Mystical Journey

Garen explained the functions of the Distorted Seed in a simple manner, which immediately gave the few people inside the Ship chills. Was this not another version of a Predator?

As someone who could research cells like these, Garen had started to faintly exude the air of a mad scientist. This made the small group of people revere him even more.

"All of you need to be careful because I won't be able to control him after he changes," Garen reminded them seriously.

Indeed, the Distorted Seed could lengthen a person's lifespan after they consumed it. Measures like this could indeed be individual means to save someone who had fallen into a state of complete despair. After all, the hosts of the parasitic Distorted Seeds would not become monsters immediately. As long as Garen did not activate it, it would not activate itself either. Therefore, it could live a steady life like a normal human. Moreover, the great qualities that were brought on by the Distorted Seed were beneficial towards humans. Two examples of this were the female student that was a host of the parasitic Distorted Seed in the Inner Courtyard and Inari, the commander of the mercenary group that was given a special mission. As long as Garen did not activate the Seeds, both of them would continue being his spies who would not be discovered by others.

It was unfortunate that Garen had undergone the process of being ambushed too early and could not activate these hidden forces in time. All of these changes happened too quickly.

After solving Fanny's issue, Garen realized immediately that the few people here were looking at him slightly differently now. Although his image had now turned into that of a mad scientist, these measures were still considered by the crowd as the ultimate life-saving solution even when they were not wounded with fatal injuries! Within harsh environments like the radiation belt, no one would mind turning into a monster as long as it meant that they could continue surviving. Moreover, this was also a chance for them to become stronger.

After looking at everyone's bewildered expressions, Garen returned to the cockpit quickly. Malone and East Perrin were still determinedly piloting the Flying Ship forward in a fixed direction

"How did it go?" asked East Perrin.

"It's solved," Garen exhaled and sat down. "How much longer before we arrive?"

"We might need a few more hours but we don't know if this thing will be able to hold itself together until we reach the place" continued Malone beside him. "Leo City was destroyed and we're the only few people left. Next time…"

"What are you scared of? We managed to survive even though there were only so few of us! Next time, as long as it's safe enough and we have food and water, won't it be easy for us to recruit others?" replied East Perrin nonchalantly.

"The Predator Waves was not a small issue that would only occur in one or two places," interrupted Garen abruptly.

"What do you mean?" East Perrin glanced at Garen in shock.

"I was talking about the Predator Waves," Garen looked her in the eye firmly and spat out the words individually. "This isn't a simple issue that only occurs in one or two regions. Predators are currently on every inch of the Mother Planet. Every single region has cut off communication with the outside world and even trash isn't sent outside anymore, do you understand?"

The arrival of this information was too sudden, causing East Perrin to almost forget that she was currently piloting the Flying Ship. She had nearly loosened her grip and almost allowed the Flying Ship to crash on the ground below.

"It isn't just happening now. The Predator Waves will sustain themselves for a long time," said Garen simply. "Predators that can fly might even appear next time and those that can breathe underwater might appear in the sea. That will be truly disastrous. They break out once every other hundred years."

East Perrin steadied the Flying Ship and blanked out for a short while before looking at Malone.

"It's true," sighed Malone while nodding.

"It's true?" East Perrin was slightly sluggish now.

The entire planet was filled with Predators. Other than the regions, there were no other places that were completely safe. Where would they go?

"Why do you think any of those regions haven't expanded despite having such powerful forces? They could purify the radioactive areas slowly but none of them have done that. It's because of the Predator Waves that occur every hundred years," Malone explained. "I experienced it once previously."

Experienced it once?

Garen glanced at this old man in a rather surprised manner. Was this fellow saying that he was actually more than a hundred years old? This was not a simple feat under the circumstance that the average lifespan within the radiation belt was only seventy to eighty years old. If this man was actually able to live for more than a hundred years, one could well imagine that he had a story behind it.

"We need a secure base. If that mountaintop is unsuitable, we need to think of another solution!" said Garen certainly. "I don't wish to die by the hands of those unintelligent pieces of garbage."

"I feel the same way," said Malone in a low voice. "I've lived for more than a hundred years but I still want to live for a longer period of time. I don't plan on dying yet."

"Stupid old man, if you don't want to die yet despite already living for such a long time, it's less likely that young people like us are thinking of dying!" East Perrin rejuvenated immediately. Since her previous days were already tainted with blood from the edge of her blade, it made no difference that her current days were only slightly more dangerous.

"Right now, I'm only hoping that there won't be any Predators in the place that we're going to…" said Garen simply.

"No one lives there. If there aren't any people, there shouldn't be any Predators either…" said East Perrin hesitantly.

***********************

On the dark gray grassy plains, an abnormally shaped black stone mountain stood upright on the grass quietly.

The mountain resembled a gigantic black rock that was stabbed into the ground while upside down. It was shaped like a trapezoid while the surface of its terrain was filled with bumpy potholes that resembled bullet holes. The strangest part of it was the presence of a thin canyon that could be used as a walkway up to the side of the body of the mountain. The other parts were nothing but sheer cliffs and overhanging rocks while an abundance of various types of moss grew on the surface of the hollow pits. Therefore, the cliff was extremely slippery, making it impossible for people to climb it or hang ropes there.

The body of the entire mountain looked like a pyramid that had been smashed upside down by a giant. However, this strange shape was able to stand on the ground extremely firmly.

Currently, on the grassy plains near the body of the mountain, a damaged, shuttle shaped Flying Ship that was filled with patches was crookedly flying towards the only canyon path near the mountaintop. The Flying Ship that was only slightly longer than ten meters merely resembled a little earthworm in comparison to the mountain that was more than a hundred meters tall. Their size difference was not worth mentioning at all.

If it was not for the eye-catching black smoke that was coming out of the back of the Flying Ship, there was a probability that no one would be able to easily discover this terribly damaged little Flying Ship that seemed as though it would explode at any moment.

"It's here."

Inside the cockpit of the Flying Ship, Sinno spoke excitedly and pointed at the mountain in front while standing behind the trio that were seated.

"This is the place I visited previously! This place is very strange because blades of grass don't grow on the mountain. Instead, only slippery moss grows here. If it wasn't for my good fortune previously, I don't know how I would've managed to climb up. I don't think I would've been able to survive until today," she said in a slightly glad tone.

"Do you have any other valuable information?" asked Garen quietly. "Regarding this mountain, what other dangers are there? Or other places that we should pay attention to?"

"I don't know, I'm only aware that this mountain is extremely slippery. However, it won't be slippery anymore once you've climbed to the flat ground at the top of the mountain. The moss only grows on the slopes and cliffs, making this place an ideal base," Sinno shook her head.

"Let's climb up then," Garen nodded and signaled East Perrin and Malone to start accelerating before flying towards the mountain's sole little path.

The Flying Ship faintly shook for awhile and tilted before it began to climb up the black mountain. The strange canyon provided the only path that led up to the mountaintop. There were tall, straight cliffs and mountain walls on both sides, leaving a little path in the middle of the canyon that was not even ten meters wide. It seemed as though people had dug it out so that they could go up and down the mountain.

The Flying Ship climbed up the middle of the canyon and approached the center of mountain closer.

Soon, a winding stream appeared on the right side. It flowed down along the ground of the mountain slowly. The stream was very small and only as wide as an opened palm. However, it would not be a problem for it to fill the needs of the few people that were currently here. There would not be any problems as long as they used the water purifier to filter it.

When they saw the water, the agitated people inside the Flying Ship calmed down immediately. In the radiation belt, the thing that frightened them the most was a lack of water.

"There's a small lake that collects water throughout the year at the top. A water source is not a problem at all," added Sinno. "This is a key reason why I said this place would make the most suitable base. However, the quality of the water here isn't very good. It's likely that it'll be highly radioactive even after being filtered."

"If we can't even secure our lives now, it doesn't matter if we end up drinking some highly radioactive water as long as we can continue surviving. A shorter lifespan is still better than death!" huffed Malone. "How is Fanny's condition?"

"He's quietened down and his condition has improved. He should be better after a few more days." When she said this, Sinno's gaze had simply brightened when she looked at Garen. Other than gratitude, there was also a longing for this terrifying self-healing ability that could be seen in her eyes. In the radiation belt, someone who possessed regenerative abilities like these could simply increase their rate of survival by more than half!

"Don't look at me like that. You'll see how troublesome it will be in the future," Garen shook his head.

When the Distorted Seed went crazy, he would not be able to control it when it went on a killing spree against any living thing. Garen himself was afraid of that insanity as well.

He shook his head again when he thought of that.

The Flying Ship was gradually reaching the mountaintop soon. As the high density glass in front turned from darkness to light, the entire Flying Ship flew out of the little canyon path quickly and arrived at the mountaintop immediately.

The mountaintop was a large stretch of empty black flat ground. There were some bumpy pits while water had accumulated in certain areas. There was a huge lake at the right edge of the mountain. Two narrow streams flowed down both sides of the lake. One of the streams was the one that they had seen earlier while the other one cascaded down the cliff of the mountain. It looked like a white ribbon that was suspended from the cliff which was constantly being blown by the wind.

The most beautiful one of these water sources was the lake that had a diameter of at least one hundred meters. It was completely azure as the highly radioactive lake water produced a pure blue color that resembled the sky. There were no grassy plants inside except for the abundance of moss. All of the moss was blue as if the were the true reason behind the blueness of the lake water.

When looking at the lake from afar, schools of tiny black fish could be seen swimming about freely.

"What a good place!" Garen could not help but praise it as well.

"The radiation levels are twice as high as the flat ground. More severe side effects of the radiation illness will appear if you spend more than three days here," said Malone while furrowing his brows when he saw the Flying Ship's sensors that were detecting the radiation levels here. "No wonder none of the radioactive people came up to live here. This place looks beautiful but it's actually a hell hole!"

The tilted Flying Ship decelerated to a steady pace gradually before finally stopping at the edge of the lake slowly.

"I'm going down to take a look." At this moment, Garen had released the Cold Radiation that he was concealing within his body earlier. He walked out of the cockpit under the strange and amazed gazes of the two others.

"Mr. Garen is truly a mad scientist. The ability to modify himself into this state is… truly… amazing!" A strange look had appeared in Malone's eyes. He had never expected to spend so much time beside a person who was so highly radioactive while being able to remain in good health himself. Moreover, this highly radioactive person had neither serious illnesses or weaknesses nor had he lost his mind and turned into a Predator. This was the strangest part that made people wonder about him.

"Mr. Garen is our hope now," nodded East Perrin with a look on her face that indicated that this was not an accident at all because she had seen this scene long ago.