Mutagen

Day 73 - 9:22 AM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

Mark, together with Mei, Amihan, Iola, Abbygale, and Miracle, walked out of the house. It was quite odd that Mark was carrying a huge sack on his arms, even though their plan was nothing else but to plant the Spirit Tree that Amihan anticipated so much.

This Spirit Tree was a precious thing. There was no way that Mark had forgotten about it. It was just that there was no time to plant it these past days since they arrived. In fact, he already decided where he would plant this tree.

That was their current destination, the wide vacant area at the center of the base. The one directly in front of the precipice Mark turned into his home.

They only needed to walk about fifteen meters or so. Still, along with that short distance, they came across many people in the base.

Seeing the owner of the base and his family, they all greeted respectfully.

Still, the people Mark passed by on the way could not help but stare for a bit. The reason being the Sylph sitting on his shoulder. Unlike the others, Amihan and Aephelia were very elusive to the eyes of the people in the base. It was very unusual for them to see the two fascinating creatures.

Aephlia might not be a real Sylph. However, she felt too uncomfortable receiving such stares. That was why she was trying hard not to show herself to people.

Amihan, on the other hand, while her fear of people was already lessened, it was already her nature to not show herself to humans as much as possible.

The only times the two could be seen by people was when they were with Mark. This kept the interest of everyone in the base towards the two from subsiding.

In fact, while living in this apocalyptic world now was dull compared to the past, everyone in this base had something to turn their attention to. It was the fact that this base had creatures that they never ever believed that could exist.

"Master!"

"Mark!"

Two voices overlapped as they called for Mark. The two were no other than Alana and Jolleen. Both looked sweaty, and their current appearance called the eyes of men around. It seemed that the two had just finished their morning training and was on the way back to clean up.

"Where are all of you going?"

Alana asked with interest. It was rare for Mark to suddenly go out with everyone. From what she knew of Mark, there should be something interesting going on. Like how he created things back before the apocalypse for her.

"I can't say anything much, really," Mark replied. "You two are welcome to watch, though. We are just going by the central area of the base."

Both Alana and Jolleen looked at each other. It seemed that the interest towards Mark wanted to do weighted heavier than actually cleaning up their bodies. Thus, they really followed.

Arriving at the vacant area, however, Mark and Mei were slightly surprised.

Sitting at a wooden chair at the side of the central area. There was the seer of the tribe together with her grandchildren. From how they sat facing the center of the vacant space, it looked like they were waiting for something.

"Mark, you finally arrived."

The elder smiled after seeing that Mark finally came to this place. There was no doubt. She was waiting for something.

Mark did not have to say anything. Before any of them could ask, the elder explained herself.

"I dreamt that something will happen here today. I only know that it had something to do with you. I don't know what will happen. But, my dream told me that it is an important event that people don't really see."

She was really a Seer. After all, she was right. Something would happen that people would not usually see. Which person would have been able to watch a tree sacred to Spirit Races get planted anyway? Most of the population around the world did not even know the existence of it.

"Alright, there's really no issue watching."

Mark replied with a nod. There was really no problem with it. After all, since he needed to release miasma during the planting of this tree, it would surely be noticed by everyone in the base.

"Yes, thank you." The elder smiled. "Please, just don't mind us."

As such, Mark made everyone wait at the side and stepped towards the center of the vacant area. Even Amihan retreated as it was only Mark who should be present during the planting.

The area was designed by him to be shaped in a circle. At first, he would want to build something like a tower here. That was why it was shaped like this. Who would have thought that the tower he planned would be replaced by an Unusual Tree anyway? Still, it was not a bad thing.

If what Amihan said before was true, the Spirit Tree would become several lines of defenses for the base.

The only thing was that, like what happened in Mark's and Ignis' naming ritual, the kind of tree that would grow was rather hard to determine.

What they knew was that the Spirit Tree would complement the kind of energy fed to it during its growth.

That was why Mark decided about something.

Mark tipped the sack in the center of the vacant area. The contents of the sack spilled out. This confused those that did not know what the contents of the sack were. After all, all they saw was dark brown colored dirt that was dumped out by Mark.

This dirt, however, was not just normal dirt. It was actually the dirt gathered around a Lesser Spirit Tree. It was one of the things Mark and Mei gathered last night. The soil around the Lesser Spirit Tree beside the altar that sealed the Deity of Bloodshed for thousands of years.

Furthermore, not only that it was a special kind of dirt, it had the residue of auras both the guardian and the false deity had.

Pouring the unusual soil, Mark formed a shovel with his blood and dug the area he would plant on. He mixed both the normal soil and the unusual soil together.

Then, he took out the seed and buried it into the mixed soil.

After that, Mark unexpectedly conjured five [Mental Crystals] and surrounded the place where he buried the seed with the crystals.

According to Amihan, there was no fixed method to plant a Spirit Tree. Everything was up to the one planting it. Even the chant or the materials. This was what led Mark to do things like this.

In Mark's theory, the soil soaked with the aura of strong beings would surely make the seed grow. Then, the crystals would ensure that something positive would be born of it. After all, whether it was the [Mental Crystal] or the [Physical Crystal], both of these only brought out positive effects.

Finally, the most important thing. It was to feed the seed enough energy to grow.

And for the crazy Mark... He actually conjured the [Psychic Mental Crystals] he had to contribute.

The [Photokinesis Mental Crystal], the [Lignthning Mental Crystal], and the [Storm Caller Mental Crystal]. All three floated around Mark as he started to release all the different energies around inside his body.

SHHOOOOMMMM!!!

Miasma swirled around his body like a tornado. His right eye glowed red and his left eye shined purplish. He then extended his palms towards where he planted the seed. His right hand covered with while milky light while his left hand was burning with bright orange flames.

Then, the three [Mental Crystal] activated. Crackling sounds echoed as one turned into a ball of lightning. Another shined brightly like the sun. The last one was covered in a grey haze as it started to call the swirling clouds in the sky.

The sudden influx of different energies was felt by everyone. Mutator or not, psychic or not, they all felt that something was happening.

Annica who was able to see the energies with her eyes was alarmed by the event. Leaving her current duty to try taming the water bug, she ran towards the center of the base. Her brothers could not help but run after her after seeing strange behavior.

On the other hand, a strange event happened that Edward, Analynn, Karlene, and Terrence witnessed. They could not help but run towards the center of the base. It was because Emi, who should be just sitting on her chair blankly, suddenly ran away towards that direction.

Then, another strange thing happened. All the [Blood Children] in the base suddenly left their current places and made their way to the very same place. This made Nicole and Hallie who had Ruby and Merlot with them run after the two.

Even Layan experienced the same as Salacia suddenly ran away.

Ignis that was left inside the house felt the same thing and could not help but fly out.

Milliel inside her hut was rather scared and was hiding while rather confused as she felt the powers that belonged to her father.

Not only the ones inside the base were affected. Even those outside were the same.

Mutated Birds could be seen flying away as if a natural disaster was to occur. Even the Mutated Animals and Insects were the same.

Furthermore, several individuals hidden in the mountains and forests could not help but notice the phenomenon.

Outside the base, a man with white hair suddenly came out of a tree.

"What in the world is that guy doing now?"

Pefile could not help but mutter.

The scale of what was happening right now was not something to be trifled. Although there seemed to be no ill intent on it, just the sheer amount of magical energy gathered right now was terrifying.

While all of those things were happening, Mark was oblivious to it.

The others did not know, however, he already lost control.

BADUMP! BADUMP!

This was not in his plan at all.

BADUMP! BADUMP!

The energies inside his body had actually gone rampant.

BADUMP! BADUMP!

There was that annoyingly loud heartbeat too.

Mark was still conscious, however, everything was already out of his control. Even his body was not moving the way he wanted to.

He could only stare in front of him.

Then, he saw a swirl of energies being sucked down into the soil in front of him.

Mark knew that the seed was surely absorbing the energy around it now.

RUMBLE!!!

Then, an earthquake occurred.

It was not that strong, just enough to make everyone lose their balance for a bit.

At the same time, the sky started to change in color. The grey clouds became frighteningly red. As if blood was about to rain instead of water.

Then, like a beanstalk from a certain fairy tale, a plant sprouted out of the soil. It steadily grew at a fast rate that it was unbelievable. At the same time, Mark could feel that the energy inside his body was being sucked dry.

Everyone in the base had already gathered at the central area of the base. Not only people, even Chaflar, Laelaps, and the other animals in the base were watching. Even Pefile managed to blend into the crowd and watch what was happening, up close.

Some were scared, some were confused. Nevertheless, whatever emotion they felt, they still felt amazed as they saw a plant that had just sprouted from the ground growing into a tree.

Then... everyone saw Mark... Fell onto one of his knees. He was obviously in extreme pain.

That scared Mei, however, the swirling energy around Mark prevented anyone from approaching.

But then...

Mark's wings sprouted from his back. Strange, however, there was not just one pair, but two. Furthermore, both pairs that looked identical started to change. Red glowing veins appeared like a streak of lightning in a dark rainy sky.

His hair grew long once more. At the same time, the markings in his body acted up too.

Slowly, Mark stood up once more. He turned his head around looking at everyone. They were all shocked.

Who blood-red horns had already grown on his forehead and two pointed canine fangs could be seen protruding from his mouth.

Finally, the earthquake stopped and the swirling energy vanished as the Spirit Tree took shape. An eight-meter tree that towered over the base with its blood-red leaves, and black colored trunk and branches. Red glowing veins could be seen in each leaf that looked identical to Mark's wings.

When Mark turned around, another strange thing happened.

It started with the [Blood Children]. Then, Chaflar, Iola, Miracle, Emi, and lastly, Alana.

They all bowed down and kneeled on foot as they faced Mark. This made everyone even more confused.

It was until they noticed a scary thing.

The [Blood Children] were releasing a faint reddish glow on their bodies, even Miracle was included. On the other hand, Chaflar had its eyes glowing red, and its scales exuding a reddish light.

For the Iola, Emi, and Alana, however, everyone felt even more afraid. Their eyes were glowing red while the veins on their bodies became rather visible as their veins exuded the same glow as Mark's.

Seeing this, Pefile had the greatest shock of his life. It was even a greater shock he received after hearing what happened to his wife.

The signs he saw on Mark's and the bodies of the others. It was somewhat inconceivable.

Under his breath, he could not help but mutter.

"The Night Everred Spirit Tree... And the Blood Demon Race that had gone extinct... They actually appeared once again..."

Still, when he said those words, he was not afraid. Instead, it was obvious that he was rather excited.