Chapter 38: Nearly Complete

Days and nights reversed, time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

During these seven days, Xavier had flown across every continent on the planet, and nearly every formidable life form he discovered met a destructive fate. If he were to go to the underworld, he would surely descend to hell—a thought quite contrary to his original intentions.

It was still that same dried-up riverbed, with the seven huge craters made by the spacecraft still present. Xavier, legs crossed, sat on the white hull of the spacecraft, waiting for a long time, yet no team members gathered.

Under the scorching sun, the air temperature had reached fifty degrees Celsius. He sent a signal to each team member using the communicator and then took refuge alone inside the spacecraft, where the temperature was always constant.

About ten minutes later, all six team members had returned to the riverbed.

Upon their return, they greeted Xavier and then started chattering animatedly. It seemed they had discovered the natives' crude use of energy, especially Belit and Rida, who were flushed and gesticulating animatedly, clearly in high spirits.

Initially, when they had received the intermediate mission, the most nervous had been these two. However, after several days of battle, they had clearly regained their confidence.

"Rida, let me tell you, this time I single-handedly killed many natives with combat strengths up to 800. At least twenty or thirty, heh, Uncle Belit is truly not to be underestimated," boasted the burly Belit, clenching his fists in delight.

The comparatively slender Rida scoffed, "Pfft, you’re satisfied with that? Typical useless Belit... I bet if Atasya hadn't been guarding you, you would’ve been running scared!"

"Who, who said that? I personally killed a native with a combat strength of 850! 850, you hear? Ask Atasya if you don’t believe me," Belit retorted, his face turning red, then turned to Atasya, seeking approval.

Atasya didn’t even look at him but turned her face away.

"Ha ha ha, see, caught you bluffing!" Rida burst into laughter, as if besting Belit was a remarkable achievement.

Belit, not to be outdone, spat disdainfully and retorted bitterly, "Don’t talk about me, you're nothing without Jelin. What’s so great about that? Give me a few more years and I’ll knock you down in minutes."

"Hmph, it’s not the same. My combat strength is on par with Jelin’s, our teamwork is what you call cooperation, while you, you’re just dead weight," Rida proudly declared.

At that moment, Shakda couldn’t stand it any longer. After all, they were acquaintances from the same batch, and their behavior in front of the new captain was simply embarrassing him. With a cold snort, he said in a chilling tone, “Do you think you're impressive behaving like this? Have you no ambition left? Such behavior is a disgrace among Saiyans.”

Belit and Rida fell silent; Shakda's authority had been built up since their training camp days, and they didn’t dare to even breathe heavily once he spoke.

Atasya's eyes shimmered, and she looked at Xavier with her beautiful eyes, "Captain, what’s our next move? Should we wipe out the native tribes here in one fell swoop?"

After pondering for a moment, Xavier said, "Yes, it's clear that the natives of Planet Dadoria haven't mastered the use of energy, which is a significant advantage for us. Even Belit can single-handedly defeat opponents stronger than him under these circumstances. We need to leverage this advantage."

"But why did the mission management define this as an intermediate-level mission? It doesn’t seem to meet the criteria!"

Jelin, a rather quiet and intelligent female Saiyan, usually didn't speak much, but she often pinpointed the crux of any issue.

"Heh, it's easy to understand. The aliens who scout planet levels don’t actually land on the planets themselves; they just use energy detectors from outer space, so of course, they don't know the specific conditions of the planets! That’s why the mission level is set higher than it should be. We just got lucky this time."

Atasya smirked playfully, her girlish charm evident in that moment, but anyone who took her for a typical frail girl would undoubtedly have a memorable encounter with the violent Saiyan nature.

"Xavier, what should we do next?" Celine asked, staring at him.

Resting his chin on his hand, Xavier said, "Currently, we have an absolute advantage. Over the past few days, we've already destroyed most of the isolated natives and small tribes. Next, we face some of the larger tribes, which will be more challenging."

"Let’s do this: Celine and I will form one team, and Shakda, you lead the other five. I want you to destroy all the native tribes on Planet Dadoria within five days!"

Xavier’s voice was icy as he issued the mission directive.

"Yes!"

All the Saiyans accepted the order with serious expressions and then set off towards the areas where the energy detectors indicated large congregations of native tribes.

After Shakda and the other five had departed, Xavier and Celine flew together for a while before splitting up. They had initially paired up only to conceal their true strength; given their capabilities, there was indeed no need for them to act together.

"Celine, head north. There are over three hundred energy signatures gathered there. Oh, and if you need to use more than 1000 in combat strength, it’s best to turn off the detector," Xavier advised with concern before parting.

"Got it!" Celine acknowledged softly, then sped off to the north without looking back.

Watching her disappear, Xavier smiled and then changed direction to head towards his own target.

...

The extermination mission on Planet Dadoria might have seemed challenging, but both Xavier and Shakda were pleasantly surprised once they actually began executing it.

This task wasn’t difficult after all, Xavier thought, a calm smile playing on his lips. He could save a lot of time, no need to waste precious moments on this barren planet.

Saiyan squads operated in such a way that the first mission as a team was coordinated by the mission management, which selected the team members and chose a suitable leader. In subsequent missions, the team leader had a degree of autonomy to choose tasks.

This meant that after completing the mission on Planet Dadoria, Xavier, as the team leader, could choose subsequent missions to suit his needs.

This autonomy wasn’t particularly useful for ordinary Saiyan squads, who might at most adjust the intensity and timing of their missions. After all, every mission involved combat, and Saiyans could simply revel in the thrill of battle. However, Xavier was different; he had his own ambitions and was eager to become a stronger warrior.

Fortunately, he already had several ideas in mind for increasing his strength.