Chapter 285: The Next Plan

"Everything is according to his plan. At first, he only gave us the general plan because we lacked information about many factors. Even so, when there were a few days left, he suddenly approached as, giving a few specific plans," said Jose.

She was in the middle of an interview with the press right now, answering everything regarding Kai's promotion.

"Indeed. At first, we asked him to be our strategist, but I believe his contribution alone is far above the Marshal, Ria Ross. I can assure you that is true with my reputation. Of course, we need to take into account that his achievement can't really be shown to the public. That's why we agreed to let him get Lieutenant Colonel Rank instead of a star."

She had been talking for like an hour, explaining Kai's plan and achievements on the battlefield. Although most of them couldn't be proved, she still maintained her professionalism and respect for Kai.

The planning stages… The sudden turns of events… Nothing could actually be proved to the media, except the dead bodies of a spider, a dolphin, a sea urchin, and a marlin fish. That was why Kai could only skip the Major Rank.

As for the ceremony, it was still discussed whether they would have one or not.

Meanwhile, just like how Jose was busy with this talk, another person had her hand full of talking.

She was Ria. Since she took the responsibility, Ria explained everything about the battle and the suspicion about spies to Bryan.

Bryan decided to follow her plan.

After that, Ria finally brought another matter to the table.

"Mr. President… I have a suggestion about the next progress of Kai and his Lion Group." Ria Ross's expression turned serious.

"Oh?" President Brent narrowed his eyes. "Please tell me."

"At first, I was only thinking about Kai himself and never looked at anything about his group. I thought it would be fine if he could grow. However, the previous battle proved me wrong." Ria paused for a moment. "There is a limit for a single person, so I believe we need to increase the power of his teammates as well."

"Then what is your suggestion? They are going to have a break soon, right?"

"Yeah. But I believe they still have two months before the break, so I am planning to give two missions for them…"

"Two missions?"

"Yes. The weakest link of the group is, without a doubt, Evan Young. I know that his ability is more leaned to healing ability, but even a healer needs to know how to fight. That's why I am going to pair him up with Isabelle to go for a separate mission."

"Isabelle Fisher?"

"Yes. Their relationship aside, Isabelle Fisher has the ability to fight in close-quarter combat while having the reputation of our top sniper. If there are only two of them in a group, Evan Young can only take the vanguard, especially with his affection for that girl.

"With this pressure, Evan Young can grow even faster. This has a quite high risk, so I am suggesting for us to ask his opinion first. If he agrees, he will have the mission. If he is not, I think I will let Kai do anything he wants."

Even though Ria said she let Kai do whatever he wants, it wasn't because Ria trusted Kai. She simply lost hope in Evan because he had no desire to improve. He would become too big of a burden sooner or later, so it would be better to leave him at this moment. The protectors would surely target him in the future.

It sounded heartless, but she just couldn't bear it if anything happened to Kai in the future.

"I can understand your concern, but aren't you slightly paranoid?"

"Are you going to underestimate the protectors? I am sure you have read the report yourself. Although their strength is not comparable to that of the previous generation, they are still stronger than me. At the very least, we need a few elites to fight them." Ria narrowed her eyes.

"Still, how will that kid fight?" Brent tilted his head in confusion. "His water has a healing ability. Even if he throws high-pressure water toward his enemy, they will be healed instead of getting pushed back. That's why I am hesitating."

"He has been learning about hand to hand combat from my student. From what I can see, we can provide one of the exoskeletons to him. I know this cost a lot, but if we are losing against the protectors in the future, the price is too much for us to bear." Ria shook her head and sighed.

"I can understand your concern… Still, I think hand to hand combat is too useless to fight magical beasts, no?"

"I don't think so. It will entirely depend on their strength. On one hand, he could heal himself while fighting the monster. On the other hand, he seems to be practicing another thing…"

"Are you talking about Mystic? The new concept of magic that actually bends the characteristics of an object instead of summoning it like magic?"

"I think Mystic is real." Ria nodded. "Just like you said, magic is the one summoning something from the air. But Mystic is the one that upgraded them. You should know that I have majored in many subjects, including medicine, right?"

"Yes."

"Too much of medicine will also kill you." Ria smirked.

Brent blinked his eyes a few times, wondering if he just heard it wrong. However, looking at Ria's confident smile, he knew it was real. "Do you mean…"

"Yes. If Evan can't change his water to another property, he can simply control the dosage. If he can create a super medicine that becomes a poison instead, I believe he can fight toe to toe against Kai and the others."

"Poison huh… Now that you mention it, there is an S rank magician from EU Base that is specialized in poison, right?" Brent asked.

"Yes."

"How about we ask her to train Evan?"

"President, are you serious?"

"Although she looks ominous by having a title such as poison master, I have met her a few times. In fact, she is very gentle, unlike her title."

"But how do you even plan to negotiate it with the EU Base?"

"Well, I want him to learn the art of medicine from the Katsuragi Family from United Asia, but your precious Kai has friction with them, so I rather choose her. He might become a hostage instead if I send him there. That's why Poison Master is the way. Knowing about poison means she needs to know about medicine herself to encounter the poison. As for the negotiation…" Brent thought for a few minutes.

Ria waited patiently until ten minutes later, and Brent finally got an answer.

"We will use that Sofia Campbell."

"Are you going to use the person herself? Or…"

"Of course, taking advantage of her. If I am asking her, we will be in debt. Since she has sent the information to the EU base regarding Rapakha, I will use that as a negotiation piece.

"Gobekli Tepe… It was said to be the first site for the protector to overthrow the world… If I send Kai there to assist the investigation, I believe we can come to an agreement.

"Kai and his group along with Isabelle will go to Turkey to investigate that place. I will let the EU Base to send their elites with Sofia Campbell as the leader. Of course, there will be a few more soldiers in charge of protecting them from afar because that place is still filled with magical beasts.

"They are dying to know about the protector themselves because they have been hit by them a few times, albeit they have yet to get attacked by the protector themselves as we do.

"This knowledge and information will be very useful to them, and I think it's best to share them. That's why this plan is a win-win situation for us… Just a bit dangerous."

Ria looked down and fell into deep thought. "If that were the case, we should train Isabelle's group as well. I will ask a few people to train them, so they can keep up with the Lion group's and Isabelle's progress."

"Yes." He nodded. "Since you are going to solve that matter, I will handle the negotiation. I will try to raise our cards as much as possible to ensure your student safety…"

"Yeah. I will be leaving it to you." Ria nodded.

"Haiz…" Brent let out a long sigh as he finally relaxed a bit. "When do you think it's best to send them there?"

"They are going to have a holiday from January to March, so I think we can send them in April. In November and December, we can train them by using the missions, while the three months holiday can be used as personal training. What do you think?"

"Since I have that much time, I surely can get the best term in this negotiation." Brent felt more confident as he assured Ria.

"That's all I want to talk about. The details of the missions in November and December will be decided by me, and I will send you the details later." Ria rose from the seat and turned toward the door.

"One more thing before you go."

Ria stopped and glanced at him again.

"If you encounter any spies, kill them no matter who they are."

"If it's not related to Kai's happiness, I will kill them," Ria answered in a roundabout way. This meant that as long as they were related to Kai one way or another, she wouldn't act at all to the point she wouldn't even report.

"That sounds like you." Brent smiled and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the door closing.