The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei and Sarila had been roaming around Redstone for two days, getting a good look at its facilities and important offices. There were times when Jiang Fei noticed Sarila’s overly affectionate mannerisms. He did not think too much about it as he’d rather focus on learning all there is to learn about the fleet.

During these two days, Jiang Fei channeled the power of the Blackhole Core into the Core of Will. As such, the Core of Will was restored to a little over half of its full potential.

On the third day, Sarila took Jiang Fei back to the training academy. The trials were over and all those who had survived were attending the graduation ceremony. Today was the day that the trainees would become soldiers. It was also the day that the ranked officers would get to pick new soldiers to join their teams.

When Jiang Fei arrived, all the ranked officers were already present and accounted for, with the exception of Alexis himself. All the trainees were seated and waiting for the ceremony to start.

Their eyes were shining with longing and hope. It was after all, the day that they could finally be in actual combat and get involved in real missions, as they became part of the ever-growing fleet under Commander Alexis’ banner!

“Miss Sarila, your seat,” said Alston as he politely showed Sarila to her seat.

“Thank you.”

Sarila hummed and escorted Jiang Fei onto the stage to join the rest of the ranked officers.

The panel of officers only had two empty seats left. One was dead center, which was obviously reserved for Alexis, and a seat to his right which was for Sarila.

“Fei, please sit here,” said Sarila.

She pushed the chair to fill the gap between the seats, and then turned around to Alston, requesting, “Please get me one more chair.”

“As you wish,” replied Alston instantly and quickly sent someone to fetch another chair.

“No need. Miss Sarila, please take my seat,” said a general who was supposed to be seated next to Sarila. He immediately stood up and offered her his seat.

“Thank you, General Bazouk,” Sarila thanked the general and promptly sat down next to Jiang Fei.

“Is this… alright?” whispered Jiang Fei, feeling out of place.

Not too long ago, he was simply a newcomer. He should have been seated on the lower stage with the rest of the trainees, instead of on the stage with the other high-ranking officials. Not to mention, he was sitting right next to Alexis himself! What would others think of him?

“But of course. You are his Fleet Officer, no? It is only natural for you to sit next to the commander himself,” Sarila whispered back.

Sarila was purposely leaving something important out of her explanation. As a Fleet Officer, Jiang Fei was allowed to be seated with Alexis, but not right by his side! At best, he should only be allowed to sit behind Alexis.

…

“Who’s the Terran boy?” asked another officer while Jiang Fei and Sarila were conversing.

“No idea, but I have been seeing Miss Sarila walking with him around the command center for the past two days,” said one of the officers.

“Please don’t say that he is the commander’s future son-in-law…” said another.

“Now that you mention it. The two are behaving rather… close.”

“Don’t jinx it. She wouldn’t want a Terran as her partner!”

“I heard that he bested Tchaikovsky and Commander Alexis himself had to calm Anjay down!”

“You heard right. To persuade Anjay not to seek retribution against Jiang Fei, Commander Alexis gifted him a powerful battle armor!”

…

At the very least, no one was talking negatively about Jiang Fei, it was all merely gossip. From the moment Jiang Fei took his seat next to Commander Alexis’, the entire panel of officers was riled up.

“All rise for the great Lord Alexis!” said Alston, announcing the arrival of Alexis. Everyone, students and officers alike, stood up.

“Ah! My boy! When did you arrive? I hope you do not take offence in my tardiness,” said Alexis as he reached the stage and immediately greeted Jiang Fei instead of anyone else.

“This humble one dares not take any offence from the great commander,” said Jiang Fei, as humbly as he could.

“Hah! A speech that reeks of formality! Please sit!” said Alexis, gesturing to Jiang Fei.

While Alexis was being friendly with Jiang Fei, every pair of eyes on the stage knew what was going on. That is exactly how one would behave when talking to a future son-in-law!

“All be seated!” said Alston.

…

“I see why he is being treated as such! He’s going to be his son-in-law soon!”

“I say… just who is that boy and where did he come from? To kill Anjay’s son and get away with it… just what sort of background did he come from?”

…

Both Alexis and Jiang Fei were powerful enough to have sensitive hearing. They could hear all the whispering going on in the seats behind them loud and clear. Even so, Alexis had no intention of stopping them. He wanted them to talk about Jiang Fei and how great he was, to wonder how he was going to be treated in the future, and most importantly, to respect him!

Compared to the graduation and selection ceremony, the matter of Jiang Fei and Sarila’s potential marriage was a far more interesting topic to talk about. No matter how strong the trainees were, they would be nothing more than low-ranking soldiers when the ceremony was over.

On the other hand, Jiang Fei was already an officer and sitting right next to Alexis. For all they knew, Jiang Fei had not only skipped all sorts of procedures, but would also soon be part of Alexis’ family.

As Jiang Fei had skipped the trial entirely, Ottogackt was unable to win any awards this time. However, he was not too disgruntled as he was now no longer a trainer. To reward his contribution of discovering Jiang Fei’s talents, Alexis had removed Ottogackt from the training academy and promoted him to Captain of a Destroyer class ship.

The end of the award ceremony also marked the end of the whole graduation ceremony. It was now time for the officers to start the selection process. Those who were chosen would become part of each officer’s respective team. As the master of Redstone, Alexis had first pick.

“Fei, go ahead and choose two squards for yourself,” said Alexis, giving up his turn to Jiang Fei.

“Me, sir?”

“Yes. You will be leading a fleet of your own in the future. Start now and pick a team of your own,” said Alexis as he returned to his seat.

Based on his talent and raw strength, if he simply asked the right people and underwent the proper procedures, Jiang Fei would soon be able to claim the rank of Fleet Commander, like Alexis himself.

“Very well…” Jiang Fei agreed albeit awkwardly.

It was not right for someone such as him to be amongst the ranked officers. But if he wanted to survive and grow, he needed more than himself. He needed a force that he could command.

Jiang Fei took his chance and headed down to the sea of trainees. While the other officers knew all about how the trainees had performed and who would make the best pick, Jiang Fei was at a loss. As he had been removed from the trial, he had no idea how to tell the best from the worst.

“F*ck it. I’ll just stick to those I know,” said Jiang Fei to himself as he walked over to Bacca’s squad.