Chapter 45: The First Prophet

Charles sat down and listened as Seeker gave the summary of who he was, what he saw, as well as the future of Arthur. Seeker, who remembered the painful memories of how Arthur died contained his emotions. Seeker made no mention of that battle which he had just unconsciously remembered.

"What exactly is Selective Unlocking?" Charles finally interrupted at the conclusion of Seeker's tale.

"It's a state wherein the unlock individual managed to increase their Unlocking's in certain specific areas." Seeker explained.

Arthur and Kristine were now seated on the couch with hot teas served for them to calm down.

Arthur had a peculiar look on his face.

"Let's take Arthur's case as an example. Right now, by measuring the capacity of his brain, it definitely can go beyond the normal function, he isn't Unlocked at all. He probably has about 12 percent of his unlocking complete and wouldn't even qualify as an Unbecoming Advent." Seeker sat down in front of Arthur.

"But this increase in 2 percent is specifically locked in certain areas. I'd say overall Mental fortitude. This means he cannot accomplish the usual things an Unlocked mind can. No improvement in sight, hearing, and all the other benefits that generally follow once you Unlock the limits of your brain."

"What do you mean by mental fortitude?" Meryl asked as she served the remaining teas.

"Thinking of course. He can analyze data faster than normal people. That is why he has Instant Calculation. I can calculate things because of how my perception is faster than a normal person's perception. Because of that, I have enough time to make the necessary calculation. For Arthur, it's different. He can calculate things almost instantly."

Arthur was silent. He continued to ponder Seeker's words.

Kristine still had a very apprehensive look towards Seeker. She could still recall the deep fear that gripped her heart.

"Impressive." Charles commended.

"And you're saying that he managed to reach this far just by studying?"

"Yes. I'm assuming that Lennox managed to do the same. I'm pretty certain Lennox's unlocking should probably be somewhere in between Unbecoming Proficient to Inhuman Proficient. Seeing as Arthur's familiar with the pressure and stress I can release means he has been thoroughly baptized in that."

Arthur's eyebrow raised.

"You mean what my old man can do, is something these Unlocked can do?"

"No. It's much more complicated than that. There will be only a few individuals who could do what you're your father can do." Seeker shook his head.

"I thought everyone could do that." Charles reacted.

"If that were true, then we would have had more chances in fighting the war. Some would only manage to release this scent when they reached Ranked Hero."

"So there are others who are far worse than my dad?" Arthur asked again.

"Not really. At most, they would probably be on par with your dad."

"Then why did you say 'Danger?'"

"To get your attention of course. Although there are some who can kill Lennox, myself included, it would probably a close fight or a pyrrhic victory. No one wants that. My intentions for saying that was to warn you. You'd probably ignore it if my message to you was simply 'danger.' So I had to say something as strange as that to make you want to meet me and allow a private conversation."

"So the reason why you wanted to meet with me isn't that of my father, but just to give me this message?"

"Yes. You are a rare case after all. If you do manage to break through to higher ranks, it would hasten the research of Charles. If we could improve the chances of directly creating an Inhuman without sacrificing hundreds. The procedure for creating Unlocked individuals have a high mortality rate after all. But if Charles can improve on it, then the chances of our winning the war may improve." Seeker smiled.

"Exactly how can his Unlocking help me?" Charles asked immediately. His eyes sparkled with rich desire.

BEEP!

Seeker took a look at his phone.

"Oh. Just in time. Lynd, Meryl please ask Miss Halley to go down with you. Alean has just arrived. Go pick her up." Seeker smiled.

Lynd hastily walked out the door while Meryl was laughing at Lynd's sudden disinterest at the current unveiling news.

"Poor Kristine. And she seemed quite interested in you Lynd. Too bad you already have Miss Alean." Meryl teased on her way out.

The door closed once again and Seeker's smile faded into a serious one.

"Alright. Now that those two are out, I'll be explaining this crucial principle to you Charles and why Arthur is important."

Charles was surprised at the sudden seriousness of Seeker's discussion.

"Are you familiar with the concept of Intuitive versus Sensing?" Seeker asked.

"Yes. The theory which states the two categories on how people perceives information." Charles nodded.

"Good. You see, we have identified that there are three types of individuals who can reach World Champion. That stage is so hard, that it was said to be scientifically impossible to do so. Even among those who reached Ranked Hero, there were only a few who showed the potential to actually be a World Champion."

"Like Lynd." Charles murmured in disgust.

Arthur's eyebrows were raised.

"Interesting." Arthur voiced out. Seeker ignored Arthur's sudden interest.

"Generally, most of those who have broken through to World Champion belonged to the Sensing category. But not to say that all who belong in that group had a chance to reach it, rather, among those who managed to reach Ranked Hero, those with the potential to break through all were sensing types."

"The Believers." Charles realized.

"Yes. The Unlocking is a mysterious phenomenon. The problem with intuitive types is that they have to 'think' their way of understanding how to push the unlocking. But you can't crunch numbers and achieve the Unlocking. How do you command your cells to alter your very brain? You can't do that nor can that be taught. So only those with extreme sensing, like those two happy-go-lucky friends of mine can alter their brain naturally. Even I, at the peak of Ranked Hero, couldn't do that."

"Because you need to understand 'how' that happens..." Arthur added.

"Exactly. Though this seems like a little problem, it's actually a huge one. Unless one has this 'faith,' the brain won't ever change on its own. Thus many of those Unlocked would face a wall when they reach the higher ranks of Inhuman. And those who manage to conquer it are faced with the incredible impossibilities of breaking through Ranked Hero."

"Is this why Meryl managed to awaken her Unhindered Sight?" Charles asked.

"Yes. Everyone who reached the World Champion stage had their own 'path' of growth. Each Champion had things that no other Champion could do. And it was because of this that we believe only those who have those specific 'path' can reach World Champion."

"You aren't seriously listening to this Arthur?" Kristine finally interrupted. She kept quiet during the strange talks that they had but when Arthur started joining in, she felt as if she had to voice out her thoughts.

"Yes, I am. It makes perfect sense. I'm skeptical about Seeker's prophecies of the future, just as everyone should. But I do believe the Unlocking. It thoroughly explains the state of my father." Arthur stood up and signaled Kristine to be quiet.

"This means that my father should fit into the other group of those who reached this so-called World Champion, correct?"

"Yes. Three people were recorded to have Selective Unlocking. You and your father belong to that group. If we can save your sister, then it's possible that we would have a forth." Seeker smiled.

Arthur gave a smile as well. Kristine was shocked when Arthur revealed a smile.

"Does that mean you will help me save my sister?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we? But we can't be too hasty. Your sister is caught up with some very troublesome people. At the heart of our enemies to be in fact."

Arthur frowned.

"So those Aragarian's are holding my sister captive?"

"Yes." Seeker quietly responded.

Arthur's face turned angrier.

"Is my father responsible for my sister's demise?"

Seeker simply shook his head.

"I don't know. It's possible that he had a hand to play. He never spoke of it. But what I do know is that when your sister died, your father brought Egypt to her knees, he went on a rampage and massacred over a million people."

Arthur's face finally relaxed a bit while Charles swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He hoped that Seeker was exaggerating the number.

"So my suspicions seemed misplaced."

"There are forces at work on this planet that even your father fears Arthur. They are your true enemy. Your father may have a hand at how your sister was taken, but he isn't your enemy."

Arthur nodded.

"Then what do I need to do?"

"For now, we play along with the immediate events. We have a couple of things to do. I'll need your help in some matters and Charles needs to run his test on you." Seeker turned to Charles.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to take a look at Arthur because he's one of the rare cases where a person with intuitive perception has the potential to reach World Champion?"

"Yes. On the Sensing side, we have the Believers, on the Intuitive side, are the rare cases of Selective Unlocking such as Arthur here."

"What about you? Which one are you?"

"I'm an Intuitive, but I'm not a Prophet."

"A what?"

"A Prophet. I don't have Arthur's potential. We call them 'Prophets' since they could teach others while Believers can't."

"What do you mean by teaching?"

"Teach how to Unlock the brain further. Everything that I've been doing was actually based on a rough theory that Arthur developed."

Charles gave Arthur an angry glare. So he was the culprit.

"But what we've been doing won't help when you reach a certain stage. There has to be a scientific explanation and a step by step guide to help others push their unlocking. Believers were basically clueless about how they would teach others. It's like asking musical advice from a prodigy. They can't explain it even if they wanted to since these things come very naturally to them."

"So that leaves us? The Intuitive types who can explain the very process." Arthur murmured.

"Yes. Thankfully your dad was one among the Champions. He will be your best teacher. Hopefully, if you break through World Champion and once you develop the road of your 'path' then maybe more World Champions will appear." Seeker smiled.

"Why not have my father teach?" Arthur frowned.

"You see, the problem is that your dad isn't exactly a Prophet like you who broke through by studying. He is also a part of the third group of World Champions. Being part of that group drastically limited the things your father could teach."

"The third type that reached World Champion?"

Seeker gave an exasperated sigh. It gave Charles and Arthur the impression that Seeker was actually depressed.

"The third group of Unlocked individuals was originally believed to be the only group that could reach the World Champion stage. They rose to that heights just after a few battles when they were unlocked. People who reached the World champion stage without facing any bottlenecks or problems whatsoever."

"Impossible!" Charles was taken aback. They had just been discussing at length of the impossibilities in reaching World Champion and a set of individuals achieved it easily?

"Yes. These are people who were born with the very potential, experience, talent, and skill to easily reach World Champion. This group made up all the World Champions until Lynd managed to break through." Seeker gave a depressed laugh.

"Which is to say, the World Champion title was given exclusively to them as it was deemed humanly impossible to reach that stage. The Unlocking allowed them to maximize their almost demonic capabilities. It's as if they were the Unlocked among Unlocked individuals."

"So they're just incomparable and vastly more powerful from the rest of humanity?"

"I don't consider them humans. Arthur would agree." Seeker laughed. Arthur nodded as he thought of his father.

"When Lynd broke through, we finally realized that 'humans' could reach an Unlocking that they have. So when we finally had a World Champion who isn't like them, we changed the term to address this monstrous group. They are the overlords of the Rebellion. We call them... the Overcomers."