The Almighty Ring

As Jiang Fei continued to endure the crushing pressure of Redstone’s gravity, he followed Sarila towards the training ground as quickly as he could.

It was assumed that the band of Valsalrian soldiers only recruited Valsalrians. However, Valsalry is nothing but a strong combatant race. Their low fertility rates meant that their population count was constantly dropping.

To uphold their reputation of being the strongest race in the entire known universe, they must find a way to replenish their soldiers. Which is why Valsalrians are always on the lookout for recruitable manpower, even during raids or war.

Just like Jiang Fei, powerful individuals are coerced into joining the band, mostly driven by a strong urge to either protect their homeworld or to seek vengeance.

The training center that Jiang Fei was heading to was set up to exclusively train soldiers for Alexis’ unit. New recruits came from many other worlds. Much like Jiang Fei, they were usually from small to intermediate sized planets.

But though their worlds were small, they were all outside the goldilock zone that Earth had been simmering in since the beginning of its formation. On such planets, where life was not meant to form, any living being that managed to survive the harsh circumstances were built to withstand any possible hardship that might befall them.

“Oh my, to what do I owe the pleasure Miss Sarila?” said a Valsalrian when he saw the catgirl approaching.

“Commander Alexis ordered me to deliver this… thing…” said Sarila.

“Him?” gasped the Valsalrian, pointing towards Jiang Fei.

He was wearing some kind of armor, not one meant for combat, but for something else that Jiang Fei could not discern. His headgear was equipped with something like goggles that emitted a stream of light as it scanned Jiang Fei for a second.

It was only after the scan that the Valsalrian gasped. He had measured Jiang Fei’s combat level and it was only at a measly 65,000.

The reason for his surprise was simple. Jiang Fei was way below the standard of power. Anyone at a combat level of 80,000 and lower would never be allowed to join the band.

Like Alexis once explained to him, the Valsalrians are a race of strong warriors. They respect the strong and have zero tolerance for the weak!

If someone had a combat level of only 100,000, they would never be able to become an army officer of any rank. They would be nothing but expendable soldiers, or at best, a non-commissioned officer.

80,000 and less? Scrap. Fodder. Food for the strong. That’s why it was so surprising that Miss Sarila, Commander Alexis’ legal daughter, would deliver a level 65,000 Terran to the new recruit training ground. The Terran would not last for a second in the training ground!

Most recruits from the training ground had every potential to become army officers. Army officers, high or low, are never limited to only Valsalrians. They might even become high ranking army officials.

Some powerful non- Valsalrian individuals had even managed to become a General. That is a rank higher than Alexis’, having the power to command multiple fleets. A rank seated amongst the core of the Valsalrian authority.

“Miss Sarila, who is this Terran?” asked the Valsalrian, unsure of his affiliation. He did not understand why Alexis would send a lamb into a lion’s den!

“I don’t know. Father asked and I’ve delivered. He’s all yours,” said Sarila, turning away from the scene.

“I see. So, Commander Alexis has sent him here. I’ll get to it. Did the commander have any other special orders?” said the Valsalrian.

Even though Jiang Fei was seen as a weak being, he might have some special connection with Alexis. If he was sent here on Alexis’ orders, there might be something to him after all. Redstone is his domain and if he orders something to be done, it will be done.

“Nothing. That’s all I heard. I’m passing him to you now. You got this,” said Sarila before she was out of earshot.

While Sarila may be able to look down on Jiang Fei, he could not. And he definitely could never ignore an order from Commander Alexis, even if it was an order by proxy.

Sarila was Alexis’ adopted daughter after all, so she would always get away with any wrongdoings, as long as it wasn’t anything too offensive. He on the other hand, was a mere training officer. If Alexis came to know that Jiang Fei was not taken care of, it would be his head that would roll.

“Where did Commander Alexis dig you out from? To think that he would take such great care of you. And you were even delivered by Miss Sarila herself?!” ranted the Valsalrian. He took a deep breath and resumed a formal attitude.

“I’m Major Alston and I am in charge of this training center,”

“Greetings, Major. I am Jiang Fei,” said Jiang Fei, quickly snapping a salute.

The man might be talking politely but as Jiang Fei measured, his combat level was a whopping two million!

“Good, come with me. I’ll show you around,” said Alston as he entered the mega structure.

“This is the combat training center. You’ll be coming here tomorrow.”

“This is the fleet simulation center. You’ll find yourself here after you’ve mastered the core lessons in a few months.”

“This is a Gravity Room. If you feel that the gravity of Redstone is too accommodating for your training, you can come here for an added challenge.

Alston paused, eyeing Jiang Fei who was panting and out of breath.

“Well… you can chose not to.”

To Alston, Jiang Fei might have something going on with Alexis that allowed him to gain entry into the training ground. But if he wants to become useful, he would have to get through all of its hellish training.

As Jiang Fei and Alston walked through the mega institute, several other recruits noticed their presence and started to gossip.

“Look, Aston is dragging around some rotten meat!”

“What the hell is that thing? It’s so weak!”

“Hey, notice how Major is being very polite? I think that weak thing is here to check on us! We should just train now and put up a good show for that guy! Who knows, we might get famous!”

“Good one! Let’s do it!”

…

Jiang Fei’s presence and Alston’s odd behavior had attracted a lot of unwanted attention. Everyone thought that Alston was only personally escorting Jiang Fei because he was someone important.

“Moglain, to me!” roared Alston roared as he led Jiang Fei into a larger training field.

Because of Jiang Fei’s special circumstances, Alston decided to call in the big guns — Jiang Fei would be trained by their best training officer.

Moglain ran over and saluted Alston.

“Redstone Recruits Training Officer, Lieutenant Moglain at your service!”

“At ease. This is Jiang Fei, a new recruit personally arranged by Commander Alexis. Take ‘good care’ of him,” said Alston, emphasizing the name ‘Alexis’ and the phrase ‘good care’.

“Roger that.”

Moglain’s voice turned stiff when he replied. It could not be more obvious that Alston was trying to tell him that Jiang Fei had something to do with Alexis and must be looked after carefully.

This was his chance to show Commander Alexis his true potential! Maybe he would even be able to finally leave the training grounds and head into the battlefield!

“I’ll leave him to you. I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest. As for you, Jiang Fei. Do your best… and don’t die.”

Alston left as soon as he was done ‘encouraging’ Jiang Fei.

“Well then. Let’s hop straight into it. My name is Moglain and you’re Jiang Fei. From here on out, you’re going to be my personal trainee!” Moglain patted Jiang Fei on his shoulders and greeted him with a smile.

Though it was an unprecedented situation, there might be a silver lining behind it all. This was his chance to butter up Commander Alexis.

But then again, it would be a challenge to train Jiang Fei. He was too weak, and everything installed in the facility was meant for the strong.