World Filter

Mark dashed through the sand, lunging forward. Just in time to smack the volleyball up high enough for Donny to receive and send over the net.

“Hell yeah!” he screamed.

pumping his fist, as the ball touched down on the sandy beach.

”What did I tell you Mark, my man, all in the wrist!”

Mark rolled his eyes

“Oh yeah and I suppose me eating a mouthful of sand, to set up the shot was ‘All in the wrist’ hey Donny?”

“Pshh” at least he had the brains to look sheepish.

“Nah, that's called taking one for the team” he smiled and offered his hand.

Taking it Mark pulled himself up, brushing a combination of sand, sweat, and sunblock off his chest. Donny may have been shorter than Mark, sitting at around 160cm tall but what he lost in height he made up for in speed. Something Mark could not match even with his regular exercise and 21cm advantage over Donny.

“Oi, if you two are done going all ‘Men at arms’ on us, Donny, we want ice cream” A feminine voice called.

On the other side of the net were Grace and Daphne. Both were beautiful women in their own rights. Grace had a strong, no-nonsense personality. Something Donny was infatuated with and while an independent woman was attractive, there is a fine line between that and controlling. A line, Mark saw her cross often but Donny never seemed to.

Daphne was a different story altogether, shy, quiet, and kept to herself. She mostly just followed Grace’s lead. She stoked the desire in men to protect. Mark liked her; she was pleasant enough. However he only agreed to go on this double date because Donny really wanted to spend more time with Grace, and Mark, trying to be the good wingman, agreed.

So they took a weekend trip down to New York and spent the time goofing off, relaxing, and stuffing their faces.

Anything to get a break from the monotony of study. While Mark loved what he did, Studying as an undergraduate in MBBS took an enormous amount of time, as all things in the medical field did. Now 4 years later he had 1 final year of Housemanship to go.

Finally, he was at a point where he could actually start helping people, well… at least put all his knowledge to good use… hopefully.

“Sure thing, what flavors are we thinking?” Donny called as he started making his way over. Mark looked towards the ocean, they'd made their way to Long Island and were traveling along it, hitting all the best spots, or as Donny put it ‘vibey places’. It had been an amazingly sunny day, with huge waves lapping against the beach. Now with the evening pulling in it was time to grab some grub. Mark's stomach growled in agreement.

He watched as a speed boat came roaring past. Eliciting squeals from a group of teenagers as the waves became choppy.

Smiling, he grabbed the ball and jogged after everyone. Either way, Mark was glad he came along. The change of scenery and people made it worth it. Catching up to them they casually wandered to a nearby tiki bar. They'd found a great ice cream parlor built right next to it and seeing as though it was almost closing time for them they rushed to stand in the queue.

Mark looked up at the huge list of options. “Whew… why give people so many choices?” he whispered to himself as he waited. All around him, people were out drinking, relaxing, and soaking up the last powerful rays of the sun.

Something flashed in the corner of his sight, at first he thought someone was shining a mirror in his eyes or something of the kind, but no, no matter which way he looked the flashing continued.

Until he noticed something and froze.

A series of loud chimes began echoing, forcing everyone to clutch their ears in pain. It bounced around Mark's skull, seeming to have no point of origin, and then just… silence. Followed by one gentle, PING as a blue box appeared in front of his vision.

System implementation complete:

Earth henceforth designated as a filter world.

Humanity's quest: Help the system purify The Corruption by following the 3 primary laws

Humanity will be given 3 minutes to select their Primary law, after which, the summoning of the first wave will begin

Congratulations and grow strong.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[...]

Mark stared at the blue box floating in front of him. This was the flashing that had been bothering him moments ago. Only now it was taking up his whole vision. When the counter on the blue box got to zero, a charge entered the air, and all his body hair stood on end. Almost as if something had entered the world that had not been there before, new forces began interacting with reality, and Mark could feel them. Brushing against his skin, flowing through his body.

The box suddenly changed.

Users body incompatible with 1 of the 3 primary laws! (Aura)

Compensating…

The system is sorry for your loss.

Unlocking remaining paths.

Congratulations!

Beginning Timer. Choosing Now

Mark didn't know what to think, he’d read a couple of books that had this exact same premise. It’s just, he never thought something like this would happen. Mark had a firm grip on reality and had never wished for anything more than this life had to offer. Usually, the characters in these books lived harsh lives and couldn't trust a single person. Panic started to set in. Something shook Mark.

If this first wave really did arrive, He had no illusions as to what it would be there to do and how it would affect people. Looting, killing, and a complete loss of social infrastructure.

“-Mark!”

A sharp pain on his forehead brought him back to reality. Donny was standing in front of him with a grim smile on his face. “You with us now bro”

Mark blinked, finding the blue box no longer obstructing his vision. Trying to smile, he gave a shaky nod.

“Yeah, I just- yeah I'm okay. ”

Mark frowned ‘No it doesn't have to be that way. He had people right here he could rely on. Mark's mind began to clear. They would do this together.

Looking in the corner again he noticed another box, the moment his focus was on it, it expanded

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 1

Next level: 0/1

Attributes:

Resistance Aura - 0 (+) Mana - 9 (+) Prana - 13 (+)

6 0 9 13

Unspent stat points - 10

Corruption value: 0.00%

Please Choose your main Law (Aura / Mana / Prana)

Some of it was self-explanatory but the rest was just gibberish, ‘what’s prana? Why did he have so many unspent points? and What the heck is corruption value!?’ he thought.

Mark's eyes were drawn to the last line, the 3-minute counter was there, ticking away. He must have been out of it for longer than he thought because he only had about a minute left. Mark had to make a choice. Right now.

Unsure of what would happen if he didn't pick, he started weighing his options. Firstly Aura was grayed out, so that was a non-starter, but he had the feeling it was a more physical stat.

Mana was next. If game logic held true here, then mana was the energy source mages used to fuel their spells. That would make it a mental state. So then, what was Prana? A combination of the two? On one hand, mana seemed like the obvious choice. It was known to him, it was the safest option.

However, something about Prana called to him. It was also his highest natural attribute but most of all, the moment the world changed, he could feel it, awakening in the center of his being. With each breath, a pulse of energy, originated in the center of his chest, spreading outward to the rest of his body, finally coming to rest just below the surface of his skin.

Now, this feeling could very well be mana but something told him it wasn't. The clock was running out, he made his decision.

Prana selected. (+2 prana, +2 Resistance)

+2 Prana and Resistance per level

Rank 1: Contain and Emit

Mark felt a change in the energy in and around himself. It felt calmer and even purer. He didn't have the time to ponder this though. As the counter dropped to zero the world shook.

“Earthquake, under the tables” Someone screamed.

No, he thought they needed to get outside “Quickly everyone out!” he shouted, no one moved, instead people began grabbing onto table legs and hunkering down. Mark turned and saw Donny holding Grace, he saw confusion and fear on his face but also grim determination. Mark shouted again “Donny let's go!”. Donny locked eyes with Mark and at that moment he just nodded.

Mark stumbled over to Daphne and helped her up, having fallen from the initial tremors. They then dashed outside, passing others who came out of the nearby buildings. They made it to the sand just as the sky began to darken. Plunging the world into shadow.

Looking up, Mark watched as the sun was blotted out. As if someone had put a drop of ink into the sky and just like in water, it began to dissolve into their world. It almost looked like a dark aurora borealis spreading out over the skyline.

As it expanded further and further it began to fade, but it was not gone.

Whatever change the system had just made, Mark could feel it. It was vile and sickening, and although the sun now shone again, the warmth it provided felt just a bit weaker.

As the tremors faded away, huge drops of ichor began to fall from the sky. Thousands of them, heading in all directions. A good amount hit the city and nearby land masses. Shaking the earth beneath their feet. Multiple smashed down further up the coast of Long Island.

Along with several heading straight toward them. Mark had just enough time to register that the sky was falling, then they touched down.