World Filter

Once the night shift had ended Mark arrived at his tent for the first time since being assigned it. Sitting down on his bunk, he allowed the room’s quiet to calm him. Many of the bunks were full but the sound of restless bodies turning told Mark that many weren't getting much actual sleep.

Mark frowned at the difference between the two locations. Hours ago he had watched men dying to hold the wall and now he found himself in the very place they strove to protect.

The energy from battle coursed through Mark, making it impossible to sleep right now.

He decided to allow [Meditation] to bring him back to comfortable levels. Dropping into the skill he drew in the energy of the world. Prana flowed effortlessly in here. When he was full he practiced keeping the skill active while using [Corruption recovery]. He only had time to burn off 3%, but every bit counted.

He opened his eyes, much more level-headed, and brought up his prompts. Mark was certain his exp gain would be high, but he froze when he saw the actual total.

39 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(39 + Sector reward: x4)[156]

12 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed(28 + Sector reward: x4)[112]

68 System Points awarded

289/289

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Partial exp awarded to (67 users - expand list)(Sector reward applied: 1289)

Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(Sector reward applied: 1289)

325 System Points awarded

324/324

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

361/361

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Congratulations on reaching level 20!

Rewards: 1x Bronze rank Path chest

400/400

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

This was the single biggest exp spike he had gotten since ever. He had created a construct over nearly seventy people for who knows how long. The combination of the seven-day sector reward and shared exp was absolutely broken.

He did some quick math and estimated the number of Corrupted kills while he held the construct up to be over five hundred. Including Ordinators.

Mark looked at his attributes, with the large number of levels came stats. He was still suffering from resource problems but was noticing more of a demand for Prana so he dumped 25 into Prana and 15 into Mana.

Mark then brought up the prompt to roll his Item. If the pattern continued like this, the system would probably give someone an item suited to them every ten levels. He hit yes.

Item: Tenders Frame (Chest - Bronze)

Item lvl: 20

Resistance + 100

Prana + 30

Spells with the intention to heal have 25% increased effectiveness. (Set bonus: 2/4)

Right away he made the connection between the two items. His gloves were called ‘Tenders Touch’ and they both had the exact same effect. He took the chest piece from his inventory and inspected it.

The item even looked similar to his gloves. It was a thin black leather vest without sleeves. One could wear it comfortably under their clothes. After removing the bulletproof vest and his outer clothes he slipped the amour on. It shrunk down right away, hugging his form and molding to his torso like a second skin. It was comfortable and light. The power joined with him seamlessly.

There was a set bonus for the Tenders items. Overall he was getting a 50% increase to his healing. He wondered what he would get if he completed the set.

With that done, he opened his status and almost whistled in appreciation.

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 21

Next level: 347/441

Stats:

Resistance

Aura

Mana

Prana

502 (+8) [430]

0

108 (+15) [+20]

231 (+8, +2, +25,)[+55]

Unspent stat points - 0

Corruption value: 30.44%

System Points: 668.5

Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical)

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[5], Force bolt[9], Prana Pulse[2], Regenerate[4], Draw Corruption[5], Corruption recovery[4], Shape Mana(Force)[9], Invigorate[3], Cleansing surge[4], Read Memory[1].

World inventory. Marketplace. Trade

Mark grabbed his phone and navigated to his post. His talk with Sam on the wall reminded him that he had not posted his latest discoveries. He made a post explaining how one could use their Resistance if they had the appropriate spell and how to transfer Prana across distances. Making sure to flag the post as important he also made a section explaining how he got [Cleansing surge] and that every healer should pick it up, as conditions can affect people just as harshly as an open gut wound.

Once that was done he went to the community spellbook thread he had created and found it had exploded in popularity. There were over a hundred different spells mentioned. Of course, one had to steer clear of the obvious troll attempts. Like [Blind control] which supposedly allowed one to blind others, but had been downvoted hundreds of times. People commenting in, saying the damned spell allowed them to summon blinds.

Mark rolled his eyes and used his moderator rights to flag the spell.

After that, he found a post that had gotten probably the most attention since the creation of the thread.

It was titled “Magic compatibility hypothesis’ and it proposed that certain magics had more or less compatibility with different people. That everyone would have at least one type of magic they excelled in.

So before learning any spells, one should first learn what would match them best.

One could cast any spell, but if your compatibility was high it would cost fewer resources and give one a greater effect. The post was by someone named Gam3rGob, which sounded familiar but Mark couldn't place it.

They went on to say that testing what magics one was good with, was easy, but required the [Meditation] skill and having it running while they searched their mind for the element that best suited them.

Mark was still not able to get to sleep and decided there was no harm in trying it out. Besides [Mediation] was actually a half-decent substitute.

Mark began to drop into the skill once more. Only this time with the intention of searching for his type of magic.

Allowing his mind to lead him in its own direction.

After a while of searching Mark found himself in a void once more, surrounded by hundreds of weird and wonderful lights. The place seemed to glow with a rainbow of colors as Mark realized each one represented a different aspect of magic.

Stretching out his hands he called to fire.

It came, it brought with it a warmth that permeated the world. It had the potential to kindle life or destroy it in a heartbeat. Mark felt no kinship with it.

He grabbed at water. It flowed around him. Constantly changing form and strength. It was nurturing yet vengeful. Again he felt nothing for it.

Deciding to make things easier on himself he started to close out the lights that didn't respond to him.

The void got much darker.

He continued until all but the strongest ones remained. Seven lights circled Mark.

He ignored the strongest one for now and moved on to the next strongest.

Force magic. A near-invisible ball of light hovered in a perfect sphere.

That made sense, it had been the first spell he had created and was a key component in both of his main spells.

It represented balance, equal amounts of force that can both destroy and protect. Absorb and repel. Potential and kinetic.

Next was a ball of rock, crystal, and metal all clumped together. Earth magic strangely enough. It was welcoming and protective yet stubborn and slow.

Nature. A ball of compacted and gnarled roots. Connection and growth.

Mind. A cyan light that could go anywhere regardless of constraint. It was freeing yet suffocating.

Light. A sphere of pure radiance. Pure destruction or creation.

Blood. A pulsing ball of crimson. Vitality and sacrificial.

Mark turned his eyes upward to the last orb of light.

This one was the largest one of them all.

It was a pale purple orb that seemed to change shape consistently. It was actually kind of nauseating to look at.

Sometimes it pulsed like a sickening sun, other times it was a benevolent guiding light.

It represented change yet at the same time it was unaffected by the passage of time.

Mark took a while to figure out what it was because the longer he stared at it the harder it got, but eventually he understood.

It was Soul magic. Enchantment.

It had a connection to his Prana. Mana could not heal, but here Prana was presenting in a different way. As the soul.

And like all souls, it was not just one thing. It was a battle between good and evil. Pure and sullied.

Soul, represented more than just Prana it was Corruption too. Two sides of the same coin.

As bright as a person's soul could be it was mirrored by the depths of darkness one could sink to.

Mark wasn't even sure he could use this as magic, only that it represented something inherent about his ties to the Prana and Corruption.

Mark realized the longer he looked at one orb in particular the more he could glean from it, but with a single glance, he could tell these were concepts as much as magics. Each one could take an entire lifetime of dedication and still never be truly explored.

Mark felt exhausted mentally, his world shook as he began to lose focus.

He let the state fade and opened his eyes back in the tent.

The fact that his compatibility with Corruption was so high was worrying, but it made sense. He had intuitively reached for Corruption on multiple occasions and it had responded.

Well, at least he now knew what magics would suit him the best. That was not to say the others were locked off from him. He had seen many interesting magics in the void.

Shadow, Teleportation, Gravity, Temporal, and many more. But he was just starting out so picking up one he could make the most use of made sense.

It really came down to what he needed most.

A method to deal damage to stronger foes and his mobility.

He also wanted to see if he could create any spells to buff his allies but honestly one thing at a time.

For the attack spell, four of his magics stood out. Earth, Mind, Light, and Blood.

Looking through the spellbook he searched to see if any options fit him. He narrowed it down to [Earth Control], [Mind Spike], and [Flash] there was no Blood magic that he could see.

He eliminated [Flash] for now as it only created a blinding flash of light. An incredible spell at creating distance, but not what he needed right now.

[Mind Spike] was a direct mental attack. If the comments were to be believed it worked on Corrupted. It allowed one to make a spear of mental energy and stab it into the mind of a target. The comments were full of downsides, such as its single-target nature, and the ability for it to rebound on the caster. The thing was it required little aim and one could maintain the connection to cause disruption in the target.

Next was [Earth control], it was exactly as it sounded, allowing one to control the surrounding earth. This one was probably what was used to create the walls. The thing was one could not ignore the value of launching a boulder at your enemies. Not to mention it was an incredibly versatile spell.

Mark looked at them and couldn't decide between the two so he eventually just shrugged his shoulders and learnt both.

First was [Mind Spike] its intent was complex.

Connection, assault, and challenge. Instead of the normal process, he allowed the Mana to build up near his forehead holding the intents in place. Then releasing he realized his mistake. His mind exploded outward into the tent carried along by the waves of his mana. The spell searched for a target and he could feel 32 minds in his near vicinity, but there was no way he was hitting these innocent people. So he did his best to disperse the attack upward if he had to guess it was like a cone. Right away he felt it rebound and people in the room tossed and turned in their sleep as the mental wave disturbed them.

Mark shook his head clear of the vertigo.

A blinking appeared in his swimming vision.

He definitely couldn't test this one any further here so he tabled it for now in favor of [Earth control].

Once he was stable again he looked at the intent for [Earth control] he saw it was easier than [Mind Spike] with only two intents.

Change and rigidity.

Mark held his hand over the edge of his bed and held the Mana at the threshold of his skin. It gave him some trouble but with all the practice he had been doing recently the Mana eventually took the shape he desired. He called to the earth.

Mana seeped down into the ground and then began pulling the lazy earth from its home.

Slowly a thin collum of rock rose from the ground in the shape of a spear. Hovering vertically in front of Mark.

A ping sounded in his ears.

Once more he realized where he was and looked around to see if anyone had noticed the earthen spear.

Luckily it had been silent and no one had seemed to notice. Mark pulled the rock towards himself and inspected it. Breaking it into two pieces then four. Allowing them to spin slowly around him. He shaped one of them into a doughnut and let it fall into his hand, releasing control of it.

The sound of a small plop sounded out as the strangely perfect stone landed in his hand. He noticed that it remained in the shape he had left it in.

He then let the earth rejoin with the ground, molding it flat once more.

He like the spell but was not very happy with the speed, hopefully, practice would fix that.

He brought up both spell descriptions.

Spell Acquired: Earth Control

Through Mana control and imagery, the user can move the very earth around themselves

Mass correlates to the Mana expended and the strength of the Mana attribute.

Movement and shaping earth costs Mana.

Material density increases Mana cost.

Mana requirement during material creation correlates to the density and complexity of the material created.

Changes made to earth are permanent or subject to the material used.

The interesting thing was that the harder the material he pulled the more Mana it would cost

He could think of some interesting ways to use this, he would have to do some tests tomorrow in more open conditions.

Spell Acquired: Mind Spike

Using Mana’s inherent strengths the user may make a mental attack against the mind of a creature. After the initial assault user may maintain the connection to the creature to initiate a contest of wills.

The strength of the attack is determined by the Mana attribute.

Warning: Lower Mana attributes may still initiate an attack against higher Mana attributes at a severely reduced effect. This is not advised as rebound can occur if the target is stronger than the caster.

This one was harder to test but he figured it was a very powerful offensive spell. He covered his attacking problem but would probably use it sparingly because his resources were best used for his role. These were if all else failed.

Mobility was still a major problem but looking through the spell book he had come up with an idea to solve that. He wanted to run it by Sam tomorrow to see what she thought.

With that done he finally tried to get some sleep. The morning was close and his shift in the medical tent started in less than two hours.