Day 360 - 7:31 AM - 38th Settlent, Muria Sacred Fortress, Mount Muria, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia
It was already past two in the evening when the group decided to continue the talk at a later ti. Carrying the sleeping girls, Mark and i went to their temporary rooms to rest for the night.
The rooms were literally temporary. Instead of the houses around the settlent, Mark's group had to stay inside a barely finished underground bunker the Moon Chasers were painstakingly building. The outer layout of the bunker was all done and could be used to house the entire settlent in case of ergency. However, its facilities inside still needed to be worked on. So of the rooms in the inner areas were barely cented due to a lack of construction materials.
This lack of construction materials was the main reason why the Moon Chasers were out when they t Mark's group. They were to find construction supplies or anything they could use to exchange with the military for said items. It was also what Luna mostly chose to exchange when they sold the head of the [Fog Crawler].
Since the 38th Settlent had already faced many attacks, they decided to make preparations on their own in case the worst happened.
After entering the bunker, Mark saw Feng Zhiruo peeking from inside the room the rest of the group was designated. When she saw it was Mark and i, she gave Mark a slight nod before closing the door. It was good that Feng Zhiruo was being careful, especially in this unfamiliar environnt. Unfortunately, the rest of the group was not. Emika, Hannah, and Annica were already deep asleep in the sa room Feng Zhiruo was in. It looked like the toll of walking continuously for several days had finally caught up to them.
Within the other room, Mark and i laid Iola and Abbygale on their beds, and Miracle joined her sisters, shutting down her body functions and entering a state of pseudo-sleep. Mark then put Amihan on a pillow of her own near his daughters.
Mark and i smiled at each other as they watched the sleeping girls. They then slept together on their bed, with Mark turning into i's anti-nightmare body pillow.
Soon, i also fell asleep. On the other hand, Mark just stared at the ceiling through the darkness of the bunker.
Mark kept mulling over the things they talked about earlier. He was trying to pick up the information he gathered piece by piece.
First in Mark's thoughts were the main problems of this settlent.
According to Luna and her friends, the frequency of attacks the 38th Settlent faced was much higher than most Satellite Settlents around Mount Muria. Furthermore, most of the ti, the Moon Chasers were bound to attacks and so strange encounters when they went out to scavenge.
Getting attacked while outside was not really strange. However, getting attacked by groups of assorted kinds of creatures or even finding creatures not usually found in the area were clearly strange things to happen too frequently.
Those strange encounters would clearly lead to the conclusion that soone was targeting them. However, as far as Luna's group was concerned, they did not know anyone or, at least, heard about anyone being able to control wild beasts around the fortress. In fact, Mark's group was the first people they saw being able to ta monstrous beasts.
Soone hiding their abilities to control animals was also possible. However, this possibility was even harder to confirm.
Then, Mark thought of what happened to Farel and his group. An impostor of their group lured the [Ground Hunters] using eggshells to attempt to destroy their group. But Mark imdiately scrapped the idea. He already confird that the 38th Settlent and the Moon Chasers were a hundred percent free of impostors.
And that fact was strange itself.
Then, how co there was not a single impostor in the 38th Settlent? Mark detected quite a number of those impostors here and there. It was very likely that those creatures already infiltrated all settlents around Mount Muria. And, for sure, even the higher military and governnt positions had impostors in their ranks.
Mark tried to mull over it but soon gave up. There was not enough information for him to analyze.
Another thing was Luna's strange power. It only activated once, so there was barely any information about it. The only clue Mark had was the fact that Luna was consud by anger when she released that unknown power.
Was it a power triggered by extre emotions? Was it possible for Mark to use his [Empath] abilities to force its activation?
Mark began listing things he could try inside his mind. It was because Luna's current strength was one of the problems.
Luna was a strong [Mutator]. Apparently, her [Mutator] ability was to absorb certain light frequencies and use the energy from the light she absorbed to strengthen her body temporarily. And by the looks of it, the light frequency she could absorb the most was the light from the moon. It would give her the strongest boosts of strength during the night, especially during nights of the full moon. Unfortunately, this also ant she was the weakest during the nights of the new moon.
Compared to most [Mutators], Luna was really strong. Her [Mutator] ability would allow her to gain super strength, but it was not all. It also allowed her to continuously fight without needing food, water, and rest, as long as there was adequate moonlight.
However, Luna was strong, only as a [Mutator].
As a Candidate, Luna was extrely weak. She could not be compared to both Mark and Hikari, the Priestess, at all. If Luna had to undergo the sa challenges that Mark and Hikari had gone through, Luna would surely die at her current level of strength.
Mark planned to improve Luna's strength and powers. No, not only Luna. Luna's friends also had to beco stronger.
And since Mark's goal here was to help Luna, he would not hold back on this one.
Next was the issue with Luna's niece.
Due to Thirteenth's ddling, they now knew that Mark could wake the poor little girl. However, dealing with the girl's trauma after she woke up could beco a huge problem. Mark began thinking he could use his powers to help the little girl even a little, but he was not really keen on the possibility of suddenly picking up another daughter.
It already happened thrice. The possibility of it happening again was not low at all.
Should Mark suppress the little girl's emotions when the possibility becos apparent? He had been doing the sa for won who began developing romantic feelings for him. However, it might have a negative effect on the ntality of the poor girl, who was already overwheld by her trauma to the point of not wanting to wake up from her coma.
While thinking about Luna's niece, Mark frowned a little. The problem with the little girl was more complicated for him than he thought.
In the end, Mark chose not to do sothing that could possibly make the girl's situation worse. He could wake her up and imdiately withdraw from any other interactions.
Mark gave a silent sigh. He knew he was overthinking things. Unfortunately, he could not help but do so.
Leaving his previous thoughts for now, he decided to focus on sothing he could do without much consequences on his part.
It was to strengthen the overall power of the Moon Chasers and the 38th Settlent.
Mark already had so preparations on this one since he ca here to help the other candidate. Although the items were limited, the things Mark prepared would, at least, give Luna and her friends a significant boost to their [Mutator] abilities.
There was also the brave guy who was not a [Mutator]. The only male leading figure of the Moon Chasers. The man who called himself Edge.
Aside from helping them with their [Mutator] abilities, Mark could also provide them with his weapons. Although hot weapons would be a no-go, Mark could at least give out cold weapons with minimal [Abyss Tech] functions. In that case, he should request a workshop and so smithing equipnt.
Although it would be easier for Mark to just make Spera open a portal ho and use his workshop there, he was not keen on doing it unless there was no other choice. Just like why he decided against relying on the [Mini Cube] and just flew through the journey, Mark did not want to rely on Spera's portals just for convenience. Sure, it would be easier. However, there was also no thrill in doing it.
Besides, giving out weapons to Luna and the others too easily would undermine the value of the deed. He wanted to show Luna and her friends the possibly arduous process of getting precious weapons. Mark would not want his creations to be devalued, too.
If the Elder Blacksmith knew that Mark had these thoughts, he would smile and say that Mark had already woken up his heart of a blacksmith.
While mulling over things, Mark realized that the sun was already rising on the horizon. Since the 38th Settlent was on the southeast side of Mount Muria, its mornings ca earlier than the areas west of the mountain. Of course, it also ant that the evenings were early, too.
Not keen on sleeping, Mark carefully slipped out of i's embrace. Normally, she would wake up when Mark did this, but i was sleeping soundly. It seed she was just as tired as the rest of the group after a long journey on foot.
After caressing i's head a little, Mark went out into the bunker's main hall. Their group was the only people in the bunker, so it was no surprise that the only ones he found outside the room were the three golems on guard.
However, as Brynhildr saw Mark coming out, she unexpectedly ca forward. The three golems were programd to mimic their roles, but aside from that, they would usually just stay in place unless ordered. And since their duty was to protect Mark's three daughters, there were only a few instances they would do so rare actions.
Mark then watched as Brynhildr grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged on it. This action ant that there was sothing wrong with her body, and she needed so check-ups and maintenance.
When Mark went out of bed, he was unsure what he would do to pass the ti. Now, he had sothing to do.
With the maid golem behind him, Mark went out of the bunker. If he was going to check Brynhildr's body, he better go sowhere where the noise would not disturb anyone.
Mark rembered seeing a garage outside the main quarters of the Moon Chasers. Maybe he could ask their mbers if he could go there.
While walking, Mark encountered a familiar mber. He was among the mbers they t during the first day of the fog. He introduced himself as Arrik. Of course, it was an alias. Mark told the guy he wanted to work on sothing in the garage, and the guy guided him without problems.
Arriving at the garage, Mark could hear so noise coming through the open garage gates. Soone was already there working on sothing.
Mark knew who it was and shrugged.
It was quite a coincidence.
The person inside the garage was no other than the person he wanted to help.
"Sir Edge."
The guy guiding Mark greeted Edge, who was working on a broken vehicle inside the garage.
"What's going on?"
Edge asked as he saw Mark and Brynhildr behind Arrik.
"Sir Mark said he had sothing to work on and wanted to borrow the garage and so tools."
Arrik explained.
"Is that so?" Edge nodded as he had no problems with it. "The garage is wide enough. There are also extra tools on the rack and cabinets. Use anything you want."
Arrik left after Mark entered the garage and began looking for the tools he needed. On the other hand, Edge continued working on the vehicle.
Edge was minding his own business. He was concentrating on working on the vehicle, although he was glancing at Mark, curious about what he would need the tools for. After all, Mark and Brynhildr ca without anything in their hands.
But then, Edge froze, almost letting go of the wrench he was holding.
It was because Edge saw the maid girl stripping her top in front of Mark.
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