Outside the train, the dusk's weak light illuminated the surroundings, barely able to penetrate the woods that were growing denser every kilometer.

Not too far away from where they had disembarked, a triangle-shaped tower rose above the loose canopy, a bright red light on its topmost point glowing to attract the attention of any explorer nearby. These were the data towers.

Since Mir and Murray hadn't brought many supplies from outside, they chose to purchase some from the tower here. Taking Reno with them, they walked over to it and found a very well-shielded two-storied building covering the base of the main tower.

Only one soldier was stationed here, and he didn't even seem to be a transcender. With a bored expression, he showed them around the supply storage, citing prices from memory. Murray chose to buy some medicine for indigestion, migraine, and insect repellent lotions. Reno shiftily bought a packet of what appeared to be paralyzing drugs.

Neither Reno, nor Mir had the permission to kill mutant creatures even if they were attacked unprovoked. These paralyzing drugs were their best bet at being able to get closer to a mutant creature and attempt to form a contractual bond with them. Mir hadn't thought about this method till now because he was expecting Murray to help him subdue the creatures. But seeing Reno buy the drugs, he couldn't help prodding Murray.

"Should we buy something like that too? You know, for safety and all..."

But Murray immediately shook his head.

"This method is something only an inexperienced explorer would try after browsing some online forums for advice. Ordinary people on their lonesome can only rely on this method to be fully safe while attempting to form contracts with the mutant creatures. But most explorers who have subdued a mutant creature directly without such tricks know that beasts respect an open defeat. A loss after a physical, violet brawl psychologically weakens most animals. So when you subdue one that way and try to form a contract, the creature has lesser resistance towards the invasion of your mental influence into its mind. If it is one of those sorts that live in packs or hives, then the creature will perceive you as the new alpha, a new king or queen. Its loyalty in that way would be pretty reliable. On the other hand, a creature that doesn't even realize how it was defeated would be extremely volatile and prone to mental disturbance when you try to form a contract with it. It will unleash every bit of its fury and denial of the defeat through the mental connection you form with it, making the attempted contract very difficult to establish. And even if you succeed, the creature may not be fully loyal to you. It will at best recognize you as an equal to the alpha of its pack, or a member of the Royal lineage in its hive. Let's say you take that creature to hunt more of its kind on its home turf. The moment the actual alpha or King orders it to betray you, it most probably will."

Murray's voice wasn't low while he explained the fault with Reno's strategy. Mir could see Reno's expression growing dark with every sentence coming out of Murray's mouth.

Seeing his hesitant face, the soldier at the reception counter chuckled decisively and said, "No refunds."

"...It's okay. I'll still use them for now," Reno muttered.

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The three of them waited a few more minutes inside the data tower for the sunlight to grow weaker. It was pretty humid outside and none of them wanted to go trek into the jungle wearing sunlight-repelling jackets. Those few who had disembarked at this stop with them had all begun to venture deeper by now. None of their teammates could be seen from the tower anymore as the darkness of night spread unstoppably.

"We're not delving into the woods ahead just yet. There isn't anything worth hunting around here. Let's go to the stream nearby. We need something to bait our targets."

Mir felt that Murray might have meant that in more than one way. The two of them followed their experienced team leader, both using their communicators to track themselves on the map.

The stream 'nearby' was actually more than a kilometer away. But to their surprise, the entire region wasn't full of tall trees and difficult terrains.

"Hey! Is that a house over there?" Reno pointed out a wreckage surrounded by thick vegetation at the edge of a flat expanse of grassland.

"Of course. Do you think these sacred grounds were unoccupied places before the sun's curse fell on the planet? We had nine billion humans living on a landmass of 250 Million square kilometers. Very few portions of it didn't have inhabitants. Many sacred grounds have been discovered upon the ruins of once-flourishing cities and towns. And those are the most dangerous ones; so dangerous in fact that most of the information about such sacred grounds is kept in a classified database," Murray replied in a low voice.

"How did you come to know of them, then?" Mir said.

"Even as a trainee Deacon, we are given...a wider access to information networks than ordinary folks. Since the government controls most of the classified databases, the networks you need to access to learn things like that are also well-protected, kept in different domains. Don't you ever read the conspiracy theories in your entertainment networks?"

Everyone had more or less some idea about such networks existing outside regular open networks. But ordinary people couldn't really find any profit from trying to pursue the information in such networks. Even if someone was bored and managed to hack into one, all they'd find would be classified info about sacred grounds, advanced mutations, exploration reports, expedition data, etc.

Only a transcender with a high capability could use these data. But such transcenders would definitely be affiliated with the government or an institution that could access these databases legally anyway. Throughout the last century, it was only the government and the institutions approved by it that had managed to cultivate superhumans of that level of power.

This phenomenon had really narrowed the market for such information.

"Why would a sacred ground sitting on top of ruined cities be more dangerous- OH!"

Reno was about to ask something, but he paused, having realized the possible answer to it already.

Murray laughed. "Yep! It is what you're thinking. A sacred ground means at least one taboo zone. A taboo zone causes mental disturbance in any creatures nearby, if nothing else to add to that. With the sun's curse being activated suddenly, how many people in a busy city could survive when wild, endless mutations begin to take over? The taboo zones would weaken all of them mentally, and the temptation to mutate will run rampant. Abominations would be born in thousands, and their kill count would reach hundreds of thousands. The infection would spread through the violence. Even a city of millions would have nothing but meaty monstrosities left in it."

Mir and Reno remained silent for a long time, trying to imagine that scene while feeling that they shouldn't.

"It would have been interesting if our history classes included that sort of stuff," Mir muttered finally, breaking the silent trek.

"It would be, yes. But what good would it do? It was a century ago. The dead have become specks of dust. Brooding over those violent stories of the past would bring nothing but sorrow and hatred. Negative emotions fester into rigid perspectives. Rigid perspectives are the greatest instruments of war. So who do we wage the war against? Who do we blame for the curse, the tragedies it caused? The mutant animals? The virus itself? The sun?"

Murray's agitated questions put out the stuffy, fiery knots forming in their hearts.

"In the face of the cold machinations of the universe, a civilization is not much more than a moving toy, I suppose," Reno whispered with a sigh.

Mir shook the unnecessary thoughts out of his head and looked at the screen of his communicator. They were very close to their destination. The stream was just on the other side of the flat expanse.

Right when they were about to walk past the edge of the grassland, Murray stopped suddenly and crouched down, prompting Mir and Reno to do the same.

"Beehive. Thirty meters away, on the thin, slanted tree. I've seen it before. Those bees were poisonous even before their mutation. Look up the data on Purplevein Bees in your software."

Both Mir and Reno hastily typed in the letters, waiting for the result to load and wondering how sharp one's eyes had to be to identify that mass of darkness stuck on that tree so far away.