Mark glanced up at the outer walls of the clinic as he saw people filing through the doors. The last time he'd been here there were only foundations but seeing as Shelby had given his people the responsibility of finishing the building, they had taken to it with fervor. On average the people Mark had left in charge of its construction had been either highly skilled or adept in the use of magic. However, Shelby's men had a different quality, numbers.

Thousands of hands ready and willing to help in any way they could, had accelerated the project faster than Mark would have ever thought possible.

And from the looks of it, they had not stopped there. The perimeter guard was meant to be made up of their faction's people but Shelby had had something to say about that. Half of the people on the wall were from his flock.

The interesting thing was that they had also set up a temporary residence around the clinic.

Tents and hastily erect earthen shelters had sprung up in the surrounding rubble. From the looks of it none of them were squatters and Ethel had clearly given them permission to stay here. But they offered another ring of defense for the clinic.

The people that were coming through were from all over the city as they waited in line.

Mark, Sam, and Jonathan headed toward the large entrance and saw that the outer walls were plastered with mosaics.

Frowning Mark stopped to inspect them. There were portions of the walls that remained unfinished but Mark arrived in front of an almost completed mural.

A young girl, probably in her early teens sat fitting tiles to the outside of the two-storied wall. The image depicted the collapse of a bridge and floating in the air next it was a star. Mark furrowed his brow and turned to the next one which contained a cityscape in turmoil, surrounded by countless shadows. But in the center, a pillar of violet light surrounded a lone building protectively, the star affixed to the top once more.

There were several more all in different states of completion but the final one caused a blush to creep up Mark's neck.

It depicted a man with his hand on an ailing group of people reaching up to him. And Mark would be damned if it didn't have his face and features.

Sam snickered as she put a hand over her mouth.

"You know I never thought you were that vain type, but hey you look good, Mark."

Mark snapped his neck around.

"What? No! I didn't have anything to do with this." he said as he looked to Jonathan for assistance.

The blasted guy wore a smirk as he glanced up at it.

"Aw don't say that Sam, we wouldn't want Mark to get a big head, oh too late." he laughed,

Mark couldn't help the groan that escaped his lips.

"When I find whose ever bright idea this was I'm not going easy on them."

Sam slapped him on the back but her face was more serious.

"Don't worry, I wasn't lying. I think it looks good and the alternative is a boring grey wall, so suck it up and let people have this."

Mark scowled at her, but when he saw several patches of the wall still to be filled, a grin spread over his face.

"Fine…" he said.

Sam glanced at the wall and back at Mark and her face fell.

"What are you thinking Mark," she said with narrowed gaze.

"...Nothing," He said as he started walking toward the entrance again.

"It's not nothing, I know you, and I know that face, what are you thinking?"

Mark ignored the two glares behind him as well as the whispers from the line beside them. Mark didn't want to cause any disruption so when he got to the front door he stopped in front of a guard.

"Hi, sorry to intrud but I'm a healer and am looking for a place to treat patients for a while. Could you help me find one?"

Mark didn't recognize the guard, but he didn't want to interrupt whatever system they had gotten in place.

Nor was he about to pull rank and take his people away from their jobs.

The guard glanced between the three of them with a strange expression. Eventually, he nodded as he glanced over Mark's shoulder at Jonathan.

"Right… please come this way," he said.

Mark followed the man until he led him to one of the nearby triage sections. Once they were in, the guard made a salute and closed the curtain. Mark didn't think anything of it, but Sam started to laugh again as soon as they were alone.

Mark turned to her.

"What now?" he said exasperated but Sam shook her head.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Nothing, don't mind me. Shouldn't you be getting ready to treat patients?"

Mark eyed her but grabbed a pair of disposable gloves from the box.

"You know what? You both have a bit of Prana, right? It's about time I taught you how to make use of it."

Sam's expression immediately grew more interested, but Jonathan had dropped down into the sick bed and didn't look all that enthusiastic.

"Oh come on, what happens If I'm unconscious or not there? Instead of throwing Prana at the problem, it would be better to know a basic healing spell." Mark said.

Jonathan grunted but he wasn't getting out of this.

Mark was about to call for his first patient when the curtain opened and in walked Willow. Mark blinked rapidly at the stalwart nurse with her impeccably straight attire and neat hair. Even the glasses on her face perched there with poise.

"My. Young it is nice to see you" she said candidly.

Mark stared at the woman he'd left in charge of the clinic in confusion. He'd expected to be able to heal a few dozen before he'd garnered any attention from the nurses. But by the looks of things she'd know exactly where to find him.

"Um, good afternoon Willow, how did you know I was here?"

Willow pressed her lips together and glanced at Jonathan.

"Well, when three of our pillars walk into the clinic at once we take notice."

Mark nodded realizing they'd been recognized right away. Which was not surprising but he was not about to go around expecting people to know who he was.

"Right, apologies for just showing up, but I didn't want to disrupt any treatments going on."

Willow glanced down at her clipboard and back to him.

"Not to worry Mr. Young. What can I help you with?"

"Well, I just got back and had some time on my hands, so I came to tell you that starting tomorrow we're going to start vetting people for Corruption. Seeing as Shelby's people are here we'll sheer off a few of them to act as guards. I'm assuming the reinforced entrance is done?"

Willow nodded shortly.

"Do you anticipate fighting?"

Mark nodded. In his plans, he'd had a room made that was closed off for the rest of the clinic to hold any raging Aura users. If a Corrupted human was found they would probably not go quietly, so it was important they prepared properly and had fighters that were able to deal with them.

"I do, I'll make a treatment plan as well as a procedure for any testing necessary."

Willow looked down at the clipboard in her hands.

"Thank Mr. Young, but may I over an alternative? Your time is valuable, so I'll compile the plan now and bring it to you in a couple of hours for your perusal. Then we'll implement it as soon as we have your approval."

Mark blinked slowly as he stared at Willow. She looked set on this path, and honestly, she probably knew the current day-to-day running of the clinic better than him, right now.

It would take time for him to get up to speed and in that time she could have finished the task. To do it any other way was not efficient.

"I…um, sure. Let me know how you get along, I guess."

Willow nodded and opened the curtain, turning back.

"A stream of patients are on their way, and when you are done I'll have someone take you on a tour of everything."

Mark nodded robotically as she stepped out, swishing the curtain as she did so. He knew when he employed the woman as his second she was curt, but this was on a whole other level.

When he turned back to look at the other two, Jonathan had turned towards the wall and his shoulders were shaking.

Sam on the other hand wore a dry look.

"She quiet… efficient."

Mark smiled and shook his head at her.

"Hazard of the job, I wouldn't hold it against her. Either way, let's get ready."

He could already hear people lining up outside.

"Gloves on, and Jon you're going to bring them in and escort them out. Sam, you're with me."

Once the first patient walked in Mark moved to scan them and begin closing their injuries or exponging their ailments.

A brief glance outside revealed a long queue winding outside the front door.

Mark didn't let it distract him and he expanded his construct into the room to begin healing them before they even got to him. The nearby medical staff worked in a frenzy as they tried to keep up with hi speed.

Mark had set every patient walking in their door the same price, a check-up cost ten system points and if their problem was more severe than a broken arm, then they had to start looking at how much Prana it took the healer to help them.

He'd done this to make the clinic affordable for everyone, but still make a profit. As the supplies needed to keep the place running would bleed their faction dry if they didn't.

Mark's healing was different. He didn't require much energy to heal minor injuries, so he had the staff only accept five Sp for his services.

When it came to Sam and Jonathan, he helped them both learn how to examine their own patients, while he kept the line moving outside.

Sam was a fast study and managed to learn the [Prana pulse ] quickly, but Mark was surprised to find that Jonathan's inherent compatibility with Prana was actually higher. He had more trouble with diagnosing but his healing was quite adept. The moment Mark explained that Prana preferred to be asked rather than commanded like Aura, he managed to learn [Regeneration] in no time.

In the end, Mark had healed close to two hundred people before his Prana gave out. Plus he'd managed to teach the other two at least the basics.

He was sad he couldn't do more but his Prana was still recovering from the mission, and he had to keep a little in case of emergencies.

When they were cleaning up Mark looked up to see a male nurse running towards them.

"Mr. Young? The Head nurse is requesting your assistance quarantine block, please come with me."

Mark stood up at the same time as Jonathan and Sam and the three of them followed after the man.

They moved quickly down the winding passages and even though Mark had helped design the layout, he was glad he had someone to lead the way.

The nurse pushed through a set of double doors Sam looked over at him with a meaningful gaze.

"Mark…" she said hastily.

He nodded as they arrived in the main lobby, which Mark had designed as a waiting room for the friends and family of patients.

There were dozens of people waiting for their loved ones here, so when the nurse turned around with a twisted snarl on his face, Mark could see his features tainted with patches of Corruption.

He was trembling and yet Mark could see he was already ripping a round cylinder from his gown and pulled a pin from it.

"The boss told me to tell you that you can't run from him!"

Mark and Sam reacted at the same time to encase the man in a construct, but they weren't able to stop him from pulling the pin.

In those precious few seconds, Mark unleashed his mental limits and wrapped the four of them in a construct along with activating his prepared [light control].

To those in the waiting room, there was suddenly a man screaming at the top of his lungs holding a grande, and then all at once they were gone, only a brief flash of light marking where they had been.

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