Chapter 104

  He’d leveled up to 29, earning 3 skill points. As pnned, he allocated two of them to Body, increasing it to 7. So he met all the requirements for the Enhanced Regeion skill now. Upon gathering enough mana to obtaihree skills required for evolving, he would acquire all of them at the same time. He decided to keep the third skill point for the time being. Once he evolved, he would use it to increase one of his skills to the rank.

  Jake then opened his eyes and examined his body. He’d sustained some injuries during the fight with the three chasers, but they were superficial, and his body was already sealing them shut.

  After that, he closed his eyes again and checked his stats. He now had a new menu called Perks. It currently tained only one perk, Enemy Appraisal, which had been given to him after successfully pleting the survival challenge. He read its description.

  Enemy Appraisal (Rank I): Allows you to see basiformation about any living being, such as its level and attributes.

  Raise to Rank II: Y/N (Cost: 1 SP)

  He could already summon some information about a living being. His Enhanced Intelligence, which worked somewhat like a PDA, allowed him to see the level of a living being, as well as other details such as their name or special abilities if the target was a mutant. The Enemy Appraisal perk allowed him to view the attributes of a human or mutant in addition to the information previously avaible.

  He also noticed that unlike skills and abilities, perks didn’t seem to have a progression bar. To upgrade a perk to the rank, all he o do was allocate a skill point to it. He really wao do it right away, as raising Enemy Appraisal would definitely let him see even more valuable information about his enemies. After giving the matter some thought, he decided to use his third skill point to upgrade the perk to Rank II.

  After that, he checked its description one more time.

  Enemy Appraisal (Rank II): Allows you to see basiformation about any living being, such as its level, attributes as well as skills and abilities.

  Raise to Rank III: Y/N (Cost: 1 SP)

  Jake couldn’t help but wonder what the top rank of a perk was. Anyway, the ime he entered an enemy, he was going to test out the Enemy Appraisal perk on it. He was really curious to see how it worked.

  He then opened his eyes, causing all the info to disappear. He walked toward the mana able that had materialized in the air and dropped to the rooftop when the anomaly disappeared. He picked it up.

  Mana Crystal: 5,000 MP (Rare)

  He ched it in his hand, but it didn’t yield to the pressure. Unlike mana ables of lower rarity, crystals were somewhat stronger, requiring him to exert more strength than lesser mana items. He tightened his grip on the crystal, causing it to shatter. The magical energy flowed out of the fractured crystal and drifted toward his body to be absorbed by it.

  Mana ables were extremely durable. Regur survivors couldn’t seem to break them, no matter how hard they tried. However, they could extract magical energy from a mana able with a mere thought. For some reason, unlike survivors, Jake couldn’t do that. Instead, to extract mana, he o crush a mana able, and he could break it without much trouble. He wasn’t sure why this was the case. Maybe his mana-infused body had something to do with it? Or, perhaps, each survivor had a secret skill or perk that allowed them to extract maally, while he had a hidden skill designed specifically for him to crush mana ables to absorb the mana stored within them?

  Jake shook his head, dismissing his thoughts. Letting the transparent crystal shards fall from his grasp, he stood up and sed his surroundings. The night was desding rapidly, casting darkness over the city. The regur world refresh was just around the er. Pnning to dedicate the hours to hunting for mana, Jake dashed across the rooftop and leaped to another building with a burst of magical energy.

  Later on, when he entered a walker in one of the buildings, he summos stats. The mutant’s name and level were dispyed to him. No more info popped up, though. While the walker moved toward him, Jake used the Enemy Appraisal perk oant, and an additional piece of information emerged in his mind.

  Ex-human Walker – Level 10

  Special ability: None

  Attributes: Body 2, Mind 1, Magick 0

  Jake tried to summon its skills and abilities, but nothing happened. He figured walkers didn’t have any. Later on, he entered a leaper and utilized Enemy Appraisal once more. He found out that a leaper had a Body attribute of 3, Mind of 2, and Magick of 0.

  Jake spent most of the night searg the city for mana. By the time the darkness of the night began to dissipate, he’d collected enough mana to purchase the three required skills, possessing almost thirty thousand MP in total at his disposal.

  He was currently standing on the roof of a high-rise building, studying the three skills he o purchase from the skill store.

  Skill: Enharength

  Description: Grants the mutaraordinary strength and force. With this ability, the mutant overpower oppos, easily lift heavy objects, and excel in other physical challenges. Enharength gives the mutant a signifit edge in bat situations, allowing them to deliver powerful blows as well as greatly increasing their resistao damage.

  Upgrades: 0 of 3 (on)

  Requirements: Body 5

  Cost: 3,000 MP

  Although Jake didn’t think he o increase his strength, this skill improved his body's ability to withstand damage, which was always a good thing.

  Skill: Enhanced Regeion

  Description: Signifitly improves the mutant’s ability to heal severe injuries, letting their body recover at an accelerated rate while ing the same amount of mana as before.

  Upgrades: 0 of 3 (on)

  Requirements: Body 7, Magick 5, Mind 3

  Cost: 5,000 MP

  This skill was supposed to let his body heal faster, sealing severe wounds at an accelerated rate. Faster healing usually resulted in increased mana ption, but with this skill, his body should use the same amount of mana as before despite the increased healing speed.

  Skill: Feral Instincts

  Descriptioens the mutant’s seo araordinary level, granting them keen awareness and intuition akin to a primal predator. With this skill, the mutant perceive threats before they happen, allowing them to detect ambushes and evade attacks, staying oep ahead in any frontation.

  Upgrades: 0 of 3 (on)

  Requirements: Mind 5, Magick 3

  Cost: 4,000 MP

  Of the three skills, this one appealed to him the most. He wondered how it worked. Perhaps, it was simir to the spidey-sense?

  One by one, Jake purchased all three skills, spending 12,000 MP in total. He believed he now met all the requirements for evolving to Stage 2. To firm, he summohe evolution menu and reviewed the information.

  Requirements for evolving to Stage 2

  Level: 25

  Attributes: Body 5, Mind 5, Magick 5

  Skills:

  Enhanced Senses - Rank II

  Enhanced Agility - Rank II

  Enhanced Intelligence - Rank II

  Enhanced Reflexes - Rank I

  Enharength - Rank I

  Enhanced Regeion - Rank I

  Feral Instincts - Rank I

  Evolve: Y/N

  With all requirements satisfied, he was ready to evolve into the stage. Without hesitation, Jake thought “Yes”.