"Wh-What?" stuttered the girl.
"You came here with full makeup while wearing no underwear just to return the ring? I am not the smartest person, true. But I am not dumb enough to not see the obvious."
She quietened down and didn't know what to say.
"..."
"So?"
"If I will be your woman, can I keep the ring?"
"My woman?" Magnus asked surprised, then he laughed merrily and continued, "You are not worthy."
She trembled, but then some fire sparkled in her eyes. She took out the ring and put it on. Her hand with the ring on it was clenched into a fist and she used the power of domination:
"You will allow me to keep this ring."
Magnus stared at her for a good minute, before he finally smiled and asked:
"Are you dumb? This ring takes all of its power directly from me. And you just tried to use it on me? You might as well use oil to put out fire. But good try nonetheless."
Xie Lan instantly paled and didn't know what to do.
A few minutes were spent in silence.
Finally, Magnus sighed and asked:
"Do you really desire the power of this ring so much? You must understand, it was never meant for you. Its true wielder should have been your father. Unfortunately, the Ministry found out about it and decided to 'remove' him."
"I am a better option." The girl stubbornly replied.
"You? Better? Laughable. Your father is a dragon amongst men, reaching his status before 60 is an achievement. As for you... well you have potential, but you are too young. The ring is a powerful instrument. But that is only the case, when used by an already powerful person."
Tears were slowly dripping from her face.
"...respect..." she mumbled.
"Hm? Louder. If you have anything to say, say it louder. If not, leave the ring here and leave. I am not interested in your drama."
"I said 'Respect'. That's all I ever wanted. I did my best to get it. Best student. Best daughter. But no matter what I did, I remained just that... a girl. But then I got this..." and she raised her hand showcasing the ring.
"The ring is not a tool to gain respect, Xie Lan."
"I know. But... I can be a person you need. I know that you need my family for something. But for that, you need to control its leader. Currently, it's my father. But with this ring, I will be more useful to you than him. Plus, I am ready to use my body as insurance."
"Hmm... First, seduction, then using the ring and now simple prostitution? Quite tempting, I must say."
***
After a prolonged and exhausting match, Magnus stood up from the bed and stretched. After his training reached 50, he got a new tier 3 ability allowing him to ignore the need for sleep. His body automatically restores and heals parts that require rest. Therefore, he needs to sleep only once a month for a full recovery. Moreover, the time of sleep he required for that recovery was just a few hours, rather than a third of the day.
***
The ability, "Inhumane Vigor 2/2", I got from physical activities helps me tire slower in the process of these activities and apparently, it includes the sex.
'I am becoming a creature beyond the definition of the word "human" thanks to all the skills and abilities I acquired in nearly 2 years.'
After a good stretch, I looked at the bed and the girl on it. Indeed a beauty. Thing figure with curves in all the right places. Jade skin with a very nice texture to touch. Delicate face with little to no blemishes.
That was worth waiting so long to get the first time with such a belle.
After looking at her for some time, I went to check myself in the mirror. What I saw there was certainly satisfying. A young man, a bit burly with an Asian face, long fingers, and overall well-toned body. However, he had no rippling muscles.
Although, I wasn't explicitly beautiful, I was certainly charming. After all, my skill levels in occlumency and speech were very high. Therefore, just by being present around people I am... well... bewitching and dominating others.
Years and years of practice were not for nothing. My body, temperament, and power were insane if you look from the perspective of this world. In this universe, I can be unrestrained now.
Plus, my people were all around China thanks to the ring system I made.
I took eyes off from my reflection and focused on the ring on the hand of the girl.
Ring of domination.
It's my latest creation. It was meant for her father, but in all honesty, it doesn't matter who wears it. As long as the girl shows some skill in the business sphere and will work hard to satisfy me in bed, she can keep the ring. And if she fails me somewhere, I will remove her and give the ring to the opposing family.
Anyone who wears the ring is absolutely loyal to me.
However, today I noticed a peculiar thing. Without the ring on, she came up with the idea of using it on me. This should be considered a breach of loyalty. Although, indirect but breach nonetheless.
It's good that I spotted this problem early. I need to tweak the ring system a little bit, to avoid such problems from occurring in the future.
Speaking of the system. I probably ought to explain how the system works even works.
Remember I was working on the magical computer? Well, I might have taken that idea super far...
***
"Central, we are above Shanghai. Closing on the initial location of the signal. Ready to be deployed, waiting for permission."
"You have a green light. Start the deployment. You have an hour before Shanghai's magical wards will be flared."
"Got it, central. See you soon."
"Safe landing."
In the air above one of the buildings in Shanghai was a state-of-art aircraft frozen in the vertical position. Even stranger was the fact that it was invisible to both eyes and radars.
People in the very sci-fi looking suits were jumping off the plane without any parachutes from the height of more than a kilometer(0.62 miles / 3280 feet).
***
Somewhere in the orbit. Amongst the satellites and orbital garbage.
[Suspect #4209 was confirmed to be the enemy. Compiling report. Scanning location and identifying the enemy's goal. Nearby, the bearer of the ring was found. Identifying the ring. Ring of Strength. Getting ready to power the ring. Link established.]
***
The special ops team from the strongest hidden organization in the world was dropping out of their transport.
After a minute or so, they were close to their drop off point at the rooftop of the high-rise building. Based on the mission debrief, this place was one of the 3 biggest magical surges in China. Moreover, these surges had some traces of the subject zero.
40 meters or so, before the being smashed into a meat paste, soldiers from the team started slowing down and smoothly landed on the roof.
"Team alpha reached the destination point. Ready to infiltrate. Entering stealth."
The team in the sci-fi armor suits that were second ago there suddenly vanished into thin air. Neither sound nor sight could discover these people now.
***
[Enemies have landed. Scanning... Equipment fits the description of Shadow's squad. Applying the "Shadow" label. Data exchange was discovered. Commence hacking... Successful, access granted.]
***
The team started slowly going down through the building, inspecting every room on their way. There were a ton of guards, patroling each floor. However, for this team of special operatives, these guards were a small obstacle.
Finally, after walking down 3 floors, they found an entrance to a very big room, guarded better than the ones before. However, nobody expected enemy rushing from the top rather than from the bottom. So, the door leading to the room was just a normal wooden door that easy to open, simplifying escaping through the roof.
"Central, have a vision of a suspicious location. Requesting permission to open fire."
"Is there any other way to quietly infiltrate?"
"None. Too many potential hostiles."
"Permission granted. Make it quick. Don't leave anyone alive."
"Yes."
***
[Enemies were granted permission to open fire. Start the "Premonition" protocol. Sending signal.]
***
Man in a suit that didn't limit his movements, was sitting in a giant room, surrounded by the most influential people of Shanghai and China overall. These people were rulers of Underworld, gangsters, and businessmen.
On the hand of that man was a small and inconspicuous ring with aragonite stone incrusted into it.
Suddenly stone lit up for but a moment, but at that moment, the man felt that something horribly wrong should happen.
He looked at the people around him first.
"Cheng Jian, is something wrong?"
Then his pupils constricted and he screamed:
"Everyone down!"
People here were experienced fighters and leaders, so they knew what it's like to be at the brink of death. Moreover, they wholeheartedly trusted this man. So, the moment he said down, most of the people instantly dropped on the floor.
And a second later, that proved to be a good decision because backdoor to this room was blown away with small debris flying everywhere.
Another second later, 5 men in some very futuristic armor stormed into the room, but before they could even raise their weapons...
***
[Energy transfer requested by the ring. Link already established. Start transferring. Threat level check... Providing strength enhancement.]
***
Since soldiers entering 0.1 seconds passed.
Cheng Jian started running towards the closest soldier.
0.2 seconds passed.
*Boom*
Sound of the air bursting started spreading in the room, while the man appeared near one of the soldiers and his fist with a ring on it was already punching towards the head.
0.3 seconds passed.
*Crack*
First, the head has cracked under the force, but due to the amount of the force, the pressure was building up inside the skull and soon it just...
0.4 seconds passed.
*Crunch**Boom*
Pressure not finding a proper exit started going outside the skull, pulverizing everything standing in its way and turning hardest bones into small shards. And upon meeting air, pressure, as well as the force that was creating it ripped air apart creating a booming sound akin to bomb exploding.
But unfortunately for the soldiers, Bearer of the Strength Ring was moving faster than sound at that moment.
1 second passed
*Boom**Crunch**Crash**Crack*
The second soldier got a punch in his heart and despite his armor absorbing most of the kinetic energy, momentum of the punch pulverized everything in the left part of his chest. Moreover, he was already flying in the direction of the said momentum.
Third one, got a straight jab at the neck, instantly decapitating him.
The fourth one was still in the air from the blow to his groin, which also turned the spine into an incomplete puzzle.
And the final fifth soldier was held by the neck and slowly lifted up.
Then Cheng Jian in perfect English asked:
"Who the heck are you and what you are doing on Chinese turf?"
He was sure these people were outside of China. After all, everyone in China with half-a-brain wouldn't mess with the "Immortal Dragon" of Shanghai.