Wang Tong was confident that his ID at the PA system should help Mr. Wannabe find some opponents, but he doubted if any Einherjar would be interested just yet.
Only a coward would compensate his incompetency by picking on someone who was much weaker, and no Einherjar that Wang Tong knew of was a coward.
Although many Einherjars looked down on the PA system, they did not despise the platform itself, but rather the weaklings that filled its stage. Should a worthy opponent show up, Wang Tong reasoned that even the Einherjars would jump the gun on it.
Although Wang Tong was not familiar with the lives of Einherjars, he wagered that the lack of opportunity to fight with a worthy opponent ought to have frustrated them. Perhaps, Mr. Wannabe would have a chance after all.
Sensing the promise of success, Wang Tong reminded himself to plan the stage carefully. To minimize the suspicion, they would have to increase the difficulties of the fight gradually, to make it look like as if Einherjar Wannabe had been increasing his power steadily.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was eager to learn from the fight, to find out the limits of human capability. Wang Tong conceded that with a level four soul energy, he had no chance of winning if he were to fight against a level six fighter. All the while, he wondered how Mr. Wannabe would fare if he were to be tossed into the same situation.
The thought of seeing Mr. Wannabe's fight and to have his question answered exhilarated Wang Tong. Truth be told, he felt that his improvement had come to a halt, and he reckoned that the tournament would be an opportunity to breach this bottleneck. However, he found the wait unbearable, as he was continually frustrated by the weak opponents he had met during the qualification matches. Should he be able to materialize the fights between Mr. Wannabe and other Einherjars, the combats, themselves would be the best shot he would have at further improving himself. He believed that he not only could he learn through fighting by himself, but also through observing fights between highly skilled players.
Soon, Wang Tong drifted off to sleep with a pleasant smile.
The next day, Hu Yangxuan had also succeeded passing the area-qualification match. Wang Tong also saw his old friend Wang Ben on the stage.
It had been half a year since the last time they met each other. Wang Tong was pleased to notice the improvement in Wang Ben's power, as he finished off his opponent with one single punch. After the tournament with Capth, Wang Ben had since walked out of his defeat and learned many lessons, the most valuable of all being that instead of complaining, he needed to act proactively to change his life. He had started to understand that his father's choices did not matter; his success and happiness had always been in his own hands.
The fighters who caught the most attention of the day were the four inner disciples from the Templar's Court. Each of the four fighters wielded a weapon- blade, sword, lance, and halberd.
The Court's training method drastically differed from that of the military. Instead of focusing on maximizing the damage output as the military did, the court focused on increasing the power reserve.
Unsurprisingly, the four inner court disciples had passed their qualification match without any difficulties.
The four fighters were:
Zhang Buyu, the Whitewater Blade
Yao Bai, the Swing Lance
Ye Kai, the Gentlemen Sword
Wu Gang, the Rebellious Halberd
In the district of Shangjin, the lack of high-level fighters meant that the fight between contestants was less lopsided, but more entertaining to watch than that of other districts. Although It only took Wang Tong and Hu Yangxuan a couple of minutes, if not less, to defeat their opponents, many fights between A-class students had dragged on for an hour, since the tournament committee had adopted a lenient stance re
garding rules and time restrictions. The committee understood that to most students, the tournament was simply a chance to learn, since they knew that their chance of winning was slim. Sometimes, a good fight could be a life-changing lesson as well.
After the intense and exhausting training, Hu Yangxuan decided that he could finally relax during the tournament while he was not fighting. He had quickly turned the qualification matches into "bird watching" activities, as his eyes darted left and right, scanning attractive looking girls. Despite Wang Tong's recent rise to fame, Hu Yangxuan had always enjoyed a relatively stable fan-base. Unlike Wang Tong, who rarely spent time socializing with other schoolmates, Hu Yangxuan was a social butterfly. Therefore, a lot of students found him more approachable than Wang Tong. The mere presence of Wang Tong would cast a solemn air about him, like a battle heartened veteran, and it was a conversation killer.
"Wow! Look at that pair of beautiful legs!" Hu Yangxuan shouted as he ogled at a girl standing in the distance. The students around him burst out laughing. Wang Tong was quickly bored of the bird-watching, and therefore, he started back to his new apartment before the other fights were finished.
Although Wang Tong didn't think that any opponents at the qualifications would pose a threat to him, he conceded that he would need to prepare well for the fights with opponents later on. He had tried to watch a few video recordings of the "Fantastic Five". However, their opponents were so weak that Wang Tong hardly found the footage useful in analyzing their moves.
That being said, those videos did confirm a lot of rumors about their power.
Michaux for example, Wang Tong was impressed by his aggressive soul energy. Just as the rumors suggested, the young master' fighting style was aloof and calm.
As for Princess Heidi, Wang Tong could not find anything extraordinary about her based on the video clip other than her exquisite face. However, he conceded that he could not evaluate Heidi's power using such a weak opponent. There ought to be more to her ability than what met the eyes.
On the way back to his apartment, Wang Tong indulged himself with a BBQ skewer from a food truck vendor. After taking the first bite, he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. Wang Tong paused for a second while chewing the meat industrially, then turned and saw a girl in an oversize hat and oversize sunglasses. He was surprised to find out that it was Zhang Jin.
"Follow me… We need to talk." Zhang Jin urged.
"Sure."
The two walked away from the clamor near the arena into a little alley. Zhang Jin finally asked, "You are brave to follow me. Very confident, aren't you."
"Haha, no, I am the most skittish. I didn't notice you coming until you were right next to me."
"Don't be modest. I can tell what you think. I have the Tactics of the Conscious Heart, remember?"
"Ah-ha! I see." Wang Tong scratched his head as he admired Zhang Jin's ability to conceal her power. "Anyhow, what's up?"
"Nothing, just want to see how busy you are. It's no easy job to please the House lord of Ma, isn't it?"
"It's... fine. How are you doing?"