Unfortunately, as useful as [Animated Mind] was, it was not the most subtle of techniques. Mark had attempted to dull the light they gave off, as well as shrink their size down but there were practical limits to compressing them too much.
Before coming to this gathering, Mark had toyed around with a simplified healing version of the spell.
The result was a stop-gap measure at best, only capable of applying a broad [Regenerate], by saturating the person with Prana and letting the energy go where it was needed.
Mark recognized its inefficiency, but making the spell too complex risked it failing to activate.
Every injury is unique, and if Mark could predict what wounds he’d encounter, he’d be able to program the spell accordingly, but because each injury has different circumstances, telling the spell exactly what to fix was impossible. So he went the other way, if he could not be efficient he’d be generous.
Mark had not thrown out the idea of programming one massive spell to deal with all wounds efficiently, but the shell alone would be huge, and it would take far more time than he had right now.
Of course, he had charged the orbs up to his limit in preparation for this dive but in the grand scheme of things, he hoped it would be enough.
It was also for this reason when Lisa made her way over to their order, that her eyes fell on the two orbs hovering just over Mark’s shoulders.
With a satisfied grin playing on her lips, she inclined her head the bearest of amounts. She wore the same armor and titanic sword, but a new piece of equipment graced her features. A circlet made of red obsidian adorned her head with stripes of black and ruby, adding an imposing air to her.
“Greetings, Order of the Sage. I can see you’ve all worked hard to level up. To simplify things, I need one of your pillars to follow me, I’ll explain the plan as well as what parts you will be responsible for.”
Before anything could go any further, a member of NAS approached Lisa, and as subtly as one could, surrounded by Aura-enhanced hearing, whispered.
Mark never heard what the man said, but he saw Lisa’s brow knit together.
“She is a dedicated young woman, if she has not arrived then something must have prevented her from being here. Unfortunately, we can’t wait. Pull one of the healers from team thirty-one to lead her team.”
The man made a short salute and he was off. Lisa moved away at a more measured pace and Sam fell into step with her.
Mark watched them move towards the next group and with nothing else to do other than to stare at the now gloomy weather, Mark pulled up his prompts while sitting down amidst the many multitude of people. He’d almost forgotten that he had a spell to improve.
354 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(354)
20 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed(40)
17 x Corrupted Ghoul cleansed(51)
182 x Corrupted Ghast cleansed(364)
1 x Corrupted Titan cleansed(10)
Partial exp awarded to (2 users - expand list)(1252)
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(1252)
998 System Points awarded
2601/2601
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Name: Mark Young (22 - M)
Level: 51
Next level: 573/2704
Stats:
Resistance
Aura
Mana
Prana
1534(+2) [1400]
0 [+25]
281[+70]
752 (+19, +2, +16)[+155]
Unspent stat points - 10
Corruption value: 24.68% [+0%] - 24.68%
System Points: 13588.0
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[14], Sculpt Mana(Force)[9], Invigorate[10], Cleansing surge[9], Read Memory[2], Mind Spike[4], Earth Control[9], Light Control[6], Bestowal[8], Telekinesis[9], Benediction[3], Nature control[6], Telepathic link[5], Animated Mind[3].
World inventory. Marketplace. Trade
Mark’s intention was still to upgrade [Invigorate], but looking at the kills he’d gotten down in the training ground, he realized that it was just enough to push him to the next level. Some simple math told him that he was only three points shy of breaking into the next bracket of Prana regeneration. Without much thought, he allocated his remaining attributes to Prana.
Suddenly, Mark felt his chest constrict, and his breath caught in his throat.
There was no air, nothing Mark could pull into his lungs, as though the world had suddenly become a void.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
It was only after a moment of panic that Mark realized his body was not crying out for air, but Prana. Mark's mind flipped and he turned his eyes to the simply staggering amount of ambient Prana in the air around them. The thousands of people packed into this space had provided everything he needed.
Mark took a breath.
Drawing in as much energy as he could gulp down. And it responded, rushing to his call. Breath filled his lungs, unclenching his airways, and filling them with power.
The whole ordeal was barely noticeable from an outsider's point of view and Mark just took a moment to regain his breath.
He had not expected that at all. It hadn’t felt like that the previous times, and yet he knew that was only a warning of what was to come. The system was improving their bodies so gradually that a single point was bearly noticeable, but Mark was not fooled, the system was changing the very baseline of what a human was.
Mark felt lucky he was where he was when he put those points in, or that would have been distinctly more unpleasant. He made a note to be near a ton of people whenever he next advanced.
Straightening back up, Mark looked around. None seemed to notice his strange behavior though perhaps a few were looking around at the sudden moment of energy, but as a whole, they couldn’t pinpoint him. Mark glanced to the side only to see Daphne’s face etched with lines across her forehead.
“You good babe?”
Mark nodded warmly and placed a nearby hand over hers. He explained what had happened through a [Telepathic link] and also sent it to everyone else so they knew what to expect. Jonathan didn’t say anything, but Mark could see the guy knew exactly what he was talking about.
When he was done Mark closed his eyes to trigger the improvement for [Invigorate]. He had thought about what he needed from the spell and it was just too important to risk changing too drastically, so he decided against evolving it.
Then came the problem of what to add. As the system unraveled the spell in front of him, Mark could see it was not an overly complex one. Three strands, and now he would be adding a fourth. The spell already replenished physical energy and gave the receiver a minor mental jolt to boot, but what would further develop the spell?
At first, Mark had thought of just improving its duration so a slow release was achieved, but the answer came to Mark when he remembered his battle within the arena. Mainly against Terry and Bonnie—whom he had not yet seen but was sure were here somewhere—when they infused their music with intense emotions.
Now, Mark could not add that level of potency into a spell without modifiers, but he could achieve a simpler result. Prana rushing through a person had a similar effect to a dopamine hit. What he wanted was to not only give someone the strength to keep fighting, but a reason to as well. A flash of hope, even when things weren’t looking good. Enough to keep fighting when all one wanted to do was to fall. Mark had seen it happen and it had probably led to the most deaths in the beginning.
Selecting his Intent carefully, Mark began to weave it into the spell.
Spirit.
The spell groaned under the pressure of the intent. Mark had long since known that all threads had different inherent ‘weights’. Simple and specific words held less meaning and therefore less overall power. The thread he’d chosen was neither of those two things. Loading the spell with this particular intent was ambitious, to say the least. Like powering a flashlight with a nuclear power station, but it was too late to stop now. Mark watched the spell as it broke down and reformed around the new intents, unable to find a balance. The system did not care what intents Mark had picked and simply tried to bond them together. If the threads rejected each other then Mark had a feeling he would be left with a useless or even unusable spell.
Without much choice, Mark watched the process, without knowing what was going on in there, his helping might be similar to shoving his hand into working machinery.
Luckily, after some time, the spell became more stable and he knew it would succeed. A new screen popped up as if to confirm his thoughts.
Congratulations [Invigorate] has been improved, rank limit increased to 20!
Through the flooding use of Prana, the user can stoke the spirit of all things to replenish what was lost.
Recover stamina and mental fortitude at the cost of Prana.
Elevate cognitive and emotional feedback exponentially.
Warning: No upper limit found (Potential for harm - spell offers no protection against overuse).
Mark was happy with the outcome and was just about to hit himself with a dose when Sam arrived near them.
“Alright, it looks like we are part of the third stage. The first two are going to break into the lower levels and open up a path for us. That way our retreat won’t be compromised and we’ll be fresh by the time we get to the heart of the problem. For now, things have already kicked off.”
Mark's eyes darted to the entrance to see the first groups were already closing rank and moving in.
“We’re on standby for now so we’re moving over to a designated area.”
Mark was not against the plan, it had some downtime now, but soon enough they’d be up to their eyeballs in Corrupted. Jonathan on the other hand, paced in the area like a trapped animal. He was itching to leave, Sam tried to reason with him, and it worked at first, but then Mark saw the last person, or people he expected to see arriving in their area.
A group of Loyalist soldiers guided Lieutenant Bix, along with Lieutenant Nole. They were focused on creating a perimeter around a civilian delivery truck. Whatever they were hauling was massive, and judging by the strength of the guards it was important.
However, as interesting as the scene was, it paled in comparison to the sight of Oscar standing atop the truck as it pulled into the area. Behind him was the large man who had protected Oscar previously, watching over their surroundings. He carried a large weapon case on his back that could only contain some sort of high-caliber rifle.
Oscar had chosen the most eye-catching, obnoxious entrance as if to taunt all parties involved. Judging by the way Jonathan had gone still, it had worked.
His breathing accelerated and both Mark and Sam stepped in his line of sight. Jonathan’s face was a mask of rage and restraint.
Lisa along with Nathan seemed the have expected Oscar’s arrival because they stepped in to intercept the convoy.
Mark, Sam, and Jonathan broke away from their team and headed towards the truck.
It was only now that familiar faces from NAS began to show up. Terry and Bonnie were seen walking parallel with Mark’s group. Henry and Felix brought up the rear as though their bodyguards.
When Bonnie glanced over and saw the three of them she jabbed Terry in the ribs and waved to them.
They were close enough that Mark could hear Lisa greeting them on arrival.
Oscar jumped down from the top of the vehicle and stepped to the front. Searching the crowd, the corners of his mouth turned up when his eyes fell on the three of them.
“Afternoon, Ms. Howl. We’ve arrived as requested with the items.”
Lisa did not look impressed.
“I was not told you would be the one to complete the delivery.”
Oscar simply tugged at the cuffs of his sleeves.
“Ah, well. With the main force on the wall. I was the best choice to ‘Guard’ the package.”
Oscar looked delighted, his choice of words leaving no room for misunderstanding.
Lisa ground her teeth and carefully measured her words.
“I cannot have you on the grounds while this operation is underway.”
“Are you sure that's your decision, if so we can turn right around. I heard you had to give up half your claim to the dungeons down there to get this approved.”
Oscar rapped his knuckle against the hollow metal of the truck and its engine roared to life once more.
Lisa’s narrowed her gaze on the man, her form unmoving.
“I could take it from you.”
“With these numbers? You could, but we both know what they will do to get this back. It would be all-out war.”
Lisa glanced back at Nathan and her shoulder unbunched.
“Fine but you’re remaining right where I can see you.”
Oscar looked satisfied but Jonathan began to move towards the two.
Pushing his way through the crowd he arrived at the front, next to Lisa. Sam and Mark moved in behind him to reinforce him.
“Lisa! What the hell is going on? I will not work with this man.”
Lisa released a tortured breath and turned to look at Jonathan. Oscar on the other hand was more than happy to speak first, if only to prod at open wounds.
“Ah my boy, there you are. It was rather rude of you to leave without saying goodbye last time. Regardless, don’t butt in while the grown-ups are talking.”
Jonathan refused to look at the man, instead keeping his focus on Lisa.
“You understand that by the end of this, that man will get whatever he came here for. And it’ll be us that has to clean up after him, that is if we live through it. Do not do this.”
Jonathan no longer looked angry just concerned.
Lisa looked at Nathan once more, who had remained unreadable the entire time. Nodding to herself she turned to look at the three of them.
“I get you have your concerns. And I promise, I will uphold my end of the bargain. But quite frankly you are not working with him, I am. And I will choose how this mission proceeds.”