Mutagen

Day 22 – 9:30 AM – Barangay Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal

After Mark fled the area of the previous bloody battle filled with decapitated corpses, he went straight towards the street side store and entered it. The door only had a hinge lock making it easy for him to break. After entering the door, he did not immediately pack up the items but hid under the window instead. He was rather curious why he was feeling too much danger so he tried to peek at the window looking at the area he left before while being hidden.

Soon, an eight foot tall creature went out of the street corner outside the barangay hall. Mark knew that it was the one Amihan saw earlier as it had multiple pairs of limbs. However, it seemed that the little sylph was too scared and failed to clearly look at its appearance. The mutated creature did not really look like a spider.

It had three pairs of hands and legs. Furthermore, the limbs that did not belong to the same pair had different length and size. Not only that, but the positioning of some of the limbs rather odd. One of the shorter arms which looked like a child's right arm was protruded on its chest while the pair of it was on the back. It was also using just four of its six legs to walk while the other two hang on its waist.

It also had two bulging tumor like bumps, one on its right shoulder while the other was located where the tailbone was supposed to be.

'Wait…'

The mutated infected scurried too fast that he had a hard time seeing its body clearly but he had a glimpse of the tumor on its tailbone when it turned around. It was not a tumor but a woman's distorted head that had its hair removed. He also saw two sets of buttocks behind it but on a closer look, one set was not actually buttocks but pair of a woman's healthy mountains.

After it stopped moving, Mark saw it body was distorted and it actually had several body parts that more that the supposed number a normal person had. It gave him the grotesque idea that the infected's body was actually made of several infected bodies fused together.

While looking at the mutated infected, Mark held his right arm. It was not because he was scared but because the PsyCrystal embedded on his arm and hidden by his bracer was vibrating fiercely. Since it happened while he was looking at the mutated infected, it was likely that it had at least one pebble on its head. Considering how the crystal reacted, there should be more than one and that was possible due to the fact that the infected had more than one head.

However, Mark felt that the fused infected was not the only reason he was feeling danger and was not the only creature causing the reaction of the PsyCrystal. Soon, his suspicion was answered. Before the fused infected turned away and leave, another strange looking infected went out in the middle of the street. It was rather average in size but the aura around it told Mark that it was a predator.

The new infected looked too skinny as if there was only bones and no flesh it is body. Even the shape of its skull was obvious on its head. However, its hands were non-existent and instead, it had a pair of scythe shaped bones about half meter in length. As it walked with its hunched body, it uses its bladed arms as its fore limbs and was running fast on all fours. That aside, even though it moved fast, Mark could not hear even the faintest sound as it ran on the concrete road.

'There's probably more kinds of mutated infected here.'

Mark thought as his excitement started to rise. As a zombie outbreak enthusiast, aside from learning things about survival one of the things that could give him both enjoyment and security was to discover and study these new kinds infected. Not only his curiosity would be satisfied but he would also discover how to fight and locate the weaknesses of these creatures.

However, not now…

He was here for another goal so he needed to restrain himself.

Seeing that the mutated infected had left, he started to pack everything he could into his bag and even took an empty standard sized box that he saw and filled it with canned food. Even though it would make him a bit slower when he return, it would still be fine even if he needed to battle evolved animals and insects on the way.

After packing everything he that could fit in the box and his bag, he used the [Blood Whips] on his back to secure the box behind him. He then went out to the back of the house and went behind the houses as he made his way back. He still sneakily went to take the hiking bag and then ran even faster. There was no way he would use the street he took previously now that it was likely for the two mutated infected or even other kinds to see him in the open. Not to mention that the other infected already gathered on the street to feast on the bodies of their dead comrades.

By the time he returned, Amihan immediately flew towards him with a worried face along with all the worried questions she could ask. This little sylph being a worrywart was kind of annoying but it was one of her good qualities in a way. In the least, this showed how important Mark's existence to her.

Still, even though Mark escaped a tough or might even be a life threatening fight, he was currently facing quite of a problem.

He had already found what he needed and it was already more than he could normally carry, he wanted to return. The moment he opened the door of the house he left the red blob however…

"My Lord… I think it ate too much…"

Amihan on his shoulder said as they stared at the red blob that was now even larger than a five gallon bucket.

Mark could feel that the red blob seemed happy he returned but he did not really know how he would be able to carry it now considering how many things he was already carrying.

That was when his eyes landed on his [Blood Whip] when he glanced at the bags he was carrying on his back.

He remembered that his blood and the body of the red blob was basically the same and it could even absorb the blood of others like how he did. Then…

Could it also turn into metal?

It seemed that his thought was properly received by the red blob and it extended a tentacle towards him. In a few seconds, the tentacle made of blood solidified into metal and got disconnected from the blob's body making a clanging sound on the floor.

"My Lord, this…"

Amihan was surprised at the scene and turned to Mark who had his eyes shining with expectations. With the existence of the red blob, a lot this problems was given an answer. Especially questions pertaining to the base he wanted to build.

He could turn his blood into metal but it had some limitations. First, even though he could manipulate any shape and size of his blood outside his body, it was only within the scope of the amount of blood in his body. After turning it to metal, the size and shape was limited and it would surely take a long time for it to be used as walls or even foundations of structures. Second, he would suffer from symptoms of anemia if he overdid it. Third, he could only store a limited amount of blood in his body. Lastly, even though he could turn the blood of others into metal without absorbing it, it would still require him to melt the metal and absorb it before it could be shaped and used.

With the red blob however, all of these limitations had been lifted. The blob which had its whole body made of blood could store as much as it could for sure and would just grow in size. It would not feel anemia for sure and since the blood in its body could be bloated in large amounts, the size limit for the [Blood Meta] had lesser limitations.

Mark sent his thoughts to the red blob and it changed its shape into a wheelbarrow without wheels. After the blood metallized and the metal wheel was created, the red blob finally returned to its initial size. Still, its liveliness and the strength of Mark's mental connection to it remained the same like when it was still big.

Amihan looked both amazed and jealous. It seemed like she also wanted such a useful ability since she could only control the wind around her. If Mark knew of her thoughts, he would surely laugh. After all, even though Amihan's ability right now might be weak, it had a fair amount of uses. Not to mention…

It was not like her ability could not be enhanced further. The [Mental Crystals] should be able to help with that. Mark just needed to wait for his mental ability to come back after both psychic abilities consolidated fully in his mind. It was also the reason he could not tap with the uses of the PsyCrystal on his wrist. He needed mental energy to use it.

Finally, he could now remove the heavy things from his back. He also proceeded to loot the houses in this empty area gathering clothes, soap and other daily necessities.

Finally, he could leave. The next goal he had was to investigate where the red blobs came from. As he found a very important use for this unknown creature similar to a fantasy monster called slime, he wanted to find as many as he could. He also wanted to think of a name for this creature after investigating its origin.

And after that was to secure a consistent source of blood to be used for building the base.

He had many options but he thought of something that was very unlikely for most people to do…

***

It took him for a while and his arms felt numb but he managed to return to the village about three hours before sunset. Even though he managed to create a wheelbarrow with the help of the red blob, his hand and arms became numb due to the rocky riverside and the uneven mountain terrain which became one of the reason he spent more time returning.

When he returned, he was gladly given a warm reception by Hallie especially when she saw the medicine that everyone could use. They really needed this medicine after all since most of the people in her group were either sick or injured.

Mark stared at Hallie with a bit of confusion. In terms of injury, she had it worse than the others. Just how was she able to maintain her lively attitude when the others could not even move properly?

Looking at the sky, it seemed that the hornets had already calmed down. Mark felt that it was a waste that it was unlikely for him to find the overly confident guy's body since the oversized hornets were carnivorous. He would not be able to store his ability. Well, it was not like he could anyway since his mental abilities could not be used yet. It was the same for the already existing [Physical Crystals] and [Mental Crystals] which were currently stored inside the PsyCrystal.

Mark was thinking a lot of things and it was also the same for the members of Hallie's group. When Mark returned with the supplies he scavenged in the infected filled community, even though it did not belong to them, they became assured that staying here would not be bad as long as they work properly. Mark had the ability to find supplies in dangerous places and had the ability to protect them. They just needed to show that they were worthy of being fed and protected