New Game+

The appearance of Seeker Carlean drew interesting reactions. And while the cries and surprises could be heard, Lara felt her world stop.

For some strange reason, memories of her first meeting resurfaced in her mind. She saw herself being reflected in Seeker's eyes. And a strange feeling was bubbling up in her.

She saw Seeker glance at her, and his gaze stopped.

"Lara?!" Seeker exclaimed. He then turned towards Harker.

"What's going on?"

Harker, however, ignored Seeker.

"It may be shocking news, but this kid right here is the son or rather the descendant of the Progenitor. Right now, I find it necessary to explain in full detail who our enemies are and who the Progenitor is. I am sure that a time will come that they will reveal themselves and may spread their lies to garner allegiance. In other words, you might hear the side of our enemies. And just like a group trying to sell a product, it might be an exaggeration."

"It's good that you are very upfront with this." One of the oldest Pangean family spoke. It was Bing Aquino. Whether or not his tone was admirable or sarcastic, only he knew.

"That is the question, is it? Am I putting my life at risk here? Now that we've witnessed how the WGP is not that all-powerful, we are now asking ourselves, are we siding with the right guys? This decision could mean not only extreme losses but death as well." Harker smiled.

"However, our enemies have performed inhuman experiments even in Pangean soil. The Progenitor didn't. He only subjected a few to the experiments. Such experiments include Lynd Indigo."

Lynd suddenly appeared. He had a very tired expression and portrayed his robotic arms.

The group was immediately startled to see Lynd enter the room.

"Lynd Indigo is one of the first successful experiments," Tyler explained.

"Lynd… Show it."

Lynd nodded and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, a strange flashing light appeared and covered the room. Suddenly, it disappeared.

As the various elites were finally recovering from their sight, they could see Lynd on the floor, gasping for breaths.

"Everbright! That was Everbright!" One of the spectators exclaimed.

Lara frowned. She didn't bring her most advanced techs with her. Her trip down here was something that would give her the chance to meet the elusive supporters of Harker. But knowing that the enemy had such powerful techs, Lara didn't bring her gadgets to hide her presence from the Progenitor. As such, she couldn't understand what she saw. All she carried was a recording device that recorded everything.

Scribs and Earl had already approached Lynd and fed him something, and carried him to a seat nearby.

"What was that?!"

"Courtesy of the Dalisay's tech, we've managed to finally create a living Everbright. It is now possible to create soldiers who can do that." Tyler smiled.

"We are in an age of impossibilities. Lynd did not use any devices or suits that can help him. As such, what you've witnessed was something that he generated using his own body. But it is possible to have things that can support him to help him minimize the expenditure of his newly gained power. But that which you saw is but the tip of the iceberg. Compared to the Dawn technology of Australia, we now can create super-soldiers that are enhanced."

"And the reason we are here is that you want us to fund the creation of these super soldiers." Bing Aquino guessed.

Harker smiled.

"That is exactly the point. I know you all have techs and developments unique to your own family. Some are better than others. I have seen the Dalisay's techs and think it should rank at the top three in all of Pangea if not first. But if Pangea were to grow, then all of you should grow with me."

"You mean… you will give us the basic techs to do what this Lynd can do? And you want us to enhance it with our techs?" Another among the families asked.

"This is quite tempting. But I don't believe that Gardo's tech beats ours." The head of the Agrippa family laughed.

Harker used his remote and pointed it at the monitor.

Gardo Dalisay was seen fighting Exoskeletons that were attacking him. He had a strange blue suit. But what was shocking was that fire was exploding out of Gardo's hands as he punched the Exoskeletons and sent it flying back.

The jaws of almost everyone in the room dropped.

"Looking at all your reaction, then it seems, the Dalisay family takes home the prize. And I believe that his techs outmatch yours by miles." Harker said stoically.

"But don't feel down. The Dalisay is someone who has inherited his techs from the Progenitor. We believe that the various sightings of supermen throughout the world gained their techs from the Progenitor..."

"Or from the Lost Primordial." Tyler continued Harker's statement.

"The age of supermen are among us. The WGP has retreated but do you think they are giving up? I learned from the Progenitor that what they are doing now is a tech revolution. All Emperors are very much independent. In short, what we are doing in this room, is what they are doing. All of them are now sharing techs. They had made each group and Emperor develop their techs to grow. But now, it's time for them to regroup. Once they emerge out of their cocoon, they will be something new. I want Pangea to do the same." Harker explained.

"So that's why you killed or ruled over all your political competitors." A woman spoke.

"You have been planning Pangea's unity from the start!"

"It is as you say, Tan Sri Lucia Patail. This is why I had to deal with the different pests in Malay and Indo Pangea. Only through this can we rise to be a City of Refuge!"

There was thunderous applause. The group was cheering at the scene.

Lynd was already seated next to Cliff on the other room. But unlike his fatigued expression earlier, he was now calm and relaxed and began to indulge on the rare rewards that he had never had the chance to enjoy.

As a General of Seeker's armies, he had the best devices and computers that Lennox himself designed! He boasted of having computers that could crash a country or hack into the most secure networks and remained undetected! It had True Sight Tech, which was the highest graphic card in existence. The computer could load data as large as the entire Lingkaran itself, and it won't falter.

Lynd hesitated between playing the top three things he wanted to play. The first was his modded Skyrim. The second was the fun Virtual reality program that they were using to train more soldiers and challenge Git Godlike, to which he has bested three times. The last is a rare relic of a game that they received after Lennox convinced Commander Salathiel to ally with them.

After much deliberation, Lynd decided to boot up the PS1 Emulator and play Legend of Dragoon.

Cliff watched with a weird expression.

"Seriously? That one? I wouldn't have been able to guess that you'd play that game even if you gave me a day for a name!" Cliff expressed his disgust.*

"You wouldn't get it." Lynd smiled.

"What I don't understand is this plan! We are painting a target over the Families! That Lara or Zeraphine or whoever she is will make the Presiders move against them! But this plan recklessly exposes us as well!"

"Exactly! This will force the heroes and near-Overcomers among these families to rise. This will be their tribulation. It will also force them to relocate to the City of Refuge. It helps us gather our team and exposes the Presiders who will make a move. And it's only a matter of time that we get exposed. So instead of making them exert a lot of effort to fish us out, we show them that we do exist but downplay our value. Then the Presiders won't focus on us."

"Still! I don't like the idea of Presiders snooping around Pangea or whatever base we have!"

"They won't. I can somehow guess what's the plan. They create a mysterious entity that is moving all over the world. His shadow and his mark will be all that the Presiders will see."

"Wait. You mean Lowengren."

"Yeah. But seriously, Cliff. Relax now. While our trip sounds uneventful, Seeker's out there right now, with Lara."

"I know his intent. He wants to leak some of the Programmed Slaves we have. By telling the Presiders that we too have Programmed Slaves, they will try to reprogram our slaves. But the people that Seeker will leak are either Unlocked who can control their emotions or are people exposed to the Tyrant Empress. Double agent unlocked spies. And many will be from Lowengren's group. Warfreakz first most dangerous mission."

"That's not all. Think. We are going to an underwater city. Do you think he won't milk this trip for all it's worth? He will try to subtly manipulate Lara into inviting more Presiders to the South America region! And we will be staying within the base!"

"Yeah. But Seeker's there."

"Oh, my sweet innocent, Cliff. Have you learned anything? The new Seeker didn't even play around and made me fight Ranked Heroes and Near-Overcomers together. He even allowed a battle that innocents are involved. What do you think he will do to a human-recording machine that can remember everything perfectly? You'd be sent to spy against Presiders. You might have to go toe-to-toe with a Presider."

Cliff felt his liver scream in pain.

Outside, Lara and Seeker were catching up.

"I can't believe that you're here! And listen, ignore Harker. I can talk him out of this whole fiance thing." Seeker laughed.

"I… really don't have a choice in this matter either." Lara laughed.

"You're parents are forcing you?"

"Harker told me that you are the descendant of this Progenitor. So… they really want to get some of that."

"But are you… alright with getting some of this?" Seeker gave a bashful laugh.

Lara blushed but couldn't help smiling.

"Listen, Lara. I have something important to say…"

"Zeek. I know. Harker um… told me."

"He told you?" Seeker stunned.

"Yes. I wanted to kill them, honestly. When I heard about it. You were… sold to a few people. It doesn't change the way I see you. 

"Wait. That's what he said?!" Seeker cursed.

"Yes. It's alright. He told me this right before I agreed to be your fiance. I knew what happened before."

"No! That's not what I meant. Think! You honestly think that Harker will send the Progenitors descendant to be an on-sale item for various sick perverts all over the world?" Seeker challenged.

Lara thought for a bit and realized the flaw in her thinking.

A strange thought surfaced in Seeker's mind.

"Oh! That tricky Harker. I suppose Lara was so blinded in rage that she couldn't think through this logically. This means she truly likes you. Seeker and Lara, sitting on a Kraken. K I S S-"

"Stop it, Greg!" Seeker cursed mentally.

"Then what happened?! Why would Harker tell me that?"

"I don't know. Maybe she didn't trust you at that time. It's only now that information about my heritage is being cascaded down. I'm guessing it was to keep me out of the Lost Primordial's attention. Harker did put me up for sale. But that sale never happened. All who secretly came and hid their trails to Pangea are now Programmed Slaves! They went back to whence they came but as spies. I guess that was one way to remove any suspicion that the Lost Primordial had on me as well."

"I… I see… Then I'm happy. I was… worried." Lara smiled.

"Yeah. Listen, I don't have much time here. I will be sent to the South Americas. Harker is still organizing a safe place for me to stay. Him cascading the information is to push any possible traitors within the Pangean elites to inform the Lost Primordial. It's actually a trap. Harker wants the Lost Primordial to attack the Lingkaran and the King Naga!"

"I see… So that's the plan! Where will you stay?"

"Harker is connected with Unlocked Industries. He says that a deal is happening with an Underwater City. I plan to stay there.. And from what I heard, the Progenitor will also be there!" Seeker announced excitedly.