As it turned out Ethel was right. The cell networks went down due to a crippling volume of calls, however, that didn’t mean they were completely cut off. Some government organization was keeping a majority of the internet running so as long as you could still connect to Wifi you were good.
Luckily as fate would have it they had chosen to spend the night in a Mall. One of the best places to be if you wanted to bum free Wifi.
Mark was currently laying on his back in a commandeered sleeping bag, staring up at his phone. He was trying to get more info on the current situation outside. From the looks of things out there, shit was not going well. Nowhere was unaffected, even the safe zones. This was starting to look less like a localized event and more like a nationwide emergency.
There were people commenting online saying there were rumors that the army was spread too thin and that soon they would have to abandon some of the outer safety zones to retreat inward towards Manhattan.
To counter this officials were stating that if this were the case a formal statement would be issued informing the public. Sadly there are more trolls on the internet than stars in the sky and most official posts were buried under a tide of randomness, chaos, and desperation.
‘Who the heck has time to post Condescending Wonka memes during the apocalypse?’ he thought.
From what he could tell Prospect Park was still up and running as a protected zone.
Then Mark came across something that explained a lot about the situation under the bridge. It seemed that the ichor could move as long as it wasn't exposed to sunlight. People were cautioning against going underground as places like subways were becoming spawning grounds for these creatures.
There were multiple cases of large amounts of ichor bunching together and creating stronger creatures.
Mark eventually closed the news app and went scouring the bulletin boards for more info on the system.
He checked his posts first. Opening the one he had put up near the beginning, which he had so aptly named “Shh.. officials will hate you for this one easy cheat method to finding your energy center”.
He was surprised to find it was currently one of the top ten most upvoted posts at the moment.
To be honest he was happy that people were taking this seriously and trying to find ways to help themselves. Looking at the comments people were spamming him for more tips and posts.
This reminded him, he went over to his other Post about Prana and found after the initial downvoting, people had started flocking to the article. It had rapidly gained popularity. Mark was even more excited about this post. If there were more healers out there because of a single post online then it was definitely worth it.
He started creating a new thread about his experiences with Mana and spell creation. Also going into detail about how he had acquired the [Prana pulse] spell and what it did.
While he was looking through the popular comments he found one that seemed to be pinned to the front page by a moderator.
It was clearly posted by someone that played a good number of video games or was heavily into Dungeons and Dragons.
It went on to speak about build predictions and that each combination of stats represented a different class. There were six main builds he could see as being viable possibilities.
Posted by Gam3rGob - 16 hours ago
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Aura - Warrior: a close-ranged combatant that deals damage with their body or weapons.
Mana - Caster: a ranged combatant that uses spells to accomplish a number of different tasks.
Prana - Healer: a close-ranged non-combatant that can heal and regenerate wounds.
Aura + Mana - Spellsword: close-ranged combatant with a number of spells at their disposal
Aura + Prana - Paladin: close-ranged combatant with the ability to deliver healing.
Mana + Prana - Priest: ranged combatant with the ability to heal and provide buffs or control.
Note: any connection to religious figures is purely coincidence and is only used as a broad catch-all term.
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Upvotes: 54 561
Downvotes: 2945
Mark found himself liking the post, as it gave a framework for people to use. It would allow people to quickly state their strengths without having to give away their raw stat distribution.
He saw he was already probably following the Priest's path. He would imagine that the combination classes were probably weaker than if one were to pick a single stat to focus on, but what they lost in power they made up for in flexibility. Luckily with his additional stats, he wouldn't lose out to a pure Prana caster. Mark didn't know if he liked the names but they would have to do for now.
He was about to close out and try to get some sleep before his watch when a video was posted by one of the accounts he followed.
Looking it over he saw it was by @SamanthaD the girl from that video he saw on the boat.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Their whole plan had been heavily based on the original video that these two put up, so he followed both of them after that. Hoping that if there were any updates, they'd be the ones to post.
He navigated to the video and pressed play.
It started with a close-up of Samantha, only this time she was the one holding the camera. The room around her was well light and upon closer inspection, Mark was pretty sure she was in some kind of army tent. She looked radiant and content.
“Hey everyone, Sam here, I have some info I thought you guys should hear. And to deliver this news is Major Dureal”
The camera flipped around to face an older gentleman, he was dressed to the nines, adorned with medals and service ribbons. He looked to be in his service dress uniform. His demeanor was that of a strong and experienced officer. Without much delay, he began speaking.
“Good evening fellow citizens, at around 2100 hours tonight we received multiple eyewitness reports of the discovery of a new nocturnal creature. This creature is bat-like in nature and consider dangerous in groups, do not underestimate their size. They have been reported seen all over Manhatten, Queens, and Brooklyn. It is recommended that you seek shelter during the night and do not travel at this time until we can confirm their threat level. Our sources say they’re weak to physical assault and seem to have some sort of mental attack when they gather together in large numbers.
As a side, we have noticed a shift in overall animal behavior. This means domesticated animals too as both were reported to be mutating at accelerated rates. We'll keep you informed as we are.
God bless America, That will be all.”
The camera flipped back to Samantha.
“Well guys, there you have it.
On a happier note, Elite parties of soldiers will begin rescue missions throughout the city tomorrow, myself and Jonathan included, should you come across any soldiers wearing blue arm bands please seek their help, they will guide you to the nearest safe zones.
Everyone keep helping your neighbor don't take any unnecessary risks. Slow and steady toward our goals people, we will get through this. Sam out.” she smiled while flashing the peace sign.
Mark was frustrated with the length of the video, it was just an info dump. Though he appreciated them informing everyone of the new threat and not keeping it to themselves. They already didn’t like the idea of traveling at night and now it just became even more dangerous. At least they found out through a video and not in the field.
He opened the comment section to see if they had attached any extra information.
Already people were hard at work commenting on the video. Wanting to know where these rescue teams were being deployed. Or how dangerous these creatures were and if they could be avoided.
A few thirsty individuals were even making comments like “Sam can rescue me any day” or worse.
Mark turned off his phone deciding that that was enough internet for today and to try and get some sleep before his watch. He wasn't sure how tomorrow would go but he hoped he could at least convince Donny to help. One thing was certain he had noticed a change in how Donny treated all of them, He seemed withdrawn to all but Grace. Mark didn't like the signs
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Grace POV
Grace sat with her back up against one of the walls. It was early morning. She was last watch for the night and had spent the better part of her time thinking through the current problem. She bit her lip, she just knew Mark would make things difficult tomorrow. Why couldn't he just leave this alone, they were struggling enough as it was just getting to a safe zone. But Grace was certain he would vote to help Ethel and there was no doubt Daphne would follow his lead. She had become a completely different person ever since Mark had gotten into her head.
Grace bit her lip and opened her menu. She was navigating to a certain spell.
Name: Grace Winters (21 - F) Level: 4 Next level: 8/16 Stats: Resistance Aura Mana Prana 5 2 32 (+5) 5 Unspent stat points - 0 Corruption value: 0.0%
Spells:
Lightening bolt[2], Persuasion[2].
Persuasion - Rank 2
Through the subtle use of Mana, the user may affect the outcomes and decisions of others. Subtly changing their thoughts to follow the user's will. Works best through repeated use, making anyone affected more susceptible to future castings.
The strength of the compulsion is based on the user's Mana attribute compared to the target.
Effect heavily reduced to those of equal or higher Mana attribute than the caster.
Warning: This spell is not considered Prohibited however may lead to the unlocking of other Prohibited spells.
She was so happy when she unlocked this spell, because, in her mind, it meant she was supposed to lead others. Why would the system give her the spell otherwise? She was only doing this because they weren't listening to her and she need to get them to safety. This wasn't real mind control, it just allowed her to nudge them in the right direction.
She was pretty sure Mark had seen her use the spell involuntarily when she had first gotten it. But she had been extra careful around him since, only testing it out when she was alone with Donny.
It had been working too, he was slowly starting to think for himself and not just blindly follow Mark's orders.
It had been working so well that she was considering starting on Daphne next, but she had to be careful because any big changes and Mark would notice.
If that happened the deal was off.
He seemed immune altogether which was frustrating because she was sure his Mana was lower than hers. She overheard Mark saying his Mana stat was the same as Donny’s, testing his spell earlier in the evening. The only thing she could think of was that his Resistance was adding enough defense to his Mana to offset her higher Mana stat. So if she just kept putting points into her Mana her stats would eventually overpower his. She wanted to keep him because his healing was valuable. Not to mention his ability to learn from the system was insane. She had found herself jealous of him on more than one occasion. He seemed to just pull spells from thin air. She had been struggling all night and hadn't come up with even a hint of a spell.
She was contemplating this when inspiration struck. Sure she couldn't use [persuaion] on him but why did she need to?
If Ethel was to be believed then there was an entire group of survivors somewhere in this mall. If she could get to them then why the hell would she need Mark? Surely one of them would have picked up Prana.
If they tried to help tomorrow and it all went sideways she could blame it on him. Showing everyone he was not the leader they needed. If it went well then she wouldn't need this little group anymore. She could make sure that everyone knew that this was his plan and that failure rested on his shoulders. She could even make up some nonsense about wanting him to teach her in exchange for helping. Maybe if he could teach her that spell to make shields, then this wouldn’t be an entire waste of her time.
Her goals began to shift. If at all possible she would save those poor trapped souls.
She smiled to herself, she won either way. It may take a little bit longer than she had originally hoped for but that was Mark's fault. Eventually, he’d either fall in line or she’d discard him.