The Almighty Ring

“Forgive me, but it looks like I’ve failed to comprehend the gesture,” Jiang Fei said. Domingo’s current action did not seem to match with Jiang Fei’s impression of him. To elaborate, the Seed of Yondu’s Sprout was not something one could find growing on trees. Its stalk was harder than common steel and extremely versatile in terms of use. It was a must-bring for any kind of excursion.

“The feeling is mutual. Perhaps, if you wish to seek an answer to that question of yours, you may speak with the lieutenant yourself,” Dawan said.

“Not now, I suppose. I have better things to do. Thank you for the gift,” said Jiang Fei as he accepted the pouch, which contained the seed.

“I’m not done here. Lieutenant Domingo has tasked me to inform you about a new mission. You are to report to the hangar bay at dawn tomorrow,” said Dawan.

“Acknowledged,” Jiang Fei saluted and said. The next day would mark one more month for Jiang Fei.

“My business here is done. I’ll leave you be,” said Dawan before he left swiftly.

Knowing that he had one more month before a new mission, Jiang Fei sent a message to the operator outside the training room to increase the gravity to be 20 times more than Redstone’s.

After training for almost seven months, Jiang Fei had gotten too used to 15G, and he needed harsher conditions to further train himself. The entire time he trained, Jiang Fei did not once use Omnisurge. Hence, in his normal state, his combat level had reached over 100,000. Although it was not a number that was worth mentioning, note that this was his combat level before he used Omnisurge. It was an achievement for Jiang Fei as he had just reached the level of a common soldier in the Valsalrian army.

In the following days, Jiang Fei continued to practice the art of the sword. However, instead of pushing himself beyond his limits, he only honed and polished his skills, not driving himself to swing the sword with brute force. He wanted to be at his best before he joined the next mission.

…

“Ah! Jiang Fei, you’re finally here! I’ve just been waiting for you!” Domingo cried in an over-the-top friendly tone.

“Sorry for making you wait, Lieutenant,” Jiang Fei replied with a straight face and in a respectful tone. Domingo was still a lieutenant and a man of authority on Ipsilon. Jiang Fei would not want to step over his head in front of his entire army.

“It’s nothing! As for the mission, you don’t need to worry about anything!” Domingo barked excitedly. He was still oblivious to the reason why Jiang Fei was not opening up to him.

“Understood, Lieutenant,” Jiang Fei replied, still standing on the same stage and vantage point.

“Lieutenant, we are ready for take-off,” the captain of the Corvette reported.

“Good. You have control,” said Domingo, handing over authority to the captain until they arrived at their destination. The entire mission had already been planned and executed once. Domingo had also poured in his heart and soul, making sure that nothing could go wrong this time.

“Where are we going?”

“Sector Kusai,” Domingo replied. To ensure that the missions went smoothly for Jiang Fei, Domingo and his army had already cleared every possible threat. All Jiang Fei needed to do was present himself on the planet. Then the mission would be over, and the credit would all go to him. That was the most Domingo could do as his babysitter.

Jiang Fei nodded and remained silent throughout the entire journey.

Seven hours later, the ship jumped out of hyperspace and entered the planetary system called Kusai System. There was literally no resistance when the ship entered the atmosphere and landed on the planet’s surface.

“Prepare to deploy!” Domingo ordered.

Like the previous mission, the ships would zoom across the skies and drop bombs as a preliminary attack before they identified a safe landing zone. Unlike the previous bombing, this was just a farce, an act to hide the fact that they had already completed the mission.

“Deploy! Deploy!” Domingo ordered. He commanded the soldiers in the Corvette ship to attack, and Jiang Fei followed him in leading the army.

The gravity of the planet was incredibly weak, almost the same as Earth’s. As such, it was impossible for any strong fighter to exist there. At most, the strongest fighter on that planet may only be as strong as Jiang Fei when he was still on Earth.

“O great ones! We surrender! We surrender! Please do not attack us!” said the leader of the planet’s dominant race the moment Jiang Fei lifted his sword and prepared to attack.

“The heck?” Jiang Fei barked. So much for a fight…

He turned to Domingo to make sure that things were really what they looked like.

“Congratulations. It seems that your presence alone is enough to force them to surrender,” said Domingo with a smile.

Jiang Fei sheathed his sword, thinking that the entire thing was probably a hoax. It could not be that easy. If it was, they could have just completed the mission without bringing him over! With all that time wasted for the mission, Jiang Fei could have spent it in the training room! He could have even trained for more than a month!

While Jiang Fei was feeling disgruntled about the mission’s outcome, he did not realize that Domingo had invested so much effort into making sure that everything went smoothly. When Jiang Fei was training, Domingo had been busy attacking the planet’s main forces, subduing them before inviting Jiang Fei over to “join” the mission. At the end of the whole fiasco, he literally handed over all of his achievements to Jiang Fei on a silver platter!

To take care of Jiang Fei, Domingo had forked out too much and gained nothing in return.

“I must say, with your current achievement and the success of the previous mission, you may just become a second lieutenant as soon as you graduate from the academy. I will try my best to make things better in the next mission! Suddenly, graduating and becoming a lieutenant like me isn’t just a dream anymore, eh?” Domingo stated.

“Are you… f-for real?” Jiang Fei stammered. He had no idea that one could do such a thing in the military.

“This is real, Jiang Fei. Oh, be sure to remember this old brother when you’re all-powerful and famous,” said Domingo, patting Jiang Fei on the shoulder, the way Han Tianyu used to do.

“Eh… Hehehe,” Jiang Fei giggled like a little boy. It was like being handed the championship trophy for only showing up to the competition.

After the end of the first mission, Jiang Fei thought he had caught Domingo trying to steal all of his achievements. However, judging from his speech, Jiang Fei was inclined to believe that Domingo had cleaned up everything and handed all efforts, as well as achievements, to Jiang Fei willingly.

As such, Jiang Fei could not help but feel that a larger game was afoot. Jiang Fei was a nobody now, and he could not figure out what Domingo wanted from him. Unless, Domingo had somehow deduced that Jiang Fei possessed some kind of inert talent, or perhaps he was only trying to invest in him.

After everyone packed up and processed the captured locals of the planet, whose name Jiang Fei could not even recall, they returned to the ship and made preparations for Ipsilon.

“The f*ck is happening to me…” Jiang Fei had the same thought from when he landed on Ipsilon until the time he headed to the training room.

Domingo and he were not even close. Why would Domingo treat him so well? Was it of his own will or was it the will of Ottogackt? And even if Ottogackt really ordered it, there would still be consequences!