Mutagen

Day 364 - 1:21 PM - Workshop, 38th Satellite Settlement, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

The 38th Satellite Settlement was among the most powerful of the Muria Sacred Fortress, although they were also among the less regarded. While it was not well known to everyone, this place was governed by the previous original settlers of Mount Muria after the apocalypse came.

Although the Moon Chasers were powerful, they barely let anyone into their tight-knit group, making them one of the lesser candidates when one would want to join a survivor group.

Furthermore, there was an obvious bias against the Moon Chasers from the government for some reason. It was also the same with a few military factions, and, most importantly, the same could be said for the religious group residing in the fortress.

It was something that even the Moon Chasers could not understand. However, they could only persevere against the harassment they were receiving.

But now, everything... No, mostly everything. The disregard and other stuff pointed at them turned around a hundred and eighty degrees for the Moon Chasers.

In the past few days that passed by, the Moon Chasers had been racking out achievements and rumors. The return with the head of a [Fog Crawler], traveling with ferocious beasts, saving the members of the 41st Satellite Settlement, and even the battle in the market had something to do with them. And although the initial discovery of the [Face Wearers] barely had to do anything with them, the fact that the man who could detect the impostors was with them added to the positive rumors.

After General Wijaya began acting against the [Face Wearers], the source of the badges and the detecting equipment was quickly traced back to the Moon Chasers.

Since then, the 38th Satellite Settlement turned into the central hub for eliminating the hidden threat within the fortress.

Right after the fact became known, people began visiting the 38th Satellite Settlement to inquire about the badges, the so-called [Disguise Dispelling Badges].

Unfortunately for those people, they could only come back home without success. The badges were limited in number, and the person making the badges also had limits in manufacturing the badges. Not to mention the limits of materials needed to make the items.

Some "intelligent" people also offered "help" with the manufacturing and stuff. However, their goals were way too obvious for everyone to see that it was far harder to accept their offer than to decline them bluntly.

In any case, the main distribution of the badges was already in General Wijaya's management through an agreement. That reason alone was more than enough to chase people away. But, just in case, the Moon Chasers also took a rather corporate decision. It was to allow the selling of a smaller number of badges at fixed intervals. This would make it easier for the badges to circulate while not infringing too much on the deal with General Wijaya.

The lucky group chosen to sell the badges was the Astria Corporation. And it was to everyone else's jealousy.

Right now, the people distributing the badges have the authority because of the threat caused by the [Face Wearers]. Those who had this opportunity would accumulate more influence and power within the fortress, even after the threat had already been solved.

It was why many factions, and even survivor groups, wanted a share of this authority. Unfortunately, the Moon Chasers had always been a tough nut to crack.

***

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Noises of clashing metal echoed loudly within a house in the 38th Satellite Settlement.

This house built near the center of the 38th Satellite Settlement was not here a few days ago. It was recently built, and it was built rather too fast. This house became Mark's workshop, and it was built with the help of General Wijaya.

Even though this workshop was managed by Mark and owned by the Moon Chasers, none of them had to spend anything for it. While the Moon Chasers did search for some of the equipment inside, most of this necessary equipment was also brought by General Wijaya and his soldiers.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The sounds of metal being worked on continued.

However, as loud as the sounds inside might be, barely any noise from inside could be heard outside.

Luna looked at the workshop, looking a bit tired, although she looked happy. She entered the workshop and felt the sudden change in ambiance and temperature. It was as if the inside and outside of the workshop belonged to different worlds.

Looking around, Luna saw a few men hammering some metal molds into place. These people were volunteers from the settlement, working on the few mechanisms that Mark built himself.

Luna had no idea how Mark built these things in one night. However, due to these mechanisms, making the badges became easier even in larger numbers.

"Something wrong?"

Some asked Luna. She turned her head and saw Mark coming out of the inner room where he worked alone.

"Just visiting before more annoying people arrive."

Luna said in exasperation.

It was good that their group and settlement were becoming more important to the people of the fortress. However, Luna was not fond of the annoyances it brought.

"So, they won't just stop, huh?" Mark shrugged. "Well, it's something we already expected, though."

"It's acceptable if all of them were new people coming here for the first time, but more than half of them are ones we already declined before. Is it hard to understand we don't want to cooperate with them?"

"You should expect that to happen," A female voice echoed, also coming out from the same room Mark was just now. "I was also in the same situation before until I began chasing everyone with a hammer."

The woman was on the tall side, wearing work clothes. Although she looked thin, one could see that she was on the muscular side, especially with her well-defined arms and upper body.

"Kela," Luna smiled. "What are you doing with Sir. Mark inside?"

"The usual," Kela shrugged with a little hint of disappointment. "I'm asking him to be my master, but he won't budge."

"The usual, huh."

Luna bitterly smiled. It had been like this for two days now.

Kela was neither a member of the Moon Chasers nor a resident of the 38th Sattelite Settlement. She was from the 43rd Satellite Settlement and the third in command of the group that called themselves Aqua Terra.

Within the fortress, Kela was the only professional craftswoman. All the others were male. Furthermore, she was the only crafter in the southeast quadrant of the fortress.

Due to her skills, many asked to have their equipment and weapons made by her. However, her approval was rather hard to receive. Most of the time, she would only take requests from friends and allies. Because of these reasons, the 41st and 38th Satellite Settlements were able to get cheaper and better equipment.

The Aqua Terra was one of the few female-led groups in the fortress and was one of the two in the southeast quadrant. It was also one of the two only allies the Moon Chasers had.

Kela's works were in demand as they were proven to be better than most.

And now, that professional craftswoman was asking to be Mark's pupil.

If other people saw this, they would think Kela had gone mad. However, while Kela was talented, she was mostly self-taught. And most of her knowledge was built up to make props for cosplays and stuff.

Yes, Kela was in the same field of work as Mark before the apocalypse. However, even she admired Mark's works as she learned from Luna about some props of a popular cosplayer in the Philippines to be his masterpieces.

Since the badges were released, there was no way Luna would not give some to their allies. As such, Luna contacted the leaders of Fire Fighters and Aqua Terra to visit that very same day General Wijaya distributed the badges.

And then, Kela saw Mark working in this workshop during their visit.

Compared to Kela's superficial knowledge, Mark was definitely someone who was taught the right ways of blacksmithing. Since then, she had been asking Mark to be her master.

Kela had yet to succeed in that, although she was allowed to watch Mark with his current works. And she was specifically told to steal anything she could steal from Mark's skills.

Mark might not accept pupils, but Kela was free to learn by watching.

"Oh, by the way," Mark suddenly spoke to Luna. "I'm working only your equipment, but you said you don't need a new melee weapon, right?"

"Right," Luna nodded as she tapped the sheathed Silver Keris hanging on her waist. "I already have this one. It served me quite well since I found it months ago."

"Can I have a look, if you don't mind?"

Mark asked.

"Sure."

Luna did not hesitate, taking the Silver Keris from its sheath and carefully handing it to Mark.

Mark received the Kekis. He had been curious about Luna's unusual weapon for a while now. However, he did not have the time to ask to take a look at it. Besides, it would be just plain rude to ask someone for their weapon until enough trust was built between them.

"Hmmm..."

Mark carefully observed the Silver Keris.

"I took a look at that weapon before, too," Kela spoke. "It's pretty well made. It might be antique since Luna said she found it in a museum."

"It's the same place we met before," Luna added. "I found it there when we first found that place."

Mark remembered it. It was the small building in the middle of nowhere where they found the box that could push away the fog from the [Magical Overflow].

It made Mark suspicious.

No, Mark was already suspicious since the start.

Everywhere Luna went, Mark could detect two mental fluctuations from her, although the second one was so thin that it was easy for him to neglect.

Mark had said before that his [Empath Detection] had less effect on children because of their simple mindset and shallow emotional fluctuations.

However, the other fluctuation from Luna was even thinner than that. At first, Mark thought it was her hidden ability after he heard what happened to Luna after she became consumed by her overwhelming anger.

But now, Mark was sure. It was not from Luna or her hidden ability.

Mark frowned as he finalized his theory.

"Is there something wrong with my weapon?"

Luna nervously asked. Mark was a rather emotionless kind of person, but it was the first time she saw him behaving this seriously.

"Let's get out for a bit," Mark told Luna before turning to the men working on the badges. "Continue your work. I'm going out for some time."

"Leave this to us, Boss!"

"Yeah, we got this!"

The men enthusiastically replied.

Mark then beckoned Luna to follow.

"Hey, wait for me! I'm coming too!"

Kela shouted after almost getting left behind.

The three walked around the nearby building and ended up in the training area behind the Moon Chaser's base.

There, Mark saw Feng Zhiruo teaching some basic swordsmanship to the members of the Moon Chasers. Luna should be there too, if not for the annoying visitors she had to meet.

"What are we doing here? Are you going to test it or something?"

Luna asked in confusion.

"I'm going to try something, so I needed a wider space," Mark replied. "And just in case, get ready to back away if something strange happens."

Luna and Kela were confused. What would Mark need to do that required them to back away?

However, as the two wondered, Mark sat on the ground and closed his eyes. Both his hands were holding on the hilt of the Silver Keris.

Mark's metal fluctuations soared. And all of a sudden, an Oriental Sword appeared out of nowhere and floated beside him.

Now, everyone in the training area was looking at Mark and whatever he was doing.

However, something that everyone never expected was for the Silver Keris to suddenly surge with bright light.