Malrick Hunt had once been a young soldier at the tail end of World War III. A skilled fighter jet pilot, he had flown countless missions until his aircraft was shot down over the eastern waters of the El Malais Kingdom. Barely surviving the crash, his parachute carried him into the dense jungle below.
Fatigued, wounded, and deprived of water and nutrients, he collapsed into unconsciousness. It was a hidden tribe, deep within the jungle, that found him and saved his life.
During his time with the tribe, Malrick uncovered a secret that would alter the course of his life—and eventually the fate of nations.
He learned why the El Malais Kingdom had remained unconquerable throughout history: the people's dominance and superiority in every field, their ability to maintain stability and strength without aggressive expansion, all stemmed from a rare substance known as Eli's Staff.
Its properties defied conventional understanding, granting extraordinary vitality and latent supernatural potential to those who consumed it. This discovery ignited a vision in Malrick, one that would grow over decades into the foundation of Cadia Corporation.
World War III had erupted following the assassination of the king of Saskia Nation, orchestrated by the neighboring Roku Republic. Civil unrest, spurred by half-truths and propaganda, culminated in citizens unknowingly killing their own monarch. Roku forces capitalized on the chaos, invading Saskia and forcing its allies into concessions under duress.
The conflict quickly escalated, drawing multiple continents and powerful nations into a six-year campaign of devastation.
Among the aggressors was the Otton Empire, a Solivan powerhouse whose formidable air force had already conquered territories across multiple fronts before turning its attention eastward.
The El Malais Kingdom and surrounding nations became embroiled in the deadly struggle, providing a backdrop against which Malrick quietly plotted his rise.
Hidden deep within the jagged peaks of the Botchwick Mountains in the Far West Region of Nappar, Eurysterr Continent, lay one of Cadia Corporation's most secretive facilities.
Hundreds of meters beneath the earth, its labyrinthine corridors, reinforced chambers, and climate-controlled laboratories had remained operational for over sixty years, shielded from prying eyes and natural disasters alike.
Within this underground network, the line between science and the arcane blurred, and research pushed the boundaries of human physiology, biochemistry, and supernatural potential. Few ever knew of its existence, and fewer still would leave it intact.
Above ground, Cadia maintained its polished façade. The conglomerate's influence spanned nearly every continent, encompassing medical networks, research centers, and universities.
It was heralded as a global leader in medicine, chemistry, and technology. Its name adorned hospitals and institutions worldwide, presenting the image of a benevolent corporation advancing human knowledge.
Among its holdings was the private hospital in the El Malais Kingdom where Zachary had remained in a coma for five years—a facility that outwardly epitomized excellence but secretly served as a critical node in Cadia's hidden network of research and monitoring.
Behind this veneer of legitimacy, Cadia's ambitions were far darker. For decades, its hidden laboratories had conducted meticulous research on Malais biology, cataloging genetics, physiology, and unique biochemical responses.
The corporation's obsession was Eli's Secret: the rare substance Malrick had first encountered in the jungle, whose properties transcended conventional medicine.
Private hospitals in El Malais offered the perfect cover for long-term observation, experimentation, and collection of biological samples. Public hospitals were largely ineffective for this purpose; private facilities ensured uninterrupted access and discretion.
Two years prior, one of these clandestine labs achieved a landmark breakthrough: the transformation of Eli's Staff into a supernatural reagent.
This reagent could elevate an ordinary individual into an exceptional entity, granting unmatched strength, speed, intelligence, and vitality, along with a probabilistic effect—the chance to awaken latent supernatural abilities.
By the time of the most recent operations, thirty-one enhanced individuals had been produced, each serving as both experimental asset and field operative.
Approximately two months ago, three of these operatives were dispatched to the El Malais Kingdom on a high-stakes mission: to acquire as many mature units of Eli's Staff as possible.
The operation yielded over seventy units from East Malais alone, with additional quantities secured covertly by sleeper agents embedded throughout towns, cities, and rural districts.
Only the royal coffers remained as repositories for significant unclaimed reserves, heavily guarded and under constant surveillance.
The mission, however, was not without danger. Ekram, leading the team, unexpectedly encountered royal agents deployed outside the standard schedule—a rare occurrence that bypassed Cadia's network of informants.
The confrontation was brief and lethal: every agent was eliminated, their bodies disintegrated by the pyrokinesis ability of one of Ekram's subordinates.
Malrick personally greeted the operatives upon their return, praising their execution and deeming the casualties unavoidable. Future access to Eli's Staff had now been simplified by the mission's decisive success.
Each unit of Eli's Staff could produce three to five flasks of reagent, depending on processing precision. Even a single diluted flask could enhance four individuals, granting them strength, agility, and vitality beyond normal human limits.
Despite being over eighty-five, Malrick maintained the appearance and physical condition of a man in his prime—a result of a strict diet infused with the rare spice.
His headquarters in Javi City, a coastal metropolis along the southern Malais Strait, allowed him to oversee operations personally while remaining close to the source of Eli's Staff. Though slightly removed from the strait's midpoint, Javi City's deep-water ports and trade corridors facilitated covert transportation under the guise of legitimate corporate logistics, including medical supply chains and academic exchanges.
Cadia's internal architecture reflected its dual nature: outwardly a legitimate multinational conglomerate, inwardly a tightly controlled shadow network capable of shaping biology, technology, and global power dynamics.
The Board of Executive Directors managed Cadia's public-facing operations: investments, acquisitions, compliance, and enterprise-wide risk management. Members, drawn from elite financiers, industrialists, and scientific advisors, exercised authority over hospitals, universities, and subsidiaries but remained insulated from classified projects.
Only Malrick and a select cadre of trusted executives had access to the corporation's most sensitive programs.
This deliberate separation limited legal liability, prevented leaks, and maintained plausible deniability. Board members received sanitized reports, unaware of the corporation's most ambitious experiments with Eli's Staff or human enhancement.
Ambitious directors seeking insight into restricted programs were quietly monitored or neutralized through reassignment, inconsequential promotions, or discreet containment.
The board functioned as a façade: publicly powerful, internally constrained, and unknowingly complicit in Cadia's shadowed machinery.
The Medical and Pharmaceutical Division formed both the corporation's backbone and its primary source of classified material. Publicly, it managed hospitals, clinics, biotech firms, and research centers, delivering healthcare to millions worldwide and reinforcing Cadia's reputation as a leader in medicine.
Privately, it supplied biological samples, patient records, and longitudinal data to restricted programs. Clinical trials served dual purposes: advancing legitimate medicine while generating intelligence on human enhancement potential and the effects of experimental compounds, including Eli's Staff derivatives.
The Academic and Research Division served as Cadia's intellectual engine. Publicly, it trained scientists, published research, and advanced knowledge.
Behind the scenes, it identified and recruited exceptional talent for black programs using scholarships, fellowships, and grants.
Research outputs were curated to maintain credibility while secretly supporting human enhancement trials, reagent production, and other restricted programs.
Compartmentalization ensured that institutes remained unaware of broader networks or ultimate project goals.
The Advanced Technology Division developed innovation and infrastructure. Commercially, it produced AI, robotics, cybernetics, and high-performance computing.
Covertly, it maintained surveillance platforms, data aggregation systems, encrypted communications, and containment systems for high-risk experimental materials.
It supported laboratories, field agents, and enhanced operatives, ensuring experiments proceeded safely while preserving plausible deniability.
The Special Projects Directorate bridged public divisions and classified programs. It evaluated projects for feasibility, risk, and strategic value, granting access to specialized resources while compartmentalizing personnel to minimize exposure.
This allowed dual-use programs—legal on the surface, illicit in practice—to operate without compromising the corporation's image.
The Internal Security and Compliance Division maintained secrecy, monitoring employees, contractors, and collaborators. Personnel were trained in intelligence, cyber defense, and tactical operations, empowered to neutralize threats ranging from leaks to industrial espionage.
Automated systems tracked deviations in workflows, sample transfers, and personnel behavior to preemptively mitigate risk.
The Eli Research Authority controlled all matters relating to Eli's Staff and the reagent program.
Knowledge was strictly compartmentalized, with laboratories like Botchwick conducting advanced experimentation on human subjects and biological samples under the guise of medical research.
Scientists manipulated chemical and biological properties, while enhanced operatives ensured safe handling and real-time testing.
The authority centralized all outcomes, anomalies, and procedural refinements, maintaining absolute control over the corporation's most dangerous assets.
The Human Enhancement Program oversaw all individuals subjected to reagent treatments.
Subjects were exhaustively evaluated and tiered according to ability, stability, and potential for supernatural awakening. Enhanced operatives were deployed to missions or controlled testing environments, providing both operational capability and feedback for reagent refinement.
Strict monitoring, redundant containment, and encrypted documentation ensured control over all assets.
The Covert Operations Command executed field objectives, managing missions, sleeper agents, and operational security. Operatives were compartmentalized, informed only of relevant mission details.
High-tier agents engaged in high-risk operations, while others handled surveillance, logistics, and support. Post-mission, evidence was sanitized, and operational narratives carefully controlled to preserve plausible deniability.
The Logistics and Identity Fabrication Network managed covert personnel, material, and information movement.
Shell companies, falsified documentation, and rotating transport routes allowed operatives to operate undetected. Compromised identities were quickly replaced, ensuring the continuity of classified operations.
The Information Control Cell protected Cadia's global image. It monitored media, academic publications, and digital discourse, employing misinformation, legal interventions, and narrative manipulation to suppress threats.
Internally, access to classified knowledge was strictly controlled by clearance level. The cell ensured that Cadia's global reputation remained intact, even as the corporation executed its most dangerous programs.
Through laboratories, field operations, and sleeper networks, Cadia maintained a perfect feedback loop between research and deployment. Every reagent batch, every enhanced operative, and every covert mission informed the next cycle of experiments.
The corporation's machinery moved like clockwork, invisible to the outside world yet capable of reshaping biology, technology, and power in ways no government or rival organization could anticipate.
Malrick Hunt's vision—born from survival in a jungle, nurtured through decades of clandestine operations, and executed with meticulous precision—had transformed a single secret, Eli's Staff, into the foundation of a global powerhouse capable of shaping humanity itself.