THE AGE OF EXOTICS AND TECHNOLOGY.

POWER LEVELS AND WORLD FACTS.

[Power levels of soldiers in the current earth.]

1. High-grade soldier: 1-5

2. Rumored Elite-grade soldier: 1- [Subdivided into 3 proficiency levels for better clarity of the power levels between the elites.]

[Gradings of different countries and organizations according to their military power.]

1. The smallest and weakest countries that barely survived the great battle of supremacy are referred to as countries with low-grade military power or low-grade countries.

2. The next grades are countries and organizations, just like Sparta and the Mocan republic, that survived the great battle with their power and heritage still fairly intact. They are referred to as countries with middle-grade military power or middle-grade countries.

3. The next is referred to as countries with high-grade military power or high-grade countries.

4. The next are very few in the world, but they are the only ones directly below the big 5 in power. They are referred to as countries with super-high-grade military power or super-high-grade countries.

5. The last hegemons who are also the rulers of this era are the big 5. No tyrannical or heaven-defying additions, they are just the big 5.

[Gradings of the various ranks of high-grade soldiers.]

1. 1st rank high-grade soldiers are bestowed with the rank of Sergeant immediately after advancing. This is not their end though, as they can be promoted while still being 1st rank high-grade soldiers to the rank of Staff Sergeant and Sergeant first class.

2. 2nd rank high-grade soldiers are bestowed with the rank of Corporals. They can also be promoted to other sub-military ranks if they achieve any noteworthy feats.

3. 3rd rank high-grade soldiers are the threshold to being a bigshot in this era. They are bestowed with the exalted rank of a Captain, and they can also be promoted to other sub-military ranks.

4. 4th rank high-grade soldiers are bestowed with the rank of Generals. They can also be promoted to other sub-military ranks. Soldiers of this rank are generally among the higher-up leaders of a country, or organization.

5. 5th rank high-grade soldiers are bestowed with the legendary rank of Commander. They have no sub ranks as this is the limit of the soldier rankings. They are the widely acknowledged peak of high-grade individual strength.

Concerning the elite-grade soldier rank. This rank is not known by most individuals and soldiers, not even most countries, as it is a carefully guarded secret of the big 5.

To know about it, soldiers are expected to reach the exalted rank of a Commander before touching this threshold.

[I hope you enjoy reading; this is a long and exciting ride.]

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Ding!! Ding!! Ding!! Clark was startled awake from the familiar ringtone of his military pocket phone. “Ahh, don’t disturb me,” he complained in a grumpy tone, as this just destroyed his sweet sleep experience.

“Wait, what says the time?” He suddenly questioned in alarm, as his consciousness quickly cleared up. His eyes immediately flew wide open, as he stood up to search for the phone.

“Oh, thank God, the time’s still at 5:30 am. I still have 30 minutes before the morning drill,” he exhaled in relief. He went off to wash his face with water before he suddenly recalled.

“Why the hell did the phone ring if there is still time? Oh shit!!” He cursed as he bolted back to his room.

There he saw the phone as he quickly unlocked it, prompting a message notification to be displayed. He opened it reading:

“Good morning cadets, there’s been a change in plans, all cadets will start the advanced technology training today. So be prepared, wake up early, and freshen up for this new phase of training. Good luck, from Captain Spoky.”

“What!!?” He questioned loudly while jumping up.

“We are starting the advanced training today? Oh my God, that’s awesome”. He exclaimed in surprise, as he directly entered a completely giddy mood.

He rushed to dress up, as he reminisced inwardly on the lessons that he learned about the advanced technology training. All cadets looked up to when the training commences, as it meant that graduation day is nearby.

And because of the rumors spreading about how the government provides some of their machinery, elite armor clothing, guns, and other ammunitions for the cadets, it was even more attractive.

Rumors even talk of the provision of the legendary stealth armor that was used in the assassination of the former Aragan president to the best cadet, after points are calculated.

Araga is the largest, most populated, strongest, and most prosperous country in the world at the moment. His country, tsk tsk, is just a small country at the corner of the world here with slightly middle-grade military strength.

Sparta, yes, that’s the name of his country, it was named after the ancient Greek civilization. Sparta is among the lower-ranked countries, in terms of military power and technological development.

This is the 22nd century, the age of exotics and technology. Technology is at its peak in humanity at the moment, quoted a famous professor from his country’s military. At this age, there’s nothing like going to school, only virtual learning.

Technology has advanced to the state where all children are augmented with implants to boost strength, intelligence, and other attributes, as well as to access the internet through their implants.

These augments are now compulsory in every country, that from the age of 10, every child is expected to be augmented and to learn everything that he/she needs through the implant online for a period of 5 years.

Then as from the age of 15, most children are allowed to focus on any profession they want. But 95% of parents push their children to the military, to help build their country’s strength by becoming soldiers.

This is kind of like the primitive ages where strength speaks. But in this case, military strength and technology speak.

Through the combination of exotics and technology, advanced military and medical techs have been produced to the extent of treatment being made available for life prolongment.

Law and order are in the hands of the new superpowers, the 5 biggest organizations in the world.

The Mercenary alliance, The Apocalypse military organization, The Sea Farers alliance, Oakland, and Araga are the rulers of this era. Araga is widely known as the strongest force with the most territory.

Araga and Oakland are the only 2 superpower countries. The 5 superpowers always fight and restrain themselves for exotics, to gain more technology to enable them to be the strongest power in the world.

This tug of war has not yielded any significant impact for decades, as the big 5 are mostly evenly matched in terms of military strength. Even if one was superior, the margin was too small to make a significant impact.

This even concentration of power led to the suppression of all other lower countries and organizations for years after the great battle, which brought the law of fight for survival.

Invasion between lower countries is a must, because of the low concentration of exotics and resources left by the big 5 being too low to serve the needs of all other powers.

The suppression by the big 5 led to a lot of resentment, but at this age, only the ones with the biggest fist get to speak. Clark came from a relatively average family, with both his parents dead. They both died on the battlefield.

The dream of every country in this era is to get a soldier who is exceptional enough to be recognized by the big 5. This indirectly led to a sharp increase in the number of people becoming soldiers, in the last few decades.

If a soldier is picked from a country by any of the big 5, that country will immediately undergo vigorous changes for the better as they can lean on that superpower.

Every other occupation is no longer as attractive, as only soldiers are better paid and treated, especially the exceptional ones.

In his cadet training base, Clark was not the best but he was definitely among the better ones. He had to make mama proud in heaven by joining a superpower, that was the dream of every soldier.

By this time, he already had his bath and was set as he quickly got ready to go.

“Clark!! Clark!!”

An exceptionally loud voice suddenly started yelling his name, startling him and almost making his thought process go haywire from the noise.

“Ahh, who is that?” He suppressed his irritation and ran to the door, fully dressed in the standard Spartan cadet uniform and boots.

“Clark Pendragon, where are you? Shit, this fool will make me late again,” Leonard grumbled.

Leonard is Clark’s friend from camp, both of them are 18 years old. They met on camp 3 years ago and they flowed together well personality-wise, hence their friendship.

“Oh, it’s Leonard the drunken hands. I’m coming”. Clark replied sarcastically in a lazy tone, as he quickly identified his friend’s voice.

“My name is Leonard Bane. Clark, try me this morning and you will get your fair share of pummeling.” Leonard retorted with a dark face.

Leonard is fair-skinned, slightly too muscular for a boy his age unlike Clark, who is slightly dark-skinned and has a mild athletic build. Both of them are of the same height, as they face each other stone-faced after Clark opened the door.

The tension built as they just stood there before Clark burst out laughing and bonked his friend on the head.

“I’m ready bro, let’s go for training before 6:00 am knocks. Or do you want to earn the captain’s ire?” He asked, as he slightly raised his brows to form a nefarious curve.

“No, Penrabbit”. Leonard replied as he tried keeping a poker face, but he failed miserably as he immediately laughed the next second, before gesturing for them to go.

[Thank you for reading my book I really appreciate it. Please if there is any problem with the translation quality or there is any wrong spelling or sentence, indicate I'll try to fix it immediately. This is my first book, I hope the first chapter did not disappoint. Cheer me up.]