Mutagen

"Sorry for intruding."

Karlene and Alana said respectively as they entered the door of the Cliff House.

Morning training had just finished, and it was already lunchtime. Since Karlene was still tired from the journey yesterday, they decided to just skip the afternoon training. After taking a late morning bath, the two went to the Cliff House as it was the best place to spend time in the Mountain Base.

It was not like there were no other places to hang out. There was the Garden Pool right at the center of the base. It was where Miliel, the Mermaid, was living. She already opened up to humans and could converse to some extent. Thus accompanying her while wasting time was not a bad idea.

There was also the Recreation Area. It was a park-like open area also at the center of the base but just on the north side of the Night Everred Spirit Tree. Although it was mainly a facility with park furniture, benches, and even a playground for children, it also had a mini-theater where people could watch available movies in their free time.

Entertainment facilities like this might seem unnecessary in the apocalypse. However, everyone agreed to build one. It was a very good way to relieve stress. After all, stress was something that everyone needed to get rid of to maintain a positive outlook and productive performance.

The other two places were good. However, Karlene and Alana preferred to spend time in the Cliff House. Spending time with friends was a pretty nice way to relax.

"You two are always welcome here," Odelina said as she let the two enter with a smile. "But don\'t make too much noise this time."

Question marks were clear on the expression of the two. It was until they arrived at the living room that they understood why.

The living room was the largest area in the house that Mark made. It was because it also served as a multipurpose room. It had enough chairs, a long table, a writing board, and even small tools to serve as a meeting room. It was also being used as the dining room to save some space. Most and foremost, the room was also equipped with a few items for entertainment for both children and adults alike.

On one of the sofas, Mei sat with a subtle smile and caring eyes. On her lap was Mark, sleeping like a log.

On the opposite sofa, Elise sat, reading a pocketbook. She was silent, obviously because she did not want to wake up Mark.

In the southeast corner of the living room, the dining table was occupied by Mark\'s daughters, along with Odelina\'s children and even Karla. They were all playing a board game together. They were a bit noisy, but it was strange that it was not waking Mark up.

Aside from them, there was also Jaeya and Pefile present. The former was spending time with her adopted son, Theo. The latter, on the other hand, was just sitting down, unexpectedly reading a cookbook.

Mara was also here, obviously with her sister, Janette. And since Janette was here, and so as Snow.

There were a whole lot of people in the living room. Yet, Mark was able to sleep fine and undisturbed.

"Woah. This is odd." Karlene said as she took a seat next to Elise. "Mark can actually sleep like there\'s no tomorrow?"

"Please don\'t make too much noise."

Elise put down her pocketbook and strictly reprimanded Karlene.

"I haven\'t even made any noise yet..."

Karlene grumbled.

"Amihan is tuning down the noise around Master. But if you are this close, you might wake him up."

Odelina reminded as she passed by, going to the kitchen.

It was only when Karlene and Alana noticed Amihan sitting on the armrest beside Mei, obviously using some kind of magic.

"So, that is why." Karlene nodded in understanding and then turned to Elise. "Though I can\'t believe you can reprimand people now."

Elise flinched. She just did not want her Elder Brother to get disturbed in his rest that she acted out of character. Now that she was reminded of it, she could only shyly cover her face with her pocketbook.

"Bessie, don\'t make fun of her... Seriously..." Alana said to her childish best friend with a sigh. "Still, I didn\'t expect that almost everyone is here this time."

Alana said that as she turned her head around the room. The children were not surprised to be here and playing. The same was to be said for Jaeya and the two [Queen Type] infected. They were, after all, the most behaved when Mark was around.

But what about Pefile?

"Hey, Pefile," Alana called out with a bit silent voice. "Shouldn\'t you be taking care of your wife?"

"Edzel and Pearl are there right now." Pefile put down the cookbook in his hand and replied. "You know that my relationship with Edzel is still complicated, so it\'s better for me to leave them alone."

"That\'s true..." Alana nodded. "But what\'s with the cookbook?"

"This?" Pefile waved the cookbook, showing that it was actually about nutritious deserts. "I\'m just looking to see if there\'s a dessert I can cook for Celine for dinner. Alright, please also don\'t disturb me. I\'ll get back to reading."

Hearing him, Alana shrugged and did not pester the Tamawo any longer. Pefile was not that talkative and could sound rude at times. Everyone was already used to it, though.

"A handsome man, cooking for his wife... I wish I also had someone like that."

Karlene grumbled.

"It\'s too early for you, Bessie."

Alana tapped Karlene\'s shoulder.

"Huh?" Karlene was confused. "You might be a few months older than me, but we\'re basically the same age, you know? Why is it early for me?"

"Bessie..." Alana sighed. "We might be the same in physical age, but your mental age is young enough to have the FBI called on someone."

"What?"

Karlene was flabbergasted. However, the ones that heard Alana were just nodding or shrugging in agreement.

"HEY!"

Karlene exclaimed, noticing everyone\'s reaction.

And, of course...

"SHHH!"

Karlene was reprimanded while they pointed at the sleeping Mark.

"Be quiet. Please." Mei stared at the two. "Gege had been really busy these past few days and was really tired because of yesterday. I finally forced him to rest, so please don\'t ruin it."

Mei was angry, and the two could only shut up.

However, it was clear now that Mark was not resting because he wanted to, but Mei forced him to.

Still, the two could not fathom how Mark was still asleep even at this time. After all, this guy was too sensitive to his surroundings. He would detect anyone staring at him, even from a far distance. Yet, Karlene and Alana arrived, made a bit of noise, and were even staring at Mark. Yet, he was still asleep.

"Don\'t be too confused." Odelina returned and spoke to the two. "I also don\'t know why but Master can only sleep like this because of the Mistress."

Then, Odelina handed a few things to Mei. It seemed that she was on the way to get these when Karlene and Alana arrived.

"So, it\'s only something that Mei can do, huh..."

Alana said, looking at Mark\'s sleeping face.

It was when they saw what Odelina gave Mei. It was actually a pack of cotton buds. Mei then began to clean his ear as he sleep.

"Heh... It looks like he liked it... That\'s unexpected."

Karlene said as they saw Mark look way more relaxed than before.

"Gege might not look the type, but he really likes this kind of stuff." Mei gently spoke. "He also likes getting his head getting patted and scratched. He also likes cute things."

"Is that so?"

Karlene sure was surprised.

"No, no. Mark liking cute things really isn\'t surprising."

Alana interjected, getting Mei, Karlene, and even Elise\'s attention.

"How can you say so?"

Karlene asked.

"Mark\'s an Otaku, right? That alone explains it."

Alana explained.

"Well, you Otakus are weird people."

Karlene remarked, gaining Alana\'s annoyed-looking eyes.

"These two always try to insult each other when they get the opportunity. Are they really the best of friends?"

As the two bickered, Amihan muttered while sitting on Mei\'s side.

"Some human friendships go like that, Amihan," Mei replied. "They were so close that they had no fear of falling out with each other from such jokes."

"Is that so?"

Amihan replied, still could not understand Karlene\'s and Alana\'s friendship.

"Don\'t think about it too much," Mei said to Amihan. "Even I don\'t understand it thoroughly since I never had such kind of friendship with other people."

"Me too." Elise agreed. "I... I don\'t really understand their kind of people."

Elise, a neglected child and bullied in school, definitely had no understanding of such relationships.

"You three are being rude."

Karlene said, looking at the three, whispering.

"Anyway, it is really good that we can relax like this here," Alana said, panning her eyes throughout the room. "Back in the Military Settlement, we can\'t relax even a second."

"We can only take a breather because there is nothing much to do at the moment," Mei replied. "We can\'t go out of the barrier without getting sick. What we can do is limited."

"Yeah, that\'s true." Karlene agreed. "It actually feels kind of boring. I guess we are already used to living in this world."

What Karlene said was what everyone here could agree on. Back before the apocalypse, life was peaceful for most people. If peace felt boring now, it just meant that they already adapted to the chaotic state the world had right now.

"You all should treasure the peace we currently had."

At this point, Jaeya\'s voice echoed in their minds. They could not help but turn to Jaeya, who was playing with Theo.

"Once the barrier is down, we might not get rest even if we wanted to."

Jaeya added.

That was also true. The barrier that the Eyes created would not last forever. It might be protecting the base from foreign elements for now. But when it wore off, who knows what would happen.

Jaeya\'s words caused silence in the room. Those words were worth the time to think about.

"Still, at this point, it\'s only Mark who had interesting things to do."

Alana mentioned.

"Now that you mention it, that\'s true."

Karlene agreed.

Patrolling around the base might not be that interesting. However, when Mark was not on patrol, he was designing weapons and testing things. He was even studying the golem they brought back from the Kingdom of Black Duendes.

And to say, Mark was making good progress with things he was doing.

Especially that weapon Mark used yesterday to penetrate that mechanical shark\'s body that even hot weaponry of the military could not damage. Mark did say that the aim was off and it needed more adjustment. However, it was already a success when it could damage an enemy that modern weapons could not.

Even Mark\'s study of the golem was progressing faster than they thought. He was already near the process of designing golems where the [Golem Cores] that Bathala gave the little girls could be used on.

Now that they thought about it, Mark sure was doing a whole lot of things. They were sure that he was also unto stuff they did not know about.

"For some reason, I\'m feeling bad right now."

Karlene murmured as she glanced at the sleeping Mark.

"If you feel that way, stop skipping training." Alana jeered at her best friend. "Just because Uncle Alfonso is not here doesn\'t mean you can be lazy."

"You know that I\'m still tired from yesterday\'s travel, right?" Karlene grumbled. "Riding on a Dragon\'s back sounds cool, but it\'s not exactly the most comfortable ride, all right?"

"They are at it again... Bickering..."

Elise murmured as she tried to scoot away further from the two, although she could not because the three of them sat on the same sofa.

Fortunately, the bickering did not wake Mark up, with Amihan working hard to stop the noise from reaching him.