Transcendent Gene-Chapter 275: First Clue [3]

There was a decision to be made once everything had been sorted out.

Where did they want to go?

The people in the north were just pillagers and thieves. It wasn’t worth going back in that direction.

To the west were the more organized djinn forces, and to the south were people from the military. Both groups had their own pros and cons.

"If we go west, we’ll have a lot more freedom. Djinns will stay out of our way if we give them a reason to. As long as we can protect our own interests, we’ll be fine."

Naturally, they’d encounter more danger when they had no allies. If they could make it through the dangers, they’d end up with a lot more benefits than they’d receive if they went to the south.

"But if we go south, we have the protection of allied forces and a guarantee that the people around us will be mostly friendly. It’ll be a lot easier to focus on the quest without having to watch our backs at every turn."

However, if there were enemies in the shadows, they’d be much harder to locate. And, if they couldn’t hide their treasures, there was a chance that they’d have no choice but to hand certain things over to those governing entities. Their material benefits would definitely decline to an extent.

After weighing their choices, they voted and reached a majority decision to head south.

"I have some friends in the military. If we can meet some of them, it’ll be helpful," Serene said.

Neriah also had some connections with those forces. Aside from connections, it was better to guarantee that humans wouldn’t be their concern.

The battles they’d fought were just distractions. By getting away from them, they had a much better chance of growing as they originally planned to.

’To them, all of this doesn’t have the same significance.’

At the end of the day, even if it was confirmed that monsters existed on Earth millions of years ago, it meant nothing to his comrades.

They would merely wonder why that was the case before moving on with their lives. They had to become Sequencers and see the world before they could properly judge the severity of what they were learning.

None of that was an issue, though. Gio brought them along because he knew they’d be of help and that they’d get stronger as they wanted to. He never planned to ignore their ambitions because the quest became more complicated than he expected

The forces connected to the military were situated in a city called Astarune, but their current main operations were in a nearby town called Fischel.

’Obviously, those guys don’t know what’s being investigated in Fischel. They only know what the Old Duke is up to.’

And judging by their words, that man was looking for exactly the clue that Gio and his team found.

’He’s looking for old research sites and lab buildings. He’s making his people search for reports that refer to chimeras or human experimentation in any way.’

He misjudged where he’d find those sites, but that was beside the point.

’The Old Duke has 2 clues at the moment. The military either had three or the same amount.’

Gio didn’t immediately trust everything those men said. He kept those numbers in mind quite loosely as they moved, completely expecting them to be disproven when they reached Astarune.

The city was just as far as they expected it to be. The journey took another several days, forcing their total travel time since entering the scenario to reach one week.

On the bright side, Astarune was as obvious as Riverene, if not more. The city was huge and looked nothing like its surrounding environment. Astarune was also the only city they’d encountered thus far that actually felt like it had vitality.

There were a few flying cars and vehicles in the air that were moving military personnel around. The perimeter was being guarded by armed soldiers, and one could feel the energy of hundreds of Sequencers inside that border.

’This is an organized effort.’

It was the only organized effort, really. NEXUS sensed the birth of the scenario days before Gio and his team left Celestelle and sent their forces to participate.

The djinns who got caught in the scenario were either motivated by the large movement of official troops or already living in the Godspark Mountain Range to hide from law enforcement.

Gio’s party approached the perimeter normally. They had no need to hide, after all.

They arrived at a checkpoint, standing between several military vehicles re-entering the city, and walked up to one of the officers at the booths.

"Hm?"

He raised an eyebrow when he saw them and scanned them up and down.

"Kids? How did you get to Astarune? No, in the first place, why are you guys here?"

It took the man a second to process their presence. They were obviously teenagers, and when they got close enough, he sensed how small their auras were.

Why were there people so weak in the Scenario Quest?

Gio’s party was never asked the same question by their enemies.

The average djinn assumed that their appearances and assumed strength were lies.

Similar to Mother Baba, who Gio caught a glimpse of in the Wasteland, many djinns used sinister methods to make themselves appear younger. Pretending to be weak was also a normal strategy that anyone could think of.

"We were trapped here the same way you were. As you can see, we’re students. We attend the First Institute and were originally traveling on a mission before we got caught up in everything."

Gio introduced himself and his party to the man, who frowned almost instantly. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Students?"

They looked the part. He thought they were something of the sort, but he couldn’t throw away his suspicions so easily.

"Why would students be here, though? The Godspark Mountain Range isn’t safe enough for you guys to explore. You definitely look the part, so I’m not necessarily doubting you..."

He gave them a telling look.

"...but I’m going to need something more concrete than some words to start believing you."

He also knew how easy it was for a djinn to use trickery to change their appearance.

Luckily, Gio had access to the credentials he needed.

"We didn’t come without a reason. I want to request a meeting with the leaders here so I can share valuable information with them," he said as he handed over his papers.

"A meeting, you say? I don’t know if you can meet our leaders with a few words like that, but I can let someone know that you guys want to share something."

"That much is enough."

There was no need to push a border guard for help. They could find a way to meet the real important characters once they were inside.

The man looked over the paper with some surprise in his eyes before walking into the small tent where they’d set up their equipment.

He scanned the paper with his holowatch and made a call to verify its validity.

Gio didn’t pay much attention to what was happening, but he distinctly heard one sentence from the person on the other side of the call.

"Leave of absence? You’re saying that old man actually gave somebody permission to do something so stupid?"

’Someone who knows the Headmaster? I should take note of that voice.’

As Gio entertained his own thoughts and spoke to his comrades, the man finally returned and handed him the paper.

"I was able to verify your documents. You can consider your identities verified as well, since your names were listed on the paper. Feel free to head inside," he said.

The gate separating them from Astarune swung open invitingly.

"And the meeting we asked for?" Gio asked.

"You can worry about that later. There’s plenty of space in Astarune that still hasn’t been taken, so go find a place to stay first. I will report this matter to my superiors. The rest is up to them."

It was a less-than-satisfactory response, but there was nothing to contest. At the end of the day, the man was still a border guard. He didn’t have the connections or status to guarantee anything.

’I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to ask. He was never the right person to talk to.’

Gio sighed at his own brainlessness as he thanked the man and guided his team through the gates.

There wasn’t much different about Astarune when compared to Riverene aside from a few regional design differences. The only thing to note was the presence of Sequencers all around the city who weren’t actively at each other’s throats.

Gio smiled wryly as he waited for his team members to finish appreciating the scenery when he suddenly noticed someone approaching from the gate they just left.

"Can I help you?" He asked when the man was close enough.

"Yes, actually, you can," the man responded. He looked at Gio’s eyes before turning to Serene and nodding.

"My superior wishes to see the two of you. Of course, your friends are invited as well."

Gio raised his brow and glanced at Serene, who shook her head to say she had no involvement in this.

It was impossible to know who the man’s superior was from a glance, but Gio only cared that the individual in question was higher on the food chain than anyone they could otherwise find.

A person like that could become a gateway into conversations with much, much more powerful individuals.

And that kind of gateway was exactly what they needed.