Chapter 35: Forced Unlocking

The fallen drone had a sophisticated pseudo-cloaking technology made possible through innovative camouflaging features.

"Cloaking-level camouflage, eh?" Charles shook his head, seeing how the fallen drone would blink from being visible to invisible. He knew drones like these were expensive.

Alean immediately shuffled to call her father.

"General-"

"Thank Seeker for sparing my men's lives. Ask if we can retrieve the drone." Harker immediately spoke.

"He can send his men to pick it up after we are finished here. It's not damaged beyond repair." Seeker responded loudly as if he heard what Harker was saying over the phone.

"Thank you," Harker responded as he could overhear Seeker's cold voice.

"And if you do spy on me again, I won't be so generous." Seeker angrily spoke.

Harker was silent on the other line.

Alean abruptly hung up the phone and stood silently.

"You managed to see something that is practically invisible!" Charles commended.

"I couldn't 'see.' It was more of seeing and feeling, I guess. Whatever… that was very unsettling. I better not enter that state with my current level." Seeker sighed.

"Geez Zeek. You almost died there. Be more careful when you try things like those!" Meryl scolded.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect it would be that bad. Ugh. I can't believe the Realm King could easily do that without getting all queasy." Seeker frowned. It was almost impossible for him to remain in that state.

"I guess it's not that easy to follow on the footsteps of a World Champion. Here I am with all my advantages, and I'm not even sure if I can make it to that realm." Seeker sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Alean interjected.

"You'll find out in a bit." Seeker smiled.

Everyone had a confused look.

"Alright, Zeek. I think it's about time you tell us why we had to come here. The weapons are all in place. I can't help but worry about all the military surveillance and the weapon we have here." Meryl spoke bluntly.

"Right now, what we need to do is to Unlock."

"What do you mean to Unlock?" Lynd had a curious look.

"You see, in preparation for the coming battles, we need two things. First, I need to push my Unlocking further."

"How? I thought that my research would be the key to improving your Unlocking." Charles asked immediately.

"You are right. We need your tech to open the Unlocking to everyone. It is almost impossible for people to reach the Unbecoming stage in their entire life, much less the Inhuman stage. You can't train to reach that position. But because of my unique circumstance, I can." Seeker asked.

Cliff and Alean had a confused look at the question but noticing that this hasn't startled the rest, they kept quiet.

"So how do you improve your Unlocking?"

"Constant use. I need to improve my foundation on almost everything. I realized that forcing higher levels of the Unlocking could be detrimental to my overall potential. In the future, what we needed were more Unlocked individuals. We rushed into things. But now, I have the opportunity to hone my skills. So I need to allow myself to use these skills in actual battle constantly."

"I see. It's like your rebuilding your foundation." Charles analyzed.

Seeker nodded. He then went towards the guns and ammo.

"However, being in this state offers a lot of responsibilities. It means that I have to understand how to use all weapons effectively. After all, I can't build an army if I don't know how to train them."

Seeker immediately took an assault rifle and started to observe every inch of it.

"The second thing I need; is to experiment how I can stimulate the Unlocking without relying on your research, Charles. I believe that people who have been Unlocked before having you rework their brain would allow them to have a higher chance of reaching Ranked Hero." Seeker started selecting from the guns displayed.

"So you mean to stimulate people's brain too which they can reach beyond the ten percent norm?"

"Yes. The question is, how do we force a person to reach this state?"

The group was silently contemplating. Alean and Cliff listened intently to their discussion, although they couldn't make heads or tails of where this discussion was about.

"Maybe have them fight a lot? Martial artists and athletes have this, right? So why not do what they do?" Lynd suggested.

"That would take years, though. And the increase is too small. Not to mention, it will only aid in some parts of their perception." Seeker shook his head.

"What I need is something that will push the brain to an extreme level of stress." Seeker smiled.

Charles frowned at this suggestion.

"I got it! What if they encounter life-threatening situations? Didn't you mention stuff about OOBE and life reviews a result of pushing their brains beyond the ten percent?" Meryl shouted.

"That is true, but it's almost impossible to achieve that." Charles countered.

Meryl frowned.

"How is it impossible?"

"Charles is correct. Doing what you suggest is difficult." Seeker said as he removed the silencer from the gun barrel.

"How is that difficult? We can scare them or something. Let's just have them face a lot of dangerous situations, and they should have those."

Charles shook his head.

"That's what I'm saying. It isn't as simple as putting them in a dangerous situation. I served on several tours during my days as an army doctor. I had a lot of close calls, but I never experienced either of those."

"Then what could cause that?" Lynd asked curiously.

"It has to be a feeling where they would genuinely think that they would die. If their brains are pushed to that point of mortality, they would probably push their brain beyond the norm." Charles explained.

"Oh... That sounds reckless. Nutterballs. What could make them think that they are sure to die? We'd have to do something really bad to them to make them think that."

"It's not only reckless, but it's dangerous. Unless we have a way to ensure that no one would die while performing this experiment, then we cannot use that."

"Oh. So we can't do that..." Meryl sighed.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A bullet flew and grazed Lynd's left cheek,

A bullet grazed Charles' left arm.

And Meryl stumbled in shock when he heard an ear-piercing gunshot right at her ears.

Before anyone of them could shout, a strange choking sensation stopped them from doing it.

Everyone looked at the source of the gunshots. And they froze when they saw Seeker.

He was holding several guns, and a lot of weapons were protruding through a small bag he was wearing. What was scary was that he shot the three with blindfolds on.

"Actually, we can."

A terrifying sensation overcame Meryl, and she almost fell to the floor in fear.

Seeker had an almost demonic grin.

Everyone was gripped with fear. Lynd saw the wound on his cheek and gazed at Seeker, who was now wearing blindfolds, he felt a spine-chilling sensation.

Finally, the sensations that he or Meryl never felt were now experienced in a horrifying level.

"I can create fear as well as imitate a life-threatening situation. I can make it that it would look so believable that the said lab rats will either achieve a state of Unlocking or die from a heart attack." Seeker laughed as he placed the silencer back to the handgun.

"And most importantly, I can also ensure that no one will die in this situation."

Seeker was slowly approaching Meryl.

Meryl wanted to shout, but Seeker's aura was too strong.

She slowly crawled backward as Seeker approached.

"I hope none of you will suffer from post-traumatic stress after this. Oh well, it's a risk I'm willing to take. I don't need weakness in the upcoming battles. I'll count to five. After that, I begin my massacre. Use whatever weapons against me." Seeker ordered as he posed to a stance that was ready to shoot.

Charles and Alean were the first to scramble towards the weapon.

"GET UP!" Charles shouted towards Meryl.

"Five."

Lynd was petrified and couldn't move. He turned around to see Cliff limping towards the weapon shack. He was too far from the guns, and that was also too near to the devil incarnate.

"HELP ME!" Meryl cried hysterically.

"Four."

Alean took the gun and, without warning, opened fire. Seeker didn't even have to move as Alean's shaking hands couldn't aim properly.

"Three."

A slow-moving Lynd lifted up Meryl. Charles also started to shoot at Seeker.

Seeker was easily evading the bullets despite being blindfolded. He was using both Echolocation and Realm Somatotopy at the same time. However, he did not merge the two.

"Two. You got to try harder, guys. I need a more stimulating practice." Seeker smiled.

Lynd and Meryl were struggling to get inside the building.

Cliff now had a long steel bat but was also rushing for the door.

"One."

Alean's cry was the first thing that Lynd heard. He struggled to move faster. Meryl managed to jolt her mind back in order and managed to get control of her body. She then started running faster. Lynd started running faster as he noticed Meryl's recovery.

Several gunshots continued to resound as the pair dashed for the door. Cliff was just about to reach it ahead when a bullet pierced through the ground he was about to step on. The surprise caused Cliff to lose his balance, and he stumbled and rolled on the dirt.

Two bullets grazed the legs of Lynd and Meryl, and the sheer fright they felt to the grazing bullet caused them to stumble.

"Weak. I guess I'll just kill you." Seeker roared insanely as he shot more rounds across the place.

An hour later, Seeker finally removed the blindfold.

"That was a very helpful exercise. I think I managed to improve my use of both Echolocation and Realm Somatotopy." A carefree tune followed as Seeker happily whistled. He started to return the guns to its proper place, making sure to check that it was not damaged.

"Excuse me, Meryl." Seeker spoke in passing as he walked over a hysterically crying Meryl, who was clutching one leg of the table where the guns were placed.

"Mama… Mama…" Meryl continued to sob.

On the table, the guns were in a mess. Seeker started to slowly arrange it in order. On the right side of the table, Charles was lying flat, staring up the skies.

Seeker had jumped over him and drove a large knife down his face but would stop just in time. However, each time he did that, Charles could feel the wind piercing through. Seeker then continued to stab on him, barely scraping the skin of his neck. The sensation of experiencing the moment of his death over twenty times left him dull and unmoving.

"You alright, Charles? I figured since you're the most experienced in this group, I should give you special treatment." Seeker laughed.

Around the corner of the building, Alean lay unconscious. She rested quite peacefully. Unlike Charles, who managed to stay conscious, she lost hers on the third time Seeker blasted a gun at her face. Seeker's handling was precise. He would thrust the weapon as close as he can towards Alean's front and, at the last second, would change the angle of the gun to ensure that Alean wouldn't get hit.

Lynd was vomiting at an area beside Alean. When he saw Seeker holding Alean by the hair and was about to shoot at her face, he ran and tried to impale Seeker with a large pike he got from the weapon shack. Seeker used a strange technique and managed to snatch the pike away from Lynd. Lynd thought that Seeker had impaled him twice and shot him in the chest twice. But for some reason, though his chest hurt, he had no wounds.

Cliff was barely keeping his consciousness. His pants were wet. He thought Seeker shot him at the head, so he remained lifeless, waiting for his death with an empty bladder.

"Alright, guys. Let's have a fifteen-minute water break. I'll just reload these guns and repair whatever damage there is to the surrounding weapons, and we will start again." Seeker smiled.

All who were conscious fainted at Seeker's declaration.