*Mark*

I struggled to open my eyes, my other senses also failing to cope with the influx of stimula…

Relaxing my body, I took a moment before trying to understand each separately instead of all at once. I listened to the gentle breeze as it rustled countless leaves, there was a fire somewhere close as I could hear the wood crackling, and some children playing in the vicinity….

I could smell the humidity, as well as something rather delicious cooking….

Trying to move the lower half of my body revealed I could indeed move my fingers a bit as well as my feet…. Through which I could feel the soft, slightly matted fur I was resting on.

With no clue as to where I was, I needed to open my eyes immediately. If they haven’t seen me moving my extremities, then I need get the hell out of here while I have the chance.

Once again forcing my eyelids to move, they finally responded by opening by a fraction of what I wanted. That was enough however, as my pupils quickly dilated from the light shining directly on my face…..

A veritable flood of light came from a sizable hole in what could barely could be called a ceiling… Three pallets of wood, interwoven with enormous leaves to maintain their integrity, leans precariously against a thick tree as another three pallets seemed to form a thin wall against other outside elements. More leaves were strapped to a fourth walls frame which seemed to be the door of this tribal hut…..

By now I could move a bit so as I scanned the rest of the room, I could see various aquatic life and plants hung to dry. The aquatic life dominated the other more land based animals and plants for some reason as the cot I layed on and a boar seemed to be the only other animals not found in water.

There was also a weird statue of an old, withered man sitting indian in the corner… he seemed to be meditating…. Weird thing but I guess it's something religious…..

The only other thing I noticed that caused my stomach to sink was the blinking blue of a notification in my peripheral….

Oh god… Mr. Blue is back….

Sighing, I resigned myself to dealing with whatever issue he may throw at me before directing my attention at the blue demons….

YOU HAVE DIED

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I look down at my toes… wiggle them a bit… nope i’m still alive, stop bullshitting me Mr. Blue!

Calculating

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Rebirth detected

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Rebirth's Remaining: 0

364 Days, 23 Hours, 58 Minutes, and 14 Seconds until your acquire another Rebirth.

Welcome back from reprocessing!

Value this life, as it may be your last!

Oh… Well that sucks…. I guess suicidal tendencies will increase once you realize you can die and come back, but that storm wasn’t even my fault…. If I pass by that shit again i’ll have to find some way to destroy it...

Congratulations! For surviving long periods of time with excessive amounts of electricity circulating through your system, your Nervous system has been permanently upgraded!

Lightning Reflexes: (Tier I)

You bathed in a natural phenomenon and somehow survived!

Reaction speed is boosted 50%

Perception and Dexterity boosted by 10%

Atmokinesis: (Tier I) Rare

You are capable of controlling basic weather conditions and predicting possible patterns in future conditions.

Gives basic knowledge on stimulating weather events with Aether.

Boosts vitality and will by 1%

So you fancy yourself a weatherman?

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Uncontrollable laughter shakes my body, nearly causing me to roll off my current sleeping arrangement.

Oh no…. Did the system…. Seriously just call me a weather man….

At that I laugh even more…

It wasn’t until a hand touched my shoulder that I stopped. Only when I looked for whoever touched me… no one was there….

Thats creepy….

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Weather man…

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HHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA

“You are quite the loud one…”

Whipping my head towards the speaker, I find the old man statue slowly standing…

The little man barely stood at four and half feet, though primarily because he had a hunched back. His head had been completely shaved, except for a rather impressive goatee braided with tiny bones, and wrinkles lined every inch of skin possible. Overall his skin was leathery and very dark. So dark in fact, that I had mistaken him for some sort of statue carved of obsidian….

Despite the overwhelming evidence of his age, he moved swiftly until he was standing directly in front of me…. How I was able to understand him, I had no idea…. If I was actually in South America, I highly doubt he would be able to speak fluent english…. Perhaps the system was translating everything for me?

“If you’re so eager to talk, why don’t you tell me what's been happening to the outside world….”

He leaned downwards until his dark brown eyes were mere inches from my own. For some reason, I felt a faint pressure from him, as if he was dangerous…. Fucker probably has a fear skill, two can play that game.

Activating Pyrokinesis, I began to secretly direct heat to radiate from my skin….

“What are you talking about…”

He continued to stare into my eyes, as if he could determine lies from something as simple as their movement…

“Why are the dead rising? That would be a good start, then perhaps share the state that the settled people are in....”

I cranked up the heat once more as the old man continued to stare into my eyes….

“So there are zombies this far south as well then? They’re easy enough to explain, have your people not seen the parasites that come out of them after they are killed again?”

I begin to see results of my heat exhaust as sweat trickles down the old man's forehead… He doesn’t back off however, so I crank it up even further….

“Indeed, there are things that come from the dead after we send them back to their graves…. If that is all you know so be it, now what of the other civilizations?”

“I don’t know, from what I could tell governments were shutting down from monsters and the other shit invading when the Gift activated. That's all I can tell you…”

The old man squirms uncomfortably before backing away from me… Interesting… He’s panting as if dehydrated and is sweating buckets at this point…. Heat is more effective than I thought it could be. Even better is the fact that it's not affecting me, I wonder if its because I am still emitting heat, or because it knows I created it?

I smile sweetly before raising my voice in a concerned manner,

“Are you alright?”

He briefly looks me in the eyes again before I feel the pressure from him dissipate completely…. Win! I also cease producing heat, don’t want the guy to faint or anything…. As soon as I stop, I am bombarded by an intense wave of pain, as a gust of heated air burns some of my skin…. How did that guy stand this for so long….

“So what has brought you so far into the wild… Normally settled ones will come in groups, although lately they have all been infected when we find them….”

Should I lie…. Nah…

“I am searching for someone, actually it happens to be the creator of these parasites that I am after….”

At this, the old man’s fear skill kicks into high gear…. Geez, take a hint, if you do your thing I do mine… However, before I could increase the heat to unbearable levels, he seems to realize his mistake and cuts it off….

“Forgive me, I find myself losing control of my temper lately… Many of my loved ones have been taken by those abominations. Do you know when you plan on leaving to search for this creature?”

Oh hell yea! Get out of here immediately of course! I can always ask Third for directions so fuck these guys.

“Immediately, if possible.”

The old man has a pensive look on his face before smiling….

“Then if you wouldn’t mind, could I introduce you to someone… He did save your life after all... “

I had to buy some clothes from the store, unfortunately it seems the storm had vaporized my old hoodie and jeans…. Though I can’t say they were in their best condition, cut in numerous locations and thoroughly stained in blood as they were… Even those gauntlets were destroyed, which is even worse as something similar costs thousands in the shop…. Money farms like those ghouls, are probably rare so that kind of cash isn’t something I can just come across…..

At least the system sold clothing and food extremely cheaply, it was only a matter of finding a comfortable set and a decent hoodie before I was ready to tour the village…

I never knew psychic powers would be so convenient…. You can fly with them…. Blow people up with them…. Even now, as I walked out of the shit shack they called a hut, when the heat of what I can only guess was South America hit me, a simple application fo Hydrokinesis and my clothes were kept at a constant 74 degrees, no problem….

Thinking back to when this started, I probably wouldn’t have survived had I not been lucky enough to find another Pioneer so soon and kill them…. I should go search for more after I meet Thirds master… Maybe even that Renzo guy… I hadn’t really thought about it at the time, but maybe my fear of him was unfounded…. Statistics are only as accurate as long as you believe in them… If you see yourself scored lower than someone else, does that make you less intelligent? Weaker? Slower? No!

Time and experiences change us… I’m not one to get philosophical, but even I can understand the fact that variables can make the most controlled experiments go off the rails. Hell, you know what?!? The first pioneer I should hunt down should be Renzo! I should put his DaUghter on a pole and Parade her corpse right Up TO him… MAyBe Then I COULD ALSO TAKE HIS BUTLER. A FAT FUCK LIKE RENZO DOESN’T DESERVE SUCH AN AMAZING BUTLER. HE COULD’VE EVEN USED A FEAR SKILL WITHOUT ME KNOWING. WHAT A CHEATING BASTARD. I NEED TO GET HIM. WHAT IF ALL PIONEERS ARE LIKE THEM. I SHOULD KILL ALL THE PIONEERS.

Something seemed to reverberate deep inside me as I thought of their deaths… Something that had been waiting inside me since I had become a Scourge… It seemed to scream for blood, as if that was my true purpose and my only possible path to the future…

As for the tribesmen… they had long since ran for their homes….

These people were powerful enough to be considered Pseudo-Pioneers…. If they had been chosen by whatever God had given the gift, there is no doubt they would be near the top…. Unfortunately, pioneers aren’t simply chosen for their physical prowess… If they were, people like Juliana and Mark would have never been on the list, despite their gifted physiques….

It was quite evident by the fact that they stayed in the area, instead of running for the jungle how mentally developed some were….

The old man continued standing next to Mark, although he looked at him differently than before….

Waves of red rolled off Mark, as his bloodlust accidently leaked from the revelation he was having in his own mind.

‘What the hell is this kid….’

*Solomon*

Thankfully the parasites haven't affected the ocean…. yet…

If my harvests were to drop any further I might be kicked out of the village…

Although I loathe being around them, I don’t know of any other place to go… Nor where to start looking for another place….

Half a cycle back I had delusions of sailing on a raft to another land far away, but even in a state of delirium I realized the foolishness of something like that… Sharks would break my makeshift boat apart faster than I could challenge them, leaving me stranded in the middle of an ocean. It would be the last regret of my short life….

Knowing this, the elders and others had started asking for some of my catch, and over time have taken more and more…. They know I have no other options, and all the other tribes are either at war with us or hate us enough to kill me on sight….

My shoulders droop as I realize the hole that I am in… despite being a supposed great pioneer, I am stuck, left to rot in this infested corner of the world….

Walking past the various vegetation that coat every inch of our jungle, I take a few practice swings with my harpoon…

The first easily hooks into the back of a sapling before I tug, uprooting the entire thing in one movement…. The second easily uproots an even thicker one until I was on my 17th tree….

Over a foot thick was about my limit…. If I was able to escape this place, I could increase my level, also increasing my strength….

Killing those random infected settlers, and some of the wild animals remaining has only been able to boost me to level 16….

For a brief moment I imagine the tree in front of me as one of my tribes mate….. Blood lust leaked from my body until a sharp point had grown from the end of my hook, easily piercing through the tree and sticking out the other side….

I imagined ripping their heads off as they screamed in agony at the loss of knowledge and their loved ones….

Outside my daydream, I quickly pull backwards, ripping the tree in half and flinging the top half 10 feet away….

The sounds of crashing brush snaps me out of my fantasy, causing me to go on high alert for a few moments before calming down. Shaking the thoughts from my head I continue the trip back home….

It was quiet still, with those parasites devouring or converting most of the wildlife…. One day they had all simply disappeared…. Now it was always quiet….

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...

Walking through the simple entrance to our little alcove in the jungle, I spot the settler I had saved from the beach the other day….

I stop to stare as the most powerful bloodlust I had ever seen rolls off him… Unlike mine, his seemed completely tangible even in this raw form…. It was terrifying to look at….

Something inside me seemed to call out to the other man…

So I unleashed my own, slightly inferior version of bloodlust…

At that moment, he looked towards me….

And we locked eyes….