Chapter 208: Cliff’s Secret Weapon

Going back to the time when Seeker and the Overcomers made their plans on how to build their teams, an unexpected topic came up, as initiated by Seeker.

"Alright… The next thing we need to discuss is Cliff." Seeker brought up the topic after discussing the various teams.

"Cliff?" Richie was surprised that Seeker would bring up such a topic.

"Is this why you didn't invite him to this meeting?" Arthur asked.

"That's right." Seeker nodded.

"Why? His performance is indeed impressive. But frankly, I don't see the need to put an effort on developing him." Arthur countered.

"That's where you're wrong. My future-past self would agree… but I won't. There is a mystery hidden in his Skill. Let's go by what we know about him."

"He has an awesome memory. His memory surpasses Total Recall, and it allows him to easily access these memories without even having to recall it as we do forcibly." Arthur listed.

"Yes. That's what he claims to have. But come on! Cliff has always been quite slow. He doesn't understand the power he holds. The way he sees and reviews memories is probably something that we cannot understand or even relate to."

"It's that strong?" Harker was stunned. He always thought that Cliff was simply someone who went along with the ride of Crazy Carlean.

"He is really dependable." Lynd supported. Meryl nodded her head.

"Explain to me why it's necessary first. I've been with him the longest, and by my calculations, he only has a Skill at most."

"And the reason is that his powers are sort of like a dark horse among the Unlocking. He can fill in the missing pieces that Lynd can't imitate in this timeline."

"I don't get it, Zeek. You mean there are some Path's that I can't copy?"

"We didn't believe it in our timeline. We only assumed that you simply needed a higher level of the Unlocking. But in truth, we chose not to believe. Things were pretty dark and hopeless. Now I can see the mistakes and hopeless things we pinned our hope on. And with the advantage of this whole New Game+, I can dare say things that would have otherwise been a taboo statement because it was the few things giving us hope."

"There were a lot of wrong things in my timeline. We pursued a lot of hopeless cases. The assumption that Lynd could copy every Path was a lie." Seeker clarified after a pause.

"You said that Lynd was able to copy all the Path's the Ranked Hero and World Champions he met. How was that a lie?" Richie wondered. Even Lynd could make various attacks that he had.

"Yes. But Lynd wasn't able to meet the Tyrant Empress. He could copy a small portion of Eagle's powers but not Eagle's ability to convince others. We all assumed that Lennox's Path was a special case since Lennox is an Intuitive World Champion who, through his thousand thought process, could forcibly change each cell into the Lightning Energy he had."

"Do you have proof that Lynd can't copy every Path he meets? He copied my Path very easily. The moment he awoke during the Australian Avarice, he managed to copy Chaos Order."

"Of course, he could! We were Piercing Fans, Arthur! We've watched thousands of your videos! We've analyzed every angle of your brilliant and amazing moves in the battles that you led! Of course, he couldn't do it because it was all theoretical. But the moment he reached Inhuman, the improved perception, the control of how we view time and the sensing abilities that follow all make it easy! Isn't Chaos Order a step beyond Instant Calculation? The moment Lynd awoke and stabilized his position in the Inhuman stage, it was easy for him to replicate that. Right now, I can do that as well. But can he emulate the Lion's Den?"

Everyone turned to Lynd.

"Erm… No, I can't. I can imitate Arthur's thinking process based on his emotions, his mindset… but I just can't see how he can make it so amazing that it's almost as if he sees the future."

"And that's going to be your training for these next month. It'll be valuable if you can emulate even a percentage of that. The reason why you can't is that you haven't been informed on how to do it. This is an Intuitive Path, after all. But that's not the only Path he can't emulate. Even if he can sympathize with the feelings, and have tremendous observation skills, he cannot copy things perfectly."

"What do you mean perfectly?" Meryl wondered. Lynd could already do the bright flashbang she can create.

"He can recall things, imitate it, but to not perfectly copy it. I mean, Lynd would imitate the movement of Arthur matching every cell that Arthur can do."

"Why would that be necessary?" Arthur interjected.

"Lynd's Path had its limitation. A person's Path is generally formed through emotional experiences that shape the way a person thinks and his level of faith. That's why Lynd can copy it. But of course, depending on how a person could process the information. As you may remember, there are different ways people process information. The Intuitive or Sensing types. The extent of Lynd's copy appears to degrade if a Path is Intuitive by nature."

"Oh? I have to consider that?" Lennox pondered. 

"Right. I'm sure Arthur can give you an explanation. He also wants to create a team of Unlocked. But he can't just pick anybody. Typical, and the rest of the Ranked Heroes were always Sensing types. Only Arthur and I belonged to the Intuitive. In my timeline, because we focused so much on faith, we considered people who were intuitive to be generally weaker. The only option was to force them somehow to become Sensing."

"The Believers, which we categorized to have the highest chances of becoming a Ranked Hero, were always of the Sensing type. For those who were Intuitive, Even with the guidance of Prophet's like Arthur, their potential could never improve. Of course, this was all in my previous life. In this one, we have a lot of advantages."

"Such as?"

"It's not even been two months since I reincarnated, and we already have a few Intuitive Paths." Seeker smiled and pointed at Harker and Lowengren.

"I understand." Arthur finally caved in at the gesture of Seeker.

"Understand what?" Richie was curious.

"These two… Lynd can't copy their Paths. Can you, Lynd?"

Lynd was stunned.

"I haven't tried it… I mean… I can imitate Lowengren's behavior through my observation and by understanding his emotions… But I haven't tried his lies. Also... for Harker... I'm not sure how to do it."

"And Cliff can copy or imitate the Path of these two?" Arthur asked again.

"Yes. Cliff has to grow. And what's more interesting is that Cliff is a Sensing type. This means it will give Lynd a higher chance of imitating Cliff."

"Can you even copy how to remember?" Meryl turned to Lynd.

"I…"

"He can, and he will. Don't forget. You guys have me." Seeker smiled.

"If Cliff's Unlocking is pushed further, I can tread that Road and acquire how Cliff does it." Seeker smiled.

"Those are all big ifs." Arthur countered.

"If Cliff is one of the Sensing Types, and he got his power because of his faith in you, it is risky to invest in him. If he must grow, he needs to face trials that are almost impossible to overcome. All Ranked Heroes reached that stage because of their amazing Paths. My pseudo-Path was only so useful in your future. Cliff, with his memories, will die."

"You're right. Logically, that is correct. But do you know how I survived? I did not have any amazing Path's that you said. Yet, I outlived you. And don't get me wrong, although your death then was an honorable one, I will tell you that I faced far greater perils than you did. You could even say that the me then, inspired you." Seeker smirked.

Everyone was silent. 

"I had great control in Advanced Recall. I could remember fighting techniques, movements, and actions. Just like Lynd, I could copy things to a certain extent. But of course, Lynd was a much powerful version of me. He was a Sensing type so he can sense the way a person would feel. But for me? I am an Intuitive."

"You needed to think your way to copy then?"

"Yes. I needed to think it through. Lynd had the advantage. Both of us were obsessed gamers. We never got pro, but you could say we were a half-step into it. And the reason why I was that good was that I copied a lot of tricks and skills that others Pro-Players had. This was also the reason why I never became pro. As Arthur said, pros must have their specialty. I didn't have one. Which makes sense… I was a Roadless person since the beginning. Lynd's Road was to copy. My Road, on the other hand, was that I didn't have any. Lynd could copy because that was his thing, I could copy because I was a blank sheet. I could learn anything. Anything physically possible for me to copy, I could imitate through Advanced Recall and a lot of effort."

"And how can all of these be of any help or it's relation to that boy?" Meng interjected.

"Because I broke through the World Champion stage and even went beyond it. I got a glimpse of the impossible things. And unconsciously, I passed it on already. In my timeline, it was almost impossible to create Paths out of wit, charisma, or personality. That was because my timeline focused on tangible things. But when I broke through on my death, it allowed me to open a different road of the Unlocking." Seeker once more pointed to Harker and Lowengren.

"My baptism to that world which allowed me to see things in a bizarre way. I saw and interacted with several dimensions, and that made all the difference. Imagine, it even made Meryl's Path drastically improve! You all say I'm the worse kind of Reincarnator. Reincarnators ought to have OP powers, disgusting access to future knowledge, and some other ways to make them exceedingly powerful to trump the enemy easily. But here's the thing, I am not that worse Reincarnator. I am a different breed. I am the Reincarnator that can give everyone the shot in becoming OP. Through my rebirth, I made the impossible Path possible. And that's why I'm bringing up Cliff on this meeting! He got the one thing that I was good at and made it greater! If I survived, so can he. And once Cliff grows..."

"So, your goal is to make Cliff stronger because it will make you stronger." 

"Yes. I need it. Whenever I try to remember the sensations I had when I went past the World Champion stage, I saw things that I couldn't understand. I couldn't even remember it, even with my Unlocking! That was because the senses that I felt went beyond the capacity that my current brain can process. I can't see the fourth dimension now, and I can't remember what it was like to see through the four dimensions. But with Cliff… It could be possible. Imagine the possibilities. In my attempt to reflect those dimensions to a three-dimensional image, I awakened my Realm." Seeker smiled excitedly. 

"But how then will you make Cliff stronger? Even I who thread the Lion's Den can't see a possibility of winning if I fight against an Overcomer. And those are the minimum threat levels that he should face."

"Right. That's the issue. Cliff has to survive battles with Overcomers. And that's why I brought it up here. Meng, your Fangs are the perfect companions. They should accompany Cliff on his battles. It can't be me or anyone here. He will grow careless. He has to dive into these battles with the fear of his life."

"I was already considering that route to train my Fangs. I agree with your arrangements. But will it be enough? My Fang's will die if they face an Overcomer. If they fight against the leaders of the WGP, my Fangs won't stand a chance."

"Yes. But you forget, we have something that can even startle an Overcomer And this person is the very key that can give Cliff a higher chance of surviving those ordeals." Seeker revealed.

"Him!" Seeker pointed to a figure he sensed walked up to get some water.

But shock startled Seeker and everyone else as they witnessed a topless Lowengren doing a heroic pose.

"I knew it would come to this, so I prepared for this entry." Lowengren laughed.

Lennox, Richie, Meng, and Seeker, the Four Overcomers, all wore a strange expression.

Richie laughed.

"What?" Meng exclaimed as if almost angry.

"Why is he naked?!" Despite the thousand thoughts of Lennox, he could not comprehend this action and verbally voiced out his surprise.

"How did he even escape my senses? I thought he got up to get water!?" Seeker complained.

Arthur shook his head.

"I couldn't predict that. I still need more training…" Arthur sighed.

"This was to prove Seeker's point. As you can see, I can surprise Overcomers." Lowengren slowly wore his clothes.

Harker was deep in thought. He never thought that stripping could be so cool.

"How can I do that?" Harker thought.

"And if I were to complete Seeker's train of thought, You want me to compile a list of lies that Cliff can throw out at any second. Right, Seeker? That will be his trump card." 

And the list of lies was made. Many of these confused Cliff so much that he was questioning Lowengren's sanity and Seeker's who ordered him to learn these things. Why would Seeker have me memorize this?

Every lie that Lowengren did, Cliff was forced to memorize. Tone, pacing, breathing. Lowengren had to make his lies naked so Cliff could see every inch of Lowengren's cells. This, of course, also became Cliff's nightmares as images of Lowengren's body would float up randomly in his recollection.

The Empress was startled and began to ponder just how she knew this Emperor.

All the Emperor that surfaced on her thoughts were all dangerous Emperors. If any of them is the Emperor before her, she would surely lose.

"Who are you?! Tell me, Or I'll detonate the reactor of this Kraken!" The Empress threatened.

Cliff gave a very deep sigh.

"I can't believe I have to do this. Damn it, Lowengren! This better work! Erm… Roselyn, could you follow my lead?" Cliff spoke in secret.

"Uh... Sure."

"You want to know who I am?" Cliff shouted with a laugh.

"Then allow me to introduce myself!" Cliff made several bold steps forward.

The Empress subconsciously retreated.

Cliff took in a deep breath. And as if fate willed it, one of the passing spotlights that were damaged from the battle positioned itself and illumined the very spot where Cliff stood.

"Prepare for trouble!" Cliff announced heroically.

The Empress was startled. The timing of the spotlight confused her.

"Roselyn! Do it!" Cliff immediately ordered.

"What?! Do what?!" Roselyn was confused.

Just before Cliff could explain what to do, a figure appeared next to Cliff.

"And make it double!" Gardo fell from an unknown height and assumed a formidable position where he and Cliff stood back-to-back.

Cliff sighed in relief. It was good that Gardo arrived on time.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within the nations!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Lowengren!"

"Admiral Shepherd!"

"Team Warfreakz blasts off with the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

The Empress gazed in confusion.

"What are you doing?! Do it now!" Cliff berated the woman near him using the speed and tone that humans could understand.

The Empress was startled and immediately utilized the Origin energy around her to form a powerful shield. This was one of their most robust defense. It was so strong that it would consume a considerable amount of Origin power around the area. This was the reason why the Emperors did not fear nuclear attacks. The shield that they could generate was so powerful that it could withstand it. The shield appeared almost immediately, and the Empress braced for a terrifying attack.

"Me-Meow! That's right!" Roselyn was in tears as she said this.