Chapter 325: Playing Dumb
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Inside the gym of the Starry Sky Academy, a dozen students, including Miao Xiu, collapsed on the ground. These were the top students of the academy, but their opponent was Patroclus.
Since the Starry Sky Academy suffered a catastrophic defeat during the fleet combat tournament, their principal had requested Patroclus to train with the rest of the students to quickly improve their abilities.
Although the public’s attention was only on the few famous players, the confederation’s interest was broader, and they would use the tournament to assess the overall quality of academies.
Patroclus was instructed to spar with his classmates once every three days, but so far, no one had been able to even land a blow on him.
This was the power of the Deva King!
“Let’s change it to once every week,” Patroclus said calmly without any contempt in his voice. He had realized that his classmates were unable to make any progress in three days. Therefore, he might as well give them more time to reflect on their techniques.
After about ten minutes, Miao Xiu was the first one to be able to stand up. All the while, he lamented that he was unable to even scratch Patroclus, much less landing a solid blow.
“Let’s not give up yet. It had taken him twice as much time to defeat us than last time.” Erro said.
“That’s right! I will make him regret that he even sparred with us next time.” Miao Xiu stood up and then announced. Right after he had spoken, the sharp pain in his leg made him sat down again. No one laughed at Miao Xiu, since none of them were in any better shape.
Although they knew that they were out of Patroclus’s league, and they shouldn’t let their defeat bother them. They had been the top students, and they found it hard to adjust to the fact that Patroclus was able to defeat their combined force with ease.
When they first received the order for the special training with Patroclus, they had hoped that they would be able to prove to Patroclus that fighters from outside of the great houses could be as potent as him.
The Ivantians were no less competitive than the Earthlings, although they were less likely to express their feelings outwardly.
All of these students had been confident that they would impress the world with their power. However, these students felt their hopes were just wishful thinking right after the first session of training with Patroclus. Some of them felt so devastated that they had even dropped out of the tournament altogether.
The ones that remained decided to combine their forces to overcome their opponent. Although Patroclus was their prince, they still felt indignant about their constant defeat, and strived to overcome him as a team.
The Ivantians held an advantage over the Earthlings and the Martians thanks to their enhanced genes. However, this advantage seemed to have turned into a double-edged blade, since it had given the Ivantian students a sense of superiority, which gradually festered into contempt. After a while, the Ivantians started to slack up, and their training intensity was no match for that of students from Mars or Earth.
Despite the inevitable deterioration of students’ enthusiasm, the elites on the moon had remained astute, and were fully aware of the problem. They believed that a defeat in the tournament was not entirely a bad thing, since it would be able to remind the Ivantians that their opponent’s hard work would eventually pay off and help them catch up with them.
No race had survived the history without a sense of urgency.
This year’s tournament not only had a great turnout, but it had also ignited the human’s fighting spirit. It had become evident that the overall fighting ability of the human race would be greatly improved after the tournament.
Princess Heidi had brought a convoy of fighters with her to the tournament. It would be an excellent opportunity for the humans to take a sneak peek at the female warrior’s mysterious way of commanding the soul energy.
Since the Kaedeians had always acted alone during military missions, the Zergs would probably know more about the Kaedeian’s soul energy than humans.
The Kaedeians had always eluded their real power from the humans. However, once Princess Heidi and her elite guards entered the tournament, they would no longer be able to do so. Everyone wondered what had made the Kaedeians break their tradition.
Some people thought that it was due to the pressure from the other three factions, and others were convinced that the Kaedeians and the Confederation had reached some kind of a deal. Although no one was certain in their conjecture, they all agreed that the Kaedeians were a welcome sight at the tournament.
Wang Tong, Cao Yi, and Hu Yangxuan were on a train to an unknown destination. Although the exact location was classified, the three boys knew that it would be a military base for the TNN. Based on TNN’s reputation, they knew there was a rough time ahead of them, and somehow, it made them feel light-hearted.
Ever since the three factions had united their force after TNN had proposed the Norton Project, TNN was no longer involved in the operation, since it was out of their jurisdiction.
With more free time on his hand, Massa was more than happy to see how much Wang Tong had improved.
When he first heard the news of Wang Tong’s soul energy depletion, Massa was sad and felt pity that such a great talent was wasted.
The TNN was a unique department of the Confederation, in the sense that they didn’t swear an oath to any particular faction within the human society. Instead, their loyalty laid in the confederation, and protecting peace on earth was their only goal. Despite its far-reaching influence, the number of core members of the department was small. However, every member of the TNN was a force to be reckoned with.
Although TNN usually wouldn’t invite outsiders to train with them, Massa’s interest in Wang Tong had driven him to make an exception to the rules and accepted Samantha’s request.
The windows of the train were covered, but Wang Tong could still hear the whirl as the train passed through buildings—they were inside a city. But after a while, the soft whirl become intermittent, and then eventually disappeared.
“You have arrived.” The train engineer announced.
As soon as the three walked out of the train, they found themselves standing in front of a large and heavy door. The stuffiness in the air told Wang Tong that they were underground.
A big red circle was etched into the door, and within the circle were three bold letters: TNN
“What an ugly gate!” Hu Yangxuan laughed. “I could teach the TNN some proper graffiti art.”
“Then you would never leave this place.” Massa’s voice boomed.
“Instructor Massa!” The three quickly straighten their backs and solute.
Massa waved his hand disapprovingly, “You are in a military camp, call me Sir.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Follow me, and don’t touch the gate.”
As the heavy gate shut slowly behind them, the three had officially started their boot camp training.
Massa gave Wang Tong a side way glace as surprise flashed in his eyes. Wang Tong didn’t seem to be injured at all, and his soul energy was powerful. Massa could feel its pulse as they walked down the corridor.
‘This is…interesting!’
Judging by Wang Tong’s performance in fleet combat, Massa had suspected that Wang Tong’s recovery was quick and well. However, the boy’s current state had caught him off guard. Perhaps, Massa reasoned, the nuclear blast was a blessing in disguise after all.
After the four had passed a few checkpoints, they arrived at a big hall. The workers here were bustling about their own business, and didn’t seem to notice the three boys.
“This is the central control room, and your training room is downstairs.”
The four walked to the end of the hall and then took an elevator down. After five minutes, the elevator door finally slid open to a hallway. The boys could hear painful shrieks coming from the other end.
“Cao Yi, Hu Yangxuan, you two would join the junior camp, and this is your instructor. I am sure you are all familiar with each other.”
As the three boys heard the familiar metallic footsteps, they were shocked—It was Gansus.
“What? Didn’t expect me ?”
“You jerk! You had been playing dumb all the while!”
“Haha, he was not dumb at all. His nickname is Tiger.” Massa cracked a smile.
“Hu Yangxuan and Cao Yi, follow me!” Gansus announced.
“What about Wang Tong?” Hu Yangxuan asked. He thought they would be training together.
“I will be in charge of this little prick. He has improved a lot, and I better give him the hospitality he deserves.” Massa’s words made Wang Tong’s hair stand on their ends.
“Sir, we would like your hospitality as well!” Hu Yangxuan urged. He didn’t want to be treated differently.
“Well, you have to pass me first!” Gansus didn’t give Hu Yangxuan a chance to retort as he picked up the two boys by their collars and dragged them down the hallway.
Gansus seemed to have changed into an entirely different person. At TNN, Gansus’s voice was no longer ear deafeningly loud like it was at school. But somehow, it carried more power and authority.
