A Failure's hopeful Journey

You Xi Wang and his sister both came back to the team and stood up in two queues. They were all ready for the result announcement. All the other teams were also present. Some had sullen faces while some had relieved expressions. You Xi Wang instinctively counted and found out that some teams are missing some members. Some candidates were spotted with Neuro-Prosthetic limbs. The system spoke, [We are very lucky to breeze through it with just a few holes and scars.]

You Xi Wang nodded. He asked the system, 'Did you check on LUCY's progress?'

The system replied, [You are in for a big shock.]

You Xi Wang asked, 'Stop hyping it up. Tell me already.'

The system chuckled and spoke, [LUCY can now talk and express ideas and even make suggestions to you. She is a human with artificial emotions.]

You Xi Wang was really shocked so he asked, 'Elaborate.'

The system replied, [She used the hacking ability to invade the Silica City network. Then after she extracted all the knowledge I asked her to compile, the smart self-learning system made a decision that it is necessary to develop a pseudo emotional quotient. This decision helped her grow rapidly and capable of understanding what a person actually means. The study material she selected was the movies and psychology research papers scattered all over the Metronet. She can now differentiate between sarcasm and jokes.]

The more he heard the more surprised he felt. He remembered the source code of LUCY but he did not expect it to be so good that the program would develop pseudo emotions. A sense of satisfaction made him exhale heavily. The others did not seem to notice his action. Soon the system also told him about how the shadows have developed inside the Mirai group. 

Before leaving for the trial. You Xi Wang asked the shadows to make daily or weekly progress reports depending on their convenience. You Naixin was left as the family in charge and in the past one month the family had adapted to the ancient ways of cultivation. The rest stays the same. The family now holds weekly battles among the younger generation to make them develop battle instincts. The younger generation is also deployed in the defense forces to accumulate battle experience and develop a better intellect. The youth leaders such as You Shan Wang and his peers have stepped into the threshold of a Primal Soul realm practitioner strengthening the family's forces. They now have 20 primal soul realm cultivators. Which is on par with the Chen family from frost city.

All in all, You Xi Wang was satisfied with the overall growth of the youth. Lily, Celestia, and some other kids in the family volunteered and cracked the academy entrance exams. They all would be teaching under special teachers and learn about the ways of the world but were not allowed to cultivate before they are 14 years old or more.

...

On the sky event square, The nice Council elders appeared out of thin air. The murmurs among the crowd came to an end as soon as they all witnessed these flickering figures. Shelton Hammer the president of the technology department walked up to the stage and infused the spiritual energy in his voice. Then he spoke, "Welcome back, all the survivors. Metropia is proud of you all. It has been tough on you all. Some of you lost a part of yourself in those dimensions while some of you will never come back to us. The perseverance and glory you have gained for yourself and for your friends are well deserved. Now, let us offer prayers for our departed comrades. Take a moment of silence in their honor." his voice seemed to echo throughout the planet. After speaking he fell back to the ranks with the rest of the council elders.

The chaotic world descended to silence. You Xi Wang sensed the people not even breathing as they prayed for the rest of the deceased. He felt goosebumps all over his body as he has never experienced anything quite like this. After 10 minutes of silence, the elders on the stage let out a breath followed by all the people around. A man wearing an emerald green battle suit walked up. The man had a dusty appearance as if he was detached from the world. A long sword hiding inside a white jade scabbard was tied to the man's waist. His face was wrapped with aura. None of the people in the crowd dared to pry through the spirit energy mask to spy on his identity. 

The man spoke in a deep voice as he addressed the populace below, "My name is Achilles, I am the elder presiding over the defense forces of the council. On the behalf of the planet, I would like to thank you for the job you have done. I understand that some of you might be overwhelmed by grief but remember, a warrior never let the emotions push him around. Now let us get to know who are the best ten teams among all of you. The council supports healthy competition but not a comparison. Even the five fingers in one's hand are different, how do you expect the other humans to be the same? So bear that in your mind when you get the result."

The crowd responded with a simultaneous cry of affirmation. Achilles nodded, as the defense force elder, he was responsible for the major announcements of this tournament. He spoke, "The ten best, starting from the tenth are, Croma City team, Ahmshire City team, Wushu city team, Bushido City team, Mithila City team, Sahasa Town Team, Frost City team, Scholaria City team, Imperial City Team. The last team not only survived in the dimensional space but also acquired valuable intel. This is not all, displaying the best human spirit The Silica City team earned the favor of the natives by saving them from imminent extinction. The natives of the dimensional space came forward with a peace treaty with the Silica City team as human envoys. The team which came out as the leaders in the survival trial is the Silica city team."

As soon as Achilles announced the first result the people had started to follow up with cheerful applause, but as soon as the second and the first were announced the whole square fell silent. The imperial city team, the team which was envisioned to lead overall was second and the Silica City team, who was the last team, to jump in came out as first? This was the greatest upset in the millennia. On the stage, Achilles frowned and asked, "Does anyone has any objections to this result?"

The Imperial City team captain couldn't help anymore and ask, "With all due respect, Elder Achilles, may I ask, what is the intel your excellency mentioned?" his tone was full of respect and he spoke in a humble tone daring not to appear chic in this god of war.

Achilles was one of the people who was featured in the book Neo and the others were discussing when You Xi Wang crossed the tribulation. He had the license to kill. He noticed the dissatisfaction mixed with curiosity among the crowd and he spoke, "The Silica City team entered Saxa Deserti, those who don't know which dimension I am talking about can look up for it on the Metronet. The team then found out that the whole barren plain was man-made, then they ingeniously used a forgotten mean of travel, the flying swords, after a constant journey of 4 days at Mach2 speed they reached the civilization of that Dimension. The natives of that place are called Elves. Their details will be published for the civilians in a few days. The team helped them overcome a crisis that lasted for almost 900 years. The team also saved many native lives. They were rewarded with the honor of The Friend Of Elves. Because of their behavior, the natives decided to be at peace with us, otherwise given the technological advancement of those people if they decided to attack us. It might make two or three cities fall before it is subdued. Do you still have any questions?" his firm tone made the people kill the questions originating inside their minds. 

...

When Ilex asked the few of the Phantoms to stay for a while, she was giving them all a blessing fruit from the spirit tree of the Elves. This fruit enhanced one's physique and fortune. Along with it the Elven council also passed on the peace intent letter. In return, You Xi Wang also took out the remaining flame poison in General Miles's arm and bid farewell at a good note. 

...

On the stage, Achilles called over the top ten team captains to receive their merit medals. These medals would be counted as the merit points of the whole city. Yeah, the whole city gets to lie down as the others win them to glory. You Xi Wang got up at the stage and Achilles himself pinned the medal on his battle suit. Achilles froze for a moment and he recovered very quickly. 

He spoke to You Xi Wang, "You have a good potential. Keep working hard."

The whole audience heard this encouragement and You Xi Wang's status grew to an evil genius status in a blink.