Mir's report contained a more pronounced change.

Extent of Infection: 9%

Rate of Saturation: 72%

Viral Compatibility: Very Low

Cerebral Disturbance: 0.65%

Brainwave Disturbance: 0.03%

Mutation Potential: grade- 1

Evolution Potential: Currently incalculable

Overall Score on Evolution Standard Scale: 13%

Many of his stats had changed, improved by ten to twenty percent. There were several new stats added to this list too, stats which he had only seen in Murray's report before. Despite having a general idea of what they meant, he still asked Murray for an explanation.

"Hey, why do two of your stats show comparative statistical results while displaying my stats numerically?"

"Oh, you mean the Brainwave Disturbance and Cerebral Disturbance stats, right?" Murray immediately understood which stats he was talking about.

"First tell me what you remember about these stats from your classes. We need to touch the basics first."

Taking a moment to recall the info, Mir began to recite them from his memory.

"The Brainwave disturbance refers to the biochemical flow of data inside our brain, mostly confined to our neural network activities. The disturbance in brainwaves is created when the intake of contaminated food attacks our brain with its hallucinatory properties once the virus begins to infect us. The brainwave disturbance stat grows with the level of hallucinations, in other words, how much mental disturbance the food can cause us each time. The people who give in to the temptations are the benchmark of the highest range a disturbance can reach without outright destroying our neural network. Statistical data says the range of the highest disturbance we can endure without losing our sanity is around 35%–50%."

"Good answer. And what about the Cerebral Disturbance?"

"The cerebral disturbance refers to the disturbance experienced by the MRI waves while passing through the cerebral region. The deviations of these waves differ between ordinary people and superhuman brains. It is believed that the deviation is caused by the residue of the brainwave disturbance. The closer one's mental state is to a Transcendent, the bigger the deviation his MRI wave report will show. So this stat also increases with the growth of evolution standard score."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Murray nodded in satisfaction.

"Nice to see you've not a lost cause yet. Now, you wanted to know why your disturbance stats are shown numerically while mine are displayed as below average and above average, right?"

"Yeah, the textbooks never mentioned there's a division like that."

"This change appears when your body undergoes so much change that the disturbance caused in your brainwaves cannot be calculated accurately. Remember what I said about people having different types of experiences with their hallucinations? It's almost like a unique identity caused by our genetic structures. Different brains handle hallucinations differently. The researchers haven't yet been able to establish a scale for it other than using statistical data for comparison. The Brainwave Disturbance stat usually takes in the residual effects of the hallucinations, the timespan it took to break out of it, and the amount of abnormality in the brainwaves compared to previous episodes and other explorers with the same evolution standard score. So once your brain becomes used to frequent hallucinatory attacks, the changes they cause in your brainwaves become harder to calculate on a numerical basis. That's why, values like Very Low, Below Average, Average, Above Average, Extremely High, etc. have been popularized for the laymen who wouldn't understand the medical data in the original report. The case is the same with the Cerebral Disturbance Stat. When your brain begins to develop towards a mutation, an enhanced brain that only superhumans can possess, it begins to grow resistant to the MRI waves in the general range of intensity. The deviation this resistance causes is measured in numerical value initially. But once past the initial stage, we can only rely on comparative analysis to understand the general situation."

Mir was enlightened. No wonder the textbooks didn't contain much details! So much of the information sounded like guesswork! And ordinary kids who had no experience of the process of turning into a superhuman might not even comprehend the value of the information.

"Can we glean a rough numeric value if we learn to decipher the raw report?" he said eagerly. Personally, he preferred numeric data over comparative stats. It seemed more transparent.

"I don't know. I don't see the point in trying to do so. Be my guest if you want to."

Shrugging, Murray led the way out of the chambers. Mir knew what he was about to do. But the plan felt so ridiculous that he didn't think it would accomplish much.

Reno, who was waiting outside in the reception chamber, stood up anxiously. Mir had sent him a message revealing half of their plan. He had only told him that Murray was being targeted by some people, and intended to reach the top of the Evolution Standard Scale by the next 48 hours to make a breakthrough to the Transcendent stage. Before doing it, he wanted to reexamine his current stats.

"Why are you still here? Didn't I tell you to meet us at the rendezvous point in the grassland?" Murray growled in a frustrated tone as soon as his eyes landed on Reno. His voice wasn't low, attracting the attention of most of the explorers in the chamber.

Reno looked confused. Walking over to them, he replied in a low voice, "Did you forget the bees in there? They'll be in a frenzied state once the news of the queen's death spreads to the entire swarm. Who'd be stupid enough to-"

Murray shoved him back with a grunt.

"If you want to stay in the team, you need to follow the leader's commands. I didn't tell you to go expose yourself to the bees. I instructed you to meet us there, and with how dark it is outside, doing that isn't so much of a risk that you should flat-out disobey the instructions. How the hell am I going to reach the peak of my Evolution Standard Score if you two don't cooperate with me? This is a very delicate period for me right now. The Purplevein honey got my stats very close to the peak. Even if it turns out to be impossible to cross the 99% bottleneck within the next 48 hours, I'll still make the attempt to reach the Transcendent tier. Mir explained the situation to you, did he not? Did you even think about the gravity of the situation, you idiot?"

Murray's rant ended with an enraged shout as he sped out of the chamber, headed towards the woods outside. Grabbing Reno and the taking half the baggage from him, Mir followed him.

He felt pretty terrible. Reno had all the reasons to be concerned for his own safety. Murray was just using him as a tool to display his resolve to the watchful eyes that might be hiding in the crowd. If they didn't want to deal with a Transcender, they would have a 48-hour timeframe to attack Mir and Murray from this moment.

The venue has been set. The time limit has been placed. The team members have been displayed. The team leader's strategy has been revealed.

All that was left now, was their opponent's move.