Mutagen

Early in the morning, everyone in the base was doing their daily routines. The farmers were in the fields, tending the crops that had barely grown. The personnel in charge of defenses remained on the lookout and patrolled the area in s.h.i.+fts. The women in charge of the meals already started preparing lunch. The maintenance team checked the defenses and traps. The hunting team roamed the forest for their game. The children were in the place designated for their studies.

Everyone in the base was given the roles they had to fulfill. The best thing was that none of these people were forced to these tasks for the base. Each of them volunteered to work in the fields they liked. This way, there was no stiff reactions to the people in the base regarding their duties.

Furthermore, as Mark pretty much handpicked those that now live in his base, the chance for the unnecessary conflicts would not arise. Especially since most of the people here experienced the harshest life in the apocalypse, they would not want to return that state.

That was why everyone was working hard to make this base strive.

Well, the leader of the base and some of his confidants should follow their examples though.

***

Yesterday, Mark had finished creating a new room inside the rocky cliff. Not only that, but he was also done installing the solar panels he brought back from Bay City at the top of the cliff. However, he was not satisfied with just that. Aside from the solar-powered system, he developed another way to have access to electricity.

The new way he devised actually made use of the [Lightning Mental Crystal] and the experiments he did use the [Magic Wood] for the other day.

[Lightning Mental Crystal], it was a [Mental Crystal] that was created after he regained his abilities as an Empath and he awakened the ability he inherited from Freed. It was supposed to stop the creation of a being like him that did not conform within the laws of the world.

However, his dwelling being inside a rocky cliff and the existence of the [PsyCrystal] gave him this power instead.

Still, despite being able to create charged electrons to fire outwards, the [Lightning Mental Crystal] was impossible to be used as a direct power source. It was because of the energy the crystal could release could not be toned down to tolerable levels. Even just the energy it could release to conjure lightning was too violent to be used on appliances.

In the least, they would need a lightning rod and the equipment that came with it to use lightning as an electrical source. Still, there would be issues in converting lightning into usable electricity even with that equipment. 

The most unfortunate thing, these kinds of equipment were rather hard to come by within this country.

Lightning storms would not happen in the Philippines that often. Even if it did, it was not that catastrophic. As such, the demand for such equipment and tools was low and could only be acquired through an order.

Thus, Mark decided to make an alternative.

When experimenting with [Magic Wood], the primary goal was to find the size, length, and shape of wood that could efficiently conduct magical energy. However, it did not mean that those failed materials were wasted.

Mark found a use to the blocks of wood that could only conduct a little amount of energy. Using these blocks of wood together with [Blood Metal] as coils and frame, he managed to create a generator powered by the [Lightning Mental Crystal].

This noiseless electricity generator about the size of a common double burner LPG stove was stored inside a secure room and was wired to different places inside his house.

Thus, loud noises could be heard from the newly made room as Mark, Alana, and Hallie were playing a video game. Even Mei was forced to join as they lacked the fourth player.

They were all playing either on the PC or the laptops Mark brought back. The thing that could make others scratch their heads, however, was the fact that the four were playing a zombie game. Even though there was a real apocalypse happening outside.

Well, it was not really hard to tell what the difference was. In the game, they could die as many times as they wanted. In real life, one slip up could cause a game over without any chance to revive. Playing a video game, even with the same genre, was way enjoyable than real life.

And the game they were playing? A zombie game franchise with two games in its series but would never get a third.

It was still a pity though. Even if they had a local area network, there was no internet to connect to anymore.

And thus, strange ideas started to gather inside Mark"s mind on how to address this issue.

***

In the middle of the game...

"Mark! What are you doing? Heal me! I"m dying!"

Alana yelled as Mark"s character stopped moving. Not only Alana noticed by also Hallie, and especially, Mei.

They saw Mark who had turned his head towards the southwest direction. There was nothing there but a [Blood Metal] enforced wall though.

As they were about to ask what was happening, Amihan burst into the room with a strong gust of wind.

"Master! Master! He"s coming! He"s coming!"

Amihan was such in a fl.u.s.ter that she was rather hard to understand. Of course, Mark knew what she was talking about.

"Is it about that annoying guy you are talking about before?"

Mark asked.

"Yes! Yes! I don"t know where he is, but I feel that he is coming!"

Amihan replied.

And there, Mark realized. Unlike him, Amihan could not tell that the annoying guy was really coming. It was nothing but her instinct that told her about his presence. Pretty much to say, she had developed her own subconscious sensor in order to stay away from that guy.

As for Mark, he could tell that a band of unusual creatures was coming. They already entered his detection range that covered the whole base and a wide area around it. Furthermore, it was not hard to sense them as the aura they were emitting was far different from humans.

In fact, Mark had sensed other creatures lurking around these past days. The closest they had been to was at the border where the traps around the base were located. They never came close.

This time, he could tell that this group was aiming to attempt contact.

"I"ll face him, what do you want to do?"

Mark asked Amihan.

"I..." She hesitated quite a bit. "I will come with Master..."

Normally, she would just fly away and hide. It not because she hated the guy. He was just plain annoying. She did not want to deal with his shenanigans. However, if she was with Mark, it should be fine.

"What about you three? We have some unusual visitors."

Mark asked Mei, Hallie, and Alana.

"I"ll go with Gege."

Mei, of course, would go.

"What kind of visitors?"

"Yeah, what kind? If they are not that interesting, well just stay here and continue playing."

Hallie and Alana replied respectively. Sure enough, the two knew how to prioritize.

"Well, a group of fantasy creatures is coming. You two sure that you don"t want to go?"

Hearing that, the two froze. They immediately disconnected from the game and stood from their seats.

"Alright, let"s go!"

"Yeah, let"s meet these visitors you are talking about."

The two surely changed their minds fast.

***

Mark and the four left the base. It was to meet the incoming group along the way.

Since these creatures were not humans, it was better to meet them without too many humans around. Furthermore, it seemed that they were quite struggling. If they did not come with hostile reasons, he might as well help them. He would not mind having more non-human allies.

It did not take them long to see a small group of very small creatures. They were as they ran away on the uneven forest floor.

They were being chased.

***

"d.a.m.n it! We got careless..."

Teremillio said as he looked at Angis and Fionnoula.

The largest among them, Angis, the Kibaan, was wounded. Her arm was stained with her white-colored blood. Fionnoula, the pixie, on the other hand, was unconcious and was being carried by Angis.

After deciding to meet the Master of the Spirit Tree, they prepared early and went on the way. They went with some of Duendes from their tribe as their guard. It was better to traverse the dangerous forest with a group since they could not become invisible anymore.

Past half of the way, however, they were ambushed by Enlarged Earthworms. There were only three Earthworms about the size of an adult snake. That was just a small number. Still, it was enough to threaten them because these worms moved rather fast.

Some of their guards died and turned to dust in the middle of the battle. They managed to kill the three worms with combined effort and powers. In these times was the time they wished that they were as powerful as those that lived in the Spirit Dimension.

Living at the Mortal World made it hard for them to grow their powers after all.

In the battle, however, Malaya was. .h.i.t by one of the worms rather hard and was slammed onto a trunk of a tree. Angis, on the other hand, was bitten by one of the worms. The worm"s mouth filled with sharp teeth left marks on her fair-skinned arm.

They thought that they had to abort their plans and head back home.

After killing the three worms, however, a few more arrived from underground, blocking their way back. They had no choice but to run towards the human fortress. They hoped that the humans would be able to deal with these giant worms without noticing their group.

Still, they underestimated these worms. These worms moved like snakes as they chased after the fleeing prey. It would not take long before they were caught.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!"

A shriek was heard. When Teremillio looked behind, he saw another giant earthworm that sprung from the ground. It blocked Malaya"s path aiming for the flying Sylph.

Malaya tried to fly back to avoid but the other earthworms already gained on them. Like a worm from a certain flash game, they jumped towards the flying Sylph. She was on the verge of getting devoured.

She tried to encase herself with a small tornado to protect herself. However, it was too weak to stop the worms that lunged at her at almost a bullet"s speed.

The opened mouth of worms with layers of teeth could already be reflected in her widely opened eyes. Teremillio, his wives, and their remaining guards had no time to rescue her anymore.

It was then...

SWOOOOOOOOOOs.h.!.+

PISHAK!

The earthworm just an inch away from Malaya"s face froze in the air before its head separated from its body. Red blood splattered around as one of the a.s.sailants fell in the ground as its headless body wriggled violently.

Malaya was shocked. Not only her but everyone in their group.

"Behind you!"

They then heard a voice shouting. That was right, the danger was not over yet. Behind them, there were still dozens of snake sized earthworms. Some of them were in the middle of lounging towards Malaya who was pushed back.

Malaya tried to fly forwards, however, she would still get caught from behind no matter what. She also did not have the momentum to fly upwards fast enough to avoid the attacks.

SHHHHOOOOOOMMM!!!

With a sharp gust of wind, a figure pa.s.sed by their eyes. The strong wind made them squint their eyes as they saw the blurred figure.

"EI! EI! EI!"

They then heard the same voice shouting multiple times.

As they recovered their sight, they looked behind Malaya. She also did the same.

There, they saw a sylph with black hair with a greenish s.h.i.+ne. In front of her, the dozens of earthworms that they were fleeing from could be seen scattered, diced, and in pieces. Some were still midair causing squis.h.i.+ng sounds as they fell unto the ground and splattering blood all over the place.

Even though her back was facing them, there was only one Sylph with black hair that they knew of.

"Malaya, are you okay?"

The black-haired Sylph looked behind and asked.

"AMIHAN!"

Malaya did not reply to that question and just flew to embrace the person that saved her.

Seeing that Malaya was fine, Amihan was also happy. The others were also glad to see her.

Until...

"Darling!"

Teremillio"s voice made Amihan freeze for a second. She immediately pushed Malaya away and flew as fast as she could without even replying to the Duende.

Surprised, they all tried to follow Amihan. However, before they could even take a step forward, they already stopped.

They saw Amihan. She hid behind a male human while staring at Teremillio hatefully.

Feeling the intimidating aura from this human, there was no need to ask. They knew that they finally met the Master of the Spirit Tree.