Mutagen

Day 204 - 11:02 AM - ▋▋:▋▋ ▋▋ - ▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋

Inside the white space that looked over Earth, the [Observer] watched the changes it went through.

And sadly, every day that passed by, the number of humans dwindled even more.

Contrary to the grim expectations of the [Observer], however, many places on Earth began to gain stability. Many smaller settlements joined together to build a place they could call home.

They began to develop defenses, equipment, and even food that did not exist back before the apocalypse started. Humans were adapting and at quite a fast pace.

It was a good thing for humankind.

Unknown to these people, it was not the sole work of humanity. At some of the most successful settlements in different countries, the [Eyes] manipulated things behind the scenes.

Sometimes, the leaders of the settlements would gain insights on how to defend their homes. There were also times that people eerily felt danger before it came. There were even times where a scout would get lost and return, carrying information about a source of food and water they stumbled upon "accidentally" while lost.

With the help of the [Eyes], many places gained the safety and stability they needed.

Did these actions of the [Eyes] create ripples in the river of fate? Yes. However, it was within the control and a certain expected outcome.

If it was the Flow of Destiny that one was to talk about, it was the appearance of [Mutagen] that changed the fate of the world and all the lives inside it. By affecting the lives of the people a little bit, the [Observer] and the [Eyes] were only returning bits of their destiny to them.

In the first place, many people who died when the apocalypse started were not supposed to in the original timeline. Many of them would live longer lives, and some even die of old ages after a few more decades.

But the lives of those people ended drastically as [Mutagen] arrived on Earth.

The whole book of fate, the [Akashic Records], of Earth changed. The lifespan of humans increased, but their survivability in this world decreased.

Everything was all the effect of [Mutagen] on the world.

Next was the arrival of [Mechids]. It was supposed to clean Earth of more humans. Its arrival would not only destroy the land but rip open the already unstable barrier between dimensions. This event would not only cause a global disturbance in terrain. It would also return Earth to its state when the foreign gods still roamed its land.

To cope with the situation on Earth, the [Observer] decided to use drastic methods. And it was to gain the help of the foreign gods still hidden on Earth and send them to where they wanted to go.

Using the [Fusion of Dimensions] as the medium and the power of hidden gods as an energy source, the [Observer] managed to save most of humankind. However, it also caused some mishaps as a few of the gods tried to interfere during the process.

Although the [Observer] and the [Eyes] succeeded in their goal, the [Eyes] became severely weakened. That was why the [Observer] was making sure to watch the ripples if a hidden god was to create one. They needed to prepare to deal with these gods preemptively if they wanted to succeed.

At the current state of the weakened [Eyes], they would need everyone to deal with a single weakened god.

But at the moment, there was also someone that was busy making large ripples himself. It was not an unwelcomed event. After all, the ripples he created caused the destined deaths of many to be pushed far into the future.

However, those ripples made it harder for the servants of the world to do their work. It was not only the [Observer] and the [Eyes]. Even the [Guide] had a lot to complain about in this situation.

The [Guide] was preparing to receive the souls of hundreds of people in a few days. It was due to a civil war within the settlement on the island of Corregidor to break out. Many soldiers and volunteers were supposed to lose their lives. Those deaths came alongside the lives of many refugees. It was due to the hordes of [Infected] being drawn by the noise of the battle.

Because there were not enough soldiers to fight the hordes of [Infected] and two [Behemoth Class Infected]. Many more people died. More than half of the settlement got destroyed by the [Infected]. It was abandoned by its survivors afterward.

Yet, those supposed hundreds to thousands of deaths were replaced by a few souls marked for the fourth circle of hell.

The settlement remained standing strong, and the horde of [Infected] that was supposed to cause its demise turned into a gigantic pile of corpses without taking a single life in return.

These kinds of changes sure caused a gigantic ripple in the river of fate, overshadowing any other ripple that may appear.

"Master, I have returned."

While watching the ripples of Earth that started to calm down, the [Observer] heard the voice of one of her [Eyes].

"Have you given him the message?"

The [Observer] asked the [Eye of Interest], Nineteenth.

"Yes, I have." Nineteenth replied. "But I doubt this will be the last time."

The [Observer] could only nod. It was to be expected.

At this point, the [Observer] turned her eyes to a particular place in the Eastern United States. It was a set of brick buildings with red shingled roofs. Back in the day, it was called the St. Gabriel's Hall. Now, however, it turned into a fortress filled with people.

The odd thing about this place compared to other settlements was that it was run by a cult. The Cult of the Shadow Demon. The barriers during the [Fusion of Dimensions] were determined by the unity of the people it protected. The stronger the bond and unity of the people, the harder the barrier was. For his place to survive with just a few people at the start, the unity of the members of this cult was extremely high.

And there was no need to tell who this cult was worshiping. It was no one else but the Demon clad in a shadowy mist that saved them from the group of cannibals that inhabited this place in the past.

The god they prayed to did not help them. But when they gave up, a Demon came, freed them, and gave them weapons to fight back. Although there was a possibility that he was not an actual Demon, these victims did not care. It was him who saved them and not some nonexistent god.

"They are not proactively recruiting people to their cult, but it is growing at a steady pace."

The [Observer] said, looking at the people in that fortress.

"Master, are you looking at that place again?"

Nineteenth respectfully asked.

"It is hard not to." The [Observer]. "It had been a very long time since a new religion was born on this planet. And this one is worshiping a real potential god. Although it is disappointing that they veered away from worshiping the [Creator God], their pure and unwavering faith is beautiful to look at."

Nineteenth fell silent with a smile on her face. Since immemorial, her Master, the current [Observer], observed the world as her duty. She had seen many good, bad, disgusting, ugly, and many other things. However, the current [Observer] loved to watch the pure and unwavering. How long had it been since the last time the [Observer] had such interest to observe something?

Sighing, Nineteenth spoke.

"Master, this is a bad thing, is it not? The [Exitential Energy] received by the focus of worship varies depending on how the worshipers saw them. If he is being worshiped as a Shadow Demon, would it not turn him into a Demonic God in the future?"

"It is true." The [Observer] agreed. "But with the minuscule amount he currently receives, it will take a very long time. If he became worshiped by another group with a different view of him, the effects might offset. We still have a lot of time before we can see what kind of god he might become."

Here, the [Observer] turned somewhere else. It was the floating vessel currently flying south of Cavite in the Philippines.

Of course, it was Mark and his group.

Since Mark and Mei were not bound by fate any longer, the [Observer] could not observe the two directly. However, it was different for those around them. Right now, using Feng Zhiruo, the [Observer] could see all those around this female Chinese Cultivator.

Among Mark's group, Feng Zhiruo was the easiest for the [Observer] to observe. Amihan was a [Sylph], the little girls were now [Blood Demons], Spera was an [Inheritor], Chimetrice was a [Chimera] composed of many mythical and demonic creatures, and Ilia was an [Elder Succubus]. Each of them had either a constitution or power that could obstruct the [Observer's] observation every now and then. It was unlike Feng Zhiruo, whose power was cultivated inside herself. She was the most human among Mark's group right at this moment.

Using Feng Zhiruo as the medium, the [Observer] decided to watch the group a little bit. And to say, it was relaxing to watch them. Unlike most of the people around the world living a tense life, Mark's group was among the few enjoying it. They even had the time to sightsee while eating their lunch. They sure were a bunch of weird but people with a nice atmosphere around them.

***

Day 204 - 12:11 PM - St. Mary Mountain, Barangay Balas, Municipality of Talisay, Province of Batangas

Atop the St. Mary Mountain, north of Taal Lake, Mark's group landed for lunch. It was already past noon, so they decided to eat lunch before they continued on their journey. And since Mark had never really seen Taal Lake before, he chose this location.

Well, the scenery was far different from what everyone expected, however.

The sky above the Taal Lake was dark and thick, filled with ash and dust. It was as if this place had different weather on its own compared to the rest of the country.

As for the reason...

Taal Lake was not a lake filled with water, any longer.

In front of Mark and his group, they were watching a gigantic lake of lava with the barely recognizable Taal Volcano at its center.

"What a hellish but amazing scene."

Mark murmured, watching the lake while waiting for lunch to be served. Above his shoulder, there was the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal] glowing brightly. At the same time, Amihan was also using her magical abilities to control the wind around them. If Mark and Amihan did not do this, they would have been all covered with dust and ash already along with their food.

This place sure was a good location to sightsee. But, of course, if one could protect themselves from the ashes, dust, smoke, and even the smell of rotten eggs.

"Earth had gotten a very large and painful pimple, isn't it?"

Spera spoke, looking at the same scenery as Mark.

Mark looked at Spera with half-closed eyes. She was right, but there was no need to voice it. What she said just ruined the nice scene.

But before Mark could reprimand Spera, she spoke, pointing at something.

"Wait, what's that?"

Of course, Mark also turned to where Spera was pointing at. He did not see anything else stranger than the lava lake earlier. If Spera was playing around, he would go smack her head.

However, Spera was not playing around. As Mark turned to look, there was indeed something strange.

"Is that a lava monster?"

Spera voiced out.

At the foot of what was left of Taal Volcano, a gigantic creature surfaced from the lava. It looked humanoid, although it was walking on all fours which made it look like a giant lava gorilla. If not for the proportions of its body, one would think it was.

Was it a [Magical Creature] or a [Mutated Infected]? It was quite hard to know. Although Mark and Spera could see the creature due to its size and the height of the mountain they stood at, the creature was actually more than six kilometers from their location. It was too far for Mark's detection range.

In any case, none of them expected to see some creature rise from the lava lake. Should they go check it out after lunch?