Mark had spent the rest of the night trying to figure out [Bestowal].

He had made some headway with understanding his new spell.

He had worked on the second function of [Bestowal] by attempting to combine two magics, but he hadn't managed to get it working before he crashed for the night.

It had started out fine as he began casting the soul magic, but his spell quickly fell apart once he tried to bring earth magic into the mix.

He had even more respect for Sam now that he knew what she had done back in the dungeon.

That incredible attack of ice and wind had been a combination of two elements, which as it turned out was really hard. One not only had to balance magics -even complimenting elements- but, manage the calculations and merge the two. They had to work out the different magics concepts, realize them, and only then could they begin creating a spell. By then most people would collapse under the strain. Mark might be able to complete it if he push his mental skill to its limits, but he didn't see the need right now. He’d get there eventually.

So that left him back at square one. No mobility.

Though, it definitely hadn’t been a waste of time. He had learned some great things about the energies and the spell wasn't a bust. He just had to figure out its effectiveness.

Now he just needed to find a victim to test it on.

“Move it doc! I got four more reds here!” a medic shouted as he carried in two more patients over his shoulders. Depositing them gently on cots.

Mark cleared his head of useless thoughts and went to work. When he had gotten to the medical tent this morning he found the Doc already in the trenches.

Never one to shy away from hard work he had jumped right in.

The tent was once more alive with movement. Mark traveled through the line of injured.

Diagnosing with [Prana pulse] and healing anyone he could get his hands on.

Mark had taken to hitting Green’s with small doses of [Regenerate] as he passed. This got them up and about sooner. Some even left under their own power.

Tommis had joined their rotation.

He was decent, or at least he had some form of first aid, and unlike the others, he could heal more than a couple of people before stopping.

Time moved slowly and even with full reserves, Mark found himself stretched thin.

It felt like there were more here than last time.

Eventually, they slowed down. The number of patients dropped to a manageable number.

Mark sat down. Leaning into the cheap plastic chair and sighing, hitting himself with a good dose of [Invigorate]. This was just the start of his day he still had shit to do.

Suddenly a cup of coffee was shoved under his nose. Coming to life Mark lunged for it. The Doc stood with his own paper cup and took a seat next to Mark.

“Good work this morning. We missed you yesterday. The wall has been rough for the last few nights”

Mark tilted his head.

“Why? What's going on?” he asked.

“Apparently alterations are being made to the wall. They say it’ll be done before tonight, but in the meantime, there has been more pressure during night hours”

Mark looked toward the mostly empty cots around the tent.

They were implementing his idea and people were paying for it.

Mark didn’t sit well with the knowledge, but he also would not feel guilty. These plans were made to help the people on the wall.

In the long run, they’d save a hell of a lot more lives than they took.

Mark sat in silence, sipping his cup. Eventually, the doc broke the silence again.

“How is it out there?” he asked. The was a nervous edge to his voice

Mark hadn’t expected the question. Especially from the stoic Doc.

Frowning he said.

“Not great. And it's only getting worse”

“When the map function became available last night I examined our surroundings,” Friedrich said.

“And?” he asked.

Mark had not yet had the chance to have a proper look at the map.

The doc went on to explain how the map worked. As it turned out their sector spanned the entire United States and a good portion of Canada. After that, the map was greyed out.

Focusing on New York, one noticed the surrounding areas were shaded. Ranging from clear to green, yellow, red, purple, blue, and finally black.

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Apparently, each level represented a level of Corruption. Clear being zero. Right now they were in a clear zone. Most areas were. But patches of green were starting to appear all over the map.

Mark figured these were areas of high corruption. The corruption rate was starting to make sense.

The map was showing them the areas where Corruption was building. If the outside of the Dungeon was anything to go by, then these areas would become quarantine zones. Corruption would move through the air like radiation. If someone spent a week in a green area that was probably the equivalent of being in the dungeon directly. So how long would an orange area take to Corrupt someone?

Mark calmed himself with the fact the map was mostly clear right now, with dots of green scattered throughout. There was the odd orange zone, but as of yet not a single red one.

While the map didn't directly show where dungeons were, but it may as well have.

Mark would bet all the Sp he had that those green areas were tier-one dungeons.

The thing was all the information was right in front of him. The system made sure to make the map interface easy to understand. It didn’t take any leaps of faith to put the clues together.

This type of public knowledge could cause problems.

Not to mention there were rumors going around at the moment. Apparently, the grid was beginning to fail. People were saying they saw lights flickering, though he would take that piece of info with a grain of salt.

Mark chatted with the Doc for a while longer. Mark wanted to reassure the Doctor that everything was fine, but complacency was useless in their situation, instead, he recommended that Friedrich learn more about his magic. He needed a way to defend himself. The doc didn't respond to this, but he had a thoughtful look on his face.

When they were done, Mark spent some more time in [Meditation]. He used the energy to burn off another 3% of his Corruption before he left the tent for his meeting. Shouting to the doc that he’d be back soon.

Mark had to meet up with Sam at the research department, but he was starving. So running past the mess hall Mark grabbed a snack.

While he was there he looked for Joslin, but he was told she was on dinner duty today.

The usual lively chatter of the room was replaced with hushed whispers and hesitant laughter.

Paying, he made his way from the tent with his bounty of snacks. Wolfing down his grilled cheese sandwich, he took out an apple.

Mark was just crunching into it when he noticed an open tent with a large crowd clustering inside.

As he passed he got a glimpse of a man dressed in full priest regalia, brandishing a book. He was preaching to the crowd to remain steadfast in their faith in these trying times. Mark saw quite a few kneeling in prayer. It was a Chaplain's Office, a place people could go to connect to god.

Mark had never been a religious man, but far be it for him to deny others of comfort.

Continuing past, Mark made his way through the munitions district. He had seen this place when he had first gotten here, but now he had a chance to take a better look.

Really it was just an area filled with canvas canopies that protected people from the harsh afternoon sun. Mark saw bullets being filled with gunpowder and loaded into bins. Clips stacked and guns being maintained.

Mark was surprised that there was such an open display of weapons. Though he noticed a heavy soldier presence in the area.

When he asked around he found out that anyone with knowledge of how to care for guns could take the job.

One could even be paid in the ammo of their choice at a cheaper price than one could buy from the Marketplace.

It worked out cheaper just to buy the components and make the parts one needed. Though some skill was needed for this.

Mark even learned certain people were starting to get skills related to crafting. Nothing too impressive yet. Just things like [Cast lead], which supposedly made the bullet tips harder than normal. Or at least that was the claim.

As he was passing he saw some people were working on cold weapons. Mark saw a very basic billows and compact forge. Mark wanted to stop and ask them questions, but he was running out of time. So he left them for now and continued on, finally he arrived at his destination.

The Research and Development division. It was not all that different from the rest of the camp. With the exception that people ran around the white lab coats over their casual clothes. There was also a definite soldier presence here.

Mark was stopped at a checkpoint, but when he gave his name he was let right in. One of the soldiers led him towards a large strange tent in the center of the section. This one was white and had several double entrances. The material in front of it was plastic and see-through. Jets of fine mist washed down constantly in the sealed entryways. Mark realized one had to pass through a decontamination room before entering.

Mark and his escort were halfway to the tent when Mark heard the sound of wings flapping right above him.

His reactions kicked in and [Shape Mana] burst forth. Wrapping himself and the soldier in a dome of force.

Mark looked to the skies, expecting a Ghast attack or something worse. Instead, he saw a very amused Sam floating on the winds above them.

The sound of flapping he had heard was the thick jacket she wore.

Realizing this he lowered the shield as she landed.

“Little jumpy are we?” Sam said smirking.

“Just the right amount of caution” he responded. Willing to die on this hill.

“Uh-huh,” she intoned unconvinced.

“Should we get going?” he asked trying to change the subject.

“Sure!”

The soldier saluted Sam and headed back to his post.

“I’m guessing you haven’t figured out how to keep yourself warm up there yet?” Mark asked.

Her grin turned to frustration.

“I kinda have, but if I shield myself from the wind resistance then I slow down to a crawl and the Mana cost jumps through the roof” she seemed more than happy to rant as they passed through the decontamination tent.

They used the journey to continue discussing ideas. Some Mark understood, but at certain points, she rambled away on concepts he didn't quite get.

They arrived at another set of flaps, Sam turn around for a second and said.

“Oh, just a warning the people you are about to meet are a little… passionate. But give them a chance”

Without saying a word further she opened the flap and they arrived in an open area. Workstations and computers littered the room. There was tons of other equipment that Mark didn't recognize. Though several popped out at him because he had used them in his field of study.

One of which was a centrifuge that was currently in operation.

Diagrams of hastily drawn sketches and numbers littered the walls of the tent and whiteboards. The sketches depicted Corrupted and their inner workings. There was even a half-decent diagram of an Ordinator in the style of a Vitruvian Man.

There were around ten people in there but two jumped out at him right away.

Mostly because when Mark and Sam entered they almost literally jumped at them. Dropping what they were doing and rushing over.

One was a man the other a woman. When they got to them the man stuck out his hand

“Dr. Johnson-” he started before the woman smacked his hand out of the way and replaced it with hers.

“Dr. Haley at your service! It's good to finally meet you, Mark. Come, we need to talk about the specimen you brought in” she said leading Mark to one of the corners of the lab.

Mark had seen less hunger in the eyes of Corrupted.