Mutagen

Day 154 - 10:15 PM - Mountain Area, Municipality of Badian, Province of Cebu

With Pefile suddenly joining into the conversation, the attention became focused on him.

As a Tamawo, it would not be surprising if Pefile mentioned Magwayen, the Visayan Goddess of the Sea and the supposed creator of their race. However, he said her name at this time. It meant that he might hold some clues or information about her.

It would be crucial at this time since if they could find Magwayen, they would likely find clues about Kaptan.

***

In Visayan Myths, the God of the Sky, Kaptan, and the Goddess of the Sea, Magwayen, were connected in different ways.

The two gods were said to be counterparts. One ruled the bright sky while the other ruled the dark deep oceans. The two were also believed to have contradicting personalities. These things led to the belief in the existence of the two to maintain balance in early Visayan faiths.

Magwayen was also believed to ferry the souls of the dead to the underworld. Thus also making her the Goddess of Death and Underworld, while Kaptan was also deemed the God of Skyworld.

However, there was not only one story that depicted the connection between the two.

Ancient Cebuanos pictured them to be husband and wife. The two quarreled, causing the Goddess of the Sea to leave and return to the Sea.

In Negrense myths, they were believed to be rivals contesting who would inherit the world that the Supreme Ruler, Kan-Laon, made. It was until the children of the two, the God of the Wind, Lihangin, and the second Goddess of the Sea, Lidagat, fell in love with each other. The marriage of the two ended the war between the inheritance and also caused the birth of four deities, Licalibutan, Liadlaw, Libulan, and the only female, Lisuga.

There was even another folklore that deemed both Kaptan and Magwayen to be both males.

Nonetheless, there was one thing that was similar to all these stories.

None of these myths ended happily. The starts might be different, but it all converged to the attack of the three grandsons of Kaptan, who all stormed the kingdom in the sky, Kahilwayan, and destroyed its gates. The three intended to usurp the Sky God's throne, with Licalibutan being the leader of the attack.

In anger, Kaptan sent bolts of lightning which killed the three instantly. Both Liadlaw and Libulan turned into balls energy while the ringleader of the attack, Licalibutan, his body made of rock, crumbled into pieces.

The innocent Lisuga visited her grandfather after the incident. She was unaware of events. Kaptan, blinded by anger, also struck her with lightning, breaking her body into thousands of pieces.

This myth led to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars, as believed by the ancient Visayan people. And soon following the myth of creation after Magwayen planted a bamboo, where the first man and woman of the Philippines came from.

With these various myths, the connection between Kaptan and Magwayen could not be denied.

***

"Are you saying that you have a way to find Magwayen?"

Fourth immediately asked Pefile. If she could find another god within her territory, she would be happy. Not to mention that finding Magwayen could also lead to finding Kaptan. It meant that she could possible find two gods in one go.

Pefile was overwhelmed by the sudden enthusiasm of Fourth, whose aura suddenly burst forth. Celine, who Pefile was carrying, could not handle it anymore and fainted.

"Celine!"

Pefile could not help but panic.

"Ah... Sorry..."

Fourth's enthusiasm died down after seeing what happened. Even Nineteenth was glaring at her for her carelessness.

"Let me see."

Nineteenth approached Pefile to check on Celine.

Pefile wanted to back down. However, there was really nothing he could do in this situation. Besides, unlike Fourth, Nineteenth was properly reigning in her aura.

Nineteenth placed her right hand on Celine's forehead and solemnly examined her body. Then, she conjured a thin book in her hand, and the book automatically flipped its pages. The book's pages were empty but were suddenly filled with words.

"What a pitiful human." Nineteenth could not help but remark, reading Celine's history from the book. "She had not seen the sun for several years. She is not malnourished, but she severely lacked what humans called Vitamin D. Her deficiency in that vitamin caused her muscles to grow weak."

Nineteenth then pressed her thumb on Celine's forehead, causing her body to slightly glow for a few seconds. She then turned to Pefile.

"It's not a treatment, but it will allow her to recover faster. You should take care of your wife more and let her bask in the sun."

Hearing those words, Pefile was moved. Celine's condition bothered him too much, and with the current state of the world, there would be no hospital to check her state properly.

"Thank you."

Pefile said wholeheartedly.

"Don't thank me." Nineteenth replied. "If you could really give information that could lead us to other hidden gods, it would be just a small reward."

"You should place her down first."

Mark said as he told Mei to take out a folding bed from her ring.

After Pefile put Celine down, he was now free to talk.

"Actually, it's not a piece of solid information. Is that fine?"

Pefile asked.

"It's fine. Even if it's just hearsays and a drunkard's rambling, we can't be picky at all."

Fourth said.

"Then, I'll start." Pefile nodded. "Our race is created by Goddess Magwayen, or at least, the first Tamawos. But the incident out our race overusing the magical powers happened. She came back and put a curse on our race. But she did not only do that. Through a certain artifact, the goddess kept in contact with the race once a century and would always bestow her grace to the new king to inherit the throne and lead our tribe. Furthermore, the artifact was said to be the one to choose the next king by the goddess' standards."

"We call that artifact the [Mark of the King]."

Pefile added.

"If you had such a concrete explanation, why did you say that it is not a piece of solid information?"

Nineteenth could not help but ask.

"Actually, no one had seen it work at all aside from the king that triggered the artifact. At most, other Tamawos saw the artifact shine and pulsate. But that was it. I don't even know if my father, the previous king, actually conversed with the goddess. So, it is more like a rumor within the tribe."

"So, the contact should probably be done in private," Mark spoke. "It's not surprising. If it was done publicly, she would have been long found by the Eyes."

"Then, where is this artifact?"

Fourth asked impatiently.

"It should be within the tribe. It was always sealed in a chamber where only the current king could enter."

Pefile replied.

"It looks like we will have to visit your tribe after you caused chaos within it."

Nineteenth said.

"How did you..." Pefile was surprised at first, but he remembered. "Is it also recorded with the book?"

Pefile's eyes fell on the book created after Nineteenth touched Celine's forehead.

"It is." Nineteenth smiled. "Though I'm surprised that a realm of your race existed. It is not within my records. It is very likely the work of your goddess that stopped us from detecting it. As it appeared, your goddess really loved her creations and let your tribe live within a sub realm inside the Mortal Dimension."

"Their race is something that relied on humans to continue on," Mark spoke. "If their race were also thrown into the Spirit Dimension, they could only last a few hundred years before getting extinct."

"That is true."

Nineteenth agreed.

"Anyway, let's go!" Fourth yelled out loud. "We need to get that artifact!"

"Can you wait a bit?" Mark interjected on the three-eyed girl's enthusiasm. "I want to go too, but we are not done here yet."

They could only turn at Mark, who was still in the middle of healing his scorched burns.

"Your regeneration slowed down." Nineteenth noticed. "It's not surprising. You got scorched by energy belonging to the God of the Sky. Gods like him are the bane of people like you who had the thick blood of an Evil God."

"HUH?!"

With Nineteenth's words, some people around listening were frozen. After all, not everyone in Mark's current group was in the know of the situation. Especially for Berrak, who was a user of magic. It was a very shocking piece of information.

"Do you really have to say that out loud?"

Mark complained with a frown.

"Is something wrong?" Nineteenth smiled. "I believe that it would just be a matter of time. Besides, there should be nothing wrong with people you trust to know about it. We need as much help that we can get when that time came."

Mark fell silent. The deal with him and the eyes, it could only be a matter of time.

"Okay, we'll wait," Fourth said begrudgingly as she turned to Nineteenth. "Should we fix that fracture first while waiting? We can't leave it for too long."

"We?" Nineteenth tilted her head. "I believe that it is your duty to fix that."

"HEY!" Fourth pouted. "That fracture is too large! It will take me half a day to close that alone!"

"Hah..." Nineteenth sighed. "Alright. I'll help. I'll also request Master to ask help from the others."

Fourth could not help but smile as Nineteenth agreed to help her.

Nineteenth then turned to Mark.

"We will fix the fracture first. It would be a bad situation if minor assimilation occurred before the intended time."

With those words, the two Eyes left Mark's group temporarily.

It was when Mark was swarmed with questions from the others.

"Boss, are you a descendant of an Evil God? No wonder you're too powerful!"

Berrak voiced out curiously.

"Hah..." Mark sighed. "I'm not. She only said that I have the blood of an Evil God. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm a descendant of one."

"I see..."

Berrak nodded. Still, he was pretty excited knowing that the person that recruited him was not just some powerful demon.

To the side, Emika was silently staring at Mark with glittering eyes. The latter could only ignore the green-haired girl.

It was when Amihan spoke to Mark.

"Master, isn't our goal here only to retrieve Pefile's wife? I believe that it's not necessary for us to fight that monster since we already achieved our goal."

That question made the others agree. After all, it was clear that Mark almost died just by one attack of that creature. Yet, here he was, wanting to deal with that creature.

None of them here had the courage to face such a creature. Comparing them to a godly existence was like comparing an ant to a whale.

"You're right about that. We can just leave already." Mark replied. "But don't think that it's unnecessary for us to fight that. Remember that it's an infected. Moreover, one that mutated by absorbing the magical energy of a god. If we leave it alone, it will get stronger and stronger. Soon, it could turn into something that could sink the whole country, or worse, the whole world. We need to deal with that now that it is still weaker. Especially since we can get help right now."

Mark then turned to the direction that the two Eyes flew towards. 

"After the second wave, the gods would not be able to stay in this world anymore. We will have fewer cards to play to deal with that thing. Not to mention that it will definitely get stronger."

Those words from Mark made everyone realize how urgent it was to kill that gigantic crocodile. They had not thought about the things Mark mentioned.

As for Mark, he had a different reason for thinking that way.

With Freed's memories clear in his mind, he remembered the origin of the monster that destroyed Eriellis.

It was a monster that was left alone because no one was able to deal with it. Freed's group left it, thinking that they could become stronger in the future and would be able to deal with that creature.

However, reality betrayed them.

That very creature grew faster than they imagined and became the cause of their planet's destruction.

Mark did not want to make the same mistake.

Though for the most part...

Mark just wanted to see what kind of [Mental Crystal] and [Mutagen Stone] could he get from that monster.