BXBX NOVEL Chapter 8: Mutation
"Genesis City is structured like a layered circle so that each street, each subdivision, and each house will be accessible to everyone.
Do you see that white palace in the distance?"
Down the road, which led straight to the center of the very city itself, was a giant white palace made of marble and limestone.
It was majestic.
"Each main road, like the one we're on, leads directly to the center of the City, the Savior HeadQuarters!"
As the truck moved forward, Atlan noticed that the main road had three lanes on each side. However, the truck was only on the very outskirts of the road.
The vehicles that took the majority of lanes in the road weren't vehicles at all.
They were horses!
These horses had great, silky manes and had unnaturally different colors. Some had horns, some had six legs, and some were abnormally large.
"Oh, those are mounts," explained Lizzie. "Our preferred method of transportation here is mutated horses like those. I'll show you mine later."
If she could, Lizzie would have used her horse to traverse the Unclaimed Lands instead of this lifeless vehicle.
It was at this point that Atlan noticed that as they got closer and closer to the center, there were more and more humans with vastly different features.
There were some with pointy ears and pointy noses and some had tentacles for hands.
Those people were living their daily lives, tending to their houses or working their jobs, with strange body parts as if it were normal.
Are those mutations?
"You'll get used to seeing those. I told you before that a different bloodline will get you a mutation, right?"
He nodded.
"See that guy over there with that strange thing over his forehead?"
On the side of the street was a man in his thirties directing traffic. Everything about him looked normal except for a dangling brown ball attached to his forehead.
"He has a mutation of a 2-star Anglerfish. That thing on his head lights up in the dark so it's easier to see in the night.
He must have worked 10 years to get that mutation.
But it all worked out now because he's the main traffic enforcer of this district.
Mutation serves as an integral part of this City. With better work, you'll get the chance to have a mutation. And with a mutation, you'll get a better job and the cycle continues."
Atlan looked at his Soul System, specifically, his mutations.
[Mutation]
— (10-star) Gluttonous Soul
— (10-star) Lightspeed Angel Wings
He had two 10-star mutations, which was considered an anomaly because Lizzie, and presumably the rest of the world, only recognized 9-star rarity as the peak.
And unlike the rest of the citizens he saw brandishing their mutations with pride, he saw no indication of wings in his back.
I understand not having a physical manifestation of my mutated soul, but why don't I have my angel wings?
He had to ask this to her in a very subtle way.
"If I get a mutation, will my body also change?"
"That depends. If you have a 4-star mutation and below, you can't hide your mutation. But if the rarity is high enough, you can hide the mutation but still get the benefit of its effects.
If you touch a seemingly normal woman and it feels like you touched a hot kettle, then she probably has the lava skin mutation. But that has a 6-star rarity, so you probably won't find them in the crowd."
Atlan subtly put his hands over his back, trying to feel if there was any kind of bump in it. But he didn't find any.
"This is a bit embarrassing, but I have a confession to make," Lizzie said as she brushed her curly hair away from her face.
"I'm a half-feline."
The moment she said that, cat ears suddenly flopped up from her curly hair. It was bright red on the outside and white on the inside of her 'ears'.
A red tail shyly came out of her back.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, I was fortunate enough to get a 5-star Feline Genus a while back. And now, I got these lil things," she said as her ears wiggled alternately.
"Can I ask why? What's the use of a mutation?"
Lizzie smiled. "I'll show you."
Her pupils turned vertical as she looked outside the truck. She then pointed to a woman out in the street carrying a paper bag filled with bread and vegetables.
"Look at her. She'll fall on the street in three…two…one…"
And just as she said, the woman suddenly tripped because of a small rubber ball that rolled towards her.
"My feline mutations allow me to hear and see things better with an enhanced reaction time.
I heard those kids in the street arguing and being careless with their rubber ball. Then, I saw the slight decline in the streets and judged that the ball would roll towards the woman.
I saw all of those in a split second."
Atlan noticed that she still had her cat eyes. He wondered whether her observation powers got stronger because she showed her mutations.
"Is there a reason why Saviors would even want to show their mutations? Shouldn't they keep it hidden?"
"Manifesting mutations in reality boosts the power they give.
Because I manifested my mutations, my senses are extremely enhanced to the point where I can hear and see everything within a 100-meter radius around me.
If I don't show my mutation, the radius lowers down to about 10 meters.
Mutations are like an extra muscle–just like a bicep. Your muscles will be stronger if you flex rather than if you don't. The downside is: you'll get tired easily if you keep flexing."