Mark went on guard right away, searching the space for exits.
“Fuck Nathan, we spoke about ambiguous statements!”
Lisa rubbed the back of her neck in exasperation.
“Guys please, that was not as it sounded. In essence, Nathan is right but let me explain before jumping to conclusions.”
All of them were prepared but a second fight right now was not in their best interest so they gave her a chance.
“Right first off we aren't trying to kill anyone, I can make that clear. But what I am about to tell you is sensitive so take that with a grain of salt. People are willfully ignoring it and it's fast becoming a problem. Are you aware of how Dungeons form?”
Sam nodded and spoke.
“Usually caused by an Influx or the gathering of a large number of Corrupted in a single area. Corruption-dense areas seem to affect the speed of development as well.”
Lisa nodded pointing at Sam.
“Exactly, so when ‘The Fall’ happened and all those people were stuck in the underground...”
Sam suddenly looked pale.
“The subways throughout the city…”
Jonathan suddenly frowned.
“Wait you can’t be telling me there are still Corrupted right below us?”
By the look on Lisa’s face, that was exactly what she was telling them.
Mark quickly realized he had never questioned it when he first arrived, he knew the underground had to be affected, but he just assumed it was taken care of. What he had seen below Oscar’s building was starting to make more sense.
“The army ran multiple raids into the underground but they were never able to clear out the tunnels completely. Collapses and complications made it impossible. So the next best thing was to seal them up. Unfortunately, while that did work, it left them down there to fester. Now Dungeons are starting to pop up, and to make matters worse they are feeding into one another. Those of us who aren't willing to ignore the problem have taken to calling the underground, the Dungeon City because of its size. That is the ‘city’ Nathan is referring to”
None of them spoke as they digested the new information. Mark had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but he expected it to come from the people in the city, not under them. The thin layer of stone and concrete was the only thing keeping the delicate balance in the city. All it would take was time.
Davis who was next to Ethel couldn’t help the outburst as anger crept into his tone.
“If that's the case then why isn't the army doing anything, why aren't they helping you? We could evacuate people.”
Lisa looked dissatisfied that Davis would speak out.
“They are helping by keeping everyone calm. In case you haven't noticed the world is pretty fucked up at the moment. They are hanging onto any semblance of order they can right now. And as far as evacuation goes, I think you already know the answer to that?!”
Lisa seemed to get a hold of herself, turning away from Davis and addressing Jonathan.
“Right now things are stable and it can remain that way, but we need to act. We’ve been putting together an expedition, but as of now, we are moving things forward. I need every capable man and woman I can get. So if helping you with the Loyalists, secures me your assistance I’m willing to take that chance.”
Ethel had kept silent the whole exchange and now she spoke up.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but what do you get out of this all? What is your plan? Is it really just to help the people in this city?”
Lisa glanced at Ethel and seemed to come to a conclusion.
“The plan is simple, we have determined that amongst the Dungeons there is a point at which all of them intersect, unless we destroy this ‘Nexus’ point, the outer Dungeons will keep popping up faster. Eventually, faster than even we can contain. What we want is simple, if we survive this, we will claim those Dungeons as our own, and use them to further strengthen our people. I say ‘survive’ because have no doubts, this is dangerous, we don’t quite know what we will find down there”
As she spoke, their motivation became more apparent, and while it sounded like they wanted to build a monopoly over the Dungeons in the city, Mark couldn’t care less. There was plenty of apocalypse to go around. The net result was helping the city, and honestly, the transparency was refreshing. The loyalists all seemed to be vying for different outcomes, and so did every other faction out there. NAS simply wanted to get stronger, a goal Mark shared.
He looked over to Ethel, Jonathan, and Sam. All of them seemed to be thinking it over.
In a perfect world, they would have had time to think this offer through and get back to them. But they weren't in a perfect world, or even a favorable one and that was all Mark needed to make up his mind.
Lisa looked at the three of them in turn.
“I say all of this now, but it's a maze down there, these first few trips are just to see what we are dealing with. Even if we knew the exact location, fighting through the sheer number of Corrupted would be our biggest problem. So what do you say? You work with us to get down there and we’ll keep the Loyalists off your back in the meantime”
Ethel and Davis still had hesitant expressions, Sam and Jonathan did not. The three of them exchanged glances and Sam tapped Jonathan on the shoulder. He cleared his throat offering his hand.
“Alright, we’ll help you, if you can keep Oscar occupied… and a cut of the outer Dungeons as our own.”
Lisa grinned like she had expected nothing less.
“Deal, You three arrive here at twelve tomorrow, our next dive is happening then. I don’t need any of your people until the final phases. We need quality right now.”
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Mark’s brow twitched at the last sentence, he noticed across the conversation, how little thought Lisa gave anyone she did not deem her equal in strength.
After they had agreed, they discussed the details of the plan but then said their goodbyes, if they were going to come back here tomorrow they had a lot to prepare. On top of that, they still had to deal with the aftermath of last night's battle, Oscar had thrown a wrench in their plans, but it had led to them once more discovering that nowhere was safe in their new world, not even the last hold out of New York.
When they got back Sam and Ethel moved to tackle the large number of tasks that had piled up during the couple of hours they had been gone. Mark was making his way with Jonathan inside before heading out to the clinic and workshop respectively.
Chloe met them in the lobby with Karter and Daphne beside her.
“What the heck just happened? Our percentages just tanked and then went right back up.”
Ethel pulled them along as she went, explaining what had happened as concisely as she could. Karter told them that Gibby was back and sorting out the new intakes and consolidating their new patrol routes to account for their new territory.
Jude had joined George in the workshop, and the two were getting along like a pair of old friends.
At the same time, Karter turned to Mark.
“Listen, a short while ago a representative from the Church of Brilliance arrived here for you. I put them in one of the meeting rooms since you said they would be coming, but they have been waiting a while”
Mark nodded and split off from the group, heading towards the room.
He found a group of people waiting in the room with their familiar robes. They were seated in prayer, but as he entered they all broke from their fixed postures.
Mark recognized one of them from the group that followed Patrica around. Approaching, the guy inclined his head.
“The lord of brilliance greets you, I have the promised item for the exchange here.”
At the same time, he pulled out an oddly shaped ring made of what looked like amethyst from his inventory. Mark took it and checked the stats, comparing them to the purifier's presence.
Item: Purifiers presence (Ring)
Item lvl: 36
Resistance + 180
Prana + 35
Description: While at 0.0% Corruption, the user's presence purifies the world around them.
[Repel Corruption] persists in a radius of 20 meters around the user.
(Set bonus: 1/7)
Repel Corruption - Rank 1
Corruption fears your very presence. The surrounding area’s Corruption rate around the caster counts as one level lower
Item: Wellspring of [Soul] (Ring)
Item lvl: 41
Resistance + 205
Prana + 40
Description: Prana can be stored in reserve for later use up to a limit of 50 Prana. (Warning: the item must be worn or the stored energy will scatter)
(Set bonus: 1/3)
Mark read the new item over, it was stronger in terms of stats and the ability was certainly more useful to him right now. The set bonus gave him pause, three of them kind of made sense and alluded to there being one for each attribute.
Nodding Mark took off Purifiers presence and handed it over. Placing the new ring on. Right now his reserves were low so he couldn’t fill the ring just yet but he could feel that he’d just need to imagine transferring energy over and it would move. This was the first time he could move Prana into an inanimate object other than the conduit. But then, it did state that if it didn’t have contact with him, it would lose the energy. So, perhaps the item acted as an extension of his core.
The man thanked Mark and the Purifiers presence entered his inventory. They left shortly after that as Mark still had a lot to do today. Heading over to the Clinic he saw that Tommis had gotten a lot done. The shell of a building had quickly become the bare bones of a working clinic. It was almost ready to start taking patients, but there were a couple of things Mark wanted to see before they opened the doors. For one, the guard unit Karter had sent was in place and Donny was working with Franklin to find fighters he could count on. The next was making people aware that their clinic was here, however, that problem seemed to take care of itself as the day went on.
While Mark was working he got a link from Sam to her latest video. Upon opening it Mark saw a familiar sight as Sam walked through their building. She had the camera turned on herself and her usual bubbly smile rested on her lips.
“Hello everyone, I’m here today to clarify some things. There is a video of me floating around the internet welcoming all-comers to The Order of the Sage. That video is absolutely true. I, along with my close allies have started this faction to help people help themselves. As long as you are willing to work, we are willing to provide. We are not affiliated with the army, but if you have the chance please do not hesitate to let them assist you. At the same time, I will settle the rumors of our border disputes with local factions. They are resolved, as such we will deal with any such threats to our people in the same manner”
Sam had arrived in the lobby by now and Mark could see familiar faces moving busily through the space. Her smile twitched for just a moment, and a look of bashfulness flashed across her face before disappearing.
“I also want to take this time to officially invite anyone suffering from any injuries, wounds, or sickness to our territory. The Order of the Sage is officially opening its doors to anyone in need at a low cost. At the same time, we are also beginning a line of system items called the Sages wares… For anyone still out there, stay safe and work to strengthen yourselves… I hope we can meet one day. ”
Mark couldn’t help the grin spreading across his face, this had Ethel written all over it. Sam had accomplished quite a lot with the short video. She had announced their independence and willingness to take on people, while not driving people away from the army. At the same time, she had also drummed up anticipation for their faction.
The comments were as he expected, full of questions and trolls. However, he noticed their questions were again being answered in real-time. Ethel must have gotten a team together for exactly this.
Mark was still reading the comments when another video came through. The person had tagged the video with a response and they had a good number of followers too. Mark quickly realized that this was one of their neighboring factions. They were making complaints about how they handled things. Not five minutes later, another faction that Mark had never heard of but assumed were somewhere in the city defended them, stating that they should be able to protect themselves. The conversations quickly got out of hand, as things on the internet often did, with over a dozen different groups all picking sides.
By the time Mark got back to the base Ethel was ready with more work for him, when she handed it over she grabbed his hand in hers.
“Mark, are you sure about this? We made this decision rather hastily. I know better than anyone it was necessary to deal with Oscar but if you have any doubts about this you need to speak up.”
Mark looked down at the older woman, as powerful as the system had made her, she still felt guilty for Oscar's actions. Beneath all of this, they were all still human.
Of course, this was happening quickly but Mark would always fall back on his old motto. Adapt or die. The three of them would join up with another team tomorrow and head straight into the bowls of the corrupted territory, of course, that was worrying but no more than anything else he had had to survive until now.
Mark reassured the woman by placing his hand over hers, he didn't need to say a word for her to know he was willing to take this on.
When she saw his steady gaze, she smiled and let him go.
“Fine, enough said… I like that look in your eye, try and hold onto it.”
Mark just smiled at her and moved to find Jonathan and Sam. If they were going to battle tomorrow then they needed the get one more [Meditation] session in. Especially since Jonathan was still very much hurt, the extra energy would allow Mark to focus on healing him as quickly as possible.