World Filter

The kills were flowing in steadily. It wasn't the best he’d ever gotten, but what made them so satisfying was the little to no effort he had to employ to get them.

Everything that came charging at them was blocked by the front line.

Anything that broke through the hail of gunfire into close range was quickly dispatched by one of the soldiers with combat knives.

Mark simply sat in the middle, firing at the Corrupted. Keeping his eyes on their sides and behind them. After the night he’d just had, where every kill had the potential to end you, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

With so much extra time to think, he didn't feel the pressure at all.

If he was honest he missed it. Shaking the thought from his head he tried to put this extra energy into something

So he started pushing himself to extend his range, making trick shots when he could. Really testing the limits of his concentration.

At one point he managed to hold 10 bolts out at once. Releasing them at an approaching wave had stopped it in its tracks. A couple missed, but he took that as something he could improve on.

They eventually occupied a pizzeria. The night was falling so ghasts would be arriving soon and the family with him looked beat. Especially the kid, whose head was lulling side to side from exhaustion, while the woman carried him.

They kept the lights off but brought out compact lanterns, lighting one corner of the room. Placing him and the family in that corner, against two walls. They began setting up a perimeter, the windows out into the road were wide, but not floor-to-ceiling openings. One of the soldiers stayed behind and opened his pack. Taking out what looked to be a ration pack. Using one of the nearby stoves he tore it open and started heating it in a large pan. One by one the other soldiers took out one of their own rations and left it by the pan, moving back to their positions right after that.

When the woman with the crystal headpiece dropped off her’s she said to them.

“Don't worry there will be plenty for you guys. These things are packed with nutrition, but they’re bland and have the consistency of oatmeal, but if you heat them up they are slightly more stomachable. Oh right, newbie, good work out there, I’ll be counting on you if I stub my toe.”

Marks tore his eyes off the pan, it looked like dry powder. When the soldier had mixed in water it had taken on a brown color and started to resemble a runny mince mixture.

Looking over Mark said.

“Thanks, you guys are doing the bulk of it, and I didn't see anyone get hurt but be sure to send any of your teammates my way if they have something that’s bothering them. I’m a decent healer so don't be shy,” he said while winking at her.

She snorted.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” she said as she moved away.

Mark opened his Marketplace and grabbed a couple of spices and stock cubes for 1.3Sp.

Holding it out to the cooking soldier he said.

“Here chef, seeing as though you guys can’t spend points, consider this my treat”

The soldier grinned, taking the offered items.

“Well seems like we're having five-star eats tonight ladies and gents” he raised his voice to the room.

When the food was done it was distributed to everyone with mess kits.

Mark began eating, and they were right. It was like flavored gruel. He wasn't sure how much the spices helped, but the soldiers seemed to appreciate it.

He bought Boe some kibble from the system at 5sp and they ate dinner together.

When he was almost done he looked over to the family. The mother and kid were eating the offered meal, but the man had left his untouched watching the other people in the room.

When he saw Mark looking over he got up and came to stand over Mark.

“You did a mighty fine job out there my boy,” he said in a slightly condescending tone.

Mark squinted his eyes at the man. He knew this type of man, he’d worked for this type of man.

Instead of answering he chose to simply nod his head.

The Corruption inside Mark squirmed in disdain. Mark had to separate it from himself to stop it from poisoning his impression of the man. It was feeding off his emotions and twisting them. Turns out he needn't have bothered, the man did that all on his own.

“So, I saw you use the Marketplace earlier. The pickings are slim here so I want to buy a meal from you through the system. Something more suited to my station. Of course, you’ll get paid as soon as the banks come back online”

His tone was short like he was speaking to one of his employees.

Mark swallowed his mouthful.

From the moment this man opened his mouth, Mark expected something like this, but honestly? Did he really not have a clue here?

Forget for a moment that his money probably had no use here. The pride one has to have to turn down food when you are starving, just because it's not to your taste is pretty fucked up.

Mark also noticed the lull of quiet conversation around them had died down.

“Sorry man, I don't see any value in that offer. If you want another meal you have access to the same system”

The man’s attempt at a smile fell off his face.

“I haven't had a chance to acquire any points yet. Look, it sounds lame to pull this old card, but I have some sway with the people that run the safe zone we are heading to. Why do you think this squad is protecting me? So how about you help now and I’ll get you sorted later.”

Mark's eyes flickered over to Davis, who was watching the exchange take place.

Mark’s knee-jerk reaction was to say no out of spite. What kind of ridiculous play did this man think they were in?

However, the fact that Davis had not contradicted the man spoke volumes.

So it came down to a simple choice.

Did he lick boot now, to avoid future problems, turning his nose up at the squad that had shown him respect?

Or invest his energy in the actual soldiers that he would be putting his life on the line with.

The decision was easy and this man was irrelevant.

If he wanted a play, Mark would give him one.

“Such a generous offer, but I’m good. Out of interest if you aren't thinking of eating your food, can I have it?” he asked with mocking naivety.

A couple of snickers went throughout the room.

The man looked pissed. He clearly wasn't used to people saying no to him. He quickly hid the anger behind a mask.

“...Well that's disappointing. Just thought I’d ask. And, no I have a growing boy on my hands he needs all the nutrients he can get” the man said with a sour expression.

Never mind the fact that the kid hadn't even finished his portion and was beginning to fall asleep next to the woman.

“Ah, I completely understand. If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do” Mark said, really trying to get into character as an oblivious individual.

He got up, moving away to wash his plate. Once done he put it on the stack and went to sit down once more. Making sure he was further away from the man this time.

Just as he was about to pull up his status, Davis came over.

“What’s up, sergeant?” he said as Davis dropped down on his haunches and said in a low tone.

“You may want to be careful of that one. Our task was never to pick him up, but when we checked with command they told us to bring him back as a priority target. I don't know what kind of pull he has but antagonizing him isn't a good idea”

“Gottcha, but I couldn't let him insult the chef’s meal like that, plus his attitude pissed me off” Mark smiled

Davis rolled his eyes. Shrugging his shoulders he moved away.

Mark had a thought and wanted to test it.

He wanted to see if he could improve how he used [Meditation] by directing it into [Corruption recovery] too.

Dropping into the skill he tried to feel the increase in Prana's regeneration and once he had that, he directed it into his spell.

He had to really focus to direct the flow into something else in this state, but eventually, he managed it.

Funnily enough, it turned out to be harder than many of the things he’d tried so far. The reason was he had to split his attention between the two. If he focused on one, he lost the other. But after many attempts and a lot of persistence, he managed to hold it for two hours before deciding to rest.

When he finally came out of it he was sweating from the exertion and it was 11 PM.

Two of the soldiers were on duty keeping watch.

Mark opened his status to see how he’d done.

26 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(26 + Sector reward: x4)[104]

26 System Points awarded

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 15

Next level: 215/225

Stats:

Resistance

Aura

Mana

Prana

204 [+145]

0

68

146 (+1) [+25]

Unspent stat points - 0

Corruption value: 28.38%

System Points: 182.3

Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical)

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[5], Force bolt[7], Prana Pulse[2], Regenerate[4], Draw Corruption[5], Corruption recovery[4], Shape Mana(Force)[7], Invigorate[3], Cleansing surge[1], Read Memory[1].

World inventory. Marketplace. Trade

There weren't many changes to speak of except for the drop in Corruption value. He had already dropped by 6%, because of the four hours of passive regen. Then add the two hours he had managed now for another 6%. Which didn't sound that impressive. But with each percent he got rid of, he felt his aches dull slightly.

Looking over he saw the two soldiers on watch chatting, the was the woman from before and one of the men that Mark had identified as a marksman, judging by the massive gun he always carried around, but never shot. He went over to them and plopped down next to the guy.

“Heya, coast clear? I’m Mark by the way” he said.

It didn't seem like he was interrupting and they accepted him into the flow of their conversation seamlessly.

“Duh, we knew that. I’m Ava and this is Mike. We were just discussing whether the system is good or evil. Mike says evil, I’m going with Good”

Mark cocked his head.

“Come on this thing just appeared out of nowhere? I think it's the rapture and this is the end. We were all left here to fight it out.” Mike said, blushing at Ava.

“Nah, this has to be some super advance race testing us to see if we are worthy to join the intergalactic federation,” she said.

To be honest both theories didn't line up and were frankly really out there, but hey, who was he judge? They were as solid as any theory right now.

“So what do you think? What’s your theory, you must have one?” Ava asked.

“Mmm… I don’t think it's good or evil. I think it just is. I spoke to it once and there is definitely intelligent design behind it. It might want to help us, but I don't think it's out of inherent altruism”

Both of them stopped and stared at Mark and then at each other.

Mark then realized he had put his foot in his mouth.

Then both of them packed out laughing.

“Don’t take it so seriously man!” Ava giggled

Mark smiled, glad to see they thought his theory was as crazy as theirs.

They continued chatting for a good while. He learned that Mike was really into baseball and had been an avid baseball card collector.

Ava just wanted some good food and couldn’t wait to get back to home base to see her girl.

After a while, they told him that they’d be moving out at 6 AM tomorrow, so he thanked them for the conversation and said goodnight, crashing in his old sleeping bag for the evening.

The sounds of gear being packed away roused Mark from a fitful slumber. He got up and cracked his neck. He may have slept on the floor of a pizzeria, but he felt more rested than he had in hours.

In no time flat, a cup of cheap instant coffee made its way into his hands, and soon after that, they were off, moving along the roads in the early morning haze.

Their formation was the same as yesterday and Mark fell into his routine. He made sure to call out his hits just before he made them, but there were much fewer than yesterday.

They were just passing a bus stop terminal when one of the soldiers to his left froze up.

Not taking a single step forward.

Marks noticed this just as he heard Mike shout out.

“Ghast!”

Mark's eyes darted around and he began casting [Shape Mana] when Davis suddenly fired at the roof of the bus stop.

A screech went up into the air and the body of a Ghast fell to the ground. They were usually gone by this time, this one must have hung around way past its bedtime.

“Shit, we need to fall back, Colins will need a moment to shake that off,” Davis said.

“Wait! I got him, it's a persistent effect. Real nasty, but manageable” Mark said while moving to Colin's side and casting [Cleansing surge] on him.

His gridlocked state rapidly faded as he blinked away the fog. Quickly gaining control over his body again.

“Colins! Sound off” Davis yelled suddenly looking around rapidly.

“I’m with you, sergeant!” Colins called back.

“Right, if that thing was out here at this time we may have an ‘Influx’ heading our way, we need to move”

Mark wasn't sure what their term ‘Influx’ meant, but he knew the meaning of the word and it didn't sound good.

They had barely seen any Corrupted during the short trek here, but now they could hear screams coming from roads over.

Corrupted came trickling in from all the side roads.

Quickly amassing into a horde.

“Move it!” Davis yelled.