Zambrotta, the Master of the War Drum Hall on the Mars, was pleased by the support of his people on the Mars. The Soul Harp had been the only tactics that were neck to neck with Thunder Drum regarding fame and power. Others had tried to replace them, but they had all failed. The thought of Einherjar Wannabe's fans blindly slapping the title of "sound wave attack" to a roar was laughable to Zambrotta. Also, he found the name of the fan club resembled an insolent parody on the name of the "War Drum Hall."
Zambrotta was a powerful and ambitious cultivator, and the same went for the other nine masters on the list of the "Miraculous Ten." Truth be told, it was hard to rank the power of the ten cultivators, except for the top three, who had a palpable advantage over the other seven. And for the rest seven cultivators, their rank was primarily determined by their fame of their sect and the size of their followers. On the other hand, it was also crucial for a sect to be adamant in their effort to improve their rank on the list, since the more famous a sect was, the more followers it would attract.
The competition was fierce, and not losing a battle in public was one of the most effective ways to retain the sect's rank. Over time, the sect leaders, such as Zambrotta, grew content and conservative.
Although Zambrotta had reached the ultimate level in his cultivation, he had yet to find a successor who was as talented as that of the Sect of Soul Harp. Therefore, Zambrotta knew that a defeat would impact the sect significantly at this most vulnerable moment.
All things considered, Zambrotta decided to remain silent despite the voice of anger surrounding him. However, that changed ever since he had received the letter from House of Lie.
Lie Jian had been infuriated by Einherjar Wannabe's return and the subsequent victory. It spoke loudly to the public about the humiliating outcome of his last fight with the mysterious fighter. After seeing Einherjar Wannabe unleash the sound wave attack, an idea sprung into his mind. Hadn’t the sect of the War Drum's request to establish a branch in the city of Esell just got shelved by House of Lie? To maintain the dominant power on Mars, House of Lie not only needed to utilize the talents from the Hall of War Drum, but also prevent them from growing too powerful and too bold.
Lie Jian reasoned that he would use Zambrotta's request as a reward to lure him to accept Einherjar Wannabe's challenge. If Zambrotta succeeded in defeating Einherjar Wannabe, it would not only be sweet revenge, but would also serve a reminder to those who thought that the House of Lie had become weakened. As for the construction of another War Drum's branch, Lie Jian planned to use government red tapes to slow its process as much as possible.
As Lie Jian had expected, Zambrotta had accepted the deal right away. Zambrotta knew that this was the only chance he had in growing his sect's influence.
With Zambrotta rising to the challenge, Einherjar Wannabe finally found a fighter that was in the elite class.
The Lord of the Thunder Drum—Zambrotta!
Although the level six fighters seemed only to make up a fraction of the total human population, the actual number of level six fighters was not small at all, due to human race's gargantuan population base. However, there were only a handful of level six fighters who could stand out among their peers, because the determining factor in a level six warrior's power was his or her tactics.
Thanks to the incredible power of his unique tactics, Zambrotta ranked high among his peers.
At one time, he had been an unchallenged champion on Mars until he was defeated by Lie Jian's father, Lie Jintian, who was at the time on the verge of becoming an Einherjar. The fight between the two most potent level six warriors had been intense. Only after a few hours of struggle, the Tactics of the Blaze had finally overcome the Thunder Drum by a small margin.
Even till this day, Lie Jintian still marveled at the incredible power of the Thunder Drum whenever he reflected on the fight that had helped him rise to fame.
Unfortunately for Zambrotta, ever since he was defeated, he seemed to have lost his steam. Therefore, he had never breached through the sixth level and reached the state of Einherjar.
Nevertheless, Zambrotta was respected on Mars as one of the grand masters, since his sect had over four thousands followers. Therefore, everyone felt that his would-be opponent, Einherjar Wannabe, was out of his league.
One thing worth mentioning was the fact that although the Moon and the Earth government also tolerated the existence of sects, they had strictly prohibited these sects from recruiting any followers. On Mars, however, this sect follower could swear loyalty to their sect masters who carried out agendas different from the government. But on the other two planets, even the sect masters would have to align their goal with that of the state in order to exist.
All three factions had chosen their own development path, and therefore, the culture and customs varied wildly among them. Martians had always been firm believers of Darwinism, and thus, the society saw to it that the emergence of new power to challenge the old authority was unrestricted. However, on the Earth and the Moon, such insurgence would never be tolerated in the first place.
It was this unique martian culture that had spurred Zambrotta to accept House of Lie's request. Zambrotta was aware that although he was a relatively new player in the game of power, his sect had gained huge influence on Mars, and it was only a matter of time before he would have to confront House of Lie. Meanwhile, he wagered that his rise to power had not gone unnoticed, and soon, House Lie would be on the move against him as well. House Lie had been tightening the noose already by denying his request of establishing a branch. Zambrotta feared that if he didn't make a move quickly, he might lose the initiative.
DREAM was pleasantly surprised by Zambrotta's reply. Cameron doubted that even the DREAM officials would be able to persuade someone as powerful as the sect leader of the Thunder Drum to the fight. Cameron had received a series of instructions from every top level of the DREAM corporation, ordering him to spare no expense in preparing for the fight.
The Lord of the War Drum Hall was the most influential fighter the PA system had ever seen ever since its conception. Everyone believed that Zambrotta had accepted the challenge because he was interested in Einherjar Wannabe's Lion Roar technique.
Right after Zambrotta's announcement, workers at the DREAM had already encountered their first problem in organizing the match, the problem being the martian's weapon. Unlike other warriors who fought with iron and steel, Zambrotta fought with a legendary war drum. The War Drum Hall had sent a formal request to the PA system, stating that for the sake of fairness, it was absolutely paramount to create a replica in the virtual space for Zambrotta to unleash his full power.
Wang Tong welcomed the request since his first and foremost concern was the opponent being too weak like the last challenger, Peter Lynn. However, a gut feeling told Wang Tong that Zambrotta was much stronger than Peter Lynn, despite the fact that they were on the same level.
Due to the complication in re-creating the war drum, the fight wouldn't be carried out until next week.
When Wang Tong told Mr. Wannabe about the exciting news of his new opponent, Mr. Wannabe simply grunted in reply, and didn't even care to look away from the TV screen. To Mr. Wannabe, all level six warriors were fodders, and only a real Einherjar would pique his interest.
After three days of intense competition, the qualification matches were close to their end. There were three hundred and fifty successful candidates from the Shangjin district, and all of them would go to Yalen to fight against other thousands of warriors from all over Earth for the rights of representing their home-planet.
The successful students would then be sent to the Moon to attend the playoffs.
Although Ayrlarng had improved its overall strength by leaps and bounds over one short year, the qualification match had indicated that Ayrlarng still lacked in the METAL combat department. Only six students from Ayrlarng had prevailed in their qualification match and earned the rights to compete at Yalen.