Murray's befuddlement didn't last as long as his. After just one long, good look at the stats report, Murray handed both over to the booth in front of the second auditorium.
Coming back to his senses, Mir grabbed him by the arm and hissed, "What do you think is happening here? Why is-"
"Later. I can make an educated guess, that's all. But not here."
Murray dragged him over to stand in a line to enter the second auditorium. Another couple minutes later, their assessment was registered inside the auditorium, letting them in.
A worker handed each of them a booklet and scanned their backpacks for any forbidden items. Usually, heavily destructive weapons like bombs, machine guns, gas grenades, and flamethrowers weren't allowed inside for the sake of preserving wildlife. One could at most take some armor-piercing ammunition, several types of common handguns, cold weapons, and trapping equipment. Sacred artifacts were also heavily screened, both brothers found out. Mir's diary went through a ten-minute-long assessment procedure, with a virtual meeting call sent to the Church to confirm that this diary indeed belonged to them.
The artifact Murray had been handed by the Church turned out to be a wooden shield with a radius of two feet. Mir couldn't ask what was this shield's gimmick openly, but Murray's worried expression as he took it out made him reach the conclusion that it probably wasn't anything they could comfortably rely on inside the Sacred Ground.
They spent a total of fifteen minutes inside the second auditorium, receiving plenty of unwanted attention from both the workers and the adventurers there.
After the assessment auditorium lay the final hallway, where their license and communicator devices were inspected by some towering, armed guards.
The inspection hallway ended in front of a high concrete platform attached to half a dozen railway tracks. Half of the tracks were empty, but at the head of the other three tracks, there were three armored trains, each of them nearly fifty meters long. The design looked much more modern than the locomotives Mir was used to seeing inside the city. The windows were covered with steel nets, the underside of the train was well shielded too, and there were even some unmanned weapons fitted on the top and at the back, covering every side in their scope.
At the platform, many people chose to wait and form teams of three or more to help each other out inside the Sacred Ground. There was also a supply store at a corner of the platform where many necessities could be purchased. Mir knew they were short on some supplies too, but Murray stopped him.
After speaking to one of the soldiers walking around the platform, he grabbed Mir to head to platform no. 3.
"This one will leave before the other two. We shouldn't sit around waiting for the...hunters to come accompany us on the very same train. What we need now is a head start."
Mir was in for another round of surprise upon entering the train. Unlike regular trains, the seats here were much more spacious, leaving a wide room between every row. Each bogey contained only five rows, twenty seats in total.
After crossing several bogeys, Murray chose the most populated one following the logic that none of their pursuers would be sitting inside a random bogey to wait for them. There were only three seats available in this bogey, which meant that only another person after them could take a seat here, whom they'd be able to keep an eye on easily.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Murray was used to entering riding in these trains. He quickly began to interact with some of the occupants nearby. Meanwhile, Mir quickly pulled out the copy of his stats report to get a proper look this time.
Extent of Infection: 7%
Viral Compatibility: Very Low
Rate of Saturation: 72%
Cerebral Disturbance: 0.5%
Brainwave Disturbance: None detected
Overall Score on Evolution Standard Scale: 12%
"Fucking hell...the last time I had a nightmare about my evolution standard score, it was still higher than this!"
Mir's horrified whisper made Murray turn his attention back on him.
"Yeah, that's the lowest score I've ever seen anyone get," he commented worriedly.
"Why don't I have that mutation potential state in my report?" Mir asked. "Your report shows that."
"Because only eating enough meat of a certain type of mutated creatures can earn you a potential route of mutation. Most people like us choose to hunt one of the meaty animals commonly found here, like Ice Buffalo, the Glutton Boas, or the Aerial Deer species... All grade- 1 of course. We don't have the capability to hunt creatures ranked grade- 2 or above. That's too risky."
"What type of creature did you hunt that week, then?" Mir said in excitement.
"I hunted Glutton Boas, mostly. They tend to be slow due to their mutated stomach which can store ten times more food compared to ordinary boas. As you can guess from the name, they like to keep that stomach filled to the brim."
Puzzled, Mir couldn't help saying, "Then why the hell doesn't everyone hunt it? It would be wiped out if hunting it was so easy, right?"
Murray shook his head with a derisive expression.
"The Glutton Boa actually has a very high potential to reach a new tier of evolution. Between the ordinary boa to that theorized evolved species, the current Glutton Boa can be considered a connecting bridge, a transitioning phase. Their superior potential allows even grade- 1 boas to sometimes attain an extra mutant ability...which is fairly deadly for a Code-Green Sacred Ground. Unless someone is confident of being able to counter this extra ability, they wouldn't go around attacking boa nests. There is no way to differentiate these extra-powerful ones from the ordinary Gluttons that can only hunt like normal boas."
Enlightened, Mir was about to ask something else when he realized that Murray being able to hunt and eat Glutton Boas meant he could defend himself against that extraordinary mutant ability.
"What is this extra ability, exactly?" he said, curiosity burning.
"Well, the exact science behind the ability hasn't been uncovered yet by the scientists working here. All I've seen while hunting is that the special Glutton Boas can sort of skip the distance between them and their prey. It's almost like teleportation, but the distance is only a few meters at best each time they use the ability. Some boas, usually those in grade- 2, can repeat the ability multiple times in a row. So if you ever face a grade- 2 Glutton Boa, run for your fucking life and zigzag as frequently as you can. In the case of grade- 1 Gluttons Boas, I usually maintain a distance of fifteen meters at the minimum while hunting them. Unlike me, you don't have the permit to kill them according to your license, so I suggest you stay double that distance away when we meet one. Leave the hunting bit to me, for now."
Mir's eyes gradually grew wide as he entertained a possibility.
"Hey, big bro, what if you shared part of the meat with me when you hunt one? I can grow all my stats too while you try to grow your Extent of Infection stat!"
Murray rolled his eyes.
"And where will you find a Virus Neutralizer Manual here in the wild? Absorbing mutant meat full of active viruses would be too risky without a Neutralizer Manual in hand; did you forget the basic stuff they teach in College? You don't want to turn into another victim of the Sun's curse, do you? The Sacred Grounds aren't shielded from the sunlight. Someone like you who has no experience in controlling your senses from giving in to the temptation of the curse will end up as an abomination in five minutes, little brother. Not a single adventurer here would eat mutated meat without a manual in hand, or without professional training from other Transcenders."
"Do you have a manual right now?" Mir pointed at his bags.
"No, but Father Vincentious trained me, remember? Before entering the Sacred Ground as a Trainee Deacon, I already knew how to ward off my mind against the temptation to let my genes mutate freely according to the genetic structures available in the digested mutant meat. You have no idea how hard it is to control the urges to give in. You're someone who can't even ditch a lewd game knowing fully well how much harm it is doing to your mental state and your academic performance. I have absolutely zero hope of you being able to put up a defense against any kind of temptations, let alone supernatural ones."
"But you're still risking it, though. You're gonna eat plenty of mutated meat in the upcoming days here. Your training might not hold up when you reach a tipping point!" Mir became more worried for Murray as the realization hit him.
But Murray looked calm.
"When my Extent of Infection crosses the 85% mark, I'll send Father Vincentious a mail from my communicator. He'll get the Church's permission to send me a digital copy of the manual, hehehe. One way or another, I'll leave this Sacred Ground as a Transcender."