Jill was the first person to react and asked, "Barton, lower your weapon. Do you even know who is the person standing in front of you?"
Milo was a doofus, he was busy looking at Shi Lang from head to toe. The young man with the gun was shocked at this and wanted to say something when Jill said, "Commander, why did you not knock him out?"
This sentence stated his identity as the commander, and Jill was an officer of the Ace Division, so her words meant that the man Barton had his gun aimed was the commander of the ace division. He shivered slightly and lowered his weapon, and heard a calm voice, "I have not yet adjusted my control of power, I could have killed him if I was to react on my reflex. Given that he could clear the nine levels in such a limited time, he must be a genius."
Milo nodded and began to state the data he recorded or found out about Barton. He said, "You got that right, Commander, Barton was recommended to the card class for completing three major difficulty assassination missions in the Zerg region. He cleaned up the three most prominent rebel leaders. He is the best student in the card class, and passed the course in three months. This is his fourth month in the Tartarus, and he can run down to the ninth level. So yes, he is a genius."
Shi Lang nodded and asked, "Who recommended him?"
Milo replied with an indifference, "General Charlotte Knight."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "Well Barton, you did good, and reacted in line of your duty but know this, Tartarus is not a place where anyone can reach the ninth level just because they want to."
Barton nodded and then Shi Lang said, "You are dismissed now, this floor is accessible only to the Ace division."
This statement made Barton feel like he was not worthy of standing on the ninth level, and he felt indignant but he could not say anything to the guy in front of him. He was aware that under the cover of calm and collected, this person was a horror for his current self. The strength that Shi Lang had could kill him ten times over before he could tell what happened to him.
Barton saluted the guy and left the place quickly. Jill noticed everything during the interaction and said, "He sure knows how to hold it in, Boss. He does not seem to be easy."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "You will know when the meeting commences. Relay a message to the slackers. They have five minutes to report, if not, then I will have them run through the maze at full difficulty and that too naked."
The message was passed, but even Jill, Milo and Snipe felt a shiver down their spines. Shi Lang will really do what he just said.
…
Five minutes later, the entire ace division, all twenty members were gathered and they were sitting cross-legged. They were all waiting for Shi Lang. The young general said, "While I was resting, there has been a storm brewing in the military. Do you guys have any idea what I am talking about?"
The people looked at each other and then Milo said, "Sir, the general council has been restless for a few months, OB-One did all that he could to maintain the work order, but these guys do not trust him, and they think that you have been running away from your duty so, General Charlotte Knight has proposed to stand against you in the election a few months later."
Shi Lang nodded and said, "This guy Barton is a spy she sent here. I can bet my ass that she has made up Tartarus in some other pace already, and she wants to replace the Ace division."
This made the people raise their eyebrows. Sonic was sitting silently the whole time, when he suddenly said, "Then why do we not stop these noobs from coming inside the Tartarus for a few days? Barton needs to be kept out as well."
Shi Lang shook his head and said, "It is fine if they want to train, just push the difficulty to hell mode. Enough goofing around, Tartarus was not supposed to be a walk in the park. Also, Barton gets a dedicated nightmare setting. I want this so-called talent to crawl and know the despair he will have to face to reach the so-called peak. Milo you will be in charge of the training of these talented people. The rest of you I have a task for you."
The people straightened their backs, and Shi Lang said, "Go, visit the fleets, challenge their ranks, and beat the shit out of their general. Leave Charlotte Knight for me, but her immediate supporters are yours to deal with."
The division was shocked, this task meant that Shi Lang was going to tear faces with the rest of the fleets. He was going to drag them all into the light and push them to fight him fair and square. This was debunking their strategies and plots to flip the tables on him.
Shi Lang was not good at politics? Said who?
The people were all deployed and the control room of Tartarus was handed over to Milo. Another thing that they did was to stop all communicative services from Mythya to the outer world. The reason was simple, to protect the secrecy of this location. Too many communicative message could jeopardize their location.
These people did not say much, but they knew his thoughts and agreed to the tasks. Milo asked, "Boss, what do you intend to do?"
Shi Lang replied, "I will go into seclusion for a few days and then face the War Maiden of the federation. She has been itching to try my prowess first hand."
The rest of the people gulped a mouthful of saliva down. They did not expect Shi Lang to go out personally and beat the competitors like this. However, this was the most effective method to deal with situation like this. The first general was invincible in the federation and thus, he shall vanquish his enemies on his own.
Milo and the rest left the ninth level and the news that the ace division was deployed spread around the planet. The shock came to people for a moment when they learned that the communications of the planetary system were barred and only emergency messages will be allowed to sent after screening.
Barton was surprised, and shocked at this. He did not know what happened all of a sudden that made the communications to be barred. Another shock came to him was that when he was running through the maze, trying to figure out what was happening when for the first time, he was severely injured in the second level.
Barton was taken out by a set of intelligent bots. These bots were simply imprinted with Shi Lang's battle skills and Barton literally had no skills to face the asura. The ferocity of the bots was too much for him to handle and his body was left with deep gashes, making his bones and internal organs visible.
Shi Lang was unaware of all this. His body has been relaxing during his time on the federation and now he was refilling it with the spiritual energy accumulated in the empty chamber of the ninth level. The energy went through his body slowly nourishing it. He was constantly guiding a current of the energy to enter his primordial soul after it has been through his entire body.
Others might think that this sort of practice will make his spiritual energy advancement slower, however, Shi Lang was not normal. This method was used to refine his spiritual energy, and the more refine it became the more energy it will contain. For example, Shi Lang was refining his spiritual energy before it was channeled in his primordial spirit, the effect of this method would allow Shi Lang to have four times more energy than anyone else in the same realm as his and his primordial spirit will grow up stronger and quicker.
The young general had lost the comprehension of time, and he was simply indulged in his training, meanwhile on the upper levels of the maze, the cadets and officers were all suffering miserably. They did not expect this sort of difficulty. Barton actually received a special care from Milo. He was left crawling on the second level of the maze, this shocked everyone.
The wounds made by the puppets, were all life harming. Barton almost burst into tears when he could not even stand up. The place where his journey ended for the fourth day was the same as the rest of the days. The defeat has left him with great despair. This despair was not easy to overcome and if he wanted to rise to the peak, this was the basic minimum.
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