Mutagen

Day 86 - 6:15 AM - Cliff House, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

The Night Everred Spirit Tree, Chiyo, had finally awoken its consciousness. Its awakening had given the whole base another step forward.

With Chiyo, the whole flatlands around the base could be monitored securely. Furthermore, as Chiyo was more active at night, it could supplement a lot in keeping guard during the most dangerous times of the day.

Now, the security of the whole base was pretty much stacked up. Even if Mark was not around, there were the lookouts over the walls, Huey to detect noises, Pearl to detect vibrations, and now, Chiyo for overall surveillance. Even underground attacks were now impossible to succeed with Chiyo's roots monitoring the ground.

Unfortunately, despite having sentience, Pure Spirit Trees were too far from being Treants. They were not able to move their bodies except for a few unique kinds. In the least, most mature trees could have their own unique way of protecting their territories. As for a Night Everred Spirit Tree, it was still unknown, along with a lot of information missing.

Of course, this would be unveiled in the near future. There was no need to wonder about it too much.

***

Inside the room, Iola and Miracle fell asleep after staying awake late in the evening. Miracle really did not need it. However, it had grown unto her to sleep with her sisters during the night. Of course, she was still the first to wake up and join her Papa on watching over Mei and Abbygale, that were still in the middle of becoming a Blood Demon.

Unexpectedly, the first to finish was not Mei but Abbygale. She woke up a bit after sunrise a bit sluggish. For almost the whole night, her body had a state similar to a sick person's. It was understandable if she was a bit weakened when she woke up. Nevertheless, the moment she woke up, she was happy and gave her Papa a tight hug.

Mark fetched something for them to eat, especially for Abbygale. Then, they continued to watch over Mei.

For some reason, she was taking it longer. And Mark was sure that it was not because Abbygale was a child, and Mei was older for her body to change slower.

After another two hours, Mei woke up. And there, they learned a strange thing.

"Gege..." Mei said as she opened her eyes. "Good Morning."

She greeted Mark and the little girls as she turned her head around.

That was when she froze a bit and hurriedly tried to sit down. Mark felt that something was wrong and immediately approached her.

"How do you feel?"

Mark asked just to see Mei touching her cuspids.

"Gege, this..."

Mei then showed her teeth towards Mark. He was quite surprised.

Compared to his, it was short, but no doubt... 

Mei grew fangs.

This was unbelievable as Pefile had already said that being a Pure Blood Demon could not be acquired. Yet, one of the characteristics of a Pure Blood Demon appeared on Mei after she became one.

Mark then had an idea.

"Mei'er, try opening your wings."

Mei nodded, and her batwings grew out of her back.

Like before, there was just a pair of wings. However, while it might be a bit faint, there were red-colored veins at the base of her wings.

There was no doubt, for some reason, she turned into a Pure Blood Demon. Nevertheless, he could tell that her rank as a Pure Blood Demon was lower than his considering her short fangs and the faint red veins.

Still, this fact was baffling.

Mark decided to ask Pefile later, and also Teremillio and Felenia considering that they knew many things for some reason.

As Mei and Abbygale had both turned into Blood Demons, Mark was relieved. Now, he could say that this family was genuinely his, and no one would be able to deny it.

With the two waking up, Mark decided to have a good breakfast. Although he and the little girls had already eaten a bit, they would not let Mei eat alone.

***

After lunch, a meeting was held inside the meeting room inside Mark's house. The ones present were the people directly receiving orders from Mark, a few of his friends like Rollan, Carlo, and Arvie, and the important folklore creatures living in the base, Teremillio and his wives, and Pefile.

Teremillio and his wives were easy to call. On the other hand, even without needing to call him, Pefile would suddenly appear whenever he was needed.

Aside from them, the Tribe Elder and her grandchildren were also present.

Mark disclosed the fact that the Spirit Tree had awakened its consciousness. Pefile and the other folklore creatures in the base already knew about this. On the other hand, it surprised the people in the base that only watched what was happening at the tree last night without knowing anything.

For the Spirit Tree to wake up, it was a good thing for everyone in the base. Mark also discussed the benefit of having the Spirit Tree awakened to his people and friends making them feel even more secure in this base. He also told them that he would be distributing the crystals to them and those that contributed heavily to the base. Sure enough, it made them delighted.

Mark discussed a few more things to Huey and the others including the space inside the tree that they needed to start working on. Thus, Huey would need to make another draft of a new base that they would build inside that space. Of course, Huey needed to see the location first before he was able to start and Mark agreed in showing everyone the space inside the tree.

After that, most of the humans left, leaving only the Tribe Elder and her grandchildren as the only humans in the room.

And there, the discussion would have to a grave turn.

"There is something that I need to tell you all."

Mark said.

"The Spirit world is in shambles right now."

This caused the folklore creatures to be shocked. The ones most affected were Pefile, Teremillio, and Felenia for some reason.

"What do you mean?"

Pefile asked with a serious expression.

And thus, Mark described what he had seen through the portal inside Chiyo.

The three could not believe what they were hearing. The others were also the same as what Mark had described greatly differed from what they expected.

There, Pefile, Teremillio, and Felenia had a serious request.

They wanted to see the situation for themselves.

Mark did not mind it. However, he had a question for the Elder first. In fact, Mark did not call for the Elder, she was the one who wanted to meet with Mark.

"Elder, why did you come to meet me today?"

To that question, the Elder faced Mark's direction.

"I received an Oracle last night. I have a message for you."

Hearing that, Mark was surprised. It would not be surprising for an oracle about the base to arrive. However, this oracle seemed to have something to do with him.

"Please, say it."

Mark said.

The Elder then looked down and opened her mouth.

"Clouds had gathered, and blinding light streaked across the night sky. I happened ones, and the shadows were lost. The cloud gathered once more, and red light enveloped the sky. It happened twice, and the shadows found their way."

The elder coughed a bit making her granddaughter rub her back. She then continued.

"The shadow will arrive but will decide not to loom over. With its thousand eyes, it will observe. At the right time, the will absorb."

She then raised her head.

"That is all I can tell you. I believe that you know what it meant. We will be returning to our place."

"Thank you for the message," Mark nodded. "Let Odel escort you back."

With that, being helped by Odelina, the Elder and her grandchildren left the room.

Everyone was baffled to the meaning of what the Elder had said. It was quite cryptic after all. Inside the room, Mark was the only one that had the ability to understand it. After all, he knew the things that the message mentioned.

"Gege, do you understand it?"

Mei asked a bit worried. Hearing those words made her feel a bit uncomfortable.

Mark nodded and spoke for everyone to hear.

"What the oracle meant is that the enemies also felt the awakening of Chiyo. They will find this base soon."

"Which enemies?"

Pefile asked with a frown. The news about the Spirit Dimension already ticked him off, now, the place where his son and his partner were living seemed to be in danger.

"I don't exactly know." Mark shook his head.

However, he had a vague idea.

In Mark's understanding, what the oracle meant was this.

At the time he fully assimilated with Freed's ability, the clouds gathered and lightning streaked across the sky. The enemies felt it and tried to find the source. However, as it just happened once, the enemies were lost. However, when the Spirit Tree was planted and when its consciousness awakened last night, it was very likely that the enemies finally managed to pinpoint, at least, the general direction of this place.

Because of how large the Spirit Tree was, they were sure to find it if they arrived.

However, they could not just make a move and needed to observe. These enemies would need to gather information. When they were ready, they would attack.

As for who were the enemies... The oracle mentioned shadows several times. Talking about shadows, there was only one kind of creature that entered his mind.

The shadow people. It meant that the Auraboros was looking for Chiyo. Sure enough, their goal was not good in any way.

Fortunately, they still had time to prepare. Although he oracle the Elder had given out sounded ominous, it did not seem to be hurried. He needed to bolster the defenses of the base before he ventured into the Spirit Dimension. The current state of the Spirit Dimension was just as important as this oracle he had recieved.

Sorting his thoughts, Mark decided to bring the folklore creatures into the space inside Chiyo.

However, before that...

"Pefile," Mark called out. "You said that being a Pure Blood Demon cannot be acquired, right?"

Hearing that question, Pefile nodded.

"Yes. From what I heard, that is the case."

To Pefile's statement, Mark nodded to Mei.

There, she opened her wings and showed her fangs. She also let her eyes shine red along with her veins on her body.

"You got to be kidding me."

Pefile said in speechlessness.

Not only Pefile but even Amihan was surprised.

On the other hand, Teremillio and Felenia also showed surprise for a very different reason.

The two thought that Mark was only asking about Blood Demons in curiosity. They never expected that reason was this. From the conversation of Mark and Pefile, it was obvious that Mei had just become one. Then... The eyes of the two slowly fell to Mark who actually nodded to their stares.

Teremillio and Felenia felt lightheaded. No one had ever told them about this. It was not surprising that they would not know since they did not even recognize the Night Everred Spirit Tree in the first place.

To the scene in front of him, Pefile slapped his forehead. It was obvious that he was having a headache.

As Mei returned back to normal, Pefile spoke in a bit frustrated tone.

"You couple really loved breaking the rules, aren't you?"

Sure enough, that frustration stemmed from the bottom of his heart. He also wanted to get away from the rules binding their race. Too much that he might even exchange his soul for it.

Yet, Mark and Mei were breaking the rules of the world without even knowing. This made Pefile want to punch someone.

Seeing Pefile's reaction, Mark called for Spera to fetch a glass of water for him which he gladly received.

Holding the glass, Pefile asked.

"Does she have anything special about her body or something?"

He just voiced this question without thinking. Raising the glass of water, he slowly drank on it.

Mark and Mei looked at each other for a bit. Mark then spoke.

"Do you know about the [Body of Void]?"

PFFFT!

"Cough! Cough!"

Pefile spit out the water he was drinking and started a coughing fit after he choked.

It was obvious that he knew what Mark was talking about and was totally shocked by the reply.

Pefile wanted to question Mark if he was joking. 

However...

"Ahem..."

A male grumpy voice was heard first.

Pefile looked at the table in front of him.

There, Teremillio and his wives, with the exception of Angis, were drenched with water he spat out.