Chapter 272: operation conspiracy of the elites

Clark was now feeling confused again. Why was this old man’s every word just weird terms? Why was King acting so differently now? What the hell was an elite-grade soldier, and what was a chosen one?

“Don’t tell me that this is an illusion too?” He felt a bad premonition.

The old man chuckled before standing up. “This is no illusion, Clark. Follow me, you have a lot to learn today”.

“Umm…, yes sir”.

As Clark followed the old man, he finally started observing his surrounding a bit. This place was a cave, a pretty primitive one also but he could see that it was slightly altered to be cleaner.

A notable fact that he observed was that as soon as he jumped up from the bed that he was originally sleeping on, the bed disappeared. It was baffling but not impossible, so he was still calm.

The cave seemed larger than he imagined as they walked forward a few hundred meters before stopping.

After taking some turns here and there, they finally arrived at a part of the cave that was altered to look like a modern-day sitting room.

Most of the things that were usually in modern-day sitting rooms were present, but only one chair was present. It was a huge chair that stood proudly in the middle of the cave sitting room.

The old man smoothly climbed the chair before casually sitting down.

Then, click!

Clark felt it immediately, there was a change in the man’s demeanor. Whereas he previously viewed the man as an old fisherman and retired soldier, he now saw him as an unfathomably terrifying hidden expert.

The change was extremely drastic.

The aura surrounding the old man now felt deep and boundless. He exuded a mysterious vibe that gave Clark chills, the old man’s white beards suddenly seemed longer and sharper to him, just like javelins.

He gulped involuntarily and used his right hand to pinch his skin.

“Where did you get the tattoo, and when?” The old man finally threw out a question.

Clark rapidly delved into the question, trying to deduce its answer but he could not. He hesitated, “Which tattoo?”

“The one on your backside”.

“…”

Clark felt blacklines fill his face immediately, but he still tried to keep himself calm. He finally knew why King helped him so much, he felt embarrassed, confused, and relieved at the same time.

“So it was actually because of that damned tattoo!” Cursing softly, he quickly organized his thoughts to prepare an answer.

“Sir, I don’t really know how I got it but I have a guess”. He carefully eyed the old man. Getting no extreme reaction, he heaved a sigh of relief and continued.

“I was once captured and forced to become a gladiator who fought in a gladiator tournament organized by the Seafarers Alliance”.

“During the tournament, just before my last battle, an old man visited me mysteriously. He had a lot of similarities to you, like the vibe exuded and the sharp beard, *cough*!”

Clark quickly corrected himself. “All I meant is that he had a lot of similarities to you. I didn’t know if he was the one who gave me the tattoo, but that’s my best guess”.

“Arnold…, I see!” The old man sighed.

Though Clark wanted to ask who Arnold was, he was wise enough to rein in his curiosity before such a person that gave him so much pressure. He was practically sweating imaginary waterfalls now.

The old man’s face grew sharp. “Clark, I know that you have a lot of questions, you can ask them all now”.

Clark kept quiet at first. After repeatedly confirming that this was not a trick that would lead to his death, he finally asked cautiously.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Titus, formerly known as Elite Commander Titus. I’m a retired soldier”. The old man answered quickly.

“Oh!” Clark was caught off guard for a moment as he didn’t expect his question to be answered so quickly. This boosted his courage a bit.

“I don’t know if this is right, I’m sorry. Forgive me, but I want to know how old you are”.

Seeing the expression on the old man’s face, Clark regretted his decision immediately. He felt like pissing his pants as his brain cooked up dozens of conspiracy theories.

“No need to be so nervous, Thunder asked the same question first when he finally came of age. I’m 175 years old”.

Bam!

Clark almost broke his head as his legs slipped up, dropping him ruthlessly in a moment of disbelief and shock. He was still shocked; his mind was too occupied to think of the pain from the fall.

“175 years. Oh, God! Who am I talking with, a wizard?”

“Your next question kid, I don’t have all day”.

“Ah, sorry, I’m sorry sir”. Clark quickly composed himself.

“Please, can I know what an elite-grade soldier is? And the chosen one also, I want to know what it is?”

“Good, you’re finally asking the meaningful questions”.

An impartation session began immediately as the old man adjusted himself on his chair before revealing secrets that Clark’s small brain found hard to comprehend and believe.

In the end, he was left completely stunned and numb.

He was sure that the information that he just learned if they were true, had the potential of warping his perception of the world as a whole.

According to the old man, there was actually another hidden rank after the widely known high-grade soldier rank and only a few soldiers have ever stepped into this mysterious rank.

The Elite-grade realm was the current limit of humanity’s soldiers.

According to the old man, he was a prodigy who came from the same era as the famed Helix the Conqueror.

According to him, Helix the Conqueror was not the first soldier that broke through the high-grade soldier realm but a soldier named Achilles.

When the big 5 came to power, they purposely distorted the truth to increase the prestige of their soldiers. No one could refute them; they were the leaders Afterall.

Achilles- The Greek Destroyer, was widely acknowledged by every soldier and country as the strongest and most talented soldier in the era of exotics and technology.

His legendary deeds are unsurpassed in this era.

The old man skipped a lot of details but according to him, all elite-grade soldiers that were not from the big 5 organizations were all in hiding.

According to him, after the appearance of the alien that changed humanity’s perception of the world, exotics were not the only thing that was discovered due to this sudden appearance.

Humanity discovered something terrifying in space, something horrifying, something that could destroy the human race as a whole if care was not taken.

This was what actually led to the great battle of supremacy, not just greed for the miraculous properties of exotics.

Due to the fear brought about by this discovery, human leaders were driven to desperation. After the great battle to unify earth which failed woefully, the new order of the big 5 was finally established.

As soon as the winners of the great battle emerged, a worldwide hunt for elite-grade soldiers and the primordial exobeasts began.

This was what prompted these terrifying individuals to go into hiding. The old man said he already crossed swords with Helix countless times due to the unrelenting hunt of the big 5.

Elite-grade soldiers were not immortals. In this decades-long hunt, some of them succumbed and were either captured or died to the blades of the big 5.

To protect themselves, the Elites finally formed an alliance.

They knew that the current development trajectory of the world had an ultimate destination of destruction, so they aimed to change the world and create a new normal.

After banding together to create an alliance with Achilles as the one and only leader, they finally announced an operation to fight the big 5.

>Operation Conspiracy of the Elites>

The fight was already on for decades unknowing to most low-grade and middle-grade countries, only strong middle-grade countries and higher knew of this mind-blowing secret.

According to the old man, increased strength was not the only feature of elite-grade soldiers.

According to him, all elite-grade soldiers unlock a special ability after they break through the great divide of the Elites. This was another abnormality that humans have not been able to crack its secrets to date.

Arnold was the name of the Elite who scouted Clark out in the Seafarers Alliance’s outer headquarters. He was the seer of the Elites alliance; prophecy was his special unlocked ability.

Clark asked for the old man’s special unlocked ability but the old geezer politely refused to say it.

According to him, Clark was discovered by Arnold through a gadget that they created- the Elite talent detection device.

The device would only send a signal when it detected a soldier with the potential to become an elite-grade soldier in the future.

The one thing that Arnold didn’t expect was to meet the chosen one from his prophecies in the process.

As the seer of the alliance, Arnold once had a prophesy that an Elite-grade soldier will arise who will become the new leader of the alliance, and who will lead them to victory.

The tattoo on Clark’s backside was the alliance’s tattoo of respect, only to be held by elite-grade soldiers and the chosen one.

From the prophecy, Arnold told the alliance that if the chosen one is found, he should be left alone to grow to the stage of Sublimation. That is when an Elite is needed to mentor him.

And Clark was now in the Sublimation stage.

According to the old man, that was why he was unable to break through in the research base. Without sublimation, the chosen one had no hope of breaking his bottleneck.

Now, as the Elite who found Clark during his period of Sublimation, Elite Commander Titus was ready to take him in as his student to help him through his sublimation.

After everything was said, Clark fell into a shocked, hollow, eerie, and goosebumps-inducing silence.

His brain was in overdrive, working rapidly with his implant as he tried to compare what he just learned with what he knew before to gauge the truth in this mind-blowing information.

His perception underwent a huge change inwardly. He felt like scales just fell from his eyes, scales that were blocking his sight and preventing him from knowing the truth of the world before.

He felt afraid, curious, and excited at the same time.

“I am ready to be your mentor. Now, are you ready to become my student?” The old man finally asked the ultimate question.

King was standing at the side, nervous and excited as he looked at Clark with a burning gaze. “Finally! I’m about to have a junior brother!”

Clark turned to look at him before turning back to look at the old man. “Before I agree, I want to have an accurate understanding of the current circumstances of my friends and companions”.

The old man thought for a second. “Done!”

“Then, thank you, Master”. Clark bowed awkwardly in the teacher greeting Sensei way that he thought was right.

King twitched his lips. “What’s this?”

“Good choice, follow me”. The old man finally stood up.

“And, Thunder, go check up on his friends”.

King already expected it but he still pouted. “Yes, Master”.

As they walked inside the cave, Clark hesitated before asking another question. “How strong are you exactly?”

The old man grinned. “Strong enough to defeat a million you with a snap of my fingers!”

[The great reveal is finally here. I hoped you enjoyed it, thanks for reading.]