Mutagen

Day 227 - 7:21 PM - Wooden Mansion, Hill of Kaptan, Kahilwayan

It was time to cook, and it would be the first meal after Mark's return. Mei was happy to cook this time, and she wanted to do it alone.

In front of the set of wooden stairs in front of the wooden mansion's front porch, Mark sat in deep thought. While one of the reasons for Mark's current behavior was tiredness, it was more of a hangover from experiencing several years of life he never actually had.

"You seem distraught," A woman appeared beside Mark like an apparition. "You passed the trial. Or was it a mistake?"

Magwayen was asking as such due to Mark's current state.

The [Trial of Regrets] was created to mirror the times that the person regrets the most. They had to relive that moment and end up in the better fork of destiny. The person undergoing the trial must notice what was wrong or feel off and incomplete.

However, the person undergoing the trial had his memories sealed, making it extremely hard to overcome.

Even if the memories were gone, the soul and heart should still recognize what was true and what was not.

A person content in life, despite their regrets, would find the world inside the trial easier to see through. And if it was the opposite, their regrets weighted more than their content and redemption, it was easier to fail.

It was not wrong to say that the [Trial of Regrets] was a trial to weigh a person's heart and soul.

If one passed the [Trial of Regrets], it was rather rare to see them in the same state as Mark currently was. After all, this kind of state was more apparent to those who failed it, as they could not get over their regrets and wanted to change those past events in their lives, even if they had to give up their current lives.

"You, yourself, confirmed it that I passed," Mark replied without looking at Magwayen. "Besides, I'm not mulling over my life there. I'm just annoyed that even though I'm successful, I still died like a dog. Even though I lived as a failure in this life, I at least managed to retaliate before supposedly dying."

Mark finally turned to Magwayen and asked.

"That end... That is where my life was destined to end, isn't it?"

At that question, Magwayen looked at the wooden gates in front of the mansion. It was the very exit of the trial.

"As I said before, the [Trial of Regrets] work by reading a person's string of fate. If it showed you your death at that time, it should be the true time where you meet your end. Destiny could be influenced and change minorly, but changing it entirely is impossible. Even if you learned about your future in one way or another, trying to change it would not do much. If you learned about others' futures and tried to intervene, your efforts would be futile as your intervention is already taken into the account. That is how destiny works. No one under its supervision can change it."

"No one under its supervision," Mark murmured. "Then, it means that anyone not under it could influence it drastically. Pretty much what happened to me and Mei'er."

"Is that the case for you and your wife?" Magwayen asked. "Then you two must be lucky as things destiny could not influence just do not fall from the sky."

Mark then shrugged.

"Actually, what changed our destiny literally fell from the sky."

Magwayen could not help but reveal an awkward expression. Well, she knew nothing about what happened there when Mark's destiny changed far from what it should be. The [Trial of Regrets] also only showed the supposed possibilities and could not show any variable that fate could not influence.

Despite not asking, Magwayen sure was curious as to what caused Mark and Mei to escape their destinies. From what she saw, both of them should have died in the same incident. Yet, they were still alive and now had the possibility to ascend to Godhood.

Mark stared forward without elaborating further. Magwayen was just an avatar and Mark could not sense her emotions. But even if he could, there was no way he would just tattle to her about his secrets and cards in hand.

"By the way, how are you still here?" Mark asked, changing the topic. "I don't think Silim can provide as much energy to make the artifact last this long."

It was something that Mark noticed. One empty [Mental Crystal] could only make the artifact, the [Mark of the King], connect to Magwayen for half a day at most. Although Mark was unsure about Silim, there was no way for her to supply as much energy for the artifact to last for a whole week continuously.

"Why not feel your surroundings for a bit?"

Magwayen replied.

Mark did as she told. It was when Mark noticed that the energy in the surrounding area was somehow thinning.

Kahilwayan was the abode of the Gods of Ancient Visayas. Even if it was left empty for thousands of years, it still had the lingering energy of the Gods that created it.

But now, Mark felt that the energy in the surroundings was considerably lower than the time they entered this place. It was pretty hard to notice unless one really paid attention.

Knowing that Mark would ask, Magwayen spoke first and explained.

"I plan on depleting the energy in this place entirely into the artifact."

Mark could not help but turn to Magwayen. He saw her looking at the gates, but her gaze seemed to cover the surroundings as she continued speaking.

"The Kahilwayan is the abode created by Kaptan. It was his kingdom in the sky where he ruled over the other Gods and the people of this territory."

Magwayen closed her eyes.

"But now, it was nothing but an empty place. A place that gathered the memories of the forgotten past. Without anyone to maintain it, the energy in it would deplete completely sooner or later. Isn't it better to make use of this energy instead?"

Magwayen opened her eyes and looked at Mark.

"The depletion of the energy in this place might possibly prevent some dangers too. Although Silim is guarding the passage, we cannot be sure whether anyone else would not be able to reach this place. With the current state of your world, it would not be surprising if this place was breached in some way we had no way of knowing. Then, it would be better to deplete the energy before it was used for something unpleasant."

"Won't depleting the energy in Kahilwayan destroy it?"

Mark asked.

"Not necessarily," Magwayen replied. "The energy in the surroundings only appeared because Gods lived in this place for a long time. As someone who was backed by the [Eyes], you should know that Godly beings exude a strong aura. That is why Godly beings could not just live anywhere as they pleased. It is because their presence has a huge effect on their surroundings, as their bodies continuously diffuse energy into the surroundings."

Magwayen then retracted her stare at Mark.

"The energy in the surroundings is a completely different matter compared to the existence of this place. Even without the energy, it would continue to exist."

As she continued to explain, Magwayen turned her head on a crystal tree nearby.

"But unfortunately, all living things in this place that relied on the energy for a very long time could end up dying without it."

Mark fell silent in understanding. The things that Magwayen said sure were possible. If some evil beings, worse, the infected, reach this place, it could become a huge problem.

If some [Infected] managed to sneak into this place, another Godly being might get born using the lingering energy of the gods.

There was still the issue of the [Infected] Sinogo. They rather not have another problem to deal with.

At this point, one question entered Mark's mind as he turned to Magwayen once more.

"By the way. Why did the Gods from your world venture into ours?"

It was a good question. The Gods of the past entered Earth after the lax management of the previous [Observer]. But why? It was a question that could never be answered before.

"Because we had to."

Magwayen replied, deciding not to hide too much information from Mark about the circumstances. In the first place, there was nothing that Mark could do even if he knew.

"Once you ascend to Godhood, your growth will stagnate. Not only in appearance, but even the growth of your power would need to rely on the people that worship you. It was because the world and the universe stops you. If a God wanted to become stronger without the reliance on their worshipers, there was only one way."

"It is to leave the world we came from and ascend to higher realms. The higher the realm, the higher the limit for a God's growth. When this world became connected with other realms in the past, many Gods immediately jumped in for the opportunity. After all, the realm your world is at was much higher than the realm we came from."

Magwayen sighed.

"Unfortunately, during the clash of the Gods to divide territories, we ended up on the weaker end. There is no way for us Gods of a lower realm to contend against the Gods of the higher realms, especially from those arrogant Gods from Asgard and Olympus."

"Furthermore..." Magwayen slightly shook her head as she remembered. "Our world is facing a crisis."

"Crisis you say..."

Mark was rather surprised.

"You already knew that I ferried the dead, not to the afterlife but to our realm instead. Our world is run by magic, and the technological level is very low. But that is not the problem. For thousands of years, the human population in our world had been stagnant. Through the cycle of death and rebirth, the souls of people return to be born as another entity. And as the population increased, new souls were born."

"The problem lies not on the reincarnated souls but the birth of the new ones. New souls were barely born in their world, causing a shortage and leading to lesser and lesser instances of pregnancy and birth."

By what Magwayen explained, Mark understood that the humanity of Magwayen's world was decreasing instead of increasing.

Barely any new soul was born, but the count of death was increasing. As people committed more and more sins, their souls would end up getting punished, barring them from rebirth for a long time.

It was without a doubt a crisis, especially for Gods since their needed worshipers to maintain their strength.

And if this trend continued, it would not be surprising if Magwayen's world faced human extinction. And while the other Gods were busy using the humans of Earth to increase their power, Magwayen left her duties as the God of the Sea and became the God of the underworld instead. It was to bring new souls to her already dying world.

Mark fell silent once more. The reason for Magwayen to come to Earth was rather grim. She was definitely shouldering the future of her world. And with the death of the other Gods, she was now alone to fulfill her duties.

***

While Mark and Magwayen talked, Mei began to call him for dinner.

By the looks of it, Mei cooked more than normal, implying the celebration of Mark's return. No one within the group had problems with it. It could also be their last celebration before heading out and confronting the [Infected] Sinogo.

Of course, there was one person who did not look even a bit happy. It was Feng Zhiruo. It was not like she was against the celebration.

Unfortunately, she was the only person within the group to fail the trial.