Tempest of the Battlefield

Chapter 91: Activation

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn
“So what’s the plan? It’s still early for dinner,” Hu Yangxuan asked.

“How ‘bout a little warm up?” Wang Ben turned toward Wang Tong.

“The Gravity Training Chamber? Is your body good to go already?”

“Nevermind, it’s just a scratch. Physical activities are good for my recovery,” Wang Ben replied. Yet, Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan knew that Wang Ben actually was still brooding over unaccountably losing to Wang Tong last time.

It wasn’t always about winning or losing, but being the son of General Hu Ben, Wang Ben had to have a strong victorious urge, yet it wasn’t purely a spiteful and sentimental urge, it was actually a calm urge to win, which was also his way of pursuing greater strength.

“Let’s go then!” Ma Xiaoru nodded. Everyone seconded her consent.

They were definitely the “Fantastic Four” of Ayrlarng. Ma Xiaoru, Wang Ben, and Hu Yangxuan’s standard were just as good as the students of an S-ranked academy; as for Wang Tong, even though he was only a nobody in F-Class, he made quite the performance during the previous month’s assessment. Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan might not have used their full strength, but Wang Tong did break the academy’s record. Even though his academic scores were bad, it didn’t mean he wasn’t talented, and Wang Tong actually managed to stand out amongst fellow students. Moreover, he was also one of the chosen candidates for the competition against Bernabeu, which already proved that he wasn’t someone with an average score.

Samantha was smart enough to know that class sorting decided by average scores wasn’t the most effective method, yet she placed Wang Tong in F-Class on purpose. Samantha knew that Wang Tong was gifted even though his academic performance wasn’t keeping up, and she wouldn’t let him got expelled because of that. Placing him in F-Class was her way of helping him to grow.

Geniuses who couldn’t handle stress were like exquisite porcelains. They might be lucky enough for not breaking apart, but they would still remain fragile.

The Gravity Training Chamber wasn’t always crowded due to the fact that students would prefer tempering their Soul Energy instead. After all, Soul Energy would directly affect a person’s GN Force, and GN Force represented one’s actual strength. Apparently, academies and the military wouldn’t accept one’s ability to handle pressure as the reference data because physical training couldn’t provide evident effectiveness. They would only say, “The more you practice, the more benefits you’ll see, and no one would force you to train as long as your stamina was enough during regular assessments.”

Wang Tong enjoyed visiting the Gravity Training Chamber because it was uncrowded and comfy. Some students of the METAL Combat class preferred to do their training here, while most of them who were in the Command Force would rather spend their time on expanding their astronautic knowledge instead. For those commanders-wannabe, the more knowledgeable one was, the better impression one would leave on the supervisors during internships in the fleet, and physical strength had nothing to do with it; after all, life on the fleet would definitely be easier than becoming a foot soldier.

Yet Wang Tong and the trio saw it differently, getting physical was what they were born to do, they were like the “over-active” ones.

Meanwhile, Gansus was meeting Samantha in her office.

“Ya asked to see me, Ma’am?” Gansus stared at the Ayrlarng’s new principal, he wasn’t very fond of her and absolutely didn’t like how she entered the academy. Yet, the girl in front of him has brought the hope of glory back to the academy once again, which was the reason Gansus still treated Samantha with respect even though he didn’t like her.

“Mr. Gansus, I’d like to hear your thoughts regarding my plans for the academy,” Samantha said.

“So ya want me to speak up my mind, or just my compliments?”

“I want to hear the truth. As you’ve noticed, I’ve been plotting my ulterior motive since I took over this academy’s administration, but ultimately, both of us have the same goal, which is restoring Ayrlarng to its former glory!”

“Very well. Honestly speaking, what you’ve done has indeed increased Ayrlarng’s prestige and popularity; however, I think it won’t be able to last long, and you’ll still fail in the end!” Gansus didn’t hold back in his comments.

“I’m listening.” Samantha wasn’t convinced by Gansus’ saying. Ayrlarng has been doing great due to her hard work and would even make a greater comeback once she drop-kicked Bernabeu.

“Ma’am, winning Bernabeu isn’t enough. The truth is, even if you were to defeat every single S-ranked academies, it will still not be enough to help Ayrlarng because the victories were achieved by a few geniuses, and they’re definitely not enough to represent Ayrlarng itself. People will only remember Ma Xiaoru as House of Ma’s descendent, Hu Yangxuan as the Templar’s Follower, and Wang Ben as the son of General Hu Ben, and their success obviously has nothing to do with Ayrlarng!”

“You’ve got a point, and I agree with you on this, but you have to understand, I recruited them because they’re able to boost our image.”

“Hmph, I believe the people will doubt its effectiveness though; moreover, even our very own students wouldn’t be convinced because everyone thinks that their successes are the expected outcomes, and the victories have nothing to do with them. I will admit psychology isn’t my thing, but this is how I feel!” Gansus was a straightforward person, he didn’t care if what he said would hurt other’s feelings.

Obviously, Gansus’ crude attitude pissed her off, yet Samantha couldn’t argue back, because apparently what he said was the naked truth!

Apart from Gansus, no one had ever told Samantha so.

“What about Wang Tong? He’s one of ours too.”

“Yes, I agree. Wang Tong is gifted, and he has what it takes to represent Ayrlarng; but his strength alone isn’t enough, Ayrlarng needs more talented students like him. Most importantly, students of Ayrlarng need to fix their lazy attitudes, it’s normal for their strength and abilities to vary, but it’s definitely the academy’s fault if they all have a bad attitude!” once again, Gansus threw out another undeniable truth.

“Mr. Gansus, your words are really thought-provoking, and believe me, I do have made the same considerations before, which is why I came up with this class sorting method to stimulate the winning ambition of fellow students. I dare not to say that it has brought a tremendous effect, but I’m sure that there have been some improvements. Yet, based on what you’ve said, I believe you have a better solution?”

Samantha appreciated Gansus’ honesty, yet she refused to comply, she wanted to see if this man was the real deal or just a good-for-nothing blabbermouth.

“Actually, I was wondering if we could increase the periods of daily physical training. I still believe that strict physical training is the best method to strengthen their willpower,” Gansus said.

Most of the academies are not doing this anymore. Students would rather spend time practicing their tactics than doing physical training.

However, Samantha understood that Gansus was trying to imply that the old method is the best method!

“Thank you very much for your enlightenment, Mr. Gansus. Your advice would definitely help me in restoring Ayrlarng’s former glory!”

“Please Ma’am, those were only some random words from a humble teacher. Yet I believe you didn’t summon me just to hear my bullsh*t, am I right?”

“Haha, you have good eyes Mr. Gansus. Wang Tong is definitely a gifted kid, and I was wondering if you could recommend any other outstanding or talented students to be the candidates for the competition against Bernabeu.”

“Zhou Sisi from A-Class Command Force, Carl from F-Class, Kyaero from B-Class METAL Combat Class, and Rumi from C-Class Intel Force. These four are quite unique.”

“Zhou Sisi… yes I remember, she’s one of the top students of A-Class Command Force, but her Soul Energy is a bit weak… Carl is only average, as for Kyaero and Rumi, both of their results are not very outstanding though.” Samantha remembered every student’s information, she was gifted with an extraordinarily retentive memory.

“Ma’am, information has to be updated from time to time. Teachers shouldn’t only refer to the available data; instead, we should do our best to discover the hidden potentials amongst every student. Those are my personal recommendations that you’ve asked for, and it’s all up to you to decide,” Gansus turned and left after saying that, and Samantha was astounded by his action.

Ayrlarng was definitely a strange place filled with idiots and weirdos. The position as the academy’s principal was stressing her out terribly.

Yet Samantha had to agree with Gansus’ point about reinstating physical training. It could help Ayrlarng’s students to enhance their physical strength which has been forgotten by most of the academies, most importantly, it would be able to improve students’ discipline and their fighting spirits, and this could help to create positivities in other aspects even though results wouldn’t be shown instantly. Anyhow, she believed this was crucial for Ayrlarng’s development.

Samantha was not a conservative person, and she would never scruple. If she thought it was right, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it, regardless if the others would like it or not.

Samantha had decided to re-observe Zhou Sisi, Carl, Kyaero, and Rumi. Even though she still doubted Gansus’ perspective, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.

Nevertheless, she had placed all her faith on Wang Tong and the trio for the upcoming competition against Bernabeu. All they had to do was winning five rounds, and it would be great if one of the other six students could win another round, yet it would be alright if they couldn’t win because Wang Ben would be able to take part in two rounds, and it would increase their winning rates.

The other six candidates might look like supporting characters, yet Samantha hoped they were able to make achievements too. Her goal was to “resurrect” Ayrlarng, and it wasn’t about receiving fame for a short period of time. Like what Gansus had mentioned, it would be easy for Ayrlarng to get famous, but it would be very difficult to change Ayrlarng thoroughly, that was her real challenge!

She thought for a moment and decided to make a call via Sky-Net.

“Yo milady, I’m quite busy here, wassup?”

“Sorry to trouble again Karlen, there’s a teacher in our academy, his name’s Gansus. His personal profile mentioned that he was once in the military, but not much info other than that. I was wondering if you have more of his information.”

“Gansus… do you have his full name? It would be great if you could also provide me his serial number in the military.”

“Sure, I’m sending it to you as we speak.”

Samantha knew that hotshots wouldn’t come out of nowhere. She noticed Gansus was more than just an ordinary teacher, even though his teaching attitude was bad, he had good observations.

It got her attention when he recommended Wang Tong.

Karlen was Samantha’s senior during her school days. Currently, she worked in the intel department, so it was easy for her access the personal data of an ex-soldier. Within minutes, Samantha’s Sky-Net rang again.

“How is it, Karlen?”

Karlen was looking doubtful at the other end, “Sammy, you sure that it’s the actual serial number?”

“That’s the serial number in his file unless I got the wrong file.”

“Seems like something’s going on with this teacher. His military files are classified and are only accessible by higher authorities. My hands are tied here, or would you like to try someone else?”

Samantha was startled, “It’s okay, thanks again for the trouble dear sis. It isn’t a big deal, I was just trying to gather more information.”

“No worries darling, I heard you’ve accepted Bernabeu’s challenge, and everyone’s expecting you to take their breaths away!”

“I know, most of them are waiting for me to make a fool of myself, and I guess they’re betting me to lose too!”

“Haha, you got that part right though. Anyway, all the best!” Karlen said as she grabbed her fist.

Samantha smiled and turned off her Sky-Net. Friendships among girls were simple, if they got along, they would become each other’s BFFs; sharing all sorts of gossips and all of the happiness. However, if they couldn’t get along, they would become rivals or even sworn enemies. That was how girls rocked, and men would never understand their world.

Samantha had no intentions to dig up the skeleton behind one’s closet, she was only collecting data for her own reference, and somehow Samantha had a feeling that Gansus wasn’t as ordinary as he looked.

She had a rough planning in her thoughts, and she had to win against Bernabeu in order to carry out this plan of hers. Everything would burst and vanish like bubbles if they failed to defeat Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, Wang Tong and the trio got changed. Hu Yangxuan looked handsome as always, Wang Ben looked macho, as for Wang Tong… he might be a slacker, but there was definitely an unruliness aura under his skin.

The three guys had well-trained and muscular bodies, Wang Ben for obvious reasons, and it was normal for Hu Yangxuan too since he was the Templar’s Follower; however, Wang Tong having a muscular body was a bit unexpected.

In fact, Wang Tong had been training since he was a kid, furthermore, when he was trapped on Norton, he was forced to train in order to survive Norton’s strong gravity and harsh environment.

However, the boys were stunned when Ma Xiaoru came back from changing. Her figure was… mind blowing… Anyhow, the boys managed to gather themselves and didn’t do anything embarrassing, yet Ma Xiaoru couldn’t help laughing when she saw their silly faces.

“What’s up guys, got petrified by my beauty?”

“Miss Ma, I have to admit, you’re a charming lady,” Wang Ben was honest and kind.

“Thank you for your kindness.”

“Yup, definitely the greatest beauty of all,” Hu Yangxuan praised dramatically. He would never hold back his words of praise when he saw something beautiful.

On the other hand, Wang Tong shrugged and said, “They’ve spoken my words.”

Ma Xiaoru rolled her eyes like she wanted to say, “It wouldn’t hurt to repeat the same comments.”

Wang Tong laughed and said, “After you, pretty lady. But let’s be clear that I won’t be giving any handicaps later though.”

“Bring it on, sucker!”

All four of them laughed. The gifted quartet was eager to get into action. Human beings were complicated, choosing a leader might not be important amongst a group of talented people, but they would still compete against each other. That was also how most societies and civilizations of intelligent lifeforms were formed. Same theory applied among Zergs. Rankings were crucial in the brutal world of Zergs, a creature with a higher ranking was allowed to feast on its lower ranked own kind.

Amongst the quartet, Wang Tong had once fought against Ma Xiaoru unofficially, while Wang Ben also dueled Wang Tong once. Yet both fights ended before the winner was decided.

However, it didn’t always require a battle to compete against each other.

Recently, Wang Tong had surprised the others with his numbers of experiences, but it wasn’t enough for him to become stronger.

The four of them walked pass the doubled gravity zone, and it felt nothing at the beginning; then Wang Tong stopped at the five times gravity zone, but he wasn’t stopping for a challenge, he stopped because it was his favorite warm-up area.