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Chapter 207: Crescent Moon

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

"But mom, I wanna hang around Sam. People in House of Li are too strict. They make me uncomfortable."

"Haha, don't worry. Ruo-Er is an energetic and happy-going girl. More importantly, your condition is still unstable after your EMF reached Level Five, and Ruo-Er will be able to take care of you in Capth."

"Oh? How come I have no idea about my tactics reaching Level Five? Was it a blessing from that accident?" Ma Xiaoru immediately checked on her EMF after hearing about that, and it was definitely a sudden surprise.

"Calm down, you don't have to rush. Right now, you need to rest. Are you hungry my dear? You want mommy to get you anything?"

"Cool, I'm starving mom. I missed your food!"

Meanwhile, Ma Dutian was having a conversation with another man dressed in a black outfit.

"Do you think it's coincidence, or perhaps there was something wrong with her tactics?"

"There was nothing wrong with her tactics, probably she was just being careless during the progress of her tactics advancement. Judging from the reactions of the people from House of Li, it seemed like they really didn't expect milady would be able to advance to Level Five within such a short period of time. Yet, I have a feeling that Li Ruo-Er did know about this after her duel against milady. Nevertheless, those are only my speculation. After all, they are only kids."

"Kids huh..." Ma Dutian looked solemn, "Hmph, yet this happened right on the day that we got our hands on the new technology. My guts are telling me that Li Taoche was particularly interested in on our latest VZPE Battery."

"Don't you think it's too dangerous to send milady to Capth?"

Ma Dutian shook his head, "That's the safest place since it's one of the areas of House of Li. They'll be held responsible if anything happens. I won't let them get away with it!"

Anyone that messed with House of Ma and infuriated Ma Dutian would never be able to get away unharmed!

"What do you think about Li Shimin?"

"Better than his old man." The man in black outfit commented.

Ma Dutian closed his eyes and said nothing. Again, he was different from his timid character that got bullied by Wu Xin a while ago.

After Ma Dutian ended the conversation, the man in black outfit stepped back and walked through a door that suddenly appeared on the wall. The door vanished as soon as the man disappeared.

Rumors had it that House of Ma's Sky Mansion was filled with secrets, as new technologies would emerge every couple of decades…

Honestly, Ma Xiaoru's transfer didn't affect Ayrlarng very much as her role in promoting Ayrlarng has been done. Moreover, the academy had also improved significantly based on the recent performances of fellow students. In fact, Ma Xiaoru leaving Ayrlarng would also increase the competition amongst students. After all, her uniqueness had overshadowed the other students in the academy.

Right now, Ayrlarng had become the academy of ordinary people.

Nevertheless, this wasn't made public yet.

"Sam, didn't you promise to let me help you? Why did you listen to my mom in the end?" Ma Xiaoru was chatting with Samantha through Skynet.

"Miss genius, your sudden advancement to Level Five had shocked everyone in House of Li. So, of course, they'll prefer you to stay with them at this moment. And since your EMF is still unstable, you should be more careful in your future training, okay?" Samantha advised.

"I'm surprised too, I really didn't expect that I'll be able to unlock Level Five after taking a nap. Hehe, I might really be a genius indeed!"

"Xiaoru, promise me you'll take care of yourself after enrolling in Capth, alright?"

"You sure you don't need my help, Sam?" Ma Xiaoru was still looking adorable as always. Perhaps she would be happier by forgetting what happened in the past six months.

"Haha, I'm only using your name as a gimmick in order to achieve my goals. Are you trying to ask for an endorsement fee?" Samantha laughed.

"Alright, I'll listen to mum. But I really hope that I'll be able to help you, Sam."

"I still have a few things to handle right now, Xiaoru. I'll get back to you later, promise." Samantha felt guilty every time she looked into Ma Xiaoru's innocent eyes. Samantha felt like she had done the worst thing and broken Ma Xiaoru's heart.

Samantha remembered the time Ma Xiaoru confessed to her about fancying Wang Tong, yet in the end, she had "stolen" Wang Tong from her.

Samantha had always been a fearless and honest person, but she was deeply depressed about this matter. Somehow, she even felt ashamed to look at Ma Xiaoru.

As for her story, Samantha told Ma Xiaoru that she had later found someone pretending to be her and helped out Ayrlarng during the time she was unconscious. Fortunately, Ma Xiaoru didn't participate in any METAL Combat matches during the tournament against Capth. But even if she did participate, they could say it was a stand-in hired by the House of Li. Moreover, people from House of Li would make sure that no one talked about this in the future.

Samantha stared blankly at the window. It was a sunny day but her heart was not cheerful at all. She knew that she would have to make everything right in order to return to her normal self.

Mankind was born to be greedy, yet sometimes, it would be difficult to act greedy.

After days of consideration, Samantha realized that it would be inappropriate for her to continue her relationship with Wang Tong. Perhaps she could be greedier and enjoy Wang Tong's companion if Ma Xiaoru was okay, but now that Ma Xiaoru had lost her memories, Samantha felt bad to look her in the eyes. Under these circumstances, she would never be able to continue her relationship with Wang Tong.

In fact, Samantha's relationship with Ma Xiaoru was even deeper than the one she had with Wang Tong. To her, Ma Xiaoru was her dearest little sister who completely trusted her and shared everything with her… She didn't even confront Samantha when she found out that Wang Tong was in love with her. Yet, this time, Samantha realized that she had hurt the dearest person in her life.

Samantha's face went pale upon realizing that. Then, she gathered herself and sent a message to Wang Tong's Skynet. It was time for her to put everything to an end before it was too late.

This time, she didn't use her dream and career as excuses. She made up her mind and told Wang Tong about the true reason behind their breakup.

Samantha felt weak after writing that message, but there was no time for her to lie down and cry as there were still a lot of things that required her attention. Now that her tasks had multiplied after Ayrlarng's success, perhaps work would become the best remedy for her broken heart.

Samantha might be strong in many things, but she was just like someone else when it came to love and relationships.

Actually, Wu Xin didn't tell Samantha that Ma Xiaoru's memories were only sealed off temporarily. Perhaps, Wu Xin was still a bit mad about Samantha. After all, her daughter was hurt because of Samantha's involvement, even though she didn't do anything wrong. Nevertheless, Wu Xin was still quite upset because it was her daughter that got hurt.

Wang Tong then received the message from Samantha. He was shocked to hear that Ma Xiaoru's body went berserk and nearly got her killed after learning about the relationship between Samantha and him. To be honest, he was surprised to learn that the little princess loved him that much, and it broke his heart when he learned about Ma Xiaoru lost her memories for the past six months due to this incident. After all, human life was made out of memories, losing it would mean losing all of the happiness they shared together, and Wang Tong's name would be erased from Ma Xiaoru's mind from now onwards.

Everything would be turned into a piece of blank paper.

Wang Tong had no comment about Samantha's decision of breaking up with him, and he didn't plan on seeing Samantha. Perhaps it was because their relationship was still in an early stage, or perhaps Ma Xiaoru was as important as Samantha in Wang Tong's heart.

He suddenly remembered the silly girl who waited for him in the self-study room, the girl who would just smile at him every time he was late…

"Dammit, what have I done!"

Wang Tong realized that he had never rejected Ma Xiaoru thoroughly, maybe it was because he was still bad in keeping distance with girls. Regretful or not, she was already hurt.

Wang Tong was spacing out for the rest of the day, Hu Yangxuan didn't dare to ask him, but he seemed to have guessed what happened. After all, Hu Yangxuan was a bright kid, and he was one of the few who knew that Ma Xiaoru would be transferred to Capth soon.

Hu Yangxuan dragged Wang Tong along with him after school. No one said anything as they walked towards the pub. Nevertheless, Hu Yangxuan knew that right now Wang Tong needed someone to get drunk with him.

Apparently, Hu Yangxuan was upset too about Ma Xiaoru's transfer. In the beginning, his aim of enrolling in Ayrlarng was to date Ma Xiaoru. Even if she weren't interested in him, he would still like to admire her from a distance. But unfortunately, his muse would soon be gone…

Gulp after gulp, mugs after mugs, somehow, today's beer tasted extremely bitter.

First it was Old Fart, then Wang Ben left, and now, even Ma Xiaoru was leaving. Thank god Wang Tong still had Hu Yangxuan by his side, or else he would be completely lonely.

Even though it was okay to be alone, yet it was an unpleasant feeling. The saddest thing was not being able to have someone to share your happiness with.

Wang Tong was completely wasted, but at least he would be able to forget about everything for tonight. Both boys then hooked their arms on each other's shoulders and wandered on the streets, mumbling words while walking in their staggering steps…

The boys fell to the ground before making back to the academy's entrance. A shadowy figure noticed the boys were drunk outside, then immediately looked for the security guard to help carry the boys back to their dorms.

"Thank you, mister! They're drunk because something bad happened to them lately."

"Don't worry young lady. I've been there myself. I'll let them go this time, after all, they were the pride of us Ayrlarng."

"Thank you very much for helping."

"Haha, so who's the one you like miss? If I were twenty years younger, I would definitely ask you out." The security guard then smiled and sighed after turning towards the drunk boys, "It's good to be young."

Zhou Sisi shook her head as she witnessed the drunk and asleep Wang Tong kick Hu Ynagxuan off his bed. Aside from Hu Yangxuan, Zhou Sisi was the other student who knew what happened. She was upset to see Wang Tong behaving like that, and couldn't help wonder how he would behave if she were the one who left instead.

Wang Tong suddenly whispered a name in his sleep. It wasn't Samantha, but Ma Xiaoru, and he was saying it in front of Zhou Sisi.

Somehow, people would only learn what they really wanted after losing it. Without a doubt, Wang Tong was attracted to Samantha's sexiness, cheerfulness, and strong-willed personality. However, he had mistaken it for love.

Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoru was always right by Wang Tong's side, and asked nothing in return from him. It was clear that Wang Tong would be happy with her, but instead, the boy liked challenges, and ended up fancying someone way out of his league. Anyway, it was already too late.

Zhou Sisi then adjusted Wang Tong's blanket and covered Hu Yangxuan with a piece of bed sheet. After taking care of the boys, she quietly closed the door and left.

It was a beautiful night, and the crescent moon was hanging brightly in the dark sky...

Chapter 208: Super Energy

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

The next day, both Wang Tong and Hu Yangxuan were having a headache due to the hangover. Nevertheless, Wang Tong had felt better. Perhaps it was time to forget about everything for the sake of everyone else.

It was time for him to gather himself!

Hu Yangxuan went back to sleep after class. His body felt more tired than Wang Tong's because he had been sleeping on the floor for the whole night.

However, Wang Tong grabbed Hu Yangxuan before he could leave, "No more sleep my man! We have to cheer up. C'mon, let's go for training. We need to let everyone know that we didn't defeat Capth due to a coincidence. We need to train harder!"

"Spare me from your torture, buddy. At least lemme have some sleep!"

"No time for naps, go get the rest of the team as well. Or else, we'll turn lazy again!"

"Alright, alright, let go of me. What do you wanna train?"

"METAL Combat of course! We've been wasting too much time lately. My body is covered with rust." Wang Tong answered energetically.

"Huh? Can we do it some other time? I've not completely recovered yet!"

"Nope, right now, we're the only main fighters of Ayrlarng's METAL Combat team. I won't be able to do this alone. Are you trying to run away as well?"

"Calm down, I'm not going anywhere. Oh f*ck it, let's do this!" Hu Yangxuan joined Wang Tong in the end, as he would never let himself held back by women! After all, men should be focusing on their career instead of wasting their time thinking about girls.

However, Hu Yangxuan soon regretted accompanying Wang Tong in his torturous training, as he was screaming in pain from time to time…

Wang Tong notice that he had gotten quite free recently. Hence, he began to fill up his free time with different activities in order to move on. He had never contacted Samantha ever since the breakup, and Samantha too had never called him since that day. However, he did hear a lot of things about her.

Aside from his own training, Wang Tong had also begun to input his effort in building up their "S" Society. Besides the lessons in class, he realized that one's personal training was also very important, as it would help enhance the learning process.

The original members of "S" Society had become the main aces of Ayrlarng. Rumi no longer needed any supervision after joining the special training, and she even managed to recruit a few students who also majored in Intel Programming Battle. Although they were not extremely talented, these students showed a great interest in this subject. Furthermore, these strong-willed students would also have the chance of learning through battling with the Zhang Brothers.

Besides Rumi, Tita had also recruited five new members to his team, and since then, he had been training them hard with tons of physical activities. However, he was even more strict about himself, and he trained harder than anyone else. To the other students, Tita might be one of the heroes, yet Tita knew that he was, in fact, one of the weakest in his team. He was in charge of Ayrlarng's Heavy Armed Brawl team, yet he had never won a single match. After watching the match between Scarlet and Jia Gang, Tita was well aware of the real distance in terms of strength. He had to work harder!

He might be the best in Ayrlarng, but he was definitely less skilled and talented compared to the other candidates from different academies. Hence, he had no choice but to train harder in order to become one of the best in this category!

Aside from being the chairman of the society, Wang Tong was also the one that everybody looked up to. Wang Tong was in charge of Battlecraft Combat and METAL Combat, while Zhou Sisi took the role as his assistant. Hu Yangxuan had also become more serious lately, and his job was to get "beaten" by Wang Tong everyday. After all, he was the only one in Ayrlarng that was strong enough to be Wang Tong's sparring partner.

During their spars, the brave Hu Yangxuan would always charge towards Wang Tong while shouting "By the power of the almighty Templar!". However, he would always get KO-ed in the end by Wang Tong. In fact, "S" Society's medical expenses had been gradually increasing ever since Wang Tong became the main person in charge.

A week had passed in the blink of an eye. Wang Tong was going through a report submitted by Zhou Sisi regarding the latest updates of every academy. Wang Tong found this very important as information was one of the crucial factors of success!

Nevertheless, that information was prepared by Cao Yi, who was extremely skilled in intel-gathering. Sometimes, he was even able to obtain intel from Moon and Mars, with the help from the Zhang Brothers.

Something big happened this week; it was a huge announcement from the CEO of FFC.

Apparently, they had found the solution to the energy source problem that has been bugging mankind during intergalactic explorations!

Before that, antimatter energy was the only option for energy source during intergalactic explorations. However, this energy source was extremely difficult to be extracted. After years of research and development, FFC had finally come up with an advanced option for an energy source, known as VZPE Batteries!

With the VZPE Battery, mankind would be able to set off into real intergalactic explorations without worrying about energy source!

This was, in fact, the "infinite energy" that everyone was dreaming about!

Studies of quantum physics had always been mentioning about an enormous energy force in the vacuum space that was subject to fluctuations about a dormant zero average-field condition. This energy was known as Vacuum Zero-point Energy, or VZPE. Its existence had been proven by scientists through conducting researches and precise measurements based on Casimir's theory (Casimir Effect is a small attractive force that acts between two close parallel uncharged conducting plates. It is due to quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field.). Basically, it was like a vast powerhouse in a vacuum space where fluctuations of energy existed in both positive and negative space. This energy existed in a vacuum state as it contained no physical particle, and this new battery was able to generate power through extracting energy from the positive space. At last, after many years of experimentation, the theory finally came to life.

With FFC's technology, they had finally invented the VZPE Battery, allowing mankind to access infinite energy source!

Energy had always been one of mankind's core issues, but from now onwards, this invention would change everyone's lives, from daily lives to voyages into the vast universe!

This tremendous announcement had instantly created an uproar throughout mankind's universe, and had even rippled its way to Centaurus Clusters and Andromeda Galaxy.

As a matter of fact, both Centaurus and Andromeda were not discovered by spacecrafts. They were actually randomly discovered through Hyper Jumps. Before that, scientists had been observing and researching for years in order to pinpoint their exact locations. Nevertheless, they had failed for many times throughout the process. And because discoveries like that would cost a fortune every time and Hyper Jumps were incredibly risky at that time, there had never been another discovery after Centaurus and Andromeda.

However, with the new VZPE Battery, mankind had finally opened the gateway to the vast universe, and with the assistance from Hyper Jump technology, mankind's intergalactic era had finally begun!

Yet, that didn't mean mankind would be treating outer space like their backyard. Instead, it was a doorway for mankind's future generations. After all, humans were destined to move further as time progressed, as stated by Albert Einstein in his Theory of Relativity.

This also explained why House of Ma was able to stand tall amongst other Houses. Somehow, they were always able to surprise the world with a piece of new technology every few decades, and people wouldn't even see it coming many time. Their life-changing inventions covered all aspects of mankind, some even suspected that House of Ma was actually hiding a top-secret technique or possessed extraterrestrial technologies in their household. Nevertheless, those were only speculations, and House of Ma undeniably possessed an excellent R&D team that surpassed the Ivantians.

This sudden announcement had once again enabled the House of Ma to become the center of attention amongst the other Great Houses, while Ma Dutian, the current successor of House of Ma, had become the man of the year. Somehow, this technology in his possession was even greater than the past inventions of Space Crystal and METAL Suits!

In terms of strength, House of Ma might look like the weakest compared to the other four houses. However, some suspected that House of Ma was actually the strongest of all, because they could be possessing some high-tech firepower that hadn't been made public yet. But in the end, those were only speculations. After all, they looked more like businessmen than fighters. Nevertheless, no one dared to mess with House of Ma, because people needed their inventions to thrive and prosper. After all, they were the hope of mankind's evolution.

Many forces had been trying to infiltrate House of Ma by sending in spies from time to time. If their espionages ended up dead, House of Ma could be definitely considered to be hiding something. But every spy they sent in was able to come back alive with no broken bones. Most importantly, they were not able to find any proof that House of Ma was hiding any sort of secret technology. In short, House of Ma was a colossal business tycoon of this world.

No hidden technologies, no extraterrestrial spacecrafts, nothing secretive. Yet, new technologies were introduced every few decades.

Additionally, House of Ma actually wasn't as weak as it looked. After all, they were one of mankind's Five Great Houses. And this fact was well acknowledged by their friends, allies and enemies across the universe.

Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoru had also become to center of attention as soon as the little princess of FFC transferred to Capth. Surprisingly, no one asked why she transferred to Capth, because it seemed normal to most people. After all, she had done her part in helping Samantha. Also, a normal academy like Ayrlarng didn't suit her uniqueness.

FFC's stock price skyrocketed like never before, and their wealth was definitely second to none.

However, the principal of Capth, Lieutenant General Flark, stood up and scolded the media for creating too much disturbance for the academy, and that it would affect the learning progress of the other students. Furthermore, Capth didn't like their students being dragged into the gossips of the outside world.

Basically, he was asking for the reporters to back off from Ma Xiaoru's life. Fortunately, people did listen to Flark from time to time.

The media knew not to mess with both House of Ma and Flark, so they obediently backed off. After all, both parties were powerful enough to make things quiet.

Although the media coverage on Ma Xiaoru had stopped, that didn't mean that her fame had decreased. When people mentioned FFC, the first thing that came to their mind was VZPE Battery, followed by the name Ma Xiaoru. Rumors had it that her Tactics of the Enchantress had improved a lot, and was even able to defeat Li Ruo-Er, not to mention she was gentle, charming and well-mannered. She instantly became the dream girl of the year, and almost everyone was crazy about her.

On the other hand, scientists seemed to have gone crazy as well. Apparently, every physicist, astronomer, engineer, and mathematician was overwhelmed by FFC's latest invention, and they were amazed by the versatility of this VZPE Battery. Finally, the problem that had been bugging them for years had been solved for good.

To most of the scientists, this was a pure scientific breakthrough that widened their knowledge, and had nothing to do with money at all.

FFC later decided to organize a special conference regarding this invention. In fact, FFC would always share partials of their technologies with the rest of the world. But of course, FFC would still be keeping VZPE Battery's core technology to themselves. After all, those were their business secrets.

Still, it was able to create a gigantic uproar amongst forces and corporations of different aspects.

In general, mankind's future was in Ma Dutian's hands!

Chapter 209: Return of the Golden Goose

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

Wang Tong slowly turned off his Sky-Net. He saw the picture of Ma Xiaoru's life in Capth; she was smiling like an angel.

Then, Wang Tong pinched himself; time for him to get over it!

"Dear mentor, you done with that? Here you go, have some coffee." Zhou Sisi walked towards Wang Tong with a cup of aromatic coffee in her hands.

Wang Tong shook his head gently, "Nah, I'm good, thanks. Oh, by the way, you can just call me Wang Tong next time."

Wang Tong was trying to keep his distance with Zhou Sisi, as he didn't want to hurt another girl again.

It startled Zhou Sisi for a while, then she laid down the coffee on his table and said, "You know, not every girl who was close to you would fall for you at the same time. Rest assured, you're not my type. I prefer boys like Hu Yangxuan. Unless either one of us transferred to another academy, you really don't have to distance yourself from me, because it'll just make everything seem awkward. And by the way, I didn't know that you're such a mawkish boy!"

Zhou Sisi then turned around and walked away, "Enjoy your coffee while it's hot, it'll taste bad if it gets cold."

Wang Tong stared at Zhou Sisi, then turned towards the cup of aromatic coffee and said, "Thank you..."

However, he didn't notice the disappointment in Zhou Sisi's heart at all...

It had been a quiet weekend. After their crusade against Capth, both Ma Xiaoru and Samantha had disappeared from Wang Tong's life. And since Hu Yangxuan had also gone home for the weekend, Wang Tong was left alone once again.

After going through tons of ups and downs, Wang Tong finally understood what "worry" tasted like. Nevertheless, it was time for him to gather himself and get busy, he had to move on.

Fortunately, Wang Tong was an optimistic person who would never let things like this get in his way.

Wang Tong still got up early in the morning for his training, even though it was a weekend. Aside from doing his regular training, Wang Tong also began to work on the improvement program for himself as well as for "S" Society.

Basically, the students of Ayrlarng were still weaker compared to those from the other academies. If Hu Yangxuan and he were first class students, Zhou Sisi would be second class, while the rest of the team was only close to second class. Now that Wang Ben and Ma Xiaoru had left, Ayrlarng's situation was not looking good. Instead of relying on a few students, the academy needed an overall improvement. Fortunately, the students of Ayrlarng were recently showing great enthusiasm in general.

Surprisingly, Wang Tong wasn't alone in the morning as the amount of people training in the field had increased significantly. This was way beyond imagination, because not many students would show up at this hour in class during weekdays, let alone their precious weekends. Many would prefer to relax rather than working out. However, students recently seemed to have realized that their time in the academy was actually the best time in their lives to learn. After all, this knowledge would be very useful in the future.

Recently, Wang Tong was selected by Gansus as his assistant, and since he was also getting paid for his work, it was definitely killing two birds with one stone.

Although Wang Tong's knowledge about Zergs was straightforward and effective, the way he understood things was not systematic enough. Sometimes, he would be confused by his own understandings or even end up with funny conclusions. Knowing that normal lessons would never be able to satisfy Wang Tong anymore, Gansus decided to hire Wang Tong as his assistant, enabling him to acquire more experience and precise knowledge while helping him in dissecting Zergs and preparing reports.

After becoming his assistant, Wang Tong realized that Gansus was more than an ordinary teacher. Moreover, he possessed extraordinary knowledge in extraterrestrial studies, which was totally different from those that were usually seen in data and reports.

Aside from work and studies, Wang Tong didn't talk much, and Gansus too was not very interested in his private life. Hence, Wang Tong was very comfortable spending time around this teacher.

Gansus was totally different compared to the other teachers. He even told Wang Tong that it would be fine for him to skip his class and focus on his own tasks instead. Normally, a teacher would never say such things to his or her students, even if the students were above average standards.

Nevertheless, Ayrlarng needed unique students and teachers like them. Ever since Samantha took over Ayrlarng's administration, Gansus had gained more freedom. Back then, Gansus was bound by the traditional teaching methods where all of his decisions required approvals and permissions, and students were not interested in his unique teaching methods. However, times had changed, and Gansus' popularity was increasing day by day, making him the role model amongst teachers.

Instead of pleasing the students, Gansus emphasized on improving his students' performances as well as increasing their enthusiasm, and he did it.

Wang Tong's morning workout was quite simple. First, he would go for a five-kilometer run to wake up his body, followed by one thousand pushups using different fingers. Then, he would carry on his training at the Gravity Chamber and later begin to initialize his Tactics of the Blade for one circulation. After finishing every training, he would then have his breakfast and do some readings.

Basically, that was the daily routine of Wang Tong's morning.

At noon, he would be seen working alongside Gansus. Surprisingly, both Gansus and Wang Tong were able to get along very well. They had similar personalities and didn't talk much except exchanging information. If he were happy, Gansus would tell Wang Tong stories about the days when he was serving the military or some of his speculations about Zergs. Most of Gansus' speculations were yet to be proven, but Wang Tong was smart enough to identify which one was useful and which one was not.

Normally, people would lose their appetite after performing dissections on those horrible creatures, except Gansus and Wang Tong, who were still able to have their lunch with great appetite as usual. Some were trying to be like them, yet it didn't bother Gansus because in general, no one was as strong-willed as the two of them. Even if a person were able to eat as normal in the afternoon, he or she would definitely throw up or even have nightmares at night. People were terrified by the foul smell, those disgusting internal organs and the gooey slimy liquid of Zergs, but all of these didn't disgust Gansus and Wang Tong at all. To them, it was like dissecting frogs and handling playdough, and they were extremely interested in the structures of Zergs and the secrets within those creatures' bodies.

Then, Gansus would treat Wang Tong for dinner after work. Apparently, Gansus was very friendly, and thankfully, Wang Tong wasn't shy either. To Wang Tong, Gansus' treat was satisfying enough even though it was mainly simple dishes from the academy's cafeteria. After dinner, both of them would call it a night and part ways. It was a strange combination indeed, and perhaps Wang Tong was the only person who was able to hang around Gansus.

Without worrying about love and relationships, Wang Tong had become energetic once again. Nevertheless, he hoped that things would continue to keep him busy. After all, it took time for every bit of his emotion to die down.

Perhaps he should bury his feelings into the bottom of his heart and turn those unforgettable experiences into sweet memories.

Fortunately, Einherjar Wannabe had calmed down a lot after turning into a METAL Suit. Wang Tong was able to understand his depression. After all, Einherjar Wannabe had been trying so hard in order to find a way to get out from the Space Crystal, and no one would be able to handle such an unexpected outcome.

Anyhow, Wang Tong really wanted to help Einherjar Wannabe, but he was too busy recently and had no time to bother at all. Perhaps only Old Fart would be able to tell where the Space Crystal came from. Sadly, Old Fart was still missing in action. There were times when Wang Tong would wonder what on earth was Old Fart hiding from him, and how he wished Old Fart would resurface and make sense of everything that had been bothering him.

Luckily, Wang Tong was not a person who liked getting to the bottom of a question. Those things that he had no idea at all, Wang Tong would set them aside and let them be. After all, whatever would be, would be.

Normally at this hour, Wang Tong would be chatting and chilling out with Zhou Sisi, but he had learned his lesson after the incident. Perhaps it would be better for him to be alone and keep his distance. Suddenly, Wang Tong realized that he had not been logging into PA for quite some time. Hence, Wang Tong decided to go check it out. Maybe he would be able to find an opponent if he were lucky.

The moment Wang Tong stepped foot into DREAM Heaven, the shopkeeper almost rushed out and gave him a hug, "Long time no see my friend! Been busy with classes lately?"

"Haha, yea, tons of homework."

"Haha, indeed! I heard that Ayrlarng has become popular recently. The people of Shangjin were extremely proud of you guys. I'm even planning to send my kid to Ayrlarng in the future."

"Wow, good for you mister. Got any room for me?"

"Of course, the usual." The shopkeeper was overjoyed to see Wang Tong. He had been fussing about business getting bad lately. However, he was confident that business would become better when the "Golden Goose" arrived.

The shopkeeper enthusiastically handed Wang Tong his access card, then immediately said his prayers to the God of Prosperity.

Wang Tong didn't check the forum. To be honest, he wasn't really interested in what people thought about him. He remembered Old Fart used to say, "Instead of worrying about how the others see you, you should be focusing on how you feel about yourself". Lately, Wang Tong had been thinking a lot about Old Fart; sometimes he would remember his cute reddish nose.

Although Einherjar Wannabe had been missing in action for quite a long period of time, his popularity still didn't die down. In fact, his existence in PA had even caught the interest of a number of Martians and even Kaedeians.

Kaedeians were exceptionally unique and exotic. Even though Earthlings and Ivantians had seen Kaedeians before, yet to them, Kaedeians still felt like those foreign beauties from western countries. Only Martians were familiar with them, after all, both Martians and Kaedeians were living on the same planet. However, Kaedeians were rarely seen by Earthlings and Ivantians.

Kaedeian was a matrilineal race. Hundreds of years had passed, yet the community status of Kaedeian men remained low, but they seemed fine with it. Nevertheless, the confederal government would never interfere with the customs of other races. Which also explained why the Kaedeians in PA were mainly female players.

Judging from the current society, Ivantian girls were known to be more perfect and elegant, and they also had better contours. Martian girls had darker toned skins and were more energetic, perhaps it had something to do with the environmental factors on Mars. Martian girls were known for their great enthusiasm and straightforward attitude, and it might have something to do with the influences from Kaedeians. However, Mars had a more patriarchal society compared to Earth and Moon. As for Kaedeians, its governance was fully controlled by females. However, they did follow the rules of Earthlings when they had to deal with them, and would remain silent most of the time. Their beauties were out of this world, like the muses and goddesses of ancient Greek mythology, but the extraterrestrial version of them.

Chapter 210: A Stronger Opponent

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

As for Earthling girls, the best way to describe them was they looked "Earthy". Or to be exact, Earthling girls looked more like human beings compared to the girls from other races, which was why they were respectively popular amongst mankind communities.

Instead of getting upset, Kaedeians actually didn't mind being admired by the other players in PA. In fact, they wouldn't get too close with Earthlings under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, romantic relationships between Earthlings and Kaedeians were very welcomed in the community, and both parties had been working very hard in order to maintain the harmonious relationship in the alliance. Normally, if a Kaedeian decided to start a family with an Earthling, they would adopt a Kaedeian or Earthling orphan as their child.

Wang Tong too was fairly attracted by Kaedeians; they did look amazing in an exotic way.

System notification: Einherjar Wannabe logged in!

Nowadays, Einherjar Wannabe's popularity was second to none in PA, especially after he successfully defeated Kaedeian's Art of the Blazing Flare with his Art of the Soaring Heaven, Einherjar Wannabe's fame rose like never before.

The word of Einherjar Wannabe's appearance spread across immediately like wildfire. More Kaedeians began to log in, all there to battle Einherjar Wannabe. Apparently, many players and technicians had been trying out his Art of the Soaring Heaven. However, they discovered that it wasn't as good as it looked. In fact, battle strategies were not as simple as they looked; same strategies being used by different players would have different outcomes for sure. Since Einherjar Wannabe only battled one player in the previous Battlecraft Combat, many had doubted his capabilities. Nevertheless, people were still very interested in his battles and would like to know more about him.

Wang Tong's recent focus in Battlecraft Combat was to finalize his Art of the Soaring Heaven and also his Art of the Iron Wall, one offensive strategy and one defensive strategy. In order to shape them into perfection, first, he would have to look for every small flaw within his strategies. In order to make them better, he would have to take part in battles. Challenging elite players would be the best way to fine-tune his own strategies.

Strangely, Wang Tong had a reason why his battle strategies were not as vivid as Carl's. He had inputted too much stuff that focused on overall perspectives and timing, and his strategies mainly based on his own feelings in battles. Thus, they all looked weird and funny in the end.

Wang Tong had been trying out his Art of the Iron Wall against Zhou Sisi and Best during training, but the improvements were not as much as he expected. Moreover, Wang Tong didn't dare to use Art of the Soaring Heaven, because he was afraid that his secret identity would be busted by a good player like Best, unless someone else in his team had already been trying out Art of the Soaring Heaven.

Cameron's team immediately got busy when Einherjar Wannabe showed up. They were always standing by for his appearance. Now that his team had provided everything Einherjar Wannabe would need, all Cameron had to do was to wait in patience and see who he would pick as his opponent.

Currently, more players were trying to challenge Einherjar Wannabe, and Cameron's staff had taken the trouble to sort out a list of impressive challengers. However, Cameron had also sent Einherjar Wannabe another system notification, requesting him to inform the administration about his arrival one day earlier. If he weren't able to do so, it would be great if he could standby for a moment and give some time for his opponents to get ready. Surprisingly, Wang Tong replied and agreed to Cameron's suggestions.

Wang Tong had decided to fully concentrate on his training; the stronger his opponents, the better he would be able to focus. Moreover, he would not have to think about anything else besides focusing on his training.

Since her last defeat, Rhin had been busy researching the methods of countering Art of the Soaring Heaven. She even asked her classmates to imitate this strategy that was used by Einherjar Wannabe. However, she realized that no one else was able to be as perfect as Einherjar Wannabe. Not only did their versions contain a lot of flaws, but Rhin was also able to knock them out with her Art of the Blazing Flare like a piece of cake.

In other words, the best way to conduct her experiments was to challenge Einherjar Wannabe once again.

However, she realized that Einherjar Wannabe had never fought the same opponent twice. Apparently, he was only interested in newer and stronger players. Even though Rhin had improved a lot lately, still she wasn't really confident in winning against Einherjar Wannabe.

As a matter of fact, Kaedeians had discovered a bunch of flaws within Art of the Soaring Heaven after using it a few times during simulation battles, especially its super weak defense in the early stages. It would never be able to stand a chance as long as the opposing player developed a decent anti-interference system. Hence, many Kaedeians began to ignore this strategy.

Nevertheless, Rhin sought her senior Parese's assistance. Parese was one of the members of Her Highness's Guard Regiment, and she was also Kaedeians Royal Academy's No.1 among second graders. After all, Rhin was the only person who did fight against Einherjar Wannabe for three matches, and she could tell that his Art of the Soaring Heaven was way different from the conventional ones!

However, most of her friends were telling her that the reason she lost was due to the element of surprise. She was caught off guard because she had never seen such strategy before. Now that it had been widely researched, his strategy would never be as intimidating anymore.

Opportunistic strategies like this could be easily countered. All that a player had to do was able to set up a perfect recon at the beginning of the match, and deliver a sudden ambush later, catching the enemy off guard and ending the match with the speed of lightning.

Nonetheless, Rhin still had her doubts, which was why she sought Parese's assistance. She needed guidance from an experienced Kaedeian fighter.

It took her quite some time to persuade Parese. After all, most of her time was occupied by her position as Her Highness's Royal Guard, not to mention she also needed time for her own training and also learning political knowledge. Unlike Earthlings, Kaedeian's government constitution resembled the political status of the Medieval Ages.

The reason Parese agreed to help wasn't because she wanted to avenge the defeat of a fellow Kaedeian. After all Kaedeians were unlikely to fight against Earthlings. She agreed to help Rhin because only Einherjar Wannabe was able to demonstrate the real Art of the Soaring Heaven, and she also believed that it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Furthermore, Parese was also quite curious about how strong the real Art of the Soaring Heaven was.

Rhin had been eagerly waiting for Einherjar Wannabe's appearance. She had to show the other Kaedeians that his Art of the Soaring Heaven was not as weak as it seemed, and it was extremely effective against their existing battle strategies. Although Kaedeians weren't interested in the fight of reputations, still it didn't mean that they had no sense of crisis. After all, their home was based on another race's planet, so they had to build up their own strength in order to survive and thrive.

Wang Tong was looking at the two lists of challengers prepared by Cameron's staff, one for METAL Combat and one for Battlecraft Combat. Apparently, the challengers in METAL Combat were mainly players with glamorous IDs but funny battle results. Meanwhile, the challengers in Battlecraft Combat looked more promising.

After much consideration, Wang Tong decided to select an opponent who had participated more than one thousand matches and with the winning ratio of more than eighty percent. Based on the available data, Wang Tong was certain that his next opponent was definitely not some random weakling from nowhere.

Nevertheless, luck would decide on how strong his opponent really was.

Just when he was about to press the accept button, a long and unique name caught his eye. Wang Tong had no idea what the Kaedeian writings said, but he was definitely attracted to the translation at the end that said: Parese, Kaedeian Royal Academy's No.1 among second graders.

Wang Tong instantly changed his mind and selected Parese instead. He had always been longing to fight against Kaedeians, because their operating maneuvers and awareness were very different compared to Earthlings. He was certain that having a match against a Kaedeian girl would be able to bring him some inspirations.

Wang Tong's main focus was to strengthen both the Art of the Soaring Heaven and the Art of the Iron Wall to a certain level before he passed both strategies to his team. It might sound cruel, but there was no other option for Ayrlarng at this moment except getting stronger and stronger. Moreover, Wang Tong was a man who would keep his promises. So, he would still be assisting Samantha in strengthening the academy while letting her know that she wasn't alone at all.

He knew he would be able to do that.

Ding Dong…

System notification: Einherjar Wannabe would be fighting against Parese in Battlecraft Combat.

Wang Tong let his opponent decide when she wanted to start; nevertheless, the sooner, the better.

Rhin smiled immediately when she saw Einherjar Wannabe accept Parese's challenge. In fact, she was quite confident that Einherjar Wannabe would pick Parese, because he was obviously a man in search of greater strength.

As for METAL Combat, Wang Tong scrolled down his list to spot his next opponent. Since Wang Tong had already fought against Ivantians before, this time, Wang Tong picked a Martian opponent instead.

Wang Tong chose this opponent because of his unique name, Hwo Quan. It was a real name, in fact, Hwo was an exclusive surname of a family on Mars. They were known for being House of Lie's faithful followers since ages. Generations of the Hwo family had been serving House of Lie ever since they fully obtained Mars' governance. In return, people from House of Lie would select a few youngsters from Hwo family from time to time and would be teaching them Tactics of the Blaze.

Wang Tong was eager to witness the power of its extraordinary blazing attacks.

Nevertheless, it was basically his wild guess because no one was able to tell if this Hwo Quan fella was really a member of the Hwo family. Nevertheless, Wang Tong was already happy enough to have Parese as his opponent.

The notification about Einherjar Wannabe's upcoming matches was immediately spread across every game developed by DREAM; such a convenient free publicity!

Regardless of being a PA player or not, most people were definitely interested in matches like these. As soon as the news spread, the virtual universe was once again lit up by an incredible uproar.

Even the server indicator of PA had turned from blue to red, meaning the number of users logging in was skyrocketing persistently. The unprecedented appeal of Einherjar Wannabe was absolutely amazing in this era which was already filled with different varieties of entertainment!

Recently, people even began to wonder if a God-like all-rounder such as Einherjar Wannabe really existed.

It seemed like Einherjar Wannabe was really planning to dominate both categories, but he would first need to overcome the gigantic obstacles in front of him.

If he were only trying to dominate METAL Combat, people could still imagine that he was actually an ace from nowhere who received strict training since a young age and later miraculously mastered some high-level tactics randomly and began to dominate with his extraordinary talent and hardwork. At least, people were still able to "explain" why he was able to perform like a real Einherjar.

However, this person was also trying to dominate Battlecraft Combat, which was not something that could be easily mastered by someone from a family that practiced martial arts. Battle strategies required recon and teamwork, especially complicated strategies like Art of the Soaring Heaven. Anyhow, Einherjar Wannabe would really need to bring out his best game if he wanted to make Art of the Soaring Heaven into a proper battle strategy.

In general, METAL Combat and Battlecraft Combat were two completely different territories, and Einherjar Wannabe was up for a challenge like never before.

Chapter 211: Double Battles

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

Apparently, Einherjar Wannabe was trying to dominate one more category than the legendary Blade Warrior!

METAL Combat emphasized on one's battle experience and capabilities, whereas Battlecraft Combat emphasized on a person's commanding and operating methods. To Einherjar Wannabe, he had no other options but to go big or go home this time.

With Einherjar Wannabe's fame gradually getting bigger, people were somehow expecting that he would eventually be challenged by much stronger elites and possibly even Level Six Fighters. They wondered if he would be able to handle the heat when that day really arrived? Would his level four Soul Energy still able to create miracles against opponents with such an overwhelming difference?

In fact, a great deal of strong fighters had been born ever since General Li Feng created METAL Combat. However, none of those fighters were able to dominate both METAL Combat and Battlecraft Combat. However, people did believe that it was a matter of time for such a human being to appear someday.

Perhaps it would really be Einherjar Wannabe, but only if he were able to win this time.

PA administration later uploaded the player's information of both challengers in order to create a surprise element and increase their publicity. After all, they were only here for bigger business and paychecks.

Parese, a second grader from Kaedeian Royal Academy, not only was she the No.1 student in her grade, but she was also a member of Her Highness's adherent. It was almost certain that she would become a famous character amongst Kaedeians in the future. After all, those who got the position as Her Highness's adherent had bigger chances of becoming a general in the future. Based on her information, Parese was definitely a player that would cause Einherjar Wannabe some troubles.

Obviously, Einherjar Wannabe's Art of the Soaring Heaven had caught the attention of fellow Kaedeians. Hence, they had sent out a much stronger player to defeat Einherjar Wannabe and his surprising strategy.

As for Hwo Quan, it seemed like he was indeed one of the members of Hwo family from Mars, and apparently, he was also one of the top-notches in his family. Only the strongest and toughest kid of the Hwo family would have the chance to learn Tactics of the Blaze, and it seemed like Hwo Quan had mastered it.

This meant that tonight, Einherjar Wannabe would be going head to head against tactics of the Blaze, which was also known as one of the Five Great Tactics of mankind!

In fact, some even said that it was the fiercest tactics amongst all five!

After missing in action for half a month, Einherjar Wannabe was finally back, and people were fairly excited to witness the two upcoming matches.

In the beginning, the administration intended to postpone the matches to Sunday, but their plan failed as both challengers showed up before they could make the announcement. Even if they were late, they would still never agree for sure. To them, it had nothing to do with profits or publicity. All they were interested was the chance to face off against Einherjar Wannabe.

Cameron was well aware of that, hence he had no choice but to make this as eye-catchy as possible.

Battlecraft Combat would begin at 2000 hours sharp… The match would feature Einherjar Wannabe against Parese.

METAL Combat was scheduled at 2100 hours (subjected to change), Einherjar Wannabe versus the almighty Hwo Quan. It would be the most anticipated match of a lifetime!

Right after General Li Feng created METAL Combat, a great deal of martial art geniuses had been trying to invent tactics that would surpass the Five Great Tactics. In fact, intimidating tactics like those had been recorded in history before, but they contained a lot of flaws, and most of the flaws would badly hurt its users or even cause a fatality. Hence, up until now, there was nothing that could overpower the unrivaled Five Great Tactics.

These five tactics were literally mankind's strongest tactics.

As a matter of fact, not even a single decent tactics was seen used by someone else in a fight when PA first launched, let alone the Five Great Tactics. However, it all changed when Einherjar Wannabe showed up, as his mightiness was later challenged by Fist of the Racing Tiger and Firmament Palm Strike one after another. And now, even Tactics of the Blaze was about to make its debut in this virtual space. The anticipation of people got bigger and bigger. As long as Einherjar Wannabe remained undefeated, stronger challengers would definitely show up one by one, and to most people, this was the type of show that they had been dreaming of.

Nevertheless, the biggest question remained, was Einherjar Wannabe able to remain unrivaled?

Meanwhile, at Capth, Cisco, Wally, Wang Ben and the rest of the team were patiently waiting for the match to begin. Although none of them were lectured by Halmond, they still blamed themselves for losing to Ayrlarng, and they had to get stronger and aim for much bigger glory in order to offset the humiliation that they had brought to Capth. Honestly, losing was not a big deal since they were still young and there would be plenty of chances for them to shine, but before that, they had to improve themselves. Ayrlarng's victory had alarmed Capth that they were about to be overtaken by the aces from other A-Ranked academies.

After all, to maintain a situation was definitely harder than to create one, and the most important factor to do so was to keep on improving.

Wang Tong's dominance had shown them that they were not as undefeatable as they thought, not to mention there was still another monster in the virtual world that went by the name Einherjar Wannabe.

Without a doubt, Einherjar Wannabe had literally exceeded every peer around his age.

As for Wang Ben, he was immediately recognized as Capth's No.1 amongst freshmen for his outstanding performance in the previous tournament, without even challenging someone else to a duel. Everyone was certain that his level of strength was more than enough to dominate both first grade and second grade of Capth, and as time went by, he would definitely become stronger and stronger.

After all, actual strength was the only thing that mattered in Capth, and Wang Ben's family background had nothing to do with his current achievement.

However, Wang Ben's straight face remained the same even though he had become No.1. It seemed like he had decided to go by that attitude until graduation. Surprisingly, his coolness and cold reactions had increased his popularity in Capth instead. Everyone agreed that the cool expression was a perfect match for his top-notch identity.

Cisco was the first amongst the team who suggested to pay attention to Einherjar Wannabe, and to be honest, he was quite surprised by Wang Ben responding to his suggestion as well. But it didn't seem strange because Wang Ben was also defeated by Einherjar Wannabe once. But his defeat had instead blessed him for successfully going through his second Mind-Opening Operation. Hence, it was expected for Wang Ben to have a respectful attitude towards Einherjar Wannabe.

Aside from the team, many other students of Capth were also joining them to watch the live streaming. Some of them were actually here to be in the same room with Wang Ben and the other celebrities of Capth, instead of watching Einherjar Wannabe.

Meanwhile, the students of Bernabeu and Ayrlarng had created a shared room in PA so that all of them could discuss together while watching the matches. Students of Ayrlarng were, in fact, one of the earliest ones who had noticed Einherjar Wannabe's existence right after his debut. As for Bernabeu, Cao Yi had even done some research on him before, which was why the students of both academies would pay attention to the upcoming matches and organized this group viewing session.

"Where's Wang Tong?" Apache asked, still looking as cool as always.

"Something happened to him lately, but he'll be alright, don't worry." Zhou Sisi replied briefly.

Apache didn't ask anything further since he wasn't someone who liked sticking his nose into someone else's business. But somehow, he could tell that it had something to do with Ma Xiaoru. Even though everyone had learned about Ma Xiaoru's transfer to Capth, still they were curious why would she and Wang Ben do that.

"Don't worry, I'm recording the match for him."

"Guys, remember to pay attention to his Art of the Soaring Heaven. It's time to see if his creativity was a yay or nay." Best said.

"I thought he had proven its capability last time?" Carl asked.

"Haha, not everyone is as lucky as you and your Carl-ism. Your strategy is vivid and organized, and you're using your real identity when you demonstrated it, which was why Carl-ism was immediately approved by the ministry. As for Wang Tong, the ministry didn't approve his Art of the Iron Wall because it wasn't vivid enough. New battle strategies are seriously not as easily approved as you think they would be. Although Einherjar Wannabe's Art of the Soaring Heaven was vivid at some point, it wasn't as perfect as it seemed after being tested. It could be easily subdued as long as the opposing player ambushed earlier with Art of Lightning. Hence, it still requires some fine-tuning, or maybe, Einherjar Wannabe is able to prove that it works fine later. Yet, I doubt that would happen." Best explained.

After his previous amazing performance, Carl had become famous, at some point, even more famous than Wang Tong amongst the Battlecraft Combat community. After all, not many academies were aware of his matches in the previous inter-academy tournament. Moreover, the news would only mention about Capth's careless mistakes, and some people would instead suspect that it was an under-the-table agreement between Capth and Ayrlarng. However, Carl's Art of Carl-ism was an officially approved battle strategy, and the people of every academy would remember those names who had created something new. Even teachers would be researching his new strategy in order to explain to their students during class.

Soon, his fame would get even bigger.

Best really envied Carl's achievement as he would be remembered by history for his creation, and people would bring up Carl's name whenever his strategy was being used. However Best himself would only be remembered by most people as the decent ace player amongst his batch, and nothing else.

Carl nodded after hearing Best's explanations. Despite his sudden success, his doggedness remained the same. Sometimes, people did wonder if he really were the person who created Carl-ism.

Nevertheless, he wasn't arrogant and had been trying his best to keep on improving. As Gansus predicted, Carl would definitely shine someday, and he was destined to go places.

Upon returning to Ayrlarng after the tournament at Capth, Carl had been training even harder, because he was well aware that someone else might KO him someday with the Art of Carl-ism that he created, and he would never want that to happen. After all, one would have to create long-term achievements in order to maintain his or her dominance.

Meanwhile, on Moon, Zhang Jin was seen chatting with her team while waiting for the matches. Her guests were well treated by her hospitality as there was a selection of brewed coffee, fresh fruit juices, and even delicate pastries.

Ivantians did know how to enjoy life, even if they were only students.

Luv Ma and Miao Xiu had become Zhang Jin's regular guests. Lately, Miao Xiu had been busy challenging the aces in the academy, and had even become the No.1 amongst freshmen, but wasn't too happy about that because there was still one b*stard amongst first graders that was yet to be challenged. Although none of the direct successors of all Five Great Houses were in the academy, still he thought that he wasn't worth being called No.1; the title was kind of humiliating instead.

On the other hand, Luv Ma had finally gotten more familiar with Zhang Jin, and his affection and admiration towards her had gotten bigger as well. To him, Zhang Jin had an indescribable and attracting vibe; she was definitely the most perfect dream girl of his life. However, Luv Ma didn't dare fancy her because she was absolutely way out of his league. Nevertheless, Luv Ma was still fairly excited about being able to hang around the perfect and smart muse of his.

In fact, Luv Ma had even decided to serve House of Zhang after graduation, and it would even be better if he could be one of Zhang Jin's core members.

While the world was busy guessing Einherjar Wannabe's real identity, Zhang Jin seemed to have discovered something. Even though she still couldn't confirm Einherjar Wannabe's true identity, yet she was able to find some clues from his tactics, and she needed some time to confirm her speculations.

Based on the old data from her archive, the real Einherjar Wannabe was dead for ages without a doubt. However, she still wasn't able to find any record of that person's real identity. In fact, his existence seemed controversial at that period of time.

Nevertheless, Zhang Jin needed rock-hard evidence in order to prove everything.

As the successor of House of Zhang, her duty was to make sure that both history and intel were based on facts.

Chapter 212: Overwhelming Dominance

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

Meanwhile, on Mars, students of the Kaedeian Royal Academy were fairly excited about the upcoming matches. The girls couldn't wait to see how different was his version of Art of the Soaring Heaven.

One of the key factors of battle strategies was improvisation. The more complicated it was, the harder for it to be subdued. One would need to participate in bigger battles from time to time in order to completely master the essence of a new strategy.

People would like to see if Art of the Soaring Heaven was really designed to counter Art of the Blazing Flare.

Rhin was sitting down with a solemn expression. She was joined by a group of students who were the experts in this category. Apparently, they were also watching the matches in order to gather enough data and evidence for their research on Art of the Soaring Heaven.

Both players were given more than half an hour to prepare themselves. The first match was about to begin, yet the numbers of spectators was still increasing. Clearly, they were all interested upon seeing Einherjar Wannabe's name was mentioned.

Cameron was certain that Einherjar Wannabe would never let him down. But unfortunately, he still wasn't able to have Einherjar Wannabe under his control. How he wished Einherjar Wannabe would act under his command? Recently, Cameron had been trying to figure out Einherjar Wannabe's real identity. Apparently, his random appearance was not very good for business development. Hence, Cameron was thinking of approaching him in person by tracking him down with the clues that Einherjar Wannabe left behind. Nevertheless, Cameron was also worried that Einherjar Wannabe might actually be a player who was owned by another organization.

Whenever players logged into PA, the system would be indicating their general whereabouts, for instance, a certain district on Earth. If Cameron could find the exact login location that matched Einherjar Wannabe's login time and customs, Cameron might have a big chance of tracking him down.

In fact, a lot of media companies had also been asking DREAM regarding Einherjar Wannabe's real identity. But DREAM didn't say anything about it, not because they didn't want to, but they were clueless as well.

Turned out Einherjar Wannabe's IP address was untraceable. He was on Earth alright, but his location was bouncing here and there, which was something that they had never seen before. Even though Cameron had recently received the permission from DREAM's board of directors to track Einherjar Wannabe down, it was still quite difficult judging from the latest technologies he had. Nevertheless, his technicians were now thinking of a way to solve this.

Cameron couldn't help wondering how Einherjar Wannabe was able to log in at different locations from time to time, and he suspected that Einherjar Wannabe actually had a special team of people with advanced technologies to help him. Hence, his ID was able to bounce here and there. After all, a single person would never be able to do so. If Einherjar Wannabe did have a team to support him, that would mean that the opposing party was bigger than he could imagine, and he didn't even dare to imagine what they were really trying to do…

The stronger and more secretive Einherjar Wannabe became, the more worried certain departments and organizations would become. Even though they didn't do anything at this point, yet they would want an explanation from DREAM at some day for sure if Einherjar Wannabe defeated one of the successors of the Five Great Houses. However, that was unlikely to happen for the time being.

Nevertheless, when that day came, even God would not be able to answer his prayers for sure.

"Any update on the tracking?"

"Negative sir. Apparently, the opposing party is better than we expected. We couldn't even narrow down the location with our power source tracking method. I'm afraid we're dealing with a much bigger corporation." One of the technicians looked startled. After all, as the company which developed PA, DREAM was armed with all sorts of advanced technologies, yet they were unable to trace Einherjar Wannabe's whereabouts at all.

Some even wondered if he was actually a ghost that lived in the virtual world.

Meanwhile, Wang Tong was seen warming up and exercising his wrists. His opponent had to be even stronger since she was Rhin's upperclassman. Wang Tong was fairly excited and hopeful that it would be a good match.

However, it seemed like Wang Tong didn't notice that his Space Crystal was letting out a faint shimmering glow…

As for the shopkeeper, he was smiling happily at the counter. The golden goose had once again worked his magic and "summoned" a bunch of customers in a blink of an eye. Even the open monitor area in his shop was fully packed with people. Those people were seen talking nonstop, and the excitement was heating up. However, the shopkeeper didn't mind the loudness at all since the more excited they got, the thirstier they would become, and he would be able to sell more drinks tonight.

Both players showed up in the arena at 2000 hours sharp. Everyone was full of anticipation, eager to find out if Einherjar Wannabe would be able to maintain his standard in a more difficult challenge like this.

The match was about to begin, and every student from various academies was watching this match in all sorts of methods.

Everyone knew that battles in Battlecraft Combat were not for entertainment at all, yet this match had caught the interest of ton of professional players, and the spectators' turnout was even much higher than Earth Confederation's previous tournaments.

Apparently, everyone was here to see if Art of the Soaring Heaven was really that invincible.

In fact, a battle strategy had to be verified for its effectiveness. The stronger it was, the more complicated it would become, and more loopholes it would contain. But, if the strategy was too simple, it would become too boring and people would lose their interest.

Einherjar Wannabe and Parese were both doing their final adjustments. Their complicated hand speed exercises were more than enough to dazzle the crowd.

Finally, the match had begun!

The match immediately became a mirror battle as both players' hands were evenly quick at the beginning phase. None of them wasted any time, and every detail was done to perfection. Nevertheless, it didn't surprise many people as most of them were also able to copy those robotic movements that didn't require any thinking. However, something did happen after a minute.

When Einherjar Wannabe completed his air base, people immediately knew that he was about to demonstrate his Art of the Soaring Heaven.

Meanwhile, Parese was seen using Kaedeian's favorite Art of the Blazing Flare. As the No.1 amongst second graders in Kaedeian Royal Academy, Parese was more mature and steadier that Rhin, hence her Art of the Blazing Flare was, of course, better than Rhin's. Furthermore, Parese's controlling maneuvers seemed impressive as well. Clearly, she didn't panic even though she was facing the famous Einherjar Wannabe.

Recons from both players were pretty decent as well, and they paid attention to every detail of their movements. It seemed like neither player kept any secrets from each other in the beginning phase, while the match further developed to one that resembled the previous fight between Einherjar Wannabe and Rhin. But as Einherjar Wannabe began to deploy his plane, Parese's ground forces were seen getting into formation. Apparently, she had shortened her financial development stage to create a ground formation that targeted Einherjar Wannabe's gimmicks.

As Einherjar Wannabe's plane approached, Parese deployed a small group of troops to counter his airborne attacks.

Both players began exchanging fire, and it seemed like Einherjar Wannabe's strategy was completely busted. Apparently, his plane was unable to destroy her radar tower since he was unable to deal with the defense on the ground, and things were not looking good.

If Einherjar Wannabe were unable to deal with her strategy, without a doubt, Parese would be turning the table in no time.

As a matter of fact, Parese's controlling maneuvers was rated top-notch in her academy, not to mention her way of reconnaissance and utilizing Art of the Blazing Flare was different compared to the others. Instead of hastily destroying Wang Tong's plane, she planned to guard her radar towers while conserving forces and waiting for the perfect chance to ambush in one shot.

However, just that everyone was wondering if Einherjar Wannabe would back down and think of another way, his second fighter jet had come to the rescue. It seemed like he was demonstrating parallel dual controlling maneuvers!

One of his planes was busy attacking Parese's radar towers while the other one was seen subduing the opponent with its airborne advantages. Parese knew about the importance of radar towers, so she had no choice but to defend them with all of her might, even if it would cost her to lose a great deal of troops.

Parese's controlling maneuvers were flawless, yet for some reason, she was always this close to getting rid of Einherjar Wannabe's planes.

Einherjar Wannabe's planes were traveling in completely different patterns even though he was controlling them with parallel dual controlling maneuvers, as one was in charge of attack and the other one was in charge of interfering. The effectiveness and accuracy of Parese's troops immediately dropped since she had to separate her troops in order to deal with two planes, and she was unable to afford losing so many troops.

Both players were trying their best to control the current situation. Parese then took over with her strongest controlling maneuvers and secured the statuses of her radar towers!

Everyone was looking at the huge monitor. They could tell that Einherjar Wannabe was getting KO-ed soon since his invisible team was basically useless in this situation.

All of a sudden, Parese's siren went off at her base, and her face went pale as she turned around to see what was going on. Turned out Einherjar Wannabe's ground troops had approached her base, and even though it wasn't very large scale, still it was more than enough to deal her the finishing blow.

This time, Einherjar Wannabe demonstrated the parallel tri controlling maneuvers, adding frontal attacks and rear interference into his attacks.

In the end, Parese helplessly surrendered.

Everyone began to wonder if that was, in fact, the true power of Art of the Soaring Heaven!

It was indeed a sudden victory of Einherjar Wannabe. However, people were able to learn that planes were not only good in recon and interference, they also enabled a player to select his or her preferred strategies according to the situation. Obviously, Parese's operational awareness was very good as she was able to defend her radar towers from getting destroyed while subduing Einherjar Wannabe's parallel dual controlling maneuvers. However, during this process, Parese's operational maneuvers had become slower, and she had to burn out her financial development in order to produce more troops for this struggling battle. Meanwhile, Einherjar Wannabe had developed enough forces and was already very familiar with Parese's base.

Even if Parese were stronger, she would never be able to stand against his three hasty controls; it was definitely a sudden knockout.

Wang Tong then licked his lips and drank some water. To be honest, what happened just now was actually a quick change of plans because the opposing player's strategy was specifically designed to be used against him. But instead of going with different strategies after observing and understanding opponent's performance, Wang Tong's overall strategy remained unchanged, and he focused on understanding opponent's situation first before improvising the strategy to deal with it.

The first match ended in less than ten minutes. Somehow, it did feel like a performance.

Students of the Kaedeian Royal Academy was stunned and silenced by what happened a while ago. Apparently, they were still unable to figure out what it was. Moreover, they were curious if Einherjar Wannabe won by controlling maneuvers or an upper hand in strategies.

Parese shook her head. To be honest, her chance of winning was higher, victory was so close yet so far. She might have had a bigger chance to win if she chose to go for an instant all-out attack a few minutes earlier.

However, she had made the wrong choice.

On the other hand, Rhin seemed to have realized that Art of the Soaring Heaven actually had another key factor, which was the superb controlling maneuvers of Einherjar Wannabe.

People would always feel like they had a chance to win when dealing with his Art of the Soaring Heaven. After all, it did look weak at the very beginning.

Chapter 213: Undefeatable

Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_

Parese immediately requested for a rematch, and of course, Wang Tong accepted happily. However, changes had to be made to his strategy since his opponent would definitely give him more pressure this time. Without a doubt, Wang Tong would be doomed if he deployed his invisible troops like how he used to do.

Round two began without wasting any time. This time, Parese chose to deploy with maximum speed while Wang Tong chose to play defensive at the beginning and deploy his planes later. As usual, their controlling maneuvers were evenly matched. However, the defensive side had the better advantages, and right after Parese's unsuccessful attacks, Wang Tong immediately deployed his planes and blew off her radar towers. In the end, Parese surrendered before Wang Tong could send over his invisible troops.

Rhin and her schoolmates remained still and silent. She was well aware that her senior was not able to keep her cool after the previous defeat, and seemed to have run out of ideas for going all out at the very beginning. But clearly, she had no other choices because Einherjar Wannabe's strategy was incredibly strong.

It took quite a while for Parese to calm down, then she clenched her teeth and requested for a third rematch.

Apparently, she still had one last trick up in her sleeves!

On the other hand, Wang Tong seemed to be more and more familiar with his own strategy. He even discovered a crucial factor of Battlecraft Combat, which was to immediately make up his mind on a certain strategy as soon as one noticed the opponent's intention, and also not to rely on luck. Victory would eventually come as long as he was able to make a firm decision regarding his choice of strategy. However, most importantly, he had to first make sure that there was no mistakes in his controlling maneuvers.

Wang Tong happily accepted Parese's request for a third round.

Meanwhile, students of every academy were seen discussing excitedly amongst themselves. Top-ranked players like Flash and Bisu had realized that in order to deal with new strategies like this, regardless of going defensive or offensive at the early stage, it would definitely turn into a dogfight in the end. This type of strategy was actually a sort of offensive strategy that was based on gaining control of the overall situation, and only those who had a great deal of confidence in their controlling maneuvers would be able to do so.

Yet, the most terrifying thing about strategies like this was their versatility. Instead of going step by step like a math formula, it could be improvised on judging the overall situation. After all, stubborn strategies were practically suicidal.

Flash seemed to know what Parese was up to. He wasn't sure in the previous round, but he could instantly see her pattern in the third match. Unfortunately for Flash, his hands were not as quick as Bisu's, or else he would really love to fight against Parese. But even if his hands were speedy enough, his odds of winning would still be very low because she seemed to be very skilled in her own strategies.

The third match had begun!

All of a sudden, Flash laughed and surprised the other students of Capth. Then, he sighed and continued, "It seems like the Kaedeians have used up everything they have."

Flash was clear of what was going on while the others remained confused. Flash might not be stronger than Parese. However, he was still able to read the overall situation and tell what was going on with his extraordinary perspective.

As Flash predicted, one minute later, everyone began to notice that Parese was demonstrating the same setup as Einherjar Wannabe. Turned out Parese's last resort was to use Einherjar Wannabe's strategy against him.

The match instantly escalated to a battle of obtaining total control. Both players were demonstrating parallel dual controlling maneuvers as well as aerial combat maneuvers at the same time, focusing on the overall operating maneuvers as they battled.

Through connecting Soul Energy to the system, mankind had created individual overall controlling method, and this method required superb mastery in terms of control and multitasking.

Aside from performing the same setup, they seemed to strike at the same time as well.

Wang Tong was fairly excited about this one-on-one dogfight, and there was no reason to hold back.

Parese was demonstrating impressive controlling maneuvers. After all, Kaedeians were known to be extremely skillful in this category. However, she could vividly feel the gap between Einherjar Wannabe's controlling maneuvers and hers.

Aside from being one of the ace fighters of Kaedeian Royal Academy, Parese was also given the nickname of "The Elegant Crusher". Undeniably, Parese had demonstrated her best performances. Both Einherjar Wannabe and her APM had exceeded five hundred at this point. At the same time, both of their bases were also very busy at the moment. However, their difference in terms of strength was clearly seen on the monitor as soon as the camera switched to another angle. It seemed like Einherjar Wannabe was leading in terms of development, and to make things even scarier, he had deployed his second plane towards her base.

It was definitely another bold decision of Einherjar Wannabe. After all, no one would have the guts to attack while competing against a stronger opponent in terms of control.

As for Parese, it was obvious that she had reached her limit in terms of maintaining her operating maneuvers and competing against Einherjar Wannabe. In other words, Einherjar Wannabe's magnificent and precise controlling maneuvers had clearly outraced Parese.

Kaedeians had always been proud of their controlling maneuvers, yet this time, they didn't expect to meet someone who possessed a greater dominance than them.

Einherjar Wannabe quickly proceeded to his parallel tri controlling maneuvers, and immediately deployed a jet fighter to start bombarding Parese's base with his spiral bombing attack.

Parese was able to do nothing but sit still as she helplessly watched her last resort get blasted in front of her.

As usual, the match ended in less than ten minutes.

There were two types of reactions instantly spreading across the society. While the Battlecraft Combat players in PA were cheering aloud and praising their superstar with thunderous applause, the other spectators from various academies remained silent instead.

They were all praying not to fight a guy like this in the future. After all, no one would like to have their asses kicked by an intimidating player like Einherjar Wannabe.

Flash's vision and judgment were incredibly accurate as he was able to exactly tell what would happen at the beginning and in the end. However, the only thing that he didn't foresee was the huge gap in both player's overall performances.

As the No.1 amongst second graders of Kaedeian Royal Academy, Parese was basically unrivaled in the category of Battlecraft Combat. Yet, she had never imagined that she would suffer such humiliating defeats.

In METAL Combat, general capabilities and actual strength were the key factors of victory. Hence, there wouldn't be many changes in one's battle results regardless of fighting one match or ten. However, Battlecraft Combat was different, as it contained too many variables as well as battle strategies. Due to the heap of existing imponderables, winning and losing was normal to most players, and they would focus on the victory ratio instead.

However, it was obvious that Einherjar Wannabe was not interested in victory ratio. His terrifying dominance and monstrous attacking methods had got him surrounded by an intimidating aura, like he was trying to warn his opponents that they would never be able to defend against his insane attacks!

Normally, students would cheer for the victor after witnessing a spectacular victory. But tonight, they were unable to do so because they were somehow "traumatized" by the insane dominance of another peer.

Wang Ben and the rest of the Metal Combat fighters were able to understand why Flash and his team kept quiet. After all, the pressure from Einherjar Wannabe was way too intense.

Nevertheless, people began to wonder who else would be able to subdue Einherjar Wannabe's mighty Art of the Soaring Heaven!

Parese seemed pale. She was actually hoping that mirroring Einherjar Wannabe's battle strategy would be able to change the outcome, but instead, it got even worse. As a matter of fact, Kaedeians possessed a strong sense of pride, and they didn't like to copy methods used by Earthlings. Yet, Parese chose to copy Einherjar Wannabe, but still wasn't as good as him in the end.

Zhang Jin smiled and commented, "Looks like the Confederation would have no choice but to approve his battle strategy. It might look simple from the outside, but is actually the most difficult one amongst all existing battle strategies."

"This strategy is ridiculously insane, not only because it requires parallel controlling maneuvers, but also it would consume a lot of Soul Energy. Parallel dual controlling maneuvers is already difficult as it emphasizes on flawless precision, but the bar is literally too high when it also requires parallel tri controlling maneuvers." Luv Ma nodded in agreement.

"Even if he didn't use Art of the Soaring Heaven, Einherjar Wannabe would still be a tough opponent as he possesses an outstanding perspective, flawless controlling and operating maneuvers. No matter where he goes, he would still remain as the incredible dominator." Cao Yi shook his head as he commented. He was truly overwhelmed by Einherjar Wannabe's superior performance.

"Art of the Soaring Heaven definitely is meant to be used by Einherjar Wannabe. However, he does remind me of somebody else." Best said.

Everyone else knew who was Best referring to, and immediately a wild thought came across their minds: how would Wang Tong's superb defensive strategy handle Einherjar Wannabe's outrageous Art of the Soaring Heaven?

Unfortunately, Einherjar Wannabe would never be interested in a nobody from Ayrlarng. After all, Wang Tong was still not THAT famous yet.

Meanwhile, Wang Tong was exercising his fingers while taking a rest. Matches like these were extremely tiring, not to mention Parese had given him enough pressure from the very beginning. Wang Tong was fairly impressed by the controlling maneuvers of Kaedeians as their bodies were softer and nimbler compared to Earthlings. Hence, they were able to handle controlling maneuvers that were much more difficult. In short, their nimbleness and strong bones served as a couple of huge advantages during the execution of controlling maneuvers.

In recent years, none of the strongest players amongst Earthlings had been able to obtain an upper hand when they fought against Kaedeians, and Einherjar Wannabe was the first to achieve this. People often suspected that the victory against Rhin was just a coincidence since she was still quite a rookie. But he had once again proven that nothing was a coincidence. Parese was Her Highness's royal guard, and he would never be able to lay a finger on her if he weren't good enough.

To Wang Tong, the three matches were definitely more than enough to break a sweat. Through battles like these, he would be able to forget about everything else and enjoy the excitement from the challenges.

All three matches took less than ten minutes to complete each. Einherjar Wannabe had been pressuring his opponent at the beginning of every match and later turn it into dominance.

Wang Tong too had gotten more familiar with his strategies. The main objective of his Art of the Soaring Heaven was to gain control of the overall situation instead of deploying invisible troops for the win, as that was only one of the things he could improvise during a fight.

Changes like these were able to make his strategy more complicated, and creating more pressure on the opponent at the same time.

"Goddammit! These bunch of idiots got me waiting for ages! What took them so long?" Hwo Quan was extremely impatient already. He was bored to death while watching those two shooting at each other with airplanes.

None of the students from the Academy of Deity said anything because they were well aware that Hwo Quan was extremely hot-tempered. He was one of Lie Kent's favorite adherents as both of them shared the same attitude and liked to act before they thought. Hwo Quan was very loyal to Lie Kent. In fact, Hwo Quan grew up getting trained with Lie Kent. Thus, his Tactics of the Blaze were not to be underestimated.

Normal tactics would never be able to stand against Tactics of the Blaze. Its uniqueness was the incinerating element within one's GN Force upon initialization. Hence, it was able to deal extra damage to the opponent. In fact, the greater the mastery, the heavier the extra damages.

Rumor had it that the level nine of tactics of the Blaze would enable its user to vaporize the opponent in one single strike. Moreover, equipping METAL Suits wouldn't be able to do any good as the power of its incineration was extremely intense, unless the opponent had been learning the other four tactics for self-protection.

One of the things that Hwo Quan hated the most was waiting. The only person in this world he would wait for was his boss Lie Kent. Hence, he had decided to teach Einherjar Wannabe a big lesson for letting him wait. He would burn all of Einherjar Wannabe's glory into dust with his one and only Tactics of the Blaze!

The second challenge was about to get messy...