Chapter 391 - : Fifteen thousand meters per second!
Chapter 391: Fifteen thousand meters per second!
Xia Fei had invigorated the Alliance and enraged the insectoids, yet just as Uti sent three of his Seven Sacred Champions to hunt down Xia Fei, Xia Fei disappeared. This led the elite capture squad, led by Sacred guildmaster Duabi, to feel extremely depressed. It was as if Xia Fei had some special ability. A few days ago, he had been causing trouble throughout the insectoid territory, but just when the insectoids got serious and were on his trail, he was suddenly nowhere to be found.
Duabi, Kikiger, Laresh, Goxan, and the Twelve Wings of the Sacred Guild circled around the last place he had appeared like fools for ten whole days. There was an ancient saying that mused the pounding of drums could raise morale, but the effect would be spent on the third beat. The insectoids had gallantly arrived at the scene to do battle with the elite human ability user Xia Fei, but all they were doing now was staring at screens on their warships, their morale getting lower with each passing day.
Inside a black insectoid battleship, Duabi sat boredly on the command deck, a hand propping his head as he gazed at the stars. The insectoids responsible for watching the surveillance devices also yawned in their boredom. As for the three Sacred Champions, they did their own thing, be it cultivating or browsing the insectoid network. Though the Seven Sacred Champions were part of the Sacred Guild, they were under the personal command of the Golden Tent. Duabi did not have the authority to order them around.
The Twelve Wings were more obedient. They sat in a circle and played an ancient game called flight chess. This game, which had originated from the Pan-human Alliance, was for children. The comparatively more simple-minded insectoids had grown obsessed with it, and over the last several thousand years, it had become one of the most popular games in the entire race, and tens of thousands of variations had been developed.
“Curses! Curses! Curses! Where the hell did that human warrior go?” Duabi suddenly erupted in anger, slamming his table into bits.
“He’s nowhere to be found, but we can’t even leave! What the hell is this!” Duabi kicked at the table remnants, sending a dozen over pieces flying through the air!
A fragment struck a napping soldier and instantly caused him to see stars. Several fragments flew to the radar and created a small fire.
*Whoosḥ—*
The automatic fire suppression system activated, cold droplets of water raining down and soaking everyone to the bone.
This was truly the worst of luck, nothing going smoothly at all. Duabi and the Twelve Wings glared at one another, all of them gloomy and depressed.
…
On the Impaler, Xia Fei walked out of his training room, while he dripped with sweat. He prepared a hot bath for himself in the bathroom and then lay inside.
After eleven days, Xia Fei was somewhat paler and his body was much thinner.
“Promoting further was truly dangerous this time, and I’m seeing even more evidence of my judgment that relying on external help to advance your rank has its limits. We must repair your seventh brain region before we can go any further,” Phantom sternly said.
Xia Fei nodded. He lit a Hongtashan cigarette and silently took a few puffs. He was completely exhausted, so he could not bring himself to talk while he smoked.
The little robot Pod brought Xia Fei a glass of fruit juice and a few slices of bread. When a person was exhausted, they could not immediately eat large amounts of food, as this could harm their digestive system, which Xia Fei knew about. After eating this simple meal and a single White Dew, he slowly began to recover mentally and physically, but his stomach was still hungry.
Furball jumped up to Xia Fei’s side. It jumped into the bathtub and made all kinds of flashy movements to make Xia Fei laugh. On the side, Pod was like a chattering housewife and endlessly pampered Xia Fei.
Xia Fei suddenly realized that, though he did not have any humans around him—only a ball, a robot, and a soul—to keep him company, his life was not that bad.
Furball spent all day thinking of how to please Xia Fei and make him happy, while Pod lived for the sake of maintaining Xia Fei’s daily routine. As for Phantom, he was Xia Fei’s teacher and friend. The company of these fellows was sufficient to counteract the gloominess of living alone for a long time.
Xia Fei had spent the last eleven days constantly struggling against the formidable power of medication, so he was exhausted in both body and mind. He spent over ten hours soaking in the hot bathtub, eating a meal and taking a White Dew every thirty minutes. Gradually, Xia Fei recovered.
Standing up, Xia Fei put on a bathrobe and made his way to the command deck.
He stood in front of the radar and examined the search log. The Impaler had not stopped moving while cloaked during this whole time.
Xia Fei was currently facing a severe bottleneck, which was whether he could reach the Legendary rank or not. After the Star Light rank, Star Base rank, Star Domain rank, and Star River rank was the goal of every top-class expert: the Legendary rank.
One could tell its significance from the name alone. From the Legendary rank, there was no need for the ‘Star’ word, for once a warrior reached the Legendary rank, they could be regarded a grandmaster no matter where they went!
This was a leap from a warrior to a grandmaster! Legendary rank meant that one could set up their sect and leave behind an immortal legend, becoming an existence admired by the common people!
“Are you confident that you can advance to the Legendary rank?” Phantom nervously asked.
Xia Fei shook his head. “You can’t evaluate a speed ability’s level by counting the number of waves in the brain region, only through testing and through seeing what the maximum speed is. I must find a place where I can charge at full speed to know the result.”
Speed and strength, these two major categories, were typical body-optimizing abilities. Unlike those special types of abilities that were evaluated by counting the number of waves in the brain region, these two abilities needed to go through a practical evaluation. Thus, the Impaler had been searching for a suitable area that Xia Fei could use to see what level he had reached.
Testing inside the Impaler was not realistic. Before advancing, Xia Fei could break ten thousand meters per second, and now? He would reach the end of the ship before he could even properly accelerate. He would have no chance of reaching his limit.
Even advanced speed assessment machines could not completely assess Legendary rank speed ability users, for no machine could endure the immense pressure that came from a speed ability user exceeding ten thousand meters per second.
To test the level of his ability, Xia Fei could only find some deserted place in space, which he could sprint around back and forth like some athlete.
There was no doubt that Xia Fei was in such a rush to reach the Eternal rank because of the insectoid ability users. He hated the insectoids—hated them so much that he wanted to wipe out all of the loathsome bugs, but the insectoids also had ability users. This forced Xia Fei to reassess his ability. To deal greater damage, he needed greater power. Thus, not long after absorbing the psi-splosion of that insectoid cerebrum, Xia Fei started pushing toward the next rank.
“Eh!” Xia Fei exclaimed, his eyes brightening.
“What’s up?” Phantom went up to Xia Fei and asked.
“I can’t believe it! While I was in seclusion and working toward the Eternal rank, the radar really did manage to find a livable planet without any inhabitants.” Xia Fei excitedly shared this information.
The planet in question was about a day away from his current location, and the analysis found that its air quality was pretty good—good enough for humans to survive on. It was a rare and valuable planet that had yet to be developed!
Xia Fei found it hard to believe that he would find this sort of primitive and virgin land in the insectoid territory! If this were in the Alliance, he could have reported this discovery to the Alliance Cartography Society for a reward.
Activating the navigation system, Xia Fei chose to use the ordinary engine to approach slowly rather than jump to it. After a life-or-death battle with the medication, Xia Fei needed to rest and recover his almost emptied body.
Xia Fei had no idea that this minor decision had allowed him to once more avoid the search of a nearby insectoid fleet. It seemed that Duabi’s luck was truly awful, and he would have to remain depressed for a while longer.
…
Twenty-seven hours later, Xia Fei readied his equipment and prepared to disembark onto the planet and test his speed.
He stored all his weapons in his spatial ring and endeavored to wear the slightest clothes possible. On his feet were the Zephyr combat boots, which could increase his speed. He also wore the Bloodthirsty Ice God combat suit as well as a mask to cover his face. He appeared like a masked warrior from a science-fiction movie.
He chose a plain covered with long grass as his testing site. This plain covering an area of more than ten thousand kilometers was circular, so Xia Fei could run around it in a circle. It was very suitable for pushing his speed ability to its limit.
Furball and Pod were both very excited. Furball mischievously rode on top of Pod’s body and jumped up and down on it. Pod did not dislike it, allowing the beast to be a nuisance. Everyone said that robots were wicked existences, but Pod was like an innocent child, as far from wicked as possible.
“Are you ready?” Phantom asked.
Xia Fei firmly nodded. He did some stretching exercises, like an athlete preparing for a sprint.
“The Impaler’s radar system will record your speed, but I’m unsure if your combat suit can take the pressure. While the Bloodthirsty Ice God is formidable, it’s not made specifically for speed ability users. It will be better for you to accelerate slowly rather than accelerate at max speed right away,” suggested Phantom.
When speed ability users started running, they would produce intense air disturbances. Combat suits designed for speed ability users would normally be made with wind-resistant materials to reduce the force of the wind. Though the Bloodthirsty Ice God was powerful, it had not been made for speed ability users. When Xia Fei had been moving at ten thousand meters per second, there had been no problems, but it did not mean that there would not be one now. After all, Xia Fei’s rank was higher at this point, and his legs had more strength in them. The explosive force was like an exploding pressure cooker, immense energy just waiting to burst out.
Taking a deep breath, Xia Fei closed his eyes and gathered all of his focus ahead, casting aside all his miscellaneous thoughts.
His feet slammed off the ground, then Xia Fei shot off like a lightning bolt.
“Your current speed is at 10,521 meters per second! Just keep slowly accelerating like this! Release as much of your energy as you can!” Phantom excitedly said.
“Twelve thousand!
“Thirteen thousand!
“Keep accelerating!
“Fifteen thousand meters! Xia Fei, you’ve already broken through the Advanced Star River rank! After this is the Legendary rank!”
Xia Fei was abnormally calm. Fifteen thousand meters per second was much faster than his usual speed, but his legs still had more strength! He had yet to unleash his latent power fully!