Chapter 38

  He noticed that the Cws ability moved down to the bottom of the Geic Development Interface, where the skills and abilities he already possessed were. He now had only 740 mana points left. Other than that, nothing else ged after he acquired Cws. Jake looked over his stats one more time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

  Name: Jake Turner

  Race: Ex-Human Morphus

  Evolution Stage 1: “Primordial Form”

  Level: 1

  HP: 100%

  XP: 0/100

  SP: 0

  MP: 740

  Body: 1

  Mind: 0

  Magick: 0

  Cws: Rank I (0%) (on)

  Enhanced Senses: Rank I (16%) (on)

  Enhanced Agility: Rank I (24%) (on)

  Enhanced Intelligence: Rank I (11%) (on)

  After that, Jake opened his eyes, and all the stats disappeared. He stood up from the ground. He was still in the clearing surrounded by trees. Behind him was the Dark Void. Nothing had ged in his surroundings while he’d been preoccupied with his stats. His heightened sense of hearing picked up the sounds of mutants somewhere irees, but they were too far away for him to be ed about.

  He g his body. There weren’t any visible ges to it. He wasn’t bulkier or more muscur. Still, having allocated a skill point into Body had to stand for something. Perhaps his body was now more resistant to damage. At least, he hoped so. He then raised his hands and gave them a look-over. Despite him having acquired Cws, they appeared unged, showing no differe all. Aside from being obsidian-bd textured, they pretty much looked like regur human hands. Maybe he could transform them into cws with a thought? He decided to give it a try, and it worked.

  His fingers and thumbs on both hands widened and elongated into something resembling long, curved talons. The transformation wasn’t instantaneous; it took his hands a few seds to assume their final shape. Jake brought them closer to his face for a better look. Each of his fingers was a couple of inches longer now, curving slightly and tapering off to a point. They looked quite menag. He surely wouldn’t want a creature to rake his body with such cws.

  He heard a mutant cry somewhere off to his right. He turned his head in that dire. While his enhanced hearing allowed him to detect the creature, he couldn’t see it yet. The mutant remained hidden from sight within the dense foliage, but based on the sounds it emitted, it wasn’t far away. Jake decided it was time to test his newly acquired cws on some ex-humans. He darted into the trees, moving effortlessly and produg minimal noise.

  It took him just a few seds to reach the creature. It was a walker. The mutant had its back turo him and only became aware of his presence when Jake got within a couple of feet of it. The walker wheeled around, growling and shing out with a cwed hand upon spotting Jake. However, to Jake, the mutant seemed to move in slow motion. He easily evaded the attack by dug his head. Before the mutant could regain its bance, Jake swiftly aimed the cws on his right hand toward its throat. His talons tore into the flesh with ease, and dark blood poured from the wound. The walker took an unsteady step toward Jake before colpsing to the ground.

  Enemy killed. +10 XP

  Just like that, the mutant had bee with. It had taken Jake less than a sed to deliver the mortal blow to the ex-human. The killied him. His cws turned out to be even more dangerous than he had thought. Armed with such powerful talons, dispatg ex-humans wouldn’t be much of a problem from now on.

  Jake heard another walker moving through the foliage nearby. He turned in that dire and sprinted after his prey. The walker spotted him before he could get within striking dista didn’t help the mutant much, though. The ex-human moved toward him, swinging its cwed hands at him. He ducked us arms, sshing his own cws across the mutant’s stomach. The tips of his talons ripped through the walker’s ragged clothes, digging deep into its flesh. The mutant’s steaming iines spilled out onto the ground.

  Enemy killed. +10 XP

  There were a few more walkers nearby. They heard the otion and rushed at Jake from several dires. He ducked his head as the first one approached to attack. Jake swept his cws diagonally across the mutant’s face, leaving long bleeding scratches in its flesh. A sed ssh opes throat almost to the spine, nearly severing its head. Before the dead walker colpsed, Jake had already turned his attention to the ex-human. He dodged its cwed hands and terattacked, killing the mutant ihan a sed.

  One of the other creatures mao catch his shoulder with a cwed hand, but he barely noticed it. When he g his shoulder, he was surprised to find it barely scratched with no bluish energy seeping out like it’d happehe st time he was wouhe skill point he had put into Body had indeed made his body more robust aant to damage.

  The walkers attacked him from several dires, but he killed all of them without much trouble. Whe one was taken care of, a notification popped up in his head.

  You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 1 to 2. You have gained 1 SP.

  Jake closed his eyes to summon his stats. He ied the skill point into Body, increasing it to 2. He then resumed his hunt, trag down and sying walkers that lurked in the woods that had once been a city park. After taking out twenty-five more walkers, he leveled up to 3. This time, he ied the skill point into Mind.

  He then checked his stats once more.

  Name: Jake Turner

  Race: Ex-Human Morphus

  Evolution Stage 1: “Primordial Form”

  Level: 3

  HP: 100%

  XP: 0/500

  SP: 0

  MP: 580

  Body: 2

  Mind: 1

  Magick: 0

  Cws: Rank I (17%) (on)

  Enhanced Senses: Rank I (22%) (on)

  Enhanced Agility: Rank I (42%) (on)

  Enhanced Intelligence: Rank I (19%) (on)

  Cws, Enhanced Senses, Enhanced Agility, and Enhanced Intelligence had all improved, with Enhanced Agility showing signifit growth. His skills and abilities indeed increased when they were in active use.

  He also noticed that to level up to 4, he o gain 500 XP. This meant he had to kill fifty walkers to level up. Perhaps it was a better idea to leave the park and track down some leapers in high-rise buildings instead, as each leaper was worth 25 XP. He might also enter some shamblers, each worth 50 XP. As a survivor, he had always been wary of shamblers, as they were formidable foes. Now he should be able to deal with them without much trouble.

  He could take on multiple ex-humans at the same time and deal with all of them within seds without breaking a sweat. Given how easily he could sy mutants now, Jake was certain he would level up much faster than he did as a regur survivor. Well, at least, there was a silver lining to being a mutant. Jake wao smile at the thought, but he had no mouth to do so.