445 Preparations at the Mountain Base, The Pillars of the Base (1/2)

Day 86 - 2:14 PM - Eternal Night Subspace, Night Everred Spirit Tree, Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

After the meeting, Mark had brought Mei and the little girls, the folklore creatures, and Huey out to see the place. There were others close to Mark also asked him to see, like Alana, Hallie, and Karlene. Mark had no reason to decline them, and it was better for them to see the space they would need to work on.

Thus, the whole gang entered the space with a blinding light that they had to close their eyes.

The moment they opened their eyes, they were amazed by the scene that was nowhere near the appearance of the base they were standing at a second ago.

Chiyo immediately greeted Mark as he entered, and he introduced the ball of red light to everyone. Sure enough, it was curious about the other people and started to circle around them.

As Mark did not want to spoil its fun, he waited for a bit before everyone went on their way to see the place. Of course, it was not like they would be able to see anything as it was nothing but a mountain-wide grassland covered with blood-colored grass. Mark just let them, though. With how massive this place was, it was unlikely for them to get very far from the center where they appeared.

On the other hand, he opened the portal connected to the Spirit Dimension for Pefile and the others to see.

Sure enough, they were shocked. Hearing about the situation in the Spirit Dimension and seeing it with their own eyes brought a different level of shock and helplessness.

Sure enough, what they were seeing from the portal was far from what they wanted to see. The whole area around the Spirit Tree was lifeless, and there were also monsters wandering around. Monsters that sure enough, were races and creatures that inhabited the Spirit Dimension and turned after becoming infected.

This hit the folklore creatures big time. The capsized emotions were even more complicated to Pefile, Teremillio, and Felenia. They almost lost it. If not for the fact that they knew that they would not be able to jump into the portal without Mark's permission, they would have done so.

And of course, Mark would also not let his allies go endanger themselves by jumping into the portal.

It was not hard to estimate how dangerous infected and mutated creatures with magical abilities were compared to humans that became infected. Without a doubt, it would be easy to encounter something at the level of what the forces of Bay City fought at Philippine General Hospital.

If they wanted to venture into the Spirit Dimension that had turned into a literal Magical Apocalypse, they needed to prepare. Not only them but also the whole base.

It was because...

The flow of time of the Mortal World and the Spirit Dimension exceedingly differed.

Being inside any of the two, anyone would feel the same. Only those with high awareness of Space and Time would be able to notice it.

Inside the Spirit Dimension, Time flowed slower than the Mortal World. Furthermore, the difference was not fixed depending on the stability of the Spirit Dimension, and its connection to Mortal World. At times, an hour inside the Spirit Dimension could already be a day on Earth. Sometimes, it could be after or slower.

The only thing that remained constant was that time inside the Spirit Dimension could flow at the same speed as the Mortal World or slower, but never faster.

If they entered the Spirit World and was gone for a day, several days could have passed on Earth. This was not good considering the current state of Earth and the Oracle the Elder had just given Mark.

And that was why... Mark immediately hatched a decision.

***

Finishing what they needed to do and showing the current state of the Spirit Dimension to Huey and the others who were also interested, Mark brought them back.

He told Pefile and the others to wait a few more days and they would jump into the portal. They understood and agreed. Not only Mark, but they also needed to prepare themselves.

Late afternoon, Mark had to call for Huey, Jolleen, Nicole, Trisha, Ed, and Ron. Hallie was also present, even though she didn't have to be here. It was the third time for them to be called by Mark today. However, none of them had complaints.

They were the very first people in this base, and basically the people directly under him. Mark also trusted them, considering the loyalty showed him, and the work they had done. Furthermore, in their hearts, this base was the only place they had and Mark was the person that took them when they had nowhere to go after being lost in the forest to escape danger.

More than that, Mark gave Huey and Jolleen a chance. The two were committed to serving him.

Nicole and Hallie, on the other hand, owed Mark quite a bit. He promised to check on their families which Mark did when he was in Bay City. Unfortunately, the news he found out was not good. Nevertheless, it was enough that they did not have to keep false hope in mind. In fact, they did not expect much, which made them recover easier.

When they all arrived and sat on the chairs, Mark put a [Physical Crystal] in front of each of them, except Hallie.

Seeing this, they were surprised.

”I believe that all of you know what these are.”

Mark spoke. And of course, they nodded.

Take the ones in front of you and consume that tonight. I'll be expecting to see your abilities tomorrow.

And of course, they gladly accepted the crystals.

Mark gave them the crystals that could improve their already present abilities as Evolvers or balance their abilities to the roles given to them.

Huey was not good at fighting. He was more of a strategist and his Evolver Ability, [Hyperesthesia] proved that he was more of a support type. Of course, this made him a bit vulnerable was his physical abilities were subpar compared to the rest of the team.