Mutagen

Day 37 – 6:59 AM – Military Section, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

Ignoring the gallery and the dust all over his body, Mark's chest heaved heavily as he finally stopped hitting the oversized lizard that had already turned into a dragon. This had been the first time that he felt really angry in years.

Mark was satisfied with the result and the dragon's appearance turned out something good. Encountering the outlaws and getting hold of Drake's ability as a Mutator gave him quite the expectations to look forward to. With the dragon finally finishing its mutation, the only thing left was for Karlene to settle her business here in the settlement and they could leave with the dragon while concealing themselves with [Optical Camouflage] using the [Photokinesis Mental Crystal]. Although since he needed to cover quite a large area with the camouflage due to the large size of the dragon and it would deplete the energy faster, it should be enough to leave the settlement undetected.

However, the moment the dragon woke up and it felt the changes in its body, its growth, its new strength, its ability to fly and its ability to breathe fire, the first thing that came into its mind was to show off to the pesky humans that caught it before and make them feel fear. Mark wanted to stop it but he was not able to since the dragon let out that loud roar and flew up even destroying a large portion of the concrete roof of the warehouse.

The falling concrete caused the whole warehouse to be filled with dust and debris. No one inside was injured since the roof near the entrance remained intact. Amihan managed to protect herself from the cloud of dust in the last second along with the [BloodChildren] but the three humans inside were not able to and was covered in dust from head to toe.

While Mark was checking everyone inside the warehouse if they were fine and the commotion with the people was happening, the dragon flew in circles practicing its ability to fly and started to release flames to try out it new form of attack.

After that, things went in order and the source of the commotion was subdued.

In front of Mark, the dragon just lowered its head looking at with upturned eyes. Although it was filled with gratitude to Mark for giving it more strength, it was still afraid of him. Rather, the fear of Mark became its reigning subconscious trait after it became a Mutator. Although it might not fear others due to its inborn arrogance, it would never ever raise its fangs against Mark because of these reasons. Even though it did not think that what it did was wrong it could only lower its head while accepting its Master's anger.

That was also one of the reasons Mark was satisfied with having a loyal pet even if it was ruled by fear, but its arrogance and boastfulness needed to be subdued.

Now that the dragon had been exposed to everyone in the settlement, it would not be hard for them to deduce many things even if Mark did not say anything. Well, Mark had no plans of revealing anything more than what was already revealed no matter what.

Soon, the general and his entourage came at the scene. Hearing about what happened from the soldiers on the scene, General Faustino could only pinch the bridge of his nose as he ordered everyone unneeded at the scene to disperse. On the other hand, he also sent some of his trusted subordinates to lead some of the soldiers and calm the people in the settlement that witnessed the dragon flying in the sky.

"Mark, can you tell us what is going on?"

General Faustino asked. Of course, everyone was wary about the dragon in front and as such, the general asked quite a distance away.

"I'm sorry for the ruckus. It's just this guy is still not trained enough."

Mark replied and tapped the end of his spear above the nose of the dragon.

Of course that was not what the General wanted to know but for sure, Mark would not tell them anything and they would not be able to make him talk either.

"Is-is this perhaps?"

Someone muttered as the person started to approach Mark and the dragon with great fervor on his face.

"Professor, it's dangerous!"

One of the soldiers tried to stop Professor Suzuki from approaching but the soldier was also afraid to get near the dragon and did not manage to catch the professor.

"Don't try to touch it. If you suddenly become a roasted human, don't blame anything to me."

Mark said with nonchalance which made the professor snap out of his fervor.

"Mark, tell me the truth. This is the lizard we gave you last night, am I right? I won't be able to mistake it. I'm sure."

Hearing those words shocked the general once more because of several reasons. He already learned about how Mark tamed the lizard from the report he received which was already unbelievable but in one night, the lizard became a ferocious dragon from the legends. That lizard had been in the laboratory for already two weeks and nothing of this sort happened. It was obvious that Mark had a hand on it and with how the dragon was behaving in front of Mark, there was no doubt that even if the dragon lost control for a bit and caused quite a commotion, it was tamed by him.

However, they would not be able to get their hands on the information and there was no way for them to tie Mark into their settlement. There was a lot to regret about this.

At the side, Alana could only slap her forehead seeing her uncle like that in front of Mark. It was obvious in Professor Suzuki's face that he would not be able to hold back and wanted to touch the dragon. Fortunately, Mark stopped him.

Mark on the other hand was satisfied with the actions and emotions that he could feel from the general. Although his existence was a very valuable asset, they did not want to offend him in any way. Being strong and being capable of doing things that others were not able to do have its merits in the time of the apocalypse.

Fortunately, the situation was settled peacefully. Mark wanted to compensate for the half demolished warehouse as a formality but General Faustino denied it. The warehouse was going to be destroyed anyway and a new facility was going to be erected in its place which made it more convenient for them that it was already partly demolished. The work they needed to do was lessened somehow.

It took time to calm the populace but they settled down after being informed that it was an experiment from the laboratory and it was a tamed animal. That explanation brought two benefits to the settlement and Mark. Since that was the information the military circulated, people would think that the settlement had a card in hand and the actions of the enemies would be limited while the information circulated did not include Mark's name hiding the fact in his involvement in this.

Of course, the general issued an information lockdown on every witness to what happened in the military section that morning.

***

Day 37 – 9:03 AM – Military Section, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

"What do you want to talk about?"

Major Alfonso Bautista asked Karlene as the two sat on the table eating their breakfast.

"Dad, I want to ask for permission. I want to follow Mr. Mark when he leaves."

Karlene said and she then told her reasons while hiding the fact that she had two different consciousness residing in her body.

To Karlene's words, her father sighed but there was no surprise or anger about her decision which in turn, surprised her.

"It's fine."

Major Bautista said to his daughter with a bitter smile.

"Dad, you're okay with this? You will not stop me?"

Karlene asked in surprise.

"You think I didn't notice that you have something in your mind last night? I already expected it to be something like this. If you already decided, I'll support you. I'm not some evil father that will restrict my daughter just because I wanted to keep you by my side. Besides, I'm really not worried that that Mark will mistreat you unless you do something really bad."

"Dad!"

Karlene left her seat and gave her father a sweet hug with tears on the corner of her eyes.

Major Bautista returned the embrace. His daughter wanted to improve herself and it was a better decision not only for her but for a lot of people in the settlement. Even if he did not want to admit it, many people had been injured during Karlene's berserk periods and if Mark left, there would be no one to contain her anymore and the time that she would be exiled would be nearer.

Besides, he already observed Mark since he met him. At the time Karlene rode behind him, how he treated his fairy companion, the affection he gave those slimes and how he treated Karlene in her berserk state. The treatment of the dragon seemed to be different since it also had its faults. However, with the wiretapped conversation of Mark and his family in Bay City, there was no doubt that Mark valued his comrades deeply.

It would be a good choice if his daughter was able to learn things from a strong person.

***

Day 37 – 9:29 AM – Laboratory, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

After cleaning herself of the dust on her body, Alana was called into Professor Suzuki's office.

"Uncle, do you need something?"

Alana asked her uncle who was reading a couple of papers containing the data they gathered about the lizard.

"You and Karlene are with Mark before the dragon flew up in the sky right? Do you have any idea how the lizard changed into something like that?"

"Hah…" Alana sighed. "We don't know anything. It's already like that when we arrived there."

"You are close with Mark right?"

"A little… why?"

"You think, he will tell you if you asked?"

"Of course not."

Alana started to frown.

"Do you want to follow him?"

This time, Alana hesitated to answer. Karlene was going to follow Mark and because of that, she also wanted to but she could not just leave this unreliable uncle of hers.

"I want you to follow him. Get his secrets especially how he turned that lizard into a dragon. Even if you needed to pay with your bod-GAH!"

Professor Suzuki did was not able to finish his words since a thick biology book came flying towards his face causing him to fall backwards on his seat. Alana's face threw the book with a beet red face. Who would think that her uncle would have those kinds of ideas? Alana was already fed up with this uncle of hers.

"Alright! I'll leave and follow him! However, don't expect to learn anything from me!"

Alana said and left the room before Professor Suzuki was able to stand up.

However, Alana went back a bit and peeked through the door. When she saw that her uncle already stood up, she shouted.

"No wonder Aunt Marina left you! You die hard OTAKU! I hate you!"

SLAM!

The door slammed shut leaving the professor that was struck straight with three imaginary arrows on his back.

***

Day 37 – 3:05 PM – Military Section, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

Mark and Karlene were surprised with Alana's sudden decision but Karlene was more than happy to have her and Mark had no issues with it either. Besides, with the dragon as transport, he could leave them anywhere safely of even bring them back to his base without trouble.

Joash was informed late by Karlene and tried to persuade her to stay but she had already decided. With the little time left, Joash had no chance to prepare even if he wanted to come. Besides, Karlene really wanted to have some space away from Joash. Although they were teamed up as a couple in several dramas they starred in, Karlene really did not have romantic feelings for him so his actions was kind of annoying for her even though she was keeping face and did not tell it directly.

Soon, with the military officers, the scientists and the onlookers, Mark, Karlene and Alana sat at the back of the dragon and vanished from everyone's sight. Mark concealed themselves when leaving in order to not cause another commotion in the settlement and to maintain the effect of the false information the military spread.

With several new companions, Mark decided to go back to the mountain base first.