The Almighty Ring

“Yes, sir,” answered Baldor as he got to his feet.

Despite obeying his trainer’s order, Baldor actually wanted to continue the fight. It was a complete loss. Jiang Fei was weaker yet somehow, Baldor could sense that he had been holding back.

His suspicion was proven to be true when Jiang Fei made a feint, baiting Baldor in order to make a kill shot. Baldor fell for it and paid the price. If Jiang Fei had any intention of killing him, his spine and neck would have been snapped in an instant.

“Who is your training officer?” asked Ottogackt, slowly walking towards Jiang Fei. He was but one out of a handful of people that did not care for Jiang Fei.

“It’s Moglain, sir,” answered Jiang Fei.

“Moglain?! That butt kissing son of a gun?!” barked Ottogackt angrily.

Everyone knew that Moglain was in league with Alston, the head officer of the training academy. Many would turn a blind eye and let those two do whatever they want.

Only Ottogackt and a few others whose fame lies with their talent cared not for their under-the-table etiquette and would say something against them.

Jiang Fei simply nodded. Ottogackt could throw out insults as he liked but not Jiang Fei. He was just a trainee, a day-2 trainee in fact! He was on his own here.

Alexis might have his eye on him but his intention was purely to train him to be one of his top fighters. Nothing more. Jiang Fei could not depend on him to save his butt if anything were to happen.

“That settles it then. Tomorrow, attend my class. I’ll talk to Moglain about it,” said Ottogackt.

“Eh? What…? I’m…” Jiang Fei stuttered. Even though he was happy to be chosen to attend Ottogackt’s class, he could not simply decide that on his own.

“I’ll sort it out,” said Ottogackt and left Jiang Fei to his own devices.

“Did that Terran just skip all other classes?”

“I think he did. Ottogackt just fished him out of the beginner’s class and into the graduating class!”

Everyone was shocked. Someone skipping an entire year’s worth of lessons and training was unheard of! They had seen some skipping regular training sessions. That was common as some had the advantage of strength and would not have to attend further strength training. Skipping classes was fine but not an entire year!

While Jiang Fei was still trying to grasp what had just happened, Ottogackt was already walking into Moglain’s office. Ottogackt was known for being a headstrong trainer. Once he decided on something, nothing could change his mind. Entering the office, Ottogackt nonchalantly claimed Jiang Fei for himself.

“Moglain, you have a trainee named Jiang Fei. He’s mine now.”

Ottogackt only let himself talk to Moglain because of his good relationship with Alston. Even Alston himself was barely deserving of his respect, while no one else would even be worth talking to.

“Huh?” Moglain was thrown. He was shocked to see Ottogackt coming into his office. What could the infamous, ruthless trainer that caused more than two-thirds of his trainees to die during training want with a weak Terran boy?

Jiang Fei had never actually demonstrated his true strength in front of Moglain which made him assume that Jiang Fei was nothing but a weakling waiting to be killed. Those that were informed about Jiang Fei’s arrival thought he had pulled some strings with Alexis, allowing himself to enter the academy with such a low combat level.

“No! Ottogackt, can you not get any more arrogant? I know about all the times you insulted me as a butt kisser! What about you? Are you trying to be one yourself now?” sneered Moglain, misunderstanding Ottogackt’s intention.

Without the proper context, Moglain assumed that Ottogackt was there to steal his thunder. Ottogackt was known to only train graduating students. What would he do with a trainee with only 65,000 combat level? There’s no other reason but to suck up to Alexis!

“Keep on dreaming Ottogackt! Make yourself scarce as always, with that smug look on your face!” Moglain shot to his feet and firmly stood his ground.

Even though he had no intention of polishing Jiang Fei’s skills, he still needed to keep Jiang Fei in his turf until he graduated with ‘flying colors’. If Ottogackt wanted to steal the spotlight, Moglain would have none of it!

“I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”

Ottogackt hummed. There was no sign of him getting agitated. From his perspective, no other trainer deserved his respect and attention. There was no need for him to waste his time arguing with the weak.

“Enough! Your arrogance has its limits! We shall see what the chief training officer has to say about this!” barked Moglain, whining like a little puppy.

He was screaming and shouting but made no attempt to actually fight Ottogackt. The disparity of strength between the two was too great. Even against three Moglains, Ottogackt would still emerge victorious.

“Go. Go and bark at the one who holds your leash. However, before you do, I need to teach you a lesson,” said Ottogackt as his fist was already half a foot away from Moglain’s face.

Moglain saw the punch coming and dodged it by a hair’s width.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Are you attacking another training officer?” shouted Moglain. He has seen Ottogackt attacking other officers before but he never thought that he would ever be on the receiving end.

Ottogackt ignored his whines and came towards Moglain. His fist broke the sound barrier multiple times before it hit Moglain in the face. Moglain took the supersonic punch and even though he was weaker than Ottogackt, he was still strong enough to brush it off as a flesh wound.

He quickly got into his fighting stance and prepared to attack back but it was too late. Ottogackt was already halfway through delivering his next attack.

WHAM!

A clean attack landed and Moglain was sent flying off his feet. Ottogackt did not stop there. Even while Moglain was in the air, Ottogackt jumped up and kicked him multiple times.

He did not give it all he had but Moglain’s entire uniform was stained with his foot prints. Even his face had a boot print embedded on the side of his cheek. When Moglain got up and shouted at Ottogackt, one of his eyes was caved in.

“Ottogackt! Enough!”

“Enough? I’m not done beating the stupidity out of your head. Go now then, go and bark at Alston.”

There were other trainers as strong as him but no one else dared to address the chief training officer by name.

“Grrr… just you wait! I’ll have you stripped of your position!” shouted Moglain.

Even though he was truly angry and wanted nothing more but to beat up Ottogackt, he held back and ran off. He’d just gotten a good thrashing and that was more than enough for him to know that Ottogackt was clearly the superior fighter.

Moglain hastily proceeded to make a complaint to Alston. Contrary to Moglain, Ottogackt was taking his sweet time walking at a snail’s pace to Alston’s office.

“It’s me,” greeted Ottogackt, nonchalantly declaring his presence. An act of disrespect that even Alston dared not address.

“Ottogackt! Could you at least show some respect to your chief officer?!”

Alston barked the same phrase every time Ottogackt barged into his office without informing him first. He couldn’t bring himself to punish Ottogackt for something so trivial when his achievements eclipsed all his past wrongdoings. Alexis himself had praised the man!

“Huh? Respect to whom again? A weakling?” retorted Ottogackt. Like any other Valsalrian, Ottogackt only had respect for those stronger than him.

“Enough of your insolence! You must obey the hierarchy at least! He is your superior officer! And you—”

Moglain, who’d arrived earlier and was standing by the side when Ottogackt came in, yelled at him. Alston stopped him before he could finish his sentence.

Anyone in the room could see the outcome, except Moglain whose judgement was clouded by anger. If Moglain had laid a hand on Ottogackt, he would have gotten his skull caved in. Alston did not need to be a prophet to predict such an outcome.

So he stopped Moglain from lashing out. He had to. He was the chief training officer after all. If he allowed Moglain to attack, he wouldn’t be able to stop Ottogackt from actually killing him. If he did try and stop him, Alston might get himself killed! What would become of the entire academy then?

“Hmph. There’s a good boy. Hide. Hide behind your master!” Ottogackt spat out some vicious words that had both Alston and Moglain feeling their sting.

“Moglain!” Alston bellowed commandingly when Moglain was about to say something.

“Either keep your mouth shut or get the hell out of my office!” Alston vented his frustration at Moglain, even though he clearly did not deserve it.

Moglain swallowed a mouthful of air and stormed out of the room. Being a ‘top-rated’ butt kisser, Moglain recognized when he was defeated. Alston was out of options to help him and it was time to leave. Continuing to rely on the helpless wouldn’t do him any good. Worse still, Alston might even end up disliking him!