The Almighty Ring

“0542, trace their position now! Find out where they are jumping to!” Jiang Fei snarled. These men were the ones that forced Isabella to enter the Berserk state. It was a fault that Jiang Fei could never forgive. An offense that was so hateful that Jiang Fei could feel it in his bones.

“Tracing target’s jump point…” 0542 responded immediately and began its tracing system.

While it was carrying out Jiang Fei orders, Jiang Fei zoomed toward Isabella as quickly as he could. Moving quickly underwater was extra hard for him since there was no solid ground for him to kick off.

The whirlpool that she made was gone now but that did not mean that Isabella herself was not a danger to all. There was still a chance that Isabella, in her state of Berserk, could not recognize Jiang Fei. The power she held in this state had traces of Valium properties. Jiang Fei would be exposed to lethal attacks that he might never recover from.

“Bella! ISABELLA!” Jiang Fei roared from the top of his lungs. Whether she could hear his voice or not, Jiang Fei dared not approach her in this state. However, he sure that at his current distance, Isabella would be able to hear his voice.

“Hah… Hah…. Ughh….”

Isabella breathing was ragged. Steam could be seen coming out from her entire body. Her surrounding temperature was akin to a bombing temperature, capable of instantly vaporizing all the water around her, thus creating a large void in the middle of the deep sea. She, on the other hand, was floating in the center of it all. Jiang Fei tried to enter the pocket of air but was immediately burned. The temperature was so extreme that even he could not enter without protection.

“Isabella! Calm down! I’m safe now! Nothing can harm me! Control your powers! You need to put a stop to the Power of Berserk!” cried Jiang Fei when he saw Isabella was violently trying to escape her trance state. She was screaming, writhing in pain as she struggled to take control of her mind and body.

Concurrently, 0542 returned with a report about the enemies’ position.

“Captain, I have failed to trace the enemy’s jump point. There is a powerful electromagnetic interference caused by Isabella.”

“F*ck! The people that did this are going to pay…” Jiang Fei barked. However, there was no time for him to dwell on that matter anymore. Isabella was still unable to control her powers. He needed to try his best to stop Isabella as every second she spent in the state of berserk, the more damage she would do to herself.

“Bella!” Jiang Fei cried louder when he suddenly noticed seawater pouring back into the air pocket. The temperature was dropping fast. That could only mean that Isabella’s power was calming down! It took some time but after 5 minutes, the air pocket shrunk. Seawater gushed back to fill the void but Isabella was still in an unstable state. Although she was no longer emitting powerful heat, it was still sufficient enough to boil the surrounding water around her. It took another 10 minutes before she calmed down and was cool enough for Jiang Fei to support her.

“How do you feel?” said Jiang Fei.

“Better, now that you’re safe and sound,” said Isabella. She was incredibly tired and overwhelmed by fatigue.

“It’s all you. You saved me,” said Jiang Fei before he stroke Isabella’s still feverish forehead.

Isabella smiled weakly, not wanting to talk anymore. Jiang Fei was fine since she had just forced herself to return to normal from being in the state of Berserk.

“Let’s move on,” said Jiang Fei. He left Isabella in Ariel’s care and headed deeper into the waters alone with 0542 guiding him.

“Have you identified the ship fragment?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Yes, captain. The ship fragment has been identified as a Core Storage Facility,” 0542 replied.

“Another one?”

Jiang Fei was extremely happy. What better time to find a Core Storage when Isabella had just gotten out of Berserk state.

“Is there any Core of Life in there?”

“No. However, there are other cores that would be useful to her.”

“Other… cores?” Jiang Fei was stumped as he swam deeper toward the storage unit.

“There are many other cores that can be found in the entire universe. One of it is the Core of Life…”

0542 proceeded to explain about Energy Cores.

Founded in galaxies throughout the cosmos, there were five known types of energy cores. They were incredibly rare that one galaxy might house only a handful, one, or none at all. The identified Cores that had been documented were the Core of Time, Core of Space, Core of Life, Core of Power, and the Core of Will. No two similar cores could be found in the same galaxy; there would not be two Cores of Life in the same galaxy. If there were, the core would repel itself to another galaxy.

“Are you saying that the entire solar system that I live in has only one Core of Life?” Jiang Fei asked. If that was the case, the only way to fully cure Isabella of the mysterious ailment would be to hunt for the Core of Life.

“No. Not the planetary systems but the entire galaxy.”

“The entire Milky Way itself? F*ck me… this is getting out of hand…” Jiang Fei sighed and complained. Right now, any hopes of leaving the solar system were so bleak as he could not even leave planet Earth.

“How many cores did Braveheart collect before it crashed on earth?”

“Sorry, Substitute Captain. You do not have enough authority to know that.”

Jiang Fei frowned immediately when 0542 invoked the “substitute” word.

“Screw that…” Jiang Fei gritted his teeth and snarled. He was not Namekian, hence he would never become a real Captain of Braveheart. Jiang Fei would never be able to gain that position until he actually finished rebuilding the entire ship.

“We are here.” 0542 prompted Jiang Fei when he reached the bottom of the sea.

“Sheesh! This thing must have been here for the longest time!” Jiang Fei cried in shock. If 0542 had not prompted him, he would never be able to recognize the wreckage as it was completely covered in years and years of rock erosion. It was practically covered in soil and plants.

“I have established link and obtained administrative authority of the storage unit.”

“Good, open it up,” Jiang Fei said.

Following 0542’s guidance, Jiang Fei entered the facility and into the storage room.

“What kind of core do we have here?” Jiang Fei asked.

“There is one Core of Will inside,” 0542 replied.

“Core of Will? What does that do?”

Jiang Fei immediately regretted asking about the core as 0542 immediately replied the same as before. Lack of authority.

“I am unable to inform you about the core’s functionality before you actually discover it yourself.”

That was a surprise. There seemed to be a way to bypass the lack of authority. 0542 was just obeying its own programming protocol, not deliberately trying to hide information from Jiang Fei.