MMORPG: The Almighty Ring

The shuttlecraft was fast but since Earth was just too far away, it took Jiang Fei nearly two weeks before he reached the edge of the solar system's heliosphere.

Jiang Fei sighed when he saw the blue marble from afar. "I'm finally home."

With all the things he had encountered in the vast void of space, returning to Earth felt like coming back home. It had been about a year since he left. He could not help but wonder if anything had changed during his absence. What of his parents? The girls?

As he switched to auto-pilot mode, Jiang Fei asked "0541, are you connected to Braveheart?"

"Indeed, I am, sir," replied 0541.

By the time the shuttlecraft was at the edge of the heliosphere, 0541 had already connected to Braveheart's system.

"How is home?"

"I can't say…"

Jiang Fei immediately asked, "Huh?! What's going on?"

The last thing he wanted to see was his family members getting into trouble.

"Calm down, Captain. It's nothing like that. I didn't say that there's anything going on at home… it's just… it seems that the girls have not logged anything in the central computer. I am unable to download much data. There are only a few log entries which were made when they used the ship's facilities," explained 0541.

0541 may be the most evolved artificial intelligence known to Jiang Fei, but he was not all-capable. If the girls had not used the computers, and especially if they had not recorded any video diaries, then there was nothing for 0541 to download.

If only they had relied on the ship as Jiang Fei relied on 0541, the ship would have logged everything that happened around Earth and even the entire solar system! Judging by the records and logs, the girls had only occasionally come onboard the ship for a brief moment to create some tools and equipment.

However, since there were no significant changes in Earth's overall readings, one could safely conclude that nothing of any significance had taken place. Especially since the tools and equipment the girls had made were not related to combat.

"Set course for Braveheart. Is anyone there?" asked Jiang Fei.

He didn't want to land on Earth straightaway as that would cause a minor panic for several nations. It was far safer for him to land on the dark side of the moon and use the teleportation hub there to teleport down to Earth.

"Currently, Hua Mulan and Nina are operating on the moon base. The rest are presumably on Earth," said 0541.

The closer he was to Earth, the better connection 0541 would get. At this point, he had eyes on the moon base.

"Good. Send them a greeting. Tell them that I'm back," said Jiang Fei.

An innocent smile shone on his face, he could not wait to see the girls. He had been through countless dangerous events, and returning to Earth gave him a sense of security. There was a warm feeling in his heart that told him, "Everything is going to be alright."

Once he was back on Earth, Jiang Fei would put everything that was bothering him at the back of his mind. He wanted to just sit quietly and be with his family. It was the least he could do since he had left them so abruptly.

"Aye, Captain."

0541 complied and sent a report to the moon base to inform the girls that their beloved had returned. Within half an hour of traveling at sublight speeds, Jiang Fei arrived at the dark side of the moon and docked.

"Docking sequence complete… please stand behind the airlock and wait for depressurization…"

As soon as the airlock opened, Jiang Fei was greeted by all the girls. Hua Mulan and Nina weren't the only two waiting, all the girls were there, eager and anxious to see him. Once Nina informed them that Jiang Fei was coming back, they quickly dropped whatever they were doing and hurried to the moon.

Isabella moaned longingly when she saw Jiang Fei, "Hubby…"

Her eyes teared up as she leaped into Jiang Fei's embrace. The other girls were also longing for Jiang Fei, but as Isabella was his first, they stood behind her as a show of respect.

Sylphy jumped in, howling, "Darling!"

She wrapped herself around Jiang Fei and buried her face into his chest, not wanting to let go.

"I'm here now. Everything is alright," said Jiang Fei.

He turned to the other girls behind the gates and said, "Thank you for welcoming me."

Seeing that everyone had genuinely missed him, Jiang Fei's heart melted a little as he shed a tiny pearl of a tear.

Isabella sobbed. "Hubby, I've missed you… so much…"

After being separated for so long, there were just too many repressed emotions that the girls wanted to let out. Nina and Ariel were overjoyed, but since they were not the kind who did whatever pleased them, they held back their excitement and smiled from far behind the gates. Even Hua Mulan, the stoic, female warrior hero, could not hold back her tears.

"Isabella, Sylphy, if you please let me… I've traveled thousands of lightyears and I'd appreciate it if you could let me have a breather," said Jiang Fei.

Once they calmed down, Jiang Fei and the girls headed to the lounge to rest and started to let out everything that they had bottled up. After talking for the entire night, Jiang Fei had a better understanding of the current status of Earth and its people.

Earth was at peace and thanks to 0541's assistance, its technology had advanced. That being said, Earth was still technologically obsolete, even when compared to the Valsalrians. It was only natural as the Namekian's ship, Braveheart, was already more than 10,000 years old.

Even though Earth as a whole had progressed leaps and bounds in terms of technology, it was still very much obsolete compared to other civilizations. Even so, whether or not Earth would ever be able to advance to the same technological level as the Trade Federation no longer mattered to Jiang Fei.

After encountering the beings from the Gamma Dimension, he now knew that the entire universe was nothing but a simulated environment created by a gaming company. It mattered not even if Earth managed to become the greatest civilization in the entire universe, they could never stop what was coming.

One thing that surprised Jiang Fei was how far Isabella had come. She was strong now, with a combat level that measured at over 1,500,000. Though she was far from matching Jiang Fei's strength, she was now able to stand proud amongst the others in space.

Isabella thrust her chest out and bragged, "Hehe… I'm super strong now!"

"That's great news! Our Isabella is always the best!" said Jiang Fei, smiling.

He knew that the Core of Life was the source of Isabella's strength. Though hers was not upgraded, it functioned differently from the Core of Will. Much like the Core of Power, the Core of Life added strength directly into the user's physique. It was basically a more potent version of Jiang Fei's Blackhole Core.

Jiang Fei went silent for a while. As the others talked about how Earth had been doing, he was deep in thought. After thinking it through, he decided to tell everyone the truth.

"Everyone, I have something important to tell you. If you could all sit down and listen…"

He decided to tell them the truth about this universe, about how he had come to discover that they were in a simulated universe. Jiang Fei wanted to do this for two reasons. The first being not wanting to hide anything from the girls and second, he wanted to know what they would say when they found out.

Other than Jiang Fei, everyone else was born inside the game. They had already experienced discovering the truth of their universe, so their thoughts about the world might shed some light on the situation. It would be better to hear about it from them, despite them not being able to do anything to help Jiang Fei.

"I see…"

"It seems impossible…"

…

For a good minute after Jiang Fei explained everything, everyone was quiet. Nina was the first to open her mouth. As a character designed and set to be a Saintess, she had an idea on the topic.

"Fei, if the universe is a game, as you say it is, there will be an endgame. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that as a game, the entire universe will be destroyed once the players have finished all the content?" asked Nina.

"That would be the norm. However, I do not have conclusive proof that the universe is a game," replied Jiang Fei.

"Let's assume that this universe is indeed a game created by pan-dimensional beings. If we could somehow delay that point, to stop or block players from actually reaching the endgame, then perhaps we can ensure the survival of this universe," suggested Nina.