Chapter 89: Laughing Stock
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn
As everyone thought that Carl's failure was evident, the teenager suddenly spun around and dodged the Zerg's attack. His soul reading also surged abruptly from 15 to around 20 as he punched at the soft spot of the Zerg, right underneath its chin.
Carl felt the air on top of his head being disturbed by the Zerg's arm walloping across, missing him by a mere inch. In front of him, the husky figure of the eight-legged monster suddenly dropped to the floor. Carl heaved a deep sigh of relief.
The students let out a wave of cheers. Like most other students, Carl did not possess an exceptional ability, yet, he was able to defeat a giant Zerg in one try. Although Carl had been immensely nerve-racked in the process, he eventually had deployed the right strategy at the right moment.
A strange smile flashed across Gansus's face, and on the other side of the classroom, Wang Tong also heaved a sigh of disappointment. The giant bug suddenly sprung back to life and struck at Carl again; one of its eight legs pierced the back of the unsuspecting boy, and the Zerg lifted the wiggling body high up before it fell to the ground again.
Carl walked out of the simulation room; the sudden failure had taken the wind out of his sail.
Gansus marked a 0 beside Carl's name without saying a word. There was no need for Gansus to give any explanation, what happened had spoken it all. Although Carl's strike had hit the fragile, weak spot of the Zerg, without a METAL suit to boost the intensity of the attack, it was simply insufficient to kill. It was too early to celebrate.
Carl had defeated a virtual Zerg in the PA system before, but he had forgotten that last time, he had the aid of a tier one METAL suit.
Gansus didn't even spare a look at Carl. Instead, he regarded the class with a stern look on his face, "I suppose that you guys had all owned a METAL suit in the TPA system. But don't expect that to happen in real-life!"
Students were dumbstruck by the comment; everyone knew that once their soul energy had reached 100 or so, they would be able to wear a tier 4 METAL suit.
Gansus registered the confusion on his students' faces, and he lifted one corner of his lips. "You folks must be thinking 'Isn't it that as long as I have a high soul reading, I would be given a high tier METAL?'. Well, unfortunately, NO. The best equipped human METAL troopers came from the Moon, and their METAL suits were mostly tier 2. As for our confederation force from Earth, the most common METAL suit is tier 1."
"Mister Gansus, why didn't the confederation manufacture more higher tier METAL suits? Many of us could use it anyways."
"Too young, too simple, sometimes naive! The manufacturing process of a METAL suit requires a rare isotope of the element, Neon-HR. Its concentration used during production determines the tier level of a METAL suit. Simply put, there is not enough of it to make for every soldier a high tier METAL suit. Only the ones that had proven worthy will be awarded a higher tier METAL suit. In other words, the Military won't freely give you a high tier METAL suit, you have to earn it!"
With enough practice, even the students who were stuck with the basic version of the Tactics of the Blade would be able to reach a soul reading above 20, enough to wear a tier 2 METAL suit, but according to Gansus, being able to wear it did not amount to owning it.
Carl had already returned to his seat. His chest slumped against the desk in front of him, and he lowered his head in-between his shoulders. He regretted ever talking back to Gansus which had made him into a laughing stock. "So close... If only I had been more careful..." Carl thought as he bit down on his lips.
Lo and behold, Gansus switched his topic: "Carl's fight was what you should NOT do. A classic failure that should be written in the textbook!" Everyone laughed out loud.
"What's so funny? How many of you sitting there could have avoided the same mistake? You! You are called Carl, right? You look like a sad soup! Pathetic! I can't believe a worm like you dare talk back to me !"
Carl wrenched his head up and locked his eyes onto Gansus's. He imagined himself rushing toward the old man and punching him in the face. The humiliation had taught him a valuable lesson that he will never forget: never let your guard down.
Gansus ignored Carl's searing gaze and said, "Since Carl had demonstrated both the correct and the incorrect strategy, he saved me a lot of energy. Wang Tong, why don't you talk about what you think about this fight."
Wang Tong always liked Gansus's class. Therefore he didn't hide his opinion and spilled out his thoughts: "His overall strategy was correct: he had first acted like he was weaker than he really is and let the Zerg lowered his guard. That fake trip over was brilliant and didn't even raise the Zerg's suspicion. The last strike was very precise but wasn't strong enough, perhaps due to stress he couldn't hit hard. Therefore the Zerg only passed out but didn't die. He should have followed up with another punch to make sure that the Zerg would stay dead. I have learned a trick to tell if a Zerg is really dead: simply observe the tip of its legs. If the Zerg is really dead, the tip of its legs will spasm in a very regular beat, but if the Zerg is still half conscious, the spasm is rather irregular, like how it moved just earlier."
A silence fell in the classroom as every student was amazed by Wang Tong's interpretation of the fight. He had explained things that did not even exist in the textbook.
Gansus paused for a second and then asked, "How did you know about that trick? No textbook had mentioned that, what is it based off of?"
Wang Tong scratched his head and said, "It was based on… nothing. It was just my experience."
The other students suddenly let out an uproar.
"His experience, again!"
"Is he joking?"
"He can't just say that! It's a matter of life and death!"
"He must have watched too many movies; I saw something similar in the new film 'Five Days in the Hive'."
"What an attention seeker!"
Gansus gestured everyone to be quiet and turned his head to Wang Ben, "Wang Ben, what do you think about what he just said?"
"I can't speak on that topic, but my father had also said something similar. He stated that it was only his experience, and there is no scientific proof of it."
Disbelieve were written on everyone's face.
"Wang Ben's father... General Hu Ben? And he said the same thing?"
"How did Wang Tong know about it? Is it luck?"