436 The Search for Comfort, Building Things Inside the Base (1/2)

Day 78 - 10:35 AM - Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

Five days after the Night Everred Tree grew, the unnecessary incidents around the event finally settled down by half.

The animals that had fled finally started to go back to their previous habitats. Because of that, they expected hunting animals for food and leather to go easier in the next days.

Furthermore, there seemed to be more animals trying to get close to the base because of the vital energy the Pure Spirit Tree emitted during the night. Of course, only those feral ones would dare to attack the base, ending up as food to process. As for the sane animals and those that gained intelligence to some extent, they still kept a safe distance away from the human base.

Since yesterday, however, two animals tried to approach the base. The two seemed to be intelligent and tame and were gladly captured by Mark. The two, which was a Mutated Cloud Rat, and a Mutated Japanese Night Heron, seemed to have approached the base without hostile intentions, unlike the feral animals that wanted to destroy everything.

The allure of the Spirit Tree made the two want to make a nest on it. After they were captured, the two seemed to be afraid. As the two animals could not understand human words, Mark used Chaflar to communicate with the two animals. Knowing that they would not be killed, the two animals calmed down while still being afraid.

And thus, the two animals were added to the list of the animals Annica would tame. Especially since the two were quite unique ones.

The Cloud Rat had a metallic sheen on its fur, which it could actually use as both weapon and armor.

On the other hand, the Japanese Night Heron that must have been trapped in this country after migrating seemed to have grown abilities to be able to fly at night. Also, during the night, its brown colored feathers would turn black, allowing it to conceal itself. If not for the fact that Mark was able to detect it and Huey managed to hear the flaps of its wings, it might have been able to approach the Spirit Tree without problems.

Aside from the two animals, the presence of spiritual creatures and elementals could be detected around the base from time to time. They were keeping a safe distance as they only wanted to see the actions that the owner of the Spirit Tree would take.

However, they seemed to have deduced that there would be no harm that would befall them and started to go back to their previous lives. Although some of them would still stop by, the frequency was reduced considerably.

Some made contact with Teremillio's group. There was no restriction for the tribe to remain inside the base. They were allowed to go in and out if whenever they wanted. Thus, some of those creatures lurking around managed to communicate with them.

Finally, learning about the circumstances, the anxiousness of these creatures had settled down. However, none of them seemed to want to follow the steps the tribe of Teremillio took.

Around this area, Teremillio's tribe could be said as the odd ones. The nearest group of creatures that could be considered as a small kingdom was several mountains away north of the base. Those that live around this area were those that had been exiled and outcasted by their original groups.

Teremillio's tribe was the same. The members of the tribe were individuals that were either exiled or left their previous tribes for various reasons. In fact, Teremillio and his wives were the same except for Kokoro. The Koropokkuru had a different circumstance from the rest.

Usually, these creatures would end up living alone after being outcasted since no one could trust them. The most frequent reason for individuals to be exiled was that they broke the rule of their tribe and became criminals. No one would believe them even if they tried to deny it.

Teremillio, on the other hand, despite his annoying personality, took these poor peoples into his tribe. That also resulted in their loyalty to Teremillio and his wives. Even several of Teremillio's wives had the same circumstance and fell in love with him after he saved them.

***

While the changes around the base were happening, Mark was busy with many things. If he was not making weapon designs with Hallie and Alana, he was doing other things around the base.

Yesterday, he, Alaula, and the other [Blood Children] installed lamps around the base. The installation was not that hard but consumed a lot of time.

Because of the newly installed lights, the atmosphere of the base during the night became livelier. Accompanied by the red lights, the Night Everred Tree released, the last night felt like a festival.

Right now, Mark was digging the soil around the spirit tree together with other people. He wanted to make a manmade lake with the Spirit Tree at the center. A channel connecting the lake to the spring would also be made. It would be constructed together with a passage towards the pool inside Miliel's hut.

This would allow the poor Mermaid to at least swim outside when no one was around.

Mark wanted to treat every member of his base fairly. He wanted everyone to be comfortable with their environment.

As everyone wanted to be of use to their leader, the hole that would be the lake took shape after two hours. It was fast. If it was back before the outbreak, it would take more time, even days, to finish a project like this. This was the extent that Mutagen had enhanced, not only Mutators and Evolvers but also ordinary people.

Making the walls of the bottom and sides of the lake was not hard either as they already prepared enough blood to use. With the help of almost all the [Blood Children], the main appearance of the lake was finished.

As for decorating the lake, Mark already had some of the materials. There were rocks from Agos River, freshly caught fishes, and ornamental plants to decorate the surroundings of the lake.

And the final decoration, two large gardening pots were put carefully to the side. A small plant had already sprouted on each of the two gardening pots. These sprouts were the seeds of the Mutated Water Hyacinth, Mark took from Laguna Lake. After arriving in the base, he planted the seeds on the next day. He hoped to plant these water plants in his base.

Yesterday, both seeds had already sprouted. That was why he decided to create the manmade lake today.

The normal water hyacinth would take a long time to grow from seeds. These seeds Mark had, however, were Mutated ones. A day after sprouting, it already grew several inches and sprouted leaves. Furthermore, being nourished by the Night Everred Tree, its growth became faster.

In another day or two, Mark estimated that it would be ready to be relocated into the lake. Of course, he did not know when it would start to bloom. Once that happened, it would surely be a spectacular sight.

Aside from the lake, Mark also built a fence around it. Another was a bridge over the channel connected to the spring.

After everything was put into place, the water from the spring was allowed to enter the lake and fill it with water. The event was witnessed by everyone. The scene somehow made them feel quite relaxed.

The reason for that was rather simple. As the world was enveloped by chaos, all they were able to see was violence, suffering, fear. This time, they were able to see that something beautiful could still be created despite the world changing in a dangerous way.

No one wanted to get this peaceful like they found to be taken away from them.

Feeling the sentiment brewing in the minds of everyone, Mark felt satisfied. In the least, he was able to strengthen their sense of belonging without using his mental abilities.