Mutagen

Day 137 - 8:42 PM - Bedroom, Cliff House, Moutain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon Province, Philippines

"Ready?"

Mark asked Mei, who was currently lying down on the bed.

He was currently holding onto the crystal that he got from the female leaders of the outlaws in Browning Square.

[Rainbow Dragoscale] mutation. It was what Mark called it. The name came from the dragon-like aura of the rainbow-colored scales. Mark considered calling it something like a rainbow dragon, but as the mutation was incomplete, unlike the ones he got from the father and son duo of Death Valley Settlement, he decided on the current name.

And to Mark's question...

"I'm ready."

Mei nodded with eyes filled with resolution.

And thus, Mark made Mei swallow the crystal, and it turned pieces that entered her throat.

Almost immediately after the crystal entered her body, Mei lost consciousness. Just like the first time, Mei's body temperature rose sharply as the mutation took place inside and outside her body.

Mei started to feel extreme pain in her body. It showed on her face, even though she completely lost her consciousness.

This was the sign for Mark to start his work.

With his hand covered with milky white light, Mark pressed his palms on Mei's head.

"Ugh..."

Mei suddenly started making painful sounds, even though Mark was trying to alleviate the pain for her.

"Damn it, this strange power can't fully mitigate the pain."

Mark grumbled. Now that he realized, this was the first time that Mark actually witnessed someone ingesting a second [Physical Crystal] that contained a mutated ability. Consuming an empty one to become evolvers and a filled one to become a mutator, both those instances could be handled by Mark.

However, it seemed that this ability was not enough for the second time of consuming a mutation crystal.

"Tch!" Mark clicked his tongue. "I should have tried it on someone else first."

It was an oversight on his part. He was conserving the crystals and abilities too much that it did not enter his mind. 

Although he knew that the pain would get worse for consuming another crystal, he thought that his ability would still be of help.

Now, he was regretting it once more.

Mark's heart that was empty before the apocalypse was now felt like getting torn apart as he watched Mei suffer in pain.

"No, I should try something else."

Mark grumbled as he racked his brain.

And the idea came around immediately.

The skill he attained as an Empath. It was the ability to absorb and relay the emotional fluctuations of a target to others.

And there it was...

The ability to absorb. There was no need to relay it, even though Mark would likely suffer a concentrated amount.

But that did not matter.

Mark was willing to suffer for Mei and the little girls...

And there, he started to grit his teeth as his eyes glowed bright red, even releasing sparks of red electricity around it.

But then, an unexpected reaction occurred. 

The moment he activated his Empathic ability, the milky light covering his hand started to swirl. Then, instead of just the negative emotional energy from the pain, the actual sensation that Mei was feeling all over her body began to flood into Mark instead.

"GUH!"

A painful growl almost escaped Mark's mouth.

With the combination of these two Psychic Abilities, Mei's complexion started to become better. She was still in pain, but it was greatly alleviated for her. It was all thanks to the sudden reaction of the two abilities fused together.

Mark, on the other hand, was doing his best to not make a sound. He was gritting his teeth too much that his gums started to tear. It was too painful. He could feel what exactly Mei was feeling during the process of her mutation.

It was as expected of the nature of [Rainbow Dragoscales]. This was a mutation on the skin, and as such, the pain was also there. It was more concentrated on the arms and legs, though.

Mark squinted his eyes. He could feel as if his skin was started to tear to pieces. In fact, as he felt the pain, he could see Mei's skin starting to crack and tear. However, there was no blood. It was because the torn skin did not form a wound at all. Instead, a new layer of skin covered the torn part as soon as it opened.

It was like how snakes shed their skin.

The process continued like that, with Mark taking most of the burden and suffering for Mei. Two hours later, Mark had become numb to the repeated feeling of his skin being torn apart. It was because Mei's skin did the same all over her body. 

Several layers of skin were repeatedly torn and were replaced as if tuning the best kind of skin that was compatible with her body.

It repeated and repeated for the next two hours. Finally, the tearing stopped, and the pain started to subside.

Mark felt freed from the torture. But then.

"ARGH!"

Mark gasped. A sudden surge of pain was suddenly channeled to him from Mei. He almost removed his hands from Mei's head but managed to persevere.

Still, it was too painful. The pain was on his back, and for sure, Mei was feeling the same.

And then, the pain suddenly intensified. His hands were already shaking, trying to maintain his current posture.

But then, with another burst of intense pain, he finally let go.

It was not because he removed his hand, though. His hands were forced away.

The still unconcious Mei suddenly sat up.

BAM!

The scene in front of Mark made his eyes turn wide.

Mei's wings opened wide while she was still unconcious. But that was not the issue.

Mei's bat-like wings that had a reddish black color due to being a Blood Demon was now covered with red scales with a rainbow-colored sheen. And as Mark looked closely, the scales that covered her arms and legs had the same color.

It looked like Mei transformed subconsciously. Because of this, some parts of her clothes got torn off.

Still, the scene in front of Mark was stunning. Mei's wings now looked like it was layered with sparkling red gems instead of scales.

And while Mark stared at that scene, Mei's wings and scales disappeared, and her body plopped back to the bed.

Mark carefully checked her. It looked like that the painful part of her mutation had passed after more than two hours. He expected it to be longer, but it seemed that having a body of a Blood Demon made her adapt to it faster.

Still, with a wry smile, Mark looked around Mei. Her mutation this time looked messy with her shed skin scattered around the bed. There was even leftover skin stuck to her body.

"I should clean up first before I start my turn."

Mark murmured and stood up.

BAM!

Mark's body had slammed to the ground uncontrollably.

"My whole body is numb... I didn't notice."

Enduring the numbness, Mark slowly stood up. He called for anyone to bring a towel and a bowl of water.

Unexpectedly, it was Hannah who was available and gave what he requested. She timidly asked what the items were for when she saw a glimpse of Mei and the mess on the bed. Of course, she was surprised as she had no idea what happened.

Still, she asked if she could be of any help.

Mark declined, though. When Hannah left, Mark removed Mei's clothes, leaving her underwear alone. Gently, he removed the stuck skin on her body, wiped her clean with the wet towel, gave her a new change of clothes, and cleaned the bed.

Finishing the work, Mark smiled, patting Mei's head gently. This was a step forward for her. Now, her body would be far sturdier than before. 

Mark thought of giving her more than one crystal. However, considering how painful it was, Mark decided to do this sometime in the future. He would find ways to strengthen the white light on his hand first if he did not want to see her suffering while undergoing mutation.

And this experience also Mark him think twice about letting the little girls undergo the same thing. It would be very questionable if their young mind and bodies would be able to handle the pain. Of course, it might not apply to Miracle. Still, it would be a gamble.

With those thoughts, Mark stood up and sat in the farther corner of the room. It was his turn to use the crystals, and with Mei occupying the bed, he could not do it there lest he might disturb her.

Mark looked at the crystals on his hand. 

There were three crystals. One crystal belonged to the older of the Bone Armored Brothers, the other was the new [Lightning Crystal], and the last one was the crystal that Bathala gave him.

"Should I use these one by one?"

Mark was contemplating. He wanted to use these three for himself. In the first place, the one from Bathala and the [Lightning Crystal] was for him. On the other hand, the [Swift Bone Armor] was something he chose to address his weakness in terms of speed.

The most ideal to do was one by one. After all, this would be an extremely painful experience. One crystal would be Mark's third mutation. The first was his [Blood Control], and the second was [Genetic Adaptation].

As for the other two crystals, one was more or less a [Psychic Catalyst] that would help him adjust his body to Psychic Abilities faster. The other was an actual Psychic Ability to control lightning. Since Mark already had four Psychic Abilities, consuming these two crystals might trigger some unexpected reaction.

"Ugh... What should I do?"

Mark was troubled.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time for him to consume it one by one.

This world was not like a wuxia where characters were able to pass long periods of time cultivating without worries.

"Geez... Consume it all in one go!"

Mark decided. Even if there were unexpected reactions to happen, the most that he would suffer from was the pain. After all, these crystals were more or less configured to help the person consuming it. There were no accounts of consuming it turning into a disaster so far from both Mark's and Freed's memories.

And as such, Mark put the three marble-sized crystals in his mouth, turning it all to dust that entered his body.

But then...

"Huh?"

Mark looked at his hands, and then, at the different parts of his body.

Nothing was happening.

Earlier, the moment that Mei ingested the crystal, she immediately fell unconcious due to its effects.

Several seconds after Mark swallowed the three crystals, nothing was happening.

That was what Mark thought...

THROB!

Mark's eyes opened wide. His heart was beating loudly. Pain enveloped his senses.

CRACKLE!

He then noticed sparks coming out of his body.

"SH*T!"

Mark cursed. He did not expect this at all!

Doing his best to ignore the pain he was in, he stood up and rushed towards the balcony.

CRACKLE!

Sparks of electricity continued to appear around his body as he ran.

Reaching the balcony, Mark spread out his wings and flew away. Many people in the base were still awake at this point and they all saw Mark flying away in a rush with his unsteady flight and sparks coming out of his body.

These alarmed the people as they saw him rush towards the top of the mountain. Even in the darkness of the night, Mark was visible because of the bright sparks of electricity enveloping his body.

Being seen as he flew away did not matter to Mark anymore. He only needed to fly away as fast and as far as he could.

But then, midway up the mountain, Mark lost the feeling of his wings.

CRASH!

Mark painfully crashed unto the ground. He tried to stand up but the pain disabled him from doing so. Thus, he could only try to crawl and sit down on the ground.

Still, it seemed that his current state would not allow him to do even sit down at all.

THROB! CRACKLE!

CRASH!!!

Pain in his body, the loud beat of his heart, and the spreading of electricity around him.

ROAR!

This time, everyone witnessed the mountain getting enveloped in bright streaks of roaring lightning.