New Game+

Lanterk was very, very angry.

It had been so long since he felt this threatened. He was a master manipulator, but the scenario was turning into greater chaos. How could this unknown human know of him? Of his true self?

At that moment, four entities from a far-off plane were looking at Jane, and Jane could feel the same sensation as before.

"Oh, don\'t do that. It reveals more about you if all five of you will look at me like that. I\'m still human. I can\'t see in the other dimensions, you know..." Jane chuckled. Her previous fears had been lifted. She had sent the reports to the Unlocked group about what she saw, and the painting of Granite Malang further proved this.

To prepare for this talk, Jane spent the remaining time immersed in great discomfort. The sensation of those four beings looking at her didn\'t scare her. She had trained and fought against Overcomers and had experienced great horror. What was difficult was the conflicting sensation of somehow peering out of the three dimensions. That was what she felt when all four entities were looking at her from a distant eternity.

To prepare for this, she was forced to complete the one challenge that various Unlocked couldn\'t complete. The challenge was to listen at a simple audio file. The length was a simple five minutes, but it was endlessly looped, and the Unlocked was tasked to listen to it for more than one hour.

This was what Jane did.

The audio in question was a recording of the howls, shouts, screeches, and rants of Vender Hirock.

The Vexation tape was a strange audio source that became a curious oddity that even made Richie interested. But even Richie couldn\'t analyze the audio file as he was driven mad by the annoying, unflattering, and unnerving sound.

With such experiences, the reality-bending experience was something that she could endure. This was all part of the plan to do the impossible. Jane was to deceive a Presider.

Lanterk\'s prideful and arrogant form shattered when Jane said those words.

"Yo-You! How did you!"

"Could you stop now? Presider Pridgeon made me go through these weird sessions, and while I can manage, it is very, very uncomfortable." Jane smiled.

All of a sudden, the four beings disappeared.

"Checkmate." Jane thought to herself.

"Better! Alright. First of all, relax. I\'m not even a Planted or a Pioneer! I\'m human. Of course, Presider treats me well. Anyway, he\'s done with his fun, but Presider Crostfree sent me to tell you this. Be wary of that Zeraphine. If you knew who she really is, you wouldn\'t be so chummy as you are right now." Jane explained.

"Zeraphine?! Who is she?"

"I don\'t know. Presider Crostfree didn\'t tell me. But he doesn\'t like it when his pieces can fight back. So you are our ace. Zeraphine had been quite obedient, but we knew it was all a ploy. Anyway, now that you know all of this, we have to ask you. Zeraphine must have fallen for your ploy. She doesn\'t have the same techs Presider Pridgeon has, and the knowledge Presider Crostfree has to figure out who you are. So that\'s your advantage. Or is it? Can you really challenge her?"

"What do you mean?" Lanterk was very cautious of how he answered and pretended to be ignorant.

"What do you know about Phallic Techs?" Jane asked.

"Phallic techs? It- it can screw you..." Lanterk finally gave in and answered ambiguously.

Jane first frowned and placed her two index fingers on her head.

"It can screw you." She repeated.

At the back of Jane\'s head, she was hoping that this crazy, nonsensical ploy would bewilder the Presider before her who could kill her with a flick of a finger.

"President Gardo... I hope this crazy suggestion works." Jane hoped.

After a few seconds, she stopped.

"Oh. That tech. Wow. Presider is impressed. As expected of the four-horned Goat!" Jane chuckled.

Lanterk\'s expression was even more confused now.

"Or should I call you the four pillar goat? Those four things are looking at me. What exactly are those things? Presider wouldn\'t tell me." Jane asked.

The casual answer followed by a detailed revelation of what she saw made Lanterk feel that there was a hole in his stomach. 

What power do Pridgeon and Crostfree really possess that they could afford to cause Jane, a human, to experience the dimensions beyond the three? Even Presiders could not handle the oddities of those dimensions and would make them posses extremely nauseated! 

How did this woman withstand such sensation? Normally, humans can\'t even feel it. And if they can feel it, it would have made them fall flat on the floor!

The expressions of Lanterk pleased Jane greatly.

"Good! The plan is working. Phallic techs can screw you, huh? That means Zeraphine must have gone with that route and did Tactic Seventeen of Lowengren\'s Lies. Intimidate in arrogance. She presented herself to be more powerful and claimed to have access to some Phallic Techs. Now we know just how Zeraphine phrased her made-up knowledge of Phallic Techs." Jane thought as she smiled back.

"Anyway, Lanterk. The offer earlier was real. The tech that Zeraphine mentioned was something we Presiders don\'t have. So it would be interesting if you give the foundations science for those things. If you can shoot Seeker Carlean, Lynd Indigo, and Meryl Mikado, you won\'t have to give that tech.

"Seeker? Wait! Those four?"

"Of course! They are one of Pridgeon\'s experiments. One of the weaker powers of Phallic techs. This is also a test for you. We want to see just how powerful you are and if you have already achieved the power of the mind. And of course, it\'s one way for Presider Pridgeon to flex his techs a bit."

"A mere human dares to say those things? I am still a Presider. All you have done is wag your lips. How can I know that what you are saying is true?" Lanterk frowned.

Jane smiled and took out a small cylinder that had a very troublesome shape.

"Condensed application of Phallic Techs can screw you. This version does everything but does not alter the fourth and fifth dimensions. Presider Pridgeon assumed you\'d be able to explain it. Frankly, I don\'t. Presider said that it\'s like mastering the technology of heat to the point that I don\'t need fire itself. Is it like making fire underwater without fire? I don\'t understand. But he said if you do have Phallic techs, you\'d understand. Otherwise, what you claimed to know about Phallic Techs is only something Zeraphine hinted to you." Jane spouted some nonsense as she ruffled down her suit to reveal a metal case. She opened it and pulled out an object.

The strange black and cylindrical object with a strange design seemed to have no fluctuation. The scans show that it only contained what appeared to be living cells. But such techs were common. Biometal was a rather common tech for Presiders so that their weapons, exoskeletons, and armors could heal on their own.

Lanterk was curious. He needed to verify the truth of these things. Was Phallic tech actually true? Lanterk could not help but consider that Zeraphine, Pridgeon, and Crostfree could be working together. He needed the means to verify it.

"Where do you want me to test it? Should I screw you, as they would say?" Jane chuckled.

Lanterk raised his arm, used his powers to draw out Universe Energy, and created a strange cube.

"There." The metal cube was hovering in space, but through Jane\'s Unlocking, she could tell that this metal cube was not just hovering but was \'affixed\' in the specific location.

"Alright. Give me a sec. This tech is so primitive. So I have to worship it for a bit." Jane began to pray.

Lanterk was confused at the sudden action.

"Oh, Mighty Staff! Oh, Mighty Asherah! Pierce through!" Jane worshiped as she held the object towards the strange metal.

PENG!

A sudden loud force struck the cube and even created a small dent on it.

Lanterk felt his heart stop. There was no fluctuation, there was no alteration of the fabric of space, yet a strange force was generated that could even damage the steel formed from Universe Energy! There was no remaining residue of energy or anything that Lanterk could study. He kept quiet and was trying very hard not to grit his teeth.

He had seen it and believed. Phallic techs were real. The trigger to use that attack was so strange that even with his scanners, he could only see a strange heat building up, but the science of how the cylinder created the strange piercing attack made no sense.

The floating metal cube fell to the ground as the invisible force that was holding it disappeared.

"That is one interesting steel. It withstood such powerful screwing!" Jane commended as she bent down to take a closer look at the metal but dared not touch it.

"Will this kill me if I touch it?"

"No."

"I\'m not risking it. Are you going to take this metal and study it to understand the screwing science?" Jane suddenly asked.

"... Keep it. Tell Presider Pridgeon he has my respects for deceiving me." Lanterk wore an ugly expression which he didn\'t hide even from Jane. In fact, there was no use hiding it. With the revelation that Phallic techs were real, Lanterk had no choice but to act more lowkey and observe and possibly steal possible Phallic techs. He had Zeraphine and even this person. Lanterk even vowed that the recording he saw of the attack would be studied to understand the concept of screwing.

"Just be careful, Kid. Do you think every Presider that went here is weak? More than half of them should have powers that match or surpass yours. Zeraphine is one example. Don\'t think that your little facade has fooled everyone. Even before the fake death of Presider Crostfree, Presider Pridgeon has already sold the information about you on one other Presider. Of course, who it is is a secret, and I don\'t even know." Jane shook his head and stood up, ignoring the metal on the ground.

"I hope this proves whatever doubts you have. Anyway, I was tasked to join and play around with those three. I will be fighting Seeker and his team seriously. This meeting between the Progenitor and the Lost Primordial is quite exciting." Jane smiled.

"You can use any of those Exoskeletons. As stated, you can only use whatever weapon in that Exoskeleton. You could use whatever aiming science you have or whatnot. Just don\'t use techs that can shoot and kill. They only have machine guns anyway. So it\'s a fair fight." Jane went to the other side and began to suit up in an Exoskeleton ready to deploy.

Lanterk went and suited up faster than Jane and immediately deployed himself out of the Armory and into the sea.

Jane finally sighed.

"I did it. I managed to fool a Presider. The book that Lowengren works.. And it seems I managed to give Seeker a powerful steel that they can study! Now they\'ll definitely approve deploying me to Egypt!" Jane smiled as she deployed herself into the ocean.