But while it was amusing to make fun of the person who designed the place, he still had to admit that the identical layout made it easy for him to find his way. He was able to find the military base in the sect grounds without asking anyone for directions.
From the military base, he was assigned to a transportation convoy. This convoy was to deliver new personnel and supplies to the battlefield. He counted as new personnel, so he was to leave with the convoy.
The convoy was actually a train. It is a steam train, and it is standing on one of the twelve train tracks that lead into the tunnel in the world barrier.
When he got onto the train, he was directed to the carriage for personnel. Upon arriving there, he found Jane already seated with her partners.
She had three partners now. Two of them were males, while the last one was a female. The three of them were infatuated with her, and she had them wrapped around their fingers, ready to fulfill her every wish and whim.
Loki had a weird feeling as he glanced at them. His brows furrowed as he said to himself, "She is controlling them somehow. I bet it is through their emotions. Maybe she is using the Emotional Domination Metac. But if that’s what she is using, I haven’t seen her use it."
"It could also be through the Marionette Life Ability. That one is more insidious subtle, and stealthy. I might not notice it if she is secretive about it. However, it should only be for forceful control of their bodies, not the subtle influencing of emotions."
As he was thinking of how she was controlling them, he found an empty corner to sit in. Jane and her pose glanced at him, but they ignored him.
She seemed to say something to them, but he couldn’t hear it because she whispered it. But he saw that whatever she said was so funny that her three partners all began to roar with laughter.
This made him say to himself, "The partners used to be the funniest people alive, saying funny things to her, but now she has become the funniest person alive, and they are the ones laughing at her every joke."
"I doubt she is that funny. There has to be something fishy going on. I refuse to believe that she is genuinely funny, and I refuse to believe that the disciples of the Four Directions Sect can be that cordial with each other."
"Fortunately, I have the Power Identification Ability and knew to avoid her. These three didn’t know what they were walking into at all. They were like lambs to the slaughter."
He felt pity for the three that had been ensnared by her charms, but he didn’t do anything to interfere in their affairs or save them. He only lamented their situation and gloated a little bit that he didn’t turn out like them.
Most of his attention was spent inspecting everyone else in the carriage. There were five people, aside from Jane and her three, that were already in the carriage when he arrived. And as time passed, the number of occupants increased.
A little over an hour later, the train began to move. Its engine roared to life with a loud, shrill vessel. Then its wheels began to rotate as the train was pushed forward.
As soon as the train began moving, a train conductor came through the carriage to warn them that they would soon feel a drain on their internal energy and should make sure to use energy stones to recover their internal energy as they passed through the tunnel in the wall of grey mist.
The conductor, a woman wearing a neat, sharp suit, said, "As you know, no living thing is allowed in the world barrier. Any living thing that comes close to it will have its lifespan drained until they die and become a dry husk of their former selves."
"The sect has made some arrangements to mitigate that. But these arrangements only work on those inside the train, and the arrangements can only prevent the loss of lifespan."
"The train won’t protect you from the draining of your internal energy. This is why your internal energy will be drained as we pass through the tunnel. But if your internal energy is drained completely, your lifespan will come next. This is why you must always top off your internal energy and never let it drain completely."
She raised her voice and said with some sternness, "Please take what I just said seriously. I have said so much to you to instill a sense of importance about my warning into everyone of you, including the ones who are ignorant of the peculiarity of the world barrier."
"I tell you again, always top up your internal energy. Don’t be miserly with your energy stones, or you will lose your life. If, after all of my efforts, you still let the world barrier drain your lifespan and kill you, then you can only blame your stupidity."
After she said this, she went to the next carriage and repeated her warning. She did this for 25 minutes when the train entered the tunnel in the giant sky-reaching wall of grey mist.
As soon as they entered the tunnel, the occupants of the carriage immediately felt the disappearance of their internal energy. The sensation struck them with sudden thirst for water.
It was as if they had suddenly been in the hot desert conditions for a long time, had become tired of walking for a long time, and were now dying of thirst. Their internal energy leaked out of them like air out of punctured balloons.
Many of the occupants became pale immediately. They quickly grabbed their energy stones to replenish their energy loss. But both they and the energy stones were experiencing the inexplicable loss of energy, so the amount of energy they could get from energy stones was about 30% of the normal amount.