Mutagen

"Yawn~…"

Alana yawned while stretching her body which somehow emphasized her beautifully shaped body.

"Do we really have to be this early?"

Hallie asked while she rubbed her sleepy eyes.

"What early? Look at the sun and tell me that it"s still early. Aside from you two, everyone is already out working."

Mark reprimanded the two.

"Yawn~…"

Another yawn followed suit which came from Amihan on Mark"s shoulder.

To that minute yawn, Mark only glanced a bit and did not say anything.

"Wah, you"re too biased you know that."

Hallie protested making Alana nod in agreement.

"Seriously, cut it you two. We still have things to do."

They were currently inside one of Mark"s newly made chambers inside the rocky crevice. Together with them were Miracle who was being carried on Mark"s arms and the group of blood children consisting of Oracle, Crimson, Ivy, Salacia and the newest, Alaula, the glowing [BloodChild].

This new chamber was made further inside the crevice which sunlight could not reach and that was also the reason why Mark had not built these new chambers before aside from the ones where the infected were being kept. How, fortunately, the issue about light was finally solved because of Alaula.

The [Blood Metal] created from Alaula was also glowing and the intensity of light could be adjusted accordingly by changing the density and thickness of the metal. Finding the best adjustment was what Mark had spent his time yesterday afternoon until sunset, well, until the mermaid had waked up.

After experimenting, he was able to get the right density, thickness and placement and was able to make this room lit up as if he was using a fluorescent light. It was quite dimmer than the actual one but way better than an oil lamp. He arranged the glowing bars of metal on the ceiling creating a lighting grid above which lit the whole chamber. It was not very s.p.a.ce efficient but at least, it functioned well.

This morning, they were here to work on a few things like improving their weapons and making some designs. But first, they had to deal with the poor child currently lying down on the work table. She was the one Mark managed to retrieve from the cannibalistic Mutator the other day. She had not woke up until now.

Mark could force her to wake up but it was better if they did something about her missing arm first. In other words, Mark would do some experiment.

Looking at the side, the situation was like a surgery. The only problem was there were no doctors and what the "surgeons" were handling was very unlikely to be used to treat the little girl.

"By the way, how is the Sleeping Mermaid? She woke up already, right? We heard from Trisha last night. She said that you asked her to prepare food for her."

Alana asked in curiosity while they prepared the materials. Ever since Mark took the mermaid into the chambers, he had not talked about it. Mark also left yesterday to visit the evacuation center because of several things and when he returned, he immediately went back to his work.

"She woke up last night."

Mark spoke nonchalantly.

"Really? Can we see her?"

"Yeah! Let us see her! Unless you di- OW… Do you really have to hit my head? I"ll go stupid if you keep doing this…"

Hearing that the mermaid was awake, the enthusiasm of the two Otakus flared up. However, one was thinking something improper which made Mark shut her up.

Ignoring her protest, Mark spoke.

"You two better not, at least not now. She is very afraid of humans and there"s also the language barrier. Just getting her name and making her eat is already a handful. You two can ask Amihan here about how hard it was."

"Right! We had to speak like cavemen just to ask her name! And she also doesn"t eat meat and fis.h.!.+"

Amihan spoke with a bit of grumble. The little sylph was still afraid of humans but it was quite better if it was Alana and Hallie for some reason. Aside from these two, she could not speak to others at all without flinching.

"I think… There is someone else who is also afraid of humans and also only eats fruits here, right?"

Alana teased which made Amihan freeze and blush. She realized that she was also referring to herself when said those words. Afraid of humans and not able to eat meat and fish, she was totally the same.

"Hmm…" Hallie nodded with comprehension. "It"s understandable that she won"t eat fish. It"s cannibalism."

"Anyway, what is her name?"

Alana asked.

"Milliel."

Mark replied as he made Miracle sit on the table beside the unconscious girl.

"Her name sounds like an angel. She had fish tail instead of wings though."

"True."

Alana and Hallie spoke respectively. Both of them had serious expressions on their faces.

Mark looked at the two with stern eyes.

"Really, cut it off you two. Everything is ready. Let"s get to work."

"Are we really doing it?"

"Yeah, shouldn"t we get her consent first?"

Alana and Hallie seemed to have some hesitation about what they were going to do.

"You can"t ask an unconscious person. Also if she sees her missing arm, she"ll probably suffer a mental breakdown after she remembers what happened to her. After this, at least she will have something as replacement."

"Well, that"s true."

The two girls finally agreed.

In front of them, parts Mark prepared beforehand lay on the table along with the design. It was also the reason why the two had some hesitation.

The metal parts that lay on the table were parts to be used to replace the girl"s missing arm. It was an experiment if they would be able to build something like this.

A semi-organic Automail.

Here, the role of the [BloodChildren], especially Miracle, was very essential.

Miracle was not human and that was clear for everyone here in this room. It was hard to hide it from Alana and Karlene when they saw her body behave like that when the little girl fought the criminals from Death Valley Settlement.

Her body was supposed to be made of blood. However, that blood became flesh when she accidentally fused with the [Physical Crystal] containing her mother"s Mutator ability. Still, her body was not the same of a human"s but just emulating the structure. In any time she wanted, she could change her shape and appearance as long as her bones allowed her to. And of course, she had the ability all the [BloodChildren] had after Mark fed them his blood. The ability to create [Blood Metal] and separated the metal from their body.

In Miracle"s case, the supposed [Blood Metal] could have the property and structure similar to flesh. That flesh could be shaped and emulate the desired cells, organs and even nerves.

In easier words, she was capable of creating artificial body parts from her body. It was just she was too young to be able to understand how to. Because of that, Aephelia"s help who was inside Miracle was also necessary. At this moment, Miracle was totally silent. It was because Aephelia was mostly in control of the little girl"s body.

Following the design, Hallie and Alana helped Mark put the parts together. Soon it formed a sci-fi looking full arm armor with a lot of open parts to allow more flexible movements. The surface of the armor was reddish black in color with lining that emitted a faint glow.

At the core of the armor were artificial bones that were directly connected to the armor. The bones were complete from the humerus to the distal phalanges, the set of bones were complete.

With the armor being finished, the next step was to remove the burned part of the stump left of the girl"s arm. It was Mark who did it on his own. In order to prevent bleeding, Mark stealthily made his [Blood Whip] enter the little girl"s body while he was holding her shoulder. He then sc.r.a.ped the unnecessary parts revealing the little girl"s flesh soon after.

Seeing that, Amihan, Hallie and Alana turned their heads away. Although they were used to seeing more grotesque things because of the infected, they still felt repulsive seeing the girl"s flesh in the open.

"Uhhhhmmm…"

The unconscious girl released a painful hum. They did not have any anesthetics suitable for this and could only give her pain killers. Still, the medication was not able to fully numb the pain she felt. To ease her pain even just a bit, Mark released the milky white energy from his hands and made it enter the girl"s body.

After cleaning the wound, the final step finally came.

Hallie and Alana held the empty armor towards the stump of the girl"s missing arm and locking it in place next to the girl"s shoulder. Then, it was Miracle"s turn.

Her small right arm wiggled out of shape and entered the empty armor like a tentacle. There, the flesh slowly came into shape while emulating muscles, nerves and blood vessels necessary to be able to control the new arm. The process was though as connecting the girl"s nerves and the artificial one took a huge toll on the girl"s body. Mark had to hold her tight as she convulsed violently.

Miracle"s flesh filled the armor and the connection with the nerves was established. With that, the little girl removed her hands from the armor and her misshapen hands formed back. The other [Blood Children] then started to work on some adjustments on the arm with Mark"s mental instructions.

The girl still looked in pain since even the procedure was finished. It was because the painful sensation was till left. There was also the chance of her body rejecting the new arm and to prevent that, Mark made the little girl drink a whole vial of [Regeneration Medicine] he procured from the Military Settlement.

After a while and everyone nervously watching, the girl"s body calmed down which made them sigh in relief. Her breathing was still quite ragged so Mark did not stop on channeling the energy until she became stable.

The procedure was finally finished and the girl was given a new arm. Still, it was just an experiment and there was still the possibility that it might not work well or even not work at all. In any case, at least, they tried.

While the girl was still unconscious and looked like that she would still not wake up any time soon, the three Otakus started to work on the designs of weapons and equipment they wanted. Of course, most of it ended up being referenced from anime and manga. Some even looked like they were taken from sci-fi movies. Nevertheless, the three were enjoying this work.

On the side, Miracle was surrounded by the [BloodChildren] while she drew something on her own. Of course, since Aephelia retreated already, it was just a childish drawing.

"Uhm, My Lord."

Amihan spoke as something seemed to occupy her mind while looking at the unconscious girl"s new arm.

"What is it?"

"I just noticed but… The arm Miracle created inside the armor is made of flesh so, can"t you just make a whole flesh arm with metal bones inside? I don"t think that the armor is necessary…"

She then froze. Three pairs of eyes were looking at her coldly without any shred of emotion.

Amihan could not help but retreat while saying…

"Uhm… Please forget it… I didn"t say anything…"

In her mind…

"SCARYYYY!!!"

After she said that, the eyes that looked at her turned back to normal and the owners of the eyes went back to their work.

Before noon, the girl finally woke up.

Apparently, her name was Elona, an orphan who lived in the streets of East Port Settlement.

She was too hungry and thirsty that the first thing she asked for was food and water.

Remembering what happened to her, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Fortunately, her new arm worked well which lightened the symptoms. As Mark made the armor light enough, the only issue was that Elona was still not used to it.

Alana and Hallie presented themselves to look after Elona, especially Alana who said that they had similar sounding names. In truth, the two just wanted to watch after the first creation they made.

To the side, the small sylph watched everything.

"Is this what it meant to be an Otaku? It"s scary though."