The Almighty Ring

“Alright then,” 0541 replied. From his point of view, running away now would be the most sensible thing to do. But as he was as evolved as he was, 0541 understood the way Jiang Fei did things. Humans weren’t like robots and programs that would calculate the logic of every move and pick the best ones. No. Humans would, at every turn, be affected by their emotions, or their gut feeling.

Although 0541 was not too evolved to understand the concept of bravery, there were deeds found in human records where heroes would sacrifice themselves in order to protect the mass. Even so, he was still able to recognize selflessness and not deny its existence despite not being able to do it himself.

Again, like always, 0541 had misunderstood Jiang Fei’s real motive. Even though Jiang Fei was putting himself at the front lines, he was only doing so because he knew he could. It was all still within his capabilities. It would be entirely different if he were told to sacrifice himself in an act to protect Earth. Jiang Fei would never do that. He would try his best to think of a way… Like he always did!

Jiang Fei’s plan was as such: after taking down the first wave of attack, he would attempt to determine the strength of the enemy of the second wave. If he had restored the power of the 10th Dimension, he would fight them until the end. But if the Core of Will was still out of juice, he would pack his things, and bring along a few of his friends and family to run away. That was the absolute last option.

Jiang Fei prepared himself mentally and while doing do, 0541 got ready to welcome the Valsalrian’s first wave. He had the Valsalrian’s Wayfinder under observation at all times. Jiang Fei did not want to rattle the cage too early as he needed more time to prepare. Before the Core of Will recovered its strength, he had absolute zero confidence in facing them.

Earth was going through its longest period of peace thanks to Jiang Fei and 0541’s blessings. Jiang Fei had never told anyone about the threat of the Valsalry race. It would do him no good since it would only incite mass panic. Even if he were to publicly release everything he had about Namekian technology, it would take years before the best minds on Earth could truly understand them.

As a precaution, Jiang Fei had 0541 prepare a list of people he would take with him to escape. That was, if the Core of Will was still unusable during the attack. He hoped that the last of humanity he brought with him would be the ember that would light a fire that would burn brighter for the future of humanity. Braveheart was a huge, thousand-kilometer long spaceship. He could never take every single human out there but he could still pick out the best of the best to save the last of humanity.

Once all preparations were completed, Jiang Fei took off into space. The girls were all nervous as well, especially Isabella. She was more anxious than nervous as the “princess” and “dragon” in her would never allow others to step on her head. She would want to test the strength of the Valsalry bandits that everyone had feared so much.

Days passed since the ship had been out of Earth’s orbit but there was still no sightings of the Valsalrians. Based on 0541’s deductions, the Solar System was just too “secluded”. There were hardly any publicly recorded Waypoints to guide anyone to this particular space. Without proper “landmarks”, anyone in space would have to travel from Waypoint to Waypoint in order to reach this random planetary system.

“Goddammit! Are they just too free and had nothing better to do than to invade Earth?!” Jiang Fei roared. Even though them taking their own sweet time would only benefit Jiang Fei more, the long waiting time was truly torturing.

“Sorry, captain. From the vantage point of other species from other planets across the universe, Earth is seen like a planet of primitive life form, the same way how humans view apes and monkeys,” 0541 explained.

0541 was not sugarcoating his words. That being said, from the point of view of other advanced civilizations, Earth, even after being given advanced Namekian technology, was still in its infancy stage. Earth did not possess Valium, Energy Crystals generators, rare metals that were still yet to be placed in the Periodic Table, or any other sort of advanced resources that could exist on other planets. Besides having billions and billions of sentient intelligent life forms, the collective intelligence was nothing worth paying attention to.

Having the numbers did not put Earth on the map. As explained by 0541, other advanced alien races viewed humans as how humans viewed apes and chimps. Any race that had yet to achieve the technology that made them independent from their own planet was treated as primitive.

That was why 0541 said that there was nothing worth to be taken on Earth! Even if the Valsalrians eliminated the entire human population and sold Earth, it wouldn’t be enough to cover their fuel cost!

What 0541 and Jiang Fei did not know was that someone else had sold Earth to the Valsalrians. The one thing that Earth was currently thought to possess was the Core of Time. Braveheart was just the consolation prize!

…

Days soon turned into a week, and on the seventh day, 0541 finally tracked something that was approaching the Solar System.

“Captain, I have detected a spacecraft on the edge of the Kuiper Belt,” 0541 reported nervously. Based on his own analysis, the first wave should be easy to deal with. But who could predict what the Ravagers would do?

“How long more until they reach Earth?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Base on their speed and trajectory, I’d say about 48 Earth hours,” 0541 answered. The Solar System, as viewed from other races of the universe, was located at the far edge of the known universe. Little else was known about its existence, hence they had to proceed cautiously. They would not want to speedily zoom across the Solar System as the Kuiper Belt as well as the space between Mars and Jupiter were riddled with asteroids.

“Good, I have a little time left,” said Jiang Fei to himself.

Jiang Fei dared not fight anywhere near Earth. Given the sheer battle between spaceships as he recalled from movies, a random stray projectile could devastate a city if he was not careful.

“0541, help me pick a suitable battleground! Anywhere far from Earth that is good for an ambush!”

“Very well!” 0541 replied and quickly came up with a suitable location: Ceres, the dwarf planet.

Ceres was considered a dwarf planet as it was too large to be considered an asteroid and was orbiting the Sun in a stable orbit. The terrain was extremely complicated and any oncoming invaders had to slow down in order to avoid colliding with the asteroids. If Braveheart was positioned well, Jiang Fei might even able to eliminate the enemy with a single blast of the ship’s Hyper Mega Particle Beam cannon.

Ceres was only about a thousand kilometers in diameter, making it a suitable place for Braveheart to hide behind it. Although the ship was a thousand kilometers in length, it was about 200 kilometers in width. Hiding behind Ceres would be strategic as it provided cover for an ambush.

A few moments later, Jiang Fei called the other girls to join him. He dared not bet everything on Braveheart’s weaponry as there might still be a chance for a melee combat. Going up against the strongest band of bandits in the entire universe, Jiang Fei could only hope that Braveheart’s cannons would be sufficient to destroy them. If not, he would have to fight them physically.

When everything was set, the ship ignited its rear thruster at full blast and sailed through the Solar System toward Ceres. It took only a few hours to get from High Earth Orbit to Ceres. Once he had positioned Braveheart behind Ceres’ shadow, 0541 turned off its engine and radar system. The only thing that was working for the ship now was the life support system in the bridge. Everything else that could and would generate signals, both heat and electrical, had been shut down.

Translator Note:

Wayfinder: Based on what I read, Wayfinder works like a scouting drone to open a path without first exploring it. The Wayfinder would then become a beacon to guide spaceships more accurately.

Waypoint: It is not explained properly but I guess it works like public landmarks in the real world. Google X-NAV, a space navigation system which NASA thought of developing. It uses ping signals (projected X-Rays spinning around the rotating star like a lighthouse) from Pulsar (Pulsating Neutron Stars) and record their unique ping as a waypoint to navigate through the void of space.