Chapter 66

  Jake traversed the streets, illuminated by the gentle m light. The chilly wind stirred the weeds breaking through the cracks in the asphalt and swayed the vines casg down the building fronts. The echoes of gunfire resonated from various parts of the city. In this world altered by the system, guns geed much less noise, a stark trast to when Jake was a human survivor and rarely heard gunfire unless in close proximity. Now, as a mutant, his acute hearing allowed him to easily detect distant gunshots.

  As the day progressed, more survivors emerged from their hideouts to begin a new day of sging and battling mutants. While they posed little threat to him, Jake po avoid frontations with humans as much as possible. He gained nothing from killing them. Waking up his inner beast was also something he wao avoid at all costs. However, as the day unfolded, evading survivors was being more challenging.

  He sprihrough the streets at impressive speed, c one block after another, occasionally passing groups of survivors. Most of them simply gaped at him, and by the time they collected themselves, he was already too far away for them to take any a against him. However, out of fear, some of the survivors mao pop off hurried bursts of fire in his dire. None of their shots hit him, though, as he moved too quickly for them to aim accurately.

  He definitely preferred traversing the city by rooftops. After he cleared out the sewers, he po stay away from the streets altogether. The st time, it’d taken him a few hours to eliminate all the mutated lifeforms in the sewers. With his newly acquired bat abilities, he expected to aplish this task more quickly. After that, he inteo climb to the roof of any nearby building and proceed with his exploration of the city, traversing it by the rooftops in search of quests or something else of i.

  At some point, Jake came across the remnants of a small building resembling a diner sitting at a er of a four-way interse. Normally, Jake would’ve kept moving forward without sparing an the destru, but something caught his attention. As he approached the building, he slowed down, turning his head to observe it. A magical anomaly floated a few meters above the ruins of the diner, shimmering and dist the surrounding air. The anomaly pulsed with eerie, uhly light, casting strange shadows on the ground around the small structure. Jake came to a halt beside the ruined diner as memories of past enters with magical anomalies flooded his mind.

  He was aware that anomalies were highly dangerous, each possessing a unique ability. Some would draw you in only to fling you away with tremendous for a random dire, simir to the one named Pulsar that had retly propelled him off the roof. Another anomaly had the capability to break every bone in a fragile human body. There were anomalies that exploded with magical energy, dealing damage to everything within its effective range. Eaomaly was dangerous and had its own ability.

  They were alsered differently. Some would activate upon tact with any object, while nored inanimate objects and only reacted to a living creature getting too close. Certain anomalies could be triggered by loud noises, while others remained active stantly, like the Dark Void that had transformed him into a morphus.

  It was definitely worth carefully iing eaomaly to distinguish between them and uand the dahey presehis was why Jake decided to take a moment to study the newly discovered anomaly. He approached the ruined building, his eyes fixed on the anomaly h above the roof. He stopped at the shattered entrao the small structure, taking a moment to examihe ruined interior of the diner. It was a twisted maze of broken furniture and colpsed walls. What had once been a cozy diner was now a jumble of debris and decay.

  Jake tilted his head back, peering at the anomaly through a gaping hole in the ceiling. The magical phenomeed a stant hum, and the air ihe destroyed diner felt electrified, causing a tingliion to spread across his skin. He had definitely never entered su anomaly before, so Jake ventured into the dio exami more closely. Most anomalies were difficult to perceive, with some beiirely invisible aable only by the sounds they emitted. However, Jake’s heightened senses allowed him to see ahe anomaly h above the roof more clearly.

  Despite having hard soles like those of boots, no debris ched beh Jake’s feet. He trod lightly, taking careful and calcuted steps that made no sound at all. The only hin the ruined diner was the hum emanating from the anomaly itself. Its shimmering form cast a strange glow over the wreckage of the interior below. The anomaly seemed to pulsate with malevolent energy, twisting and dist the air around it in a dizzying dispy of power.

  Jake slowed, not willing to get too close to the anomaly. While he seemed to have no natural predators as a morphus, anomalies were airely different matter. Some anomalies were highly dangerous, presenting a signifit dao him even in his mutant form. The air crackled with electrical energy as he took a small step closer, looking up at the anomaly through the gap in the roof. He was now directly below the magical phenomenon. The anomaly ulsating with an eerie glow, casting shimmering light over the wrecked interior of the diner. He could hear the hum ing from the anomaly ahe floor beh his feet tremble as waves of force radiated from the anomaly with each pulsation.

  Though he hadn’t summos stats yet, Jake had a sehat its danger level was signifit. He still wasn’t sure how it was triggered, though. He stood just beh the gap in the roof, so proximity as the activation factor could be ruled out. Perhaps it respoo loud sounds or physical tact. Jake wasn’t about to do something stupid like hurling objects at it or making o test this theory, though. After all, he knew he could learhing he o know about it as soon as he called up its description.

  With a mental and, Jake summoned an appraisal of the anomaly, and a flood of information instantly filled his mind.

  Name: Electro

  Description: Launches lightning energy every which way when triggered. Activates when something hits it ets within a foot of it.

  Duration: 10 seds

  Effective range: 30 yards

  Danger Level: 35 (High)

  The anomaly was indeed extremely dangerous. Its danger level was 35, surpassing his own level by more than threefold. Ahing came to his mind. A survivor o s an anomaly with their PDA to gather information about it. However, they o upgrade their PDA first. Each rank level of a survivor’s PDA correspoo a specifige of levels for sing anomalies. For example, level 1 allowed sing anomalies up to level 10, level 2 extehis to anomalies up to level 20, and so on with each subsequent level of a PDA c an additional range of ten levels of anomalies.

  To s the Electro anomaly, a survivor’s PDA would o be upgraded to at least level 4. In trast, Jake had the ability to appraise any anomaly with just the power of his mind, regardless of its level. This unique advantage made exploration of this altered world signifitly easier for Jake. His Enhanced Intelligence skill funed akin to a PDA, but in some aspects, it even exceeded its capabilities.

  While Jake was thinking about all this, he kept staring at the anomaly through the gap in the roof, and another piece of info suddenly popped up in his mind.

  A challenge is avaible!

  See the details: Y/N

  Jake did a double-take at the anomaly floating above him. As a survivor, he’d never been offered challenges by anomalies before. He wondered why. Maybe only se mutants like himself could be given such opportunities? Anyway, it was an ued but intriguing surprise that filled him with excitement.

  With a thought, he requested more information.