World Filter

Mark felt someone nudging him. He opened his eyes to the small room filled with boxes stacked near the ceiling lit by incandescent bulbs.

In front of him, sat Daphne, holding out a damp t-shirt and a half-full bottle of mineral water.

“For your face,” she said while pointing to her mouth. She was looking down trying not to make eye contact.

“Daph” he whispered waiting for her to look at him, when she finally looked up he held her gaze. “Thank you”

The fear in her eyes began to fade, she smiled nervously and gave him a nod before moving to get up.

“Wait, do you mind if I heal your wounds?”

She paused for a moment and moved back to him. Holding out his hand Mark waited for her to take it. The moment she did he used [Prana pulse], moving his Prana to heal all the monitor wounds and fractures he found.

“You know I won’t hurt you guys right?” Mark said while keeping his gaze on his work. After a pause, she responded

“Did you know when you bit that thing your skin turned gray? Black veins spread up from the creature into you, like you were taking on its sickness. I thought you had turned”

She waited for a response, picking at the fluff of her floral cover-up.

Mark was frozen, had he nearly turned into one of those things? He must have waited too long to respond because she spoke again.

“Whatever you did I’m happy you're alive, but I hope you never have to do it again.”

Mark woke from his dazed state.

“Don’t worry I'm not intending to do that again, it wasn't a pleasant experience at all ”

Her face which had been frozen in a look of worry since the start of their conversation slowly began to relax, and he could see the last shreds of fear begin to leave her body.

Mark turned his head and asked

“Guys, do you need healing?” he directed his question to Grace and Donny.

“No, we don't.”Grace shot back quickly.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

“Right so you don't need healing, what about you Donny?” Mark said dryly.

Donny looked down at Grace and then at Mark.

“Yeah, sure, I'd appreciate it,” he said after some hesitation.

He came over to Mark who healed all the damage he could find, luckily there wasn't anything too serious.

When he was almost done Donny spoke in a hushed voice.

“We all need to talk about what just happened, explain what you did there. I don't want any dishonesty if we are going to be putting our lives in each other's hands”

Mark was stunned, did he think Mark would lie or something? Mark did not like the implication behind that question. Quite frankly he thought he'd earned more of their trust than this. It wasn't even something he thought of hiding.

He tried to keep his face neutral but he could tell some of his bitterness must have shown.

“Alright give me a chance to look at my status, it might give me more information. You’re all healed up ”

Turning away he retreated to Grace’s side as soon as Mark gave the all-clear.

Grace never once took her eyes off Mark while he was busy.

They had all decided to take some time to rest and recover resources then they would move on. While it was safe right now, who knew how long that would continue?

Donny and Grace sat in one corner, whispering to each other, while Mark sat in the other, and Daphne moved back and forth, looking through all the boxes.

With the healing done, Mark pulled up his status. Dozens of prompts popped up.

17x Corrupted Humanoids cleansed (17 + Sector reward: x4)

[partial experience awarded (Daphne colt, Donovan Nox)(2)]

16/16

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

25/25

Level up!

+2 Prana, +2 Resistance

Spell acquired: Regenerate

By bundling a packet of Prana the user can set a Heal Over Time to a target with specific intent. The bundle will continue to accomplish its design until all its resources are used up.

Duration can be increased or reduced for an inverse effect on efficiency.

The Prana attribute affects the strength and complexity of the bundle.

Warning:

Prohibited Spell acquired: Drain life

System punishment will be invoked if this spell is used again.

Through the violent use of Prana, the user may accomplish that which the system fundamentally rejects. Pulling the life from others to enhance their own powers

Contact required.

The strength of the spell is dependent on Prana and can only affect those with a lower Prana score than the user.

Warning Explanation: Accept/Decline

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 6

Next level: 30/36

Stats:

Resistance Aura Mana Prana

33 (+2, +2) 0 15 54 (+2, +2)

Unspent stat points - 20

Corruption value: 10.09%

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[1], Force bolt[2], Prana Pulse[1], Regenerate[1], Drain Life[1].

Warning Explanation: Accept/Decline

A prohibited spell? Mark looked at the ominous red lettering for the Drain Life spell and what it meant. Firstly he had no desire to ever use that spell again, the whole situation left him feeling damaged.

Taking on the creature's life force had changed Mark in a way de didn't understand.

The biggest indicator of this was the ten whole percent he gained in his Corruption value. He didn't know what would happen if he ever got 100% but he wasn't planning on finding out.

The next biggest reason was how the system portrayed it and the ‘punishment’ it was willing to dish out for using it. It looked like the system was offering him some kind of tutorial on the whole ‘prohibited’ deal, but he wanted to wait til he got through the rest of his prompts.

Mark was happy with the rest of his gains. The section reward he got from that first zombie was putting in a lot of work. He was already close to leveling up again.

Looking at his stat distribution, Mark's eyes fell on his Mana attribute which had been invaluable in the last fight. The only downside was the rate at which it was generated. Right now it looked like he got back one point of Mana every minute. Which was definitely not slow, But in the heat of battle a minute was a long time. He decided to put five more points into though, as the benefit was just too big. Perhaps if he got more then his regen would increase.

Mark turned his eyes to his Prana stat, this attribute had saved him and his friends multiple times. He had no qualms about spending 11 points to bring his total Prana up to 65. With the increase, he could feel his energy center swelling and the Prana inside becoming purer.

Finally, he dumped the rest of his points into Resistance, His bones becoming denser, his mind quicker.

Nodding to himself he looked at his new numbers and smiled.

Name: Mark Young (22 - M)

Level: 6

Next level: 30/36

Stats:

Resistance Aura Mana Prana

37 (+4) 0 20 (+5) 65 (+11)

Unspent stat points - 0

Corruption value: 10.09%

Spells:

Passive Regeneration(Self)[1], Force bolt[2], Prana Pulse[1], Regenerate[1], Drain Life[1].

Warning Explanation: Accept/Decline

The Warning tutorial flashed waiting for him to answer its prompt. He wasn't sure what the system was going to say but why ask for permission to explain if this wasn't big? He was about to hit accept when he noticed a change in the movement of the room. When he turned away from his status he saw Grace and Donny had moved over to him.

“Mark I think it's time we talked,” she said.

Closing his prompts, he sat up straighter and locked his gaze on them.

“Alright, ask away” he intoned.

Daphne came to sit closer. While grace took a step forward.

“Okay, firstly what did you do to the Zombie and are you a danger to us”

Turning his eyes to Grace, Mark responded.

“While I was fighting for my life I realized I could not only give Prana but take it too. That's what you saw, I drained the creature, and I regret how I acted by biting it but if I was in that situation again I’d make the same choice. However I am no danger to any of you” Mark held her gaze, not giving an inch.

She pursed her lips. “Why, should we trust you if you did that in the name of survival, who’s to say you won't do it to us”

He could understand her hesitation, but really it was unfounded. He’d rather die than betray people he was close to.

“Well for one the use of that ability is just repulsive and I mean that literally, it felt like I was swallowing tar. Something was mixed in with the Prana or it was tainted, but that one use of the spell upped my Corruption value by 10%”

Donny sucked in his breath sharply and Daphne’s body tensed

“What? What does that mean?” Grace looked around at the others.

“In both fights, after each wound, I got from the zombies, my percentage went up. In total, I’m sitting at 0.31%” Donny said to Grace.

“I've been watching it and I think it goes down on its own but I'm not sure yet. If he got 10% in one go then he really shouldn't use that again. I have no idea what will happen if it reaches max but my guess would be you turn into one of those things”

“So we’re all bombs that could go off at any moment?” Grace asked with a panicked tone to her voice.

“What? No, if things continue on at this rate it'll take very long for us to reach one hundred. I’m sure we’ll have figured out something by then,” Donny said moving to comfort her and pulling Grace into a soothing hug, his arms enveloping her protectively. She leaned into him.

Mark was a bit shocked but he supposed the extreme situation must have moved their relationship along.

“Look, I understand this whole situation sucks, but believe me, I won't hurt any of the people I care about,” he said.

“Also I think I have a way to get us a few more answers.” they were all looking at him again

"When I opened my prompts, the system informed me that the spell I had received was prohibited and gave me the option to activate an explanation. This was another reason why I decided not to use it."

There was silence in the room. They all looked at one another. Grace still did not look happy but it looked like all the fight had left her eyes. Then Donny spoke up

“Well if you tell me there's nothing to worry about then I trust you dude.” Donny held out his fist

Mark smiled and bumped his knuckles against Donny’s.

“Well, then I think you'd better give it a try there is literally no downside to accepting free information.” It was the first time Daphne had spoken throughout the conversation. She was smiling.

Mark nodded and brought up his prompts, his finger hovering over the accept icon. He looked at them then at the Accept button, shrugged his shoulders, and pressed it.

His status boxes flashed a gold color and back to blue, and then it was like someone had smacked him upside the head with a mallet. His head tumbled and his form crumpled to the floor. He vaguely heard a shout somewhere and then nothingness consumed him.