Chapter 306: Free Admiration
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
"I have gathered all the profiles; it would all depend on tomorrow's seeding result." Cao Yi scratched his head and was about to consult his database.
"That's alright. There's no need to trouble yourself with the data. It is too much to go through right now anyways." Wang Tong smiled broadly and marveled at Cao Yi's seriousness in conducting almost any task.
The service bot brought the dinner to everyone. Since they didn't need to pay for their food, the four ate until they couldn't move. The service bot had to go back and forth from their room to the kitchen four times before they were full.
After spending more time with the boys, Zhou Sisi had also started to eat more. Her vigorous training also required her to replenish her body with nutrients. That being said, she still ate the least amount among the four.
Although Cao Yi didn't wolf his food down the throat as Karl did, the amount of food he ate was rather impressive.
After the dinner, the four started an intense pillow fight.
Meanwhile, in another room, Flash was writing his diary quietly. He felt the pressure on his shoulder as he had carried the hope of millions of people from earth. The Earthlings had always hopped that they would be able to break the monopoly of the Ivantians and the Kaedeians in the fleet combat.
Flash had become their only hope of making their dream come true.
After Flash finished his diary, he did some exercises and then went straight to bed.
The next day morning, the service bot woke up the students one after another.
Karl was still snoring as he was drooping all over his pillow. When the service bot got close to him, Karl threw the saliva tainted pillow at the robot and knocked it off balance. The three other students watched the funny scene at the door and burst out laughing.
"Karl! Time for breakfast!"
"Breakfast? Where? I didn't have any yet!" Karl sprang out of his bed, eyes darting left and right.
Wang Tong coughed and then said, "Time to get up Karl."
"Yes, boss!"
When the four arrived at the arena and immediately, they found themselves surrounded by the media. Since the seeding process directly influenced the outcome of the tournament, it had attracted the attention it had rightfully deserved. The earthlings were particularly invested in this year’s tournament, since three Earthling students had unprecedentedly made into the final eight.
The host introduced the eight students in great detail as the media aimed their lenses at the students.
The seeding process was simple: everyone was to pick up a ball with a number on it from a black box.
KKK went first, and his number was five. When he saw one of the Kaedeians hold a number 6 ball, he made a wicked smile as he lamented letting the Earthlings escape his clutches again.
Wang Tong held a number three ball, and one of the Ivantians had a number four. Karl drew a number seven, and he was relieved at the thought that he wouldn't encounter Wang Tong until the final fight for the champion.
Flash looked at his number one ball in his hand, and the number three ball in Wang Tong's hand, then smiled knowingly at Wang Tong.
Group one:
Flash vs. Paris
Wang Tong vs. GoRush
Group two:
KKK vs. Niche
Karl vs. Lora Pasiu
The seeding was done, and everyone had found their opponents. They all counted themselves fortunate that there was no competition between fighters from the same planet just yet.
The eight fighters knew that there were no substantial gap between them regarding skills, and the outcome of the battle hinged mostly on their performance.
After the seeding, everyone returned to their room to prepare for their fight the next day.
In the hallway, KKK smiled at GoRush and said, "Lucky you, picked up an earthling."
GoRush smiled and then said, "Haha, don't be so rude. The earthlings already had their fare share of misfortune. If they had two of them fighting against each other, at least one would make it to the Final Four. It looks like they won't be able to make history this year despite all the hype. "
The Ivantian emphasized the word "history," reminding the earthling students their insufficient track record in the field of fleet combat.
Wang Tong shook his head.
Karl also remained calm. He knew that talk was cheap; only results would prove them wrong. Although the Ivantians’ overall skills were far behind that of the Kaedeians, they were much more ostentatious than the latter.
The three Kaedeians remained calm and stoic. However, their beauty was undeniable.
"Boss, let's show him some color. This idiot won't stop babbling."
"That's because he is afraid."
"Afraid?"
"KKK is very good at using his opponent's psychological weakness. Didn't you notice that he never stalk shit about the Kaedeians? That is because he knows that his words won't affect them. However, he knows that us earthlings are more emotional, and therefore, he uses his ploy on us. But, he did it because he fears us. Otherwise, he won't have to do it. " Wang Tong explained.
"Sh*t, that's despicable!"
"It's alright. The more you pay attention to our world, the more freaks like that you would get to notice. He won't be the last one, so it's a good opportunity for us to test our patience."
"Boss..."
"What?"
"I admire you!"
"Oh, you! just buy me a dinner."
"No!" Karl refused without a second thought.
"You just said you admire me."
"Admiration is free, but dinner is not."
The four laughed together.
Psychological control was a science, and that was why most scientists would be so successful in other areas with the help of their ability to manipulate other's emotions.
Samantha, for example, was a master in the art of manipulation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are watching is the live stream of the pan-solar system tournament, the fleet battle session's final eight matches. We have over five thousand media outlets reporting live from the arena, with more than two hundred thousand live audiences. The first match of the day is between Flash of Capth and Paris of Royal Kaedeian. This is going to be an exciting match, since earthlings had never able to find a viable solution to counter the Kaedeians attack. Let's hope that Flash would bring us some surprises today. "
The Ivantian host announced with a gleeful voice. However, his money was not on Flash, since he believed that he was still a relatively inexperienced player, and earthlings overall fell far behind Kaedeians in fleet battle.
Flash remained placid, and so was his opponent, Paris. It would be the first time Flash ever fought a tough Kaedeian player who was as methodical as him.
The first round began.
Paris started the game with a normal opening, and Flash had also used the most commonly used opening formation.
Seeing the earthling boy not pulling any tricks from under his sleeve, the audiences worried if he would be able to survive the Kaedeian's attack.
Neither of the two deviated from the set strategies in the first dozen minutes. However, a few minutes later, Flash had sent in his first wave of attacks. Everyone thought that this first wave of attack would be cannon fodder under the Kaedeian's defense.
The two forces engaged and both sides sustained heavy losses; it was a better outcome than what Flash had expected.
In a few moments, Flash had pushed out his second wave of attack among the audiences disapproving criticisms.
Flash's economy had already fallen behind.
Flash had gained a slight advantage in the second round of attack, but he didn't have many ships left after the skirmish ended. Paris seized the vacuum of her opponent's force and started an aggressive expansion, hoping her expansion of bases would aggravate Flash to attack her again. Even if Flash wanted to expand, Paris thought, it would be already too late, since she had taken control all of the resources nodes on the map.
Everyone was surprised to find out that Flash didn't expand his territory.
Paris had built four bases, and her fleet economy was also through the roof. Despite being constantly harassed by Flash's fleet, her forces were increasing its rank by the second.
Finally, a large battle broke out in the very middle of the map. Although Flash had ended up destroying all of Paris's fleet, he did not have enough force left to take over even one of Paris's four bases.
The situation was not looking too bright for Flash.