Chapter 68
For the several hours, Jake scoured the city in search of anomalies. The rarity of anomalies, which had previously brought him joy as a survivor because of their mortal danger and challenging nature to deteow left him feeling frustrated. Moreover, it became apparent that anomalies that had challenges lio them were really rare. After the pletion of the speed trial, he dedicated several hours to a fruitless search without entering another simir anomaly. It was being increasingly frustrating for him. Despite iing siderable time, his efforts yielded s. At least, he now khat the anomalies with challenges lio them were pretty scarce.
He was on the verge of giving up his seard moving on to explore the sewers instead when he finally discovered what he was looking for. The anomaly he stumbled upon ulsar, the same ohat had propelled him off a roof the other day. Despite being at street level now, he was relut to risk being sucked into the Pulsar and forcefully ejected in an uable dire, so he maintained a safe distahe anomaly floated above the floor in the lobby of a high-rise building, situated at the ter of the vast room.
Jake maintained a safe distance of about fifteen yards from the anomaly, yet even from this far, he could sehe gravitational pull of the Pulsar. He was acutely aware that if he inched closer to the anomaly, the gravitational pull would escate in strength. He knew very well that once he reached a certain threshold, the force would bee so powerful it would irresistibly suck him in, rendering him powerless to prevent being pulled into its grasp. That was why Jake remai a safe distance from the anomaly, unwilling to take a siep closer. While he uood that the anomaly posed hal threat, he was unwilling to ehe uling experience more.
With a simple mental and, he summohe description of the Pulsar. The information he already knew emerged in his mind. He didn’t bother to reread it. Anticipating the anomaly to offer no challenge, akin to the previous enters he’d faced in the past several hours, Jake started to turn around to leave the building. And then, with a slight dey, a new piece of information abruptly emerged in his thoughts.
A challenge is avaible!
See the details: Y/N
A surge of excitement swept through Jake as he realized he’d finally stumbled upon an anomaly that had a challenge lio it. He immediately requested to view the details, and a fresh piece of information promptly appeared in his mind.
Tower Climb: Reach the roof of a high-rise building to eliminate ae mutant.
Time Limit: 6 hours
Floors: 10
Difficulty: Hard
Reeats: Evolution Stage 1 “Primordial Form”, Level 15, Body 5
Main Reward: Finish all floors a ae mutant on the roof to unlock the Boost Menu
Intermediate Reward: Finish a minimum of 7 floors to upgrade any skill to Rank II, bypassing its current progress or requirements
Accept: Y/N
Jake carefully reviewed the details of the Tower Climb challehat had just surfaced in his mind. The current challenge differed signifitly from the previous speed trial and required a different skill set altogether. The tower climb presented a more challenging difficulty level as well, marked as “hard,” in stark trast to the previous speed trial, which had beeively easy. Not meeting the reeats with his Level 10 and Body 3, he couldn’t help but wonder if he to the task.
Despite his reservations, Jake wasn’t willing to miss out on the ce to unlock a new feature.
Challenge accepted! To initiate the tower climb, reach the designated area.
Stepping outside the building, Jake sed his surroundings, anticipating a bea to guide him toward the tower climb’s starting point. However, to his surprise, no shafts of light akin to the ones from the speed trial materialized in the distance. Perplexed, he pondered whether sg the high-rise roof might offer a better vantage point. Oher hand, the oints from the speed trial had been so high they had towered promily above the surrounding high-rise buildings, making it easy to spot them even from the street level. So he decided against climbing a high-rise roof in search of oints, reasoning that those distinctive markers were likely specific to the speed trial challenge anyway.
Puzzled, Jake tio look around, w how he was supposed to know where to go without any apparent guidance.
In the end, he decided to simply ask.
System, tell me where I o go, he thought.
As soon as Jake asked the question in his mind, a shimmering lierialized before him. It stretched out ahead, before curving to the right after reag the midpoint of the street. It moved ahead until it reached a four-way interse where it veered to the left. A few seds ter, the sparkling line vanished.
Jake transitioned into a brisk jog along the street. When he reached the interse where the line had turned left, he halted. With a thought, he summohe line once more, and it promptly materialized before him. It extended a couple of blocks forward before making aurn. Jake chose to pursue the lihout dey this time, maintaining his pace as he followed the guiding line. When it vanished, he promptly summo once more without slowing his pace.
Jake followed the sparkling path for some time, taking different turns at interses until he finally reached his destination. He came to a halt before a tall building in which the sparkling line had just guided before disappearing. He studied the tall structure for a moment. The ten-story building appeared identical to the surrounding structures, g any unique features. Not sure what to expect, he extended a bde from his left wrist and morphed his right fingers into cws before entering the building through the shattered entrance door.
Pausing in the opening, Jake surveyed the vast ae lobby before him. The space was empty save for occasional piles of rubble strewn about. Jake’s eyes quickly identified several replication pods suspended from the ceiling, positioned low to the floor. He also spotted a bunch of walkers shuffling aimlessly about the area. As he ventured further into the lobby, a notifiaterialized in his mind.
The tower climb has been initiated! Good luck!
Remaining time: 5 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seds
Apart from the message that appeared in his mind, there were no visible ges in the surroundings to suggest that the challenge had just enced for Jake.
Alright, let’s do this, he thought before ung himself at the group of ex-humans.
