Mutagen

Day 129 - 12:40 PM - Newton Lake, Veteran's Memorial Park, Oaklyn, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

The sudden information about the crystals created by the [PsyCrystal] took Mark and Mei off guard.

Who would have thought that these crystals were something that actually existed before and was not just created by Keeper's ability? Furthermore, it was not something that could be seen easily. Even just the real rarity of these was enough to Mark freeze.

A rarity of one in a million years and even just the conditions it needed to form was hard to find. Yet, Mark had a lot of it. Of course, the [Physical Crystals] were excluded since they were created from [Mutagen Stones] and not magical energy. Nevertheless, he still had a lot.

It gave Mark a deep need to conceal this secret far more than before. If the information about him, having many of these was to spread around, it was not surprising if the whole world started to chase him.

Now, it was no wonder Bathala had such a reaction after seeing the crystals before. And now, Chimetric and Illia were the same.

Luckily, Bathala and these two did not seem to be greedy for these crystals. Or else, it would be a grave mistake to show these to them.

"Can you two tell us more about these crystals?"

Mark asked Chimetrice and Illia.

That question, however, made the two look at each other before shaking their heads.

"Nothing much is really known about those since they are impossibly rare in this realm. Its rarity is enough to make lower gods contest for one. Even deities would even be desperate to get their hands on one of those."

Apparently, it was quite similar to what they heard from Bathala.

Gods and Deities could grow stronger by the power of worship. If no people were worshiping them, or in the least, believing in them, their strength would regress, and they would become fallen Gods.

Fallen Gods, although still Gods, they had lesser strength than higher Deities.

To prevent that from happening, they needed other sources of strength. However, they could not just turn towards any other energy source. What they needed was a pure energy essence.

The [Pure Energy Crystal Essence] were among the rarest and most potent sources of energy for Godly beings.

"But we met a reclused God before. He didn't seem to know much about these crystals."

Mark said.

"It's not surprising," Illia retorted as she munched on some cheese flavored potato chips. "Even we only knew about this by coincidence. I don't know if you two knew this, but in this world that humans called Earth, new Gods are almost impossible to be born no matter what potential they had. That God you are talking about definitely came from another world or realm, am I right?"

"He did say that he came from a lower realm."

Mark nodded.

"Then that tells it," Illia said while seductively licking the cheese stuck on her fingers. "We already said that these crystals exist more in higher realms. Only those from higher realms knew more about these."

Mark grew silent. It seemed that even if he scoured the whole Earth to gather more information about these crystals, what he would find was very little.

"You two say that it is rare, but you two don't seem to have an interest in it."

Mark said, looking at the two.

"Because there is no point?" Illia replied. "You see, there are different kinds of an energy source that could possibly give birth to a [Pure Energy Crystal Essence]. Each energy source also had its own elemental attributes that the crystal it formed would inherit."

Illia then pointed at the [Mental Crystal] on Mark's hand.

"That seemed to be an attributeless one. Even though anyone can absorb that, it can only give an eighth of energy that crystals with attributes had. So, basically, although attributeless ones were rarer than those with attributes, it was the most useless among them to the point that even humans could absorb it with little consequences."

As if a teacher teaching her student's Illia continued.

According to her, the most common attributes of these energy crystals were fire. It was created inside undisturbed volcanos sleeping deep under the sea. 

As for the other attributes, it was safe to say that they were non-existent on this small blue planet as most energy sources it had were always being disturbed.

However, not everyone could openly absorb these crystals. Although the attributeless ones could be absorbed by humans and only suffer fever while enhancing their minds and psychic powers, absorbing those with attributes carelessly and forcefully would end up in grave repercussions.

Illia presented herself and Chimetrice as examples. Both of them were beings that had attributes. Chimetrice had powers that came from curses and evil forces like Miasma. On the other hand, Illia feeds off the energy from the essence of males since she was a Succubus.

If both of them received a fire attributed [Pure Energy Crystal Essence], it would not react to their bodies. If they forcefully absorbed it, it would be no surprise if they end up burning and worse, turning into ashes.

Only those with fire attributes could absorb a [Fire Pure Energy Crystal Essence], whether it be magical creatures or psychic humans.

Hearing about these, Mark and Mei turned at each other. It was no wonder Amihan and Spera could only absorb crystals with specific colors. It was the same for their other people.

But then, Mark remembered that Bathala seemed to have an interest in the crystals without minding the colors.

As such, Mark could not help but ask this question.

And to Mark's question, Illia replied with another surprising question.

"Is that God you are talking about some kind of God of creation? Gods of Creation had more than one attribute. If not, then, he probably wants to use Crystals on the Deities under them or something."

There was no need to ask further. It definitely answered Mark's question.

But then...

"Wait..." Illia said as she stared at Mark intently. "Do you have other crystals with different attributes?"

Sure enough, Illia managed to realize that fact as Mark asked that question.

It was not like that Mark was intending to hide it from these two. He already managed to deduce the personality of Chimetrice and Illia. There was no need to be cautious around them.

As for Chimetrice, as long as no one harmed Illia, he was more or less disinclined to take drastic actions.

Mark, however, did not answer Illia's question. He turned to Chimetrice.

"If you have Crystals with a suited attribute, how many do you need compared to eating Elise?"

Mark then stared at Chimetrice. He was waiting for this devil to swallow all the junk food he stuffed in his mouth. Even Illia was quite embarrassed to see her Master like this and wiped the crumbs on his face.

"Sorry," Chimetrice said as he swallowed his food. "This food was filled with impurities, but it tastes good. I never had anything like it before."

Of course, that was true. These kinds of food that tasted good but had very low nutritional value were not invented yet five thousand years ago.

"That Energy Well-woman can give me a lot of energy, but it's still unrefined. Comparing to the attributed crystal my creator had before... Changing its attribute, then about the same size as yours... Probably, about three."

Chimetrice said while thinking deeply. Of course, by his expression, he was not expecting that Mark would be able to give him that and was just asking out of curiosity.

"Three, huh." 

Mark said as he conjured three crystals on his hand. There, three gray-colored crystals appeared. It was among the crystals he managed to create since the curse was activated.

"Here."

Mark then presented the crystals to Chimetrice.

Chimetrice was surely surprised, but Illia was about to get a heart attack.

"Did you come from some rich God family in the higher realm?!"

Illia could not help but blurt out in shock.

But then, she realized. That was impossible. After all, Mark did not seem to know the significance of these crystals.

Mark ignored Illia and placed the crystals on Chimetrice's left hand.

"Absorb these quickly. How long do you need? Also, how long will this place last?"

The other three could not help but fell silent. It was as if Mark was suddenly in a hurry.

"Gege, is something wrong?"

Mei finally opened her mouth. Since they sat down here, she had been silent.

"We have company, you see." Mark shrugged. "Also, don't look around. They didn't know that I already detected them. They are lurking around the border. It seems like they can't enter."

Chimetrice seemed to be nonchalant about it. However, Illia and Mei froze.

"Do I need to be in perfect shape?" Chimetrice asked. "You already said that the Gods are mostly non-existent now. If it were just some deities, my current state is more than enough to deal with them."

Mark then sighed.

"I forgot to tell you. The Gods are already gone. But the cause of them leaving Earth is being active right now."

Mark's eyes turned quite serene.

"Your revival caused quite a commotion, and you are pretty much a Godly being, yourself. I'm afraid we will run into one of his Eyes once this we leave this place."

Hearing that, Chimetrice frowned.

"Are you talking about the apostles of the Observer?"

"Since you know about them, it makes things easier to explain," Mark replied with a nod. "There are several people outside the barrier. I can tell that none of them are human except for one that I could not fathom. That one is just hiding and observing. I suspect that that one is an Eye. I encountered two Eyes before. I get the same feeling coming from that person."

"An Eye..." Illia shivered in anger. "One of those bastards is the very reason why my Master was sealed..."

Mark then turned to Illia, asking for an explanation.

"Actually, Master's existence is a secret to the Gods. He is not a god, yet, he could rival them in strength and abilities to some extent. The Gods learned about him and tried to eliminate him. Then, you know what happened next." Illia explained. "An Eye leaked his existence to the Gods. Probably, from the previous Observer."

"I see." Mark nodded and turned to Chimetrice. "It's better if you absorb those crystals now. I don't know if we can avoid a conflict with the people outside."

Chimetrice nodded. He would not be afraid of Gods and Deities, but the Eyes were a completely different issue. Compared to Gods and Deities, the Eyes were far more unpredictable.

Thus, without hesitation, Chimetrice activated the crystals and absorbed all of it in his body in one go. Now, they only needed to wait until the energy from the crystals help his body reach his peak.

On the other hand, Mark thought deeply about what Illia had just said.

While the current Observer was getting rid of Gods and Deities, the previous one was not without faults either. It was the same as what happened to the Blood Demons. The Eyes manipulated the angels and devils to get rid of the Blood Demon Race. In the case of Chimetrice and Illia, that Eye instigated the Gods to get rid of Chimetrice.

Mark thought of the situation deeply. He started to get the gist of what these Observers wanted to do.

In one way or another, it felt like the Observers were not only managing the number of humans on Earth but were also removing any factor that could change the aspects of the world.

Especially the ones that would change it from what it looked like on the surface.

It was as if they were limiting the advance of Earth into a single direction.

Realizing that, Mark started to feel a sense of crisis.

In the future, there was a very high possibility.

He would be among the list that the Observers would want to erase.