Wang Tong was amazed at his speed, and he was equally puzzled at its cause. He wished that he had attended military academy so that he would be able to answer his questions about these developments.
"Charcoal, how fast do you think I was running out there?"
"Master, based on my readings, your speed is comparable to a base level METAL fighter."
Wang Tong smiled, although his speed wasn't top notch, to have it placed on par with a METAL fighter made him very proud of himself since it couldn’t have been a fluke out there. He closed his eyes to reflect on the details of what had happened.
Upon careful contemplation, he figured out what had to be the cause of his new speed: it was the now much faster speed of initializing of the “Tactics of the Blade”.
Before he had gained his EMF, his GN nodes had responded sluggishly to his command of initiating of the tactic, what's more, it would often take a while until it started to take effect, again thanks to the slow movements of his GN nodes.
However, ever since Wang Tong had linked his EMF, the initializing of the tactics had almost become an instinct.
When faced with a perilous situation, his subconscious would begin the “Tactics of the Blade” entirely on its own without the need of Wang Tong's conscious command. His EMF had also made the movement of the GN nodes swifter and more fluid; therefore the tactics would take effect almost immediately.
Wang Tong cherished the miraculous accident that had led to the release of his EMF. The sweet taste of triumph made him more eager to become a METAL fighter, but for now, Wang Tong had to gain a better understanding of his new abilities.
Charcoal had helped him light up the cave corridor as his testing ground. He took a deep breath and dug one heel into the ground, then commanded the GN nodes to accelerate their speed; power started to burst out of the EMF and was channeled by Wang Tong throughout his entire body...
“Komnnhh…” Wang Tong suddenly bolted forward in lightening speed.
Wang Tong found himself with his mouth hard pressed against the wall, in an intimate kiss with the cold hard cave, sand and grit filled the groove between his lips. He laughed in joy as he thudded to the ground. "I wasn't dreaming; my speed was real!"
Wang Tong had been busy adjusting to his speed for the next two days. He tried to control his speed so that he wouldn't dash into the gaping mouth of a Zerg. Not only had his speed improved, but also his strength. He tested his strength with a rebar by thrusting it into one of the cave’s walls which ended up being pierced deeply into the hard rock, and the rebar got stuck firmly inside. He couldn't even dream of having strength like this before. Eager to test his new powers in a real life situation, he decided to see if he could kill a Zerg.
To kill a Zerg, he had to find a Zerg first, and he knew there was one nearby that would make a perfect practice target. He was thinking of the previous Zerg that he had barely escaped from. Zergs were patient predators; many documentary films had mentioned their persistence and patience. Although Wang Tong couldn’t hear any movement outside, he knew that it was still out there, waiting for him somewhere in the dark.
To prepare for the hunt, Wang Tong and Charcoal started digging a booby trap at the mine entrance. It was Wang Tong's first time hunting a Zerg, although he was confident about his new abilities, capturing a Zerg would further boost that confidence. It would give him the courage to stand up against even stronger Zergs.
Wang Tong mumbled as he finished his preparations: “Booby trap-done, Weapons-loaded, Plan B - heck, who cares about plan B, thinking too much only makes you cowardly.”
After one night of preparation followed by two hours of rest, he was rejuvenated and ready for a fight. Before he signaled Charcoal to crack open the gate, he took a few large gulps of the cheap wine.
The gate was raising slowly; Wang Tong couldn’t hear any movement outside and wondered if the Zerg was already gone?
Wang Tong darted his eyes left and right to scan his periphery. Suddenly, he saw that the Zerg was hidden in a bush. A pair of emerald colored eyes stared straight at the gate that was still rising.
As soon as the gap between the gate and the ground was about the same height as the Zerg, its body jolted forward and rushed towards the opening. It moved too fast for Charcoal to shut the gate in time.
Seeing that the Zerg was about to dash through the threshold, Wang Tong roared a battle cry in half-drunkenness and flung a metal plate towards the charging Zerg.
The Zerg didn't even flinch; it quickly raised one of his eight arms to block the incoming projectile. The metal plate pierced through the Zerg's sharp claw tip. The attack didn't slow down the Zerg, but as soon as it had crossed the threshold, it fell through the hole and into the booby trap.
"Attack! Now!"
Wang Tong felt a buzz in his ear as blood suddenly rushed toward his brain. A strong emotion took full control of his body and mind; he had no time to think, no time to use the EMF, he had to attack and attack now.
He advanced and smashed the trapped Zerg with massive boulders and sharp metals pieces. Even Charcoal had joined the smashing, albeit being slow and clumsy. The Zerg let out waves of ear-piercing wails.
The two stoned the trapped Zerg for nearly ten minutes. When they finally stopped, the pit was filled to the brim with rocks and metal pieces, and the middle of the pile bulged up like a hill. Wang Tong shivered in disbelief as he noticed the hill. "Sh*t, did we really do this?"
Then he quickly remembered what was buried underneath, and he cheered with glee in his voice: "Ha ha Charcoal, we did it! I am a genius!"
It was Wang Tong's first Zerg kill, although this particular Zerg was weak like Wang Tong had deduced on their first encounter, Wang Tong was still immensely proud of himself. He sprung up in excitement and hugged an equally excited Charcoal, whose cold metal body felt almost warm.
But they had celebrated too soon...
"Ssss..."
An arm burst out of the rocks and slithered towards Wang Tong with its pointy claws. Wang Tong dodged the attack immediately, but even with his heightened senses and improved agility, the claw still cut a foot long gash on his arm. Blood gushed out uncontrollably and splattered all over the ground; some even got on the space crystal lying nearby. Wang Tong watched as the severely wounded Zerg slowly stood up to reveal its hideous head, struggling its way out at the top of the hill.
Stimulated by blood and liquor, a battle rage suddenly burst inside of Wang Tong, he picked up an iron rebar on the ground and hopped onto the giant wiggling head.
He lifted the metal bar with two hands right above the head, the sharp end pointed directly at the cranial cavity, and he thrust with full force. “One... two... three...” dark green blood gushed out of the Zergs brain and splattered on his face. “Four… five… six...” the Zerg twitched in excruciating pain; green blood blurred Wang Tong's vision. “Seven... eight… ni—” suddenly the defiant Zerg channeled its last strength into a free limb and hacked towards Wang Tong. Wang Tong quickly hopped off the head to dodge the attack, and in midair grabbed onto the swinging arm. The arm swung in the air a few times before it finally plopped back to the ground with Wang Tong's arm still wrapped tightly around it.
Wang Tong cleared the gluey liquid off his face. The same substance had covered Charcoal's optical sensors; spiral patterns flashed on Charcoal's display unit- an indicator for temporary sensory overload.
"This is ... f*cking hard."
Wang Tong limped off the pile of stones. He couldn't believe that he had butchered a Zerg with a coarse iron rebar.
"Charcoal, shut the gate!"
Wang Tong became exhausted and sober as the power and rage instilled by drunkenness were completely gone. Being as powerless as he was then, a baby Zerg would be able to kill him with a flick of its claw.
Wang Tong didn't lower his guard until he saw the heavy gate shut in front of him. He then examined the dead Zerg and started to savor his victory for the second time.
Wang Tong took a quiet moment to reflect on his heroic battle. In the faint light, only his heavy raspy breathing could be heard throughout the empty mine cave.
"Analyzing..."
"Gene type - Human... Purity - near a hundred percent...First Criteria Check - criteria satisfied..."
"Initiate self-checkup..."
"10%....20%... 100%."
"Finalized."
Wang Tong's Space Crystal started to radiate an eerie light through Wang Tong's blood that was smeared all over its shiny surface. Being as exhausted as he was, Wang Tong didn't even notice the light.
"Czeng.."
A beam of bright light shot out of the space crystal and filled the cave entirely with brightness. The sudden eruption of light startled Wang Tong who were still resting on the ground. To his relief, he found out that it wasn't another Zerg.
Light always brought hope to Wang Tong, but as he stared at the iridescently lit space crystal, he felt only confusion. He’d had this seemingly ordinary space crystal for over eight years, and he had never discovered that it was able to shoot out bright lights. He pondered why a discount item that Old Fart had picked up as a last minute gift could have such an unusual function.
A grandiose looking middle aged man emerged out of the light. He was accompanied by a sensation of immense power that engulfed everything in this cave.
Wang Tong felt the power passing through his body; he knew the man in the light must be an incredibly powerful master.
The middle-aged man looked at the dead Zerg in a pool of green blood, then looked back and studied Wang Tong and Charcoal for a second and said
"Pfff... power is less than 100, what a loser."
"Who did you call a loser?!" Wang Tong jumped to his feet and yelled at him. He would not let him mock his victory.
"Of course I was talking about you kiddo. Humph...now, tell me, lad, where is this place?“ The middle-aged man asked contemptuously.
By living with Old Fart for his entire life, Wang Tong had learned a thing or two about dealing with lunatics with grandiose delusions, such as this one in front of him. Instead of answering his questions, Wang Tong asked him back: "Well, Who are you? Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?"
"You don't know me? Ha-ha... Everyone knows who I am, Have you been living under a rock? Ha ha ha."
Wang Tong could feel that great energy was carried with his ostentatious laughter. However, he also felt that the power had quickly faded away once it was outside of the light, leaving only the sound to reverberate in the dark parts of the cave.
"Save your nonsense, who the heck are you?"
"I am ...I am..." The middle-aged man seemed to be scrapping his memory.
One minute later...
"Old timer, have you remembered who you are yet?" Wang Tong asked.
The middle-aged man was still pondering about his name and had since changed his “thinking” position n-times. All the while, Wang Tong had already finished dressing his wound to stop the bleeding. He did not have the luxury of worrying about infections, applying a simple dressing was all that he could do; the rest was up to his fate.
"Damn, I have forgotten who I am... Anyways, all you need to know about me is that I am a prominent person, well-known too, and I was the grandest of the grand masters. Many rookies have dreamed of becoming my disciples, rookies like you. "
"And?" Wang Tong slanted his eyebrow perfunctorily. He was unimpressed, Mr. grandest of the grand could be just another Old Fart.
"And?...and...and I hereby offer you an opportunity to become my disciple, you little sh*t. You may kneel now and offer your hundred kowtows to your new master; I might be so moved after that and consider teaching you one of my coup de graces." The middle-aged man said excitedly and with a smirk on his face. He had already overcome the depression of forgetting his own identity.
Wang Tong was dumbfounded by the man's “kind gesture”, he asked Charcoal: "Have you ever seen a Space Crystal do this? What the heck is happening right now?" Charcoal looked in the direction of the light, not sure where to look besides the bright light.
Before Charcoal could reply to his question, Wang Tong turned to the middle-aged man in the bright light and barked at him, "And you, you can Kowtow my ass!"