World Filter

Chapter 40:

Mark currently sat cross-legged on the couch using [Meditation]. He had spoken more with Sam and Jonathan before they had all decided to rest up. As it turned out Both of them had the [Meditation] skill and were currently using it. He understood why Sam would have it because she was a caster, but when he asked, Jonathan had told him that Aura’s base regeneration was the same as Prana's and that if one was fighting as often as he was it helped to have the skill.

Mark had also used the time to go from soldier to soldier patching up anything that looked too dangerous. While he was doing so he asked the two of them why the squad didn't have any Mana users in it.

Sam had been hesitant to answer but eventually, she had told him.

The reason was simple. Right now the government was struggling to trust Mana users. This stemmed from the fact that when this had all begun a few ambitious casters had tried to control the entire chain of command.

Luckily a few good casters discovered this and put a stop to it, but if she was to be believed it was absolute chaos in the beginning and there had been much infighting.

This resulted in Mana users being monitored. They just didn't trust them in the field yet. Super strength and speed created the ultimate soldier, but that soldier still followed commands to an extent. A Mana user with the right spells and a chip on their shoulder could do a massive amount of damage if left to their own devices.

When Mark asked about Prana users and why they couldn't help. Both of them looked at one another slightly embarrassed.

In the beginning, Prana was not seen as a priority attribute. That paired with the slow growth, low pick rate, and zero fighting ability. led the stat to be largely ignored by the public.

When he had told them that Prana could probably clear up these mind control problems the government was facing, both of them stared at him in shock.

Turns out there were just too few healers and the level of most was pretty low, they could close a couple of wounds or a life-threatening case, but by and large, they weren't aware that Prana could clear conditions. Plus Jonathan said that their healing didn't really do much for him to begin with.

Then it had been his turn to be shocked when they told him the rough estimate of the population's distribution was: 39% Generalist, 33% Aura, 21% Mana, and just 7% Prana users.

Not to mention a majority of the healers that made it to the safe zone didn't want to leave so their growth would stagnate unless they got the [Meditation] skill.

Overall while the other two paths had many users, Prana seemed to be wholly untapped. Mark could see that becoming a huge problem later on.

Hell, it already was.

Hopefully, he could put up another post later on showing others how to clear out conditions.

Their discussion had gone a long way to making Mark trust them more. Now he was just waiting for Davis’s call. He checked his prompts at the same time.

18 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(18 + Sector reward: x4)[72]

18 System Points awarded

Partial exp awarded to (10 users - Expand list )(Sector reward applied: 348)

Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(Sector reward applied: 348)

87 System Points awarded

225/225

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

256/256

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 17

Next level: 154/289

Stats:

Resistance

Aura

Mana

Prana

209 [+145]

0

68

150 [+25]

Unspent stat points - 20

Corruption value: 28.38%

System Points: 287.3

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)[9], Invigorate[3], Cleansing surge[2], Read Memory[1].

World inventory. Marketplace. Trade

“What the what? Where did all that exp come from?” Mark thought.

He looked at the system log for awarded exp and after a while, he came to a conclusion.

The system had always divided the exp among people if they helped kill a Corrupted worth more than 1 point, he’d seen this when he had helped Daphne.

As far as the system was concerned Mark had helped the squad by putting up that shield.

His Sector reward had then applied to make each kill worth 4 points. The system had then divided the exp between himself and that soldier, so 2 points.

When he expanded the list he saw the names for each of the squad members written down there.

Essentially he’d gotten credit for every kill they’d made while under his shield.

Mark didn't even feel guilty because each kill would have normally only given them 1 exp point per Corrupted, but because of his Sector reward, they got 2 points out of each kill.

That was until he saw that half their Sp was being given to him too. So it was a trade-off. The soldiers got double the exp but half the Sp. There was a way he could use this to their advantage, he just need to find the right path forward. Perhaps Sam and Jonathan could help him or even Daivs.

Mark had realized any effort by the user to kill a Corrupted was recognized by the system and awarded appropriately.

He took a moment to relook at the plan for his stat distribution. Right now his limiting factor was his regen and finite resources.

He was happy with the direction he was taking, he wanted to protect and heal, and that wouldn't change, but he would always be starved for energy.

That was a problem all casters suffered from. A trade-off for the damage and utility of spells.

The thing was, as long as he had resources he could keep fighting and defending himself. Resistance was probably his single most important stat if he didn't want to be one-shot by something. However now that he knew he could offset his disadvantage with items and natural level-ups, he saw that his Prana and Mana would quickly become his biggest advantage.

With that in mind, he dumped 15 points into Prana and 5 into Mana.

He had wanted to put some time toward developing another spell, but thought better of it, choosing instead to focus on getting back as much energy as possible.

Mark was deep in [Meditation] this when a shout woke him from his skill-induced coma.

Source: Mediation (+1 Prana, +2 exp points)

The movement below had stopped.

They collected themselves and made a dash for the stairs.

“Try to remain as quiet as possible, noise has been known to trigger a faster evolution,” Davis said.

Jonathan open the battered door out into the street.

Unnerving silence and a landscape that looked just like a Lovecraftian novel greeted them. The masses of Corrupted had gone, replaced by pillars of twitching body parts. Ichor dripped down the slowly coagulating lumps.

There were dozens of them.

Each one looked like at least ten Corrupted had merged into one large totem pole of limbs, torsos, and heads.

Some moved slightly, but most remained as still as a corpse.

Mark didn't have time to investigate as the group began moving again in the same formation. Only this time Sam was in the middle as well and Jonathan took point.

When they passed by the first one he tried to get a better view. From the looks of things, they were coated in this abrasive black clay.

As they came right up next to it Jonathan looked like he wanted to attack it but then just kept moving.

Sam was walking next to him so when she saw Mark watching Jonathan she leaned in and whispered.

“We’ve dealt with these things before they are tough but we can get through them. The thing is they let out this loud screech as they die which warns the others around them”

She was grinning and her voice was bearly above a whisper. Mark had to strain to hear it and she was right next to him.

Choosing not to speak he simply nodded his head in understanding at her.

They kept moving at a good pace. Not too slow, but not too fast that they would make extra noise.

Making good time through the masses of Corrupted totems they eventually cleared them.

Noticing twisted totems becoming less and less until the street cleared out for a bit.

They continued traveling for another twenty minutes and it became necessary to cross back over to the same street they had originally escaped from. Somehow there were more totems scattered up ahead. They could go through them, but this was the most direct route to home base.

The moment they entered the next road over they froze.

There sitting dead center in the road was the single biggest totem of Corruption they had seen so far.

The others capped out at seven feet tall, but this one was easily over ten.

It looked it no less than thirty Corrupted were twisted into this mass of limbs. Mark noticed the signs of what must have been a meteor touch-down point.

The Corrupted looked to have molded themselves around it. The surrounding area was clear of the smaller totems, but further up the road, they started again. Traveling up the street and into the distance in one long belt of evolving Corrupted.

When they had entered the road they had not been able to see this, and as such they only noticed it when they were right in the middle of it.

They had been keeping silent but it didn’t seem to matter because as soon as they had spotted it a sound of cracking clay echoed out into the street.

Bits of solidified goop and dried powder fell to the floor as the large Corrupted began to wake up. The street leading to their destination was right across the road.

“Everyone across now!” Davis said.

The squad moved double time to the opening on the other side of the road. When they were about halfway across the Corrupted exploded out of its shell.

Its form was massive, a patchwork of fused limbs.

Taking an arm about as wide as a manhole cover, it broke its legs free of its tomb-like cocoon and began charging at the group.

Its speed was incredible for its size and it was closing the distance too fast.

Then, it screamed, a single collective voice coming from dozens of throats across its body, wailed out into the air.

“Sarge! Keep going, Jon, and I will stop this thing!” Sam said as she turned to face it.

Jonathan had looped around at some point and was currently dashing head-on toward the creature with a look of satisfied determination.

They were almost to the other side when something completely unexpected happened.

The Corrupted reach down toward the amalgamation of limbs that was its ribcage and ripped a handful of its own body out.

Lobbing it straight at the retreating squad.

Mark noticed this just in time as the projectile reached the height of its trajectory. Turning he raised [Shape Mana] to meet it.

The force behind it was great but the half-dome Mark had managed to put up just in time held.

An explosion of compacted limbs and grey dust burst against his construct.

Seeing the attack failed the creature began reaching down to its other side, preparing to throw another one.

Jonathan was almost there but he wouldn't make it in time.

Sam was smiling while walking forward, blue flames were beginning to surround her like a mantle of fire

It was all going to utter shit, but when the choice was put in front of him he looked toward the battlefield.

The two of them had moved forward without hesitation and the rest of them had just kept running. Was this his life now, always running?

Mark was glued to the spot, he realized he didn't want to retreat.

A small part of himself that he had hidden in favor of survival reared its head. Something that had awoken after all his life-or-death battles. Something he saw in Jonathan and Sam too

The desire for challenge.

To face this new world head-on.

The excitement of adrenaline thumped through his body.

His energies sang, daring him to push them to new and greater heights

In the midst of the chaos, Mark made his choice.

Unbeknownst to him a smile had touched the corners of his mouth.

Mark whipped his head around, the squad was retreating backward while staring on in shock. Clearly, it had never done that before.

Mark locked eyes with Davis and said.

“Move it, people. I’ll hold off the attacks and retreat with them now go!”

An: Street layout