Chapter 297: Uhtred’s Puzzling Move

White Raven’s words sent a jolt of pleasant shock through Uhtred and everyone else present...

An Ancient Variant outpost... and not just any kind, but a major Ancient Variant outpost, the first that anyone would have found in Zone 2.

Even if that was the only thing White Raven was able to salvage from her scry into the Prime Sapien’s mind, then it was more than worth it. It was the first real step in progressing the Global Quest set by the System, pitting them against the Ancient Variants.

For a while now, the modern human side had been faced with a lull, only fighting against the stray Variants still roaming around in Zone 1. All their efforts to find any information about outposts in Zone 2 had been futile... until now.

But it turned out that wasn’t even the only thing White Raven had learned from her scry...

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Days later. Just one more day until the end of the two-week Tower break...

Uhtred had arranged something like a conference, inviting major and minor powerhouses to the Capitol of the Elite.

On one hand, it served to settle all the various parties trying to meet with him for various reasons. He could just meet them all at once.

And on the other hand — and more importantly — he had set up this conference for a very specific reason.

Right after White Raven had spoken those words back in the secure facility, she had also revealed something else that she learned from her scry:

Among human ascenders, the Ancient Variants had already begun to spread their roots. The same way Stormcaller had been brought to their side, several other ascenders had also been turned.

White Raven hadn’t been able to scry any deeper information than that. She didn’t know who they were or where they were — perhaps if she hadn’t suffered a backlash, she might’ve been able to scry deeper.

But all she was able to glean with certainty was that, of all the ascenders turned to the Ancient Variants’ side, there was none that gave the Prime Sapien — their now-dead prisoner — any feeling of promise to the level of Stormcaller.

Simply put, White Raven hadn’t been able to gain concrete information besides a general feeling from the Prime Sapien, but that feeling was able to tell them something very clear:

The remaining traitors were definitely lower-leveled than Stormcaller. Most likely far lower-leveled, too.

That was the only case where the Prime Sapien wouldn’t have felt any sense of promise or potential from them.

Uhtred had pondered what to do with both pieces of new information.

For the matter of the Ancient Variant outpost, he knew there wasn’t enough time to launch an attack on such a major outpost. There needed to be scouting missions to understand the strength of the outpost before anything could be done. Then there was planning. Linking up with trusted allies. A joint operation...

This wasn’t like Zone 1 where their Ancient Variant foes were mostly of the Mortal Realm. Here, Nascent Realm powerhouses were rife.

Even with Uhtred, Zara, Diya, and other top-ten or top-twenty ascenders present, victory still wasn’t assured.

Not to mention, there were already traitors among the ranks of modern humans. That was a more pressing issue that needed to be resolved; hence, Uhtred’s move to call for this conference.

The New World Government, as usual, had been quick to release news reports of Stormcaller’s takedown and his defection to the Ancient Variant side. They had his body in custody, so they used it as a clear warning to dissuade any other ascender from even entertaining the thought.

Tactfully, though, they hadn’t mentioned anything about the Prime Sapien — which was actually a sound decision that even Uhtred appreciated.

But now, Uhtred had flipped the script.

With the Capitol of the Elite’s meager reach in global media, he revealed the rest of what had happened back at Stormcaller’s Lightning Kingdom, and also revealed that the Prime Sapien in question was in his custody, dead.

He also revealed that before the Prime Sapien died, findings had been made regarding the body — findings that he felt the need to share with every major, mid, and even low-tier force.

"Bolstering the human side against Prime Sapiens by making every piece of information free-flowing and transparent," he called it. But every major faction knew there was something more at play. Uhtred had denied having the Prime Sapien in custody, only to reveal him now?

The New World Government was the most suspicious of this. Uhtred knew Golden Eagle Vance would have a few words to say when they next met, but he wasn’t concerned about that.

Instead, his focus was on how the rest of the world would take his announcement — particularly the ascenders who had defected to the Ancient Variant side.

They would definitely also be suspicious. But at the same time, they would be deeply curious.

The Ancient Variants and Prime Sapiens behind them would try to decipher his motive for the conference, but Uhtred was certain they would all end up drawing blank conclusions.

From their perspective, the Prime Sapien Uhtred captured could not reveal anything significant. He had a fail-safe measure, one that made it certain he wouldn’t be able to speak about anything.

The only information Uhtred could have were physical findings — things that the Queen of Death, Diya, likely found out from the Prime Sapien’s body.

Still, that was enough to make them curious. They would still want to know exactly what Uhtred had found out.

And Uhtred was banking on that curiosity.

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Back in the present. Golden Eagle Vance’s POV...

"What exactly is Uhtred’s play here?" Golden Eagle Vance muttered to the agents walking behind him, making up the New World Government entourage.

They had just arrived at the Capitol of the Elite, only to be met with a slightly different-looking city.

Golden Eagle Vance had never been here himself, but he already had a clear understanding of the city’s general layout. The New World Government sent delegations here frequently. And even besides that, covert spies were already embedded within the city.

It had been a hassle, especially with how stringent that Money-grubbing Demon, Dennis, was with screening potential ascenders. But the New World Government now had no less than five ascenders within the Capitol of the Elite.

Those embedded spies, along with the openly known delegations that traveled here frequently, had made him aware that the building he was currently looking at hadn’t been here just days ago.

Golden Eagle Vance looked up at that building again. Right at the center of the sprawling city, where the tallest buildings of the Capitol were positioned, a vast, lavish, open-air conference hall had been constructed.

There, powerhouses from all across the planet could be seen. Ascenders whom Golden Eagle Vance had already met — people like Jolene Okafor, Golden Finger Chen, Isolde Castiglione... Even the two reclusive monks, Quiet Daoist of the Kunlun Mountain and Daofarer of the Southern Air Temple, were present.

Not only them, but also people whom Golden Eagle Vance hadn’t previously met. Ascenders he only knew from broad reports and seeing their names on the Global Rankings — Koffi Mensah of the Sankofa Peaks, a calm, collected chocolate-skinned young man reeking of composed power... Or someone like the wild, red-headed Lord of Flames of Hellfire Country...