The morning mist clung to the roads and buildings below Mark. If it weren't for the throngs of injured waiting outside the healer's house, Mark would have lost his way. Lowering his altitude through the brisk air, he saw the snaking lines of people trailing to the hospital like breadcrumbs.
Mark had already visited his clinic to help out, and while he was dealing with patients, he noticed the same problem as last time. Matching the strength of his healers to the strength of his patients. As small as the problem sounded, it mattered greatly when lives were on the line.
Deciding he needed a solution Mark went looking for the Doc.
Landing beside the rows of people Mark glanced over the array of faces here. Many held discontent or even anger as they saw him cutting the line and walking in the direction of the entrance.
No one stopped him though until he got nearer to the motorized glass doors.
“Sir, can I help you? Do you need healing or is there another reason you are here?”
The voice was polite yet firm, used to dealing with fussy patients.
Nodding at the nurse he said.
“I’m an old friend of Dr. Friedrich and wondered if you could pass a message along that Mark Young was here to see him. It’ll only take a couple of minutes of his time.”
The young woman seemed to hesitate but after a secondary glance at Mark, she pulled out a smartphone.
Paging the Doc for him.
“Please understand that our Doctors are busy people so if he doesn't respond I’ll have to ask you to try again later. If you are wasting either of our times, I will call the enforcers.”
Mark just agreed with the woman; he knew better than to get on a nurse’s bad side for no reason.
She was just about to walk away when the device buzzed. The woman halted her retreat to look over the message.
With brows raised she said.
“Right, it looks like he’ll see you, but he’s in the OR at the moment. He says to make yourself useful while he finishes up.”
Mark nodded at this, he had to meet up with Karter and Jonathan later, but for now, he had time.
“Alright, if you have a corner for me to work I can help heal patients.”
One thing Mark always admired about the nursing profession was how adaptable and efficient they were.
The woman looked at him with narrowed eyes but there was no hesitation in her next actions.
Having him follow her, she deposited him in a small room with a single seat and gurney, partitioned off by a thin curtain. It was set up in the ER as a temporary working space, but it was spotless.
Mark noted that there were several other spaces like this setup, probably for healers that popped in at any given time.
The woman left him to go and gather patients, while Mark donned the disposable scrubs over his armor. When he was done he consolidated the gains he had received last night and the last couple of days.
Source: Mediation (+21 Prana, +42 exp points)
Congratulations [Invigorate] has improved!
[Invigorate] has reached Rank 10.
The user may now improve an aspect of the existing spell or Evolve the spell into something new.
Improve/Evolve
Congratulations [Telepathic link] has improved!
Congratulations [Nature control] has improved!
963 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(963)
115 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed(230)
66 x Corrupted Ghoul cleansed(198)
589 x Corrupted Ghast cleansed(1178)
8 x Corrupted Titan cleansed(80)
4 x Corrupted Behemoth cleansed(60)
Partial exp awarded to (5 users - expand list)(4632)
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(4632)
4492 System Points awarded
2304/2304
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
2401/2401
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
2500/2500
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+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Name: Mark Young (22 - M)
Level: 50
Next level: 1002/2601
Stats:
Resistance
Aura
Mana
Prana
1532(+6) [1400]
0 [+25]
281[+70]
715 (+6, +40,+30)[+155]
Unspent stat points - 0
Corruption value: 68.38% [+0%] - 68.38%
System Points: 12590.0
Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical), Limit release(Mental), Joint casting.
Spells: Passive Regeneration(Self)[9], Force bolt[18], Prana Pulse[9], Regenerate[9], Draw Corruption[6], Corruption recovery[13], Sculpt Mana(Force)[8], Invigorate[10], Cleansing surge[9], Read Memory[2], Mind Spike[4], Earth Control[9], Light Control[6], Bestowal[8], Telekinesis[8], Benediction[3], Nature control[5], Telepathic link[5], Animated Mind[2].
World inventory. Marketplace. Trade
There was a lot to go through. Two days spent clearing out an infested campus could do that. Mark was especially happy with his personal kills. His [Animated minds] were covering a good deal of territory. He couldn’t wait to get working on another.
At the same time, Mark looked at his natural Prana attribute. It was sitting at 530 and if his math was right he only needed seventy more Prana to make it to the next regeneration threshold. So he decided to dump all his remaining points into his Prana to bring him up to 560.
Corruption was coming down nicely, but he would need a bit more time to remove it entirely. That only left him with the problem of [Invigorate], he had decided to put its evolution on hold for now and think about what he wanted from the spell. As it was right now, it was a powerful tool in his arsenal, and changing it too much was risky.
Mark was staring at his status when the curtain was parted and the nurse stuck her head into the space.
“I’m ready when you are; here’s the chart from the first patient.”
Standing, Mark moved towards the curtain and indicated for her to begin. What followed was a turnaround time that Mark could never have managed before the fall.
With the first patient, a middle-aged father and his son, Mark reviewed the chart and healed the torn ligaments in his lower back. The man was trained well and at a pretty high level, he had most likely gotten hurt while protecting his son.
The file was so in-depth that Mark didn’t need to waste energy on [Prana pulse], if he sensed something else wrong then he would take a look, but on the whole, the nurses had done their jobs well.
The man and his son were walking out with Mark, almost as soon as they entered.
The nurse helping him looked back in surprise and Mark nodded to the next patient. He could see she had pulled a smaller line of patients in front of his curtain and had their files neatly on a desk outside. Handing him the next one, Mark took a man about his age, dressed in the loyalist's colors back, only to step back out for his next patient shortly. At this rapid pace, the nurse soon had to call for more help from her colleagues and Mark put them to the test. No sooner had he taken the next patient, than he was ushering them out the other side and calling for the next. He noticed a good deal of them were fighters and would normally take others a fair amount of Prana. Luckily for Mark, only people as strong as Jonathan or Lisa gave him pause nowadays.
Of course, this was nowhere near as fast as the mass healing event he had performed a short while ago, but it was incredibly cost-effective on his Prana.
Each time Mark popped back out from behind the material portal his line would be a little longer and the nurses a little more frazzled. The nurse who had first met him kept checking if he had enough energy to keep going and he reassured her he was fine. By the time he reached about a third of his Prana capacity and went to take his next. He found Dr. Friedrich standing in front of his line.
Grinning at the man, Mark greeted him.
“Ah there you are Doc, I’m almost tapped out, be with you in a second.”
Friedrich shook his head subtly and put up a hand.
“I think that's enough for now, You are overworking my people.”
A glance around showed that the four nurses who had been helping him for the last while were looking worse for wear.
“Oh, my bad. Thanks, everyone, you did great.”
Looking at the line extending out the door, Mark expanded a construct and released a wave of Prana, healing the remaining portion of his line. It was not energy efficient, but at least they’d be healed.
Nodding to himself Mark turned to let the Doc lead the way.
Friedrich was squinting at him.
“What?” Mark said.
“Nothing, just follow me.”
Friedrich guided him through the bustling corridors until they reached a lively staff cafeteria, where the clatter of cutlery, the aroma of various dishes, and the hum of animated conversations filled the air
Grabbing one of the black plastic trays and dropping it with a clatter onto the metal rail, Friedrich slid it up to the first window.
“Grab something if you want; I’m paying,” he said as he loaded jello cups onto his tray.
Grinning to himself, Mark grabbed his board and plate. Loading it with steaming food and plenty of snacks. Like Trail mix, Granola bars, and of course apples
“So, what do you want? Other than giving my people headaches.”
Mark choked down his bite of the granola bar and explained the problem he had encountered.
Friedrich berated him for a couple of minutes and then went on to give his solution.
Which boiled down to dividing their groups by level ranges by creating an area where each group could gather to be treated.
As simple as it sounded there was a reason so many lines spiraled away from the healer's house because every five levels a new line was created. As a general rule of thumb the higher the level, the more Prana one would need to have to treat them.
Mark took this into account but if he wanted to do it he would need a good number more healers than he currently had, or the most popular routes would always be exhausted.
Friedrich gave him a couple of other ideas to try but eventually, they fell on more casual topics. Mark simply enjoyed talking to the blunt doctor.
He explained what he had been doing since, and found out that Friedrich had been given a Chief Medical Officer position within the building.
As Mark expected, the man only accepted because it meant he could fix more people. That being said his magic was coming along nicely and he had started buying items to make up for his lack of Prana.
Mark had been enjoying himself so much that he only realized he was late for the meeting when he glanced up at the large clock on the cafeteria wall. Raising to his feet Mark said his goodbyes to the Doc and rushed out of the room. Taking to the air as soon as the sky opened up above him.
By the time he got back to their territory, he decided he was late enough to just go directly to the location they had talked about.
In the morning meeting, Jonathan made his desire to train more, known to everyone. This meant that he might be out of reach for long periods. He intended to go to Builders quarry as it was the most direct route to find Corrupted but after some thought, Mark had another idea.
What if they could find a place to train within their territory?
Forgetting for a moment that Jonathan could cross the city fairly fast if he put his mind to it, the same could not be said for their people.
Moving large amounts of fighters through the city had problems with time and permission. So what if stole an idea from Oscar's building?
Select a structure that was not in use and make an entrance into the underground where their fighters could train themselves.
It would have to be a defensible location but noting [Earth control] could not handle.
When Mark landed outside the storage facility he spotted Karter, Jonathan, Sam, and Metayo waiting.
Stepping over to them Mark immediately noticed the shimmering barrier Sam had wrapped tightly around herself and Jonathan. Mark sent a construct to encase them and used his will to help block the call of the mark. The pressure release was immediate and Mark felt guilty for losing track of time.
Sam pouted as she let out a sigh of relief
“Glad you could make it, you ready to do this?”
Mark nodded to the rest of them and they walked inside the double-story building, Metayo taking the lead with a rolled-up plan clutched in his palm.