Chapter 11 The Persian Tigers

• Clark woke up the next day feeling great. He dreamt of food during the night, the type that turns heads. He saw himself as an emperor as his maidservants served him lots of fruits, meats, snacks, and beverages.
• After waking up, he was disappointed as he didn’t see any luxurious palace, no maidservants, but the now-familiar handmade small rocky cave he made with his friend.
• “Oh man, my life’s a complete disappointment,” he thought in resignation.
• "I wish I could be an emperor forever.” Most of his dreams always feel kind of blurry when he wakes up, but he still remembers the most essential parts.
• Since he was small, that was how he always had dreams on intervals. You know, sometimes, what you think and want is what you see in your dreams. It is backed by science, that you only dream of what you have seen once or you have imagined.
• So, if you imagine a lot, you’ll surely dream a lot. He fell into this category of avid imaginers, so dreams pop out like beans to him during his sleep time.
• He stood up, suddenly feeling very hungry, “where is Leo? Shit, we didn’t eat before sleeping, no wonder I’m feeling dizzy. No…, we ate meat,” he thought, as he crooked his head to the side.
• “Hmmm, I guess eating meat is not proper food,” he grumbled.
• He touched his head as he still saw blood flowing from his cheek. “This ruthless leopard exobeast, I’m going to eat your meat today,” he said with indignation as he still felt bad for his slightly disfigured face.
• He comforted himself to help endure the pain and shame. “All you could do was give me a facial scar. Hahaha, I killed you in return piece of shit, and I’m going to eat you.” He soliloquized while moving to the cave entrance.
• He immediately stormed outside as he smelled the scent of roasted meat. “Oh, Clark you are already awake?” Leo asked.
• “No, Leo, I’m waiting for you. Can’t you see that I’m still sleeping”, Clark retorted immediately.
• Leo laughed off the comment, as he invited his friend to eat. Yesterday when they washed with water, they also treated their injuries with an herb they recognized on the way.
• After seating down, Clark directly asked, “which of this meat is from the leopard?”. His friend casually pointed at a lump of meat already roasted by the side.
• He grinned as he picked up the meat. He immediately started stuffing himself full of meat.
• After the eating session, they rested casually on a smooth rock surface, while conveniently tapping vitamin D from the sun. They brushed their teeth casually with chewing sticks which they cut from a nearby tree.
• Due to their injuries, they were clearly not fit enough to hunt other exobeasts for now. So they conveniently killed the augmented animals around for meat and as training targets.
• Their schedule became rest, hunt, eat, sleep, wake up and repeat the sequence. It felt like they were on a vacation instead of a life-threatening training program.
• They slowly polished their skills, as they grew further in strength and experience. This training was slowly building them both into qualified Spartan soldiers.
• As they followed their routine, they sometimes talked about the advanced technology part of their training during their leisure time which would be the final training that they’ll have to go through.
• This final training will task them to infiltrate the local terrorist organization which opposes the Spartan republic. The terrorist organization who called themselves the Persian Tigers, believe in the ludicrous ideology that Sparta, the big 5, and all other countries are tyrants.
• They believe that they make use of soldiers as their cannon fodders, that the leaders sit in their luxurious offices while they, the soldiers kill each other for them. Their reasoning was sound, but the argument was ridiculous.
• Everyone knows that the big 5 are tyrants. But in this age, where strength speaks better than words and reason, that’s just a load of crap.
• According to Clark’s dad, actions speak louder than words. This phrase is the best to describe this era. The phrase would be more perfect if actions can be changed to fists.
• The government makes use of soldiers, yes, we know. If you don’t want to be cannon fodder, work hard. Be a general, be a commander, and the reverse will be the case.
• The leaders of this terrorist organization brainwash the citizens of Sparta with this ideology to get members, in the fake promise of fighting for their freedom.
• They named themselves Persian tigers as a taunt to the Spartan government that they are Persians, that they will overwhelm them the way the Persians overwhelmed the 300 Spartan warriors in history.
• They've always been a pain in the ass to the Spartan government, as they steal prospective soldiers from them on a yearly basis. Even going as far as working together with the Mocan military at times to attack the Sparta republic.
• But they spread their hypocritic ideology only here in the Spartan republic, as they know that expanding from the republic now is biting more than they can chew. All the talks about the big 5 and the world being tyrants, they wisely keep it to themselves here in Spartan territory.
• They don’t have one specific base as they frequently move from one place to another, always evading the Spartan military’s surveillance. The military gets lucky at times, meeting one of their main camps. When they meet the terrorists, a bloody fight always erupts as their brainwashed soldiers do not listen to reason.
• The cadet's final training every batch is to infiltrate a temporary Persian tigers side camp and kill as many terrorists as possible, the terrorists are all valued in points.
• A regular terrorist is worth 10 points, while a squad leader is worth 50 points. The cadet who is strong, skilled, and lucky enough to kill the overall leader of that base gets 100 points.
• Both friends discussed with anticipation and dread, as then they would finally be allowed to use standard military ammunition, armor, etc- during the last training. Leo talked in excitement as Clark replied, sometimes continuing from where his friend stopped.
• After arming themselves and checking their things, they finally left in the morning as they entered another phase in their journey of exobeast hunting.