In the city, the alliance between the Church of Brilliance and NAS was well known.
As Patrica called her people in from outside the door –where they had not moved from the spot– she explained that their church dealt with all their higher-level users and their Corruption.
The process was simple, using the light of their lord they would banish the Corruption from his system. As it turned out, they seared it from your flesh.
Before they even started Mark did get one answer. It turned out that the rumors of the huge costs were true. However, it seemed that the faithful following the same Ideal could channel their power towards the same purpose. One person would invoke their god/goddess to assist them with something, and then everyone could funnel their power into that ‘prayer’ as she called it. Their energies were never actually mixing like with Mark and Sam’s [Joint casting]. Instead, it was being directed by their Ideal. The devout took up positions around and Sam was asked to wait outside.
Mark who sat at the center of the circle. He had to remove the majority of his armor and clothes, choosing to leave on his rings.
Then the light began to build.
It originated from Patrica and to a lesser extent her followers. Mark tried to determine how they were using their energy. The first thing he noticed was how they did not direct their power. Mana and Prana poured out of Patrica in massive quantities, with seemingly no control or purpose. The room was dead silent except for the whisper of a plea, as Patrica begged her god to cleanse him.
Then Mark felt something change about the Mana, it began to move with purpose, but not Patrica’s, she was just letting her Mana to follow the flow. Slowly Mark began to feel the presence once more, similar to how he had when their Prana had merged. Only this time it was using more than just her, to look through into the world.
The energies sped up as the presence grew, and it was gargantuan. Even as strong as Mark was, he knew this entity could crush him it if ever deemed him worthy of destruction. It wasn't just made up of Mana, it was a combination of all three energies working in consort.
The light in the room continued to grow and Mark's skin began to itch.
With all of them working together the light came from all directions, and Mark couldn't find a direction to get comfortable. The light was making him squint now, and the annoying tingle had turned into a burning pain. He could feel his flesh peeling as layers of dead skin fell away.
Since he couldn’t see anything, Mark closed his eyes and dropped into [Meditation]. The pain was becoming all-encompassing and Mark thought he could smell his armhairs burning away. Before they had started, they had warned him that it may be unpleasant, but man had they undersold it. Lisa must do this pretty often as well. If she is as high level as she professes to be, she’d need constant cleansings.
The pain ramped up further and the presence fully entered the room, taking up every corner of it. It was like being submerged in one massive Will. Mark probably wouldn’t be able to manipulate the area around them if he tried with this much interference. Through practiced breathing, Mark managed to hold his ground against the pain, relying on [Meditation] heavily. Then, when he thought he could take no more, the light eased and turned calmer. He felt Prana entering now, repairing whatever damage had just been done. He sighed in relief, but then he realized the problem, he still had over 5% corruption. Almost as soon as the light was done healing, it turned hash once more, repeating the cycle of destruction and regeneration. Each time his flesh burnt, it took with it some of the impurities of Corruption. Marks [Regeneration(self)] was working at full capacity to heal his wounds as they were made. He also realized that the Prana was coming from some other source than just the people around him, there was even a small amount of Aura entering the room too.
Mark thought about how many cycles this was going to take and instead of despairing he focused his mind. All this suffering was to learn something, it would be downright stupid to go through with all of this and not gain anything from it.
So once more, Mark’s stubborn streak reared its head and he dug in his heels. Feeling through the building pain, Mark began to feel out what was going on in his body, turning inward completely. What was this Lord of Brilliance actually doing?
As he moved he felt the presence, it was watching him impassively even as it worked. He dove deeper, trying to get a look at what was happening, trying to perceive.
What he saw was his body dying and with it the Corruption. Normally, Corruption would not disappear when one died, in fact, that's when it was most active. But, now he could tell it was unable to keep hold of his dying flesh, somehow the Lord of Brilliance was creating a seal between him and the Corrution. It was unable to burrow deeper to escape the cleansing light. Realizing he had found what he was searching for, Mark took a closer look. The problem was it was like looking directly at the sun. The presence was so powerful, that he couldn’t even approach. Mark just knew that if he could figure this out, it would help develop his theory on Corruption by huge leaps. So Mark wrapped his consciousness in Prana and pushed, however much Prana they had offered up to this entity over time was way more than Mark had currently, but he had an advantage that it didn’t. He was on his home turf, ‘god’ or not, this was his body and he would decide where he was allowed to go.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
So he pushed, if the entity had been attempting to stop him then he would have had a lot harder time, but it seemed apathetic towards him, even as it watch him.
Approaching at the speed of drying paint, Mark pushed his way forward, with each cycle he got closer, but time was running out.
He almost thought he wouldn’t make it, but in the last cycle, he saw it.
It was beautiful, awe-inspiring, pathways with seemingly random channels, yet each one was placed perfectly.
There it was, protecting his veins, bones, tissues, tendons, organs, and more. Each surface was coated in a complex weave of all three energies. Like three separate nets, overlaid, all keeping out the Corruption out, in some way.
Mark felt the Lord of Brilliance finish and disappear from his sight like a fading mist, and with it, the net. At that moment he also felt his Purifier’s presence ring kick in, as he was at perfect zero.
Mark knew the process was finished but he remained seated, deep in [Meditation].
How could he replicate something so complex? If he stopped now he’d lose it.
While Mark was good at energy manipulation, in comparison to that thing, he was a candle to a bonfire. And while it was disappointing at first, Mark came to the conclusion that it was okay. He could only do what he could.
Mark’s Prana moved excitedly at his request.
He would start where he knew how to, and make his way from there. Rapidly his Prana moved into the shape of the net he had seen, or at least just the part Made of Prana
Weaving around himself, like thousands of connecting strands. The pattern and its complexity were so high that he couldn't even breathe as the net came into being. It reminded Mark of a tapestry of life he saw when he used [Nature control]. Then he felt it come into being and fall over his shoulders like it was blanketing him. He felt his Resistance reacting, which was a first because he knew Resistance wasn't energy, it was your physical and spiritual form. Like a starved man, it drew the net in and Mark felt something click into place as they merged. He knew this wouldn’t be a spell or skill. This was more of a defense for his Resistance, and with it, another piece of the puzzle. With this, he could shield himself against some of Corruption’s effects, at the cost of a large amount of his Prana.
When he opened his eyes, Mark saw that everyone in the room was quiet. Looking at Patrica, he saw a look of conflict fighting across her face, which she masked terriably with a casual smile.
“Congrats Mark, you are clear of the shadows. You have a very high compatibility with light magic. Normally we have to stop several times before it is over but you did it all in one sitting. Are you sure I can’t tempt you towards giving our texts a look-see, maybe just to find out what we are all about?”
Mark hesitated for less than a second. That presence was incredible and Mark would be lying if he said he didn’t feel any resonance with it, but he shook his head all the same.
“Thank you for the invite but for now, I intend to see where my current faction takes me.”
She nodded, expecting Mark's answer.
“Right… Mark, there is one more thing I'd like to talk to you about.”
Mark waited for her to go on and at first, she hesitated but then spoke directly.
“Mark, I see you have a system item on your finger, The Lord of Brilliance told me it would be a great boon to our ranks, would you be willing to sell it to us?”
He knew that she was referring to the Purifier’s presence almost right away. It was the only thing she could mean.
“Normally, I would never ask something like this, but you see the Purifiers item set has been one of our church's goals since the early days. And the Primary ring has eluded us up till now.”
Now he understood her conflicted look when he opened his eyes.
When Mark had first gotten this ring he had been excited by the implications. The problem was that it didn’t fit well with his build, its passive had been active only a handful of times for Mark. The very nature of [Draw Corruption] countered the ring's basic function. The question was, even if the day came that he collected all the pieces, would he even be able to use them if they all required zero Corruption?
The ring was good but he was not attached to it per se.
“Alright, I can see where this is going. I value the relationship between our factions. If you can offer me a system item of equal or greater strength to the ring, I will make the trade. One for Prana mind you, and definitely not just for Sp”
Just because one had the Sp, did not mean they could buy what they were looking for, cheap human-crafted knock-offs sure, but powerful items like this were only really found through bloodshed and achievement.
If he was going to give it up, then he wanted something to replace it. Using a Trade window he showed her the item's attributes.
Patrica wore a look of excitement and relief.
“Alright, give me some time to get something appropriate. As I only have something half those values right now. For now, all I ask is that you don’t sell it to anyone else. I will have some of my Templars come to you with the agreed-upon item as soon as I am able”
Mark agreed and seeing as they had nothing more to talk about he began to redress and head for the door.
Patrica called after him.
“Mark… We want the same thing, to stop the tide of Corruption that is to come. You have an ally in us”
Mark nodded his thanks and opened the door, it felt good to not be the only person working against the efforts of Corruption, even if their methods were completely different.
When he got outside, Sam was still waiting there with a delicate-looking crown of ice floating above her as she used [Meditation]. She woke from it when he got near.
“Ready to go? I want to pop into the Hospital outside the walls before we head to the meet-up”
Sam gave him a look like she knew it was coming, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.
They left the church, only to find the Templars, still waiting out in the late-afternoon sun for them.