Mutagen

There was no grand celebration for the return of Mark\'s group since Mark opposed it. However, a small dinner party at home would not be an issue.

Well, it was just lunch for Mark and the others, though.

They left the Secret Realm of Mt. Madia-as before noon, after a bit of preparation. However, it was already late afternoon in the Mortal World when Mark and the others exited the portal. It was not a surprising thing, of course. The flow of time outside and inside the Secret Realm was different.

It was already nice that they seemed to arrive on the same day. This was due to the time inside the Secret Realm catching up to the speed of time outside because of the broken barrier. If not, it would not be surprising that it was already the next day they would arrive, and the sense of time of everyone in Mark\'s group would be even more messed up.

This evening, most of the closest people to Mark and Mei gathered at the Cliff House. It included Emika, her brother, Mikio, and their mother, Rosamie.

Mark\'s best friend, Rollan, and his wife, Nikky, were also in attendance. Not to mention the core members of the Mountain Base, such as Huey\'s group. The retired soldier, Edward, and his girlfriend, Emi, were also present.

And, of course, Odelina and her children, Seigfried and Odette, would not be absent, along with Abbygale\'s aunt, Jaeya, and her adopted son, Theodore.

The whole [Tamawo] family was also here, even though Pefile never liked crowds. It was a good change of atmosphere for Edzel\'s mother, which was why they attended.

Elise was also present, not wanting to leave Mark\'s side. And lastly, Aimee, who now had her human form.

Unfortunately, the two [Queen Types] were not here. They might look human, but not everyone was comfortable with the two around. No matter what, they were still [Infected].

In any case, it was a happy occasion.

Earth was currently a world where anyone could die without warning. Returning home alive and well was more than enough to celebrate.

Mark was not really comfortable with parties. But as this one was dedicated for their return, he could not bailout.

Nothing much happened at the start. There was enough food, but it was not as lavish as dinner parties before the apocalypse. There were pasta dishes, however. Compared to meat, grain dishes were the luxury within the mountains.

In any case, it was nothing but a fun party dinner with a little bit of drinking. Mark only drank a shot glass of liquor as he was not really fond of it. It was the same for Mei. It was unexpected, but the underaged Spera was quite a drunkard. She passed out quicker than others, however.

The dinner party soon finished. The children were brought to sleep since it was getting late in the night. Some also returned to their homes to rest and prepare for their work tomorrow.

Of course, not everyone left, and the more important business began.

With everyone crucial to the Mountain Base Gathered, it was the best time to catch up and for Mark to receive reports of events that happened around the Mountain Base in the past month.

***

"The sightings of [Infected] increased for the past month," Odelina reported. "Since Master left, there were twenty-two instances of [Infected] wandering around the mountain. Two of those instances were small hordes with several [Mutated Infected], five instances with [Infected Animals], and three instances included [Infected Magical Creatures]."

Mark was not surprised after hearing that report. A lot of time had already passed since the start of the apocalypse. Earth\'s geography also got messed up. With these factors in play, the [Infected] would have long left places they lurked before and wandered to the most unlikely places. And since Earth and the Spirit Dimension fused, it would not be surprising to find [Infected Magical Creatures] anywhere.

"It\'s not outside our expectations," Mark responded to Odelina\'s report. "There\'s no problem with the [Infected] aside from the increased number of encounters, right?"

"So far, there\'s none," Odelina nodded. "The illusion of the [Tikbalangs] around the base prevented the [Infected] on the ground from coming too close. The [Dryad] also helped in detecting them. The [Flying Infected] were the only possible threat since they attack from the sky. However, Huey could detect them as early as possible."

"[Flying Infected] are a noisy bunch, thankfully," Huey followed up. "So far, we haven\'t seen any [Flying Infected] that could fly silently, which is a good thing."

[Flying Infected] was the most dangerous threat the Mountain Base had faced so far if the topic were only these undead flesh-eaters. And as Huey mentioned, these aerial types create too much noise while flying compared to their non-infected countertypes. For example, [Mutated Bugs]. Since the [Infected Insects] had grown far larger in size, the buzzing sound of their wings also became louder. In this case, Huey\'s all-around [Enhanced Senses] could detect these threats before they could actually cause harm.

"How about the [Mechids] and [Feral Animals]?"

Mark asked.

[Feral Animals] might be the least of concern depending on what kind of animal they were. On the other hand, the [Mechids] would be the most threatening, despite the rarity of encounters with them.

"Actually, the attacks from [Feral Animals] severely decreased," Odelina answered. "We only encountered two in the past month. Both were canine animals, although hard to exactly determine what kind of animals they were before because of their mutated appearance."

"Yeah, the animals seemed to be decreasing." This time, it was Halley who chimed in. "We were also encountering fewer animals when hunting."

This was a bit of a problem. Surely, overhunting would decrease the population of animals. However, it was not only them who were the cause of this. The presence of the [Infected] was increasing. It was very likely that the animals were also being hunted down by the [Infected]. And probably, also the [Mechids].

"As for the [Mechids], we had three attacks so far," Odelina continued with the report. "The problem with the [Mechids] is that they can pass through the illusion without hindrance. Most of our weapons also do not work on them."

"Luckily, we found an effective way of dealing with them."

Halley chimed in again.

"An effective way?"

Mark was pretty surprised. Well, he could not do any deep experimentation on the [Mechids] so far.

"Yeah, You should give credit to Edzel for this," Halley nodded. "The first attack was kind of troublesome since we had to bombard it with explosives. But the second one, a [Mechid] with blade arms, we got a bit of a mishap, and Jolleen almost got her arm bisected. Since it was too sudden, Edzel used his vibrations to attack the [Mechid] by reflex. It was really unexpected, but the [Mechid] froze before becoming seemingly confused."

"We have footage recorded in that battle. Why not show it instead?"

Huey suggested.

"So, you guys do record the battles."

Mark said as Odelina fetched a video camera from another room."

"Boss, what are you talking about? You\'re the one that started it." Huey said, looking at Mark. "You recorded most of your encounters before with your phone, right? Saying that it would be a good record and reference for future encounters with the enemies."

Mark shrugged. That was true. If he could, he would record or take pictures. If it was not possible, he would engrave the battle in his mind for future reference.

Odelina returned with the video camera and inserted a different memory card before Mark watched the footage.

As Halley said, the [Mechid] almost got Jolleen done in. But it froze when Edzel made his attack before looking around, confused. The sudden pause of the confused [Mechid] gave Jolleen the opportunity to escape. They then bombarded it with attacks and defeated it with less resistance.

"Here is the footage for the third [Mechid]."

Odelina said, handing Mark a different memory card.

In the video, Mark saw that the third [Mechid] was a far dangerous one. It seemed to be a four-legged Eyebot, with a pair of long-ranged weapons on its body. It even caused some damage to the weapons mounted on the outer walls after trying to attack the people manning it.

But employing Edzel\'s actions in the previous encounter, the [Mechid] showed the same reaction, getting frozen, before looking around in confusion. When Edzel stopped, the [Mechid] would turn back to normal and continue its rampage. However, it would return to its confused state once Edzel continued attacking.

"What is happening?"

Mark could only voice out.

However, no one could give an answer.

Why would the [Mechids] react like that while under Edzel\'s vibration attack? It did not make any sense unless they knew the reason.

These findings required further testing. Unfortunately, Mark did not have the time to do it at this moment.

"By the looks of it, we won\'t have any problems with the [Mechids] as long as they don\'t appear in large groups."

Odelina said, which Mark could agree. Since Edzel\'s vibrations could only affect one area at a time, there was no way he would be able to handle large scattered groups of [Mechids].

Still, it was a mystery as to why the [Mechids] would react like that because of Edzel\'s vibration attack.

***

The meeting continued until near midnight. There were a lot of things to talk about, including the future development of the Mountain Base.

There were also a few issues with farming livestock. So far, they had a pair of evolved cows, a pair of grebes, and some dabchicks that hatched recently. These animals would not be able to provide much to the base at all since they numbered too few. Since Mark\'s group was venturing outside, they received a request to find livestock animals if they could.

And since Mark\'s group already brought some strange animals to the base, bringing home livestock would not pose much of a problem.

Well, that was if they found some.

There was a list of potential animals that Mark could gather as livestock. And the most recommendable were chickens and rabbits since these animals did not need much time to reproduce. Not to mention that rabbit meat was actually nutritious, with lower fat and cholesterol, although very rarely eaten in the Philippines.

As for the crops, there was also a need for variety. So far, they only had Energy Rice, the Giant Potatoes, and some usual crops planted. Having bean crops would be nice. Unfortunately, they were unable to procure seeds before the Earth got messed up and would surely be harder to find now.

There were also other things to address, such as new facilities. The most important one was a proper laboratory for their two scientists. It would, after all, help a whole lot if they had a proper laboratory instead of using Mark\'s basement.

Many things within the meeting could not be addressed immediately, which was unfortunate.

Nonetheless, they could not concentrate on all these things while Sinogo was still around. Once the problem with Sinogo was dealt with, it would be easier to think about these things.

The meeting ended soon. Mark and Mei spent the night together for the first time in a while. There was nothing much that happened but sleep, like the usual. Still, it was far more relaxing to lay down in their bed than camping outside. Even though the two did not feel sleepy yet, they still fell asleep without problems.

It was a good thing to have a nice rest tonight. Tomorrow, Mark and the others would leave early and continue their journey.

***

Night had passed. And as planned, Mark\'s group would continue their journey. More relaxed than the previous days, the group departed with everyone\'s wishes for their safe return.