A Failure's hopeful Journey

You Xi Wang led Madison to the square through the crowd. The gathering was held in the square, or on a levitating piece of metal that hovered above the square. You Xi Wang looked up at the sky and saw levitating metallic behemoth in the sky. If not for his image, he would have yelled 'Helicarrier' right away. Madison told him to g to the center of the square where an elevator was connected to the levitating platform. 

You Xi Wang spoke as he walked with Madison, "Teacher, what is this platform?" his voice was calm but his words made his curiosity known to his teacher. Madison smiled faintly and said, "This platform does not have any name. It is used by the Council to hold mass meetings and events. The people however call it the Sky Event Square."

You Xi Wang nodded, and they finally came to the elevator. He looked around and did not find his team. He called and found that they were already taken up earlier. The two people came to the entrance, and an Inspector stopped them. You Xi Wang looked at him and asked, "Sir, we are team members of Silica City Academy. We need to go up to report for the gathering."

The inspector was a middle-aged man, slightly chubby. He wore a Scarlet Red and white uniform. The uniform was just like a battle suit, but rather than the jumpsuit style of the battle suit this uniform was divided into two parts, a shirt, and a trouser. The man said, "Don't worry, I just need to complete a routine security check with you. This is the standard procedure."

You Xi Wang nodded and let the instructor scan his body and Madison with a body scanner. The scanner was an interesting piece of work that had a lot of detection arrays carved over it. Every time the council declared something as a prohibited article, a new set of arrays will be carved on the scanner. The scanner arrays emitted a ray of light and fell over You Xi Wang's body. A small part of the light ray lingered over his space ring and scanned the inside without revealing the contents to the public. This was done under the consideration of a cultivator's privacy. If the scanner found anything that it cannot deduct, then the inspector will come into the play. If you are found carrying any prohibited articles, then the security system will activate and make you regret your existence by deploying spirit blocking shackles. You can imagine the rest of the process.

The light rays turned off and did not raise any alarms the inspector then let the two people pass the entrance and board the elevator. The duo then took a seat in the elevator. Yes, it was equipped with high-class chairs for the comfort of the passengers. The distance between the ground and the Sky Event Square was 2 kilometers. It was almost at the edge of the space. The passengers did not need to stand for such a long journey. They could sit down. Just as the two people sat down space fluctuated and three people emerged from the space crack. 

You Xi Wang was pleasantly surprised when he saw these three people. They were Shelton Hammer, Animo Albus, and Alester Book. The boy was about to stand up and greet his master and senior martial aunt when his master told him to act ignorant through mental communication. There were many people inside the elevator, and they did not want to expose his identity as a disciple too soon. Shelton Hammer spotted You Xi Wang and came up to him. 

He laughed and said, "Young Friend, we meet again." At this moment, the elevator has risen in the air. The people in the elevator have seen these three people coming through a space crack, and they understood that the identity of these three was not simple. What came to them as a surprise was a Nirvana Rebirth elder who talked with this handsome boy. You Xi Wang became an even bigger anomaly to them.

You Xi Wang stood up and scratched the back of his head. He bowed to Shelton Hammer and said, "I did not expect Senior Hammer to recognize me." his tone was polite. The old man laughed and patted his shoulder and spoke, "Nonsense, how can I not recognize you. Boy, I like the vehicle you came up with even better than using the space crack. Today, I was about to come here in the vehicle itself, but a certain old man dragged me here unceremoniously."

Shelton Hammer gave a stink eye to his friend, Alester Book on the side. You Xi Wang walked over and bowed to the two people in greeting. He then introduced everyone to Madison. Alester Book was quickly indulged in the conversation with a 'fellow teacher'. The rest of the people took notice of the introduction and were scared to death when they heard the identity of Alester Book and Shelton Hammer. Animo's identity was kept a secret, but her presence and superior act among these two people made them even more scared. 

Ten Minutes later the elevator had reached the top. The crowd which acted calmly on the surface left quickly, leaving behind only five people. You Xi Wang held Madison's hand as the two followed the 'trinity'. Animo Albus spoke in You Xi Wang's mind, "Brat, holding a teacher's hand? How many people would kill for that?"

You Xi Wang replied with a chuckle, "Master Aunt, my teacher can only perform well when she is battling others, the rest of the time she is so clumsy that even toddlers look veterans in front of her."

Animo Albus raised an eyebrow and gave Madison Midnight a thorough checkout. A strange light flickered in her eyes. No one knew what it meant. The older lady nodded and said, "We are going now. Go join the fray. Don't sully our names as your masters, perform well."

"Yes." You Xi Wang replied without hesitation. The group separated, You Xi Wang headed towards his teammates while the three people headed to the spots where the officials were seated. You Xi Wang seemed to have missed the speech given by the deputy council head. He was right now introducing the captain of the Imperial Team to come up the stage for the opening speech of the event. The speeches by the students could promote and encourage the new ideas of the youth. 

As You Xi Wang reached his team and joined the queue. He took out a stool from his space ring and let Madison sit down on it. His action made the surrounding teachers envious of having such a caring student. they all covered it up with an excuse that they were here to fight and explore the deadly wild. You Xi Wang glanced at his team and said, "Suit up. We will be deployed as soon as the closing speech is finished."

The rest nodded with discipline and took out a black battle suit. The battle suits were all black, but You Xi Wang asked Fenny to make some changes in them according to everyone's requirements. The gunners had various holsters attached to the waist and a rifle to be placed on the shoulder while grenades hung on the ribs. For the long-range attackers, a magnetic lock system on the back for the sniper rifles. Allan's suit had a backpack on his back with a green cross over it, signifying his medic identity. The sword wielders had their swords stuck to the waist with a magnetic interface. The spear wielders were relatively simple, they had a magnet lock on the back to carry the spears and the halberds. The brawlers had daggers and claw blades on their waist. 

These people were proficient in various weapons. Fenny only changed their suits for their primary weapons. The rest had to be handled by themselves. You Xi Wang designed his suit himself. The suit material stuck to his body but instead of a magnetic lock he had a level one space array placed on the places he wanted to hide his weapons. He carved 15 space array on his ankles, thighs, hips, waist, shoulders. If he carried so many weapons altogether, then it will hamper his movement. 

His black battle suit had a silver wolf head logo on his shoulder. The same logo was engraved on the shoulders of everyone. They all accepted the logo when they saw how majestic it looked when Fenny drew out a sample. Also, wolves were survivors. On the backs of the suits, silver marks were engraved. Starting from Alpha to Pi. Sixteen members, sixteen symbols. The team all stood in a neat queue in an attention pose. Their eyes were calm and even their breathing was synced. The team name was registered as Phantoms. 

The battle suit was put on with no flashy moments and the surrounding people were also wearing the battle suits so they thought little about it, but how were they to know that their design almost made the people feel inferior? Some girls in the other teams had stars in their eyes when they saw You Xi Wang looking all handsome in the battle suit. 

The captain of the Imperial Academy took the stage and spoke, "Welcome all the friends and participants. Today is the state of the first battle fest. We are going to enter the wildlands and try to survive there. I am also very nervous, but I know this one fact. We are humans and we are the supreme among the creatures of this world. So, I wish everyone to remember this and strive for not only survival but also for passing this test with pride. I wish you all good luck." what followed along with this short was thunderous applause. Who did not like to hear that they are supreme? The listeners were all humans, after all.

The time was short and many people had to speak, and thus they were allowed only thirty seconds to address the crowd. The speeches were telecasted all over the planet live. The proceedings continued, and the people kept addressing the crowd. You Xi Wang, however, was immersed in cultivation. He started cultivating as he stood. So did the whole team. When Madison noticed this, she shook her head helplessly. 

Unknowingly almost two hours passed, and the speeches continued. You Xi Wang woke up when Madison tugged his wrist. This sudden moment of her caused You Xi Wang to almost take out a dagger from his sleeve array and slash at her. Madison noticed this and stuck out her tongue. She spoke it your turn soon. You Xi Wang nodded and spoke in her mind. 

"Teacher, you are adorable sometimes, you know?"