66 66 A damaged System

That night it was a time for mourning as Mark lost about thirty good soldiers due to a stupid boy wanting attention. He had sent a letter to the Duke of what happened and hoped the Duke would send word to admonish the County of Pinot in their actions that led to the deaths of many innocent men from the hands of the Great Enchanter. This event also made Mark more famous as the next few days the events of the battle has spread all over the lands of Brettonia.

He was then hailed a hero gaining him a new title as he had defeated the Great Enchanter who has terrorized the Known world for generations. It was a household name that invoked nightmares to children and adults, so when news of his battle spread it became recorded in books and even made his territory visited by many. He was also exempted in participating in culling the Greenskins on Masiff Orcal as he had the alibi that he needed to have his men recover from their wounds in the fight.

But in reality the men were able to recover from their injuries in two days and are back to cleaning the skaven clans underground. Mark had did all he can to give the men even a slight regenerative factor to increase their survival in battles like they had recently. Skaven were easy prey as they were mostly the weakest of the caste of skaven. But deamons or mutated humans proved to be a hard thing to face, especially if they still have their human faces which made his men falter for a bit.

Thus they were more fervent in battling the skaven as well as more alert as they felt they had disappointed Mark. Now that they had seen they gained strength made them believe in Mark more thinking that like the Lady of the Lake and the Grail Knights, they should become another knight chapter in service to Mark. They had seen his powers and felt he was indeed godlike and the thunder was testament he has the power of the heavens thus they had renamed themselves the .(A/N: These are medieval type of people who are very superstitious, even when educated by Mark they still think he is a god or something.)

Days passed and Mark's fame also gave him a boost in faith making him able to feel the divinity in him better. But it was just flowing on his body and not staying, he could not find ways to gather them like the process of having a vessel for Qi. He wanted to combine his cultivation and the faith power he is receiving to make him better but maybe that would be for later. Because Right now Mark is on his way to the Grey Mountains to find the lair for the bastard Drachenfels, he had made his carriage travel to Montfort and was about to arrive in Axe bite pass.

It has been week since the battle which was spent by Mark preparing a lot of surprises for his enemies. As petty as he is against the Rat God, he now has prioritized blowing up the backyard of Drachenfels. Mark knew that he got lucky the guy was underestimating him and relied mostly on him being a powerful wizard. He could see it that the immortal f*cker still has something up his sleeves but he did not account Mark's plan on letting him stand on explosives.

If the battle went on and even if Mark was forced to use the Omnitrix, he was sure that Drachenfels has things that could equal the playing grounds. That was a being that lived for 15,000 years and learnt almost all of the existing magic from past up to present. That was why his castle is one of the hit spots Mark planned to plunder in the future. But he didn't account how bored the f*cker was that he decided to make Mark a plaything because of an information that he was becoming a hero. Well he did become a hero thanks to the guy's interference, but these also brought problems as the Count of Pinot has no heirs to his name.

It did gain Mark's some unwanted attention as the contents of his conversation with Drachenfels also got spread. They were now many minor nobles that wanted to meet him as they too felt that maybe Mark was a god taken human form. There was a story like that that came from the South in the Border Princes, tales of how Myrmidia took mortal form to understand the life of her believers only to become disappointed in humanity.

Also some of his rather fanatic men and guards started to build a cult around him as they told tales of his feats. He did not stop them at all as this was his plan all along, to start a cult on his name. Some people did show distaste towards these actions as they felt that the ones preaching about him were heretics. But they could not make a move as the teachings that were given on the preaching sessions were real life lessons and values that man must commit as well as various things that would show the budding cult is on the good side. Mark did have his subordinates preach of other gods and tell stories of unfortunate events to start changing the perspective of people towards things.

He even had the people make a shrine of the Lady of the Lake in the Border Town as it still has lots of space available. He also placed a statue carved by him personally with the finest marble he could find in his backyard. He made a very large ten feet statue that was detailed to the very smallest hair and pores; he also used the face of a very pretty girl he had seen in instagram. A character named Reniella Villondo, a book character written by a Filipino author on his last world. When the image first came to the internet, it drew a storm of fans saying that such beauty is so unreal thus Mark decided to use that face.

(A/N: I promise that was not my decision, Mark did it so if you have a problem in copyright then sue him. He's currently in *&^%%&* so mail him a letter to take the statue down. Just kidding, but to be honest I am very attracted to the character Reniella. When I first saw her in Tiktok I was stunned and finding out she was a character of fiction yet somehow someone was able to create such a beautiful face amazes me till this day.)

And when the shrine was finished two days before, he placed the statue there himself and pulled the curtain in front of many visitors( mostly messengers of nobles or the minor nobles themselves). It was then the people were stunned including his men as well as Francine. Almost everybody was stunned as they suddenly knelt in prayer, even his men started doing so but it also gave truth to the rumor of him being a god. Who else could have such a beautiful face other than the goddess, the beauty that made women envy but could never hate as the face full of gentle aura made everybody calm. It was then Mark received a notification that stunned him.

[Lileath is stunned, she is questioning how her true face is now present in the mortal world]

[Lileath places a haze upon the statue]

The vampires did not watch as they were prone to divine power and Mark starting to emanate some made it harder for them to approach him. This gave him more reason to plunder the castle of Drachenfels, the guy has a library full of known and unknown knowledge of magic and history even before the arrival of the Old ones. It could be said to be like the Nanda Parbat of this world but more accessible if you ignore the horde of evil deamon army on the doorstep of the castle. Mark does not know of the exact position of the castle but from the information he got from the vampires it was just like in his miniature map.

But he also got word that there were no records of castles on that area which mean that it might have been hidden by spells and charms. But that would be inconsequential once he arrives there as he would have something to use finding the castle. Since it would still be a few days until they would be able to arrive near the castle, Mark spent his time finishing the power generators that were almost ready. So that after this he could focus on the last mission where he could gather more animals for his backyard, he had been wanting to

But before he could finish, the weird cocoon of his pet the Fat Rat started showing signs of movement. Mark was happy so he stopped his work for a while to see what the result of the Rat's evolution is. He was excited because he had discovered his pets now has powers, the Grumpy cat still looked the same but it got a minor telekinesis which made it more annoying as random things get knocked down for no reason. The retarded Pug somehow became a speedster dog able to reach 750 km/hour speed, it got the increased physique as well which was good as the dog kept bumping on things as it does not know how to stop running. It increased its appetite too which was an annoyance how the dog eats sloppily, maybe it could not run accurately because its eyes still look in different directions.

As he arrived in a clearing near the lad area in the backyard he could see the grumpy cat Cookie sitting on the lap of Melissa while the Pug was being taken care of Maria as she held the overly excited dog Bart. The vampires somehow like spending time here as they started to train as well when they discovers that their tolerance to pure things and the sun increases due the Purification room. The room where Mark placed the cleansing orbs, not sure if it affects the curse within the vampires but he could see if they spend more time there. They just started recently so Mark was not able to sense much change in their innate curse due to him a rank 10 cultivator. He was not good in detecting Mana signatures yet but that would change once he gets a breakthrough.

But he was stuck as he could not find the reason of his 'bottleneck' that the cultivation manual says. But Mark let it be as he had raised his level too fast so maybe it was a case of acclimation to the cultivation level. Mark took as seat as he watched the cocoon wriggle as he was thinking of what the result of the Rat's evolution would be. It was then the cocoon seemed to harden making the watchers pause their breath. Then a crack appeared on the tip which slowly spread all over the cocoon as a blinding light flashed before them. As they had all not expected the flash they weren't able to cover their eyes, when their vision came back they saw something they could not express.

As bipedal Rat stood in front of them standing about three feet looking around as it was also curious. Then it looked at its body, its eyes widened as it looked like it was not sure how it is standing. The problem in this was the Rat had become a three feet hairy rodent with a body builder's physique. The crowd was stunned at this site as they thought that maybe it would just be like how it was before only with powers. If that made them stunned then what the Rat did made them more wide eyed as after it inspected it's body it spoke.

"Mama mia I look so phenomenal! Look at these babies looking like hams of pure muscle yeah!! UGH!! I feel great!!" The Rat suddenly started doing poses on a nearby puddle as it admired his body. It was then Mark stood up with a betrayed face as he had expected something like increased intelligence making the Rat sentient. Because the serum that was being made in the beakers was a concentrated mind improving kind. The Cat got telekinesis, the pug has increase perception and motor skill making him a pseudo-speedster thus he expected the Rat that was bathed with the solution to become smart thus the name Repicheep. But this? Not this kind of increased intelligence! This was just a swole Rat that did squats with the Rock and Vin diesel.

'Give me back my hopes!!' Mark grimaced as he knew it was hard to take the name back because he had told the Vampire sisters the name of the trio.

Mark took out a scanner he made aiming it at the Rat still narcissistic about itself. It did not mind the actions of Mark as it still felt that everybody was a friend of his. The result of the scan came out after ten seconds and it made Mark thoughtful as he now discovered that the serum worked on the Rat's brain giving it intelligence comparable to humans yet because of the amount of the serum covering the mouse the rest improved the other neural nerves of the Rat giving it increased metabolism. The small excess were then able to make the Rat buff but what he could not understand was how the rat knew how to speak.

[System has given the Viking Rat the ability to speak]

"Why?" Mark got suspicious as he felt uncomfortable the system did something without his permission.

[The host's mind has been full of expectation of a Rodent capable of speech that even when asleep you spoke of having a sentient Rodent. It was interpreted by the system as a command.]

"Were you able to do this all along?" Mark said in his mind curious as if this was true then he could install knowledge on his subordinates.

[Only recently as the host was able to gather pure magic essence making the system able to repair some damages, but this only works on beings bound to the host via system. The knowledge instilled in only limited to language, common sense and knowledge of the backyard.]

Mark deflated when he heard that the feature was limited but something caught his attention as he looked at the system interface.

"Wait, damaged? What do you mean damaged?" Mark felt curious as he had already gotten much from the system yet it was a damaged one making him feel the thing is very broken(not in the literal sense) that he got so much from it already. But it dawned to him that most of the strength he has was from the gifts of the two creators and without those then he would have been toast.

[For reasons unknown the system has been damaged and certain functions might not be able to be recovered thus the emergency back-up assistant which is me has been activated. This used the back-up #%!)@)!@#$% energy to probe the host world of possible energy sources to use for the repairs. This enabled the system to determine one mission that would be able to lead you to discovering said resource]

Mark had left the clearing as he let the trio of trouble makers reunite as he went to the lab after saying goodbye to the vampire ladies. He inserted the Scanner to upload the information gathered as he pondered on what the system said to him just now.

"So the system manipulated the mission to make me do it?" Mark asked.

[Negative, the probe was only able to see what will happen to the host that would lead him to the resource called warpstone. The mission was just a guide as the system had determined that it would still eventually lead you to the discovery of warpstone. The system just added the rewards so the host would not be disgruntled once you have learned of this.]

"Is this going to happen again in the future?" Mark asked as he felt that things were getting confusing.

[System's directives does not allow it to divulge to the host, until the system is repaired then the message left for the host will be able to give the host the information he needs.]

*groan* Mark rolled his eyes as he felt that the system is a hypocrite, it just told him it would not manipulate him yet here it is now nudging him to find more warpstone. But Mark ignored it as he went to the computers to record the results of the now Viking Rat(which is a real species of Rat that is very large). The next day he returned into finishing the power plants which became fully operational by the end of the day. Mark then heard the familiar chime of the system.

[Mission Success: Acquire Electricity]

[Host wants to build modernized community in the Backyard]

[Objective #1: Build your own power generator (GeoThermal, HydroThermal, Wind or Solar)]

[Remarks: What better ways to gain electricity other than clean energy sources!]

[Objective #2(optional): Build a secondary power generator.]

[Time Limit: 40 years]

[Failure: Host would lose access to certain products in the shop.]

[Rewards: Blueprint(Signal Tower), Blue Print(Steam Engine), Unlock majority of the Electrical Appliances in the shop.]

[Due to finishing earlier the host is awarded with 2x One year time cards]

[Remarks: Let there be light!!]

Now all that's left is the biodiversity mission. It had developed fast due to his merchant business making it easy to gather various animals and buying animals on the bestiary as well. Too bad that the animals available were only known earth animals and it would be hard to make them acclimate with the various magical creatures in the backyard.

He did spend a lot of gold buying the small needed animals and insects that were essential to biodiversity like ants, spiders, bees. But the progress bar does not raise much even if Mark gained more animals form the shop. He did want to put lions and tigers but that would be for later as they were expensive for one animal cost about 20,000 gold coins. Not sure why but it made Mark refrain from spending gold to finish the mission.

[Mission]

[Make a proper biodiversity]

[You have a large Island as your backyard but it is missing something. Host is tasked to gather various animals, insects and fishes to populate the large Island.]

[Rewards]

[Unlock Function: Migration= Host is now able to move the Manor to other places, but only twice a year.]

[Unlock Function: Chest Shop]

[Side-Job: Rune Smith]

[Skill Book: Basic Rune Inscribing]

[Gold coins 10,000]

[Time Limit: Twenty years in the Mission world]

[Mission Failure: The Host would not be able to unlock the two functions in two hundred years]

[Progress: 88.67%]