Chapter 47

  When Jake emerged from the building, he was greeted by the m light bathing the streets. A new day had just begun, signaling the System had refreshed the world, respawning monsters and filling it with loot. Jake wasted no time getting to explore. Adopting the brisk jog that had bee his norm, he moved swiftly and silently like the predator he was. Notig every little detail in his surroundings, Jake prowled through the abandoned city, which had bee his hunting grounds.

  At some point, he noticed that his body was now ing slightly less mana than before. This ge was likely a result of the skill point he had ied in Magick. It was an encing development. He decided to make good use of it by participating in more battles with mutants than he usually engaged in during a day. Up to that point, he had only obtained one upgrade for Cws, which reduced the transformation time from hands to cws to just about a sed. His other skills had not received any upgrades yet, and to address this, he o gain more skill points.

  With the aim of leveling up quickly, Jake hunted down one group of mutants after another. Occasionally, he stumbled upon a mana able, immediately extrag the mana and abs the magical energy. Through active exploration of the city and fighting mutants, it wasn’t long before he progressed to the level.

  You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 4 to 5. You have gained 1 SP.

  It wasn’t even noo, and he had already leveled up to 5. If luck was on his side, he might gain another level before the day began to wane. However, there was no rush—since he didn’t o sleep and his night vision retty good, he could tinue hunting mutants even after dark.

  Immediately after leveling up, he checked his current experience points.

  XP: 10/750

  He now had to gain 740 XP to level up to 6. Most of the mutants he entered were walkers, worth only 10 XP each. He wao fiypes of mutants to level up more quickly. Running into some shamblers would be oo. As a survivor, he dreaded entering huge, strong shamblers. Being now a mutant, he wao enter as many of them as possible. As he’d retly learned, dealing with a shambler didn’t pose much of a problem to him. Besides, this kind of muta for 50 XP, which wasn’t bad at all. Jake was so fident in himself he had no doubt he could take on several shamblers at the same time and deal with all of them in no time ft. Unfortunately, he rarely came across shamblers.

  Jake entered anh-rise building and surveyed the area. The vast room he stepped into was simir to many others he had explored. It had once been a lobby, but now it was ay space with piles of debris scattered here and there. Ragged holes dotted the ceiling, and the staircase to the upper floors y in ruins, making it impossible to asd further.

  Several ex-human mutants milled about the room, dragging their feet noisily across the dust-covered floor. As usual, most of them were walkers, but he also spotted several leapers as well. Jake reached one of them before they even became aware of his presence. With a swipe of his cws, he severed the walker’s head and instantly turo ssh another ex-human across its throat. A leaper jumped toward him, but Jake swiftly sidestepped, shing out with his talons, severely wounding the creature in midair. The rest of the mutants lurched toward him from several dires, but Jake was ready for them.

  At some point during the fight, a system notification appeared in his vision.

  Enhanced Agility reached 100%. You ow increase it to Rank II.

  Not long after that, another one popped up, inf him that Enhanced Intelligence had reached 100% as well. In battles against mutants, his brain worked in overdrive, analyzing his enemies’ movements and figuring out the most effit ways of taking them down.

  All three of his skills had reached 100%, allowing him to advance eae to the Rank. It was definitely a very productive day, and it wasn’t even finished yet.

  The fight ended quickly.

  Multiple enemies killed. +115 XP

  With agile and bouncy steps, Jake moved across the debris-strewn room toward the exit. Just on the edge of his expanded field of vision, a flicker of movement caught his attention. His senses instantly sharpened as he turned his head to s the room for more threats he might somehow have missed.

  His gaze locked onto a menag figure lurking in a shadowed er of the room. Its pletely bck body was twisted and ominous, looking absolutely terrifying. The creature had a humanoid figure, but it had the appearance of a dangerous predator, with a slightly hunched posture, bent knees, and nasty-looking cws poised for attack.

  Though pletely motionless at the moment, the creature projected an air of immi danger, hinting at being able to move with great speed and agility. The creature gave off very dangerous vibes. As a mutant, Jake had already fotten what fear felt like. He now sidered himself the most dangerous creature in this world, but looking now at the bck-skinned ominous creature, a long-fotten prig of fear crept over him.

  As he pletely turo face the hreat, preparing to front it, the bck figure mirrored his movement with eerie fluidity. Jake suddenly realized the menag being before him was, in fact, a refle of himself. The dark form was not an enemy lying in wait, but his own silhouette mirrored in the reflective front surface of an old piece of furniture.

  He approached the piece of furniture half-buried under a yer of dust. With a hand, he wiped away the thick coating of grime, revealing a dusty mirror that had weathered the passage of time. His refle stared back at him, distorted by cracks and imperfes in the surface.

  Geez, I almost had a heart attack, he thought.

  If he could ugh, he would. For a moment, he just examined his refle. He looked really terrifying, but it wasn’t only because of the way his obsidian-bck textured body looked. Just his movements and bearing radiated the unmistakable aura of a lethal predator.

  His gaze shifted to his featureless face. Just after his transformation into a mutant, he had run his fingers over his facial features to find the absence of ears, a mouth, or a nose. Since he was already aware he was missing them, it came as no surprise to him when he didn’t see them reflected in the mirror. Not for the first time, Jake marveled at his ability to perceive his surroundings despite an apparent ck of some sensory ans.

  He did have eyes, though, and they were quite extraordinary. Larger than a human’s, they cked such familiar features as irises or pupils, instead dispying a solid greenish-blue hue, simir to the magical energy found in mana ables. His eyes were absolutely expressionless, but despite their otion, their shape or some other quality gave them a menag appearance. One would easily believe that a creature with such eyes harbored no desires other than to rip to pieces any living being unfortunate enough to cross its path.

  It was the very first time Jake had the opportunity to see his own refle. He took his time examining himself, feeling a mix of wonder and dread at the monstrous being he had bee.

  You’re one scary motherfucker, he mentally said to himself.

  Finally, he tore his gaze away and made his way to the exit. Just as he stepped out of the building, the sudden, sharp cracks of gunfire pierced the air nearby.