The urge to retch woke Mark from a fitful slumber, bolting up in bed, he tried to tamper the nausea down with his energy, but all it did was make things worse. Mark could only lean off the side of the bed to bring up a mix of bile and black sludge. His brows rose when he saw the stuff moving as though dying. Tiny coils of ichor searched for anything to latch onto, smoke beginning to fizzle from its mass. The pale light streaming in through the gap in the boarded window boiling the stuff until it completely evaporated.
Mark tore his eyes away from the empty patch of carpet and looked around the room. It was completely bare save for the bed and a picture frame with a crack through it, probably the only furniture that survived the last invasion. Mark vaguely remembered Sam and Jonathan bringing him here last night, but he had to have slept more than he ever had since the fall. A full night's sleep showed just how beaten and bruised his body had been.
Mark still felt like he was drowning, but at least his head felt more level.
Rubbing his face with his hands, Mark began to form a plan of action.
He knew he couldn’t shove himself into work like that again, but that didn’t mean he had to sit here and wallow. He just needed something to keep himself occupied.
Deciding he needed to check his system out, Mark was about to bring up his prompts when he caught a whiff himself—four days of sweat, blood, and who knows what clung to him. Only partially washed away by a single damp cloth to make himself more presentable for the funeral.
Now was the time for a real shower. Grabbing onto that idea, Mark prayed they fixed the hot water before turning the stream of water to full.
Taking a look at himself in the mirror, Mark inspected the scared flesh.
His body was still lithe, though his chest and arms had gained some new muscle, courtesy of the Corruption.
Which in turn had left grey scar tissue over his arms where he’d blocked Grace’s claws. His tan had paled somewhat though he was pretty sure that was fixable with a bit of vitamin D and Prana.
The most noticeable changes were his nails and maybe his hair. Near the quick of the nailbed, a black hardened nail shone through, which tapered off towards the tip of the nail itself. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, but if anyone took a closer look it became obvious.
His hair was another story.
To those who didn’t know him, it was unnoticeable, however his light brown hair had deepened to a rich raven black. Grapsing a short strand between his fingers Mark felt the course texture had become smooth, even after weeks of neglect. Mismatched tufts of hair grew in at different speeds, where he’d be forced to regrow it. All in all, he was starting to look rather scruffy. Promising himself he’d try and find a barber in the apocalypse made him snicker halfheartedly.
When he hopped under the –thankfully warm– spray of water, Mark realized his toenails were the same as his fingers. The skin on his back was still a dull gray but he’d have to mess around with [Nature control] until he could fix it.
Once he was done Mark felt worlds better, he plopped down on the bed while drying his hair and finally got up the courage to open his menu.
When he did he was inundated with both old and new messages.
856 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(856)
463 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed(926)
244 x Corrupted Ghoul cleansed(732)
1261 x Corrupted Ghast cleansed(2522)
67 x Corrupted Naga cleansed(335)
45 x Corrupted Titan cleansed(450)
62 x Corrupted behemoth cleansed(630)
29 x Corrupted Leviathan cleansed(290)
Partial exp awarded to (925 users - expand list)(6252)
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(6252)
5898 System Points awarded
3249/3249
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
3364/3364
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
3481/3481
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Skill acquired: Limit release(Spiritual)
You have learned the soul can touch the intangible. More than that, in stretching your awareness beyond yourself, you are capable of reaching beyond the physical to your detriment
At the cost of spiritual stability, expand your soul to reach into the [Wastes].
The strength of this skill is based on Prana and Resistance attributes.
Warning: this skill does not protect from Divine currents while active, but does strengthen the walls surrounding the soul, depending on use.
Spell acquired: Breath of life
The user willingly sacrifices all the breath in their body to [revive] another being, Mind body, and soul.
Requirements: 1000 available Prana and the casters Prana attribute will be permanently reduced by 100.
Must have a way to target a completed spiritual core.
[Revived] users will suffer an eighty percent reduction in attributes.
[Earth control] 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 you have created an unregistered spell.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
System rewards are withheld until a comprehensive analysis can be made.
Invoke assessment: Yes/No
You have earned First rites.
The user may invoke the [Cartaker] to answer [1] question in detail. Should the crest holder perish, this right will be transferred to the other holders at random. Should all three holders perish, these rights shall be distributed at random to the sector.
Condolences, the caretaker has invoked [System penalty] and limited your access for 336 hours.
239h 55m 16s /336h
Name: Mark Young (22 - M)
Level: 59
Next level: 3558/3600
Stats:
Resistance
Aura
Mana
Prana
1550(+6) [1400]
0 [+25]
331[+70]
878 (+6, +100)[+155]
Unspent stat points - 40
Corruption value: 100% [+0%] - 100/0%??
System Points: 35404.0
Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical), Limit release(Mental), Joint casting, Limit release(Spiritual).
Spells: Passive Regeneration(Self)[10], Force bolt[18], Prana Pulse[9], Regenerate[9], Draw Corruption[9], Corruption recovery[15], Engrave Mana(Force)[2], Invigorate[13], Cleansing surge[9], Read Memory[2], Mind Spike[4], Earth Control[10], Light Control[6], Bestowal[8], Telekinetic control[2], Benediction[4], Nature control[7], Telepathic link[7], Animated Mind[4], Breath of life[1].
World inventory. Marketplace. Trade.
Looking at the number of kills each level required now, Mark could see he would need to rack up the kills to even make a dent in the required exp. Though he had gotten three levels, and with his amulet back, his stats were in a good place.
Unfortunately, even though there was plenty to be excited about, there was one big problem. By the looks of his grey panel, he couldn’t access his attributes. Meaning, that he couldn’t assign his free points, so they just sat there, taunting him.
At the same time, it looked like he couldn't access the Marketplace, and by the looks of things, even his map was useless. A test had already confirmed he could use his inventory, but on closer inspection, Mark realized he was now limited to a set number of items every 24 hours. It was enough to pull some food from his inventory or store a couple of things, but not much more than that.
The only thing that calmed him was that it had a time limit of two weeks. Granted that was a long time to not have the systems features, but Mark knew this was the promised ‘punishment’ for using Corruption.
And it was not like he had been left with nothing. He noticed the Trade window was not greyed out –he still had to test it– so if he needed to buy something urgently he might be able to get it through a companion.
A quick check told him that he also couldn’t upgrade his rank 10 spells, and having two waiting in the wings hurt more than he expected.
Turning away from his immediate problems Mark tried to make sense of the others. The spiritual Limit release was interesting; frankly, he wasn't certain what he’d done to get it. But his best guess was the prompt right under it.
When his eyes caught on the [Breath of life] spell it opened up a fresh wound in his heart. This spell was proof he was not strong enough to save the ones he loved, and one of the main reasons he’d waited till now to look at his prompts.
It was an outright reminder he had failed Daphne, and as amazing as it sounded, he almost wanted it gone from his page. As it was, he didn’t know how to tell if someone had a complete spiritual core, so using the spell became almost impossible.
The silver lining came later when Mark decided he needed to use [Meditation] for a bit before he dove into the mess of Corruption in his core.
Source: Mediation (+1 Prana, +2 exp points)
Checking his attribute he saw that his Prana had risen to 879, meaning while he couldn’t yet spend his attributes on level up, he could still strengthen himself. Hopefully, the rest would fix itself later.
With that small victory, Mark decided to take a proper look at what was going on in his body.
Dropping back into [Mediation], Mark used [Prana pulse] to get a better picture of what was going on. Several small problems appeared on his radar all at once, but he pushed them aside for now. He’d already known they were there but they were going to take either a lot of energy to fix or he outright didn’t know how to. [Nature control] told him that his own tapestry had been altered in an instinctual level.
As of yet, Mark had avoided messing with anyone’s tapestries unless it was necessary, his own included. Lest he accidentally turn himself into puddle of mush with one wrong move.
Now though, there were things in his physical makeup that were not meant to be there, and until he could tell what those were, he’d have to hang on fixing them.
Letting his ‘sight’ sink deep into himself Mark searched for signs of Corruption throughout his body.
As he did, he found that the energy was nowhere to be seen. The system looked like it had encountered an error when it came to reading his Cv, though he knew one place it could be.
Sinking deeper, Mark came to rest next to his Aura core and inspected it. With one glance he could tell it had changed drastically. Before this, the system had called his Aura core a Broken throne. Which had constantly leaked his Aura, like a water balloon with several holes.
Now though, there was something completely different in its place.
The new core was nothing like his old one, it was brimming with Corruption like a small black sun. Tiny solar flares of dark energy tried to escape from the event horizon but were sucked right back in. As though unable to leave.
At this moment, Mark realized a layer of unconscious will surrounded the core, bringing his Resistance to bear around it. As though nestling the core in place.
Mark frowned, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, it was too different from his other cores.
Deciding the only way to get to the bottom of this was to do some tests Mark mentally prepared himself.
Even now the Corruption called to him, it was so quiet he had to strain to hear it, but it was there.
Begging him to let it come forward. A thirst roared to life in Mark’s throat almost causing a coughing fit.
Swallowing down the bile, he shut out its pleas, as the itch broke out across his body.
It took Mark a couple of minutes to get his breathing back to normal, and the wanting to fade. When he was in control again Mark decided to continue with his tests, this was a part of him now, he had to adjust.
One of the upsides –if one could call it that– of having his core choked full of Corruption was that it was now surrounded by a heavy layer of Marks Resistance.
This meant that [Draw Corruption] could pull directly from this new core and allow him to filter it then and there. He’d only just started to separate the corruption, when another spike of pain accompanied the dull shock.
It was a similar hollow feeling to when he’d used all his Prana or Mana. His ‘core’ was empty. Snorting Mark looked at the small star of Corruption as it lazily hung there. Raising a hand Mark changed [Draw Corruption] to face outward. Granted, there was no direct source of the stuff nearby, but there were trace amounts almost everywhere, so he began to pull Corruption from the air around himself.
It took a while, but eventually, he gathered enough to pull into himself. The moment it crossed the threshold of his skin it suddenly hurtled toward his abdomen. Watching its path, Mark realized it was being drawn to his Aura core. The outside Corruption seemed to fight the pull, yet it seemed unable to break free. When it was sucked into the star Mark had another look at his Cv.
100% [+0.5%] - 100/0.5%??
Mark mulled it over and realized this was the best he was going to get. He then returned to draw the new Corruption from his core. The energies that came from that small amount felt far more potent than he was used to, and it hurt just a little less.
As a test, Mark drew Corruption from the air again, and when he had around the same amount, he pulled it through his Resistance directly.
Outside Corruption felt wilder, and he lost about 20% percent of the energy as he filtered it.
Somehow, his Aura core condensed it and made the Corruption more compliant. It then occurred to Mark that this was no longer an Aura core.
For one, the Aura he created as he filtered Corruption, still escaped his grasp, in fact, he probably had even less control over it now. But at the same time, he’d always been working down a core. At least with this mutated core, it had a use in that it separated him from the Corruption. How much it could handle was still to be seen, or whether there would be any adverse effects.
Mark was just going over all this in his head when he heard the sounds of dozens of voices rising outside his window. Taking a peak through the gap in the wood, Mark first saw the wall of the spire pressed up against their building. Looking down he saw a crowd of people below. It was difficult to tell what was going on out there, but it looked like a procession was preparing to leave their base. Tuning back to his bed Mark quickly put on the change of clothes that had been left there and moved towards the window. Pulling the boards from the concrete, Mark made a gap big enough to slip through and let himself drop from the sky.