Chapter 166: The Inner Force
Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn
FlyWing turned around and glared at Carl with a straight face after scolding Wang Tong, the boy used to be bold, but this time he was completely intimidated.
"Mr. Carl!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Why do you like ambushing your enemies?" FlyWing asked calmly.
"I have no idea why, Sir. I think it’s because it’s fun to confuse the enemies?" Carl preferred to follow his guts when he did things.
"Fun, huh? What do you think will happen to most of your crew if you do that?"
"Die, I guess?" Carl scratched his head, he still needed a solution for that problem.
FlyWing didn’t say a word later, knowing that it would take days to point out every weakness of Carl. Noticing that the coach was trying to be nice with his scoldings, the rest of the class tried to hold on to their laughter.
FlyWing then continued to mentor the rest of the class. He had noticed that Zhou Sisi was the fastest to improve, and although her speed was slower than Wang Tong, her hands were still the fastest amongst girls. Moreover, she possessed outstanding alertness and perspective, which made her a talent for this subject and a suitable candidate as a commander. On the other hand, being a girl, Zhou Sisi had more advantages than Best in certain categories as she was calmer and more humble; however, she needed more practices to overcome her weaknesses.
Everyone was exhausted after attending classes for the whole day, but their tiredness was nothing compared to the fatigues of the students in Heavy Armed Forces; their bodies were totally stressed out by the intense physical training.
Everyone’s happiest moment was definitely during lunch and dinner breaks. Unlike the harshness they had been through on Paradise Island, Bernabeu’s cafeteria served good food every day, and all of them were able to fill up their tummies happily, but somehow, the other students of Bernabeu were intimidated by them because the cafeteria would turn into a "war zone" as they arrived.
"Fellas, Cao Yi has made a video, and he’s gonna show us tonight," Hu Yangxuan said.
In the beginning, the students of both Ayrlarng and Bernabeu were not that close; however, they managed to get along very well after spending so much time training together.
"It’s nothing special... I’ve just finished editing the footage of Einherjar Wannabe’s latest battle, but I wasn’t able to upload it immediately due to our tight schedule. Anyway, have a look guys, I’m sure it’ll help us in every aspect," Cao Yi seemed shy about it.
"Of course, we’ll watch it, your version is way better than the official one!"
"Yea, I can’t wait to watch it."
All of them seemed interested. Everyone else might have seen it a few times already, but the students of this special training program had been busy as bees. Even Cao Yi, who always managed to upload his analysis videos on time, had no choice but to postpone his upload schedule even though he had managed to finish the editing during some of his free time. Somehow this had become one of his favorite pastimes; moreover, he was able to find something new every time he did that and even managed to increase his knowledge and experiences.
"Haha, do share with us then," Ma Xiaoru said as she laughed in a gentle manner.
It seemed like Ma Xiaoru wasn’t troubled by the incident on Paradise Island. In fact, a giant corporation like the FFC would definitely have its own team of experts to handle all sorts of troubles, which was why she didn’t have to get involved for too much; instead, she would rather focus more on her own training.
Wang Tong wasn’t very interested, but he didn’t dare to spoil the mood since everyone was so excited, perhaps he would treat it as a "revision".
Everyone gathered around for the video session at night, and even though most of them had watched it live, a live telecast was way more different than an analysis video, especially Cao Yi’s version which always managed to discover something new.
"Jiang Long was definitely his strongest opponent up until now."
"Indeed, with his ultimate Firmament Palm Strike, he was definitely a strong fighter to be feared of." Hu Yangxuan sighed. He always thought that he was better than the others upon graduating from the Court of the Templar, but in fact, the vast world was filled with all sorts of talents, and it seemed like the number of talented people had increased in recent years, emerging like geysers; however, no one could tell if it was a good or bad sign.
A strong competition was the key factor in creating powerful characters, but at the same time, it was also a sad situation for geniuses. During the era of Blade Warrior, for example, there were Rilangalos Dower, the Prince of Perfection; Zarta, the Fierce One; Georgio, the Great; Zachery, the King of Pirates, and so on. All of them were unrivaled geniuses that might have been able to create their own empire if they were born in a different era; however, being born in the same era as the Blade Warrior, their talents were bounded by his existence. From another perspective, their existence had highlighted the uniqueness of the Blade Warrior.
Undeniably, legends were always born in the midst of competitions between talented ones.
The numbers of elites and aces had skyrocketed in the recent two hundred years, and many talents and famous warriors had emerged from the various Houses, the Court of the Templar, the military academies, and dojos. Nevertheless, people began to wonder why would Einherjar Wannabe choose to make his debut in this period of time.
Clearly, Cisco and Jiang Long weren’t the last elites he would choose to challenge, and everyone knew that he was just getting started.
Everyone still gasped in the middle of the video even though this was not the first time they had watched the fight. The palm strike Einherjar Wannabe had used at the end of the match was forceful and brutal indeed.
All of a sudden, Ma Xiaoru saw something weird. "Cao Yi, rewind a little bit, a bit more… okay, stop! Yes! That’s the part, can you zoom in?"
A few of the students realized something as they looked at the enlarged image, they were puzzled by what they were witnessing, and even Cao Yi, who had made this video, was unable to notice that in the beginning.
"Inner force!"
"It has to be!"
Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan knew a lot because she was the disciple of the House of Li, while he was the disciple from the Court of the Templar.
"Inner force? What’s that? What are you guys talking about?" Carl looked confused.
The others too looked confused and had no idea what was going on since surprisingly, the only ones who were able to notice it were Apache, Cao Yi, Hu Yangxuan, Ma Xiaoru, and Zhou Sisi.
In the final scene, it seemed like Einherjar Wannabe wasn’t using any strength in his unknown palm strike when he was up against Jiang Long’s Thunderbolt Strike, and Ma Xiaoru felt strange when she saw the wide distance between both fighters.
The distance was quite obvious, meaning that both player’s palm didn’t touch each other. Miscalculating the distance was, in fact, a fatal mistake for Jiang Long’s Thunderbolt Strike, but on the other hand, Einherjar Wannabe’s palm strike was able to deal damage without making contact.
Everyone still seemed puzzled after hearing Ma Xiaoru’s explanation.
"That’s outrageous! I thought that attacks should be ‘the harder the better’, an attack without using any strength, what’s the point of that?" Kyaero asked.
"Basically, the utilization of the GN Force is separated into three different stages. What you were saying is the first stage which is also known as the Actual Force Stage, every movement from the attacker is real at this stage, and it emphasizes on the level of strength and impact. The second stage is called the Inner Force Stage, its effectiveness and lethality are much higher than the first stage, and it is hard to be detected. However, this is extremely difficult to master, and the fighter needs to possess a high amount of GN Force."
"In another word, the Inner Force is better in penetrating defenses. To make it simple, you might be able to shatter a rock with a single punch, but the impact would not be able to shred a piece of paper, let alone a piece of cloth. As a matter of fact, one would also be able to access the Inner Force if he or she is able to completely master the Firmament Palm Strike. The Inner Force is definitely the uniqueness of the Entanglement of Death, or to be exact, even more powerful than the Thunderbolt Strike; however, Jiang Long’s GN Force is nowhere near that stage," Ma Xiaoru carried on with her explanation.
"How powerful is that defense penetration really?"
"For instance, you’re fighting a Zerg with a tough exoskeleton, you’ll be able to transmit the force directly into its body if you have mastered the Inner Force, and if you are fighting against another human being, conventional METAL Suits will be completely useless against it."
Everyone began to discuss among themselves after knowing such an intimidating technique. They finally knew why Jiang Long was knocked down in one hit, no one would be able to withstand such a demonic strength.
"Damn, so does it mean it is completely unrivaled?"
"Not really, but it’s difficult to counter. So far I’ve never heard of anyone, who’s below thirty years old, that is able to utilize the Inner Force without any problem," Ma Xiaoru said.
"Could it be that Einherjar Wannabe is actually someone possessed by the ghost of an ancient warrior?"
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was listening happily. After learning about the Inner Strength, he was basically able to confirm that Einherjar Wannabe’s technique was some kind of Inner Force attack; however, the technique itself was quite suicidal. Luckily, Wang Tong’s Tactics of the Blade was a dual core tactic or else he would also have been severely injured after making that move. Nevertheless, his body would not be able to handle the immense stress from this technique.
"The Inner Force is usually treated as an ultimate killing move, but attacks like this will also deal extensive damages to the fighter itself. However, I wonder how Einherjar Wannabe, who is only a fighter with a level four Soul Energy, was able to nullify the damage from the recoil." No one was able to answer Ma Xiaoru’s question.
"So what’s the third stage?" Cao Yi was curious, he was guessing that it was probably something even stronger than the Inner Force.
"It is called the Vanity Force Stage, but it is only accessible by Einherjars; however, I’m not sure about the details. Anyhow, regarding Einherjar Wannabe’s attacks that are similar to the Inner Force, that’s only my personal theory, and it might not be true as there are still many techniques that are waiting to be discovered. Nevertheless, I still doubt that it is really the Inner Force, after all, it takes someone with a higher Soul Energy to achieve this stage," Ma Xiaoru said. It might look like she wasn’t consistent with her own point of view, but she would rather choose not to believe that a sixteen-year-old boy was able to utilize the Inner Force. Even Ma Xiaoru, herself, who practiced the Tactics of the Enchantress since a young age, was not able to make such achievement.
Everyone watched the video again, but this time no one was gossiping and tried their best to study every battle technique instead; every student had their own way of learning.
This was the first time that Wang Tong watched his own fight as a spectator, and to be honest, it felt really good! He used to be uninterested in watching his own fights, but now, as he watched carefully, he was able to discover things that needed to be improved… but still, it was kind of awkward.
Wang Tong dozed off in the middle of the video; his mind was filled with FlyWing’s theories. He understood that he would only become a second-rate player if he only relied on his controlling maneuver and his so-called "proficiency". He needed to master the crucial factors of Battlecraft Combat as soon as possible if he really wanted to become a first-rate player.
He had to overcome everything on his own in order to become stronger, but first, he needed to understand everything that he didn’t know. Wang Tong knew he had to make a breakthrough in this critical moment or else it was going to become a defect that would stick to him forever.
With his extraordinary sense of danger and imagination, Wang Tong soon began to simulate battle scenarios in his mind.
On the other hand, Zhang Jin seemed happier these past few days — excited and anticipating to be exact. She had finally obtained every information about Einherjar Wannabe, and she even managed to obtain a few intel from DREAM Corporation. Right at this moment, she was able to confirm that Einherjar Wannabe was not something created by DREAM, and in fact, even DREAM was trying to get familiar with Einherjar Wannabe, but he eventually rejected all of their offers.
In the end, there was no way to contact Einherjar Wannabe.
Zhang Jin was interested because she had finally discovered the real identity of that mysterious palm strike. For some reason, a mystical technique that had vanished for more than three hundred years had resurfaced all of a sudden, what could it mean?