"Perhaps," Li Ruoer thought, "the real reason that my plan would never work as I intended it to was due to the Tactics of the Enchantress. Maybe that was why I could be so sunburned at times as well."
Zhou Zhi used to say that ‘the best way to increase one's willpower was to battle with oneself, and regardless of one's purpose, winning something or someone should be the only goal.’
Although what Zhou Zhi had said didn't make sense to anyone who didn't practice the Tactics of the Enchantress, it was treated as one of the most fundamental tenants of the Enchantress. Every generation of cultivators had their own take on the meaning of these words, but Li Ruoer believed that her understanding was the only correct meaning.
Li Ruoer's father had told her that she was the most talented among all who had cultivated the Tactics of the Enchantress. Her soul energy was extraordinarily adaptive, and could be molded into a different shape in a blink of an eye. However, despite the frequent changes, Li Ruoer could always hold onto the threads of order in the chaos, and control the power of the tactics to release its full potential. The hardest part of using the tactics of the enchantress was self-control. The cultivator was exposed to wide range of emotions caused by the tactics by design. Without a tremendous self-restraint, one would easily become deranged. General Zhou Zhi was able to exercise extreme self-control because General Li Feng was her only desire. Thanks to the 'perfect' mismatch of the wielder’s steadfastness and the tactic's erratic nature, General Zhou Zhi had become the second most powerful human on earth, closely behind the very source of her power: General Li Feng.
Li Ruoer often felt indignant that her father and everyone else seemed to considered her brother as the only legitimate heir and ignored her feelings.
That being said, other than assuming her brother would eventually take over the family business, everyone treated Li Ruoer with the utmost respect. Li family had a considerable influence in the military, thanks to the family tradition of producing Einherjars. Although at times, there were one or two members of other families who would achieve the status of Einherjar, the majority of the Einherjars were from the Li family.
Regardless of the power struggles, no one would be able to challenge the status of the Li family. The Li family and the other four great houses had become too big to fall.
On the Mars, House of Lie dictated all matters on the planet. Their only opponent was the Divine Master Sect, but it was unlikely that the sect would intervene in any worldly matters, as their sect disciplines forbade such actions. On the Moon, the Dowers and the Zhang had reached a mutual understanding, and had divided the monopolization of the Moon between themselves. Thanks to the more advanced technology and the brand of 'elite living,' life on the moon were much more comfortable than that on any other planet. It had a highly democratic and developed society, which both Doer and the Zhang worked very hard to protect and preserve. Thanks to the two families’ hard work and genuine concern for its people, they had enjoyed a very high approval rating on their home planet.
The alliance between the Li and the Ma on the earth was also very stable. The two families had a rough go in the first three hundred years after General Li passed away, but they had slowly rebuilt the earth and brought it back to prosperity. The earthlings were much better at politics than the Martians, and had a greater craving for power than the Ivantians. Driven by the insatiable desire for control and power, the Li Family had slowly extended its influence, in an attempt to seize control of the confederation and the council meetings.
Li Daozhe had gone so far as to embed his hope in his children to complete the family's grand plan in their names: "Li Shiming"—name of the greatest ancient emperor, and "
Ruoer" — "like the son."
On Mars, Lie Jian was fuming over his challenger bailing on him without even sending him a notice.
It was the first time in Jie Jian's life that anyone had ever dropped the ball on him.
Lie Jian had been getting increasingly impatient a few days ago. At first, he thought Einherjar Wannabe was playing some trick on him. But as time passed, he realized that his opponent had dropped out the match entirely.
Lie Jian felt like he had hosted a lavish banquet but his guest of honor had failed to show up. The reason he requested a real combat was that he had reserved opinions about the PA system's fairness. After all, it was the untrustworthy earthlings who developed the PA system.
It had become tough for him to find a worthy opponent, but the only one he had discovered in a long time had decided to hide away from him. Therefore, Lie Jian had since lived in the agony of regret and anger, suffering the torment of waiting.
In addition to waiting, Lie Jian also sent out his spooks, trying to figure out if that powerful fighter called Einherjar Wannabe really existed, or was he just a ruse played out by the DREAM to intentionally mess with him and his family. However, Lie Jian's intuition told him that that wasn't the case.
He conceded that, for the sake of his face and his family reputation, he needed to be patient.
The soldiers of the ninth platoon found their life had been becoming joyful. They completed all their missions with ease, and while they were off duty, they could tease the young "couple," Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru, for their unspoken intimacy. Whenever they made the pair blush, the two would stare at jesters indignantly, and the look on their face would make the soldiers burst out laughing.
Jansining had soon become Wang Tong's close friend. From time to time, he would pull out the picture from his inner pocket and brag about her cute daughter. Jansining was the only member of the platoon who had a kid, and therefore, he was the only who felt the guilt of not being able to be there for his lovely daughter as she grew up.
Luckily, Jansining's wife was very supportive and understanding. Although it was an honor to be the wife of a soldier who fought for the safety of mankind, the wives of the soldiers had to take on more stress in their lives and endure the loneliness. Jansining understood what his wife was going through, so he video chatted with his family whenever he got the chance.
Whenever Jansining video chatted with his wife and daughter, the other soldiers would crowd the screen with their faces, trying to take a look at the cute little toddler.
They quickly learned that the little toddler had a sharp mind and sharper tongue. When Jansining introduced Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru to her, she asked blatantly if the two were dating, and then immediately asked her father the meaning of the word "dating."
The one that got jested by her little sharp mouth the most often was Big Head. Big Head was her godfather, so she decided to sing a song to him, and it went like this:
Big Head has a big head,
Raining and pouring but don't you fret,
Stay close under his chin,
and I guarantee you
that you won't get wet!
The little girl sang the song and clapped her small hands together as if measuring the tempo. Her seriousness and the hilarious lyrics sent everyone laughing. Big Head smiled amiably at the camera while trying to endure his teammates' laughter.
It was these little moments that made Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru feel like they were home, and appreciate the deep connections they had built with the soldiers.
It had been a while since the two students landed on Norton, and Ma Xiaoru had been adapting to the new environment very quickly. Wang Tong admired Ma Xiaoru's ability to adapt so quickly to such an austere and harsh lifestyle. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and was used to plush life and busy streets. It was her adaptive and easy going personality that had helped her adjust.
The number of Zergs had been dwindling ever since the ninth platoon had killed the queen, and soon, the entire area had been cleared of bugs. The ninth platoon was praised publicly at a gathering, and received a trophy for killing the queen.
The human force slowly pushed forward. It was hard to discover the location of the hives, and even when they did, killing the Zerg Queen also presented a problem. Since the GBD cannon could not guarantee the death of the queen, the military had to dispatch extermination teams to the lair. But so far, only the ninth platoon and came back alive from such a mission.
Once the military was certain that there was no more Zergs left, they put up a defense perimeter and moved on District E. News had come that there was substantial Zerg activity in District E, so the promise of killing Zergs motivated all the soldiers on the day they left District D.
The terrain in District E was much more complicated than that of District D, due to its dense coverage of forest. When the military discovered a group of Zergs hiding in the woods, the standard practice was to bombard the woods until there were no trees left to conceal the Zergs. Luckily, the scourge of the environmentalists hadn't reached this planet yet.
There are only two goals for a soldier on Norton: Kill Zergs and stay alive.
"Guard up, everyone! Ma Xiaoru and Wang Tong, you two be really careful. The situation could get messier than you could imagine here."
"Roger that, lieutenant!"