Chapter 297: A Bully
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Wang Tong smiled satisfyingly as he enjoyed the benefit of having Zhou Sisi around—free maid service.
After Zhou Sisi was gone, Wang Tong found it hard to sleep as he suddenly realized how bad his injury was. Some of the wounds almost reached his bones. Although he didn't feel much pain while fighting, as he lied down, he found the pain had made it hard for him to relax.
"Come out Charcoal, talk to me!"
"Yes master, what do you want to talk about?"
"Do you know any bedtime stories? "
"Yes. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a service robot called R2Charcoal..."
Soon, the room was filled with Wang Tong's snoring. Being able to fall asleep as quickly as possible was a prerequisite of being a competent fighter.
Meanwhile, somewhere else on earth, someone was suffering from insomnia.
In a lavishly decorated room, a girl curled up into a ball at one corner. Ever since she arrived home, she had felt a warm and fussy feeling rise inside her. She also sensed something else amidst the warmth and fuzziness, something that she had never felt before—a gentle caress on her heart by a pair of warm hands
"Tenderheartedness is poison for success." Li Ruoer repeated to herself.
As the heir to the House Li, she needed only a pragmatic mind and a cold heart; there was no place for kindhearted sentiments. Only ruthlessness could make a formidable warrior.
She knew that her father wanted her to behave like a warrior instead of a girl, and help him in reasserting House of Li's control over the world. Although House of Li appeared to be prospering, its influence had been shrinking to just a fraction of what it had been during the time of General Li Feng. So much so that members of the House of Li constantly felt that they were living in disgrace.
Li Ruoer had grown up watching her brother's training under her father's unforgiving methods. Some of the disturbing scenes that she had seen had haunted her childhood. Time, at last, had not only made her get used to the harsh training, but had also twisted her mind and molded her into a cold-hearted power-monger.
She had never seen her father smile once, not even when she tried to please him by subjecting herself to the training of inhuman intensity. It was never good enough for him.
However, Li Ruoer never gave up, and finally, her father had noticed her efforts and started to regard her approvingly. All she wanted to do was to please her father. Therefore, although her father never smiled at her, nor did he verbally acknowledged her hard work, his approving look was enough to make Li Ruoer feel happy.
Later, when Ma Xiaoru visited House of Li with her parents, Li Ruoer's eyes were green with envy at the sight of the amiable Ma family. Ma Xiaoru was living a life of her dreams: her parents always wore a smile in front of her, and everyone could tell that Ma Xiaoru's father cared about her more than anything in the world.
She hated Ma Xiaoru for having what she didn't, and she was convinced that Ma Xiaoru would never understand her. While Ma Xiaoru was enjoying a colorful childhood, all that Li Ruoer had was the Tactics of the Enchantress and Rosy.
Hatred and jealousy fueled her motivation to be stronger than Ma Xiaoru, and therefore, she became even more devoted to her training.
However, tonight, she had tasted defeat for the first time. What bothered her the most, in addition to her frustration, was the fact that she had forgotten about the number one rule of being an Enchantress: be ruthless, as she had worried about her enemy’s life.
Wang Tong was surprised that Li Ruoer had left with the visiting students without causing any more troubles. As calm and quietness started to set in, the first phase of the tournament, the fleet combat, was about to begin.
Any student could represent their academy in the battle, and therefore, it also became a testing ground for the overall fleet combat abilities of different academies.
DREAM provided the simulation platform. It was an excellent opportunity for the company’s PR campaigns, since all the major news outlets had pledged to follow all stages of the Fleet Combat closely. In recent years, the fleet combat had increased popularity against the predominant METAL combat due to its unique focus on the battle of wits. Since the soul energy was not a determining factor, the members of the great houses did not have the huge advantage like they would in METAL combat. The reward for having an excellent fleet combat skill was enticing as well, since the rank of a fleet commander was very high in the navy.
Ordinary students wouldn't think so much about the potential benefits of winning the tournament, since in addition to having fun, they just wanted to use the stage to prove themselves.
The school-wide competition was finished very quickly in a couple of days, and every school had chosen their ten best fleet commanders. The seeded players from Ayrlarng were Wang Tong, Karl, and Zhou Sisi. Although the three were all listed as the seeded players, their skills were wide apart. Most of the members of the S club had become the seeded players of their schools as well.
"Ladies and gentlemen! This was a fantastic fight! Flash, the king of the fleets, the ultimate commander, the commander of the space!" Even the host could no longer hold back his excitement after watching Flash's thrilling performance.
Flash had made a name for himself as the "Ultimate Commander", and therefore, fearing his power, a few of opponents had unleashed coup de grace from the very beginning as a surprise tactic. However, not only was Flash able to fend off their surprise attacks, but he had also spotted their mistakes and turned into his advantage until the enemy fleets were decimated.
"Gods! This is the skill that would bring the Kaedeians to their knees. This is Bisu every one; he is the superstar of fleet battle, the god of APM. He is practically a bug in the simulation, if you will. I am 110% sure that the champion of the fleet combat tournament would be from earth this year!" Another host announced in a high pitch voice. Bisu's combat style was drastically different than Flash, as he relied solely on his unrivaled micro control skills.
Compare to Flash, Bisu laid bare his intention in front of his opponents. When he possessed such incredible micro skills, he wouldn't need to worry about concealing his moves. His insistent micro control would eventually overwhelm his opponents, regardless of how useful their countermeasures were.
As a rising star from Capth, Kal's talents in mastering all aspects of fleet combat had made him victorious in all of his matches so far.
"Karl! Karl the invincible! The young man who had made history. Although he was faced with a tough opponent from Yalen, he won the fight like it was a piece of cake! Congratulations Karl, you have passed!"
On the big screen, Karl displayed the victory pose that he had been practicing overnight—A big Y.
"Congratulations Zhou Sisi! She has become the second female student who has passed the selection process. 2 to 3, it was a close call! Let's wish her good luck in her future competition."
Although the opponent's skill and the level were higher than Zhou Sisi, she was able to turn her opponent's slip up into her advantage and eventually surprised everyone and won the match. After spending days dealing with freaks like Wang Tong, Zhou Sisi had not only improved her patience, but was also able to remain calm under stressful circumstances. It was her patience and calmness that had allowed her to catch her opponent's mistake and turn the tide of the battle.
In front of the camera, despite Zhou Sisi's effort to remain calm, excitement was written all over her face.
In another virtual simulation room, the seed player from Yalen stared blankly at the scoreboard. Yalen had trained him for the specific purpose of defeating Flash. However, he lost the match zero to three.
Wang Tong felt that the match he had just finished was less intense than even his usual warm up as he demolished the opponent with ease.
The show host heaved a sigh and then announced, "This is incredible! Who would have thought that Ayrlarng would have such a powerful fleet commander? Congratulations Wang Tong! With his victory, Team Ayrlarng has secured their ticket to the final phase!"
On the big screen, Wang Tong looked calm. The opponent's ability was so limited that he barely felt that it was a victory; instead, he felt like a bully.
Wang Tong was still relatively unknown, and even his last victory over Flash was played down as a fluke. The outcome of the fleet battle was highly unpredictable, and therefore, people were not surprised to see one fluke or two from time to time.
In the end, thirty players from the earth had entered the final match. In addition, there were fifty Ivantians, ten Martians, and six Kaedeians that that also earned the ticket to the final stage, tallying the total numbers of the contestant at one hundred and fifty.
Out of the hundred and fifty contestants, eight of them would enter the final four. All final four matches were broadcasted live across all corners of the universe.
As the playoff started, so did the real competitions. After weeding out the weak ones, the fight between the remaining hundred and fifty students would all be tough matches.
After having made their way to the final stage, no one wanted to stop halfway to the Hall of Valhalla.
Zhou Sisi struck lucky and won another battle against a Martians. The Martians were well known for their pathetic fleet combat skills, and even the ones that had entered finals were much weaker than fighters from other planets. Therefore, no one was surprised by Zhou Sisi's victory.
Karl was less fortunate than Zhou Sisi, as his first playoff proponent was a Kaedeian. However, Karl's excellent skill had made good fortune irrelevant. Using his unrivaled technique, he won the match three to zero.
Karl was elated at his victory as he jumped up and down while flailing arms wildly. A lot of people were surprised by Karl's excitement, thinking that the famous Karl should have expected his victory. However, despite Karl's popularity and fame, not a lot of people knew that he used to be a nobody in the F class.
Life was a miraculous journey for people like Karl.