26: Fire In The Hole

"Why were you acting like an idiot around Priest Vincent?" Mir asked as he was leaving Murray's bedroom. "Proposing to purify your extent of infection below your extent of saturation? Seriously?"

Murray winced. "I might have overdone that one. But he probably didn't suspect anything. There's a reason why I chose priest Vincent out of all the options I could've gone for. He's not the most cunning man in Sunbreaker's Church, but he's desperate, and a bit of a gambler. At his age, the only thing that matters to him is the project he has put a decade of hardwork into."

"How many options did you have, other than Father Vincent?" Mir asked, eyes narrowing. Becoming a transcender was not as easy as Murray was making it sound, especially for those like him with criminal records.

"Half a dozen, at least," Murray replied casually. "Enough questions now. Go get some sleep. We've got to test out my new ability tomorrow, remember? It's gonna be a long, exciting day."

Noticing the malicious grin forming on his face, Mir almost felt envious. He couldn't wait for his own mutation– no, his own soulbeast!

The next morning, while they were covertly planning to leave the house to go to the nearest sunlit area, Murin kicked Murray's bedroom door open. Facing their unimpressed stares, she plainly declared, "I'm going with you. I want to see."

On a different occasion, neither brother would have agreed to let her tag along. But learning first-hand about mutations was a precious opportunity, and there was no reason to deprive her of the benefits.

So an hour later, all three siblings appeared at the same place where Mir and Murray had experimented with the diary yesterday. Murray's body hadn't recovered by much, a fact that was getting worrisome. They weren't sure if it really was as Father Vincent had said– weakness caused by trapped energy streams, or whether the innovative nature of Murray's mutation had harmed his body somehow.

The brothers didn't hide the primary function of the diary as a purifier tool from Murin. She watched with rapt attention as Murray stepped into the sun, waited almost half an hour for signs of active infection, and then wrote down a command on the diary that said- [ My body will be purified to its limit. ]

This was a slightly risky command. Mir felt that the diary's sentience was questionable, at best. To entrust it with anything less than a specific, one-dimensional job could result into a disaster. Murray had countered his opinion with a simple line, though.

"There isn't enough fuel in me to enable the diary to do something disastrous."

A few minutes passed in a tense wait. Mir was ready to call Father Vincent any second. But Murray held on, sitting under the sunlight placidly.

"I...I think it's working, guys," He finally said, bringing out long, drawn out breaths from both Mir and Murin.

"My senses aren't as accurate as yesterday's, but I can vaguely feel the dispersion of the energy streams."

Murin had no idea what he meant by having less effective senses, but Mir understood. The diary's enhancement of their internal senses was crucial for a proper consolidation.

Murray's purification ended shortly after the update. He crawled out of the sunlit zone by himself. It was evident that his condition was improving by leaps and bounds now.

"Looks like we gotta add that command to the schedule next time," Mir whispered, getting a nod from Murray in reply.

They didn't have to wait long for Murray's complete recovery. The next stage of their plans was to explore Murray's mutant ability. Once Murray could move by himself, they began to prepare for the tests.

Ability Name: Spatial Pocket

Mutation Source: Pocket-Bunny

Mutation Affinity: Space

Mutation Rank: Grade-1 (Primitive)

Highest SDS Score: 14 (Lethal) (Defensive)

Mutant abilities were generally divided into 2 types when it came to SDS evaluation. Most mutations were offensive in usage, so seeing a purely defensive mutant ability was rare. In grading these defensive abilities, the scoring system was reversed. The 14 points meant that Murray's spatial pocket could potentially ward off a lethal attack of that level.

Murin, however, appeared unimpressed when she saw the stats on Murray's data terminal.

"Didn't expect you out of all people to go for a defensive ability, big bro," she said rather bluntly. They all knew what she was referring to. Murray had spent a year in juvenile prison for crippling dozens of people. He wasn't exactly an example of a defensive character.

Murray laughed as he prepared to conjure his spatial pocket. "Mutations are tools. Their potential depends on how you use them. The SDS score is just a reflection of direct destructive potential. You two can enlighten yourselves today how I circle around the SDS score ceiling."

There were two dimensions to the usage of Murray's ability. The first was to be used as a barrier. So when Murray gave them the signal, Mir and Murin picked up some pebbles from the ground, ready to throw.

"Hang on, let me sense its exact position," Murray said. His hands slowly moved through the empty air in front of him until coming to a stop at the area right above his heart.

"Found it."

Both of his hands joined together, exploring the size and shape of the spatial pocket. Murin began to snicker uncontrollably at this point, breaking both of their focus.

"What's wrong?" Mir asked.

"Look at him! He looks like he has grown an invisible boob!"

It took Mir half a second to make the comparison in his mind, and he came to the conclusion that it did indeed look like Murray had grown a boob, which he was groping gently right now. Both siblings burst out laughing, making Murray frown again.

"You two brats-"

"Sorry! Sorry! Won't happen again. Oi, Murin, shut your mouth. Turn off your brain." Mir slapped Murin on the back of her head like a responsible older brother and wiped the smile off both of their faces.

"I've got the exact location figured out," Murray said, pointing at the spot. "It's really like a pocket, just a hole in the fabric of space. I can sense that there's a tiny cavity inside it. But from outside, it just appears to be a small, invisible patch in the air."

Fascinated by the description, Mir aimed his pebble at Murray and threw it without hesitation!

"Ow! Fuck!"

"Mir, your aim is terrible! Watch me!"

"No don't-! OW! Stop!"