New Game+

Lara happily entered the next classroom with an excited glint in her eyes. She had a strange sensation and started to look around and then found a familiar face who kept waving at her.

"Charm!" Lara smiled as she walked towards the Royal.

Other Royal\'s couldn\'t help but frown at the sight of Lara openly conversing with Charm Novelty-Blastoise.

This was the second class where Charm and Lara were classmates. As such, she was excited to be around someone she felt comfortable with.

As the two sat together, several Royals kept looking at them.

"She got Lara Diamon?" A teen girl frowned. She approached another young man and whispered.

"Well, that Charm has a knack at manipulating characters. Maybe her practice on that Bodyguard is making her more skillful." A young man shook his head.

"You don\'t understand the dangers. Think of it this way. If that Charm is doing some deals with Cliff and thereby cooperating with the Covenant, then the combination of these two is dangerous."

Unbeknownst to everyone, up on the second floor of the adjacent building, unseen from the crowd, Seeker stood watching from the small opening of the window. After their meeting, he rushed to this place which was a designated traveling point of Seeker. Because of Seeker\'s unique status and the many enemies around him, his daily travels around the school would be protected and guarded. These routes held the greatest advantage of being sheltered by the buildings around it, covering Seeker from possible sniping attacks.

"Is that her? Lara Diamon?" Seeker asked as he peeked through the small gaps of the window curtain.

"Yes. Is she familiar?" Cliff wondered.

"No. That\'s not a face I remembered." Seeker shook his head.

"But of course, we can\'t be certain. The surgeries that the Aragarian\'s can do is quite impressive. So she might have undergone that surgery."

"She didn\'t go through any surgery. I checked. I slapped her arm and mapped it with Realm Somatotopy remember? It\'s not at the level that you, Lynd and Lowengren can do, but it was enough for me to observe her nerves." Cliff answered.

"Then if that\'s the case, she shouldn\'t be someone I met before. After all, the EAA was never among the cities that I attacked in the future." Seeker sighed.

Lynd\'s eyebrows raised as he witnessed this.

"You\'re… disappointed?" Lynd asked.

Seeker frowned.

"Lynd, please keep your observations to yourself." Seeker shook his head and immediately left the room.

Meryl watched with an intrigued expression.

"Well?" Meryl turned to Lynd.

"Don\'t… give me that look." Lynd hesitated.

"You know something! Come on! Tell me!" Meryl pulled Lynd\'s arm.

"I don\'t know! It was just that! Seeker felt disappointed."

"He must be after a certain Pioneer." Cliff shrugged.

"Oh… you guys are no fun!" Meryl frowned and turned away.

"By the way, Meryl… Arthur\'s not gonna like that." Lynd called out seriously.

Meryl stopped from her tracks and didn\'t turn back.

"It\'s not easy to imitate Arthur. And though I can\'t tread the Lion\'s Den, it\'s enough for someone like me to see where this is going." Lynd reminded.

Meryl was silent but continued on to reach for the door.

"That\'s right. And Arthur who could actually tread the Lion\'s Den didn\'t do anything." Meryl argued and left.

Lynd sighed.

"What was that about?" Cliff had to ask.

"It\'s complicated. The future changes that Seeker had made are starting to surface. Just get stronger, Cliff. If Arthur attacks us in the near future, we would need your help. You are the one who remembers his thought process more than we do after all." Lynd sighed.

Cliff was shocked. Why would Arthur attack them?

"I guess it\'s a good thing you\'re going after Hermes." Lynd sighed and left the room.

Seeker made his usual march towards his assigned room. As expected, a long line of students watched this parade but none dared to approach him. The cheers erupted.

"He\'s coming out! Wanna head to the third floor to get a better look at him?"

Lara smiled and nodded.

"Of course! I haven\'t seen him personally yet! I couldn\'t get here earlier. You guys really should work on your traffic system." Lara giggled.

"Phil-Pangea always had traffic problems. Let it go." Charm laughed back.

The pair headed towards the outside of the room.

As the two left, the young man and Matilda\'s expression turned grave.

"She seems really close with the Diamons." The male student frowned.

"What do we do? We can\'t afford an alliance between the Diamons and the Covenant."

"We\'re not the only ones." The male frowned and pointed to another end of the room with another trio of students having a dark expression.

"The enemy of our enemy is our friend. Although that company of theirs is a rival company, both of our groups can\'t afford a Covenant-Diamon collaboration." The young man strode towards the group of three.

The tallest of the group noticed his approach.

"Hoffman… Is there something you need?" he gazed cautiously at Hoffman.

 "Ladies and Gents… It seems that for now, we must put aside our temporary competition. In any case, those blasted Novelty-Blastoise can\'t get an alliance with the Diamons. It means another business competitor to our already cut-throat rivalries." The youth called Hoffman spoke.

"We can\'t afford that union so why not make a temporary alliance?" The girl asked.

The three looked at each other.

 "I agree with Matilda. We need to do something about that Charm." A young teen who was seated in the middle of the three spoke.

"Any suggestions then?" The tallest turned to the youth seated.

"I have a suggestion. We already know about the rumors about Charm and that Regular. Why not use it to our advantage?"

"Fake some strange relationship with the two? It seems a bit dull." A short bespectacled man who was the third party of the trio shook his head.

"No. We all know the rumors of Cliff\'s past. He was a small-time drug dealer. What if we use that, make it look like the Novelty-Blastoise is having an ongoing drug trade deal the Covenant…" The tall man clarified.

Hoffman and Matilda\'s expression grew bright. The two others belonging to the trio also smiled.

"Hitting two birds with one stone… I like it. We\'ll have to plant drugs to both Cliff and Charm to do this…" Matilda suggested.

"How can we?" The bespectacled youth wondered.

"Easily accomplish. You are still thinking that you alone are planning against her. If we collaborate then framing someone with drugs can easily be accomplished. I\'m quite close with one of the System admins and can imitate the digital signature of Charm\'s locker." Hoffman grinned.

"I believe your family is close with the makers of the locker? Once we have the physical key and match it with the digital signature we can open that locker." Hoffman laughed.

"Right!" The tall man applauded.

"Shall we head somewhere private to discuss this deal?" Matilda wondered.

"Let\'s meet after school." The youth seated in the middle of the three casually replied.

Charm and Lara finally reached the third floor. They were just in time for Seeker to make his march. Every single movement and transfers made by Seeker had several security protocols in place. Harker had assigned several soldiers to guard Seeker.

"You sure you don\'t want to get nearer? We could scuffle down to the first floor." Charm teased.

"Don\'t tempt me! Any closer and I might approach him and get arrested." Lara laughed.

It was then that Seeker\'s figure was now seen. Several students had started to cheer and somewhere even pushing to touch Seeker. Surrounding Seeker was a group of students. These were the students who many envied. While most of the students in the school were banned from even touching Seeker, these students had the privilege and capability to freely do so.

"So that\'s them. How lucky. Why can\'t I be among them? I\'m an exchanged student!" Lara grumbled.

"Haha. Is little Lara so jealous? You know the answer to that. It\'s because you have such a powerful family!" Charm laughed.

"I know, I know. It\'s my curse to bear. Otherwise, I would be hugging that- Hey! Who\'s that girl that Seeker gave a hi-five!" Lara cursed angrily.

"Relax. Their just friends! I doubt those foreigners would create more controversy than they\'ve already made. Their parents and friends might get hurt if they do." Charm shook her head in disgust.

"Hurt them? Controversies? People are attacking their parents?" Lara asked in a confused expression.

"You underestimate the hate that this country has for foreigners. The truth is, many secretly hate your presence. If you were any other Korean girl, you\'d probably get bullied. Thank your name that you aren\'t bullied. Pangea is a xenophobic nation. With the Australian Avarice and all that, it\'s gotten worse. All of those classmates that Seeker now hang out with were attacked and bullied one way or the other. The school made several attempts to quell the conflict around them but to no avail." Charm gave a disappointed glance at the students.

"They placed CCTV cameras all over the school and made these students walk on a specific route to minimize the attacks. But bathrooms were used to ambush them and some attacks were even made outside. The school made a couple of changes and even tasked Ted Zyrcon to be a member of that class and was in charge of their protection but because Ted made such a good job, he was attacked. Seeker finally stepped up and volunteered to be a classmate of this group in hopes that his fame could stop these attacks."

"Did it work?"

"Kinda. But the students still receive threats every day. Ted had several near-death experiences because of this. But so far, the bullying seemed to have stopped."

"That\'s good to know. Is that Ted?" Lara asked as she pointed to a local student amidst the group of foreigners.

"Yeah. He used to be a jerk. I thought he would have made the lives of these foreigners a living hell. But he did such a good job that most of his former friends would even attack him now. Luckily Seeker stepped up."

Lara was silent but stared at the class. She later noticed a foreign adult entering the room.

"Is their teacher a foreigner because…?" Lara began.

"Yeah." Charm sighed.

Lara knew why a foreign teacher had to be assigned. The other teachers didn\'t dare teach this class.

"Wow. This school is just a big campus of bigots." Lara shook her head.

Charm could only helplessly nod.

"At least there are a few like you and that Ted. And that Seeker… He makes me want him more." Lara smiled as he stared directly at Seeker.

Seeker was about to enter the room when he caught sight of the staring Lara.

Seeker smiled and waved his hands before entering the room.

Lara was startled and couldn\'t even wave back.

The group of foreign students was already seated in their room when Seeker entered.

Seeker took his assigned seat and waited.

The bell was about to ring and several students were now hastily entering their assigned rooms.

The teacher finally entered.

He was a tall bespectacled man with brown hair. He had a strict expression and immediately took his place in the room.

The bell rung and classes finally started.

The doors were closed and the man removed his glasses.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted.

"General Seeker. Good morning." The teacher was the first to greet and the students followed.

Seeker remained standing and waited for the teacher to confirm their protective protocols.

 "Audio blocking confirmed. Soundproof technology activated and since we\'ll be speaking at a speed that humans can\'t comprehend, I guess even technologies that can see through walls are now ineffective." The teacher reported.

"Do we really need to go through all of this, General?" The teacher asked Seeker.

"Eric… You know how we need to do this. Because of my unique status, even the WGP is concerned with my daily habits and with who I talk to. I\'ve just received word that an Aragarian has enrolled in this school. So how do I decimate information in a safe and secure manner?" Seeker asked.

The teachers and students were stunned after hearing

"An Aragarian?"

"The first of many. So trust me when I say that this classroom is the best place to hold meetings and reports. With each of these foreign delegates allowed to communicate with their parents back home, then we can disseminate information across the world and the Aragarian\'s won\'t even know how we do it."

 "Let\'s get this on. We weren\'t able to finish the last meeting because we wasted too much time. Is this slow enough for you?" Seeker asked. His voice was fast. Any normal human being wouldn\'t make sense of what Seeker said.

"I\'m sorry, Sir! I couldn\'t get that last part!" A young girl, barely fourteen years old raised her hand.

Seeker glanced at the girl and frowned.

"Fine. I\'m being considerate because of your age, but imbed this in your mind, Slave, age isn\'t a factor to the Unlocked." Seeker spoke slower. But the speed was still too fast for a normal human

"Is this good?"

Despite the speed, all the students in the room nodded.

"Good. It looks like most, if not all of you have already reached Advent of Unbecoming. Looks like Charles\' drugs are working fine." Seeker asked.

"Charles wasn\'t the only one you know." The teacher laughed.

"Of course, I won\'t ever forget about you, Eric. It\'s convenient having one of Harker\'s top Programmed Slaves who worked with Charles to be here to help us with the drugs." Seeker laughed.

"Anyways, each and every one of you is to report to your correspondents immediately. This meeting has to do with urgent information that must be disseminated as early as now. Originally, I kept this info from your correspondents for fear that their large organizations may have some Planted\'s or Pioneers in place. As such information as crucial as this may become deadly. This is especially true for Lennox\'s and Meng\'s organizations. Do note that and be sure to tell them why I didn\'t tell this information earlier." Seeker turned to two specific students. One, a short and fat Caucasian and the other, a lean and well-built Asian.

"But now… things have changed. The Diamon\'s, who we have long ago confirmed to have no Aragarian\'s among them, suddenly had one. Lara Diamon who we have tested before, and have confirmed to be human, suddenly appeared with an Aragarian biology. And so, if Aragarian\'s can replace us, then it only means that the assumptions and groups we have confirmed to be humans, may not necessarily be humans now."

Each student, including Eric, had a grave look on their faces.

"So for now… let this class be in session.." Seeker spoke seriously.