Mutagen

Day 357 - 7:21 PM - Museum Bandar Cimanuk, Lemahabang, Indramayu, Indramayu Regency, West Java, Indonesia

The first friendly contact between the two groups became established. It was all due to Limabela's proactiveness.

No one expected Mark and the three women to be from the same circle. However, it made it easier for the four to interact. Of course, it did not mean that the three women, no, two, had already lowered their guards. Limabela, for some reason, never had her guard up against Mark and his group.

The introductions came right after the initial greeting. Unlike in Japan, Mark and Emika did not have to do all the talking. The three women of the Moon Chasers were quite proficient in English, allowing Mei and the rest of the members of Evernight to introduce themselves.

At first, after hearing Mark labeling himself as an Otaku, Luna and Bajing felt a little concerned. An Otaku surrounded by girls of different ages usually meant something common in anime and novels but quite unpleasant in the modern age. To be exact, a harem.

However, the thoughts of Luna and Bajing changed a little after Mark and the rest introduced themselves while emphasizing their roles in their group and their relationships. It was as if they were introducing themselves as an adventurer party in a game-like setting.

The only person who introduced herself as Mark's wife and lover with an embarrassed tone was the girl wearing a veil on her face who named herself Mei. Furthermore, Mark and Mei had three daughters.

As the three women saw the healthy children happily eating with their parents, their opinion of the group was rising. It could mean that even during the apocalypse, these children had enough food to eat.

Still, while Emika, Annica, and Spera's introductions still felt normal, the following introductions became weirder and weirder.

One was a swordswoman, and there were two maids. There were several pets, too.

What surprised the three women the most was Amihan. Unfortunately, Amihan was the one who could not speak English. As such, she was silent while hiding on Mark's shoulder.

Luna and Bajing could not help but feel the peculiarity of this group. At the least, they did not seem to be bad people. The Moon Chasers had a fair share of bad encounters with other groups. Encountering this group was a breath of fresh air for them.

When the three introduced themselves, Mark asked a question.

"Those aren't your real names, right?"

That was a reasonable question. Luna, although not an Indonesian name, was still a possible real name. However, the names Limabela, which would literally translate to the number fifteen, and Bajing, which would translate to Squirrel, were definitely not something any parent sane parent would name their children.

"Yes," Luna answered. "Most of us already left our past names and used aliases instead. Many of us use it because it's cool, but more do the same to cope with the current state of the world."

Mark nodded. What Luna said was not wrong. One good way to adapt to the new world was to forget their previous identities. It would reduce the tendency to remember their peaceful past and become far more accustomed to the present using their new identities. While it would not work on all people, it was an act that would at least help in many ways.

The three women looked at Mark while thinking that he would ask for their real names. However, he never did. He was considerate enough not to pry too deep, especially when they had just met today.

It was already nighttime. At this time, some people already finished eating dinner, others were in the middle of it, while the unlucky ones would likely not have one at all.

When the three women approached Mark's group, they were in the middle of cooking vegetable and dried meat soup for dinner. Due to the friendly attitude of the three women, everyone was fine letting them join in.

Luna and Bajing hesitantly received their bowls of soup, while Limabela did not mind and dug in. The two knew how hard it was to gather food in the apocalypse. Furthermore, the bowl of soup in their hands had far more ingredients than everything they had eaten in the past two days. The three of them eating this rich soup while leaving their other members to eat nothing but the awful-tasting dried [Vine Dhole] meat felt bad for the two.

At times like this, Luna and Bajing felt envious of Limabela, who had no hesitation in her actions. Limabela also led the two to this pleasant meeting.

"Wow, this is good."

Limabela complimented the soup that Hannah cooked. Then, she could not help but look at Mei.

"Isn't it hard to eat with that on?"

Just like everyone, Mei was eating soup. However, she was wearing the veil she refused to remove with strangers around.

Mark looked around. It seemed that these three women sneaked out to meet them. Even though their other members already found out, those members only decided to watch outside the house in the middle of the area that was clear of fog.

"The others are far away. You can take it off."

Mark said to Mei.

After looking at Mark and nodding, Mei revealed her face, which surprised the three women for various reasons. First, she was beautiful. Second, she looked really young to have a child Iola's age.

And the third reason only belonged to Limabela.

"Huh? Xiao Mei? The Princess of Xiao Industries?"

Limabela blurted out.

Those words from Limabela became a surprise for everyone listening, especially the person in question.

"You know her?"

Luna asked her friend. 

"Uh-huh," Limabela nodded. "I saw her at the previous ASEAN Business Conference in Malaysia. She's too beautiful and popular to forget. But she really looked listless at that time."

Limabela then looked straight at Mei.

"Now, you looked way better. Good for you."

Those words surprised Mei in the most pleasant way. She never expected someone to recognize her here, not to mention realizing the difference between her past and present state. Furthermore, it was an acknowledgment of the positive changes Mei had gone through, which made her happy.

"Um, can I ask a question?" Bajing chimed in. "I heard about Xiao Industries, too. It's a construction company based in the Philippines, right?"

"Now that Bajing mentioned it," Luna also realized something. "Where did your group come from? There is no way we would not know of your group, especially if you have a dragon. News easily travels around the fortress, after all."

Mark looked at Luna. She had just given him a good piece of information.

"What is this fortress you are talking about?"

Mark asked.

"So, I am right," Luna stared at Mark and his group. "You guys aren't from the fortress."

Luna then proceeded to answer Mark's question. This exchange gave Mark the information he needed. It was the place where he needed to go and meet the other candidate. That fortress was also where Luna and her group came from. She did not hesitate to share the information since it was supposed to be well-known. It was Mark's group who were strange since they did not know about the supposed last bastion of humankind in Indonesia.

"So, where did your group come-" Luna was about to ask where Mark's group came from. However, she stopped while shaking her head. "No, forget it. If you didn't come from the fortress, never tell anyone from the fortress the location of your home. Not everyone is a good person there."

Luna then warned Mark. It seemed that there were a few incidents where groups from that said fortress raided some settlements outside. However, there was no evidence left of who did it, and no one received any punishment for the incidents.

Mark could only give a subtle smile. Although his [Empath] abilities were still unusable, he could still tell that these three women were good people from their actions.

"Don't worry about us," Mark spoke. "Just consider us as tourists. We don't have any fixed place in this country, after all."

Those words sparked surprise and curiosity in the three women.

"You don't have any place to go?"

Luna asked.

"Yep," Mark replied. "Since you mentioned that fortress, we might as well try going there."

"Then!" Limabela exclaimed. "Why not come with us? Let's go together. We're about to head home after this fog lifted anyway."

"You're not trying to recruit us or anything, right?"

Mark asked.

"No," Limabela shook her head. "It would be nice if that happened, but we don't recruit like this."

Mark looked at his members. He communicated with the girls through their eyes. In the end, they left the decision to him.

"Then, it will be our pleasure if your group can guide us."

Mark decided to go along with the three women.

The three women smiled. There was nothing bad with going together. In fact, things might become safer this way. If what Mark said was true and they were traveling the forest in their small group safely, they should be strong.

"By the way," Mark remembered something. "Is this place your group's? Why is it not covered in fog?"

Mark could not help but ask. This place was clear of the fog with that small house at the center. It made him curious.

The question made the women show complicated expressions. 

"We don't really know," Luna explained. "We found this place by chance during the third time this fog thing happened, and we got caught in it. So when it happened again today, we rushed to this place since it was nearby where we were."

Mark only probed a little. Although his question did not get answered, he got a good piece of information.

It was not the first time the [Magic Overflow] happened in this country. There were at least three times in the past, with the current one possibly being the fourth or fifth time.

Using this information, he deduced that magical energy was somehow accumulating too fast in this place, which caused the overflow to happen pretty frequently.

Mark began trying to think if he could utilize this fact to his advantage. After all, not only Mark's [Miasma] would grow using magical energy, but the [PsyCrystal] could only absorb some of it to create more [Empty Mental Crystals] faster.

After seeing how cooperative the three were, Mark decided to ask questions about the fortress, this place, and even the surroundings. Although Mark already had the general idea from Thirteenth, getting information from the mouth of a local was worth the trouble.

Fortunately, the three women did not hesitate to explain the current state and history of the Muria Sacred Fortress. Their answers gave Mark a good amount of information he could use and consider.

It would have been nice if Thirteenth just gave Mark some accurate information. However, every information she gave him was vague in many ways.

Now, with the help of these three women, Mark now knew where he could start finding the other candidate.

The dinner continued with a light chat. Due to Limabela's openness and friendliness, it became easier for the two parties to interact with each other. The three also did not hesitate to share information as long as it was not something that would jeopardize the safety of the Moon Chasers. Fortunately, Mark did not ask for personal stuff either.

But all of a sudden, the lively chatting came to an abrupt halt.

And the source of the odd silence was Mark and Limabela.

The two suddenly froze, staring at the empty space in front of them. They had the look of someone with scenes and memories flashing in front of their eyes.

And when the two finally moved their heads, Mark and Limabela locked stares for a second.

Mark's eyes glowed dark purple, while Limabela's eyes showed a bright, bluish-purple glow.

The colors might be a bit different, but it was clear that Limabela was a [Clairvoyant].

And just now, both Mark and Limabela saw flashes of the future at the same time.

All of a sudden, Limabela put down her bowl.

"Luna! Get everyone ready for battle!"

Limabela warned Luna.

On the other hand, Mark's group members were already preparing without the need to be informed.

Both groups prepared immediately. Unfortunately, they all barely had a minute to do said preparation.

It was because the ground began shaking. Loud clicks entered their ears.

Following the direction of the sound, everyone looked up.

Despite the fog and the darkness of the night, they could see a pair of gigantic red eyes glowing outside the area clear of fog.

As everyone raised their heads to stare at those red glows, they realized something.

Whatever the enemy was, it should be massive in size for its eyes to be four meters above the ground.