Mutagen

Day 262 - 11:57 PM - Cliff House, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon

The sentiment left, and Mark continued to sit down and gaze at the strange stone in his hand. By how the light waned within the wishing stone, Mark expected the sentiment to vanish by morning at the latest.

But then, to Mark's surprise, the gemstone's glow suddenly bloomed.

Mark hastily stood from his chair, almost toppling it down, and quickly rushed to the room where his daughters were sleeping.

Moving swiftly and silently, Mark reached the room without alerting anyone.

Mark silently opened the room and saw the sentiment of Abbygale's mother sitting on the bed beside the little girl. Unlike before, her body was much clearer and more or less in a similar state to the little ghost girl in Negros. Most importantly, she was caressing Abbygale's hair.

Surprisingly, she was touching Abbygale's hair as if she did materialize. A completely different state from when she spoke with Mark at the cliff balcony earlier.

The sentiment's state clearly had something to do with the sudden surge of the glow within the wishing stone.

And as Mark watched that scene where Abbygale's mother caressed her daughter's hair with a sad smile, he sighed.

Mark understood what was happening.

The clock struck twelve... the glow within the wishing stone waned even weaker than before. It was like a candle about to go out.

It was when Abbygale's mother, no... Auretta... turned to Mark and whispered.

"I'll leave my daughter in your hands..."

The glow within the wishing stone vanished.

Mark grasped the wishing stone as all traces of Auretta vanished from his vision.

Closing the door silently, Mark left the room. He returned to the balcony and gazed at the moon in the western sky.

Mark gave out another sigh.

It was amazing how a person's strong emotions leave traces that even the living could detect. It was a miracle in a way, although most people saw them as ghosts or traces of the past.

What Auretta wanted the most. It was to witness the happiest day in her daughter's life. It might be her wedding in the future. Maybe, a lucky day Abbygale could encounter.

A desire Auretta was unable to fulfill as she sacrificed her life to save her beloved daughter... to save the most important person in her life.

But today... the happiest day for Abbygale came. A happy birthday that even Auretta was unable to give her daughter due to their circumstances. As the happy occasion came, the desire... the of Auretta left attached to Abbygale grew a bit stronger.

And with the help of the wishing stone that fell into Mark's hands, that sentiment was able to manifest, aiding Mark to give Abbygale the best birthday in the little girl's life.

They succeeded in giving the little girl the best day of her life. Unfortunately... The sentiment could not join in the fun.

The sentiment was aware of what she was. She was not the real Auretta, but her desires and regrets before she left this world. It was not right for the sentiment to appear in front of the little girl in place of her real mother.

As such, she could only wait until Abbygale fell asleep and spent her remaining existence by the little girl's side.

If the sentiment let it be, she could exist for the rest of the night until dawn. However, her duty was already done. There was no point in staying past midnight as the happiest day of Abbygale had already passed that time.

As the last act, the sentiment gathered all of her remaining energy to manifest and materialize to give her final goodbye to Abbygale before finally vanishing.

Emotions were amazing as they could change many things in a person's life. But to an [Empath] like Mark, the emotions of other people were more of a double-edged sword. It obscured his own while affecting him in the most negative ways.

It was fortunate that the time when Mark could not control these abilities had passed. But unfortunately, his genuine emotions could only rarely manifest in his expressions despite gaining control of his [Empath] abilities. Worse, his [Mutator Trait] was [Emptiness], where any emotions not strong enough would be erased.

Being unable to manifest one's emotions was a good thing in a way that no one would be able to tell what one was thinking. However, people not in the know would think of a person with no emotions as apathetic. Most importantly, one would need to show their emotions to people important to them, or the relationships would easily drift apart.

While Mark was mulling about many things in his mind...

"Gege? You're not going to sleep yet?"

Mei appeared. It seemed she had just finished cleaning up the leftovers from the birthday party together with Odelina, Aephelia, and the others that either on duty or volunteered to help.

Mark glanced at Mei amidst his thoughts.

"Yeah, let's sleep. I'm pretty tired today."

Mark was really tired. He made the doll all night the previous night and also helped cook the food for the party after spending almost all morning fishing. He also deserved a good night's rest.

And from there, the night was mostly silent. The chatting of the night guards could be heard atop the walls. Those who worked at nightshift also created some slight noise. After all, nighttime did not mean that work was done in the Mountain Base. There were people who preferred to work during the night, after all.

Nonetheless, despite the slight noise, it was a peaceful night.

***

Day 263 - 7:21 AM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Province of Quezon

The night passed fast, and the morning was early for the dwellers of the Mountain Base.

Hunting and foraging, tending to the crops, feeding the livestock, building structures, and many other things, there was quite a number of work to do within the Mountain Base.

As for Mark, he had things he wanted to do. However, a few things must come first.

Now that they had returned home, Mark needed to confirm the current state of their few allies. First and foremost, the almost ruined Infanta Settlement. Although it was not the one that Mark had not visited the longest, from what he knew, it was the one that was pretty much in the most critical condition. The only exception was Bay City, which was already destroyed and abandoned, but their allies there had already moved to Corregidor Island.

Thus, so far, the Infanta Settlement was in the worst condition. Not to mention the report from Berrak, where the settlement was attacked just the other day.

Mark also had to meet Alana, Karlene, and Karla. It was not wrong to say that they were his close friends, with Karla actually treating him close to a father figure than just an older brother. It was not a surprising result considering it was Mark who noticed the circumstances of Karlene and Karla and was also the one who gave Karla her name.

Most importantly, Mark had to retrieve Ignis. If the situation in Infanta calmed down, there was no need for the [Demon Sword] to stand guard there anymore. It would be helpful if Mark could use Ignis in the near future instead of relying solely on the [Crystal Staff] and the [Butterfly of Knowledge]. Both were good, but the two were more used as magic equipment than actual weapons, not to mention that every use of the [Butterfly of Knowledge] was massively draining.

Next in the plan to visit would be the Stone Fortress in the eastern mountains of the municipality of General Nakar. It was also known as the only settlement of magical creatures in the province. When the [Fusion of Dimensions] happened, magical creatures that were already struggling due to [Mutagen] invading the [Spirit Dimension] became even more lost. In that situation, Diwata Danaya did her best to gather the magical creatures that had not found any place to stay. Of course, except for demons. Despite the good relationship between Mark's group and Diwata Danaya, it was clear that demons were still despised. It was not a surprising thing, though. Most demon races were not trustworthy. Letting them enter your home was more or less akin to racing a snake that would bite you later on.

Unfortunately, going to the Stone Fortress had to be done the traditional way. It was either by foot or through the air by flight since Spera's portal would not work to go there until she went there first at this time. After all, the last time they visited the Stone Fortress was way before the [Fusion of Dimensions]. After the fusion, Spera's portals stopped working since many places on Earth either changed or shifted in geographical locations. It was not like it would take a long journey to get there. However, it was still not as convenient as opening a portal and arriving almost instantly.

After going to the two nearby allied settlements, Mark would want to visit Corregidor Military Settlement once again. It had already been two months since they left that place under General Perez's hands. Since the island settlement was their largest ally, it was more than reasonable to check their current state. Not to mention that they had a working laboratory. It would be nice to get new information about their findings and experiments.

Only after visiting their three allies that Mark would be able to concentrate on other things, especially the preparations for their future journey north...

...Overseas.

Surviving the apocalypse aside, Mark had a few more goals. The most important one was the mission that Freed left him. To find the other [Inheritors] and judge their worthiness for the powers they received. So far, Mark had encountered seven of them already. Spera and Louis became Mark's subordinates. Nia and Allen kept their inherited [Psycasts] as they were deemed worthy. Aephelia managed to retain her powers and was given a new body, while one was returned to Mark by Chimetrice. And lastly, Shin, who was already judged as an enemy but was still likely to be in Japan.

Because of the information broker named Val Flora, Mark had the lead to a few in nearby countries. Thus, he planned to go overseas to finish the mission given to him by his benefactor.

And while one was in China and was possibly the closest, it was not the first destination Mark planned to go.

Where else would an Otaku like Mark like to go to? Japan, of course!

Actually, it was a rational decision.

The world had changed. And as time went on, Japan would surely change further away than how it was before. After some time, Japan would lose everything that Otakus loved. As such, before everything was lost, Mark wanted to visit it. If lucky, maybe they could find some ruins where they could get figurines that Mark could not afford to buy before the apocalypse. Other people might see those as trash, but Mark would definitely not.

Well... Finding Shin and contacting the Japan Branch of Auraboros would still be the first on Mark's list. After all, they did propose to him for an alliance.

And if Mark wanted to fulfill another of his goals, help from the Japan Branch would help a lot.

What other goal?

To end the [Deity of Corrupted Dust], also known as "The Great One."

Mark had a score to settle with that bastard that was targeting Mei, not to mention the attack he orchestrated on the Mountain Base and the work they had to undergo just to remove the corrupted dust that blanketed the area around the base.

***

While the plans filled Mark's mind, he turned to Spera as she opened a portal for him in the living room of the Cliff House.

Spera had no plan of following him. Mark also decided to go alone this time since he was not really planning to stay in Infanta for too long. His stay there would probably be just a few hours. As such, Spera, who was currently watching a movie with the little girls, would maintain the portal open until Mark returned.

And there, Mark bid goodbye to Mei and everyone around him as he stepped into the portal.