World Filter

Mark left the training grounds, heading towards the soldier's quarters. As he got nearer to the secondary wall he noticed the surrounding damage was already mostly fixed. Sure there was the odd hastily patched-up tent here and there but it spoke volumes for military efficiency.

As he got nearer he noticed that the wall was closed off completely. Now normally a large gap was left in the stone wall as an opening, and while not just anyone could enter the soldier's quarters it was open to the free flow of traffic. The open walls always sent a message to people that there was somewhere to go in emergencies.

Heading to the guard house Mark tried to enter but was stopped by one of the soldiers.

“Sorry sir, we are assessing the damage inside at the moment so we won’t be able to let you in at this time”

Mark frowned at the guard and was just about to ask what was going on and why the ‘gates’ were closed when he saw Jonathan jumping off the edge of the wall not far off.

Nodding to the guard Mark headed toward Jonathan.

He spotted Mark coming from a ways off and changed his course to Mark.

Mark held up his hands in a confused gesture

“What's going on?”

Jonathan looked around, and seeing no one was about he said.

“Nothing too big, they are just beginning to pack it in and they want to avoid fanfare”

Mark nodded, it made sense.

“Oh, but there is some good news if you want to call it that. Sam's dad managed to get Major Dureal to agree to take two hundred people.”

Jonathan started walking and Mark fell into step with him. That was a fifth of the camp and he was right while it was good news, how did they decide who to take?

“They are going to release the news tomorrow evening, stating that this will be the first batch to leave with a group of soldiers.”

Mark was shocked. It was an aggressive move and provided yet another excuse for the movements of the soldiers.

“They’re going to lie to that many people?”

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders apathetically.

“No, I know this move, my father used to pull it a lot. They’ll make their intentions publicly clear that they intend to return so that when they don’t they can blame some outside factor as to why they can't come back for the rest of them”

Mark reeled in distaste, forgetting for a moment that Jonathan hated mentioning his family. The fact that this type of manipulation was being employed, showed that they were really going to leave over eight hundred people here to die.

“Sam’s said she working on a lead that might help, so I’m heading the research department to receive some reports on her behalf as she’s swamped right now. You should join me, I’m sure those two will want to see the staff”

Mark looked at his phone, they still had plenty of time before night wall.

Nodding Mark decided he might as well see what they had to say.

So like that the two of them traveled through the camp.

They chatted while they walked and Jonathan initiated a trade window, sending him 600Sp.

“Courtesy of the Major for a job well done,” He said.

In all the chaos Mark realized he hadn’t yet been paid, so he happily accepted.

Mark saw in the distance the field that they’d been using to house the helicopters and other vehicles. The damage was thorough, it looked like an attempt to secure their assets they had drawn more Corrupted to the vehicle bay and the result was only about four helicopters and fourteen hummers had survived the assault.

Or at least that was what Jonathan thought.

They moved down the road and arrived near the weapons district. Surprisingly -or maybe not- it had been one of the first places to be evacuated and one of the first to go back up. Right now as they passed through it didn't look like they had even suffered many losses, as the clicking of machinery sounded out. Bullet production and weapon maintenance continued unperturbed.

One thing that was different was the size of the cold weapon production area, which Mark wanted to just call the blacksmithing district because that was all he saw at that point.

Previously only a small portion of the space was taken up by people's homemade forges and billows but now they had really grown in popularity.

Scattered around were large-scale operations with people hammering away at bits of steel. Mark almost felt like he was transported back to the medieval era, as blacksmiths worked steadily around them. Neither too fast nor too slow.

Jonathan paused watching some of them work with great interest. Mark was about to go over to one of the stalls when he spotted George hard at work. He seemed to be sharpening a small dagger on a belt sander and then transferring it over to what looked like a whetstone.

Seeing the man at work, Mark got Jonathan's attention and indicated with his head for him to follow.

George was looking down the length of the blade when they approached.

Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye George looked up from his work. Seeing Mark a smile appeared on his face.

“Mark, finally found time to see something incredible?”

Mark was smirking and cocked his head in confusion.

“Finally fucking did it. Took hours, but I’ll be dammed if it wasn’t worth it”

The man was usually stoic, except when it came to weapons, and as he held the dagger out toward Mark, the Cheshire-like grin didn’t waver.

Looking at it Mark took the offered dagger. The moment he did he froze as the system registered it as an item.

Item: Dagger (Weapon - Iron)

Item lvl: 2

Resistance + 5

Aura + 2

Description: A trusty blade forged by the craftsman George Moore

“Holy shit” Mark muttered and looked up at George in wonder.

“I know right? Just finished it less than an hour ago”

The item was weak and he was assuming Iron ranks was below Bronze but the fact that a human had created this was what blew Mark's mind. If they were capable of this then what about later, this could be their answer to the constantly growing threat. It was more than just this, if making a blade was possible imagine what else they might be able to create.

Jonathan was staring at the blade as Mark handed it to him and the look of surprise spread to him too.

Mark knew that the system offered skills related the forging but he thought it just improved the strength of materials.

“How did you make this? Can anyone do this?” Jonathan asked with a keen look in his eye.

George nodded to himself.

“As far as I know I'm the first to create something like this but...Yeah, if you have the relevant skills. Though from what I’ve found that not all you need”

He seemed to think it over.

“It looks like the distribution of one's stats actually matters when crafting. To make that blade I had to use equal quantities of each type of energy in its creation and maintain it at a constant rate through all the steps. I think it came out as Aura because my balancing was off”

Mark pieced together what he was saying. To make an item one needed to expend energy during the actual making of it, which probably meant the more one could use the better the item that would come out. The sticking point here was that it had to be equal amounts of all three energies.

So people that actually focused on one attribute would be limited by their lowest stat. Mark then realized something. Wouldn’t Genralists then have an advantage when it came to crafting? The system went out of its way to purposefully guide their growth. Was this the reason? Was this limitation in all crafting or was it just weapons? What about armor or something else?

Unfortunately, Mark saw the glaring problem in his case. He had ample energy in two of the aspects but his Aura was once again dragging him down.

“Hmm, George it's good to meet you, I’m Jonathan. What do you say to teaching me some of these skills you talked about? I’m willing to pay you for your time”

George looked taken aback. He already seemed to know who he was talking to but hadn't seemed to care.

“You want to learn? Sure! My wife would kill me if I turned down free money and it would be great to have someone to discuss these things with. Mark what about you? Want to join?”

Mark wanted to learn but he had a feeling that it would be difficult if not impossible for him. Not that that had ever stopped him before, so he nodded and said he’d join for the first lesson to see if he had any talent in crafting.

Even if he couldn’t, there were still things to learn. Everything about the system and its energies was connected. Or at least that was what he’d figured so far, maybe he couldn’t craft weapons, but perhaps that was something else he could create.

They chatted some more and Jonathan was relentless, asking all sorts of questions but eventually, he begrudgingly pulled himself away.

They had to continue on to the research department. When they arrived at the small guard house it was manned by only one soldier. The compound looked deserted.

Jonathan flashed him a badge and they were let through to the large white tent. When they got through the quarantine spray they were greeted by the sight of men and women in white lab coats running around in flustered manners. They were working at a chaotic pace, projections and formulas were scrawled across a large chalkboard. When they entered no one took much notice of them except Dr Johnson, who stood in front of the chalkboard flipping through documents. Looking up he seemed happy to see them.

“Hello gentlemen, Sam told me you would be coming around. Here.”

He handed Jonathan a thick folder and lowered his voice.

“Don’t worry they don't know I ran the projections for her, but that is the third time in the last day, tell her to take it easy on us.”

Jonathan nodded before sending them into his inventory.

Mark wasn’t sure what the documents were but they were important enough that she had asked Jonath to come and get them personally and for Dr Johnson to keep quiet about it.

“Thanks, she appreciates this, We have another item from the Guardian with us do you guys have time to take a look at it?”

When he said this Dr Johnson’s eyes grew in excitement but then looked back at his work in disappointment.

“I’d love to but I haven't the time. Take it to Dr. Haley in the back room she’s fully focused on it, and can be of more help”

They nodded and headed in the direction that Dr. Johnson had pointed. Coming to another room they found Dr. Haley hunched over a laptop, clicking away at the keys. In the center of the room, several workstations had been set up around a large glass container.

It was the very same one they had seen wheeled away a couple of days ago. The seed sat in the now pale pink liquid, floating there happily. The only change was the tiny roots appearing from the bottom of the seed and the now much lighter color of the seed itself.

Dr. Haley only registered they were there when Jonathan called out for a third time.

Glancing up from her work Mark saw large bags under her eyes as if the woman had not slept at all since they’d seen her last. It took her a moment to register who they were but when she did a new frenzied energy seemed to animate her.

“Ah, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Young. So good to see you please tell me you have gotten your hands on the next piece”

Mark took the staff off his back.

“That's actually what we are here for. Though from your description I’m not sure that this is the next piece or not”

The woman's eyes took on a predatory gaze as she got up from her seat and moved over to them as quickly as she was able.

Mark held the staff out to her. He’d worked hard over the last couple of days to bring his Corruption down to more manageable levels and right now he was almost back to normal, so when he let go of the staff the worst he felt was an itch in his stomach. If he could help it he’d like to hang onto the staff but he’d see what she had to say.

She took it from him without a word, as she moved to one of the stations. Placing it through a series of tests, she danced about the room muttering to herself. Mark would have thought she had forgotten they were there if not for the fact that every so often she would look up at them in wonder and then look back down at the test results her various machines spat out.

“Ah, what a shame, it looks like you were actually right. This piece is the fourth step. First, we need to find something to nurture, stabilize and lay claim to proceed.”

She spoke as if they knew what that meant.

“Right so… What now?”

“Hmm… oh. Do me a favor and send a bit of energy through the item, please. I liked to test something”

As she said this she brought it back over to Mark and handed the item back.

Not really sure what she was looking for, he channeled his Prana through the staff like normal. The moment he did there was a sudden pulling coming from the staff, sort of like it was being magnetized toward the glass casing. Towards the seed.

Dr. Haley put her hands together and let gasped in joy.

“I knew it! The system created these as Interconnected components. Oh, what delightful workings. This means the connection to Bio-computing was apt, I wonder if it's possible to take it apart to study!”

Mark was still wrestling with the staff as it dragged him across the slippery floor. He’d already cut off the flow of Prana and it was slowing but he noticed his Prana never returned. He’d only put a small amount in but the usual enhanced Prana seemed to bleed off.

Finally, the pull the staff was experiencing faded and he felt its weight drop back into his hold.

Mark looked up at her frustrated.

“What was that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t really think that through, but I got confirmation of something important so it's fine!”

“And...” Mark asked waiting for her to explain.

“Right, well it just confirmed one of my theories but I’m still working on it. For now, though we can’t use this piece until we have one of the others. So you can leave it here where it's safe.”

Mark nodded.

“If it's all the same to you, I’m going to keep it on me. It’s useful in other manners. Which reminds me, Jonathan tell Sam to contact me when she’s got time I’ll remove some of her Corruption”

Jonathan suddenly looked like he just remembered something.

“Right! Sam told me to remind you about the comms. She’s been trying to get hold of you but it's not picking up.”

Mark blinked and tried to remember where it went. Opening his inventory he realized he must have stuck it in there when they’d gotten back, so he’d just ended up hanging onto it.

Pulling it out now he popped it into his ear, turning it on he tried to contact Sam.

The was a crackle on the other side and then her voice came through.

“Oh good finally, you both better get to the front gate, someone let the cat out of the bag and people are losing it down there”