"Lieutenant Colonel Umar Farouq?"
Colonel Garfield nodded. "He’s a D Rank Gene Augur and he’s a rcenary that’s unaffiliated to no one, he’s a freedom fighter".
The Colonel smiled. "To , he’s the closest thing to the Ren Nora from 131 years ago before he beca the ’Glitch’."
"He’s afraid of no one".
"The only thing that motivates him to take on a mission is his moral code. So long a mission aligns with his moral code, he’s the type of guy to damn the consequences and do his best to see the mission to its completion".
"He’s ready to walk through fire just to complete a mission".
"And just like , he’s an Ascended at the peak of D Rank and also just like , he dares not attempt the C Rank Trial because of the C Rank suppression by the major factions of the world".
"But still, he’s fearless".
Leon nodded in deep thought, then he ordered. "Davis, show a character profile of this Lieutenant Colonel Farouq".
DING!
"Yes master!"
A virtual projection imdiately appeared in front of him showing the character profile of the rcenary that Garfield recomnded.
[Image=]
[Rank=]
[Class=]
[Description=]
Despite the fact that it was a virtual projection, the first character trait that Leon saw imdiately was that the man was huge.
He looked like a Giant.
And unlike most Geneforms that he already t in this era of Neo-Tokara, this was a black man!
The man in the image was dressed in a military-style gear- a brown camouflage uniform along with a tactical vest that had multiple pouches for carrying equipnt and ammunition.
He wore a black durag and black gloves, with a calm but subtly intimidating look on his face, and he was holding a Rifle in a relaxed and confident stance.
His posture and facial expression suggested absolute confidence and pride.
Leon wasn’t surprised. Afterall, this was a man that was crazy enough to openly hate and fight the Federation Army as a lone rcenary.
Leon looked at Colonel Garfield. "He’s black?"
The Colonel nodded. "Umar Farouq believes that he has the genes of humans from a continent before Genesis that was called Africa".
"I’ve worked covertly with him multiple tis over the years".
"He was once an elite field soldier of the Gene Army but when sent out on a mission to hunt terrorists, he and his squad were betrayed as internal rivals within the Gene Army gave the terrorists information of their whereabouts".
"All the soldiers of his squad were slaughtered, only Umar Farouq survived".
"After that, he made his decision to leave the army and be a ghost. And he made it his mission since then to hunt terrorists and the people who gave the intelligence that killed his entire squad".
"That sa night that the tragedy happened, he made a call to his superior, Colonel Bam Bam, telling him of his decision".
"Though the Colonel refused, urging him to return to address the betrayal internally with the Gene Army, Farouq also refused".
"That was 83 years ago".
"All the rival soldiers who sold him out are dead now. These days, he goes on missions sporadically led by his moral code".
"The reason why I said he can help you in your mission is not just because of his strength and his moral code. In the past few years, we’ve confird that Umar Farouq have been actively hunting Bill Zefyr in a bid to kill him and end his Empire".
"But killing Bill Zefyr is not sothing that can be done easily, not even for a veteran of Farouq’s caliber..."
Garfield looked at Leon. "You do know the difficulty of your undertaking, right?"
Leon nodded. "That’s why I’m taking it. If I can manage to kill him, which I will, I will be ready to attempt the C Rank Trial by the end of it".
"Good," Garfield nodded with a smile. "I will help you contact Umar Farouq. Whether he agrees to et your or not is what I don’t know".
"It doesn’t matter," Leon laughed. "If he doesn’t co, I’ll find him and these days, I’m very good at finding people".
"I’ll make him agree to facilitate my mission to help complete it at the fastest possible tiline".
"Also," Leon looked at Ren Nora who had been quiet since. "I’ve thought over all your advice already and I’ve planned my next course of actions".
"After creating a team to tail Bill Zefyr and help gather detailed information about him, I won’t join them in a bid to avoid stumbling onto the desperate Sylvari," he grinned.
"While my team will be working on tailing Bill Zefyr, I intend to go to the North".
Ren Nora finally reacted as he looked at him. "You want to get more blueprints?"
"Yes," Leon nodded. "I also want to et more high-ranking chanists, and from what I know 90% of them are based in the North".
"I want to have more than enough combat and knowledge exchanges with fellow Ascended of the sa Class as mine".
Ren Nora’s erald eyes flickered slightly, then he advised. "Ascended of the chanist Class, especially those in the Synth Order can be a bit arrogant. You have to be careful".
"Oh, I will," Leon smiled. "I know how to handle arrogant people".
Ren Nora didn’t avert his gaze yet as he smiled slightly. "I hacked into your past while we were in Garfield’s ho, and I already saw everything I need to know about you".
Leon opened his mouth, clearly flabbergasted. "That’s invasion of privacy!" He imdiately protested.
Ren Nora chuckled. "Well, I found out that you intend to ask for an advanced energy shield blueprint, right? Do you still want it or you want to complain about invading your privacy?"
"..."
Standing by the side, Garfield chuckled. "You have to get used to it. Since getting that crazy ability of his, he’s beco creepier and creepier with every passing year".
"I wonder if he even spies on girls, what a creep".
Ren Nora glared at Garfield who laughed at his reaction.
Leon finally reacted as he looked at Ren Nora with a twinkle in his eye. "Well, if you give a good energy shield blueprint, I can take that as paynt for the invasion of privacy".
"What do you think?" He flashed a big smile.
Ren Nora looked at him and burst out laughing.
...
[Lieutenant Colonel Umar Farouq is a character dedicated to the Nigerian Army Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Umar Farouk who was killed on March 9th, 2026 during a terrorist ambush on his military base in Kukawa, Borno State.]
[This is my own way of honouring his mory.]
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