New Game+

Three months before the series of events that led to the Day of Rebellion, one of the most critical meetings in history occurred in the Tatsulok Aguinaldo.

A long table was made ready for them. An array of dishes from Harker's various restaurant was prepared for them.

Greydon Meng sat down on one of the seats. He wore a thick coat of armor that hid every inch of his body. The only part uncovered was the jaws of his mouth. The desolation he released no longer leaked as long as he wore this. Only Typical among the assassins was present.

Richie had a very relaxed expression. The two stomps of his arms were bandaged up. Despite his extremely gruesome form, he still looked like he was enjoying himself. The dishes in front of him would float on the air as Richie whistled and devoured the dishes around him.

Lennox appeared perfectly healthy. He ate like a perfect gentleman and would often wipe the smudges on his face.

Lynd, Meryl, Arthur, and Lowengren also sat among the tables quietly eating.

Harker didn't even sit at the table but simply stood at the sidelines.

"Alright!" Seeker laughed as he called out to everyone.

"It's been a long journey, but we can finally build up our plans to start our research!" Seeker laughed.

"Shouldn't Charles be here?"

"No need. The research that Charles will focus on will still be the Unlocking. This gathering will address one of the other important aspects of how to abuse the Unlocking. I can't believe that we can actually do this! That increases our chances of surviving the future battles greatly!" Seeker laughed excitedly.

"Is the Tyrant Empress listening on this?" Lennox asked.

"Of course. She's listening through a one-way transmitter. I won't want you guys to go all bananas if you hear her voice." Seeker laughed.

"So… I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about! Arthur. Lennox."

"You want to create weapons and perhaps soldiers by harnessing our Unlocking," Arthur answered.

"Exactly! This is one thing that we never had the time do focus on in the future. Most of our resources were poured out on trying to master the Unlocking. But now, not only do we have a Doctor who has become an Unlocked, but we also have you guys. The reason why I wanted to attack Meng was precisely to gather more resources. I knew that if I defeated him, or survived my encounter, apart from getting his science team, I will also draw out Dr. Lennox, here. Although apparently, I didn't know that the Tyrant Empress was on our tail." Seeker laughed.

Lennox simply shook his head. He already had lectured Seeker on what he missed out in his plans and how reckless and wrong it was.

"Anyway, I needed advanced research facilities like yours. Harker's standing after the war will allow him to access more military funds and, thus, create more research! So right now, we will need to discuss the future development of our armies. How will we proceed with the great abundance of research material we now have?"

"I don't understand." Lynd was the first to speak.

"Wouldn't it be impossible to weaponize our Paths? I mean, like Meryl. Even if we take her cells and store them, it can't produce the same light and power that she can. Shouldn't our cells be interlinked with each other for it to work?"

"Actually, it has to be linked with the brain. But there are other ways to weaponize it. I'm sure either of the Humphrey's can shed light on this."

The group turned to Arthur, while the Overcomers turned to Lennox.

"Son?" Lennox turned to Arthur.

"Oh, Snap! The family relationship is restored!" Seeker reacted.

Arthur gave an annoyed glare at Seeker but then turned to the group.

"The best example we can use is Meryl's eyesight. We know because of her Path of Light, she can innately see everything. We've already done several tests, and Meryl's eyesight can simply change form and automatically identify various cloaking techs with her vision."

"I've seen those tests. Isn't it impossible to imitate? Meryl's DNA kept changing. I'm no scientist, but even I know that Pangea does not have the technology to accomplish that. Her eyes just kept changing and changing according to the situation. How can we copy those? And her eyesight is so peculiar that it can see all spectrums of light, all colors, even radiation!"

Meryl blushed at Harker's indirect praise.

"We don't need to copy everything that Meryl can do." Arthur calmly explained.

"We simply copy one specific vision that she has. With my power, I can easily recreate or reverse create it." Lennox added.

"I already finished the tests. Through that, I determined that we have the basic vision that can detect an SPU-level cloaking technology. The weapons that Lynd's parents managed to bring to China has greatly aided my research."

"Where are they?" Richie pondered.

"Training. They… kind of got a little competitive since we surpass them by so much." Lynd sighed.

"So, we can take certain visions from Meryl and apply it to all our soldiers?" Harker confirmed.

"Not all. That would take up a lot of time and resources. At most, we should give a soldier a specific kind of vision. If we have soldiers who can acquire one form of Meryl's many eyesights, we can create specialized soldiers who are Unlocked."

"Exactly! We didn't have time to do this in my future as we had to focus on weapons that can be effectively carried by Unlocked soldiers and fight the enemy that was already there. But now, we have the time and the resources to do so. So for the next few months, I propose all our research to be focused on this. We must take small glimpse and pieces of each of our Paths and find a way to apply it to our soldiers biologically."

"Agreed." Lennox nodded.

Arthur did so, as well.

"How long would it take to copy all the sight skills of the scouts in the Piercing series?" Arthur asked his father.

"That's very rude. Arthur… That's your dad." Seeker frowned.

Arthur glared at Seeker, but Lennox merely smirked and continued to wait for Arthur.

Arthur twitched and finally caved in.

"Fine. I guess I do owe you an apology for blaming you for everything. Father… How long can you copy the Scout's skills? Are you familiar with it?"

"Of course, I'm familiar. Unlike you who cut all ties with me, I paid careful attention and even sponsored several of your matches." Lennox smiled coldly.

Arthur flinched again.

"Anyways… Father…" Arthur emphasized.

"I want the Covenant to be at full capacity. Anything that we can in-game, they have to be able to do it outside. I believe that warfare will change because of this. I propose to follow the builds that are used in games. Tank, DPS, Agility types, and Scouts. If we can master this, then we can be more effective as a team." Arthur summarized.

"Won't this harm or limit the possible Skills or Paths that an Unlocked could create?" Greydon asked.

"Yes. But it's better this way. There were only a handful of Ranked Heroes in my future. This is why, unless someone has shown exceptional growth in one area, then we could decide not to apply any of these modifications."

"Actually, I don't think it would come in conflict to their Paths. In fact, it may end up maximizing it. Let's take the Covenant, for example." Lennox began his speech as he was carefully and gracefully, slicing the steak on his plate.

"They already have faith in whatever skillsets they have. The modification of their bodies will allow them to gain confidence. We might acquire more Believers to that. For example, the modifications that we will be putting on the Covenant's Scout, Strawberry_Sit-ups."

"Who?" Richie asked.

"Titan."

"Oh, that bucktooth kid I trained with earlier!"

Harker, Lynd, and Meryl rolled their eyes. It wasn't training. It was torture.

"He is an expert in using scouts in the game Piercing: Edge and Piercing: Bullet. I would even say that he's among the top in terms of technical skills. If he acquires the same skills in real life, he can be a strong soldier and a very valuable asset to our team. Whatever research we can gather from the present Path's here right now can greatly improve his skills. Even if he doesn't create a Path or Skill of his own, he could be something similar to a being stronger than an Inhuman but weaker to Ranked Heroes. I believe this is what Seeker intends to create."

"Arthur truly knows me!" Seeker laughed.

"That's right. We can create soldiers with specific roles. Not everyone can be a Ranked Hero! So why not make a weaker version of it? Meryl's eyesight has the basic ability to see through things. We have to prepare a team that can start detecting cloaked enemies. Once we wage war with the SPU or the WGP, this will be a vital technology."

"This sounds interesting. It will make my Fang's a lot sharper." Meng added.

"Then let's start with the future scouts that we will be making. What do scouts need?" Seeker led.

"Stealth would be the first. All our future soldiers need to have a training regime that allows them to control the body's temperature. With an Unlocked body and stamina, that alone can do wonders." Harker gave his input.

"Very easy to do. The coolant liquid can be used in our bodies. All we need is a little training, and that should suffice." Lennox replied.

"Sight would be the second. Scouts need a moderately great vision. Just like the characters in Piercing. They have to have the sight that can see clearly through darkness and have cloak detecting capabilities. If possible, a skill that can scan technologies that are nearby." Arthur explained.

"So… He can detect traps?" Lynd was tongue-tied. Arthur just gave the necessary explanation of what skills the Scouts of Piercing had in the game.

"We have to recreate these game characters. That's what their best at. Their training has been going on for years. If they can assimilate and acquire all the character skills perfectly, I can give my assurance that they will be a force to be reckoned with."

"So nimble agility and movement speed? The guys in Piercing can scale walls!" Lynd argued.

"Simple enough. I can easily do that. Of course, when I had control over my sound, I never needed too…" Richie laughed.

Everyone was surprised at Richie's declaration.

"The trick is… to learn how to control every muscle and skin in your body. If every piece of your flesh can move on its own, things like sticking on the walls or ceilings become easy. Of course, they'd need to have a suit that is specifically made for them to have the capability to do so. If you have a slight rubber suit, with an arm that can control every inch of your skin, you can become Spiderman."

"Is that possible?"

Richie laughed and gazed at Lynd. Suddenly, something shocking appeared as his face gave a distorted change without even moving his mouth or squinting with his eyes.

Meryl was shocked that she backed away from the table as Richie was right in front of her.

"Now, that was an example of what I mean. Don't you know of guys who can move parts of their body that others can't? Like they could move their ears at will or make one of their eyeballs look right while the other would look left? The thing is people don't know how to move these muscles because they just don't know-how. But with Realm Somatotopy and maybe a little help from my vibrations, being able to feel everything should be easy." Richie explained.

"You're confident that this will allow them to scale walls without any gears easily?" Arthur asked again.

"If its smooth and slippery surface, they'd need a little help. Which was why I recommended a rubber-like suit."

"What about for detection? Do you have anything that can help future soldiers in detection?" Lennox was the one who asked.

"What my son wants for these scouts of his, is to have a portion of the instincts that you have. If my son is right with regards to your Path, and that you are a prodigy in sensing vibrations and understanding it, then perhaps you can find a way to make others at the very least sensitive to the vibrations you feel."

"So basically, you are asking me to help you guys create spider-sense?" Richie asked.

"Yes." Lennox nodded.

Meryl, Lynd, and Harker had a curious expression of their face.

Richie was in deep thought.

"There is a way. But it will take time. Also… You can't put it in a body like Meng's. The vibration that Meng's mortal body has is different. Basically, what I'll be training a person is to become like a fish who can sense the water as if it was their own body. And if we put it on someone like Meng's, it's like putting that on a lion. It's just not compatible."

"So you're the fish, and I'm the lion?" Meng grinned.

"You wanna go again, oh, Desolate One? I'm armless but not harmless." Richie laughed.

"Focus, please." Lennox reprimanded.

"Unless he's a trained martial artist, he won't have any hopes of being able to activate this sensory skill. So if you want to make soldiers like this, you'd have to sacrifice defense and strength." Richie turned to Arthur.

"Scouts are agility-type. They don't need to have tensile defenses. If they can detect things like what you described, then we'll just train them to evade it. Luckily, people like Titan are trained to have the speed to react to that." Arthur answered confidently.

"Then let's do it. I'll make him a tuning fork. It will hurt and make him disoriented for a few weeks. Let's give your Scout a chance." Richie laughed as he agreed to build their Scout.

Months passed, and the success was finally made evident in Titan Turk Tristle. He was the first full-fledged Scout that could match Piercing Arrow.

Moving back to the time when Hermes finally entered the Kraken…

...

Titan's senses never dropped. He used his senses to observe and warn the team to hide if ever any Exoskeleton would approach. As he felt the strong winds ravage around him, a chilling sensation gripped his spine.

"We can't stay here. We'll die if we don't leave.. That Hermes… He did something…" Titan quickly alerted Cliff.