Chapter 130
Jake spent the rest of the night searg for mana, using the Mana Vision perk. In the m, he headed for the sewers to grind for XP. Before entering the underground tunnels, however, he decided to purchase an Increased XP booster. With a thought, he opehe Boost Menu and exami.
Boost Menu
Rank 2:
Enhanced Regeion
Duration: 90 min
Cost: 2,000 MP
Acquire: Y/N
Increased Movement Speed
Duration: 90 min
Cost: 5,000 MP
Acquire: Y/N
Increased Strength
Duration: 90 min
Cost: 5,000 MP
Acquire: Y/N
Increased Agility
Duration: 90 min
Cost: 5,000 MP
Acquire: Y/N
Increased XP Gain (x3)
Duration: 90 min
Cost: 10,000 MP
Acquire: Y/N
Rank 3 Requirements:
1 - Kill 250 ex-human walkers.
2 - Kill 150 ex-human leapers.
Progress:
Walkers: 221/250
Leapers: 117/150
Upgrade Boost Menu to Rank 3: Requirements are not met!
Jake wasn’t ied in Strength, Agility, Speed, eion boosters, so he didn’t bother purchasing them. He was satisfied with his body’s current strength, speed, and regeive abilities and didn’t feel the o enhahem. The only booster he acquired was Increased XP gain (x3), for which he spent 10,000 MP. He now had over forty thousand mana points left, which lenty. For the y minutes, any XP he earned would be tripled.
Before closing the Boost Menu, he gave it one final g some point, he had upgraded it to Rank 2. Although it didn't introduy new boosters, it did extend the duration of eae from 60 to 90 minutes and increased the effectiveness of Increased XP Gain from x2 to x3.
It had been a while since he st checked the Boost Menu. Examining it now, he saw that he was close to meeting the requirements frading it to Rank 3. He o kill a few dozen more walkers and leapers before he could upgrade it to the rank, which would either add new boosters or strehe existing ones.
He spent the wo hours killing mutants in the sewers, with every bit of XP he earripled. By the time he finished clearing the underground tunnels of all their uling inhabitants, he had leveled up two times, progressing from level 40 to level 42 and gaining 10 skill points to allocate.
As pnned, he used one skill point to upgrade Mind Reader to Rank II.
Mind Reader: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
The ability’s progress bar had returo 0%, meaning it could be advanced again, albeit at a slower rate. Now that Mind Reader was at Rank II, he could supposedly explore someone’s memories ier depth, instead of just glimpsing a few minutes of the most ret events.
He had nine more points to allocate. He checked his attributes.
Body: 32
Mind: 30
Magick: 30
He wao purchase some abilities and skills from the sed se of the Geic Development Interface, but as far as he could remember, each skill listed there had quite high requirements. To refresh his memory, he summohe skill store and browsed through the skills and abilities avaible for purchase.
Evolution Stage 2: "Savage Ast" (Level 25)
Abilities: 1 of 5
Skills: 1 of 4
Ability: Gravity Leap
Requirements: Body 43, Mind 40, Magick 37
Cost: 17,000 MP
Ability: Acidic Spit
Requirements: Body 45, Magick 45
Cost: 20,000 MP
Ability: Serpentine Form
Requirements: Body 50, Mind 45, Magick 50
Cost: 25,000 MP
Ability: Spikes
Requirements: Body 60, Magick 65
Cost: 30,000 MP
Skill: Adhesive Secretion
Requirements: Body 40, Magick 35
Cost: 15,000 MP
Skill: Toxic Resistance
Requirements: Body 45
Cost: 23,000 MP
Skill: Adaptive Armor
Requirements: Body 55, Magick 50
Cost: 27,000 MP
Ability: Mind Reader
Requirements: Mind 30, Magick 25
Cost: Already Owned
Skill: Enhanced Durability
Requirements: Body 30
Cost: Already Owned
Jake’s first targets were the Gravity Leap ability and the Adhesive Secretion skill. Although he had enough MP to purchase them, he didn’t quite meet the requirements, which were pretty high. Gravity Leap required Body at 43, Mind at 40, and Magick at 37 while Adhesive Secretion needed his Body to be at 40 and his Magick to be at 35.
So he allocated five skill points to Magid the remaining four skill points to Body.
Body: 32 → 36
Mind: 30
Magick: 30 → 35
Once he leveled up agaieo i four additional points into Body. After doing so, he would finally be able to purchase the Adhesive Secretion skill.
At st, he opened his eyes, and all the information vahanks to the XP booster he’d acquired, he had gained a signifit number of experience points, leveling up twi the sewers. However, the most effective way to level up faster was by pleting challenges. Sihere were no more mutants left to defeat in the sewers, Jake decided to return to street level and search for anomalies that offered challeo plete.
For the several hours, he searched for them, eliminating all groups of ex-humans he entered along the way, earning additional ks of XP. As he traversed the city, he couldn’t help but notice that Los Demonios seemed to be everywhere now. They chased other survivors in pickup trucks and rge SUVs, equipped with mae guns mounted in the beds of the former and on the roofs of the tter. Above, several helicopters tinuously patrolled the area, cirg the rooftops.
The Demons had developed their own emblem, a simple drawing of a human skull adorned with two curled horns. Each of their vehicles dispyed the image of the demon skull painted in red on the hoods and doors. While on street level, Jake also came across the same demon skull painted on many building walls.
It was obvious that Los Demonios were asserting their domirying to intimidate roups of survivors into submission. This strategy seemed to be w, as the gang’s numbers grew each day, with more and more survivors being captured.
Although Jake wasn’t ed with what the humans did, this situation was quickly being frustrating. While he chose not to eh the Demons, they persistently attempted to chase him in their vehicles. At street level, evading them wasn’t particurly difficult, because their cars struggled to maneuver around buildings, navigate streets riddled with rge cracks, and weave between long-abandoned, dipidated vehicles. So when a Demon car began tailing him, Jake didn’t have much trouble slipping away.
However, things were quite different at the roof level. Unlike ground vehicles, helicopters didn’t have to tend with obstacles. In the air, nothing prevehe sleek, futuristic choppers from reag their top speed. Most of them tried to pursue him as soon as they caught sight of him, f him to seek refuge inside one of the buildings and wait for them to fly away before stepping outside again.
It was being quite annoying. Each time he emerged onto a rooftop, his first instinct was to gnce up to make sure no helicopters were h nearby, ready to chase him again. Los Demonios grew stronger with every passing day. If this situation wasn’t tained soon, it would soon be nearly impossible to turn a er without running into the members of the gang. Although some roups of survivors attempted to fight back, they had little success. The Demons vastly out-leveled, outnumbered, and outgunned any other survivroups iy.
At some point, while on the roof of a t high-rise, Jake finally came across an anomaly that had a challeo offer. First, he summohe description of the anomaly itself.
Name: Electro
Description: Launches bolts of lightning energy every which way when disturbed. also be activated when a living being es within a foot of it.
Duration: 15 seds
Effective range: 95 yards
Danger Level: 45 (High)
Without a doubt, this anomaly was extremely dangerous. He had entered variations of the Electro anomaly before, but none were as perilous as this one. He made sure to keep his distance. He then checked out the challenge ected to the anomaly.
Challenge: Wave Survival
Objective: Survive all waves. plete the challehin 60 mio receive an additional reward.
Note: You must remain within a designated area during this challenge. If you leave it, you’ll have thirty seds to return. If you fail to make it ba time, the challenge will be failed.
Waves: 10
Difficulty: Hard
Reeats: Evolution Stage 2 “Savage Ast”, Level 40, Body 35
Reward: 10,000 XP, 30,000 MP
Extra Reward: Ability - Cloak
Accept: Y/N
Jake hoped he wouldn’t have to tackle the Wave Survival challenge he Electro anomaly. Even while maintaining a safe distance, he could hear the hum emanating from it and feel vibrations pulsating through the air. The atmosphere around it felt electrified, sending an unpleasant prig sensation through his skin. The anomaly was incredibly powerful, and if he had to uake the Wave Survival in its viity, it would be one hell of a challenge.
The rewards were quite impressive, though: 10,000 XP, 30,000 MP, and a cloaking ability. Usually, abilities were earned by pleting mutation research quests. However, in this case, it was an additional reward that he would receive only if he mao plete the challenge in under sixty minutes.
He then summohe Boost Menu and purchased the Increased XP booster once more, spending another 10,000 MP. He now had thirty-five thousand mana points left. However, if he pleted the Wave Survival challe would be worth it because he would gain 30,000 MP. Additionally, with the XP booster he’d purchased, he would receive three times the XP reward, potentially leveling up multiple times at once, which wasn’t bad at all.
After that, he accepted the Wave Survival challenge.
