General Rilangalos Dower, whose reputation was on par with General Li Feng, was the one that created the “Tactics of the Valkyrie”, and it alone had made the Dower family prosperous for centuries. The Dower family also became the only family that could be compared to the Li family.
The Zhang family had always been the most influential power in the government, which gave them their nickname "Iron Curtain". Their status in the Confederation was unshakable despite the political turmoil of their homeland, the Moon. The Zhangs also had their own powerful tactics called the “Tactics of the Conscious Heart” which had been passed down for generations by the core members of the family.
The fifth of the Five Families was the Lie family from Mars. The Lie Family rose to power on Mars during a bloody political struggle, some four hundred years ago. Their family tactics, which was said to have been imbued with the power of the tianshi—the celestial sage—was called the “Tactics of the Blaze”.
The established prominence of the five families may be irrevocable, but they were not the most powerful existence in the known universe. None of the five families would dare to compare their might to those who resided in the Sacred Land. The Sacred Land was a place of incomprehensible power, but details of this place had always been shrouded in mystery.
The Sacred Land was a place for commemorating the Blade Warriors, whose mysterious legends still heavily influenced the humans today. Although in the hundreds of years after the great war the Blade Warriors had faded into the history, leaving only their names to be remembered.
The Sacred Land had always remained a neutral force; however, their neutrality never undermined their influence, because the only passage to the Hall of Valhalla lay within it. People believed that the Hall of Valhalla hosted the Blade Warriors’ most deadly last reserve, because of that, each of the five houses had sent their elite METAL fighters to guard the passage, thus effectively preventing each other from learning the secrets in the Hall of Valhalla. The presence of all five houses had formed an intricate balance of power within the Sacred Land.
Zhang Jing always liked to record her findings at the end of the day; she found that it was an effective way to further analyze the facts beyond what was apparent. She had written down the details of her encounter with Wang Tong a while ago, but Wang Tong's face kept on popping out. She started to wonder why her subconscious would remind her constantly of this seemingly unimportant boy as if there was a force inside of Wang Tong that had kept on drawing her attention.
After Zhang Jing had failed to figure out why an ordinary boy like Wang Tong had distracted her, she allowed a corner of her mouth to rise a little and tried to undermine her curiosity – a defect in humans' emotion, so that she would practice the “Tactics of the Conscious Heart” in peace.
The luxurious life on the space liner meant nothing to Wang Tong since practicing the tactics had already become his life. Survival instincts had driven him to learn the tactics in the first place, but as he practiced and improved along the way, he had learned and experienced things that he had never been able to before. He started to understand why there were so many individuals, like the one that was trapped in the crystal, who had become obsessed with tactics and martial arts.
To most people who were aboard the ship, it had been seven days of wild parties and celebrations for their close escape, but to Wang Tong, it was no more than an ordinary trip back home. He hadn’t seen Zhang Jing again since their last encounter.
As soon as they landed on Earth, a group of journalists swarmed towards the survivors. Wang Tong didn't talk to any of them; instead, he found an opportunity to sneak out of the spaceport and headed directly towards home. He had been away from home for over a year now, so he really wanted to see how Old Fart was doing.
He arrived at his house located in the Hope District, a nicer word for the ghetto. Many of the residents of the Hope District received social welfare from the government. Without a deep pocket, this place was the best the poor folks could get. The real-estate industry had continued its boom and had caused the housing prices to skyrocket.
"Old Fart, I’m back! Aren't you dead yet?" Wang Tong yelled at the door while his powerful kicks sent the door rattling, but no one answered the door, Old Fart must have gone to drink in the bar again.
He pressed the finger scanner by the door; his fingerprints smudged the glossy surface. Wang Tong was happy to be home again, regardless of whether Old Fart was at here or not.
"Cannot match fingerprint, please re-enter again."
Wang Tong was baffled by the consul’s mechanical reply and pressed on the scanner a few more times, but the door didn’t move an inch.
"F*ck, I’ve only been away for a year, is this really necessary?" Wang Tong cursed, thinking that Old Fart must have changed the lock as soon as he had left Earth.
The door opened a crack, and a middle-aged woman with an unfamiliar face emerged from behind the door. She asked: "Mister, who are you looking for?"
"Hum... Who are you? Why are you in my house?" Wang Tong asked with confusion and surprise written all over his face.
"Ah, you must be the one he was talking about. Excuse me, but this is my house now, the previous owner said if a young boy like you came to ask for him, he wanted me to tell you to go to the information hub, he left a message for you there."
Wang Tong walked over to the information hub with a mind full of questions and punched in his password to the information terminal. A message from Old Fart popped up which Wang Tong opened with anticipation.
"Little S*it, I guess I owe you congratulations if you are able to see this message alive and well. Now let’s get down to it, I wanted to tell you that I have decided to move out, a brighter future and prettier women await me elsewhere. Please do not worry about me; I am doing better than you.
“How did the training go, have you used my tactics to its full potential yet? Well, if not, I hope you would have at least realized by now how badass my tactics is. Ahh...as for the space crystal, I forgot to mention that I had slipped it out of a rich person's house many years ago, if you found anything valuable in it, please do not hesitate to share with me. I wouldn't mind some cash for my reward, my bank account is ... But, if you found trouble instead... then do not contact me ever again."
Looking at the apparition of the eccentric Old Fart on the screen, Wang Tong felt mixed feelings of warmth and anger. The Old Fart inside the screen seemed to have finished his recording as he bent down to turn off the recorder, but he paused for a moment and continued recording: "I have already sold my house, and I left some credits for you in your account. You have grown up now, go out there and live an independent life. No need to thank me for what I did for you."
As Old Fart finished his last words, Wang Tong’s frustration erupted inside of him as he felt like he would have smashed the information terminal if not for the fine that he would have to pay. Old Fart seemed very determined to be left alone, so much so to have sold his house.
Old Fart's house had always been a cozy, albeit dilapidated, home, but now without a home to go to, Wang Tong had to look for another place to stay. If it was the Wang Tong of one year ago, he would have fallen into a panic attack and wouldn't know what to do, but Wang Tong had matured quickly on that hellish planet, he now feared nothing.
Wang Tong went to the bank and checked his credit. He counted the zeros in the number, "One, two, three, four… what?! Calm down now... calm down..."
Wang Tong was never good at being calm; his frustration eventually erupted into a heart-wrenching cry after seeing that Old Fart had left him only thirty grand. It might be a lot for pocket-money, but this was all that Wang Tong had now, plus a new jacket that was given by the Confederation as a gift.
“What kind of life is this? How can I live on only thirty grand for the rest of my life?
"Damn you Old Fart! I swear I will find you and you will pay for this!"
Wang Tong’s rage exploded in a devastated shriek without noticing that many passersby were staring. After gaining some control of himself, Wang Tong regretted that he hadn’t brought anything back from Norton for some quick cash.
Wang Tong knew that it didn’t matter what had happened to him, the Earth still moved; therefore he had to face reality and find a place to stay as soon as possible. As he wandered around the streets, while hoping to find cheap accommodations, he stumbled upon a burger place. Wang Tong's tummy reacted with an angry growl.
Wang Tong was not a sophisticated person; therefore he didn’t like the delicacies provided by the Confederation on the spaceship. Instead, he favored hamburgers down here on Earth in a ghetto district. He rushed into the shop without any hesitation.
One hour later, everyone in the burger restaurant, customers and workers included, were staring marvelously at Wang Tong. He had since eaten thirty full-size burgers, a feat that could not even be repeated by a pig.
Wang Tong could not care less about the insulting looks he had attracted, he rubbed his belly and burped then said complacently, "Not too bad, I am almost full now."
Everyone was stunned by what Wang Tong had just said. The waitress who had kept a particularly keen eye on Wang Tong wondered if this boy had just been released from a detention center, and if so, the Confederation must have used starvation as a means of torturing inmates.
The waitress was correct, in a way. Wang Tong had been starved by the Confederation not in a detention center but on a luxurious spaceship. The food on the ship looked fancy but lacked quantity. Since Wang Tong had received these expensive foods for free, he’d felt ashamed to ask for more. Not only because he felt like it would be taking advantage of the tax payer’s money, but especially because he was aware that if he had eaten as much as he could, the whole ship would have starved to death on the first day of their journey.
However, here in this burger shop, he had bought these hamburgers with his own money; therefore he was comfortable eating as many burgers as he wanted. Wang Tong agreed that burgers were the best kind of food because it has both meat patties and vegetables; it was “delicious” in its simplest form.
"It will be three hundred credits in total." Although the waitress's face shivered in disbelief at Wang Tong's appetite, she maintained a passable smile.
"Three hundred?" Wang Tong furrowed his eyebrows, "Gosh, in one day I’ve already spent one percent of my life savings." Wang Tong really wished that his math was worse so that he would be less aware of his financial situation.
The waitress started to get nervous after she saw Wang Tong's deeply furrowed face. She hoped that this newly released juvenile criminal would not harm her. Judging from the amount he just ate, she believed that his punch would be deadly.
Wang Tong suddenly flattened his furrow and drew his teeth in an amicable smile. "Can you give me a discount, please?"
The waitress’s mind fumbled after its misjudgment. "Ehm...Sorry, you ordered the specials, they don’t have discounts."
"Greedy b*stards." Wang Tong mumbled as he reluctantly swiped his credit card while feeling sorry for his three hundred credits.
As soon as Wang Tong stepped out of the burger shop, bright sunlight made him quickly forget about the guilt of his splurging. He looked around at the familiar scenes of his hometown and cherished the fact that he was finally back.
Wang Tong found a public information terminal and searched for rooms for rent. As he scrolled down the list of available houses, his sunshine like mood quickly turned gloomy as he realized that the housing prices had doubled since he left. With the current price, it was almost impossible for him to find a place that would last long.
He quickly found a potential solution - school residence. He was planning to go to school anyways, it just seemed that his plan had to start earlier than he thought, but the question then was that of which school should he attend?
The best academy on Earth was no doubt the Capth Academy. This S-class Academy was the pride of the entire human race. But after Wang Tong considered his funding and his chance of being accepted, he immediately gave up his hope of entering that school.
Old Fart always told Wang Tong, "Man should not be too greedy." Right then Wang Tong absolutely agreed with that.
He figured that he did not need to attend the S-Class schools; an A-class school would be more than enough. There were many A-class academies in Shangjin, and one was particularly "famous," the Academy of Ayrlarng, because General Li Feng had graduated from there. However, it was solely because of its connection with General Li Feng, Ayrlarng was able to sustain its A-class status.
The status of the Ayrlarng Academy had been in a downward spiral after the incident stirred up by the General Rilangalos Dower, while that of the Capth Academy had risen. Capth Academy was originally founded by General Li Feng to train soldiers in new and innovative military tactics and technologies. Over the centuries, many generals and elite scientists had graduated from Capth, and Capth itself had become a shining example of higher education on Earth.
To someone like Wang Tong who only wanted to get a degree and graduate, Ayrlarng Academy was more than enough. It also had another advantage that no other academy did: It was very close to where Wang Tong had lived.
Wang Tong still kept a glimmer of hope that Old Fart would one day return to his old house, perhaps after he lost all of his money in a drinking game since it had happened before; Wang Tong figured that it was likely to happen again. Therefore Wang Tong decided to stay close to Old Fart's house and wait him out.
Wang Tong had successfully entered Ayrlarng despite the fact that he had been late for registration by two weeks. The slack administration was a sign that the academy still indulged itself in its glorious past, despite the fact that over the last few hundred years, most reputable people had graduated from Capth and none had graduated from Ayrlang.
Despite its lazy administration and backward technology, Wang Tong was thrilled with this school. The quality of the school did not matter to Wang Tong anymore since he had already learned the Tactics of the Blade, but what was paramount was that the academy offered a place for him to receive a large amount of fundamental information and a positive environment to improve himself.
Mr. Wannabe still yelled and cursed at Wang Tong from time to time, but Wang Tong did not want to talk back, partly because he felt sorry for Mr. Wannabe’s dementia. However, he still wondered if Mr. Wannabe was really as bad-ass as he said he was, perhaps he would find out the answer after he learned more at the academy.
Wang Tong liked to think about his future life in Ayrlang Academy. This marked a new start in his life and the beginning of his colorful youth. Wang Tong laughed from the bottom of his heart and felt like the sunshine on his face was exceedingly vibrant and pleasant.
"Hey boy, watch where you’re stepping," a good samaritan on the street said to Wang Tong. This passerby had never seen anyone so happy after they stepped in a pile of dog poop.
"Ahh... pick up your pet's s*hit people! My shoes! This is my only pair! Ahh..."
On Wang Tong's way to his first day of school, he ushered in this new episode of his life with a saddening wail.