find the answers because there were no such technologies at the moment. Just like when mankind first learned about genes, even though they knew that everything from a human being was decided by its genes, the technology of genetic modification wasn't available yet back then. As for now, people were able to utilize the GN Force, yet they could only increase one's forces through the help of tactics, and also boosting the GN Force and adding on special abilities with METAL Suits but still couldn't learn much about GN Force being the source of strength and energy.

The one who had the ability to crack open this Pandora's Box would be able to shake the world itself.

Wang Tong was sweating heavily under the pressure of the 10 times gravity, but he was feeling great. The greater the environmental pressure, the smoother the initialization of his Tactics of the Blade. He even had no idea why the initialization was getting smoother, back then, there would always be a tiny pause and struggle during the initialization from 8 nodes to 16 nodes, and all the way up to 256 nodes. Yet now the huss and fuss were all gone.

However the changes would not be able to significantly increase his Soul Energy, after all, it was just a small boost, but it was able to radically alter his ways of battle. Wang Tong didn't know at first, but the longer he trained, the merrier he got. He might have had a bad day after drinking too much and got ransacked by a wicked thief, yet God was fair enough to grant him improvements in his skills and tactics; somehow it sounded like a good deal.

Wang Tong would empty his mind when he was fully concentrated on his training. Not only his body was trained, his skills and tactics would also improve at the same time. How he wished that the others would've tried this amazing method as well, it was definitely killing two birds with one stone.

The drawback was that the effectiveness of his techniques could only be proven through real fights, and all Wang Tong could do now was only trying to familiarize with them on his own. Zergs had no attack patterns, and due to their different sizes, the ways they attacked were all based on the uniqueness of that particular species instead. Somehow if mankind were to use their battle tactics against Zergs, it would be like breaking flies on the wheels, so instead the skills and tactics were more likely to be used during fights among themselves. Yea or nay, it still enabled mankind to improve their abilities to fight. The tactics were even categorized and established amongst METAL Combat classes of militaries and academies. Through the collaboration with ancient martial arts, modern brawlings, and various fighting techniques, and also the usage of METAL Suits, mankind's military forces were boosted to the max. This new road of development was able to receive an immense support from scientists, after all, it wasn't against the law of the universe for mankind to develop and improve its own strength. The discovery of the GN Force also brought mankind one step closer to immortality.

Wang Tong didn't force himself to try out stronger gravity and gradually paced back to five times gravity instead, which was the basis level of his gravity training. He had never been better after sweating that much. He always felt like the fatigue was killing him during his days on Norton, now that he was back on Earth, he felt like the boredom was killing him instead. Somehow he could felt the agony of Einherjar Wannabe, it was depressing like hell, like how a benchwarmer would've felt.

Suddenly he heard footsteps in the Gravity Training Chamber, and it was approaching his five times gravity area. He was surprised to know that there was someone like him in Ayrlarng.

The guy was also surprised to see Wang Tong, the two of them were about the same age. "Are you a freshman?"

Wang Tong nodded. He had never seen this guy before. Since he admitted Ayrlarng, he had never been interacting with the others except for his classmates in F-Class and the girls in Dorm No.5. Nevertheless, this guy had to be strong for having the guts to come here.

The guy seemed to be interested with Wang Tong. "Hey pal, since there's no one around, wanna have a quick duel?"

"Sure! This boredom is killing me." The guy was barely affected by the 5 times gravity around him. Could he be some hidden ace of Ayrlarng?

"Alright, let's go!" Wang Ben never knew he would meet someone here. Upon his arrival to Shangjin, he had been spending the morning with his errands, then he decided to have his training directly in the academy because the condition and facilities were better here in Ayrlarng compared to the place he was staying.

The students of Ayrlarng might be weaker, but he knew Principal Samantha had a few tricks up her sleeves and managed to recruit Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan as her aces. This person in front of him might just happen to be Hu Yangxuan, and Wang Ben was eager to try his hand at this youngster from the Court of Templar.

"How would you like to do it?" asked Wang Tong.

"I'm good with anything, please don't hold back if you're looking for excitement."

"Alright then, here I come!" Wang Tong's previous training was just right to be his warm-up exercise. Whoever this guy was, he couldn't wait to get physical.

Wang Tong activated his Soul Energy in a glimpse, with his full burst GN Force, he dashed toward the guy with a chop attack.

Wang Ben knew that he had found the right opponent when he saw the attack and even became more excited. He was afraid that his life in Ayrlarng might have been boring, but that was before he met this opponent.

Wang Ben then defended the attack with his right fist and caused a loud burst echoed across the room. Both of them looked startled, especially Wang Ben, he expected his opponent to be great, but he had never thought that he was that great.

Wang Tong decided not to hold back when he saw the guy blocked his attack, then Wang Tong suddenly remembered a few military tactics from the Earth Confederation and the Ivantians and thought that this might be the right person for him to try out some of the combinations he compiled.

Immediately Wang Tong made a couple of attacks with his palm.

Wang Ben had never been in this position before because usually, he was the one who attacked ferociously. After successfully defended himself against 3 attacks, Wang Ben gathered his strength and threw out a punch.

That was a forceful punch indeed, Wang Tong made a few somersaults and backed down.

"That was a powerful punch."

"You're not bad either, time for some serious action shall we? This isn't entertaining enough for me!"

"Very well, don't blame me if you're injured though!"

Wang Tong was waiting for him to say so, after all, they were fighting inside the academy, if he accidentally injured his opponent, he would need to pay for his medical expenses, not to mention, he was broke. Nonetheless, he was more than happy when he was told by his opponent not to hold back.

Chapter 73: The Power of a Mind-Opened Fighter

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Wang Ben was left speechless, the guy in front of him was actually worrying about hurting the other instead of getting hurt himself. Was he being over confident, or were the stronger ones in Ayrlarng getting too arrogant?

Throughout the Earth Confederation, only a few person of the same age were able to injure him.

Wang Ben grabbed both of his fists as he channeled his GN Force, and his Soul Energy reached over a hundred Sols. He was about to get serious in this room with five times the gravity, and it wasn't something that he hasn't done before.

Wang Tong, on the other hand, was getting even more pumped up and attacked with his right hand mimicking a blade; Wang Ben growled and charged at a low speed, his style of battle was always about attacks and throwing strong punches.

Bang Bang Bang…

Soon, as they were facing each other, tens of attacks immediately flew across each other, and neither of them backed down. The five times gravity would exacerbate their loss of energy, yet both of them were going all out with their strengths, the two of them were extremely confident to fight in an environment of five times gravity.

As more impacts happened, their GN forces were increasing too. Every impact was a trial to the toughness of one's body, and their bodies soon began to sweat. Wang Tong was already having his intense training before the fight, so it was normal for him to sweat now.

Wang Ben's punches were simple and straightforward, but every punch of his was rough to handle. It was hard to catch him off-guard, even Wang Tong found it difficult to seek for an opening. His attacks were all about impulses, and his actual strength was high above Wang Tong's expectation, he had never thought of meeting such a strong opponent.

Since the guy was a practice target sent from heaven, Wang Tong wasn't going to hold back anymore. After all, the infirmary was just around the corner, so it shouldn't be hard to get help if his opponent was injured.

Wang Tong was going all-out!

Wang Ben flung out another punch and tried to force his opponent to a brawl, but his target disappeared all of a sudden!

"Oh crap!"

Wang Tong mysteriously moved and twisted his body like a half-arc, then threw a fierce kick toward Wang Ben's rib cage from the side.

That was the Kamp's Arc Kick, a level 2 technique of the Earth Confederation forces.

This attack was to force and twist one's body to create an inertial movement by channeling a burst of GN Force to his physical strength, instantly moving away from his original position and strike on the enemy's weak points while avoiding the stronghold. Not only it required plenty of GN Force, but the attacker had to also have enough body strength, or else it would cause the attacker to sprain his waist instead.

Wang Ben had seen this attack before, and without hesitating, he tightened his body and charged toward the attack. Of course, he wasn't so silly as to take the attack when it had reached maximum power.

Wang Tong seemed to be pleased, it was a wise judgment... but not perfect!

It wasn't a rear kick!

Wang Ben's decision to charge lured himself into a critical crisis, the rear kick was a decoy. The first arc was correct, but it was followed by another Kamp's Arc Kick, and this time it was the real deal. Unfortunately for Wang Ben, he left his back wide opened for Wang Tong as he charged inward.

If the attack were successful, Wang Ben would be taking quite an amount of damage.

But Wang Ben was no easy target, he used the momentum when his body was leaning forward and flung his leg backward like the tail of a scorpion, right toward Wang Tong's face.

If Wang Ben's opponent was someone else, this attack might be able to catch his opponent by surprise, but it didn't startle Wang Tong at all because he knew it wasn't a full force attack. Instead, Wang Tong threw down a kick and subdued the attack.

Unable to control his body, Wang Ben took a few steps forward due to the momentum and stopped. Wang Tong didn't unleash his full strength in that kick attack.

Wang Tong then smiled and said, "C'mon get serious man, show me what you got." The guy was obviously holding back his strength as if he was afraid that it might hurt Wang Tong.

Wang Ben didn't smile, his expression turned serious as he ripped off his dirtied shirt, showing out his steel-hard physique. "Uarrr!"

GN Force ignited as Wang Ben slammed his arms together, the leftover GN Force within his body flushed out in a flash.

Wang Ben's eyes changed, he wasn't expecting to meet such a tough opponent the moment he stepped into Ayrlarng. The guy pulled off a double Kamp's Arc Kick which was a level 2 fighting technique from the military and even close enough to reach level 1 for such a smooth synchronization. Even students from an S-ranked academy wouldn't be able to do that!

Wang Tong's blood tingled when he saw Wang Ben getting serious, he was enjoying the rush of adrenaline. Even though the fights in TPA felt real, still it was only a virtual playground, and it could never be compared with the excitement of a real hand-to-hand combat.

Even though Wang Ben's murderous aura wasn't strong enough, still it reminded Wang Tong of his bloodthirstiness when he was on Norton.

Roar!

That was Fist of the Racing Tiger!

Wang Tong subconsciously changed his punch to a palm strike when he saw the powerful punch, and his whole body was pushed back 3 steps by the impact. As he regained his balance, he realized his opponent was probably Wang Ben!

Wang Ben was still looking serious when his punch successfully pushed back Wang Tong. He was expecting his punch to fling his opponent across the room, but the impact only pushed the guy a few steps back, no one could have easily stood against the Fist of the Racing Tiger.

Wang Tong was overjoyed, no wonder the guy was that strong, plus he had never heard of such a strong fighter in Ayrlarng before. As for now, whoever he might be, it had awakened Wang Tong's fighting spirit, and nothing could've held him back now. Moreover, Samantha once said before that she will back him up if anything occurred.

Since it was a valuable chance, Wang Tong decided to try out the circulation power of his right arm against such a strong opponent.

Wang Ben obtained the absolute advantages the moment he attacked with the Fist of the Racing Tiger. Even though the Fist of the Racing Tiger was only a punching tactic, there seemed to be some kind of secrets in the utilization of the GN Force. If the speed of the previous punch was to be described as swift and sharp, now, every punch felt like bullets fired from a gun. The force was overwhelming.

Wang Tong was pushed back gradually, he wanted to enjoy the excitement, but somehow he didn't want to overdo it. He was always thinking too much, Old Fart taught him to do so.

On the other hand, he wanted to thoroughly observe the details of the Fist of the Racing Tiger. He wanted to see the difference between the real deal and his imitations.

Wang Ben would become another person once he unleashed the Fist of the Racing Tiger and his aura and willpower would skyrocket. Being born and raised in a military family, Wang Ben inherited the aura and willpower from the respect and confidence toward his dad.

His confidence was nurtured as he grew up. Yet somehow it sounded like self-hypnotizing.

Forces of energy swirled across the Gravity Training Chamber, the impact of every punch sounded like a roaring tiger. Not only were the loud roars had the ability to intimidate enemies, but the roars were also able to inflict huge damages to the opponent. Rumor has it that General Hu Ben was able to kill Zergs with only the roars of his Fist of the Racing Tiger.

Chapter 74: Went Overboard

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Wang Ben was getting pumped up, he was feeling the uncontrollable force within his body. Ever since he had been mind opened, he had developed the willpower and confidence to prevail over everything! Not a single soldier in the military has been able to stand against his Fist of the Racing Tiger. It was definitely an unmatchable technique, unparalleled in the world!

Wang Ben noticed that his opponent was forced into defense when the Fist of Racing Tiger was unleashed.

His spirit was puffed up with conceit. Being an epigone of his father's aloof figure, Wang Ben had always been quenching for his father's commendation since he was younger. Even though General Hu Ben was cold to everyone, even to his own son, it didn't affect the younger Wang Ben because to him that was how a real man was supposed to look like. Soon, Wang Ben also inherited his father's coldness. Like father, like son.

However, the failure of his first Mind Opening attempt hauled him into a deep depression. He would risk his life to train harder and improve if it was just his lack of strength, but everything was blotted out when he failed his Mind Opening Operation. He was depressed; not because of the concern of his future, but because he wouldn't be able to follow the footsteps of his old man and become a dauntless person. Anyhow, Wang Ben was blessed with a second chance, in the end, all thanks to the encouragement from that person. Since then, Wang Ben had been grateful and treated every training and match in a serious manner.

Now, no one would be able to hinder him!

Roar!

Wang Tong felt like he was being attacked by a ferocious tiger awakened from its slumber. Every punch was heavier and stronger than the previous, and the menace was intimidating. It was insane for a young man like him to be able to possess such aura.

Wang Tong was overjoyed by the indescribable excitement! He was evoked by Wang Ben's fighting spirit, and he wished to defeat him badly!

However, Wang Ben's attacks were unavoidable. Wang Tong was unable to restrain the punches no matter how he coordinated his steps. One's stability under the belt was the uniqueness of the Fist of the Racing Tiger, it was all about advancing in order without any fancy movements. Every punch from Wang Ben was solid, and no tricks were involved.

Wang Ben then unleashed the Fist of Tiger Splitting a Mountain! His eyes were filled with his burning will to battle. With Wang Tong still in defense, Wang Ben was fully pumped up as he thrust that fatal punch. The attack was infused with five times more GN Force, undeniably the mightiest punch of all!

Yet Wang Tong has been waiting for the climax of his attacks, which was why Wang Tong didn't fight back after all this time; he wanted to counter his opponent's strongest attack!

Wang Tong gave an over-excited fiendish grin as the punch approached, just when the attack was about to land on him, Wang Tong initiated his 256-nodes Tactics of the Blade and struck back with a forceful punch.

Followed by a burst of light!

WHAM!

The impact smashed Wang Ben across the room and straight against the wall. The whole construct of the Gravity Training Chamber was shaken by the immense bang.

Wang Tong stared at his hands, he was stunned by the incredible power of his Tactics of the Blade and was surprised by the great difference between 16 nodes and 256 nodes!

Wang Tong thought that this tactic was only able to improve his Soul Energy, yet he ever expected the power would increase as well. He was feeling superb!

Wait, where's the guy?

As he suddenly came back to his senses, Wang Tong dashed toward his opponent and realized that he was in trouble. Things would really go south when he got over excited!

Einherjar Wannabe had also once said that he had the same problem when he was hyped up. Worst of all, Samantha wouldn't forgive him if anything happened to Wang Ben.

Wang Tong then carried Wang Ben on his back and rushed toward the infirmary as he prayed and begged for forgiveness in his heart. Earth was different from Norton, and humans were not Zergs, he promised himself not to have humans as practice target from now on.

Fortunately, the infirmary was operating 24/7 due to the high injury rates of the students in a military academy. The doctor immediately moved Wang Ben onto the bed upon arrival. "That's not good, prepare the nursing fluid!" said the doctor after a quick examination.

"He suffered severe damages to his bones, what happened? Did he get hit by a train or something!?" the doctor was mad, he was wondering why the freshmen of this academy kept causing troubles.

"Is he alright, doc?" Wang Tong asked as he scratched the back of his neck, he got scared as he saw the serious expression of the doctor.

"Dear God, O Lord! I'm sorry for what I've done, I promise it won't happen again, please be alright!"

The doctor seemed to notice Wang Tong's face turned pale, then he said, "Please be careful next time, thank goodness he was sent here in time, and also thank God the principal recently purchased this new equipment, or else he would need to go to the hospital for sure. Anyway, he will have to stay inside the nursing fluid for a couple of days."

Wang Ben was moved into a spherical transparent capsule with a bunch of tubes attached to his body. Wang Tong felt bad for what he had done. Samantha said that he could test his skills on Wang Ben, but not beat him up and put him into a jar.

Dammit, his problem of getting over excited must be corrected!

"Oh by the way, what's his name? His genetic vitality is pretty high, yet it is strange for a powerful person like him to suffer such severe injuries." The doctor was surprised when he saw Wang Ben's examination data.

"…Where did he go?"

The doctor realized that the kid was gone as he saw that the room was empty!

Wang Tong immediately fled away when the doctor said Wang Ben was going to be fine. He thanked God for having mercy and promised not to do that again. Wang Tong now realized that it was much safer to fight in the TPA, even though it felt awesome to fight in reality, yet accidents might occur; especially at this time when he was still unable to thoroughly master his 256-nodes Tactics of the Blade, he had to be very cautious.

Luck wasn't on Wang Tong's side recently. First, he was drunk, then he got burgled, and now this. Maybe God thought that his life was too calm and decided to "spice it up".

Life springs from sorrow and calamity!

Wang Tong lost his mood to carry on with his training after exhorted himself repeatedly and decided to head back to his dorm.

But he was haunted by a strange feeling, the feeling that this might not be over yet…

"Ma'am, there's been a situation!"

"Hello Dr. Rodd, it's the weekend for god's sake, what's wrong?" said Samantha. She always wished everyone would leave her alone during the weekends if it wasn't something urgent.

"There was an incident, apparently a student was badly injured."

"Oh, was it a brawl? I believe it shouldn't be a problem since the new equipment was here already?"

"I don't think so, he was sent here by another student, the severe bone damages indicate the injury was caused by GN Force. But, when I was checking on his status, he seemed to be a Level 5 fighter, and if I'm not mistaken, there's wasn't any fighter with that level in Ayrlarng..." Dr. Rodd suspected the injured youngster was not a student of Ayrlarng.

"Really? Could you please send over his photo? Please treat him with care doctor, was it fatal?"

"No, even though the injury was quite serious, it wasn't fatal, he has a strong auto-regenerating ability, and the latest nursing capsule is doing great." The doctor was very excited when he finally got his hands on the latest V-Type Capsule manufactured on Moon, a piece of equipment like this cost more than 300 thousand Confederation dollars.

"Everything alright, sis?" Ma Xiaoru asked.

"Looks like some kind of duel between students, but Ayrlarng doesn't have anyone that powerful," Samantha was sipping her orange juice as she answered.

Ding Dong…

"Let's see who it could be..."

Samantha and Ma Xiaoru couldn't believe their eyes as they looked at the photo. It was Wang Ben!

"Who on earth did that?" Ma Xiaoru murmured.

Chapter 75: The Devilish Miss Principal

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Samantha came back to her senses and immediately called Doctor Rodd via Sky-Net: "Dr. Rodd, which student sent him to the infirmary?"

"I have no idea, the person ran off before I could ask him any question, but that boy was wearing our academy's uniform, so I believe he's definitely one of ours. Ma'am, is the injured student one of ours too? The medical fees are quite high for this." Dr. Rodd was worried because things would get really messy if it were a brawl between students and outsiders.

"Don't worry, the injured youngster is one of our students, but could you describe the person who sent him over?"

Dr. Rodd then made a few overall descriptions, immediately Samantha and Ma Xiaoru knew who the person was.

There was a moment of silence after Samantha switched off her Sky-Net, then she said, "That bloody idiot! I only allowed him to test out Wang Ben's strength, and now he got him severely injured!" Samantha continued with a ruminating grin, "Xiaoru, I think Wang Tong isn't only just a secret weapon that we've discovered, he is totally a forbidden weapon! Good God, there isn't more than 5 person who could defeat Wang Ben like that."

"Wang Ben's Fist of the Racing Tiger is a technique of pure brute force; indeed, it is rare for him to get injured severely, but could it be done by someone else?"

"Have you forgotten the description from Dr. Rodd? Honestly speaking, who else in Ayrlarng do you think has the ability to do so? Heh, that boy is good at everything apart from being too slack, doesn't he understand that an able man is always wanted for everything? Looks like it's time for me to take some actions," Samantha said with the impish looks on her lovely eyes. She always had tricks up her sleeves against Wang Tong, and unfortunately for him, Samantha now had her hands on Wang Tong's biggest weakness.

"Do you think Wang Tong was injured by the powerful attacks from Wang Ben's Fist of the Racing Tiger?" Ma Xiaoru was worried.

"Oh, you silly girl, that kid carried Wang Ben to the infirmary and ran off in a flash. Even if he were hurt, it might just be small injuries. Look at you, have you forgotten that those who learned the Tactics of the Enchantress shouldn't be worried over these small matters huh?" Samantha teased.

"Hey! Stop teasing me!"

"Alright, I was just kidding. The kid was always acting serious and busy in front of us, and I really think it's time for me to teach him a lesson."

"Do you have a plan, Sis?"

"Hmph, you shall see tomorrow!"

Wang Tong was tossing and turning on his sheet-less bed. He was wondering if Wang Ben would associate that punch to Einherjar Wannabe, but there was a huge difference of power between virtual and reality so Wang Ben shouldn't have realized.

He told himself not to think too much, things will mend in the end as it goes.

It wasn't a complicated incident, but it definitely scared the crap out of him, or as Old Fart said, "Guilty consciences make men cowards".

Wang Tong then fell asleep in the middle of his thoughts, and he dreamed of his underpants getting stolen by a masked thief…

Monday blues was common amongst everyone due to the fact that the weekend was over. Meanwhile, Wang Tong who was always energetic seemed to be distracted, he was worrying if something was going to happen.

Yet everything was normal, and everyone carried on with their tasks and routines.

Ma Xiaoru looked normal too when she walked toward Wang Tong, but his extraordinary eighth sense was tingling, something didn't smell right!

"Mister Wang Tong, are you okay? You don't look so good."

"Haha, really?" Wang Tong answered as he touched his face. There must be something since Ma Xiaoru addressed him "Mister", and he presumed that they knew what had happened.

"It's time for the lessons."

Ma Xiaoru suddenly ended their conversation, and the suspense was killing Wang Tong, yet he had to maintain his patience.

On the other hand, Ma Xiaoru was trying her best not to laugh, she knew that everyone enjoyed showing off, especially Wang Tong; yet she didn't expect him to cause such chaos when he was given the "permission" to show off. Severely injuring Wang Ben was not something that could be done by anyone.

Actually, she wasn't planning on teasing Wang Tong, but she enjoyed watching his silliness and awkwardness, it made her heart throbbing.

While Wang Tong was having his lessons in worry, Samantha was smiling at Wang Ben in the Principal's office.

"Is your body alright Mr. Wang Ben?"

"Thank you for caring Ma'am, it's just a mild injury. I've completed the admission formalities, but there's another thing that needs your assistance, Ma'am," Wang Ben said in a serious tone.

"Very well. First of all, welcome to Ayrlarng, feel free to speak up your mind, and I'll offer you my assistance or even open a few backdoors, as long as your request is not against the regulations of our academy." Samantha smiled, she knew what Wang Ben was going to ask.

"As you know Ma'am, yesterday when I arrived the academy, I had a brawl with one of the students in the Gravity Training Chamber. I'd like to know who he is. Is it Hu Yangxuan?"

Wang Ben wasn't looking thwarted at all; instead, his eyes were filled with curiosity, like someone who had discovered a new land.

"Are you really feeling alright? According to Dr. Rodd, you're supposed to rest for another 3 to 4 days."

"It wasn't that serious, just that I won't be able to fight for a few days," Wang Ben answered faintly, he wasn't caring too much about his body condition.

"Please tell me the reason you're looking for him."

"To challenge him of course! I'd like to fight him again when my injuries are healed," Wang Ben answered in a serious manner. He remembered that he was having the advantages in their previous fight, yet he lost in the end. Since then, Wang Ben has been curious about the reason behind his defeat.

"Haha, I'm afraid it won't be that easy. The person you fought previously is a slacker. It was actually a coincidence for you to meet him. But..."

"Please Ma'am, I'm begging for your help on this one. In return, I'll be in your command when the academy needs my help in the future!" Wang Ben was not a fool. Obviously, he knew that Samantha needed his strength in order to "resurrect" Ayrlarng, and he had already made up his mind to assist Samantha when he decided to sign up for Ayrlarng.

Samantha nodded, as a matter of fact, she knew that she was thinking too much upon meeting Wang Ben. The boy inherited the characteristic of his military family, which was to obey every order. The highest rank officer in an academy was the Principal, and 2nd class academy or not, an order was still an order.

"His name is Wang Tong, he's one of our freshmen. Oh, by the way, he's in the F-Class too, I'm sure you'll be happy about this..."

"Thank you very much, Ma'am!" Wang Ben thanked Samantha sincerely. He never thought that his family was the greatest and mightiest. The confederation was huge, and there were a lot of hidden aces around the planet other than the Five Houses and the mystical Court of the Templar. Not to mention that there were also a lot of gifted ones amongst students. He was scared of being lonely and unrivaled, but not anymore.

Samantha was pleased and nodded: "But this Wang Tong fella is not easy to handle, we must use other methods in order to 'tame' him."

Wang Ben was startled when he heard Samantha was trying to mess with his own student, the principal suddenly appeared to have grown a pair of impish horns on her head.

Yet Wang Ben agreed on her decision as Samantha explained Wang Tong's personality. He had to make sure that Wang Tong wouldn't turn him down when he asked for a rematch, but Wang Ben started feeling awkward when he knew Samantha's plan. As a person born and raised in a military family, he had always been doing things in an honorable way, but this time, it might be a bit…

"Trust me, Mister Wang Ben, one must use extraordinary methods to handle an extraordinary person, especially against someone sneaky like Wang Tong."

"Ma'am, here's the bill for the repairments of the Gravity Training Chamber."

"Very well, please send me a copy." Samantha smiled as she nodded.

Wang Ben began to see Samantha as a weird principal and realized that it would be impossible for someone to escape if she had her hands on their weakness.

Chapter 76: Coercion Round Two

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Wang Tong heard the school bell chimed like an ominous alarm, alerting him of an impending doom. Lo and behold, Ma Xiaoru greeted him with a knowing smile and told him that his presence was required at the principal's office.

Wang Tong furrowed his brows and heaved a sigh.

Ma Xiaoru laughed at him after seeing Wang Tong's distressed look, "It will be all right, she won't bite. She asked you to have a fight with Wang Ben, so you did. It was as simple as that."

Wang Tong forced a wry smile, "I am afraid that it is not as simple as that, not for our principal."

"Perhaps you are right... Samantha is pretty good at playing tricks on people after all. Just be careful, do whatever she says."

"I never broke any rules, and although I am not the model student, I worked my ass off for the honor of our school!"

Ma Xiaoru pouted her lips and said, "Bullsh*t, I might have believed you, but for your own sake, don't even think about bringing those words in front of Samantha."

Wang Tong smiled knowingly. He found it strange that the Tactics of the Enchantress didn't change Ma Xiaoru's gullible personality. He marveled at the combination of her prestige family background and the meek and lovely personality, and he thought that Ma Xiaoru would give him so much joy should he decided to stay with her.

However, Wang Tong was born with rebellious blood in his vein. His heart told him that it was impossible between him and Samantha, but his body pulled him closer and closer to the danger zone.

He remembered that the Old Fart had always said that man's brain is in his crotch. "Maybe he does, but I don't." Wang Tong found it disgusting to be grouped into the same category with the uncouth Old Fart. He remembered that when Wang Tong was younger, he had often heard the strange moaning coming out from Old Fart's room. What Wang Tong had also remembered but had refused to acknowledge then was the fact that he had always been compelled by the sound to stand outside of Old Fart's room and to listen attentively while keeping his hand busy in his pants.

He cracked open the door to the principal's office and saw Wang Ben was already there. His puffy jacket seemed to suggest that there were still bandages underneath. Feeling ashamed, Wang Tong avoided Wang Ben's eyes and smiled awkwardly. "Welcome aboard, Wang Ben."

"Come in Wang Tong, don't stand by the door," the cold aloofness in Samantha's voice made it sound utterly different than her soft voice on the weekend.

Wang Tong hurried to close the door and moved aside. He stood timidly, not wanting to walk any further away from the door. Ma Xiaoru watched as she waited for a show to unfold.

"I am sorry. It was an accident yesterday, I didn't mean to—"

"I understand… it was a sparring. Here, take a look at this." Wang Ben handed him a bill that listed all the medical expenses.

"You knew that our school forbids unprotected fights, to that end, we can't pay the entire medical bill, only forty percent, and you two, as the main instigators, have to share the remaining sixty percent. In addition, you have to pay for the damage done to the training room. So at the end of the day, it would be six grand for each of you. Here is the bill," Samantha spoke with a bright smile on her face as if she was celebrating a certain victory.

Wang Tong looked around him. "They are all richer than me; it was a set-up!" He bit down his lips and conceded his fate.

"I don't have money, and you know it, Principal. I will have to pay with labor." Wang Tong was adamant in holding onto his earnings.

"Atta boy! I want you to fight two matches in the tournament with Bernabeu. If you do so, you can consider your debts paid."

"No problem, for the honor of Ayrlarng, for the honor of the tradition, and the—"

Wang Tong was cut short by Samantha: "Yea, yea. Save your energy for our enemy."

"I am sorry Wang Tong. I didn't want to be a d*ck. I hope we can still spar in the future," Wang Ben's seemed to have regained his concision and apologized to Wang Tong.

Wang Tong spread out his hand nonchalantly, "I know it was not you, only our principal could have thought of such a brilliant idea. But I have to warn you: she is an expert at many things, and be careful, one day she might ask you to dig your own grave too."

Wang Tong was unruffled at Samantha's malicious intrigue. He was ready to fight against her, regardless if she was the principal or the elegant beauty.

Samantha locked her eyes onto Wang Tong's and pouted her lips slightly. "Watch your mouth, Wang Tong. I am still your principal." Although she was perplexed by Wang Tong's sudden animosity, she didn't stress about it because she knew that as long as Wang Tong was still her student, she would have him under her thumb.

Ma Xiaoru furrowed her eyebrows as she found it strange that Wang Tong seemed always to act differently whenever he was with Samantha. Ma Xiaoru then wondered if love had made her blind.

"You must be Ma Xiaoru? Glad to meet you, I have heard so much about you," Wang Ben announced.

"The pleasure is mine, Wang Ben."

"This is great! The four of you would make Martyrus pay for his arrogance. Prepare well, use as many resources as you wish. But make sure you win," Samantha narrowed her eyes as she gave them a warning.

Regardless if it was Ayrlarng or Bernabeu, the victory was going to be crucial to their next phase of development. If Bernabeu won over the two of Ayrlarng's best students, they would stand a better chance against the S-Class Academies. On the other hand, victory was equally important for Samantha because if she lost, she would have to quit her job and become a laughing stock to all the other principals of the entire confederation.

"Yes Ma'am"

"Excellent! Wang Tong and Xiaoru, I want you to show Wang Ben around our campus and the F-Class."

"Let's go, today's lunch will be on me," Wang Tong still felt guilty of injuring Wang Ben; otherwise, he wouldn't have offered to pay.

"Thank you," Wang Ben accepted the offer.

"You should be honored, Wang Ben. This stingy Wang Tong had never been so generous. Thanks to you, I am getting a free lunch too," Ma Xiaoru's face bloomed like a flower as she spoke about Wang Tong.

Unlike Hu Yangxuan, Wang Ben had been keeping a low profile ever since he arrived Ayrlarng which gave Wang Tong a great first impression. Although Wang Ben and Wang Tong had only fought once, they had already started to form a bond out of mutual admiration.

They regrouped with Hu Yangxuan, and then the four of them headed down to the cafeteria. Wang Ben remained quiet, and Hu Yangxuan was as loud as usual. He went on to fill the other three with all kinds of gossips.

It was louder than the usual inside of the cafeteria as the students shared and discussed certain news. Surprisingly, the news had nothing to do with Wang Ben, although every student had heard about his arrival and his assignment to the F-Class.

Some students lamented over the fact that, with Ma Xiaoru and Wang Ben, the F-Class seemed to be more like the A-Class.

Chapter 77: None of My Business

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

The students started to gain a certain measure of admiration toward their principal as they hailed for Wang Ben's arrival. They had initially questioned Samantha's ability to run the school. But, to their surprise, she was able to bring the school back onto the right track. The recent series of good news had significantly motivated the student as none of them wanted to be the one that dragged the entire school down.

Everyone in the cafeteria was discussing Einherjar Wannabe.

"Einherjar Wannabe! Ah, what an interesting character, mysterious and powerful. I had dug into his background; it was very perplexing, to say the least," Hu Yangxuan said.

"He must have cultivated a rather bizarre tactics that allowed him to copy other fighter's powers."

Wang Tong kept quiet as he watched Wang Ben knowingly.

"Don't look at me like I know him that well. I wasn't even mind opened yet when I fought him. I was at the lowest point in my life, so I didn't pay much attention while I fought. To be honest, though, I appreciated his encouragement at the end of the match. I want a rematch, but I just can't find him!"

"Did he use the real Fist of the Racing Tiger?" Hu Yangxuan asked curiously.

Wang Ben straightened his back and explained with a serious voice: "It is hard to say. It looked like real and sounded like so too. You know it is almost impossible to fake those roars. That being said, I highly doubt that he would be able to repeat my tactics after seeing it only once."

"That's true. The Fist of the Racing Tiger is the secret of your family, I don't think that he would have learned it. My guess is that his tactics is very similar to Wang Ben's regarding its aggressiveness, and it is not entirely unlikely that he had faked the roar."

"AHH! Who kicked me!?" Wang Ben yelled suddenly and distracted the other two boys.

Ma Xiaoru's face blushed. "Sorry, wrong person. Wang Tong, you pig! You have eaten everything while we were talking."

Wang Tong didn't mind her scolding at all, he smiled and retorted: "I was trying to be a good listener and stuffing my mouth with food so that I don't interrupt you guys."

Ma Xiaoru was not impressed by Wang Tong's sly retort even though she had never met a boy that would talk to her in such a ballsy manner.

"You can have my portion as well if you tell me what you think of this Einherjar Wannabe," Hu Yangxuan announced, curiosities flashed in his eyes.

Wang Ben was also very curious about Wang Tong's take on Einherjar Wannabe since Wang Tong had defeated him. Wang Ben had thought that Hu Yangxuan would be his toughest opponent here in Ayrlarng, but after the fight with Wang Tong, he had quickly forgotten about Hu Yangxuan. Although The Templar was considered strong among ordinary fighters, Wang Ben felt that only the ones from the major Houses were worthy of being his opponent, such as Ma Xiaoru. However, as a descendant of a pride military family, Wang Ben could not put himself into a position where he had to fight against a girl.

Wang Tong didn't answer right away; instead, he kept on chewing the cabbages, dragging out the anticipation. He lamented the lack of interests of his friends in these delicious dishes. "Let them try staying on Norton for a year, then they would know how I feel about food," he thought.

"Einherjar Wannabe? What about him? He seemed pretty powerful, but what does that have anything to do with us?"

"Lame... On the bright side, perhaps you were right to some degree. It could have been someone from the great houses fooling around. I wonder if there will be any other stronger fighters that will come to challenge him," Hu Yangxuan said as he cracked a smile.

"I will try to find him and have a rematch with him. But for now, I need to recover from my injuries," Wang Ben announced and he shoveled a chunk of meat into his mouth.

"I had noticed something was odd in the way you walk. Are you alright? What happened to you?" Hu Yangxuan was still oblivious to what had happened.

"Nothing," Wang Tong answered abruptly.

"I am not asking you," Hu Yangxuan cut him short.

"It's nothing. I was just sparing with Wang Tong the other day, and we both get a little bit careless. When I get better, I would love to spar with you," determination shined in Wang Ben's eyes as he answered candidly, without hiding his defeat.

Wang Ben's answer reminded Hu Yangxuan. He turned his head around to face Wang Tong and asked, "When is our fight gonna happen? You keep on procrastinating it."

"Could you please spar with Wang Ben first? Please? I have lots of subject to work on. You can ask Ma Xiaoru, and she can attest that I am failing almost every single one of the subjects: physics, astronomy, math, history, and battle tactics, you name it! You don't want to see me getting expelled from Ayrlarng next month, don't you?"

Hu Yangxuan and Wang Ben looked to Ma Xiaoru for proof of what Wang Tong had just said. But Ma Xiaoru didn't speak for Wang Tong; instead, she added more fuel to the fire: "It's not as bad as he said. By the way, we still have a fight that we need to finish, when do you think you can do that?"

Wang Tong didn't want to agree to any of the requests because he was afraid that if he couldn't control his power, he might hurt one of his friends again — just like how he did it with Wang Ben — and it would take him a while to learn to control his power. Although Wang Tong was forced into the corner by his friends, he still refrained from telling them his concerns, fearing that it would only exacerbate the situation.

"How about this: I will give Wang Ben some time to recuperate, and then I will fight him first. This would also allow some time for Hu Yangxuan to focus on preparing his Templar's routine test. I will then fight Hu Yangxuan after he finishes his test." Before anyone had taken in the information, Wang Tong snatched another drumstick and shoveled it down his mouth.

"What about me?" Having noticed that Wang Tong didn't even answer her question, Ma Xiaoru pressed on.

"My lady, haven't we already fought once? AGAIN?"

"That one doesn't count, rematch!" Even Ma Xiaoru was surprised by her persistence. Perhaps in her subconscious, she only wanted to spend more time with the boy she liked so much.

"Fine, fine! As long as you help me with my assignments. Is that all, guys?"

"Yes, let's eat now before it's all gone." Having seen to it that his goal had been achieved, Hu Yangxuan snatched the food he had given to Wang Tong back.

This is the first time the four of them met each other, and it would be much later when they realized the importance of this day. But for now, they were just innocent college students, living a carefree life.

Wang Tong felt relieved that Wang Ben didn't recognize him. He didn't want to give up the disguise as Einherjar Wannabe that had allowed him to fight in the TPA without consequences of revealing his power. It would be handy when he test the 256 nodes version of the Tactics of the Blade in the TPA.

Without the guidance of a teacher, Wang Tong had to be the trailblazer in his journey of cultivation. He conceded that mistakes would be inevitable; however, he also reckoned that it was what he could learn from these mistakes that would bring him closer to success.

Wang Tong's week had been eventful thanks to Wang Ben's arrival. On the other hand, Wang Ben was apparently still perplexed by Einherjar Wannabe's counterfeit Fist of the Racing Tiger as he kept on switching the topic to the mysterious Einherjar Wannabe.

Chapter 78: Troublesome Bed Sheets

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Wang Tong listened carefully while Ma Xiaoru explained the tutorial questions to him. He was never after the title of "straight A" — he knew that he couldn't be a straight A student even if he wanted to — neither was he going to become a rocket scientist; therefore, he figured that he would only need to understand enough for him to graduate. He was deeply moved by Ma Xiaoru's patience and attention to details; it was the first time in his life that someone had given him so much attention and care. Wang Tong's only relative was Old Fart. Unfortunately, he doubted if Old Fart knew how to spell "caring".

Although Wang Tong was moved by Ma Xiaoru, he was also equally possessed by Samantha. For some inexplicable reason, Wang Tong had always experienced an uncontrollable fit of excitement whenever he thought about Samantha.

He started to find it hard to fall asleep at night as he was torn between the choice of the meek and caring Ma Xiaoru and the dangerous and sexy Samantha.

Having been mired in his infatuations, Wang Tong forgot about the TPA fights and didn't sign in ever since his last fight. However, his absence had been noted and had stirred up wild speculations and preposterous commands in the virtual community.

The reviews about Wang Tong's fight were mixed. Every day, more and more TPA fighters joined the ranks of challengers since the consensus of the online community was that Einherjar Wannabe's victory was a fluke, and he was not as powerful as his victory seem to have suggested. They believed that Einherjar Wannabe's popularity was primarily due to Wang Ben, yet, Wang Ben had been only an IPA fighter when their match took place. Therefore, the victory did not carry that much credence. Wang Tong's absences only added fuel to the fire as it gave other TPA fighters an impression of him being either cowardly or pretentious.

Amidst the ceaseless uproar, those who had deciphered the real power of Einherjar Wannabe had remained calm and silent as they quietly gathered more information about the mysterious fighter. Once they had gathered enough evidence to validate their speculation, they would strike without hesitation.

"Luv Ma, haven't you sent out the challenge? "

"Yes, every day. But I doubt that he would notice ours among the other thousands of challenges. I say you have a better chance exchanging barbs with Gadus." Luv Ma shook his head as he lamented over the free labor he had to provide for Miao Xiu.

"I'm not sure where Gadus is, I have been looking for him for days. I think he is hiding!" Mia Xiu pouted. He was not interested in his senior classmates at all, for, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he defeated Gadus and gained the title of No.1 Fighter of the second year.

The ranking system had remained a tradition at the Starry Sky Academy. The number one on that list would enjoy certain of privileges granted by the school. That being said, anyone could challenge the No. 1 fighter in a formal challenge, and the challenger did not have to come from the same year as the title holder.

Although the title of the first year's No. 1 fighter was still vacant, everyone knew to whom this title belonged. Although this person had never instigated a single fight, even the most arrogant brat such as Miao Xiu did not dare to cross path with him. Miao Xiu would rather fight a senior student than fight Patroclus.

Cao Yi had also become more popular ever since the fight with Wang Tong. Even the students at Bernabeu were caught off guard by his performance. They never thought that such a meek and kind classmate would unleash so much belligerent attack upon his opponent, neither did they thought that Cao Yi could reach such a high soul energy reading.

Cao Yi's friendliness didn't change even after he had become popular. He engrossed himself in his research, but he never refused his classmates' sparring requests and had always offered his suggestions openly.

Martyrus had also spent much time with this boy, grooming him into a powerful fighter. There were usually two types of talented person: one that was born with talents and the other that had earned it through strenuous efforts. Martyrus believed that Cao Yi was the latter and experience had taught him the ones that had gained talents through hard work were more likely to continue to be successful. What made Martyrus believed in Cao Yi even more firmly was the fact that the boy seemed to be genuinely interested in tactics.

Just like Miao Xiu, Cao Yi had been signing into the TPA system every day to wait out Einherjar Wannabe. Their fight had been inspiring to him, but it also provoked more questions. For one thing, he never believed that Einherjar Wannabe was only 16 years old; based on his usage of soul energy, Cao Yi had estimated Einherjar Wannabe to be around 35 or so.

Cao Yi had maintained a calm appearance, but it was a thin disguise of the wild turbulence the fight had stirred up in his mind. Before the fight, Cao Yi had always believed that as long as he kept his strike fast and precise, he could be invincible, but the match had proven him wrong. He started to realize that simpler moves sometimes could outweigh elaborated ones.

Suddenly, Cao Yi seemed to have realized something, he jumped out of his chair and darted out of the library. He realized that it wasn't a set of flawless moves he needed, but a simple and effective strike to settle the scores.

Wang Tong didn't consider TPA as the most important part of his life; therefore he only showed up when he was available. This weekend was a busy one for Wang Tong since he planned to visit a few robotic shops after his work was done. Although he was told that the chance of Charcoal's revival was slim, he had remained adamant in his quest to bring his friend back.

He didn't visit Ma Xiaoru's house this weekend either, not because he didn't receive her invitation, but he was still confused by his infatuations. Since he couldn't make up his mind between Ma Xiaoru and Samantha, he decided to push the matter aside and focusing on more pressing issues such as reviving Charcoal. Do nothing was always better than do the wrong thing.

He spent his morning visiting eight robotic shops, and none could come up with a good solution. All the official outlets unanimously suggested to handle the situation by the book, and their quotes for the job were astronomical. None of the black market robotic shops were useful either; some of them had proposed an overhaul of Charcoal's system but could not offer Wang Tong a warranty. Fearing that he might lose Charcoal for good, Wang Tong refused their proposal right away.

The recent development in the TPA had proved himself to be a competent fighter. Therefore Wang Tong was confident that it would only be a matter of time before he could earn enough money to revive Charcoal. He decided to wait rather than wasting his luck and money on a dodgy black market shop.

Wang Tong continued his search after lunch, but he was slowed down by the commuting around the city. Although Shangjin had a well-developed transit system, the enormous size of the city meant that the transit system wouldn't be able to cover every corner of the city. Therefore, Wang Tong had to walk to some places. After an entire day of searching that had bared no fruit, Wang Tong conceded that his only hope would lay at the search institutes, but he doubted that any institute would bother with a low-tire robot.

As the night fell, Wang Tong decided to give up and go home. He entertained the thoughts of traveling to the Moon as he had heard that there were a lot of skilled robotic mechanics there. But to pay for the expensive flight to the Moon, he needed to save more money — It always came down to the money.

As he walked along the bustling street of Shangjin, hearing the soft whirs of Meg-levs above his head, a strange mixture of exhilaration, nostalgia, and loneliness arose inside of him.

He saw a department store and remembered that he needed cover sheets for his bed, so he walked toward the store, thinking that he might as well grab a new T-shirt or two while he was there.

As soon as Wang Tong stepped through the threshold, he heard a deafening blare, and he saw a thousand pieces of broken glasses flying at him. He acted out of instinct as he sprawled on the floor.

"Sh*t, so much trouble for a set of bed sheets!"

Chapter 79: Sword in Hand

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Wang Ton cursed angrily. He had been disappointed and frustrated after a day of search with nothing to show for it, and the sudden explosion had degraded his mood even further.

It was a chaotic scene inside of the department store. Wang Tong was truly unlucky today as he walked right into a robbery.

A fight had already broken out in a jewelry store. Wang Tong wagered that the criminals had to be decent fighters. Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to rob a crowded department store.

Someone had already sounded the siren so that the policy would arrive in 10 minutes or so. However, the security guards were taken down by the robbers one after another; in less than five minutes, all of the security guards were laying on the floor either in agonizing pain or unconscious. The two robbers wore third tier METAL suits, and judging by their appearance, they were very likely Ivantians.

As one of the good citizens of Shangjin, and the model student of Ayrlarng, Wang Tong rolled up his sleeves and was ready to stop the robbers. He licked lips as he thought about the bounty he might receive.

However, someone was one step ahead of him as he heard a familiar girl's voice shouting out at the robbers.

Wang Tong wondered what Zhou Sisi was doing here. He watched as Zhou Sisi advanced toward the two robbers, brandishing a piece of bed sheet in her hand.

Zhou Sisi had been there ever since the beginning of the robbery, but she hesitated to fight the criminals because she had realized that although her soul energy was on par with the robbers', the two had the advantage of METAL suits. Seeing the two criminals were about to get away, Zhou Sisi infused the bed sheet in her hand with GN power and hurled it at the two robbers.

Despite her good intention, her effort was rather futile. One of the robbers hacked a sword through the bed sheet and in a blink of eyes, the GN infused bed sheet turned into shreds of cloth as they fell and scattered on the ground.

The shorter and fatter one of the two robbers was annoyed by the resistance, and he hacked his sword at Zhou Sisi. The METAL suit amplified his strike to a deadly attack that could slice Zhou Sisi in half. She spun around to dodge the attack, and the sword landed heavily on the ground, leaving a deep gash on the carpeted floor of the jewelry store.

"Let's bounce! NOW! The cops are coming!"

"Gimme a second, I'm gonna f*ck her up!" The fatty was frustrated that his blade had missed the little girl.

The taller robber turned back and shoveled more jewelry into a sack; clearly, he was not too worried about the police either.

The fatty edged toward Zhou Sisi, as he held the sword tightly in his hand. The customers and workers of the store sprawled on the floor trembling at the terrible sight. No one dared to move a muscle, much less to save Zhou Sisi.

Zhou Sisi also recognized the danger she was in. It was not in the virtual world, where life and death meant nothing. In the real world, the cost of being a heroin could be her life.

The fatty hacked again. Instead of getting out of harm's way, Zhou Sisi advanced in and bashed the robber with her GN force infused body. The robber stumbled back and was surprised by the girls fighting spirit and strength.

"Let's go!" The taller robber tried to pull the fatty back, but the fatty broke free and closed into Zhou Sisi in lightning speed. Before Zhou Sisi had realized what had happened, she was snatched by a paired of iron hands and was hauled over a broad shoulder.

"No without this hot stuff!" The fatty laughed as he scurried out of the store with his prize on his shoulder. Wang Tong stalked them to the parking lot outside; he didn't fight the robbers because he was worried that the fight in the crowded store might hurt innocent people.

Zhou Sisi struggled to break free, but she received a hefty punch on her side. The pain shot through her body as she heard the robber said, "Stay still my darling. Otherwise, I might have to gut you open like a pig. Haha!"

The two started their Meg-Lev and set off toward the exit of the parking lot.

"What the heck is THAT?"

A boy suddenly appeared in front of their Meg-lev and gestured them to stop with an eerie smile on his face.

"Run him over!"

The car didn't lose any momentum, but Wang Tong didn't flinch either. He never expected them to stop in the first place.

VROMMM...

The Meg-lev picked up speed right before he crashed into Wang Tong.

The crash sent a violent tremor that could be felt miles away. Carried by their momentum, the two robber's head thudded onto the glass windshield. Fortunately for Zhou Sisi, she was kept inside of the trunk. Therefore she was unharmed during the collision.

"You mother f*****! I am going to cut you down!" The fatty squeezed himself through the broken windshield and threw himself at Wang Tong.

"Only less than one hundred sols and even with the 30% increase from your METAL, you are still pathetic!" Wang Tong muttered.

Wang Tong ducked down to dodge the sword and delivered a penetrating punch at his opponent at the same time.

As the fatty plopped down on the ground, Wang Tong caught his sword. A newfound exhilaration swept through his body; it had been a while since he had held a weapon. He licked the blood off from the sharp edge, feeling strangely satisfied at the taste.

He walloped the car with the sword, and the Meg-lev suddenly disintegrated into pieces, exposing the fatty's companion. He raised his hand high above his head and pleaded for his life: "Please! I… I surrender."

"Haha, you are not as professional as your fat friend."

"No… No! Don't come near me!" Having witnessed the boy single-handedly stopping a speeding Meg-Lev and disintegrated it in one strike, he believed that he had met the devil himself.

He figured that it was better for him to get caught by the police than fighting against this boy. If the police captured him, he would be sent off to another planet at worst, but to confront this freak would undoubtedly spell his doom.

Wang Tong found his pleading rather disappointing. He was eager to satisfy his long suppressed desire for the taste of blood. Ever since he returned to Earth, he was startled by the excitement he felt whenever he picked up a weapon, and the more Wand Tong tried to silence it, the stronger it became.

With the sword in his hand, he could no longer contain his burning desire.

The robber suddenly leaped out of the rubble and turned on his heels. Wang Tong moved at lightning speed and stopped him before he could make another step.

"Why do you run away? We have so much to talk about." Wang Tong showed him an ugly grin.

Knowing that his escape route had been cut off, the robber thrust the sharp blade at Wang Tong. To his surprise, Wang Tong didn't move, and he took the strike with full force.

Joy flashed briefly in the robber's eyes, as he cherished his luck. But his delight quickly turned into fear as he watched Wang Tong snapped the blade into two with his bare hands.

The blood, both his and the robber's, sent a strange euphoria throughout Wang Tong's body.

The edge of Wang Tong's blade glinted as it bore down onto the robber and separated one arm from the body. The robber didn't even feel the pain, but only the coldness of the blade. As the limb landed on the ground, Wang Tong's mind had already drifted away into the jungles and the mind caves on the Norton.

"Don't! Please don't kill me!" The robber threw himself at Wang Tong's feet.

The robber fainted as the sight of another strike coming toward him. Zhou Sisi had also wakened up and had witnessed the horrific scene. She opened her mouth to yell out at Wang Tong, but she found that it was already too late.

However, the sword paused half way and hovered in the air without landing on its target. An eerie light flashed in Wang Tong's eyes. "Chicken sh*t!"

Chapter 80: Serene Imagination

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Zhou Sisi shambled toward Wang Tong. As soon as she saw the wound on Wang Tong's arm, she asked incredulously, "Are you crazy? Why didn't you get out of the way?" She tore off a strip of her shirt and started to dress the wound for Wang Tong.

Wang Tong smiled blankly as he was also perplexed by his action. He thought perhaps he had been craving for the smell of blood so much that he didn't even care if it was his own blood.

He was only fifteen when he had to face the terrible world all by himself and was traumatized by it. It was evident that the trauma had affected him in a very dark way.

Despite the thirst for blood he had buried deep down, the Tactics of the Blade were able to allow him to regain conscience when his sword was only inches away from reaching his twisted desires.

Wang Tong stood still as Zhou Sisi tended his wound. Eventually, he loosened his grip and let the sword drop onto the ground as he slowly gathered himself from the thrill of the battle.

He turned his head and regarded the worried expression held on Zhou Sisi's face, and then he wondered if this girl really hated him as she had purported. He cracked a smile and said, "You are pretty good at this."

"What's so funny about it?" Zhou Sisi threw him a stern glance. "I hope you are serious when you talk to the police later."

"I am the Good Samaritan. What are they going to do to me? At most, they will refuse me the bounty. "

"Bounty? You are such a miser, and I hope you don't choke on your money. But yes, we are acting out of self-defense, so as long as there's no life at stake, we should be okay. Ayrlarng has made a name for itself today thanks to you. I think Samantha will be pleased," Zhou Sisi said as she examined the wound sympathetically.

"Life? Who is dead?" Wang Tong asked incredulously.

"You think that fatty is still alive?"

"Of course, he had the protection of the METAL suit. I just knocked him out," Wang Tong said.

They heard quick steps and turned their head to see a dozen policemen walking briskly toward them.

Seeing his colleges were staring sternly at the two kids, the head officer waved his hand and said, "Don't scare the children", and then he turned to the two. "You two, we will need you to come with us. I hope you will cooperate with our operation."

"No problem, will do. But my friend is wounded, do you mind letting the doctor look after his injury first?"

"That's for sure. We will take care of that. Xiao Gang, take the two young, brave heroes to the hospital."

The policemen were awestruck by the strength of the youth as they cleared away the mangled parts of the Meg-Lev.

"Boss, don't you think this boy is a bit suspicious? Maybe a mutant or what not."

"Shut your trap. He is just a student of Ayrlarng. They had a new principal this year and had shaken things up a bit."

"Ayrlarng? I never heard anyone that strong in Ayrlarng."

"You don't have a kid, do you. Every parent knows that Ayrlarng is on the rise after the new principal had arrived. My son is about to graduate high school, I had considered sending him to some better Academy outside of Shangjin, but if the two kids were really from Ayrlarng, I might as well let my son go there." The head officer lighted a cigarette and cracked a relieved smile.

The police officer Xiao Gang had followed his order to the letter. He first sent Wang Tong to the hospital and didn't ask about the case until Wang Tong had done his examen. The two criminal had been wanted by the authority for a while, and no one had been able to capture them due to their exceptional prowess. So when people heard that it was two students from Ayrlarng that had subdued the robbers, everyone's jaw almost dropped to the ground. The graduates of the Ayrlarng had once filled many key positions in the police department, but that had been ancient history that no one seemed to remember anymore.

To reward their heroic deeds, the City of Shangjin had decided to award them with a badge of honor. However, Wang Tong was more concerned about another award: his bounty.

The police initially planned to send them home in their patrol vehicle, but the two felt that it might attract too much unwanted attentions, so they decided to travel by themselves.

The two students walked side by side on the street without saying a word to each other, and finally, Zhou Sisi broke the awkward silence: "Wang Tong, can you teach me how to fight in real life?" she asked hopefully.

"Why me? Don't we have the METAL program at school?"

Zhou Sisi shook her head and said, "I can tell that you are stronger and more powerful than most people. I felt that I would be a more powerful fighter if you teach me... I know I am asking a lot from you, but I really want to become stronger. If anything like that happens again, I don't want to be saved by you; I want to save myself. I will do whatever you want me to if you agree to become my teacher!"

Zhou Sisi blushed, she meant what she said. She had been investigating Wang Tong for a while and had since learned that Wang Tong was a powerful fighter in disguise. She even knew that it was Wang Tong who had severely injured Wang Ben, for she had happened to be in the medical office and overheard Wang Tong and Wang Ben's conversation. She knew that Wang Ben was the cream of the crop when it came down to METAL combat, so Wang Ben's injury made her firmly believe that Wang Tong was on the same level as Wang Ben if not much stronger.

"You will do anything?" Wang Tong asked with a creepy smile on his face.

Zhou Sisi straightened her back and announced, "I know you are not a pervert. Otherwise, you wouldn't have left me alone that night. Spit it out, what do you want?"

Wang Tong was surprised by Zhou Sisi's questions. He hoped that he would scare her away with his wicked smile, but Zhou Sisi had seen through his trick, and her reply had hit the mark.

"I knew it. You won't even be interested in me because you only cares about the princess."

"Ahh? Ahh… no… yes, but no, I am just concerned that my method of cultivation might not suit you that well."

"As long as you try! I will help you with your problems too," Zhou Sisi said.

Zhou Sisi's promise had drawn out Wang Tong's wild imagination. He saw, in his mind, a serene scene: Zhou Sisi dressed in a maid's costume and was cleaning and cooking for him. Wang Tong was engrossed in his imagination, and he didn't even realize that he had slowly opened his mouth. "This is LIFE," Wang Tong thought.

"What are you thinking!"

Wang Tong shook his head, trying to push the images out of his mind.

"Let me think about it. I need to prepare even if I agree to teach you anyways." Wang Tong decided to put the matter aside for now.

Zhou Sisi nodded her head in agreement. "Fine, but don't you think that you can get away."

"Of course, I promise I will think about it!" Wang Tong forced a smile as he lamented over the troubles that all the beauties: Zhou Sisi, Samantha, and Ma Xiaoru had caused him.

Seeing that Wang Tong had made a promise, Zhou Sisi's face bloomed like a beautiful flower. Wang Tong's eyes were quickly attracted to the beautiful face. "Why am I always so distracted by pretty looking things?" he lamented in his mind.

Wang Tong felt that things were simpler and more black and white on Norton. On Earth, he had to learn the sense of balance, of proportion, and to see things from all sides. The world was just like what Old Fart had told him: vast and complex. He genuinely felt that he was not ready to make a change to this world yet.