Mir's focus remained on the digital projection of the Energy Refinement technique the entire time, tracing the complex pathways in his mind and analyzing how difficult it would be to perform the consolidation himself in Murray's shoes. His recent experience of controlling the energy came in handy, letting him understand the breadth of the task.
And in retrospection, Mir didn't feel that it would be too hard to do. An energy stream born from a singular source of mutation would be biochemically drawn to the suitable organs and cells where it could be refined. Once taken to the destination, the Transcender only needed to keep making the energy clash into the target cells and let nature take its course.
If he could guide it out of his body, he could guide it to the target cells too. Now, all that remained to be seen was whether the commands written in the diary could enable Murray to perform the refinement without relying on the projection in front of him.
Every passing minute felt like a lifetime as he waited. And he wasn't the only one feeling so tense. Father Vincent's anxiety was clearly apparent. Half of their worry could be attributed to the way the technician kept glancing between the monitors with wide eyes, mouth open as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He had shown this reaction several times since the start of Murray's consolidation. Fearing the consequences of disturbing him in his work, neither Mir nor Priest Vincent had addressed the issue.
About ten minutes later, Murray suddenly moved inside the consolidation box, shouting with his eyes wide open. Standing outside, they couldn't hear what he was saying, but the technician came to the rescue.
"The consolidation is complete! He did it! He awakened his mutation!"
Mir and Priest Vincent hurriedly went over to help Murray come out of the coffin. The flow of overwhelming, alien energy must have affected him rather strongly. He kept losing his balance and tumbling onto the ground. Mir helped him get dressed while Vincent was speaking to the technician.
"Oh no, no, no. My surprise didn't stem from any problems in his consolidation process!" he heard the technician explaining emphatically. "It's just that I have never seen this procedure go so smoothly for anyone below Quasi-Evolved level. And the speed, Father Vincent... Has it not hit you yet? Ten minutes was all it took! What's the fastest mutation awakening precedence you can think of? Have you seen anyone completing their consolidation in less than half an hour?"
Mir's eyes met Murray's gaze, and then they both simultaneously looked at the diary sticking out of Murray's pocket. Mir wanted nothing more than to assess if their original plan was successful. But the time wasn't right. Not only were the priest and the technician approaching them with quick steps, the dozens of officials working or preparing for their own consolidations in the chamber had been attracted to the commotion.
As Mir helped Murray stand up on his feet, the technician grabbed Murray's palm for a firm handshake.
"Hello, young man! I'm an old friend of Vincent. You can call me uncle Jean!"
His enthusiastic approach was definitely the result of Murray's performance inside the consolidation box. He hadn't even greeted them before when Murray was preparing to enter the enclosure.
"It seems Father Vincent has finally managed to bait two more unfortunate souls to share his woe," said a voice from behind. They turned around and found a short, frail-looking old man standing with his hands behind his back, hunched over the monitors depicting Murray's consolidation data. The man was dressed in an uniform that Mir couldn't identify. But its design and material suggested a high rank inside the Church of Sunbreaker.
"Bishop Farnsworth!" Father Vincent acted as if he hadn't noticed the old man until now. Putting on a shocked expression, he performed the standard Church salute with quite a bit of flair, holding his right fist to the left of his chest, right above the heart.
"Oh, no need for that," Bishop Farnsworth said, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Even if this young man turns out to be a one in a million prodigy, he won't be able to derail your inevitable fate. Archbishop Karquen should have given up on you by now. I'm just here to appreciate this young recruit for his talent. He's still new here, untouched by your poisonous mind. He has to know that his future will be cut off if he stays inside your Shadowheart Faction."
It seemed to be a borderline threat. Mir carefully avoided meeting the old man's scrutinizing gaze, hoping to not draw an iota of attention to himself when other limelight magnets were available. Murray straightened up and occupied the Bishop's full focus.
"Thank you for your concern, your excellency. But I'm not sure whether switching my loyalty at the first sign of danger will be evaluated as a positive or negative characteristic. I do not even know what this Shadowheart Faction is supposed to be. Is that the faction Father Vincent is in?"
"Murray, don't be impolite to the Bishop!" Father Vincent said from the back, his tone mild, as if the provocation from Bishop Farnsworth was not obvious to him. "If his excellency tells you that defecting like a coward is a great virtue, you better do your best to embody his instructions."
His barbed reply obviously caused an outrage, not only angering the old Bishop, but also creating a ruckus throughout the silent room.
Caught between these old men and their political conflict, Mir wasn't sure how to respond to the situation. But he felt that picking a side would be foolish here. Either party could be the bad guy, or both could have good intentions...or both could be equally vile. For now, he needed to hear more details, biased or not, and then observe the political disputes with his own eyes before he formed his own judgment.
Murray evidently thought the same. He stood without a word as a small crowd formed around them. Some of them were focused on Murray and the results of his consolidation, whereas the others were here to watch a showdown between Bishop Farnsworth and Priest Vincent– an obviously one-sided battle in terms of rank and might, but not so one-sided when it came to smack-talking.
"His excellency should have explained it better to the child," someone said from the crowd in a jeering tone. "When his excellency said that your future shall be cut off, he was not insinuating that you'd not be able to live a prosperous life of a Transcender, hahaha! He was warning you that you'd not be able to live at all. And the cause of your death would be your Shadowheart Faction!"