Chapter 61: Sleep
"God, the boredom was about to kill me. No one told me that walking so much would become monotonous." Her complaints were reasonable.
She had been conscious for two months, one of which was spent just walking.
The worst part was that the landscape remained the same yellow and green combination, with the occasional blue river and pond.
But it was finally over. The pregnant women would at last be able to rest their swollen feet, and Mitch could stop carrying Isaac’s heavy egg with him wherever he went. Madeline had at least been light.
’And the elephants were enough for Madeline to also reach the conditions for her mutation.’
Luckily, as primarily herbivores, none of the elephants had reached Infused stage, meaning Mitch killed them off as easily as picking flowers.
Madeline had quickly devoured huge chunks of elephant meat, filling the bar in no time.
Coincidentally, they had found and ambushed the elephants next to a wide river, making it the perfect place to start their new civilization.
With such a large stream of water right there, Mitch was sure that there would be some fruit trees nearby, whether it was upstream or downstream.
Mitch was really eager to start his mutation as soon as possible, but there were still a few things left to complete.
He turned his head to Madeline and asked her, "Can you convince the parents to let their children receive the Lord’s blessing?"
Looking at her side view, Mitch felt like a parent seeing their kid all grown up.
Madeline looked no different from before, but the way she carried herself was different.
During this month, she had become much more mature. The way she spoke was more calm and confident, as if it was a matter of course that she was superior to others.
However, she still spoke with a very respectful tone when talking to Mitch.
"Of course, Michael. I will do it now."
She might have said so but made no effort to move. Instead, her facial expression changed ever so slightly, indicating a painful sensation.
Her once-shattered confidence was not the only thing that had improved in this month—she had learned how to use her passive trait better too.
Through mental stimulation, she had learned how to split her attention ten ways. She also found that she had something similar to a telepathic connection to everyone she was connected to.
It was more accurate to call it intuition. She could attempt to send her intentions to those bound to her, and they would be compelled to act based on that.
She went through all the children with parents who were expecting and relayed the message.
"Done! Now we only need to talk with Komutan and his wife, correct?"
Mitch nodded and started making his way through the half-built village.
Indeed, in this one month, Komutan had "married" and made his wife pregnant. Although he himself was without a child before, his wife was a widow that had previously given birth.
On another note, he had also broken through to the Infused realm, opening one more mutation.
But that would have to wait. Mitch needed Isaac, Madeline, and himself to be done before it was safe for Komutan to start his transformation.
The instant Komutan saw Mitch and Madeline walking towards him, he dropped everything else and greeted them.
"Michael, priestess, thank you for guiding us to such a wonderful place. I have already been informed of your plans through my lover’s child. Fear not! When you wake up, the entire village will be unrecognizable."
In the month of them traveling together, Komutan had learned how to speak Inglish fluently.
Mitch had noticed that, by legio standard, Komutan was shockingly intelligent. His faith was highest in quantity, his ability to learn second to none, and his leadership impeccable.
"I leave the responsibility of guarding everyone’s eggs and furthering the village in your hands. I have no doubt that you will succeed."
Komutan’s face scrunched up as he fought back the tears, feeling incredibly honored that he had been recognized by his hero.
Mitch and Madeline left his side and made their way through the village, starting the mutation for all the children one by one.
There were two mutations he switched between, the same one that the two bandits had.
His method of choosing depended on what the child in question had practiced during combat training in that month.
The kids that trained with daggers and kicks got the zebra’s mutation, while those that practiced with spears and maces got the water buffalo’s.
It took until the tents were finished to complete the assigning and inducing of mutations, but it would be worth it. They would grow up to become worthy warriors.
Finally finishing everything important that required his attention, Mitch and Madeline walked to their quarters in silence. Mitch had made it clear before but repeated it once more when they finally entered their hut and sat down.
"My mutation will be complete long before yours. I will wake up, wait about a week until Isaac wakes up, give him some instructions, and then leave this village. I need to check on the rest of the continents to make sure it won’t affect us."
Madeline nodded and continued on with reiterating the plan.
"Meanwhile, I will use the schematics and plans you will provide to develop aquatic travel, all in order to catch octopuses for my third mutation. If you return, great. If you don’t, I keep going until I get a sign from Khad."
They were both fighting the tears, knowing this could very well be the last time they see each other for a long while to come.
"That is correct, child. See you on the other side." And with those words, Mitch forcefully started her mutation, not wanting to break down in tears in front of her.
"... I’m gonna miss her. Are you sure we can’t stay?" Even Katherine sounded like she was about to cry.
"I’m positive. I need to grow stronger, but I cannot do that when I need to protect someone at the same time. When I’m alone, I can let loose."
There were still a lot of things that Mitch didn’t know about his situation, but being stronger would never be a detriment.
"Anyway, I should get going too. Good night, Katherine! See you in a month."
"Sleep tight, little baby."
Letting out a chuckle, Mitch confirmed to proceed with the one-month-long mutation. Last time it had happened instantly; he wondered how it felt to fall asleep, only to wake up a month later.
His consciousness faded, and everything turned to black.
No...
Mitch felt that something weird was happening.
Instead of everything turning to black as his eyes were closing, it felt more like he opened another pair of eyes in a black void. He couldn’t feel anything, but he somehow knew that he was far above the ground.
It looked like the polar opposite of his personal dimension.
And yet, he felt so much more connected to this one.
Almost like the entire space was the inside of his body.
Sat far below him, in the middle of this space, was a woman with red skin and black hair. Two horns extended from her forehead, similar to how demons were depicted back on Tellus. Her two yellow eyes glowed with a bright light, contrasting with the unrelenting infinite darkness.
She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth, tears in her eyes as she looked through a progressively closing window.
The scene outside was what Mitch was seeing as his eyes closed, and the vision of the dark space faded the instant they were completely closed.
His subconscious inputted a name in his head, prompting him to whisper it just before losing consciousness.
’Kath...erine...?’
