Chapter 165
Jake retty much sure his torn-off arm would eventually grow back, but he didn’t know how long it would take. Just like the bded tentacles that detached from his body, his left arm had disied into a pile of bck dust shortly after being separated from his body.
He g his left shoulder and noticed that his body had already sealed the wound, preventing mana loss. For the several minutes, he focused on his shoulder, watg the flesh slowly regee. Judging by the rate of growth, Jake estimated it would take a few hours for his left arm to fully regrow.
He sidered acquiring the regeion booster for 10,000 MP but ultimately decided against it. Though it could have accelerated the growth of his left arm, he wasn’t willing to spend that much mana.
He g the motionless body of the abomination he had just defeated. If he had been a human with normal human feelings aions, he might have kicked the massive corpse of the monster in frustration. However, Jake didn’t feel much of anything at that moment. Averting his gaze away from the dead beast, he decided to take a moment to review his stats. Closing his eyes, he summohem with a thought.
Name: Jake Turner
Race: Ex-Human Morphus
Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ast”
Level: 77
HP: 56%
XP: 314/9,750
SP: 15
MP: 102,570
Body: 70
Mind: 70
Magick: 70
Cws: Rank III (37%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Swords: Rank III (29%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Bded Tentacles: Rank III (25%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Mind Reader: Rank III (0%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Smashfists: Rank III (21%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Gravity Leap: Rank II (15%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Cloak: Rank II (44%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Acidic Spit: Rank I (77%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Senses: Rank III (33%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Agility: Rank III (35%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Intelligence: Rank III (45%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Reflexes: Rank III (38%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enharength: Rank III (23%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Regeion: Rank III (26%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Feral Instincts: Rank III (17%) (Upgrades: 3 of 4) (Unon)
Enhanced Durability: Rank III (21%) (Upgrades: 3 of 4) (Unon)
Adhesive Secretion: Rank II (67%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Unon)
Toxic Resistance: Rank I (13%) (Upgrades: 0 of 4) (Unon)
All his skills and abilities were gradually progressing. Unsurprisingly, those at Rank III were the slowest tress. He noticed that Acidic Spit, which was currently at Rank I, and Adhesive Secretion, at Rank II, were both nearing pletion. Acidic Spit was at 77%, while Adhesive Secretion stood at 67%.
So, he had 15 skill points at his disposal. Jake decided to i some of them in skills that weren’t maxed out yet: Feral Instincts, which had 3 upgrades out of 4, Enhanced Durability, which was in the same position, and Toxic Resistance, which had not received any upgrades yet.
Skill: Feral Instincts
Upgrade Options
4 - Improve the ability to anticipate enemy as based on their body nguage and movements, allowing for preemptive defensive or offensive maneuvers.
Cost: 1 SP
Requirements: Mind 60
Skill: Enhanced Durability
Upgrade Options
4 - Increase resistao cussive forces, preventing disorientation from powerful impacts.
Cost: 1 SP
Requirements: Body 55
He thought the upgrade for Enhanced Durability was very good. He recalled the moment he had been stunned when the abomination smashed him against the brick wall, allowing the beast to grab him before he had time to recover. With the test upgrade, sufortunate is should happen much less frequently.
After that, he purchased all frades for the Toxic Resistance skill.
Upgrade Options
1 - Decrease the duration of ive status effects caused by toxins.
2 - Reduce the damage taken from acidic attacks and shorten the duration of their effects.
3 - Enhance your body’s recovery speed after sustaining toxic or acidic attacks.
4 - Obtain the ability to store toxins in your body and release them ter as a trated attack against enemies. Requirements: Body 50, Magick 55
The fourth upgrade certainly caught his ihe most. He wasirely sure how it worked yet, but he figured he would find out eventually. Most likely, he would o be exposed to a toxic or caustiviroo store toxins in his body.
With that, all of his current skills and abilities had been maxed out in terms of upgrades. Now, he had 9 skill points remaining.
He then summohe sed se of the Geic Development Interface to review the skills he po acquire. Ign the skills and abilities he had already obtained, he focused solely ohree he had yet to acquire.
Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ast” (Level 25)
Abilities: 4 of 6
Skills: 3 of 4
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: Adaptive Armor
Requirements: Body 55, Magick 50
Cost: 27,000 MP
Since each of his three attributes was at 70, he met the requirements for all three abilities. However, he inteo wait until his arm regrew before acquiring them. This way, he could evaluate his remaining MP aermine how many skills to purchase based on that.
He then opened his eyes, causing all the information to disappear. There were mutants in the sewers, but Jake didn’t want to ehem while he was still handicapped. So he crawled up one wall. Despite currently having only one arm, climbiical surfaces wasn’t difficult for him. Upon reag the jun where the wall met the ceiling, he went still. He decided against needlessly activating Cloak to serve mana. If he heard any approag mutants, he might ht not turn it on to avoid dete. After all, sineither the mutated rats nor the devourers had ranged ons, even if they spotted him ging to the wall far above the tunnel floor, they wouldn’t be able to read attack him anyway.
Jake checked his current mana reserves. After purchasing the skills, he would be left with less than 20,570 MP. However, that number would be even lower since his body tapped into his mana reserves tee his left arm. Judging by how much mana was being ed during the healing process, he estimated that it would set him back around 5,000 MP by the time his arm pletely grew back. This meant that after acquiring the three skills, he would have roughly 15,000 MP left, which wasn’t much at his current level.
He weighed his options: he could take it easy for the rest of the day to preserve his mana and, as usual, go on a mana hunt after nightfall. Alternatively, instead of acquiring all three abilities at once, he could buy only one or two for the time being. Yet, Jake had a strong desire to acquire all three skills right away because once he did, all the skills and abilities from the sed se of the Geic Development Interface would be acquired. This would set him up perfectly for evolving into the stage, allowing him to focus solely on the skills and abilities from the third se from that time on, which would unlock after the stage of his evolution.
After purchasing upgrades for Feral Instincts, Enhanced Durability, and Toxic Resistance, he was left with 9 Skill Points. He decided to save them for ter. Once he had acquired the three remaining abilities from the sed se of the Geic Development Interface, he would use the nine skill points to obtain upgrades for them.
His initial pn had been to defeat the abomination and then duct his regur up of the mutants. However, with only one arm, he wasn’t prepared to take oants lurking in the underground tunnels. While he hated being inactive, he knew engaging the mutants in his current state was unwise. So he opted to wait. Once his arm fully regeed, he would clear the sewers of its inhabitants. Perhaps he might even level up one more time in the process.
By the time he pleted that task, he figured the HQ in the Los Demonios base would plete its upgrade to Level 6. He po return to the base to see what ges that would bring. Afterward, he would decide on his steps. Most likely, he would evolve into the stage and then un offensive against the bandit base.
But for the few hours, all he po do was wait for his left arm to grow back. Jake steeled himself for several hours of idle waiting.
