"Czennn..."
The Zerg's attack pierced through Wang Tong's right thigh. As the Zerg retracted its limb, it took Wang Tong with it and left him hanging upside down in the air. The pain caused Wang Tong to react as he delivered a palm strike towards the limb that was partially inside of him. His attack was accurate and sliced the Zerg’s leg in half, while Wang Tong fell to the ground with the claw still sticking out of his right thigh.
Wang Tong thought that this would be his last moment.
"Raaarhhhh."
Charcoal let out a cry that sounded both courageous and unnatural. He clutched a wooden stake under his arm and charged towards the Zergs that had surrounded Wang Tong. His display unit that was usually dimly lit was then flashing with bright colors.
"Kommm."
The stake rammed into the Zerg and sent it flying before the rest of the Zergs were able to grasp what had happened. Charcoal quickly picked Wang Tong up into his mechanical arms and ran away as fast as he could.
The Zergs immediately started to pursue them as they howled and roared along the way. Charcoal could almost see the entrance to the mine from where he was, but their way out had been cut off by the surrounding Zergs.
"Put me down Charcoal!" Wang Tong yelled at Charcoal after he figured that the Zergs were only interested in him and not Charcoal.
To Wang Tong's surprise, Charcoal ignored his order for the first time. Charcoal did not reply; instead, he continued carrying him while trying to find a way out.
Suddenly, Charcoal stopped moving. His body slowly rose until it was hovering above the ground. Charcoal released his set of mechanical arms and freed Wang Tong from his cradling.
"Master, run...run...away."
Wang Tong tumbled to the ground and turned his head, he saw Charcoal's chest had been penetrated by a sharp claw that now protruded from his back. Charcoal hung on the claw tip limply and wiggled his body in attempts to break free of the claw tip. The Zerg showed no interest in a robot, it raised its other arms and hacked at Charcoal as if it were trying to finish him off as fast as possible. Charcoal fell on the ground in broken pieces.
A Zerg with dark red skin clawed its way out of the throng of Zergs, Wang Tong had never seen a Zerg like it. The dark red-colored Zerg seemed to have taken a particular interest in Wang Tong as it strode towards him. As it walked over Charcoal's tattered frame, it stomped on one of its limbs on top of it and crushed Charcoal into shreds. The Zergs were well known for their appetite for torturing and playing with their captured prey. This red-colored Zerg must have done this intentionally to satisfy its sadistic need.
Wang Tong’s fury re-ignited, a knot of fire burst inside his belly. His body and mind surrendered to a rage which wiped clean all thoughts and emotions save one:
“Kill! Kill! Kill!
The tactics resumed itself; rage-imbued GN nodes whirled around each other with increasing speed which turned everything on their path into furious burning lines. A gust of soul energy shaped like a whirlwind slid out of Wang Tong's EMF. As a slew of energy blasted from the eye of the whirlwind, Wang Tong's body levitated into the air.
Two hundred and fifty-six GN nodes suddenly ignited from the overpowering volatile energy while releasing the GN force that was stored within. As GN power started to fill up Wang Tong's Dantian—an internal nexus of GN powers located near the navel—they condensed tighter as more and more GN power was forced in. A few moments later, the immensely tight knot of GN force reached its limit and finally burst spectacularly.
"Konnnn."
Wang Tong rushed into the throng of Zergs and attacked in berserk madness. His body movements were not at all coordinated, but every strike carried a deadly and unstoppable GN force. Wang Tong ended most of Zerg's lives with a single punch while some less fortunate Zergs were torn to shreds by Wang Tong’s bare hands.
Wang Tong could not think of anything else except for retribution and, soon, even that thought had begun to fade away with his consciousness. He delivered a strike but could not feel the warmth of the green blood that splattered all over his face. He struck another one, this time he couldn't even remember why he was fighting. His rage returned, and he delivered the third blow without understanding why he did so.
His consciousness was enslaved and trampled by the raw and untamed GN force. His pupils had disappeared and left a pair of lifeless whites set motionless in the socket. He was on the verge of becoming a "Deranged".
Cultivating one's EMF was an intangible matter that relates to one’s soul, careless training could cause severe disruptions to one's mental balances, forcing the trainee to become a so-called "deranged"- A person who fell in an irreversible state of madness with an uncontrollable inclination toward violence.
Every year there were reports of hasty training that inflicted derangement to trainees. Once they became inflicted, some trainees had become vegetables, but most were dead soon after falling into madness.
A very few of the deranged had benefited from the unstable mental state which caused their EMF to grow exponentially. However, without their consciousness, they often went on a killing spree before they were inevitably hunted down by the Confederation.
It is, therefore, easy to see why the number one priority of any EMF cultivation method on the market was to maintain a proper speed of progression. People naturally avoided the tactics that were too "effective" and instead, they favored ones that were less effective. This had led to the popularity of the current version of the Tactics of the Blade, thanks to it having little to no effect on EMF.
In his current condition, Wang Tong was very close to the state of derangement if he was not already there. Filled with rage, he had started a mindless killing spree and, in the blink of an eye, a few hundred Zergs had been slaughtered by him.
Wang Tong slumped to the ground after he could no longer find a target. The wind rustled his thatched hair as his pupils returned, but his face was deprived of any emotion. The booming battleground had suddenly fallen into complete silence; sadness permeated the blood tinged air. Wang Tong sat on the ground like an empty husk.
For the first time in his fifteen and a half years of life, he tasted real sadness in his mouth.
A streak of bright light brought the apparition of Wannabe out of the crystal. He saw Wang Tong sitting still on the ground, and turned to look at the piles of Zerg corpses. He sighed slightly and said, "What a reckless but genuine fool, no wonder the power in the crystal chose him. Lad, there's a long way ahead of you, be strong."
Wang Tong saw the sun that heated his face as he opened his eyes, the bright light brought back his consciousness. Without saying a word, he stood up to look for the remains of Charcoal. He crawled on hands and knees on the ground to examine cracks and gaps in a giant pile of Zergs corpses. Finally, out of a metal box, he found Charcoal's central mainframe which was miraculously unharmed. Wang Tong blew off the dust and tucked it under his arm very carefully.
"Ouch!" Wang Tong felt a sudden shock of unbearable pain as if he had fractured every piece of bone in his body.
"Kiddo, you should thank the gods for still being alive." Mr. Wannabe's apparition drifted into Wang Tong's view.
Wang Tong cracked a broad smile, and said, "What happened? Am I still alive?"
"If you knew that Charcoal could be revived using his well protected main frame, then why did you risk your own life? You almost paid for your recklessness with your life! And mine too!"
Wang Tong scratched his head and said: "My bad, I should have thought twice.“ Wang Tong felt that Mr. Wannabe always seemed to overly stress about his own life, Wang Tong had never heard of an Einherjar as cowardly and selfish as him.
"Anyhow, you have to understand that battles like this happen all the time in a war and you cannot save everybody-You are not an Einherjar! You were lucky this time to be able to unlock your GN force in a fluke. You were even luckier to be able to pull back from your unbalanced mental state, and by the way, your GN power was not impressive at all, you need much more training in order to use it properly."
Wang Tong sometimes wondered if hurting his pride would bring Mr. Wannabe joy.
"Yeah, Yeah, I got it."
"Fine, I'll give you a day-off from training tomorrow," Mr. Wannabe disappeared into the crystal after he had finished talking with Wang Tong.
At the relief of his day-off, Wang Tong suddenly felt Mr. Wannabe was more approachable. Wang Tong patted Charcoal's mainframe tucked safely underneath his arm. He would never regret saving his friend, even if it meant to risk his own life.
A man is gonna do what a man is gonna do. At least now he wouldn't have to feel bad about leaving his friend to die.
"...Ouch!"
Wang Tong stumbled limply towards the mine gate; he counted himself fortunate to still have four limbs attached to his body.
This hellish day had seasoned Wang Tong in the art of battle. He had gained many insights and wisdom from this miraculous journey to the very edge of life.
It took Wang Tong thirty minutes to eventually reach the mine. All the while, he had been on alert for any more Zergs - he had learned it the hard way to never let his guard down, like a real soldier. He then thought it was ironic that he had always wanted to become a scientist, but now it seemed that he was much better at punching Zerg's brains out than squeezing pipettes.
After Wang Tong had reached the inside of the mine, he sat down immediately to practice the tactic. He knew that he could only bring out his full potential after he was utterly exhausted so he could not waste such an excellent opportunity.
While practicing the tactic, Wang Tong felt that his body had gained an additional singularity of energy in addition to the EMF. This new center node was called Dantian, a nexus of free-flowing GN forces inside of his body. It seemed that his near-derangement had led him towards the first step in unlocking the full power of his GN force.
To Wang Tong's amazement, he had finished one round of tactics in just five hours, a process that usually took him nearly a day to complete since he learned it from Wannabe. He felt famished and started munching handfuls of nutrient pills. He carefully stored Charcoal's mainframe into the space crystal. He decided to revive Charcoal after he returned to Earth, no matter how slim that chance was.
Without Charcoal, Wang Tong's life started to become lonely. Although Mr. Wannabe was still around, he was just a shadow in the light after all, and unlike the obedient and quiet Charcoal, Mr. Wannabe had high expectations and was never happy with Wang Tong's progress.
Wang Tong knew that Charcoal's tragedy was partially his fault, guilt and shame had motivated him to train even harder. He had become absorbed in Mr. Wannabe's hellish training program.
Mr. Wannabe never provided any specific instructions on the matter of the tactic itself, he had never learned the tactic himself after all; instead, he often provided insights on the battlefield based on his own experiences. Wang Tong appreciated the value of these lessons. No matter how contemptuous Mr. Wannabe's criticism sounded, Wang Tong knew deep in his heart that Mr. Wannabe no, the honorable Einherjar was right about everything.