Mutagen

<strong>Day 229 - 8:11 AM - Wooden Mansion, Hill of Kaptan, Kahilwayan</strong>

Two days passed after Mark existed the [Trial of Regrets].

In the previous cases, Mark would immediately urge everyone to leave once their goals for the journey were met. Back when they searched for Pefile's wife, after they finished their business in Corregidor, and after making sure that his family was safe, they immediately left afterward.

With the current state of the world, there was really no time to dawdle around.

As for Mark spending more time in the trial, it was not without benefit. Among their group that passed the [Trial of Regrets], he was the one who absorbed the trial's energy the most due to his prolonged stay inside it.

The remaining energy within the [Trial of Regrets] was sucked dry, and it all came to Mark. That was why even though Mark used up three weeks inside the illusory world, it was still worth it.

And, of course, their prolonged stay was the same.

Magwayen was keen on absorbing the residual energy in Kahilwayan into the artifact of the [Tamawos], the [Mark of the King]. Doing so would accomplish Magwayen's two goals. One was to not let anyone take advantage of the residual energy, and the other was to connect to this world more.

As only an avatar, Magwayen would not be able to do much. However, as a God, it was a good way to relieve boredom. Her world was stagnant and had lower technological advancement compared to Earth. Besides, fewer souls existed in her world. Thus, her job as the ferrywoman to the underworld did not matter much anymore. She found Earth more interesting compared to hers.

Of course, the [Eyes] would not see her actions positively. In the least, she would not interfere with the inhabitants of Earth and just remain watching. After all, what she wanted was nothing but entertainment.

On the other side, Mark's group was also busy.

Kahilwayan was the abode of Ancient Visayan Gods under Kaptan's leadership. Of course, everything inside this space was of extreme value.

Each tree inside Kahilwayan, even the smallest sapling, were all [Spirit Trees]. They might not be [Pure Spirit Trees] that had intelligence, but [Spirit Trees] were rare existences on their own.

And for Mark and Ilia, these [Spirit Trees] were valuable materials to create magical items and weapons. Now that the [Mortal Dimension] and the [Spirit Dimension] were fused, magical energy was everywhere.

Magical items and weapons would be extremely useful in this era, especially when fighting against the [Infected] and the [Mechids].

Cutting these trees should have been a blasphemy to this place. However, Magwayen allowed and even encouraged them. After Magwayen absorbed all the energy in this place, everything living inside that relied on magical energy would slowly die off. In fact, Magwayen planned to turn Kahilwayan into a magicless place, making it have less value than outside. This way, there was less chance for this place to be desecrated by those with evil intentions.

Aside from the [Spirit Trees], there were also a lot of magical herbs that Ilia recognized from the past. While Ilia was not that versed in magical medicine and such, she was still a subordinate of a mad scientist in the past. That scientist studied a whole lot of things in order to create beings that could oppose the Gods. That was why Ilia had the opportunity to learn many things. Among those things were different kinds of magical plants that existed around the world in the lost era.

Another amazing thing about the place was its structures.

One would think that wood, while a good construction material, would not last too long compared to modern construction materials. However, it was different in this case.

The buildings in Kahilwayan, like the houses and the mansion, were all made of wood. However, the wood used was as hard as steel, probably even harder if not for the fact that it was several thousand years old.

It was no wonder that while looking old and dirty, the huts and the wooden mansion did not really show any sign of crumbling.

If Magwayen wanted to actually demolish this whole place, Mark would have taken apart these houses. Unfortunately, it was not her intention, and Mark could only leave the houses intact.

In any case, gathering the [Spirit Trees] and magical herbs kept Mark and the rest of the group busy. They even managed to find and catch strange-looking animals living in this realm for thousands of years.

One example was a deer with blue skin and crystal horns. There was even a butterfly with glowing wings and a bird with rainbow feathers. Unfortunately, there were very few animals despite the place being left alone for thousands of years.

Magwayen explained that these animals were not really magical ones in the past. These animals were just normal animals that were either caught or offered by their worshipers. However, being exposed to the energy in Kahilwayan evolved their species after generations. It caused these animals to have a longer lifespan but lower reproductivity.

"You win some and lose some," as the saying went.

It was the same for magical races with very long life spans. It did not matter whether they were Demons, Spirits, or Elementals with physical bodies. Those that lived longer had a lesser chance of having offspring. Even some races could not actually reproduce and instead were given birth by nature thru luck.

By Magwayen's estimate, she needed two to three more days to completely absorb Kahilwayan's energy into the [Mark of Kings]. They had plenty of time gathering things all around Kahilwayan.

Still, Mark could not help but feel unfortunate that there was not a single legendary item left they could bring home. It would be nice if they could. Especially since there were very few items known that the Visayan Gods wielded.

No, it was not just the Visayan Gods. There was barely anything known about the ancient religions of the Philippines after the Spaniards erased most of the records from history.

Maybe, there were still some records left hidden somewhere no one knew. Unfortunately, what was known about the ancient records and history mostly came from more modern compilations from historians and archeologists that did not even come from this country.

It was ironic that the people of this country barely knew about its origins while idolizing everything foreign, and those who were interested in the ancient facts of this country were actually foreigners.

***

Behind the wooden mansion, Mark was busy cutting a tree using an axe made from his blood. Surely, this axe was sharp enough to easily fell a regular tree. However, a living [Spirit Tree] was much tougher than those. Even the dead [Spirit Tree] that Mark got before was way tougher than normal trees, not to mention living ones.

While cutting the tree, Mark noticed something fly from the tree from the corner of his eye. It seemed to be a butterfly at first glance, but it made Mark shiver. He kept it at the corner of his eye and did not look at it directly.

<strong>CLANG!</strong>

And as it flew near him, he dropped his axe, causing a loud sound. Mark did not bother about the axe and jumped on the butterfly as fast as he could. Mark even strengthened his body and his veins could be seen glowing red just to catch the butterfly.

Mark felt the butterfly on his hand. That was the only then he looked at it directly.

What Mark had on his hand was not a butterfly. It was a small book that could fit into his palms.

The noise from the dropped axe caught the attention of everyone nearby. It would be fine if they heard a tree falling, but definitely not a carelessly thrown axe.

But what everyone saw was Mark staring at his hand, wide-eyed, and excited.

Yes, the Mark that barely shows his emotion was clearly excited that even the children noticed it.

Magwayen appeared, also drawn in by the commotion. And she immediately noticed what Mark had on his hand.

"You caught something extremely rare. I didn't expect to see one after thousands of years."

Magwayen's words sure surprised everyone. Well, Magwayen was surprised herself as she saw what Mark caught.

Mei and Ilia approached Mark with Spera and the rest behind. They were all curious what Mark caught, thinking that it was some sort of animal or insect.

"Caught?"

That was what Ilia asked, seeing that what Mark had on his hand was a small book. How would someone catch a book in the first place? Did it fall from somewhere?

Furthermore, the book was open in Mark's palms the pages were empty.

"Do you know what that is for you to be excited?"

Magwayen asked, seeing Mark's current state as he stared at the book.

"Not exactly," Mark replied. "But I know that it is something that grants paranormal abilities to people. I heard before that there was a witch doctor that gained his healing abilities after catching one of these. Even one of my grandfathers said that they saw one of these before but was unable to catch it since it was hard to notice just by the corner of his eye and he looked at it directly only for it to vanish. Unfortunately, he realized it too late and heard about the myths after he shared seeing a book-shaped butterfly to his drinking friends."

Hearing Mark say "book-shaped butterfly," the rest finally realized why Magwayen said caught and not found or picked.

A book-shaped butterfly, or rather, a book flying like a butterfly. One cannot look at it directly as it would immediately vanish. It surely was magical.

"You are not far from it," Magwayen replied, floating and approaching Mark. "It is a medium or a catalyst for magical arts, rituals, and ceremonies. It is both a living being and an item born from accumulated magical energy in an area. With that in your hands, your magical and psychic abilities would be enhanced further. The witch doctor you mentioned might have gotten healing abilities since it was already within his knowledge and was just enhanced."

After hearing the actual use of it, it became another cause for surprise.

"But how did it have the shape of a book and look like a butterfly?"

That question came from Spera, who was fascinated by the book's use.

And as Magwayen replied, she shook her head as she herself did not know that exact answer to Spera's question.

"I also do not know why a book. However, it might be because books are one source of knowledge humans had. There were also similar catalysts that had different shapes, like scrolls or stone tablets, while some were just a piece of paper, folded and shaped like a bird."

"So, it takes the form of something that provides knowledge, isn't it?"

Mark asked.

"That might be the case," Magwayen nodded. "You are very lucky to catch that. You better not lose it as it should be far more special than the catalysts you heard about."

Mark stared back at the book in his hand and knew Magwayen was right. The book from the story he heard was actually born on Earth where there was barely any magic and it gave the witch doctor healing abilities. What Mark caught was born in Kahilwayan, an abode of the Visayan Gods. It should be far more valuable and powerful.

"Would it fly away again?"

Mei asked.

It was a reasonable question as it was a flying book before Mark caught it.

"No." Magwayen smiled and stared at Mark. "However, do not get it away from your body as much as possible as the one that caught it. You can lend it but the person burrowing it should not let go of it either. You can put it in your pocket, even your [Storage Ring]. You can even make it a necklace. However, never leave it unattended or away from your body without anyone around to pay attention to it. You will definitely regret doing that."