Without hesitation, Wang Tong struck with his left palm towards Miao Xiu who wrenched away instinctively. Still off balance from what had happened, Miao Xiu babbled, "No… no way, how could you block my attack."
"Nonchalant Playboy, watch out!"
Wang Tong yelled as he raised his right hand, in the spitting image of Miao Xiu's Attack of Gaia, but with the side of his palm in the stead of the sharp blade.
Luv Ma could not believe this madness; everyone knew that deploying a Templar coup de grace required years of cultivation of corresponding tactics. Miao Xiu for example, wouldn’t have mastered the Attack of Gaia if he had not learned the Tactics of Hexa Solaris by rote. Even so, it had taken him ten days to just pick up the basics, albeit having a relatively quick record for the learning process among the Templar's followers.
"Attack of Gaia?" Luv Ma watched incredulously as he started to doubt his senses.
"Attack of Gaia!" Luv Ma gasped as he watched the exact same move then executed by Wang Tong. His body blurred and disappeared before was reemerged; his right arm hacked from top to bottom, at a tilted angle.
However, Wang Tong was still three meters away from Miao Xiu when he struck, a fact that amused Luv Ma, "There is no way he will even reach Miao Xiu," he thought.
"Whoosh..."
A crackling bright light bolted from Wang Tong's right arm towards Miao Xiu who blocked it with his sword.
Luv Ma heard a barely audible crack which was followed by silence, there were no explosions, and Miao Xiu seemed unharmed. Luv Ma felt relieved. "Dumbass, he couldn't tell how far away he was?"
Miao Xiu's eyes rounded and allowed a few words to tumble out of his gritted teeth, "Who... Who are… y—" Before he could finish, his armor suddenly cracked open and shattered, his virtual body also broken into pieces.
Game Over!
When Luv Ma started to look for Wang Tong, he had already left the arena.
Wang Tong was laying on the sofa quietly with his eyes closed; his hands clenched into fists as he tried to calm the tumultuous undercurrents in his mind, a turbulence that was perpetuated by the discovery of the salient truth about the power of Tactics of the Blade.
For the first time, Mr. Wannabe simply watched Wang Tong quietly without dressing him down. Wang Tong's performance had finally exceeded his expectations. He regretted that he had talked to him like an ordinary sixteen-year-old, while Wang Tong had been far more than just ordinary.
Wang Tong had not only discovered the power in the Tactics of the Blade, but he had also come to really appreciate Old Fart's stringent supervision of his tactics practices.
Ever since the turn of event on Norton, Wang Tong had always been using the 16-GN nodes, as it was impossible for him to mobilize two hundred and forty nodes at one time during combat.
Mr. Wannabe had said that it was impossible for Wang Tong to miraculously achieve good grades without years of hard work to build a solid foundation first, and the same could be said about his martial arts practice. Since Wang Tong had been practicing the Tactics of the Blade for only a year, which was insufficient to master any tactics let along the so-called "most deadly" tactics. But Wang Tong's progression, albeit difficult, had been dramatically accelerated, due to the fact that he had been practicing the sixteen node version ever since he was six.
The sixteen nodes version happened to contain the core components of the complete version, cultivating the use of all the other nodes was simply an extension of any one of the sixteen nodes.
That explained Old Fart's stringency about Wang Tong’s training, and the punishments Wang Tong had received for slacking.
For the first time in Wang Tong's life, he had realized the fact that his body was a hidden treasure trove, and it would be solely up to himself to discover the precious power locked inside. Today’s battle for example, had he not used the little GN cluster on his right arm, Miao Xiu's sword would have hacked him into two pieces.
Mr. Wannabe's voice dragged Wang Tong's mind back to reality: "Hey, Kiddo, what had happened out there?"
Wang Tong's face lit up with excitement: "I am not too sure either, perhaps that was my true talent? Wahaha!"
The "Tactics of Playing Dumb" had always been Wang Tong's best way of dodging unwanted questions.
Mr. Wannabe rolled his eyes as he contemplated something for a while before he spared Wang Tong a stare. To Wang Tong's surprise, Mr. Wannabe didn't follow this up with more questions or profanities; his face looked stern as if he had just made a serious decision.
Wang Tong acted as if he didn't care about Wannabe's unusual behavior, he left Heaven-Dream and hurried off to his room, he still had to finish studying which was even harder than the Tactics of the Blade.
However, underneath Wang Tong's seemingly blithe appearance, a dark torrent swirled ever since Old Fart had warned him about the "trouble" in the crystal: a cryptic warning about Mr. Wannabe’s true nature.
Miao Xiu was stoned and still found it difficult to comprehend what had just happened in the arena.
"Miao Xiu, you don't think this dude is a follower of the Templar as well?" Luv Ma asked.
Miao Xiu didn't spare him an answer as he was still moaning his defeat.
As time had passed, Miao Xiu suddenly pulled his hair in despair and frustration, and yelled at the top of his lung:"Sh*t! sh*t! sh*t! No, it’s impossible! He’s clearly never received any formal training; didn't you see his… unorthodox moves?"
"But he used the Attack of Gaia! There's no way he would have learned it from you after watching it only once..."
"Attack of Gaia wasn't even close to his power, not even if he was a Templar." Miao Xiu shook his head in dismay.
"You mean that was not..." Luv Ma's breath was caught in his throat as he was shocked at Miao Xiu's revelation.
Miao Xiu nodded, "Attack of Gaia can only be used with a sword, what he used was something very similar but stronger, much stronger, perhaps it’s a well-guarded secret tactics." Miao Xiu resented the thought that Wang Tong’s tactics were stronger than his.
"I reckoned that the tactics he used emphasized the conditioning of one's body, especially the right arm, which he used as a weapon," Luv Ma said as he straightened his eyeglasses.
"Or maybe he was one of the Lis?" Seeing Miao Xiu grew gloomy and quiet, Luv Ma half asked and half suggested in an attempt to console his friend, as being defeated by one of the Lis would seem more bearable than being defeated by an unknown boy of sixteen.
"Unlikely, he was not as aloof and pretentious as those from the five houses. He was rude and brusque, and he must have planned to use me as his free sparring target!" Miao Xiu said as he gritted his teeth, unable to control his anger.
Luv Ma understood his frustration as it was his first defeat after he had left the Templar’s court. The usually talkative Miao Xiu had been too quiet. Luv Ma decided to leave Miao Xiu alone, as he knew that Miao Xiu had been hurt more than what he allowed others to see.
Wang Tong headed towards his dormitory in a joyful sprint; things could not be clearer then: Old Fart knew Mr. Wannabe existed. He gave him the space crystal and taught him the sixteen node version of the Tactics of the Blade before sending him off to Norton, hoping that Wang Tong would figure things out by himself. As for the message that he received after he returned to Earth, it was a warning from Old Fart that he had to stay low and to curtail his brashness.
Keeping a low profile was easy for Wang Tong since he had always considered himself a reserved person.
Wang Tong saw a throng of girls in front of his door as he approached his dormitory. "What the heck?"
As soon as he was spotted by them, the girls closed in on Wang Tong with great excitement in their eyes.
Wang Tong was not used to, albeit always welcomed, a situation like this. Could it be that he was going to become that one lucky guy in the videos he sneakily watched alone every night?