“Donny I’m going to attempt to help you now, alright?”
He was looking at Mark but no emotion even flickered across his face, let alone an answer. Deciding that wasn’t a no, Mark brought his Prana forward and cast [Prana pulse]. His Corruption was currently sitting at 61.17%, which meant he’d burned off around 13% since yesterday, with the combination of his passive, and actively channeling his regen into [Corruption Recovery].
As best as Mark could tell he had to deal with Jonathan's natural Cv before trying to clear the spell that was plaguing him.
Taking on another 10% was manageable but if things continued at this rate it would take too long to get to the crux of the matter so Mark looked at his remaining Prana. He had 213 Prana left. So doing some quick math, he could actively burn off another 21%.
[Prana pulse] was showing that fog around Donny’s mind once more, so setting his shoulders he focused on his own body. Mark dropped into [Meditation] and began to force his Prana near the Corruption. Right away they fought like two ancient enemies. His Cv was much higher than his current Prana level but that didn’t dissuade the energy from tearing the Corruption apart. As he watched the process en mass, he fell into a familiar trance. Going with it, he focused on the process. It was like watching two armies on the battlefield fight, each made up of their own fighters. Only where the Prana fought and died, the Corruption fought and dissipated. The distinction was so minor, but he knew it had to mean something. Was Prana being expended to outright destroy the chaotic mix of energies or something else?
Another block fell into place in Mark's mind. He was even more certain of what he’d seen in Sam’s corruption. The breakthrough in understanding must have pushed something over the edge because Mark felt the system respond. He had only felt this sensation a couple of other times.
He let the prompt come up.
Congratulations [Corruption recovery] has improved!
[Corruption recovery] has reached Rank 10.
The user may now improve an aspect of the existing spell or Evolve the spell into something new.
Improve/Evolve
By now Mark knew the more he used and understood a spell, the faster it leveled. He was not surprised this particular spell had leveled up, it had been steadily growing. He noticed it had sped up as of late and he probably knew why.
What gave him pause was the source of this spell, Mark had not forgotten his brush with the Caretaker and this was one of his two gifts. It was the lesser of the two, but still very powerful. If he understood it correctly everyone could get this spell eventually and they honestly should. Staring at his choices now he knew he was at a crossroads. The Caretaker had given him this spell earlier than anyone else to deal with the fallout of having [Draw corruption], but he could use it to learn more.
He could tell with certainty, that if he evolved the spell now he would get something to help others deal with corruption. He didn’t know how he could tell but it was the natural conclusion. This was the path the Caretaker spoke of, the one all healers could eventually walk. The problem was Mark could already remove other's Corruption, his method had an extra step and was more dangerous but it had worked for him so far. Getting another spell to do the same thing felt like a waste.
That just left Improving the spell, with what he wasn’t sure but it came with the added benefit of letting him look under the hood, as it were.
The system would allow him to see what intents the spell was made up of. Because he had been handed the spell and had not made it, he didn’t know how to teach it to others. However, if he could understand it, during that short window, then perhaps he would be able to reverse-engineer it.
That seeming to be the best option, Mark pondered on what intent would fit best with the spell. Thinking back to the nature of Corruption, he knew it was pervasive and violent. When he had watched it combat his Prana, he had seen nothing but savagery and urgency, it almost seemed desperate to survive.
Mark thought back to his patients who had given it their all to cling to life, and death still came for them. Offen, they exhibited a type of peace that their relatives could not understand. It wasn’t giving but rather an acceptance of the end, perhaps he could be that ‘end’.
Now Mark would never sympathize with an energy that had ruined his world but he could see a path forward for it. It needed to know that struggle against him was irrelevant and that here, it could accept that.
Before he lost the thought he hit the “Improve” option.
[Corruption recovery] Improvement beginning…
The system engaged a moment later, drawing up something from the depths of him and placing it in an orb in front of him. Pulling it forward Mark saw six slots blooming in front of him.
He understood right away why people only got this spell much later. Five slots sat filled, leaving one empty for him.
No one would be able to combine this many intents, right at the beginning.
Hell even now he’d probably fall short, four being his current best, and even that had been with help.
As quickly as he could he tried to take in the other intents.
Protection.
Balance.
Hallowed.
Sacrifice.
Destruction.
Holding each of them in his mind gave Mark pause under their weight. Two of them shone with power. Hallowed and Destruction were the key points of this spell and Mark felt something similar when staring at the different magics in his soul. Infinite depth.
Time was running out.
Coming to his senses, Mark pulled the new intent to the forefront of his mind, slowly slotting it into place. The spell seemed to pause as it greedily drew in the new thread.
Slumber.
Many pieces locked back into place and the system released hold over the spell, ending its guidance and letting it sink back into Mark’s being.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
[Corruption recovery] has successfully been improved!
[Corruption recovery] rank limit increased to [20]!
Spell Imporved: Corruption recovery
Through constant exposure to Corruption, the user has built up a tolerance to its negative effects. More than that, the user has changed their very being to suppress and store Corruption's effects, weakening it and allowing for faster processing.
Passive - Increase natural recovery from 0.01 - 1.00% Corruption value per 6 hours.
Passive - This spell can store up to 50% of the user's Corruption value, rendering it inert.
Active - Excite the user’s Prana to burn away Corruption at a rate of 1 Prana per 0.1% Corruption value
The strength of this spell is based on the user's Prana attribute
Before he even read what the spell had to say Mark pulled out his phone and started typing up everything he had understood from those five intents, only when he was sure he had everything down did he even attempt to understand what he’d gained.
And gained he had, it looked like most of the details of the spell had not changed with the exception of the reduced time.
However, the new function easily made up for this. If he was understanding correctly he could now store over 100% Corruption. Well, maybe 149%. It seemed like it would store the Cv in the spell like a battery until he was ready to deal with it.
A key point was that it was inert so if the spell was full and he personally had 0% then Corruption would have no effect on him.
As a huge bonus, he got down what made up the base of the spell. It was time to post on the thread again. Everything he had learned went on there and if he was honest this spell would probably become a widespread necessity. Anyone capable of learning it should do so, though it was a fairly complex spell, the fact that they had it already was a huge boon. Not to mention any healer that learned this spell would be able to take it to the next level and use it for others.
Tabling that for now, he began trying to transfer his Corruption into the spell. A portion of himself opened up and drew the Corruption in, he felt the Corruption’s struggle drop to nothing as it entered that space.
After burning all of his Prana his Cv was at 40.17%, and as it flowed into the spell, Mark found it still had a little space in it for more. Testing it out he knew that currently, he was at 0.0%, one thing he noticed was that his [Purifyers presence] did not activate, which was disappointing but not for long.
Activating [Draw corruption] he began to take all of Donny’s remaining Cv, he noticed he could send the incoming flow into [Corruption recovery], and the overflow then went straight into Mark.
He looked at his Cv in his status and it had changed slightly.
Corruption value: 43.17% [+50%] - 93.17%
Having the near one hundred percent should have felt dangerous but right now Mark only felt around 43% of it. As a test, he placed the staff down for a second just to make sure. He had been ready to grab the thing should anything feel off but it never did. The worst that happened was a tingling pain in his chest and his stomach started to return.
Grinning from ear to ear, Mark was content with his improved spell.
Reaching a hand up Mark cast [Cleansing surge] on Donny once more, burning away the fog one final time.
Panting from having almost no remaining Prana, Mark sat back to rest.
Just as he was catching his breath he saw Chloe approaching him with an older gentleman beside her.
“Mark, glad I found you, we need to chat”
Her voice sounded serious.
Indicating for her to go on, he waited.
“I’ve done the final reading and she’s gone. Her chance of survival was already low and I can’t feel her existence as a variable any longer”
Mark knew who Chloe was talking about immediately and all at once the knots in his shoulders relaxed. Grace was dead. Mark wasn't sure how he felt, relief, definitely but also some regret for the path she’d walked.
Giving him a moment to accept the news, Chloe spoke once more.
“So, seeing as you got good news, I have some more. This here is Oliver, he’s been looking for people who dabble in more advanced spellwork and you just happen to come to mind”
A dry smile slowly spread across Mark's face, ‘coincidences’ probably happened around this woman all too often.
The man in question had greying hair and sun-kissed skin. Mark would put good Sp on this man having worked on a farm for decades.
“He was looking to see if you were looking to exchange different magics”
Oliver cleared his throat politely and spoke up with a southern drawl.
“Ms. Chloe’s quite right, she told me you would be interested in talking shop and that you are a right good magic user”
The whole while, the man played with the tip of his baseball cap. Mark's eye also caught sight of a small tabby cat near him. It was weaving through his legs and purring up a storm
Mark turned to look at Chloe but she was already retreating from the conversation with a wave. Now that Mark knew her a bit better, he realized the ‘great prophet’ was less mysterious and more eccentric as she went about her daily life, tipping scales only she could see.
Still, he was happy she had found him to deliver the news.
The thing was she was growing on him, as a person, she seemed to want to help and if she had brought this man here, then it had to have been for some reason he couldn’t see yet. Mark saw no harm in having a little chat.
“It's good to meet you Oliver and yes, I won’t hide the fact that I enjoy learning about magics. I just learned something I believe will help a lot of people” As Mark said this he indicated for the man to sit
Oliver did so without hesitation.
“Really? Me too, look!”
The man took out a small ziplock bag from his back jeans pocket. At first, Mark thought it was empty but upon closer inspection the were numerous tiny specks in it. Which Mark quickly figured out were seeds. Popping the bag and extracting a single one, Oliver placed it in the center of his palm, he muttered something under his breath. Mark felt a rush of Mana in the air, coiling around his palm.
The little seed cracked open sending roots spiraling out, faster than Mark ever expected a plant to be able to move. Needing no soil and wrapping around Oliver's hand, it strengthened by the second. Stems formed next, then plump green leaves. Finally as if watching a time-lapse the plant took shape, layers of leaves grew over his hand, and in less than a minute, a healthy-looking head of lettuce sat in Oliver’s palm. Now Mark had once considered learning the spell [Growth] so while he knew this type of thing was possible, was really interesting to watch it at work. As it turned out the speed was not what Oliver was trying to show him. No, what interested him was when the system had responded to it.
Item: Saturated Iceberg lettuce (Iron)
Item lvl: –
Description: A product of a [lettuce stalk - Lactuca sativa] that has stored a small amount of ambient energy within its leaves.
Consumable: Restores a tiny amount of Mana.
“So it turns out that we can grow food that restores energy. I normally use my Mana to grow as much food for the caravan as possible. A normal head of lettuce will take me around 5 Mana. But I wondered what would happen if I forced more Mana into the growing plant than normal. This particular version took 50 Mana. While I know it's a bit hard now, imagine feeding our people with meals made from something like this. I tested other vegetables and it seemed that different ones give different benefits. Like potatoes, for some reason restore just Aura, even though ‘I’m supplying only Mana”
The whole while Oliver spoke Mark had not taken his eyes off the head of lettuce as he imagined the things one would be able to do with something like this. Cooking that could nourish people's new bodies, Mark's mind moved to all the new and incredible things they’d seen growing on their journeys. The spikey plant in that plaza or the Mana draining kelp to mention just a few. Hell if cooking could be improved, what about things like chemistry or for lack of a better current term, alchemy?
He was just about to ask how much the lettuce restored when Mark heard a voice he’d known for years.
“Cool…”
Head snapping to Donny, Mark saw the guy looking at Oliver's demonstration. His eyes which were usually dull and clouded over showed a flicker of recognition.