Mutagen

<strong>Day 205 - 10:11 AM - Tayabas Bay, Mimaropa Region, Southwestern Luzon</strong>

Dealing with the [Lava Infected] made them spend a day near Taal Lake. The time they spent, however, was wasted on waiting for the steam to thin out. It was not like it was something to fuss about. Mark got something really valuable out of it. Well, they got more mysteries to think about, though.

For the nighttime, they chose a location that was pretty far away from Taal Lake to rest. There was no way they would spend the night near the Taal Lake, where the air was filled with ash and the smell of sulfur and molten rock.

Fortunately, the night was uneventful. All of them managed to get a good night's rest. By the looks of it, the area they camped in was devoid of [Infected] but had quite a number of [Evolved Animals]. But since [Evolved Animals] were more intelligent despite being highly reliant on their instincts, they stayed away from Mark's group that was composed of frighteningly strong people.

And right after they had breakfast the next day, Mark's group immediately set off to continue their journey.

Now, the [Mini Cube] was passing over the waters of Tayabas Bay. Since they came from the direction of Taal Lake, they were passing near the island province of Mindoro.

And their destination, the highest peak of Panay Island, Mount Madia-as.

"The world really changed."

Mei said, looking at the scenery outside.

Mark and Mei sat on the platform outside the door. They had to do as such since they would encounter some [Flying Infected] or [Feral Evolved Animals] along the way. They could just ignore these creatures since they would barely damage the sturdy floating vessel. However, they just had an incident where a group of giant acid-spitting mosquitos ended up crashing in front of the [Mini Cube]. It caused the windows of the bridge to be covered in acid, blocking most of their view from inside.

They had no other choice but to submerge the [Mini Cube] under the water for a bit, wasting more of their time because of the sticky acid. Fortunately, the acid did no damage to the windows at all. It seemed that the magically created vessel had a good defense against such attacks.

That was why Mark and Mei were standing by outside. Since they were capable of flight, they were to intercept any flying threat that would block their way.

While on guard duty, however, Mark and Mei could also do some sightseeing. After all, the new state of Earth had many things to see and discover.

If they were walking on the ground, it would not be as impacting. But since they were up high in the sky, they could see the changes further away.

The reason Mei could not help but say those words was because Mark was currently browsing the offline map he installed on his phone. And using the view taken via satellite, the changes became even more apparent.

Islands had shapes deformed. Some became larger, while other smaller islands seemed to have been swallowed by the waters. If they had not known, it would not be hard to think that it was a different world.

This change brought both benefits and drawbacks.

The fusion of dimensions would inevitably happen sooner or later after [Mutagen] entered Earth. However, the [Observer] decided to use it to counteract the immediate effects of large pieces of space debris entering Earth. If they had not done so, while Earth was already overrun by [Infected] and [Mechids], it would be a burning wasteland that no human on the surface could survive.

Earth turning into a magical magical forest-covered world was way better than turning into a barren wasteland devoid of life, especially humans.

Now that Earth turned into a magical world, it would not be long before more humans began to develop magical and psychic abilities. It was a good thing since they would need it to survive.

After all, the [Infected] would definitely undergo similar changes.

Yes, aside from [Infected Magical Creatures], those human [Infected] would surely have their own magical abilities. It would not be a surprising thought considering the many kinds of [Infected] Mark and his group had encountered so far.

Even humans that had ancient bloodlines belonging to those magical beings had mutations the resembled the abilities of their ancestors.

Mark, for example.

A descendant of a [Blood Demon] having his blood mutated. This did not seem to be a simple coincidence.

There was also Emika's family, with both Emika and her younger brother, Mikio, both having abilities related to plants and trees. There was also their father that turned into a [Trent Infected]. It would not be surprising if they had a [Dryad] in their ancestry since it was hard to determine what catalyst would cause a human, not to mention the rest of their family, to have plant-related abilities.

If it happened to them, it could happen to others.

The question now was, would those people that awakened magical abilities still behave like humans? Or would they think that they were above others?

Societies centered around these magic users would definitely rise, causing more friction to the already crumbled human society.

"Gege," Mei called out to his side. "I just noticed, but we haven't encountered any magical races since we left the base."

That was true. Since they left to check on their friends in Bay City and arrived at Corregidor Island, Mark's group did not encounter any magical race on the way.

Both the [Mortal Dimension] and the [Spirit Dimension] were already fused. Why was there a lack of magical races in the surroundings?

Since the [Fusion of Dimensions], the only group of magical races that Mark encountered was the tribe of half-breeds in Infanta Military Settlement. That was if Mark was not to include the other guy in hood in the president's office the other day.

But in that question, there could only be one answer.

"They might be hiding," Mark answered Mei's question. "The current Earth is unfamiliar to us, not to mention to them. Unlike humans that could adapt quicker, magical races can't easily do the same. And with the dangers everywhere, the only thing they can do is hide until they get used to the new world."

Mark's assumption was not that far from the truth. In fact, not only those that came from the [Spirit Dimension] but those magical that stayed in the [Mortal Dimension] with humans were having a hard time coping with the sudden influx of magical energy in the surroundings.

Amihan was the same, although she was doing her best not to show it. Since the [Fusion of Dimensions], it was clear that Amihan was sleeping more than she was since meeting Mark. It seemed that her body was trying to cope with the thicker magical energy by sleeping. Even at this time, when it was almost noon, Amihan was inside the [Mini Cube] sleeping on her pillow.

At Mark's answer, Mei nodded. It was hard to think of other reasons. And since humans were still surviving this mess, it was impossible for magical races capable of unfathomable skills to just die against the [Infected] and [Mechids].

Then, Mei changed the topic, remembering what happened yesterday.

"Gege, you really plan on giving the new crystal to Amihan?"

Mei asked.

"I can't?" Mark asked back. "I can't really think of using it since I can already make fire because of Ignis. And besides, only I can control the crystals since I have the [PsyCrystal] on me. Although I can give it to you, Abbygale, or Iola, you three already had psychic abilities, not to mention it all came from the crystals. You three would have a long downtime where you can't use your psychic abilities after using this crystal, and we can't have that. Not right now."

"Besides, I'm not giving it to Amihan immediately either. Probably after we dealt with Sinogo."

Mark added.

And to Mark's question, Mei shook her head.

"I'm not saying to not give it to her. Actually, she deserved to have some reward. Amihan had been really helpful to us, but she never really asked for anything aside from fruits and sweet food."

And that was what Mei was worried about.

Since Mark met Amihan, the little [Sylph] had done many things to help Mark and the rest of his group. Yet, Amihan never really asked for anything, and she was just happily following Mark around. The most she asked was sweet fruits or deserts whenever they managed to get their hands on one.

"We're on the same boat then." Mark smiled. "Amihan's [Wind Magic] is already getting stronger and stronger thanks to the [Wind Attribute Crystals] I got from the [Infected Sylphs]. She's probably stronger than the king of [Sylphs] we saw back in the Stone Fortress. But Amihan will reach her limit soon as a [Sylph]. Her small body could only store that much energy."

"Then won't giving her the crystal cause her harm and overload her body?"

Mei asked with worry.

If Amihan's body was reaching its limits, why would Mark intend to give the new crystal to her?

"You don't have to worry about that." Mark shrugged. "You haven't realized it, don't you? These crystals do not only serve as a vessel to these abilities and mutations. It can cause the body of the person absorbing it to adapt to the ability it sealed. That was what the downtime was for, to make both the existing and new abilities coexist. Then, it will make the person's body adapt to the new ability. In Amihan's case, her magical capacity might double with half of it being the new ability within the new crystal."

In short, it was a way for Amihan to surpass her limits as far as Mark knew.

[Sylphs] were not extremely strong beings, to begin with. It was not surprising that Amihan was beginning to reach her limits due to Mark's help.

Unfortunately, the enemies were getting stronger. There was no way that Mark would let Amihan just stop at her limit.

"Hmm?" Mark stood up. "It's time to work."

Mark and Mei flew to the roof of the [Mini Cube]. From the west, likely from the island of Mindoro, a group of birds flew towards the [Mini Cube].

"How many is there?"

Mark asked Mei, as the only thing he could see from this distance was small dots.

Mei stared at the flock of birds with her eyes dilated, with her vision zooming into the target.

"About thirty," Mei replied. "They're flying too erratically. It's hard to keep count."

"It's fine. We'll kill them no matter how many they are."

Mark said, taking out his own sniper rifle. His sniper rifle was not something modified. It was just a standard HK PSG-1 that he took from the group of raiders in New Jersey. It was something definitely illegal to own in the Philippines, however.

The two positioned themselves on the roof of the [Mini Cube]. Normally, a sniper would be in a prone position when firing for better stability of the gun and accuracy. But of course, Mark and Mei did not have to do that. With their bodies enhanced far stronger than regular humans would, their bodies were just as stable as the roof they were on.

And with Mark and Mei sniping the incoming horde of [Infected Birds], the horde fell down the waters of the bay without even reaching the [Mini Cube].

"Seriously, I need more practice."

Mark said with a shrug, glancing at Mei. His wife beat him in terms of accuracy. She even killed two or three [Infected Birds] with a single bullet several times.

Among the thirty-seven [Infected Birds] they shot at. Mark only managed to kill fourteen.

"But Gege is already good, though?" Mei looked at Mark. "Besides, Gege is way better at close quarters than me. You will always be in front while I support you at the back."

"That's true," Mark said with a shrug. "But I tend to stupidly min-max stuff in games whenever I can, so I might as well get some practice later on."

Mei looked at Mark with a sigh. Sometimes, Mark was just too childish.

The journey continued with a bit of fighting here and there. But with the [Mini Cube] as their steady transport vessel, they almost reached their destination before sunset. However, setting into the mountain during the night was not viable and they decided to spend a night near its foot.