Chapter 50

  He soared through the air, feeling the wind flow over his body. Crossing the gap betweewo buildings, he nded on the neighb roof. He unched himself into a roll and then leaped to his feet, moving gracefully as a cat.

  On his feet, he looked back toward the roof he’d leaped from. The gap betweewo buildings retty wide, so it was quite impressive that he had actually mao make the jump. Jake walked to the opposite edge of the roof, surveying the area. High-rise buildings sprawled in every dire as far as he could see. Some of them were a little lower than his vantage point while others towered much higher into the sky.

  Jake didn’t reize the city at all. It looked unlike any city he had ever seen in his life. Wherever he looked, he saw high-rises. The city appeared to y unique ndmarks or distinctive features that could set it apart from other cities. Peering dowiced scattered smaller buildings like diners or boutique shops squeezed iweeall structures.

  It might seem like an urbao an ordinary person, but to him, the abundance of tall buildings was actually a good thing. Maybe he would learn to shoot spider webs from his hands and swing through the city like Spider-Man. Well, probably not, but since most of the buildings stood at about the same intervals from one another, he could navigate the city by jumping from one roof to the . Maybe he could also scale the vertical surfaces without much trouble—after all, the ret upgrade he’d acquired for Enhanced Agility had granted him some good acrobatic abilities. Perhaps iure, he could acquire additional skills and abilities—like levitation or something simir—to navigate the city even more easily.

  Anyway, the excitement of his newfound abilities filled him with an incredible sense of freedom. It felt good to be a mutant!

  It was getting darker by the sed, but it didn’t bother him. With Enhanced Senses raised to Rank II, he could see in the darkness eveer than before. To his right stood a building that was about ten stories taller than his. He sidered jumping over to it and trying to scale it to the roof. It retty risky, though. What if he couldn’t g to the building and ended up falling? Sure, he was eager to test out his acrobatic abilities, but it didn’t mean he should be reckless about it. Falling from great heights would definitely hurt him, though he didn’t know how much. Most of the buildings were covered in foliage, plenty of handholds like vio grab onto, but Jake decided not to try to scale vertical surfaces for the time being.

  Instead, he opted to just jump from roof to roof for some time. Maybe he would even be able to reach the edge of the city to see what y beyond. For a moment, he erched on the edge of the roof, looking around and p which dire to take. The stillness of the night was broken only by the wind as well as the occasional screeg cry of a mutant. His heightened sense of hearing made the distant sounds appear closer than they actually were. Down below, walkers could be seen shuffling through the deserted streets.

  Jake crouched down, preparing for a leap to the roof of another building. For a sed, he was motionless, feeling the cool night air against his mutant skin. Then his muscles coiled like a spring, and he unched himself off the rooftop, propelling his body up and forward. He sailed through the air, then softly nded oher roof. Without pausing, he broke into a sprint across the roof and jumped toward the building.

  As he flew through the air, he twisted and turned mid-air, his newfound acrobatic abilities giving him precise trol over his movements. Each jump owerful and effortless, carrying him from one rooftop to another without a sound. He did his best to move in one dire, but he had to make slight adjustments every now and then because the right buildings weren’t always in his path.

  Below, the mutants roamed aimlessly, unaware of the bck figure leaping above them. Now and then, his enhanced senses picked up distant sounds of gunfire along with brief muzzle fshes that momentarily illumihe darkness of the streets down beloaid them no mind, and the survivors weren’t aware of his movemeher. Even if someone happeo gnce up at the right moment and catch a glimpse of him leapiween buildings overhead, he doubted anyone would be able to make sense of what they were seeing. With each jump Jake performed, he felt a thrill of freedom c through him. It was truly amazing. He had never experienced anything like that before.

  He soared through the night sky for a while, his enhanced abilities making the jumps powerful and effortless. Then, after what seemed like a very long time, he finally reached the edge of the city. He stopped at the edge of the roof, starting at the vast empty expaending beyond the city. There was nothing there, absolutely nothing. A desote ndscape met his eyes, with scorched earth stretg endlessly toward the distant horizon. While a road extended out of the city, it y in ruins and ractically impassable.

  The arid wastend lit by long, wide chasms as if the terrain there was stantly ravaged by powerful earthquakes. Traveling in a straight line would be nearly impossible there. Whether on foot or in a vehicle, he would o stantly move in a zigzagging pattern to maneuver around those huge cracks in the ground.

  He doubted that vehicles he had e across iy as a survivor would be able to drive over the rough ground of the wastend. To navigate that kind of terrain, he would need a special off-road vehicle specifically designed for driving over rough surfaces. Jake was sure that his being a mutant wouldn’t prevent him from driving a car. Why would it? However, he was unaware of where he could find an off-road vehicle powerful enough to navigate such tough terrain. Besides, where would he go? Without aination in mind, he could drive around in the wastend for a long time without finding anything at all.

  He decided to figure out the best way to navigate through the wastend beyond the city’s limits at a ter time. As of now, there was no reason for him to leave the city. He learned what y beyond its boundaries, and with his curiosity now satisfied, he could tio prowl the city that had bee his hunting grounds.

  Jake shifted his gaze away from the desote wastend and made his way to the opposite edge of the rooftop. He stared down at the streets below, which were now bathed in the moonlight. Before moving on, he assessed the amount of mana remaining in his body, realizing his ret acrobatic exploits and mana-infused jumps had siderably depleted his energy levels. Determio fix that, he set off into the night for another noal hunt for mana.