Mutagen

Day 41 – 9:24 AM – Dining Room, Salvador Mansion, Inner District, East Port Settlement, Barangay Dinahican, Infanta, Quezon

The situation in the dining room was quite peaceful and as Mark could observe, the Salvador Family was truly an amiable one. Despite the traits of a rich family that could be seen from them, they were humble and straightforward but of course, as a business family, they had a hidden cunningness behind. However, that cunning trait of them seemed to only be targeted at their enemies and other things than their own people and allies.

In fact, Darren, the head of Salvador Family, was quite tense that Mark would not agree to cooperate with them despite the generous offer their family gave. When Mark agreed, Darren sighed in relief inwardly.

Mark could say that the head of the family was quite desperate for him to offer those terms. There should be some hidden circumstances only known to him and not the rest of his beloved family. He was desperate enough to put her daughter in jeopardy for a gamble. The gamble was whether he could trust the actions that a friend of his made. It seemed that his trust towards Major Bautista was not low at all.

Luckily for him, he made the right gamble and won the cooperation of Mark.

To tell the truth, Mark did not think much about the percentage of the produce since he was planning to create his own plantation and farm near his base since it was quite a flat land in the middle of the mountain range but what made Mark agree was the ability of Annica.

It would not matter much since he had his own methods to bind another creature to him like what he did with Chaflar and how the dragon's mind was connected to his. However, Annica's ability could benefit anyone despite the limit it had.

Finally, they finished eating their breakfast and everyone had to do what they needed to.

"Hey, Big Bro, can you call the dragon here? I want to see it now."

Annica stood up from her chair and leaned forward on the table. It seemed that her family was already used to her behavior but they could still not help but had wry smiles on their faces. Not only that she leaned on the table without manners but she even called Mark in a way like they had known each other for a long time.

Mark only shrugged to this and looked at Darren.

"Is something wrong?"

His gaze made Darren feel stifled. Only after that question that Mark spoke.

"Since we have entered into cooperation or should I say, an alliance, I think, I have to warn you all about something."

Mark spoke in a serene tone that even Alana and Karlene could not help but keep silent and listen. They did not know why Mark's tone had changed but there should be something important about what he was going to say.

"It's better if your family and men evacuate this settlement before the storm arrives."

His words brought confusion to everyone. It seemed that they thought that Mark was worrying about the flood.

In terms of elevation, the land in Infanta was lower compared to others and it was prone to flood. It was due to Infanta having a lot of rivers that could overflow and the whole municipality was half surrounded by the ocean. A lot of measures to prevent the municipality from being flood had been in progress over the years and in some parts of Infanta, the measures had been proven useful.

After the outbreak however, even more measures became available due to the abilities of Mutators and the enhanced strength of Evolvers. It became easier to create dikes and even create walls to block the floods. Not only the Salvador family but all the people inside were confident to some extent that their flood prevention measures would work.

"Is Sir Mark worried about the flood? If that is the case, we already have dozens of preventive measures against it."

Raybert spoke confidently about the flood control measures but unexpectedly, Mark shook his head.

"The incoming storm is not your typical one." Mark spoke in a serious tone. "It's not a naturally occurring storm. Not only that it is stronger than a super typhoon but there are more to it."

They all looked at Mark with askance. It was obvious that Karlene and Alana were still not informed about the storm until Darren mentioned it. Even his family had just been informed earlier about this. Considering Mark's reaction that time however, he was not surprised at all. Unfortunately, they only noticed now.

"How did you know that? What is that more you are talking about. Also, if it is not a naturally occurring storm, you meant that something caused it?"

Karlene asked a barrage of questions regarding what Mark had just said.

"Yep, something caused that storm to occur and that something is coming along with the storm. The measly walls of this settlement will not be able to withstand that thing. After the walls fall down, the flood comes after and that creature will come to shore. It is a triple disaster."

Although what Mark was saying was quite unbelievable, his expression was saying otherwise.

"Are you sure about this?"

Darren sat on his chair with a stern expression.

"A hundred percent." Mark replied. "I don't know why that thing is going this way but I'm sure that it will. Also, what I said is the softest estimate, it could only be worse."

"Evacuate..." Darren muttered. "I can't only evacuate my family but also the residents of the settlement. However we can't just move all the people like this without proof. Do you have any?"

Mark sighed. He had not though that the head of the Salvador Family would include the residents in the evacuation since the situation was really urgent. However, it was also a trait of a good leader that managed the whole settlement. Even to Mark, if something like this happened to his base, he would surely try to evacuate everyone unless he had no choice but to abandon them.

Everyone looked at Mark waiting if he had proof for his. Unexpectedly, he pointed at Annica.

"She's the proof."

"Wha-What?! What? Me?"

Annica panicked as she suddenly became the center of attention.

To her panic, Mark spoke.

,m "You can see the energies that can't be seen with the naked eye right?"

"W-well, yeah. I could. But I can only see it inside a person's or an animal's body or at least a few seconds after the energy left their body."

Annica affirmed.

"Then, can you see the energy inside her?"

Mark pointed at the surprised Amihan on Mark's shoulder.

"M-my lord? Why me?"

Amihan stuttered as she asked.

"I need you to prove what I said. Is it fine?"

"If My Lord says so."

Looking back at Annica, she confirmed that she could see Amihan's energies, her life energy, emotional energies and magical energy.

After it was confirmed, Mark told everyone to go out for a bit.

He then made Amihan float in the middle of the open space in front of the mansion where the wind was not hindered by the buildings. After that, he made Annica observe the energy within Amihan.

Being the center of attention, the shy sylph felt afraid. Mark could not help but stand near her to at least ease her nervousness.

After everything was set up, Mark made Amihan release the magical energy in her body. It was the same energy that could affect the wind around her and allow her to control it. This time however, she had to release it without form. Since Amihan had been using her ability for more than a hundred years already, just releasing that energy in raw form was as easy as eating cake.

On the other side, Annica stared at Amihan with all concentration. Her golden pupils started to radiate a faint glow and she saw the almost transparent energy that Amihan was releasing. Like the wind, it was transparent. If not for the hazy and foggy appearance of the energy, it would be hard to see it.

Since Amihan was only releasing the energy around her and was not moving, the energy released should only scatter of follow the direction of the wind to flow into the surroundings. If Amihan was moving, she would likely leave a trail of that magical energy before it scattered. Observing Amihan however, Annica was shocked.

The magical energy around her was not scattering evenly or being blown away by the wind, it was actually moving towards a certain direction. Following the movements of the energy, it was towards the East.

"Amihan, you can stop now. Thanks for the work."

With Mark's command, Amihan flew back to Mark's shoulder panting.

"My Lord, something is wrong… I released more energy than I should and I can't control it until I forcefully stopped."

Hearing that, Mark frowned as he caressed Amihan's head.

"Hey, Big Bro, what is going on?"

Annica asked with panic. Seeing what she had just seen surely made her realize that there was something wrong.

As the demonstration finished, everyone gathered inside the mansion but this time, at Darren's office in the first floor.

Annica narrated what she had seen with her ability and how strange it was. Since Annica was also confused and could not explain it, they all turned to Mark.

"I already said it before but even though I can't see the energies Annica could see, I can sense it. Since early this morning, there had been a disturbance and the magical energies around was rather thick. If you all noticed, it is too cold now and even colder than how it is supposed to be before a storm came. It is because of what I assume to be Water and Wind element energies in the air being syphoned too fast.

I don't know what the cause is but the energies related to the elements a storm had are being syphoned towards the east where the storm will come from. That is why Annica saw the energy from Amihan flowing towards that direction."

"Do we really need to evacuate?"

Darren asked in a serious but worried expression.

"Evacuate as soon as possible. It is better if you all go away from this settlement and find a place away from the sea and with higher elevation."

Darren nodded. He was about to reply when…

TING!

Amihan, Mark and even Annica froze.

Without looking at everyone, Mark abruptly stood up from his chair as he carried Amihan and Miracle out of the mansion.

Before he went out, Mark shouted.

"Evacuate as soon as possible!"

Following Mark, Annica also stood up and her playful expression most of the time was gone. She looked both serious and afraid at the same time and she hurriedly chased after Mark.

Karlene and Alana wanted to follow but suddenly, both the radios the two had made noise.

***

At the northwest side of the Outer District, someone was packing up his things. He wanted to forget about the things that happened here in this settlement as he found a person to follow. To become stronger and be able to protect what he needed to protect.

As he finished packing however…

TING!

A ringing sound echoed by his ear and he felt shivers he never felt before. Feeling both the danger and curiosity, Edzel ran out of his house with the few things he packed up and ran towards the Free Port District.

Edzel ran out of the Outer District and followed the main street. Along the way, he could see that the people doing their daily routine but he could hear a few shouts to prepare for an incoming storm.

When he reached the Free Port District, he saw the person that promised to make him stronger. Unexpectedly, beside him was the young lady of the Salvador Family. Including the two, everyone at the port was staring towards the East and he did the same.

His eyes then grew wide at the unbelievable scene.

Far away on the horizon, almost black colored clouds swirled as the strong rain blurred the sky and the sea. Branches and branches of lightning continuously crackled.

It was as if the end of the world was coming.