Mutagen

Day 360 - 7:31 AM - 38th Settlement, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

It was already past two in the evening when the group decided to continue the talk at a later time. Carrying the sleeping girls, Mark and Mei went to their temporary rooms to rest for the night.

The rooms were literally temporary. Instead of the houses around the settlement, Mark's group had to stay inside a barely finished underground bunker the Moon Chasers were painstakingly building. The outer layout of the bunker was all done and could be used to house the entire settlement in case of emergency. However, its facilities inside still needed to be worked on. Some of the rooms in the inner areas were barely cemented due to a lack of construction materials. 

This lack of construction materials was the main reason why the Moon Chasers were out when they met Mark's group. They were to find construction supplies or anything they could use to exchange with the military for said items. It was also what Luna mostly chose to exchange when they sold the head of the [Fog Crawler].

Since the 38th Settlement had already faced many attacks, they decided to make preparations on their own in case the worst happened.

After entering the bunker, Mark saw Feng Zhiruo peeking from inside the room the rest of the group was designated. When she saw it was Mark and Mei, she gave Mark a slight nod before closing the door. It was good that Feng Zhiruo was being careful, especially in this unfamiliar environment. Unfortunately, the rest of the group was not. Emika, Hannah, and Annica were already deep asleep in the same room Feng Zhiruo was in. It looked like the toll of walking continuously for several days had finally caught up to them.

Within the other room, Mark and Mei laid Iola and Abbygale on their beds, and Miracle joined her sisters, shutting down her body functions and entering a state of pseudo-sleep. Mark then put Amihan on a pillow of her own near his daughters.

Mark and Mei smiled at each other as they watched the sleeping girls. They then slept together on their bed, with Mark turning into Mei's anti-nightmare body pillow.

Soon, Mei also fell asleep. On the other hand, Mark just stared at the ceiling through the darkness of the bunker.

Mark kept mulling over the things they talked about earlier. He was trying to pick up the information he gathered piece by piece.

First in Mark's thoughts were the main problems of this settlement.

According to Luna and her friends, the frequency of attacks the 38th Settlement faced was much higher than most Satellite Settlements around Mount Muria. Furthermore, most of the time, the Moon Chasers were bound to attacks and some strange encounters when they went out to scavenge.

Getting attacked while outside was not really strange. However, getting attacked by groups of assorted kinds of creatures or even finding creatures not usually found in the area were clearly strange things to happen too frequently.

Those strange encounters would clearly lead to the conclusion that someone was targeting them. However, as far as Luna's group was concerned, they did not know anyone or, at least, heard about anyone being able to control wild beasts around the fortress. In fact, Mark's group was the first people they saw being able to tame monstrous beasts.

Someone hiding their abilities to control animals was also possible. However, this possibility was even harder to confirm.

Then, Mark thought of what happened to Farel and his group. An impostor of their group lured the [Ground Hunters] using eggshells to attempt to destroy their group. But Mark immediately scrapped the idea. He already confirmed that the 38th Settlement and the Moon Chasers were a hundred percent free of impostors.

And that fact was strange itself.

Then, how come there was not a single impostor in the 38th Settlement? Mark detected quite a number of those impostors here and there. It was very likely that those creatures already infiltrated all settlements around Mount Muria. And, for sure, even the higher military and government positions had impostors in their ranks.

Mark tried to mull over it but soon gave up. There was not enough information for him to analyze.

Another thing was Luna's strange power. It only activated once, so there was barely any information about it. The only clue Mark had was the fact that Luna was consumed by anger when she released that unknown power.

Was it a power triggered by extreme emotions? Was it possible for Mark to use his [Empath] abilities to force its activation?

Mark began listing things he could try inside his mind. It was because Luna's current strength was one of the problems.

Luna was a strong [Mutator]. Apparently, her [Mutator] ability was to absorb certain light frequencies and use the energy from the light she absorbed to strengthen her body temporarily. And by the looks of it, the light frequency she could absorb the most was the light from the moon. It would give her the strongest boosts of strength during the night, especially during nights of the full moon. Unfortunately, this also meant she was the weakest during the nights of the new moon.

Compared to most [Mutators], Luna was really strong. Her [Mutator] ability would allow her to gain super strength, but it was not all. It also allowed her to continuously fight without needing food, water, and rest, as long as there was adequate moonlight.

However, Luna was strong, only as a [Mutator].

As a Candidate, Luna was extremely weak. She could not be compared to both Mark and Hikari, the Priestess, at all. If Luna had to undergo the same challenges that Mark and Hikari had gone through, Luna would surely die at her current level of strength.

Mark planned to improve Luna's strength and powers. No, not only Luna. Luna's friends also had to become stronger.

And since Mark's goal here was to help Luna, he would not hold back on this one.

Next was the issue with Luna's niece.

Due to Thirteenth's meddling, they now knew that Mark could wake the poor little girl. However, dealing with the girl's trauma after she woke up could become a huge problem. Mark began thinking he could use his powers to help the little girl even a little, but he was not really keen on the possibility of suddenly picking up another daughter.

It already happened thrice. The possibility of it happening again was not low at all.

Should Mark suppress the little girl's emotions when the possibility becomes apparent? He had been doing the same for women who began developing romantic feelings for him. However, it might have a negative effect on the mentality of the poor girl, who was already overwhelmed by her trauma to the point of not wanting to wake up from her coma.

While thinking about Luna's niece, Mark frowned a little. The problem with the little girl was more complicated for him than he thought.

In the end, Mark chose not to do something that could possibly make the girl's situation worse. He could wake her up and immediately withdraw from any other interactions.

Mark gave a silent sigh. He knew he was overthinking things. Unfortunately, he could not help but do so.

Leaving his previous thoughts for now, he decided to focus on something he could do without much consequences on his part.

It was to strengthen the overall power of the Moon Chasers and the 38th Settlement.

Mark already had some preparations on this one since he came here to help the other candidate. Although the items were limited, the things Mark prepared would, at least, give Luna and her friends a significant boost to their [Mutator] abilities.

There was also the brave guy who was not a [Mutator]. The only male leading figure of the Moon Chasers. The man who called himself Edge.

Aside from helping them with their [Mutator] abilities, Mark could also provide them with his weapons. Although hot weapons would be a no-go, Mark could at least give out cold weapons with minimal [Abyss Tech] functions. In that case, he should request a workshop and some smithing equipment.

Although it would be easier for Mark to just make Spera open a portal home and use his workshop there, he was not keen on doing it unless there was no other choice. Just like why he decided against relying on the [Mini Cube] and just flew through the journey, Mark did not want to rely on Spera's portals just for convenience. Sure, it would be easier. However, there was also no thrill in doing it.

Besides, giving out weapons to Luna and the others too easily would undermine the value of the deed. He wanted to show Luna and her friends the possibly arduous process of getting precious weapons. Mark would not want his creations to be devalued, too.

If the Elder Blacksmith knew that Mark had these thoughts, he would smile and say that Mark had already woken up his heart of a blacksmith.

While mulling over things, Mark realized that the sun was already rising on the horizon. Since the 38th Settlement was on the southeast side of Mount Muria, its mornings came earlier than the areas west of the mountain. Of course, it also meant that the evenings were early, too.

Not keen on sleeping, Mark carefully slipped out of Mei's embrace. Normally, she would wake up when Mark did this, but Mei was sleeping soundly. It seemed she was just as tired as the rest of the group after a long journey on foot.

After caressing Mei's head a little, Mark went out into the bunker's main hall. Their group was the only people in the bunker, so it was no surprise that the only ones he found outside the room were the three golems on guard.

However, as Brynhildr saw Mark coming out, she unexpectedly came forward. The three golems were programmed to mimic their roles, but aside from that, they would usually just stay in place unless ordered. And since their duty was to protect Mark's three daughters, there were only a few instances they would do some rare actions.

Mark then watched as Brynhildr grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged on it. This action meant that there was something wrong with her body, and she needed some check-ups and maintenance.

When Mark went out of bed, he was unsure what he would do to pass the time. Now, he had something to do.

With the maid golem behind him, Mark went out of the bunker. If he was going to check Brynhildr's body, he better go somewhere where the noise would not disturb anyone.

Mark remembered seeing a garage outside the main quarters of the Moon Chasers. Maybe he could ask their members if he could go there.

While walking, Mark encountered a familiar member. He was among the members they met during the first day of the fog. He introduced himself as Arrik. Of course, it was an alias. Mark told the guy he wanted to work on something in the garage, and the guy guided him without problems.

Arriving at the garage, Mark could hear some noise coming through the open garage gates. Someone was already there working on something.

Mark knew who it was and shrugged.

It was quite a coincidence.

The person inside the garage was no other than the person he wanted to help.

"Sir Edge."

The guy guiding Mark greeted Edge, who was working on a broken vehicle inside the garage.

"What's going on?"

Edge asked as he saw Mark and Brynhildr behind Arrik.

"Sir Mark said he had something to work on and wanted to borrow the garage and some tools."

Arrik explained.

"Is that so?" Edge nodded as he had no problems with it. "The garage is wide enough. There are also extra tools on the rack and cabinets. Use anything you want."

Arrik left after Mark entered the garage and began looking for the tools he needed. On the other hand, Edge continued working on the vehicle.

Edge was minding his own business. He was concentrating on working on the vehicle, although he was glancing at Mark, curious about what he would need the tools for. After all, Mark and Brynhildr came without anything in their hands.

But then, Edge froze, almost letting go of the wrench he was holding.

It was because Edge saw the maid girl stripping her top in front of Mark.