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Chapter 122: The Win-Win Solution

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

"For Me?" Wang Tong pointed at himself, "You must be joking."

"I'm not joking. The girl handed me this letter herself earlier today! Don't you know that you've become the big shot of Ayrlarng recently?"

"A-hem, really? Why don't I feel anything?"

"Haven't you noticed that the gazes behind your back have increased recently?" Zhou Sisi said as she casually poured herself a glass of water… with Wang Tong's mug.

"Yea sorta, but I thought they were admiring Hu Yangxuan, haha."

Zhou Sisi rolled her eyes toward Wang Tong, she couldn't believe he was that simple minded, "Hu Yangxuan might be famous, but you've underestimated yourself too much. You've definitely become the celebrity of Ayrlarng after your amazing victory against Bernabeu, and you're now as famous as Wang Ben!"

"Wow, really? Haha, turns out being famous isn't as special as I thought." Wang Tong laughed.

"That's because you're humble. So, are you interested in knowing this girl? She's quite a beauty if you ask me," Zhou Sisi asked. Even though she was bothered by it, she acted like she didn't care.

Wang Tong smiled and shook his head. He would be worse than Hu Yangxuan if he was a flamboyant playboy. Hu Yangxuan might be popular around girls, but he had never done anything bad to the girls; moreover, there were still a lot of things that required their efforts and attentions.

"Haha, okay. C'mon, I still need you to help me with my Cloning Technique, someday I'll definitely surpass you!"

"Sure, but before that, why don't you come and give your mentor a good backrub? I'm exhausted recently." Wang Tong groaned purposely.

"Sure."

"Geez, take it easy, I'm just kidding. I'm not that old yet." Wang Tong stopped Zhou Sisi.

Zhou Sisi seemed to have known that Wang Tong would react like that. Then she grabbed his hands and walked toward the training room; she enjoyed being around Wang Tong, somehow she wasn't tired at all when she was training with Wang Tong. She was also impressed by Wang Tong's seriousness during training, she noticed that Wang Tong could really clear his mind when he was required to focus, and Zhou Sisi was eager to learn how he was doing that.

Due to her weaker Soul Energy and other personal factors, it was impossible for Zhou Sisi's Cloning Technique to become as good as Wang Tong's in a short period of time; nevertheless, she continued to practice more by focusing her training on the synchronization of her hands. Since she was not as gifted as Wang Tong, she had to practice over and over again until it became an instinctive pattern, only then would she be able to exert her best performances during real battles.

After the mentoring session with Zhou Sisi, Wang Tong focused back to the training of his own hands. If he could master the control of his GN Force with his hand to a subtle perfection, it would not only aid him during fights, but it would also be useful during Battlecraft Combat.

Wang Tong began to think about the control of strength and speed while he was doing his training. Generally, the speed would improve when the strength was enhanced; however, it was a law with limitations. In fact, if one used too much strength in the movements of the fingers, it would actually slow down the speed and even hindered the frequency due to the small operating space. If someone was able to enhance both speed and strength at the same time during real battles, it would be intimidating.

One would require a delicate control of GN Force in order to utilize it into the controlling maneuvers; given by the fact that the operating speed wouldn't increase by pushing harder onto the buttons of the controlling panel, it was all about the right quantity of GN Force.

Wang Tong felt that he had made a great discovery on controlling maneuvers. So he tested out his theory by using one of buttons from his shirt as a dummy. Wang Tong expected that he would succeed without breaking a sweat, but it turned out that it was difficult to achieve. However, Wang Tong wouldn't give up easily when he was facing a difficult task, and in the end, he spent an hour proving his theory with the button from his shirt.

"Wh… What are you doing?" Zhou Sisi stared at Wang Tong, looking puzzled.

Wang Tong smiled, "Practicing the sensitivity of my GN Force, why don't you give it a try? I'm sure it'll be able to help you in various situations."

"Did you get the idea after watching yesterday's match?"

"Haha, so you watched too huh. I was enlightened by Cisco, it won't be necessary for me to reach that level of power, but I'm sure I'll be able to get some benefits from practicing," Wang Tong said as he was focusing on the button.

Wang Tong was already a very strong fighter, but he was never arrogant; instead, he was filled with the enthusiasm for learning, which was also the reason behind Zhou Sisi's admiration to this young man. Most people would be attracted to popular elites like Hu Yangxuan and Wang Ben, yet not everyone preferred this type of geniuses. Zhou Sisi inherited the traditional aesthetic of the Oriental; hence she still preferred guys with implicit strengths. She felt motivated and enriched whenever she had Wang Tong by her side.

However, Zhou Sisi decided to withdraw her praise as she looked at her embarrassing "cheapskate" mentor, immediately she covered her mouth and tried her best not to laugh.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Wang Tong stopped playing with the button and asked.

"Where did you get that button?"

Wang Tong was startled, he knew a while ago he subconsciously nudged the button from a piece of fabric he was wearing, but as he looked down, he realized he was actually wearing a T-shirt, and the button he removed was actually from his shorts.

Good God, another wardrobe malfunction.

Wang Tong's temperature skyrocketed, and his face immediately blushed, "A-hem, turn around, no peeping!"

Then he quickly fixed his pants and gathered himself, he was too focused back then which caused the awkward scene, thank god, the people around them were also busy with their tasks, or else the newly arisen celebrity of Ayrlarng would become even more "popular".

"How's your practice?" Wang Tong immediately changed the subject to divert her attention to his embarrassing moment.

"Nothing much for today, but I'll keep up the effort, I'm sure I'll be able to master it soon!" Zhou Sisi grabbed her cute little fist and said with high morale. She was glad to be able to take part in the tournament against Bernabeu because she managed to identify her weaknesses and her gap with the others. After witnessing the high-level maneuvers of her opponent, Zhou Sisi had found her goal to pursue.

"I think you should also improve your perspective and operating skills. Oppressive controlling maneuvers might have greater lethality, but it is too depending on luck," Zhou Sisi said after having a few thoughts, she felt she had to give him a heads up since they were buddies.

"You're right, actually I've noticed that too after the battle against Best; however, it is not easy to learn by depending on our talents. Moreover, the academy also can't provide any further help, and the improvements will be limited even if we practiced against each other." Wang Tong shook his hands helplessly. After his exciting victory against Best, he learned that there were still a lot of things that he didn't know even though he was improving from time to time. Wang Tong knew he couldn't have won if his opponent didn't underestimate him back then because Best had tons of tricks up his sleeve to torture Wang Tong. Furthermore, it was wrong for one to neglect operating skills and only focus on controlling maneuvers, this was prohibited in real battles because it was actually the last resort during emergencies and critical situations. Yet both of them knew how bad Ayrlarng was in this matter, even though Samantha had brought in state of the art hardware into the academy, yet she still needed more time to rectify the teaching staff of Ayrlarng. S-Ranked academies and even top-notch academies like Bernabeu had accumulated special training methods all over the years in order to create well-directed training for outstanding students. Best was strong because he was specially trained by a coach who was an expert on that particular subject. If one could become a maestro by only depending on talent, academies would be closing down one by one.

Sometimes, a particular set of skills would require one to practice over and over again, learning from mistakes and failures.

Other academies, especially S-Ranked academies, had quite the amount of high-level teams specialized in their respective subjects, but Ayrlarng had nothing at all. Wang Tong might be able to learn a few general stuff from the academy's archive; however, he wouldn't be able to learn much about strategies and things regarding system programming due to the lack of certain aspects.

"What about forming a study group?" Zhou Sisi said out of a sudden.

"Sounds great, I'll talk to Xiaoru about your idea, I'm sure the rest would be interested too." Wang Tong clapped.

Of course, it would be awesome if everyone was interested in training together, it would be much more effective than training alone.

"Wang Tong, do you fancy Ma Xiaoru?" Zhou Sisi asked suddenly as she turned toward Wang Tong with her big, shimmering eyes.

Wang Tong shrugged, he wouldn't have known how to answer if she had asked this question when they were getting to know each other, but now, he knew how to answer: "It would be normal for me to like Ma Xiaoru since I'm a normal guy and she is an excellent person, but we are more like friends, at least for the time being."

Zhou Sisi was relieved even though it wasn't the perfect answer she had wished to hear, at least Wang Tong was not hasty like the other guys, or else she would be saddened and probably fell into despair. Somehow Wang Tong was the only person who was able to resist the charm of Ma Xiaoru.

Even Zhou Sisi couldn't find a reason why anyone wouldn't fancy Ma Xiaoru, and it would be childish for her to be jealous of an amazing girl like Ma Xiaoru. If Wang Tong really fancied Ma Xiaoru, she would have no choice but to wish him all the best. However, it seemed like Wang Tong's feelings for Ma Xiaoru was more like admiration instead of obsession.

Zhou Sisi rejoiced as she thought about that.

"Okay, so you'll be in charge of telling Ma Xiaoru, Wang Ben, and Hu Yangxuan about this, and I'll try to gather up the others who might be interested. I'm sure we will be able to improve if we give our best effort!"

"Yup and don't forget to ask the rest of our comrades who took part in the crusade against Bernabeu."

"Of course, I will!"

Wang Tong and Zhou Sisi began to work on their idea. Meanwhile, Samantha was also busying with the problem that Wang Tong and Zhou Sisi had been worrying about, she was on the same track with the two of them, but of course, her plans were even bigger than Wang Tong's.

Indeed Wang Tong's method might be able to uplift the enthusiasm of his fellow students through learning from each other; however, there would be a limit of what they were able to do by themselves. In order to create a breakthrough, the academy had to recruit a training team with greater expertise.

Aside from enhancing the overall standard of fellow students, Samantha would also need aces and elites in order to restore Ayrlarng to its former glory, the more, the merrier as Ma Xiaoru and Wang Ben were not enough to do the trick. Especially Ma Xiaoru, Samantha knew this girl too well for being a peace lover, which meant she was destined not to become the leader of the team, the others too were lacking a certain aspect of becoming a leader.

No doubt Wang Ben was strong, but it would be hard for him to shake the ground of the S-Ranked academies, even Martyrus knew about this. In general, Samantha didn't think Ayrlarng was fully prepared to take on the colossal Academy of Capth just because they had managed to defeat Bernabeu.

Instead, Samantha was able to see the difference in strength between Ayrlarng and the other academies through this tournament. Hence she needed a better plan, and since it wouldn't be as effective if she did it on her own, she made up her mind to form an alliance with Bernabeu, creating a win-win solution for both parties.　

Chapter 123: United We Stand

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Samantha saw Martyrus as her role model for his effort and willpower to transform a B-Ranked academy into the famous and strong Bernabeu of today. Martyrus greatest advantage was his ability to discover the potentials among students, which even Samantha had to admit being inferior in this field.

"I'm impressed, I didn't expect you would do this," Martyrus said as he skimmed through the proposal of Samantha's alliance plan, which he had no reason to turn down.

"Principal Martyrus, I graduated from Capth too, and I know how dangerous they are, which is why we cannot depend on luck at all. My idea is that each of us selects twenty students and have all of them train together, then we select the best ten students to challenge Capth, regardless of Bernabeu or Ayrlarng. No matter if we win or if we lose in the end, I believe both our academies will be able to learn something new from the collaboration!"

Martyrus sighed as he was convinced by Samantha, "If only I had given up my desire for fame and fortune at the very beginning, maybe Bernabeu might have been even stronger. Okay, let's do it your way; however, the usual training will be ineffective for these geniuses; for instance, previously I sent Apache to receive his training at the Spatial Anti-Smuggling Bureau, but now it's impossible to send everyone there to be trained. Also, there's another problem, students might be able to increase their experiences in real battles, but the lack of systematic guidances and advice will hold them back on learning to the utmost extent."

"No worries Principal Martyrus, I've already found a solution for that. Right now, all we need is a good venue, if everything goes smoothly, we might be able to use the experimental base of the FFC."

"...You mean FFC's Paradise Island?"

"Indeed, since the island has comprehensive equipment and a realistic environment, it will be the best training field for the candidates." Samantha nodded.

"Very well, if you can successfully obtain Paradise Island as the training base, I'll lead a team by myself and provide you our full support. I'll leave you to gather the team of trainers and instructors and feel free to pick anyone from Bernabeu!" Martyrus said as he pounded the table. For the first time, he saw a ray of hope to win against an S-Ranked academy.

He was tired of getting bullied by S-Ranked academies throughout the years even though they managed to learn a lot from each defeat, but no one liked to be bullied every time, so of course, he would seize every single chance of vanquishing S-ranked academies.

"I'm glad you will be leading the team yourself, Principal Martyrus!" Samantha nodded and continued, "If we could provide well-directed training courses, I'm sure the students will be able to create a miracle!"

"To be honest, it was actually Wang Tong that got me interested in your proposal. If he isn't included, the possibility of winning against Capth will be less than 10% even if we combined our forces. Wang Ben, Apache, and the others might look like the aces in our team, but their levels are only normal and not even outstanding if compared to the No.1's of Capth."

"You seemed to be quite interested in Wang Tong, he was only lucky for his victory against Apache."

Martyrus shook his head, "There's no such thing as coincidence, I've always been proud of my judgment, yet I still made a mistake by misjudging Wang Tong before the tournament. Trust me, our dream of defeating Capth will definitely come true if we can unlock all of his potentials!"

"I have to tell you, Principal Martyrus, this kid is a menace, and you'll see what I mean when you get to meet him in person. Wang Tong always do things his way, and I simply can't do anything to fix him, sometimes it even gives me a lot of troubles to talk sense into him."

Martyrus smiled, "Yet you managed to shape him well, didn't you? At least he obeys your orders, and he has given his best performances during the tournament against us. I'm sure Bernabeu would have won if it wasn't because of Wang Tong's great effort."

Samantha forced a smile as she heard what Martyrus said, of course, she wouldn't tell him that she traded her first date with this punk for the victory against Bernabeu. Somehow Samantha's heart pounded faster when she thought about Wang Tong. She was pleased to see Wang Tong moving on from their complicated relationship, yet she was a bit frustrated, for some reason she felt like her charm was too little as she saw Wang Tong got over that quickly. Nevertheless, it was normal for people to have a little contradictions from time to time.

"Leave it to me, this kid is destined to become someone unique!" Clearly, Martyrus had a deep interest in Wang Tong, he was always proud of his ability to discover talents, now that he had unearthed a piece of a hidden gem, he was all fired up. In fact, Martyrus would agree to collab with Samantha no matter what was the deal, as long as there was a chance for him to train Wang Tong.

The two principals finally came to an agreement, Martyrus would be preparing the plans for certain special training, while Samantha would be in charge of contacting the personnel of Paradise Island. Most importantly, they could not rely completely on Bernabeu; it would be impossible for Bernabeu to send out most of their teachers to take part in this special training. Both students and teachers were important in this collaboration training because they would be facing the challenges from Capth very soon, and since Samantha was also a former student of Capth, she knew how strong their opponents would be. Hence only the best elites amongst students and teachers were fit to be recruited in this training. It would depend on Samantha's interpersonal relationships in order to hire the best trainers and instructors for their training program because she understood the fact that it would require an excellent blacksmith to forge a piece of good metal into a razor sharp blade!

Samantha already had a list of qualified candidates; however, they were all problematic characters; nevertheless, Samantha loved doing things the unusual way, given by the fact that she was going to vanquish the academy she graduated from! In fact, she was already all excited by just imagining the process!

On the other hand, Wang Tong's plan of forming a study group was well received from the others. Since they were all training on their own after school, it would be better if they were to do it together.

Wang Ben and Hu Yangxuan would emphasize on METAL Combat training. Meanwhile, even though Ma Xiaoru was the successor of the Tactics of the Enchantress, the chances of her becoming a METAL Fighter would be small judging from her current situation. However, with Wang Tong's study group, she would be able to enhance her Battlecraft combat skills while practicing her Tactics of the Enchantress; moreover, with the help from her tactics, her training would have great improvements.

Carl, Kyaero, Tita, and the rest were showing great enthusiasm too, actually, some times ago they had been thinking about gathering everyone for a group training, but they were unable to do so due to their weak appeal.

"Let's appoint a team captain, shall we? It'll be easier for the captain to gather everyone in the future," Carl said, he was the most excited one and also the weakest one in the group. Everyone in the group had their own expertise, except him.

Everyone looked at each other, wondering who shall be the captain.

"I nominate Wang Tong!" Zhou Sisi broke the silence. Clearly, Ma Xiaoru, Wang Tong, Wang Ben, and Hu Yangxuan were the ones qualified of becoming the captain since the others were weaker compared to the quartet.

"I second Zhou Sisi's nomination!" Of course, Carl would agree since he was also a student of F-Class.

"Me too!" Tita and the rest seemed to have a good impression on Wang Tong because he was the only one that cared about them when they failed, which was why they thought that he was qualified to be the captain because he wasn't someone who would only care about himself.

"Agree," Rumi said in a soft voice, she was still timid as always.

"I'm okay with anything," Hu Yangxuan said with a smile, and Wang Ben nodded as well. Ma Xiaoru too agreed with a smile on her face.

Wang Tong was immediately appointed as their group captain since everyone agreed, it was very sudden, but thankfully, he was okay with their decisions, he had no issues of becoming their captain since he already had enough experiences of being the caretaker of the girls' dormitory.

"I have another good news for all of you. Apparently, the principal is preparing a special training program, and I believe every one of us will be taking part in the training," Ma Xiaoru said.

"Is this about the challenge against Capth?"

"Yes."

"Capth, here we come!" Carl yelled. No doubt he was full of enthusiasm, but no one cheered with him. Many had tried to challenge Capth, yet no one had ever succeeded.

"Let's focus back on the purpose of this group. This is not a play group, so we have to be serious about the things we do. My suggestion is that each of us will make preparations for a subject. It could be anything like your subject reports, or even techniques in METAL Combats as long as it is something unique. It doesn't matter if it isn't a complete preparation because we will be discussing together, instead of hanging around together every day, I think this works better since we all majored in different subjects so spending too much time together will not make a lot of differences," Ma Xiaoru explained, and she was right; there was no way that Rumi would be joining Wang Tong and Wang Ben in combat training since her expertise was Intel Programming Battles, and it would be a waste of time for her to attend their training. However, if they gathered once every week to share what they had prepared, basically, they would be able to cover every subject, and even though they majored in different subjects, they would be able to learn all sorts of knowledge through group discussions, which will be beneficial for them in the future anyway.

"Sounds good, I'm in!"

"Agree!"

…

Suddenly Rumi raised her arm, "Aren't we supposed to think of a name for our group?"

"Name? Nice idea Rumi!" Carl stroked his chin and continued, "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Geniuses?"

All of the guys showed him their fingers when they heard that name.

"Band of Brothers?"

"No way! What about us?" the girls rejected together.

"I was thinking, since Ayrlarng's dream is to become an S-Ranked academy, and our target is to vanquish Capth, why don't we use the letter 'S' as the name of our group?" Zhou Sisi was inspired all of a sudden.

S? Not bad, somehow it felt like S-rank which was known as the code for the highest level, everyone loved how it sounded like.

"We can even use it as the initial of our group besides using it as the name!"

"Awesome, awesome!" Everyone agreed, and the study group named "S" was finally established.

Study groups like this were quite popular in most of the academies, normally a group would be established after someone mentioned the idea randomly during conversations; however, groups like this would disband in no time since no one in the group would do or contribute anything.

Nevertheless, there was always an exception.

Everyone seemed to have a sense of belonging when the study group "S" was officially established. Wang Tong was selected as the group captain while Ma Xiaoru was elected as their vice captain since she had the biggest influence amongst the rest and her actual strength was beyond doubt. Zhou Sisi was appointed as the secretary, she was the person who contacted everyone else and also in charge of various matters. And with that, "S" was born! Soon in the distant future, this would become the predecessor of a powerful organization which was capable of influencing mankind during post Blade-edge Era.

Soon as the meeting was dismissed, everyone went on to make sharing preparations for their own subject, this would be the best chance for them to prove their own capabilities, not to mention it was also the best opportunity of exchanging knowledge and ideas.

Wang Tong wanted to prepare his contribution regarding the delicate utilization of the GN Force, even though it wasn't about how to generate extraordinary battle strength like Cisco. Somehow he felt that it would be necessary for fighters and Battlecraft pilots to practice the delicate control of GN Force. Nevertheless, he would still need to think about it thoroughly since he had to break down the subject into various topics.

Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoru was preparing her contribution about the development of METAL Fighter's equipment. She believed that there was still room for improvements in the battle strength of METAL Fighters even though the combination of METAL Fighters and Heavy-Armed Troops was widely accepted by most of the world; furthermore, she also thought that the technology of mankind should be further demonstrated in the progress of development!

Wang Ben would be sharing about the functionality of stamina during battles…

Some of them chose to share the subject that they strongly believe was important, while some would be sharing their new thoughts and ideas. They might be naive and unrealistic, yet somehow, every single development of mankind was originated from various unpractical fantasies.　　

Chapter 124: IPA

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Mankind might not be able to outrace the Zergs in terms of the speed of their evolution, yet from Moon expeditions to the recent voyages across the galaxies, mankind had proven to be the ones having the greatest imagination throughout the universe.

General Li Feng once said that the power of the imagination is what drives the development, and no man should stop imagining because there would be a day for that dream to come true.

Carl was a unique existence amongst the group, given by the fact that he was the least talented one, even he, himself, had no idea why he was chosen in the first place. However, he wasn't a low self-esteem person that would be discouraged easily; instead, he always had plenty of fight in him, and he would be preparing a rather eye-catching topic: The School of the Carl-nism.

No one knew what that was, but it had to be something big since he had used his own name as the title. Carl began to prepare his thesis report in high spirit.

Gansus was impressed by Carl because of his unbound imagination. The boy might be goofing around from time to time, creating hundreds of jokes, but if one of them came true, it would be powerful enough to change the world. Of course, Carl might not be the one who would reshape the world, but with that personality and attitude of his, someday people would definitely be amazed by his achievements.

Gansus believed that he would rather spot the wrong person than miss one of them with potential; it was okay for one to take it slow in learning skills and talents, as long as his morale remained high.

The academic atmosphere in Ayrlarng was getting better, which was actually what a high-ranked academy was supposed to look like.

Even teachers had begun to notice that the students were more eager to learn, especially amongst first graders. The victory against Bernabeu had uplifted their will of self-improvement, they had even sworn not to disgrace the name of Ayrlarng.

Wang Tong didn't need Ma Xiaoru's one-to-one tuition anymore, if there was anything unclear, he would ask in the middle of the class. Most importantly, he had mastered the basics, and to him it was more than enough because he didn't intend to become an all-rounded genius. As a student of the Command Force, METAL Combat and Battlecraft Combat were the most crucial subjects that needed to be covered, and in order to expand his knowledge of these two subjects, he would also have to excel in the Ecology of the Zergs and Galactic Navigation. However, there was no need for him to also master the other theoretical stuff since he was a fighter and not a scientist.

Rumi, however, was the complete opposite. She was very weak in METAL Combat since her skills and abilities to fight were close to zero, but she was outstanding in Intel Programming Battle, and if she were to further her studies in this subject, someday she would be able to create her very own inventions.

A week has passed.

To Wang Tong, it was indeed a week of continuous studies as there were barely any extracurricular activities; however, he didn't complain because he had been as busy as a bee with his practices on the delicate control of the GN Force and also the training on various skills and techniques. Normally, people would have died of fatigue for taking on such hectic training, yet Wang Tong was as energetic as always as if he was equipped with an unlimited supply of strength.

A wise man once said: "One must possess a vigorous amount of energy in order to strive for success." Wang Tong had mastered the basics of the Tactics of the Blade since he was younger, even though it didn't have any effect before being mind opened, yet it granted him higher energy level than most people. Wang Tong used to complain about wasting his time training hard every day for that little effect, but right now he had finally understood its benefits. Not only it had set the basics for him to practice the two hundred and fifty-six nodes version of the Tactics of the Blade, but it had also enhanced his body condition significantly.

Wang Tong wasn't raised in a rich family, so no one had ever modified his genes with high-tech equipment, and no mystical treasures were awaiting his inheritance, not to mention that there weren't any Einherjars that had ever helped to boost his inner circulations. Wang Tong's greatest treasure, however, was actually his persisting practices of the Tactics of the Blade since he was a kid.

He missed the days when he was younger. Sometimes he would wonder how Old Fart was doing, yet he was never worried because he was certain that Old Fart was blessed with longevity, and he knew that Old Fart would live well wherever he went.

Scholarships were awarded to the students who had participated in the tournament against Bernabeu, and Wang Tong who had obtained two first places in the monthly assessment was also awarded additional scholarships for his excellent performance in each subject. This amount of money might be nothing for some students, yet it was definitely a lifesaver in the eyes of Wang Tong. Together with his paycheck, he was sure he would be able to survive for another two years if nothing major happened. Nevertheless, Wang Tong was still saddened by the fact that he and Zhou Sisi were not rewarded with the bounty from the police department, but they were commended instead, sometimes Wang Tong would still be complaining about how stingy was the police in his own dreams.

Wang Tong would only visit DREAM Heaven during the weekends, not because he was busy, but because he didn't want to spend too much on games. Anyhow, Wang Tong finally got to taste what being rich felt like with his double scholarships; hence he decided to satisfy his own desires after receiving the money from his teacher on Friday. Instead of going to the canteen, he went out to the stores for his daily necessities. Now that Wang Tong had Zhou Sisi helping him to clean up the room, he was able to live in peace, and he was okay with Zhou Sisi coming into his room whenever she wanted since he had nothing to hide from her. Of course, to return the favor, Wang Tong had given all his effort on helping Zhou Sisi with her Cloning Technique.

Everyone was looking forward to the first meetings of "S" on Saturday and Sunday since all of them had been preparing their sharings throughout the week, luckily there were not many other things to attend to on this week, or else they would have barely finished their preparations. Since Friday was the only day that he was left with some spare time, Wang Tong decided to pay DREAM Heaven a visit after a feast.

The shopkeeper smiled as he recognized Wang Tong, and he was surprised to see him wearing a new shirt today instead of the same old T-shirt he would wear every time. Even though that kid had never ordered any food or drinks in his shop, somehow the shopkeeper would feel happy whenever Wang Tong walked in. As if he was some sort of lucky charm, ever since he had started to show up, his business had been getting better and better.

"There you are, room No.5 is still vacant, I suggest you take it now before the bunch of PA fanatics arrives." The shopkeeper laughed.

"Haha, thanks, Mr. shopkeeper. How's business lately?"

"To be honest, about a month ago, rumor had it that DREAM was planning to reduce the servers of the PA due to its high cost and poor outcome. It was mainly because the TPA players were not spending a dime in the game and they refused to interact with the IPA players, causing its amount of players to plummet drastically. However, recently some dude named Einherjar Wannabe showed up and reheated the hype of the PA, so I guess DREAM will carry on with this game, this business is all I have, so fingers crossed everything will be alright."

The shopkeeper said with a smile as he handed Wang Tong the access card.

"Haha, I kinda like the PA too, and I hope this game will carry on."

"Indeed, since DREAM is already a huge corporation, it would be okay for them to earn a little lesser, but if they close it down, how am I gonna survive?" the shopkeeper carried on talking happily; however, their chit chat was forced to stop as customers came rushing in, everyone came for only one reason, which was to sit and wait for Einherjar Wannabe's appearance.

"It's all your fault for giving up waiting last week, there's no way we would have missed the epic battle if you could have hung in there a little longer."

"F**k you, it's not me, it's my mom's fault you idiot!"

"So have you informed your mom about not coming home tonight?"

"Relax dude, I told her that we're studying together at your place tonight!"

"... But I told them I was going to your place."

The kids stared at each other, and in the end, they decided to leave it alone, no one would ever found out as long as both of their parents didn't call each other.

Wang Tong shook his head as he saw what happened, he couldn't believe kids were so bold these days, and apparently, he really has gotten quite popular recently.

Wang Tong was quite surprised to see the stunning new domain of PA when he logged in. Perhaps DREAM was actually earning money, but it was not enough to cover what they had invested, which explained why the board of directors of DREAM were so mad since they were expecting the huge amount of money they invested would snowball gradually. Moreover, it would be impossible for them to force the TPA players to take on the IPA players even though there was quite a lot of TPA players in the community. The corporation had tried everything, but nothing seemed to be working, not until the debut of Einherjar Wannabe.

After his appearance, somehow both IPA and TPA communities that hated each other's guts began to feel like getting to know each other. However, this could only be sustained as long as Einherjar Wannabe stuck around.

Again, Wang Tong was bombarded by his massive inbox upon logging into the PA, but today he wasn't here to fight. He opened his inbox and realized that it needed to be cleared since upgrading would cost money, and Wang Tong had no extra dime to spend. He decided to delete those unwanted mails, but before that, he had to check his system notifications.

Wang Tong seemed to be interested in the latest system notification. Apparently, it was a summarized report of the tens of thousands of challenge invitation, and it managed to list out ten of the most unique challengers for his preference.

This was what Wang Tong wished for since he too wouldn't want his time to be wasted on meaningless fights.

Out of those ten, five were IPA players, and the other five were TPA players, which proved that there wasn't any symptom of discrimination in the administration. Wang Tong had no problem with IPA or TPA as both sides had their own uniqueness, and he was happy to learn from these two communities. Since he had challenged a TPA fighter last time, this time he decided to pick one of the five IPA players.

Wang Tong was impressed by the summarized report as it had the battle records and personal details of these five challengers, and the report was even attached with their official reviews.

He was immediately drawn to one of the challengers with the ID: Wings of Heaven, a thirty-six-year-old player who possessed a Dream-ranked METAL Suit called the Throne of Titan. However, it was the video clip of his fight that had caught Wang Tong's attention, he was amazed by Wings of Heaven's magnificent combo of punches that directly sent his opponent into a perfect knockout.

Wang Tong had been trying his best to avoid using weapons ever since he returned to Earth because he was afraid he might go berserk again. Soon, he was interested in heavy punch martial arts upon coming into contact with the Fist of the Racing Tiger, but besides learning, he was also interested in the methods of countering these punching techniques. By doing so, Wang Tong wished that he would be able to understand more about the utilization of strength and also to perceive the greater meaning of martial arts.

That was actually what Einherjar Wannabe had once said instead of Wang Tong's thought, it was indeed something deep, but somehow it made sense.

After running a few thoughts, Wang Tong decided that today would be a day of peace as he dropped by just to check on a few things. Since he had received his double scholarships, of course, he had to give himself a treat. As for his regular fight of the week, perhaps he could do it on Sunday night if there was time. But suddenly, he remembered those few people that he bumped into a while ago, if he were to log out like this, those guys would be spending two days waiting for nothing.

Sometimes Wang Tong would be overflowing with kindness. In the end, he decided to send a mail to his soon-to-be opponent, mentioning that he would be accepting his challenge at 8 pm on Sunday, which would give everyone enough time to be prepared.

Wang Tong signed out from PA after sending out the mail, then he randomly scrolled on some other information; apparently, he wasn't very good with having fun, not to mention that most entertainment would also cost money. Old Fart would've spent every single penny he had to get drunk, while most of other people would be attracted to idols, celebrities, and all sorts of movies, yet he wasn't interested in any of that. After two big yawns, Wang Tong logged out.

Chapter 125: The Rookie Dance Machine

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

"Oh, leaving this early?" the shopkeeper asked enthusiastically. He might really be treating Wang Tong as his lucky charm.

"Yea, I have some errands to run in school."

"Good for you, not addicted to games. Well, this is for you, a 20% discount card, do visit us when you're free!" The shopkeeper happily slipped something into Wang Tong's hands.

Wang Tong looked puzzled, was the shopkeeper trying to praise him, or poison him? Anyhow, Wang Tong grabbed that discount card and left DREAM Heaven with a smile on his face.

While he was out there relaxing, the whole PA community was shaken by the uproar he had created a moment ago.

Einherjar Wannabe had scheduled a challenge, and this time, his opponent would be the IPA player named Wings of Heaven!

Instantly, all of the discussions in PA focused on the ID, Wings of Heaven. TPA players had no idea who he was, but it seemed like everyone in IPA was very familiar with this ID. Apparently, he was even much stronger than Solitary Snow. Not only did he possess a Dream-Ranked METAL Suit, but most players were also intimidated by his unbelievable fighting skills and abilities.

Some even suspected that he was actually a fighter in real life, yet he joined the IPA for no reason. With such dominating strength and that incredible armor of his, without a doubt, Wings of Heaven was known to be one of the "glitchy" players in the IPA. However, this guy had a weird personality, and he almost got no friends. Furthermore, not many would dare to challenge him due to his bloodlust and brutality.

Anyhow, there was one thing for sure, that dude was insanely strong!

Not to forget he was given two days to get ready!

Cameron was all excited when he received the news. Finally, everything began to go on the right track! Two days were more than enough for him to prepare a bigger stage, but it would still be free to watch since Einherjar Wannabe had turned down his deal. Nevertheless, it was still something to be hyped about.

All of the staff in PA were fully concentrating on their tasks. They were at the edge of losing their jobs when this major project of DREAM was to be terminated due to its disappointing profits, but since they were given another chance as Einherjar Wannabe emerged, they would obviously seize this opportunity to maintain their employments.

Meanwhile, it seemed like Wang Tong's good intentions were useless after all, instead of coming back again on Sunday, most of them still chose to stay and camp in PA, but without the usual tension and nervousness. The most excited ones were the IPA players, everyone seemed to be full of anticipation after knowing that something epic would happen on Sunday night, it was a blissful sensation indeed.

It was normal for Einherjar Wannabe to disappear after dropping a message; however, Wings of Heaven too was nowhere to be seen, like he had vanished into thin air; to everyone's surprise, Wings of Heaven didn't make any pre-match comment, he remained quiet and calm instead.

As soon as Wang Tong returned to his room, Zhou Sisi was already waiting there.

"Aren't you having a break today?"

"Yup, which is why I came looking for you. Don't you feel lonely spending every day on your own? Come, let's do some singing!" Zhou Sisi said as she smiled.

Wang Tong scratched his head and replied, "Nah I'ma pass, I'm not good at singing."

"Nonsense, it's simple! All you have to do is scream and shout. C'mon and have some fun, young man, fun is good for your training!"

Wang Tong hesitated, but Zhou Sisi dragged him along forcefully. "C'mon, be a man, it's not like I'm asking you to go to war!"

"I'd rather go to war," Wang Tong whispered to himself. Nevertheless, he was okay to try something new, or else he would really become a boring person.

A group of people was already there when both of them arrived at the karaoke lounge, the group was an equal mix of boys and girls, and most of them were from A-Class. Of course, all of them knew Wang Tong since he was already one of the "celebrities". In the beginning, he was only known as the sidekick of Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan, yet no one expected him to be the "hidden last boss" amongst the trio. Additionally, all the other girls looked cheerful when they saw him.

"See what I meant? You really have become one of the celebrities in Ayrlarng, and what you said during that match even became popular amongst students of the Command Force!" Zhou Sisi said proudly.

"...What did I say?"

Zhou Sisi immediately mimicked Wang Tong's expression on that day, pointed her finger and said, "You were saying?"

Wang Tong almost fainted, that was just supposed to be one of his random "sucker punches" against Best's arrogance, and he didn't even bother to remember saying that after the match. Best was strong indeed, but he was stupid for being careless.

Two of the guys were seen tearing their vocal cords apart on stage, together with the holographic background dancing, they did kind of look like superstars.

The atmosphere was all fired up by the intense singing and dancing.

As a youngster, Wang Tong would, of course, listen to some pop music, but he had no time to be further interested than that.

"Why don't you give it a try?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'll just be one the audiences for the time being!"

Zhou Sisi then got up and took the center stage. Obviously, this was not their first time being here, it seemed like they were having a boys versus girls singing contest. Being good or bad at singing wasn't important in this "competition", as long as the performer was able to lead the crowd and uplift the atmosphere, it felt more like a stage to express one's emotion.

Surprisingly, everyone was quite good in singing. Wang Tong was not an alien, so basically he was familiar with the songs, and there were even some that he could hum along to, yet he had never tried singing them. Actually, he was really thinking of giving it a try after seeing their high spirit, but in the end, he gave up that idea because he had no experience in singing and his bad vocals might spoil the mood.

On the other hand, Zhou Sisi was doing great on stage, it was like she had become another person on stage, her youthful vibe was all over her amazing dance moves, totally different from how she usually looked like in class.

Wang Tong was surprised to see this side of Zhou Sisi and was mesmerized by her vibrant charm, she really looked like a star.

Immediately, Zhou Sisi's classmates began to clap along with her incredible dance moves, dancing might not be Wang Tong's expertise, but he was deeply impressed by Zhou Sisi's movements, it was full of vibe and allurement.

Wang Tong was completely drawn to her, he couldn't believe that this was the same Zhou Sisi he knew since day one.

Soon, Wang Tong began to clap along with the rhythm, then Zhou Sisi turned around gracefully and dragged him on stage, making the crowd gone wild.

"C'mon!" Zhou Sisi smiled as she began to twist and turn around Wang Tong, droplets of sweat glittered across the stage as she fluttered her long hair, she was full of energy!

Everyone around was clapping as they turned their attention to Wang Tong, and he was troubled by the pressure. Wang Tong knew he had to do something instead of standing there like a fool, but he had no idea how to dance!

"Ah whatever, yeah I'm a rookie so what, it's not like I'm afraid to dance!" The Wang Tong closed his eyes and began to count the beats, moving his head in and out as he did.

Crack… crack…

Wang Tong began to move along stiffly with the music, looking like a crab; however, Zhou Sisi was a pro, and she managed to back him up with her elegant dance moves in order to reduce the awkwardness.

Clearly Wang Tong was a bad dancer; nevertheless, everyone carried on clapping and cheering.

Wang Tong tried his best to dance along, but the rhythm just didn't seem right, all of a sudden he had a vision of a Spider Zerg dancing along the music, and he decided to mimic its dance moves.

It was weird at the beginning, but slowly the movements began to fuse with the music, and in no time, Wang Tong was seen grooving to the music. Zhou Sisi, who was trying to guide Wang Tong into the rhythm, was surprised to see him grooving to the beats so quickly.

Everyone was stunned by his alien movements at first, but as the music played went on, everyone went crazy about it.

Wang Tong too had fully submerged into his groove, he had created a rather unique dance by moving his arms and legs rigidly, like a Spider Zerg dancing in the wild. Somehow the way he moved looked like a ritual dance, and it could only be described in one word: danger!

It was the dance of a beast!

Zhou Sisi became the beauty dancing beside the beast, luckily she was able to adjust her movements instinctively since she was quite gifted in dancing.

As soon as the music stopped, Zhou Sisi fell into Wang Tong's arms right in time. It was flawless!

Bravo!

The karaoke lounge was roaring with cheers and claps, Wang Tong turned toward Zhou Sisi as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead. "How was I doing?"

He was embarrassed for doing something way out of his comfort zone.

Zhou Sisi replied with a handful of excitements in her eyes, "Wang Tong, you're a genius!"

Wang Tong gave a satisfying smile, he had no idea he could be that attractive that he made the other girls scream. In fact, the girls had just realized Wang Tong was actually quite a handsome young man, very charming indeed!

Amongst the crowd who gathered around him, Wang Tong even realized that some of them were actually not from Ayrlarng. At first, only a few noticed his dance and were planning to leave, but somehow a few of them couldn't help watching, in the end, more people were drawn to the crowd to see what was going on.

Wang Tong's exotic dancing received a thunderous round of applause.

"Hey, dude, where did you learn these crazy steps?"

"That was superb!"

"Yea, I've never seen that before, it has this raw and wilderness vibe!"

"Dance Machine!"

"Dance Machine indeed!"

Wang Tong seemed to be embarrassed for making such an uproar. Actually, he had just made that all up spontaneously because he didn't want to stand there looking like a fool. To be honest, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing a few minutes ago.

Dance Machine?

It would be great if they called him Einherjar instead, and thank god Einherjar Wannabe wasn't around, or else he would joke about it for sure.

Soon as Wang Tong fired up the atmosphere, everyone else too began to dance. While they were busy dancing, Zhou Sisi dragged Wang Tong toward the sofa as both of them needed a rest badly.

"I thought you said you knew nothing about dancing, but here you are rocking the stage, and you even threw in your own twist!"

"I had no choice since you were the one who pulled me on stage!"

Zhou Sisi was amazed, "I have to say, you really are a genius. I wonder if anyone has recorded it. I'm definitely keeping one for my collection!"

"I'ma get cocky if you keep on complimenting me."

"Well, you should be. Wang Tong, in the future, if you already have enough of the military, you really might wanna consider turning toward the entertainment business, haha," Zhou Sisi joked as she crossed her leg, suddenly Wang Tong felt the adrenaline rushing up to his brain, and he started to wonder if his drink contained any alcohol.

Nevertheless, Zhou Sisi did look amazing today. Wang Tong had only seen her hard-working side as a good student, yet he never expected her to be so bold, and not to mention she looked hot as well.

"Entertainment business? Thank you but no thank you, I'm a man with a bigger dream!"

"Is it to become the next General Li Feng? Haha, I bet every Earthling has the same dream too."

Mankind would have been eradicated if General Li Feng hadn't been born. The METAL technology and strategies he created had directly influenced the development of mankind for the next tens of decades, as well as allowing Earth to maintain its position as the hub of the universe. However, it was an undeniable fact that the Moon had already outraced the Earth to become the new economic hub of mankind's universe. It couldn't be helped since the Ivantians had inherited most of the virtues of the Earthlings, but they almost had no defects.

However, Wang Tong shook his head when Zhou Sisi said that.

Chapter 126: Self Motivation

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

"Joining the Army? No, I had never thought of joining the army. I like the Space Force, and it would be the best if I could become a captain of a spaceship."

"I don't see the difference," Zhou Sisi cracked a smile and said.

"The difference is huge! They got more money, that's for one, and it's also a lot less dangerous... oh, and they have beautiful female officers!" Wang Tong said as he counted with his fingers.

Zhou Sisi paused for a second and then burst out laughing. She found Wang Tong ridiculously funny at times.

Wang Tong felt slightly embarrassed, he scratched his head and then asked, "You think I am a chicken-sh*t?"

"NO! You are the bravest person I have ever met. I believe that no matter where you end up at, the Army or the Space Force, you will stand out to be an excellent soldier. Ah, and of course, I would not be much less than you. After all, I am that attractive officer you were talking about," Zhou Sisi spoke with a delightful tone, green and fetching. It was a voice that could let a man's blood boil.

"What about your dream?"

"From now on, I only want to become a good captain, so I can make sure you don't make any trouble and take care of you," Zhou Sisi said, and she licked the cream off the ice coffee.

Wang Tong caught a glimpse of Zhou Sisi's cute little tongue and felt a wave of heat shot through his body. "What is happening to me? Am I in love?" he thought.

"Well, I think that would depend on your ability, perhaps you will end up calling me Sifu for the rest of your life."

"Oh, really? Catch me at the dance pool! Howbow dah?"

Wang Tong held the soft and small hand of Zhou Sisi and felt the urge of conquering the little wild beast in front of him. Unable to think, Wang Tong accepted the invitation.

A wave of cheers erupted among the onlookers as soon as Wang Tong and Zhou Sisi stepped into the dance pool again. Wang Tong's performance was more fluid than the first time, and the Zerg-like movement started to look more human.

Without knowing it, Wang Tong took the center stage as his body turned and swayed wildly, releasing all the passions a sixteen-year-old boy had.

Wang Tong's dance mesmerized the girls from the A-Class. Ever since the tournament, Wang Tong's victory had spread throughout every corner of the school. His classmates called him the "secret weapon", or "the silver bullet". The manliness that had turned him from a boy to a man had tugged at the heartstrings of many girls.

After the girls had watched his arousing dance, he was no longer just a stoic soldier that only knew how to fight, but also a man full of wild passions.

Zhou Sisi followed Wang Tong's lead, willingly.

Wang Tong then remembered that he still had a lot to do the day after; therefore, he didn't stay overnight and sneaked out with Zhou Sisi soon after the dance was over. Wang Tong felt that he had started to like dancing. Unlike fighting, dancing had no restrictions, and therefore he could pour out the emotions as he moved his body.

The two of them walked home together, holding each other's hands. Wang Tong didn't over think of this new found intimacy; it just felt right.

After Wang Tong had settled down to bed, he fell asleep quickly. In his dream, he saw his life turning more colorful from the dull, ceaseless fighting.

Saturday was the group meeting of "S".

So far there were only ten members in the group. However, no one had the intention of expanding the group just yet, as they all agreed that they needed to focus on running this club more efficiently.

Wang Tong was well rested after a night of good sleep and the release of stress from the evening before.

Zhou Sisi had already collected everyone's thesis and was ready to commence the meeting.

"Let's begin our meeting. There are no strict rules to follow at this table, so if you have any question, please feel free to ask. Let's start with our group leader." Zhou Sisi gestured Wang Tong to speak.

Wang Tong cracked a smile and said, "Sure. I will break the ice then. I am certain that all of you have watched the fight between Einherjar Wannabe and Cisco, so I'm just going to talk about what we should learn from that fight, especially from Cisco. I think we should emphasize the importance of controlling the GN force at the finest level."

That fight had been a sensational event, therefore even if one didn't watch it live, he or she must have watched the recording the day after. The fight had attracted even more attention after it was labeled with the lurid titles such as "Real-life genius gets owned by a mysterious no-account! MUST WATCH!!"

Although Cisco's opponent was only 16 years old and was relatively unknown, Einherjar Wannabe was able to copy Cisco's power and defeated him in the most humiliating way. Unable to handle the weight of his failure, it was said that the day after the fight, Cisco had lost another fight against a classmate who challenged his number one title at Capth. If the rumor was true, then it had not only revealed the intense competition at Capth but also spoke loudly of the importance of one's confidence.

Wang Tong went on to explain what was his plan. He clarified that by saying "learn from Cisco", he did not mean to learn to use a kunai but to pay more attention to the subtle changes of the GN force and fine tuning of the channeling process. Since this was a relatively new training to most people, they had to start with baby steps, but eventually, it would pay off. A set of nimble fingers would not only be helpful during space battle simulations but also beneficial for real life combat.

Wang Tong demonstrated the training method with an object in his hand. He intentionally picked a light-weight, tiny, and soft object because it was much harder to control than larger and more tangible objects.

When Wang Tong finished his demonstration, he was met with even more questions. Ma Xiaoru told him that her Tactics of the Enchantress had already focused a great deal on the control of GN force, and therefore, any extra training in that aspect would be redundant. Wang Ben, on the other hand, was hesitant to follow Wang Tong's instruction because he had noticed how different the style was when compared with his Fist of the Racing Tiger. Carl and others had also raised their own concerns although for different reasons.

Wang Tong's ice breaker session had lasted over an hour, much longer than they had initially anticipated. They had then conceded that they had only enough time to cover at most four topics per day. Restrictions on time aside, it was also unrealistic to expect members of S to give up all their weekends for studying and training. Therefore, everyone had agreed that increasing the efficiency of the club to get through tropics would be their top priority.

The members of S had spent the entire morning discussing Wang Tong's proposal. Wang Tong's unique training method had quickly gained popularity after the members started to realize its benefits. Rumi was particularity interested in the training method, despite the fact that she found it difficult to follow Wang Tong's instructions. Wang Tong ended up spending a lot more time on helping Rumi to get her hands on things.

To ensure the effectiveness of the training, Wang Tong ordered everyone to practice after the meeting and informed everyone that there would be a self-assessment before their next meeting to measure their progress.

Wang Tong knew that everyone had a lazy bone, especially those at his age, and therefore he decided to give members a little bit more pressure to keep their foot on the gas pedal.

During lunchtime, Zhou Sisi had come up with another list of things to improve based on their morning discussions. Her efficiency had impressed most members of S.

In the afternoon, members attended the physical training session led by Wang Ben.

As most people had expected, both Wang Tong and Wang Ben had excelled in their physical conditions. However, Ma Xiaoru's extraordinary endurance had caught other members off guard. In addition to the three, Tita also did well in the physical training. The other members, including Zhou Sisi, had done well at the beginning but fell short very quickly as they collapsed on the ground one after another.

Wang Ben had proven to be a good leader for this session since he had focused on physical training ever since he was a kid. Although there didn't seem to be any connection between physical conditioning and the power on the battlefield, a strong body had many potential benefits to a METAL fighter. A fighter with a good physic would fatigue less, and therefore help them to avoid unnecessary fatal mistakes. It was imperative during a prolonged battle.

Once a fighter was fatigued, his or her focus would decrease regardless of how hard he or she tried to concentrate, and therefore, the only solution would be to increase the fatigue threshold by intense physical training.

As a leader, Wang Ben was much stricter than Wang Tong. He had kept a solemn face from the beginning to the end and wasn't any more lenient toward the girls. At the end of the session, Wang Ben announced the test results. Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru had exceeded the requirement set by Wang Ben by a considerable margin and were followed by Hu Yangxuan who had barely passed the test. All the rest of S had failed the physical test.

Tita sat in his chair and looked disappointed. He had thought that he would come out as the number one since he was the only member from the physically-demanding field of heavy METAL combat. However, he didn't even pass the test.

Tita was not convinced that this was all he could achieve, and therefore, he made up his mind to train harder from now on. His goal was to be ranked within the top 3.

Everyone was exhausted after the excruciating physical training session, and so they decided to move the rest of the agenda to the next meeting. Before they ended the meeting, they agreed to focus on two things for the coming week: controlling their GN force and their physical conditioning.

The physical training session hit Rumi the hardest. She was a small-framed girl and was astonishingly weak, and Wang Ben had given her a zero without any hesitation.

The students at Ayrlarng had a clearer picture regarding the strength of their star performers ever since the tournament, and they all ranked Wang Tong, Ma Xiaoru, and Wang Ben higher than Hu Yangxuan. After the physical training session, Hu Yangxuan had finally realized what was bogging him down, and therefore he made up his mind to focus on physical training from now on.

Wang Ben didn't rush into the promised spar with Wang Tong. He had noticed Wang Tong's extraordinary power during his fight against Apache. Wang Ben decided to wait and prepare as much as he could before making the next move.

On the other hand, Wang Ben also appreciated the challenge posed by Wang Tong as he recognized that the challenge had given him a lot of motivations.

Defeating Wang Tong was not Wang Ben's ultimate goal; his goal was to grow in his own capacity as the best fighter.

At the end of the first meeting of S, most of the club members had a sore body and were exhausted, but for Wang Tong, it seemed to be just the right amount of exercise.

All the while, Ma Xiaoru didn't approach Wang Tong like she used to. Wang Tong didn't overthink it; instead, he enjoyed the distance.

Zhou Sisi was also busy with her training and had no time to hang out with Wang Tong. Sitting alone in his room with no one to disturb him, Wang Tong finally had a quiet weekend that only belonged to himself.

Chapter 127: Reemergence of the Merciless Legend

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

On this seemingly ordinary weekend, one group of people with vastly different ages were unusually agitated. Their age ranged from preteens to middle-aged men in their 40 and 50s. Despite the age gap, they shared the same passion: METAL combat.

They were promised an epic fight tonight, and unlike most other fights of similar nature, tonight's fight was scheduled ahead of time, and it would take place at 8 pm.

Many of the METAL enthusiasts had cleared their schedule, even canceling dates, just to make sure that they wouldn't miss the fight.

For every fan of METAL combat, this was a fight that they could not pass up.

The employees working in the background of the PA system had readied themselves, watching carefully at various kind of indicators. This was the time to put Einherjar Wannabe's popularity to the test.

People started to pour into the system after 6, the red line indicating the viewing rating lifted its head and was ready for a jump.

Cameron sat in his chair, trying to calm his nerves the best he could. He had done the show countless times, but he still felt butterfly in his stomach this time.

"Have we got any intel on Wings of Heaven? "

"Boss, as far as we can tell, he is pretty much a lone wolf, but he is deadly powerful. The only thing we are sure so far is that he is an Ivantian."

"Oh? Interesting!"

"Based the recordings of his previous fights, he is very likely not an ordinary IPA player. His fighting style resembles that of the Military, and all the executions are almost perfect. Thanks to that Dream Ranked METAL suit, this guy has never lost a battle. We suspect that he is a retired soldier from the Military."

"He is too young to have already retired."

"I agree, but it is hard to derive anything concrete from just the data."

Cameron nodded in agreement; he knew that there were riddles in this world that would never get solved.

After dinner, Wang Tong walked toward the virtual cafe. He decided to be a bit early to avoid the rush hour.

When he arrived the entrance of the cafe, he was startled by the throng of people.

There were even more people standing inside the hall; some even had burgers and fries in their hands. They had skipped the dinner table so they could get a seat for tonight's fight. Most of them were so engrossed in heated debates about the abilities and strength of the fighters, they had forgotten about the annoyance of the lack of seats in this crowded room. To most audiences, they would rather be watching a fight in a large group than watching it alone at home.

Wang Tong grinned as he realized that he didn't beat the rush hour after all.

"Hey kiddo, I have reserved for you the terminal number 5, go use it while you still can."

"Thanks! That is very kind of you!"

"You are welcome, that is the benefit of becoming our VIP. Today is the fight between Einherjar Wannabe and the Wings of Heaven, so I figured that you would be here!"

"Thank you so much! You are a smart businessman too! Wish your business grows better every day!"

"Thanks !"

The owner patted on Wang Tong's shoulder. For some reason, the little boy had grown on him. His business always seemed to be much better whenever Wang Tong showed up. Just a while ago, a fortune teller had even told him that he would be visited by his lucky star who would lift his business up from the current sorry state.

Wang Tong walked into the quiet VIP room and felt he was fortunate not to have to share that crowded space. The recent streak of lucky events had made him convinced that his charisma must have grown considerably.

Wang Tong still had some time to kill, so he didn't sign in right away. Instead, he started researching dance moves. After the awkward dance party last weekend, he had decided to widen his after school activity. Although he could not count on dancing to make a living, he figured that he should at least dabbled himself in it just enough to avoid being called uncouth.

Wang Tong was immediately lost in the millions of search results, unsure which song to play, and he clicked on the most popular one. He was not sure who had made this song, and neither did he care to find out, but he found that the music was soothing and relaxed him before the fight.

Fully engrossed in the music, Wang Tong had forgotten the passage of time. Meanwhile, in the PA system, more than two hundred thousands people had signed in. DREAM had also made the fight free for everyone to watch which had further increased the number of audiences.

Many people believed that as long as Wings of Heaven didn't make mistakes like Solitary Snow, he should be able to win this fight with ease.

Wings of Heaven possessed much stronger power than Solitary Snow, and with the help of his Dream ranked METAL suit, he should be invincible.

Neither Wang Tong nor Wings of Heaven had yet signed in. If it were anyone else, they would have signed in early just to bask in the audience's admiration and attentions. Unfortunately for the fans, neither of the fighters enjoyed the limelight, and none of them replied to their messages.

There was an hour left before the fight started, and most virtual cafes had already been packed with customers. The crowd had greatly pleased the owners of these virtual cafes. They had never seen so many customers even during the national tournament. The service fees aside, they also made loads of money on the drinks and food the customers had ordered while waiting for the fight to start.

Meanwhile, on the Moon, a dozen people walked into a crowded virtual cafe. They all seemed to carry a chip on their shoulder and held an awful expression on their face. As people felt the squeeze from the movement of the crowd to accommodate the dozen new visitors, they turned their head toward the new customers with angry stares. However, as soon as people saw the newcomer's uniforms, they choked back any dissidents.

The new customers were from the Anti-Smuggler Special Unit.

None of the dozen officers talked after entering the cafe, they simply stood quietly and stared at the screen as if no one else existed in the room.

Everyone knew how powerful the members of the Special Units were. With the growing pirate activities, the survival rate of the Special Unit had dropped even below the Army. The military dealt with Zergs, and the Special Unit had to deal with the human, which had proven to be even more dangerous.

Some muted conversation started to mix into the loud debates in the cafe: "What is the Special Unit doing here?"

"Boss, the total number of user online has reached 30 million!" the excitement made his voice shaky. 30 million was close to one-third of all registered users. This rating had never been achieved even during the final matches of official tournaments.

Cameron finally felt a sense of relief. He knew that at least, the sponsors would be happy with the match regardless of the outcome.

Einherjar Wannabe signed in.

Everyone was surprised that Einherjar Wannabe, who was never early for a fight, had signed in before his opponent.

Ten minutes before the fight started, Wings of Heaven was still nowhere to be seen. The audience began to become agitated, thinking that he might have already given up.

All kinds of speculations spread like wildfire on the internet. Some were convinced that Wings of Heaven had already given up and would not take up the challenge.

"No way, he had such an OP METAL suit!"

"Shut the f*ck up!" the younger member of the Special Unit bawled out at the crowd. There was a sense of indifference to life in his tone, although he didn't speak loudly, his soul-energy-infused voice had shaken everyone.

The crowded cafe suddenly became deadly silent. No one wanted to get on the wrong side of the Special Unit, not because of respect, but because they knew that the Special Units were full of crazy psychopath that would kill without reason.

At the last minute before the game started, Wings of Heaven finally signed in.

The younger Special Unit member who had spoken earlier became excited at the sight of Wings of Heaven, but then he said, "Is that... Captain?"

"Yes, it is!"

The Special Unit members looked much more cheerful than they were when they first came in, anticipation and excitement burned brightly in their eyes.

Wings of Heaven looked calm. He didn't acknowledge anyone in the arena as if the discussions around him had nothing to do with him.

Wang Tong studied his opponent's eyes for a moment, and then he knew that he had picked the right opponent.

"Ten, Nine... Five... One!"

"Check."

"Check."

The two combatants gestured the referee that they were ready, then the fight was on.

Einherjar Wannabe vs. Wings of Heaven!

However, as soon as the match started, people noticed that wings of Heaven didn't use his signature METAL suit. This unexpected development made the audiences question his sanity.

"No METAL suit?"

"He doesn't want to fight with his METAL suit? And he expects to win?"

The audiences let out a wave of boo, as they were disappointed at the thought of an extremely short game.

However, having watched this development, the Special Units on the Moon straightened their back and saluted to their leader. Respect was written all over their solemn faces.

The other audiences at the same Cafe were shocked by what they saw and wondered who this Wings of Heaven really was.

"Gosh! He is a member of the Golden Star!"

Finally, someone in the crowd recognized the faces of the Special Units. Team Golden Star was one of the three strongest team in the Anti-Smuggler Special Unit. They had won many legendary battles, the most famous of which was the battle that eliminated the Wasp, a notorious pirate fleet. The rumor had it that they had slaughtered the entire two thousand METAL-armed pirates, and the Golden Star was therefore well known for their mercilessness.

But who could evoke respect in the cold-hearted members of the Golden Star?

The answer was their Captain.

Wings of Heaven did not know that his teammates were watching him. He never cared about what others thought of him and always acted accordingly to his own will. Ever since he had watched the fight between Einherjar Wannabe and Solitary Snow, he felt an urge inside of him that eventually led him to this stage.

Wings of Heaven attacked first without his METAL suit.

As everyone was expecting the match to end after their first round of exchange of fists, they saw Einherjar Wannabe stumbling back at the impact while Wings of Heaven stood still, steady like a mountain.

"Gosh! What kind of power is that?"

The entire exchange lasted less than one second, but within that one, brief second, the audience didn't saw an IPA player in Wings of Heaven, but a TPA fighter with superhuman power.

Chapter 128: Encore

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

"Give me all you got, this is my last fight, and I don't want to leave the stage with regrets," Wings of Heaven announced.

"Your Fist-blade is powerful indeed, but I am afraid that it won't be enough to defeat me." Wang Tong cracked a smile.

The corner of Wings of Heaven's mouth lifted a bit; he thought that Wang Tong's words sounded very familiar.

Suddenly, the two of them rushed for an attack simultaneously.

They both arrived at the center of the arena almost at the same time. Wings of Heaven used the Blade-fist techniques again and was able to stand his ground under Einherjar Wannabe's counter attack.

The two fists collided into each other and the two fighters both stumbled back.

The audiences became quiet, and the cheers died down. They started to question the identity and the real power of Wings of Heaven, just like they had questioned Einherjar Wannabe.

Wings of Heaven attacked again. It was obvious that he had the edge regarding combat experience. His soul reading was maintained steadily around 150 sols as the deadly Blade-fist came one after another.

Wings of Heaven didn't use any popular footwork such as the Inch Step. Instead, his footwork technique seemed straightforward but matched seamlessly with his fighting style.

The best kind of techniques was usually not the most popular one but the one that fitted ones fighting style the best.

It was the first time that Wang Tong had faced such an opponent whose attack and movements seemed simple and straightforward, but extremely difficult to be countered. He figured that the Inch Step would be too straightforward, and Wings of Heaven would be able to predict his next move easily. On the other hand, the Butterfly Dash seemed like overkill. Wang Tong conceded that it would be impossible to break his opponent's solid defense using any of the footwork that he knew.

This was the first time Wang Tong encountered an opponent who seemed to have more combat experience than he had. What made the opponent even more deadly was that he had gained his experience through fighting human instead of Zergs.

As Wang Tong was considering his next move, he became caught in a barrage of attacks. The movements of the Blade-fist were unpredictable as it accelerated and decelerated at random intervals. It was deceiving and was packed with deadly force, a perfect technique to kill.

As Einherjar Wannabe was distracted by his thoughts for less than a second, he paid the price right away and was struck by a blow. The attack sent Einherjar Wannabe's body flying a few feet away. Initially, when Einherjar Wannabe first detected the incoming blow, he wanted to use the Phantom Move to get out of the way. However, his opponent had predicted his intention and was one move ahead of him.

Silence fell inside the arena.

"Who the hell is this Wings of Heaven?"

It would be less surprising to the audience if he were from the TPA league. However, the fact that he was from the IPA league made everyone lament over such a waste of talent. He was a powerful thirty-six-years-old fighter, but he was stuck here in the IPA league.

Meanwhile, on the Moon, people watched the members of the Golden Star curiously, wondering if the deadly warrior on the screen was truly their Captain.

"If that's true, he must be a powerful fighter, but how come—"

"If Einherjar Wannabe had not chosen him, we would still be oblivious about his whereabouts. What had happened during that operation was just an accident, he should've gotten over it. The intelligence said there were only a dozen scattered pirates, but for some reason, he had encountered an armada."

That battle had been a brutal bloodshed. The Golden Star had become the most legendary team in the Special Unit after the battle.

During that fight, their captain had entered a battle trance and slaughtered all the pirates but saved his comrades' lives. However, he had depleted his soul energy during the trance and that was worse than a death sentence to a fighter like him.

The Golden Star had created a miracle: they killed off the entire fleet of pirates with zero casualties. However, the captain of the Golden Star had since disappeared, and no one knew where he was hiding.

When the unconscious members of the Golden Star had woken up, their captain was already gone. It was the captain who had saved their lives. However, he alone had to carry the burden of the aftermath with him for the rest of his life.

He had to leave because he could no longer face his old comrades after being stripped the rights to fight.

He started to lose grip on reality and even tried to give up his life, but the link between his life and fighting had brought him back. Although he could no longer fight in real life, not even in the TPA, he spent most of his time on the IPA, using the virtual world to numb his pain.

He could not bring himself to ask his comrades for help. He didn't need their sympathy.

When he saw Einherjar Wannabe's fights, he thought he had seen a glimpse of hope. He felt something very familiar in this mysterious fighter, and he decided to end his debauchery once and for all with a match with Einherjar Wannabe.

The members of the Golden Star had already recognized their Captain. The name alone was a telltale sign of his identity.

He was a soldier who had lost his soul energy, just like a carrion that had lost his wings.

His comrades gritted their teeth as they also felt the pain of their captain for being denied of what was rightfully his. However, they could not do anything but watch him suffer.

"No matter where you are, don't ever bring shame to the banner of the Golden Star!" their Captain used to tell them so, and without a replacement, they haven't heard of these words for a while.

After landing a successful attack, Wings of Heaven paused. "Be serious now, don't use those useless tricks on me!"

Wang Tong stood up slowly and rubbed his body where he was hit. "Fine, time to be serious," he thought.

Einherjar Wannabe set his arms in front of him and was ready to strike.

"Be careful now!"

The two of them darted toward each other at the same time again with terrifying speed.

Einherjar Wannabe's footwork looked like the Inch Step, but somehow it was different. The two closed in quickly and started attacking each other fearlessly. Both combatants' moves didn't follow any set structures as they seemed to be acting on a whim. Upon closer look, Einherjar Wannabe's moves were even more impulsive and unplanned than his opponent.

Wang Tong had then reckoned that this opponent was capable of giving him a precious opportunity to test and improve his skills thanks to the huge amount of experience his opponent had.

Einherjar Wannabe's arm suddenly moved in the most unthinkable direction and picked up speed to hack at his opponent's neck. Wings of Heaven delivered a kick at the belly of Einherjar Wannabe in return.

Both combatants had attacked the vital points of their opponent's body, making their attack an instant kill. These moves were so deadly that they were usually not used by PA players.

Wang Tong didn't pay any attention to the deadly kick because he had already calculated that his fist would land on Wings of Heaven's neck before his kick would. However, his opponent's neck twisted and turned as if there were no bones in it, the twisted neck would have made people cringe, but it was effective in dodging Wang Tong's attack. The scale of the battle had suddenly tipped toward Wings of Heaven.

Faced with a frontal attack, Einherjar Wannabe didn't try to dodge. Instead, he closed in onto his opponent. He knew that it was already too late to dodge, and if he did, his opponent would follow up with another, even more powerful, killing strike.

When the kick landed on Einherjar Wannabe's belly, it was as if it had landed on a pile of soft cotton. Wang Tong had concentrated his soul energy around his dantian, and the force of the kick was therefore absorbed. Wang Tong then grabbed his opponent's foot, lock it in place as he delivered a powerful roundhouse kick at his opponent's crotch. All the while, Wang Tong remained calm and focused.

Wings of Heaven managed to block Einherjar Wannabe's kick with his arm, but Einherjar Wannabe didn't let go of his opponent's feet. Instead, he yanked it toward himself with one hand, while he chopped at the neck with the other hand at lightning speed. Wings of Heaven sprung the other direction and turned his back at Wang Tong; meanwhile, his left hand reached the ground, and with the aid of a push, his right feet broke free of the iron clamp and kicked once again at Wang Tong's belly.

The two were hit at the same time.

Einherjar Wannabe took a step back as he gathered himself while Wings of Heaven sprung to his feet with a push-up.

The two locked their eyes onto each other, and they could both see the burning desire of winning the fight in their opponent's eyes.

In this first round of attack, Einherjar Wannabe had gained a slight edge. Wings of Heaven conceded that he had underestimated the combat experience of his young opponent.

Suddenly, a message appeared on the big screen, informing everyone that Wings of Heaven was likely the former captain of the Golden Star. Everyone was shocked by the news, and the real power of Wings of Heaven started to set in.

Ever since humans entered the age of interstellar traveling, more and more people were willing to put their life at risk for the luring profit of smuggling. The spread of the mind opening operation and the underground METAL market had also given the criminals high tech arsenals at their disposal. Despite the numerous resolution of the Confederation to get rid of the pirate activity, the vast space had made it extremely difficult.

A few years ago, the smuggling business had finally reached an unpreparedness level. The four major factions of the Confederation agreed to unite together to fight against the rampant pirate activities, and thus the Anti-Smuggling Special Unit was born.

Each faction had selected their elite members of the military to form the Special Unit, and therefore, everyone had thought that the Special Unit could crush the pirates quickly, and no one saw it coming when they ended up getting stuck in a bloody war ever since.

The Anti-Smuggling Special Unit had only gained a slight edge over the pirates in all forms of warfare, let it be information warfare or ground battles. But there were also memorable moments like the victory of the Golden Star.

The captain of the Golden Star was also a legendary figure; however, the battle that made his legend also had decreed his downfall.

"Why did such a strong fighter is muddling around in the IPA league?"

Right away, people started to realize that some tragic event must have hit him right after the battle.

Neither Einherjar Wannabe nor Wings of Heaven had noticed the message on the screen. They stared at each other, both satisfied to have found a worthy opponent.

Wings of Heaven had wanted to use a fight with a TPA player as a stepping stone for accepting his new role. However, he was worried that no TPA player would have accepted his invitation. He could easily arrange a fight in the IPA league, but the fictitious nature of the IPA league had rendered the fight almost pointless. Einherjar Wannabe's acceptance to his challenge had come at the last moment before he was about to give up entirely; a hope rekindled.

Slowly but surely, the fighting spirit that had guided Wings of Heaven for so long was awakening.

Wings of Heaven unsheathed a long blade. It looked ordinary, but it had taken countless souls.

This was his encore, and he didn't want to leave with any regret.

As soon as Wings of Heaven took out his blade, Wang Tong registered a sudden change in the air, as it started to be filled with soul energies that emanated from his opponent. The soul energy of Wings of Heaven increased dramatically and finally stabilized around 180.