430 Interrupted Enjoyment, The First Magic Wood Invention and The Danger the Folklore Harem Faced on the Way (1/2)

Day 76 - 9:34 AM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

Early in the morning, everyone in the base was doing their daily routines. The farmers were in the fields, tending the crops that had barely grown. The personnel in charge of defenses remained on the lookout and patrolled the area in shifts. The women in charge of the meals already started preparing lunch. The maintenance team checked the defenses and traps. The hunting team roamed the forest for their game. The children were in the place designated for their studies.

Everyone in the base was given the roles they had to fulfill. The best thing was that none of these people were forced to these tasks for the base. Each of them volunteered to work in the fields they liked. This way, there was no stiff reactions to the people in the base regarding their duties.

Furthermore, as Mark pretty much handpicked those that now live in his base, the chance for the unnecessary conflicts would not arise. Especially since most of the people here experienced the harshest life in the apocalypse, they would not want to return that state.

That was why everyone was working hard to make this base strive.

Well, the leader of the base and some of his confidants should follow their examples though.

***

Yesterday, Mark had finished creating a new room inside the rocky cliff. Not only that, but he was also done installing the solar panels he brought back from Bay City at the top of the cliff. However, he was not satisfied with just that. Aside from the solar-powered system, he developed another way to have access to electricity.

The new way he devised actually made use of the [Lightning Mental Crystal] and the experiments he did use the [Magic Wood] for the other day.

[Lightning Mental Crystal], it was a [Mental Crystal] that was created after he regained his abilities as an Empath and he awakened the ability he inherited from Freed. It was supposed to stop the creation of a being like him that did not conform within the laws of the world.

However, his dwelling being inside a rocky cliff and the existence of the [PsyCrystal] gave him this power instead.

Still, despite being able to create charged electrons to fire outwards, the [Lightning Mental Crystal] was impossible to be used as a direct power source. It was because of the energy the crystal could release could not be toned down to tolerable levels. Even just the energy it could release to conjure lightning was too violent to be used on appliances.

In the least, they would need a lightning rod and the equipment that came with it to use lightning as an electrical source. Still, there would be issues in converting lightning into usable electricity even with that equipment.

The most unfortunate thing, these kinds of equipment were rather hard to come by within this country.

Lightning storms would not happen in the Philippines that often. Even if it did, it was not that catastrophic. As such, the demand for such equipment and tools was low and could only be acquired through an order.

Thus, Mark decided to make an alternative.

When experimenting with [Magic Wood], the primary goal was to find the size, length, and shape of wood that could efficiently conduct magical energy. However, it did not mean that those failed materials were wasted.

Mark found a use to the blocks of wood that could only conduct a little amount of energy. Using these blocks of wood together with [Blood Metal] as coils and frame, he managed to create a generator powered by the [Lightning Mental Crystal].

This noiseless electricity generator about the size of a common double burner LPG stove was stored inside a secure room and was wired to different places inside his house.

Thus, loud noises could be heard from the newly made room as Mark, Alana, and Hallie were playing a video game. Even Mei was forced to join as they lacked the fourth player.

They were all playing either on the PC or the laptops Mark brought back. The thing that could make others scratch their heads, however, was the fact that the four were playing a zombie game. Even though there was a real apocalypse happening outside.

Well, it was not really hard to tell what the difference was. In the game, they could die as many times as they wanted. In real life, one slip up could cause a game over without any chance to revive. Playing a video game, even with the same genre, was way enjoyable than real life.

And the game they were playing? A zombie game franchise with two games in its series but would never get a third.

It was still a pity though. Even if they had a local area network, there was no internet to connect to anymore.

And thus, strange ideas started to gather inside Mark's mind on how to address this issue.

***

In the middle of the game...

”Mark! What are you doing? Heal me! I'm dying!”

Alana yelled as Mark's character stopped moving. Not only Alana noticed by also Hallie, and especially, Mei.

They saw Mark who had turned his head towards the southwest direction. There was nothing there but a [Blood Metal] enforced wall though.

As they were about to ask what was happening, Amihan burst into the room with a strong gust of wind.

”Master! Master! He's coming! He's coming!”

Amihan was such in a fluster that she was rather hard to understand. Of course, Mark knew what she was talking about.

”Is it about that annoying guy you are talking about before?”

Mark asked.

”Yes! Yes! I don't know where he is, but I feel that he is coming!”

Amihan replied.

And there, Mark realized. Unlike him, Amihan could not tell that the annoying guy was really coming. It was nothing but her instinct that told her about his presence. Pretty much to say, she had developed her own subconscious sensor in order to stay away from that guy.

As for Mark, he could tell that a band of unusual creatures was coming. They already entered his detection range that covered the whole base and a wide area around it. Furthermore, it was not hard to sense them as the aura they were emitting was far different from humans.

In fact, Mark had sensed other creatures lurking around these past days. The closest they had been to was at the border where the traps around the base were located. They never came close.

This time, he could tell that this group was aiming to attempt contact.

”I'll face him, what do you want to do?”

Mark asked Amihan.

”I...” She hesitated quite a bit. ”I will come with Master...”

Normally, she would just fly away and hide. It not because she hated the guy. He was just plain annoying. She did not want to deal with his shenanigans. However, if she was with Mark, it should be fine.

”What about you three? We have some unusual visitors.”

Mark asked Mei, Hallie, and Alana.

”I'll go with Gege.”

Mei, of course, would go.

”What kind of visitors?”

”Yeah, what kind? If they are not that interesting, well just stay here and continue playing.”

Hallie and Alana replied respectively. Sure enough, the two knew how to prioritize.

”Well, a group of fantasy creatures is coming. You two sure that you don't want to go?”