"No wonder that snake didn't chase after us or try to leave the valley to attack us. It needs to make sure nothing enters its territory until its promotion to grade- 4 is completed," Mir said, his voice shaky.

The two of them were camping quite far away from the valley. After the grade- 3 Glutton Boa had reentered its pool of gene stimulants, Murray had collected several dead Boas and dragged the injured Mir to a safe distance. The mouth of the valley was now completely occupied by countless raging grade- 1 and grade- 2 Boas. It wasn't a safe area for anyone, not even Transcenders.

"We may have just seen the factor that can upgrade the rank of this sacred ground from Code-Green to Code-Red," Murray muttered while roasting a tiny Glutton Boa.

Mir agreed. Code-Green sacred grounds were thought of as ordinary because they didn't host any creatures above the mutant class, in other words, above grade- 3. Even some Code-Red sacred grounds didn't have grade- 4 monsters, just too many grade- 2 and grade- 3 mutants that made them a dangerous place for ordinary people and transcenders alike.

There were few grade- 3 mutants in this sacred ground, but if a grade- 4 appeared suddenly, its danger rating would obviously have to be re-evaluated.

Facing a grade- 3 mutant, Murray had been able to save his skin despite being a normal human who could barely control some relatively harmless bees. This was both a testament to his experience in hunting Glutton Boas and a proof of the fact that despite having a terrifying appearance, grade- 3 mutants were still creatures that could be fought with ordinary means.

If Murray had been a transcender with several powerful creatures in his soulslot, he wouldn't even have to escape desperately. But it was still an impressive feat, how he had saved Mir at the very last second and distracted the huge mutant so skillfully. Mir had to wonder how much experience one would need in handling these boas to be able to accurately predict their supernatural fighting techniques. Murray had hardly suffered any notable injuries during that thirty-second 'fight'.

Expression downcast, Mir applied some blood-clotting gel to his wound. It seemed like he wouldn't be able to run anytime soon. The injury would have a lasting effect even if a professional doctor were to help him right now.

Thankfully, boas weren't venomous creatures. Otherwise, he would've become a corpse by now.

"Hey, Murray, don't you think we should hide the raft? I know the channel it is on right now is pretty hard to navigate through the mountains, but if anyone sees it, they'll eventually be able to track us down, right?"

He was still worried about their pursuers. Just because he had left a false lead for them to chase after didn't mean they were safe.

Murray considered the proposal and shook his head in the end.

"Hiding it doesn't provide us with any advantages, other than concealing our tracks temporarily. Those guys probably have some methods to trace us. So we can't stay in one place for too long. And we do need the raft if we want to traverse deeper into the sacred ground. There are too many streams, rivers, and lakes ahead. Walking on land is gonna slow us down and give them an easier time in tracking us."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"But floating in the rivers makes us way more visible to anyone, right? Even if they can't catch us, they can keep an eye on us all the time with their Stormfront crows," Mir said in protest.

"It hardly amounts to something if all they're capable of doing is keeping an eye on us. I'm more worried about powerful transcenders coming to assist them since their current team has failed repeatedly. If any transcender capable of flight or long-distance assault finds us, we're doomed. Unless..."

"Unless?"

Murray pulled the roasted boa away from the fire and began to eat it voraciously. Between the bites, he concluded, "Unless I become a transcender as well, a transcender who can fight any airborne enemy."

Mir's eyes narrowed. The Glutton Boas were an excellent species when it came to esoteric mutations. Since a human explorer's future mutations depended on their diet, Murray, who has been devouring Glutton Boas since his first venture into the sacred ground would eventually undergo a mutation similar to these snakes when he became a Transcender.

Why did everything fit in so perfectly? It was as if Murray had been planning this entire hide-and-chase scenario since the first time he had set foot inside sacred ground no. 6 as a trainee Deacon last month.

"Murray."

"Yeah?"

"Can you use that gene-stimulant pool inside the valley to undergo your promotion to the Transcendent tier?"

"...Theoretically, it is possible. There are records of such feats achieved by some humans during desperate times. But it isn't something I'd do if I were given other choices. A gene-stimulant matrix is both an opportunity and a source of danger. It is much safer to just accumulate a small collection of fresh, highly contaminated food, marinate them under the sunlight and then consume them all at once to make an attempt to stimulate your body. If the promotion is possible, you'll reach the transcendent-tier. If your body can't handle the promotion, or the mutation caused by the promotion....well, goodbye.Tata."

"Is it true that the children of aristocratic families undergo their promotion to the Transcendent tier inside cutting-edge laboratories where the researchers prepare an artificial gene-stimulant matrix for each of them?" Mir said, recalling some gossip he had read once on an entertainment network.

Murray nodded.

"I met a guy like that in the jail. Youngest son of a clan that has multiple seats in the Circle of Commonwealth. Got sentenced to three years for accidentally making three ordinary humans explode into a puddle of blood and meat. He told me that the gene-stimulant matrix his parents purchased for him from a private lab was faulty, making him undergo a nearly uncontrollable mutation."

"...Three years for making three men explode?" Mir wondered aloud.

"It was in self-defense. Those guys were trying to rob him, not realizing that he was a transcender. Since he couldn't control his mutation well, the result was...kaboom!"

Mir wore a half-disgusted, half-intrigued expression as he visualized the scene. What creatures would one need to consume if he wanted to earn the ability to make people explode?

"And by the way, Mir. Did you forget that you have as little time as I do? You need to race against your plant! It sounds fairly intelligent, from what you've told me. If that plant gets a tiny degree stronger, it's going to assault your neural network through the spiritual connection you've formed with it. Do you still have the bottle of honey with you?"

Reminded by Murray, Mir went through the contents of his backpack. The bottle was still there, but unfortunately, it had cracked at some point during the rough ride Mir had been through. Much of the honey had leaked out, soaking the bottom of the bag.

The bees surrounding them had an intense reaction upon seeing the cracked bottle. A loud, furious hum rose from the swarm.

Murray had to quickly order his Queen Bee to placate the potential rebellion. But it didn't seem to have much effect. She was a new queen, after all. The bees didn't have an absolute allegiance to her.

"Tell your queen bee to tell her compatriots that they can drink from the bottle too," Mir said to Murray.

"You need it, though," Murray replied.

"Not necessarily. Since I already have a mutant companion creature, I don't need to accumulate an affinity with the Purplevein Bees by drinking their honey. I'm not planning to make a contract with another Purplevein Queen Bee. What I need to do now is to refine my mental fortitude by experiencing hallucinations. Any contaminated food can do that."

Sighing, Murray relayed his words to the queen. This seemed to placate the bees, finally. Many of them landed around the bag and began to drink mouthfuls from the cracked bottle.

Mir pulled out his red diary and checked it for damages.

None. The diary wasn't even wet despite having been dragged through the water, unlike the rest of the contents of the backpack.

"Once you're done with your hallucination attack, I'll have some Glutton Boa meat as well," Mir declared as he watched the bees drink.