World Filter

Mark woke to the distant sounds of people outside the tent. His sleep-addled mind took a second to register, the reason he could hear them was because his construct must have faded.

He turned his head to look at Daphne who was clinging to his side like a koala, with her hand resting on his chest.

Mark couldn’t help the goofy smile that played on his lips. Checking the time he saw it was around two in the afternoon so they’d had a couple of hours rest and, to be honest, Mark felt amazing. If only he’d had this kind of endurance when he was studying he’d have gotten so much done.

He was in no rush and Daphne looked comfortable sleeping like that, so he decided to check his prompts.

478 x Corrupted Ghasts cleansed[956]

395 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed[395]

93 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed[186]

58 x Corrupted Ghouls cleansed[174]

23 x Corrupted Titan cleansed[230]

16 x Corrupted Ghost cleansed[32]

1957 System Points awarded

900/900

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Congratulations on reaching level 30!

Rewards: 1x Bronze rank Path chest

961/961

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Partial exp awarded to (Samantha Dureal, Jonathan Wilson)[2232]

Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)[2232]

1098 System Points awarded

1024/1024

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

1089/1089

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Partial exp awarded to (134 users - expand list)[1206]

Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)[1206]

593 System Points awarded

1156/1156

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Congratulations [Sculpt Mana] has improved!

Congratulations [Earth Control] has improved!

Congratulations [Telekinesis] has improved!

Mark was impressed, five levels in one go. Granted he’d been really close to leveling before but still, their little sprint through the night - though dangerous- came with incredible benefits. Doing some quick math he realized he’d need 15 points in Prana to hit his next regen thresh hold and his Mana wasn't far behind. So with the 50 points, he put 15 into Prana and the rest into Mana.

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 34

Next level: 1172/1225

Stats:

Resistance

Aura

Mana

Prana

915 (+10) [815]

0 [+25]

170 (+35)[+20]

390 (+1, +10, +15)[+90]

Unspent stat points - 0

Corruption value: 30.65%

System Points: 8610

Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical), Limit release(Mental)

Spells: Passive Regeneration(Self)[7], Force bolt[13], Prana Pulse[6], Regenerate[5], Draw Corruption[5], Corruption recovery[8], Sculpt Mana(Force)[5], Invigorate[7], Cleansing surge[6], Read Memory[1], Mind Spike[4], Earth Control[5], Light Control[4], Telekinesis[5], Benediction[2].

World inventory. Marketplace. Trade

With that done he checked to confirm if his regeneration had improved. After three minutes his Prana ticked up by one. Meaning in an hour he’d naturally regen 20 Prana. Double that if he used [Meditation].

As his Prana attribute went up it was becoming easier to use more energy and sustain a constant output. If he continued to grow at this rate then he hoped he could at least guarantee the safety of his friends and loved ones.

Looking down at Daphne she was still fast asleep.

Mark then rolled the item he’d just gotten.

After a slight pause, the system came back with.

Item: Tenders gaze(Bronze - Helm)

Item lvl: 30

Resistance + 150

Prana + 20

Description: healing effectiveness increased by 25% (Set bonus: 3/4)

Another piece of the set. If things continued like this then by forty he should get the last piece. If he wore this his Resistance would break 1000. At this stage, he knew his Resistance was high but he still wasn’t sure how much it could take. He’d been able to handle the fall from the wall, but he wasn't sure how much of that was his spell and how much was his natural toughness. He’d have to ask Jonathan to help him test it later.

Just as Mark was about to start [Meditation] he felt Daphne stir.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it she opened her eyes and looked around. Sleepily she asked.

“God I haven’t slept that well in weeks, what's the time,”

Mark told her and she suddenly bottled up in bed.

“Shit! Ethel's going to kill me! I left her to deal with the new intakes”

She was up and out of bed in seconds, going over to the pile of armor Mark had placed by her desk. Fastening the straps rushed to get really.

Mark couldn’t help it and laughed freely.

“Mark you don’t get it, that woman is a demon when it comes to admin”

Which just made Mark laugh harder, collapsing back into the covers, he spoke with a grin.

“And I’m sure she’ll thank you for getting some rest”

Daphne seemed to relax a hair.

“Yeah, okay fair. But if I’m going out there, you’re coming with me”

“Sure, were the Knights invited to the conference call?”

“Yes, but I was going to have Ethel handle that. There's a lot to do here still”

Mark nodded and began to put on his armor. When they were both ready they exited Daphne's tent.

The activity hit them almost as soon as they got out. It was busier than he had ever seen it before. Knights moved from place to place to transport supplies, erect new tents in the dozens, and guide non-combatants.

A small communal area was being set up along with what looked like guard duty. As Daphne led them through the space people would stop and stare at her with eyes akin to awe. Knights that wore armor or even just an armband made short causal salutes to her, by placing their hands over their hearts. After which they would continue working allowing them to pass unobstructed.

The last Mark had heard, The Knights had almost two hundred people in them but by now they had to be well over that number. This was excluding the people in the camp that didn’t carry their symbol. It looked like Daphne didn’t turn people away that need protection.

He’d heard that the Knights had been a key player in the camps defense but he never expected this type of growth. They were just as strong if not stronger than before the disaster.

Mark took this in as they walked through, a couple of faces he recognized popped up like Joslin and George. Mark even thought he saw Noah run by, which reminded him to check on Sophia and Andy.

Daphne slowed down, coming to a stop next to a larger tent with a queue trailing away from the entrance. As they moved to enter two Knights saluted Daphne and they passed through. Inside he saw a camping table with stacks of forms on it. Mark heard Boe before he saw Ethel, as Boe came rushing over to Mark, demanding pets and cuddles. Looking up he saw a smiling Ethel standing there with forms in hand.

“Ah, glad to see you got some sleep boss, here take these,”

She said handing them both a stack of pages.

“Right, I’ll see to the interviews, you two fill in the relevant paperwork as we go along”

Mark looked down at the forms and back up at her.

“Ethel, I had intended to go clean up for the meet later-”

Boe suddenly released a whine and Ethel's eyes flickered over to Mark.

“You wouldn’t be thinking of escaping would you Mark? When presumably you’re the reason Daphne was late in the first place, would you?”

Ethel’s smile never wavered, but Mark felt a chill trail down his spine.

“Course not ma’am, Happy to help”

“Excellent! We are going to need to work quickly if we are going to make it. Boys send the next one in!”

Mark turned to find Daphne was already seated and waiting. Taking a seat Mark grabbed a pen and tried to make heads or tails of the fields on the form.

As the first person entered Ethel began rattling off questions and Mark quickly realized he just needed to take down their responses. Ethel would listen to their stories and determine if they were suited to join The Knights. Strangely enough, she turned down more than Mark would have thought, seeming to see some metric that Mark could not figure out. The ones she turned away were allowed to get protection from the knights but even that had requirements that Mark couldn't figure out. The most he could guess was that they couldn’t be troublemakers. At first, Mark had wondered why Ethel needed Daphne here at all but he soon realized that she was just as much a part of the selection process as Ethel. A serious expression had taken over her face and often times she would ask her own questions and on one or two occasions, even overruling Ethel's recommendation for someone to join. Ethel accepted it easily and they kept moving.

Mark continued to fill in the forms but as he went on he found himself getting faster, courtesy of his attributes. His mental processing speed was faster than anything he’d been capable of before, at the same time he decided to push himself. So while a part of his concentration was on taking down answers, he diverted some of his attention to [Sculpt Mana], expanding it to cover first the tent and then beyond.

His spell gave him feedback from everyone around him and at the same time, he could now feel the surrounding shapes imprinted on his mind. It still took a bit of getting used to but he was getting there slowly.

He could see every movement under his construct. From Ethel cocking her head when it first went up to the way the people outside shifted their weight from one leg to another while waiting.

He couldn't expand it too large or his concentration would waver, and Ethel was putting them through a blistering pace but as the line moved, Mark noticed some of the people here had wounds. Nothing too severe but without so much as a second thought, he began slowly sending small amounts of Prana to those individuals. Working on the injuries whenever he could afford to.

Time passed and Mark's pen flicked across the page as he controlled and maintained the flow of both Mana and Prana, jumping between [Prana pulse] and focusing on the sounds under his construct. The whispering of people’s breathing and the beating of their pulses sent him into an almost zen-like state.

Soon though he realized the conversions had stopped in the tent and it pulled him fully back into the room. He’d been unintentionally slipping into [Meditation]. Though it was weird as his productivity never slowed but his mind never dropped into the skill properly. It was like some weird in-between state.

Looking around he saw Ethel was packing away stacks of filled-in forms and responding to Daphne.

“-Alright if that's the case then let's end it here for today, I’ll need time to round up the department heads for the conference call.”

Daphne nodded and said.

“Remember we are on the night wall now, make it back as soon as you can, I need my strategist”

“Hah! You need labor laws is what you need. Working a poor old woman like me to the bone”

Mark couldn’t help a grin from spreading across his face as Ethel and Boe left the tent. The woman looked as energetic as ever. Not to mention the accuracy and speed with which she’d fired her bow the night before. Old woman? She was as spry as any of them.

Both Daphne and Mark got up and moved to leave the tent. Just as they were about the reach the entrance Mark’s arm snaked out and wrapped around Daphne’s waist, pulling her towards himself.

“So you’re going to be on the wall from now on?”

Daphne's mask cracked for a second and she nodded.

“Yeah, they okayed it on account of their numbers dropping heavily”

Mark loved the fact that this side of Daphne only came out when he was around.

“Alright, then I’ll see you tonight?”

Daphne mutely nodded, which just caused Mark to smile wider.

Stealing a kiss he let her go and moved out of the tent out into the sunlight.

Mark checked his phone he saw he had half an hour before the meeting.

Dashing over to the communal area he looked for a working pump to get a shower. Which turned out to be harder than he thought, as many people had the same thought and there were limited working stalls. After almost giving up he managed to find a working one near the outer areas.

From there he had minutes to get to the command tent so he launched himself into the air and after getting through the gate managed to make it just as everyone was entering.

As he approached the entrance he saw Sam she seemed to be typing on her tablet with a look of rapt attention. As Mark got near her, he was about to ask what was so interesting when Jonathan arrived behind him. As if on Queue Major Dureal gathered everyone up to give a briefing before they went in. Mark noticed they all looked to be in much better shape, Sam and Jonathan looked better rested and the Majors sling was gone. He was decorated in his best uniform, covered in badges and awards. Behind the Major were some of his lieutenants which Mark had only really met in passing. On top of that, Ethel along with the district head were with them, Major Liam’s party had already entered. The Major turned to them and started speaking to the group

“Alright, some ground rules, people. This is my superior officer, so to avoid confusion, Major Liam or myself will address her directly. Answer only if you are asked a question. You are allowed to sit in on the meeting in the interest of transparency. Anything you learn in there is to be kept to yourselves, even from your close relations. If you can’t accept this, wait outside. I’m trusting you so don’t cause me any problems”

Some people looked uncomfortable with the idea but no one chose to stay. Seeing this the Major gave them go ahead and they all began filing into the command tent.

When Mark got inside he saw Major Liam already seated at a small table, his entourage nearby. There was another open seat for Major Karter but other than that most of the space was open for people to stand. Mark could see the reason was because of the sheer number of people in the tent right now, after everyone was in the tent was near capacity.

The final thing of note in the room was two individuals Mark had never seen before.

Both stood at the other end of the table and were kitted out in military gear, Mark had learned what to look for when he was searching for system items and these two were absolutely covered in them. They were comparable to Sam and Jonathan in their numbers, if not more.

As the room settled in they remained stationary, oozing the discipline that was no doubt trained into them. A small space was left around them as no one wanted to approach. When the Majors were ready they gave them a signal and one of them stepped forward saluting.

Speaking clearly he addressed the Majors but he could have been speaking to the whole room.

“Good afternoon Majors, we'll now begin the trial”