The Almighty Ring

“What ritual? They’re just a bunch of fish surrounding Jiang Fei. Don’t waste your time thinking about this sort of thing,” Caylan chimed in abruptly to shift the topic. He knew that Jiang Fei must have done something to lure all the fish away from them to himself. He had helped them and all he could do in return was to not question his method. After all, he was the famed V.I.P.. Nothing good would come from asking too many questions.

“So it seems, let us not dwell too long here. Caylan, brief us about the island,” Bacca joined in, shifting the attention away from Jiang Fei. At that moment, both of them shared the same thought; Jiang Fei was not as simple as he looked. He might be a weak fighter but he possessed something that would help him in the trial, perhaps a powerful tool or weapon that was prohibited. Nevertheless, they would not want to purposely, or accidentally, expose his true self.

“Very well. Listen close for what I’m about to say will save your life,” Caylan started to explain.

The first time Caylan and his team came to the island, they returned to the other side of the lake with a few casualties. During entry, their numbers were lesser than the current group. The amount of Devils of the Lake they had managed to disturb was not as many as this time, allowing them to cross the lake safe and sound. The real nightmare started as soon as they set foot on the island. Danger lurked at every turn and not a single team member managed to reach the altar before suffering major or fatal wounds.

The first hurdle was the beach. There, hidden in the fine grains of sand, were little crabs that had not enough strength to pose real harm. However, like their counterparts, do not just stay quiet when threatened. They could not damage anyone but they do an amazing job annoying people.

After the beach would be the reef region. There, something odd had happened. The magnetic field around large cliffs and reefs were insanely unstable. In the next step, the gravitational pull might be 10 times less than that of Earth, and in the next step, it was 10 times that of Redstone. The fluctuation of gravity and magnetic field prove to be a challenge as simply walking was no easy task. In such an environment, swinging a sword, or simply throwing a punch would be an issue. Even in such an environment, there were life forms that lived and thrived, and that was the Magneto Florp.

A Magneto Florp was a kind of elemental life form that survived only within a high magnetic field. As such, they were strong in nature, possessing at least 300,000 combat level at their prime. Some could even reach 500,000 combat level. In their natural habitat, they would roam in groups. As such, it would take a strong group to breach through their territory.

Thankfully, there was a way to defeat them. These florps never leave their home. As long as one could outrun them, they would return back to their territory. Caylan and his group suffered with the loss of two fallen comrades in the reef when they had chosen to fight head-on instead of outrunning them. The two fallen comrades were rescued from the simulation and were removed from the trial.

The beach and the reefs were the only two regions Caylan and his group had managed to pass. After the reefs, they had decided to use aerial travel. However, as soon as they took flight, they encountered the invisible barrier and were instantly teleported to the starting point; the other side of the lake.

“I see…” Bacca acknowledged. Right now, they had just passed the first hurdle and were standing on the beach. Fortunately, there were no signs of the crabs.

“What did you say about the beach again? Wasn’t there supposed to be crabs?” Dodge asked as he jiggled about, like soft pudding. That was how he walked and it made Jiang Fei feel somewhat itchy on the inside.

As soon as Dodge asked about the missing crabs, the beach started to move. Thousands of tiny protrusions appeared and revealed thousands of crabs, roughly the size of a baby’s fist.

Tidehunter Crab

Combat Level: 4,000

Note: Great taste. Preferably steamed or boiled.

“Heh. Must taste great for that to be included in the footnote,” said Jiang Fei to himself after reading the intriguing note about the crabs.

Even though the Tidehunter Crab was only a tad different from the ones on Earth, Jiang Fei was not in the mood for a feast. There were just too many of them then and walking over the beach was just… annoying.

“Thank god I don’t have any kind of phobia! Sheesh! I can only imagine what those people would have to go through,” said Jiang Fei to himself as he stepped on one of the crabs and crushed it.

“Do your best to ignore them. They won’t do anything to you. Walk over them instead. Don’t waste your energy here. It’s useless to kill them all,” said Caylan, speaking with experience. Clearly, he and his team had wasted a great amount of time trying to exterminate the crabs, only to find that it was a wasted effort.

“Move on,” Bacca ordered. The “weakest” trainee then was Jiang Fei and since there was no threat to him, there was nothing to be worried about.

“Get a move on, quick!” Caylan cried out and led everyone toward the reef. Jiang Fei did not bother to say anything but followed obediently.

From his point of view then, the beach was large and long. Even though the island was in the middle of a lake, it was still larger than presumed. They ran at a general pace for about 20 minutes before they stopped encountering crabs. Once they left their habitat, the crabs did not bother to chase after them.

“The reef is just ahead. Keep an eye out. The florps are dangerous,” said Caylan as he threw a quick glance at Jiang Fei. He was hinting at Bacca that Jiang Fei would only be a liability if he were to follow them into the reef.

Even though his performance in the lake was outstanding, his combat level was still being greatly underestimated. From where they stood, Jiang Fei was just as useful as a trophy on a shelf. Even so, they had to make sure that no harm was to befall him.

“How about you wait here for a bit? We’ll go first to scout the region,” Bacca told Jiang Fei. He was in sync with Caylan and could not agree more about him being a liability instead of an asset. Even so, he was special and cannot be harmed.

“I’ll be more than happy to wait!” said Jiang Fei with a smile. He had no intention to fight with the others. He would only act if they were incapable of continuing on with the trial.

“Much obliged,” Bacca said, sighing a breath of relief before turning to Caylan and giving him a certain look. They were both afraid that Jiang Fei would insist on joining them into the reef and they would have to spend more energy protecting him.

Fortunately, Jiang Fei was “more than happy” to stay behind. Thus, granting Bacca and Caylan the confidence to fight the Florps without anything holding them back.