Chapter 105

  The time had e for him to undergo his evolution into Stage 2. As soon as he firmed, the process of transf his body into the form began. Jake opened his eyes when he felt a strange sensation wash over him.

  His transformation from a human into a mutant was very painful. However, at this moment, he felt no pain at all as his body, solely posed of a unique blend of obsidian-like material and mana, was ging into the form. He could feel his body shift and morph in subtle ways. He was getting somewhat taller as his posture took on a slightly hunched form while his limbs extended ever so slightly. He also noticed his obsidian-bck flesh was thiing and being denser.

  The most signifit ge came to his face. He felt a peculiar sensation as his face began to elongate slightly. But what surprised him the most was the feeling of a mouth being formed. He had long since grown aced to not having a mouth and had thought he would never have one again. As it turned out, he’d been mistaken. Moreover, something resemblih extended from his newly formed jaws.

  As soon as the process was plete, a single system message fshed through his mind.

  The transformation into Evolution Stage 2 is finished.

  Jake examined his transformed body. He was now somewhat taller, with longer limbs and thicker skin. Other than that, his body hadn’t ged much. He still had the general shape of a human being. Except for his face, of course.

  He hesitantly reached up to touch his altered face. He still didn’t have a nose or ears. However, his faow had a slightly elongated, snout-like structure, and sure enough, it now had a mouth filled with jagged, poieeth. For a moment, he kept feeling them with his fingers.

  Since his body didn’t have skin, he also didn’t have lips. Thus, the jagged teeth were always on dispy. They werely teeth in the general sense of the word. Instead of being humah, they were natural extensions of his unique position. They were rger than humah, triangur in shape, tapering to a point, and razor-sharp.

  So the evolution into Stage 2 had given him a neon. In addition to his cws aacles, he could now use his jaws in battles, allowing him to bite his ehe thought of ripping pieces of flesh out of his enemies with his newly formed teeth filled him with a strange mix of revulsion aement.

  He then gingerly closed his rge mouth, and the jagged teeth interlocked with each other. They fit together seamlessly, f a menag barrier that seemed to blend fwlessly with the rest of his obsidian-like face—or snout, as it seemed to be a more appropriate term now. His teeth pressed so closely together that it appeared as if he had no mouth at all when it was closed.

  He tried to say something, but no sound came out. Even though he had a mouth now, he still couldn’t speak. He didn’t have any ans for produg sounds—no lungs, no rynx, no vocal cords, no tongue, nothing. His body was still posed entirely of some kind of obsidian-like material, with mana stored within it.

  Jake couldn’t see how scary he looked because there were no reflective surfaearby. However, he could guess that his new ferocious appearance was a stark trast to his formerly featureless visage. If he previously appeared scary, his menag unblinking eyes and snout-like face filled with razor-sharp teeth should now give him an absolutely terrifying look.

  Finally, Jake withdrew his hands from his fad took a few steps across the roof. Immediately, he became aware of a few things. There was a fluidity to his movements that he hadn’t thought possible before. His agility and trol over his body had reached a whole new level. His senses and mind had also beuch sharper. He wondered why this was the case. Perhaps, he’d acquired new skills? It was time to find out.

  He closed his eyes and summoned his stats. Instantly, a flood of system messages filled his mind.

  You have successfully evolved into Stage 2 “Savage Ast”. You will now receive 5 SP with each level-up.

  Each of your attributes has received 20 points:

  Body has gone up from 7 to 27;

  Mind has gone up from 5 to 25;

  Magick has gone up from 5 to 25.

  The following of your abilities have beeed from on to Unon, unlog 1 new upgrade:

  Cws.

  The following of your skills have beeed from on to Unon, unlog 1 new upgrade:

  Enhanced Senses;

  Enhanced Agility;

  Enhanced Intelligence.

  The Evolution Stage 2: "Savage Ast" se has been unlocked in the Geic Development Interface.

  You have received 5,000 XP.

  You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 29 to 30. You have gained 5 SP.

  Wow, Jake thought. He felt a wave of excitement wash over him. Receiving 20 points for each of his attributes expined why he was mile and had sharper senses and mind. Each of his skills that had evolved to the Unon rarity now had a new upgrade avaible for purchase. These were all very exg developments.

  Also, evolving into Stage 2 had given him 5,000 XP, causing him to level up and granting him 5 SP. The prospect of receiving five skill points upon each level-up filled him with a great sense of excitement.

  Finally, he dismissed the system messages and shifted his attention to his stats.

  Name: Jake Turner

  Race: Ex-Human Morphus

  Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ast”

  Level: 30

  XP: 1750/3875

  SP: 5

  MP: 17,965

  Body: 27

  Mind: 25

  Magick: 25

  Cws: Rank II (100%) (Upgrades: 2 of 4) (Unon)

  Swords: Rank I (100%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (on)

  Bded Tentacles: Rank I (74%) (Upgrades: 1 of 3) (on)

  Enhanced Senses: Rank II (100%) (Upgrades: 0 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Agility: Rank II (100%) (Upgrades: 3 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Intelligence: Rank II (100%) (Upgrades: 0 of 4) (Unon)

  Enhanced Reflexes: Rank I (78%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (on)

  Enharength: Rank I (0%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (on)

  Enhanced Regeion: Rank I (0%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (on)

  Feral Instincts: Rank I (0%) (Upgrades: 0 of 3) (on)

  One by one, he used four skill points to raise Cws, Enhanced Agility, Enhanced Senses, and Enhanced Intelligence from Rank II to Rank III. He used the fifth skill point to increase Swords from Rank I to Rank II. The progress bar for each of these skills and abilities reset to zero, ready tress once more. Each of the skills that had evolved from on to Unon had a new upgrade avaible, but since Jake had no more skill points at the moment, he decided to check them out at a ter time. He then opehe skill store.

  Geic Development Interface

  Evolution Stage 1: “Primordial Form”

  Abilities: 3 of 4

  Skills: 7 of 7

  Ability: Smashfists

  Requirements: Body 2

  Cost: 2,000 MP

  Skill: Enhanced Senses

  Requirements: None

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Enhanced Agility

  Requirements: None

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Enhanced Intelligence

  Requirements: None

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Enhanced Reflexes

  Requirements: Body 5, Mind 3

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Enharength

  Requirements: Body 5

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Enhanced Regeion

  Requirements: Body 7, Magick 5, Mind 3

  Cost: Already Owned

  Skill: Feral Instincts

  Requirements: Mind 5, Magick 3

  Cost: Already Owned

  Ability: Cws

  Requirements: Body 1

  Cost: Already Owned

  Ability: Swords

  Requirements: Body 3

  Cost: Already Owned

  Ability: Bded Tentacles

  Requirements: Body 2, Magick 1

  Cost: Already Owned

  It was the old se that tained skills and abilities from his previous stage, “Primordial Form.” The only ability he had yet to acquire from this se was Smashfists. As for Bded Tentacles, they initially were not present on the list. Instead, they were added after he pleted a mutation research quest. Anyway, having evolved to Stage 2, he could now access the sed se of the Geic Development Interface. He did so with a thought.

  Evolution Stage 2: "Savage Ast" (Level 25)

  Abilities: 0 of 4

  Skills: 0 of 4

  Ability: Gravity Leap

  Requirements: Body 43, Mind 40, Magick 37

  Cost: 17,000 MP

  Ability: Acidic Spit

  Requirements: Body 45, Magick 45

  Cost: 20,000 MP

  Ability: Serpentine Form

  Requirements: Body 50, Mind 45, Magick 50

  Cost: 25,000 MP

  Ability: Spikes

  Requirements: Body 60, Magick 65

  Cost: 30,000 MP

  Skill: Enhanced Durability

  Requirements: Body 30

  Cost: 12,000 MP

  Skill: Adhesive Secretion

  Requirements: Body 40, Magick 35

  Cost: 15,000 MP

  Skill: Toxic Resistance

  Requirements: Body 45

  Cost: 23,000 MP

  Skill: Adaptive Armor

  Requirements: Body 55, Magick 50

  Cost: 27,000 MP

  Currently, there were four skills and four abilities in the se, but Jake was aware that more could be added after he pleted additional mutation research quests, as was the case with the Bded Tentacles ability.

  Jake couldn’t help but notice that all the skills and abilities in the sed se were much more expehan those in the previous ohe cheapest one was Enhanced Durability, priced at a whopping 12,000 MP. While he could purchase it, he didn’t meet its attribute requireme. Also, buying it would have left him with only 5,000 MP, which probably wasn’t all that muow. Since he had just evolved into the form and beuch more powerful, his body would likely require signifitly more mana to fun than before.

  The requirements for the skills and abilities in the sed se were also substantial. Out of curiosity, he randomly chose some of the skills and skimmed through them without paying too much attention to the descriptions. Since he couldn’t buy any of them at the moment, he was mostly ied in their rarity. It turned out that each of them was of the Unon rarity and therefore had four avaible upgrades.

  After Jake finished examining all the new information in both his stats and the skill store, he opened his eyes, causing all the information to disappear.

  The first rays of m sunlight touched his altered form. Having evolved into Stage 2, Jake was excited to tinue his journey as a mutant, ready to tackle new challenges along the way.

  Wheeling around, he ran toward the edge of the roof. With his attributes greatly increased, he moved with even more speed and agility than before. Reag the edge of the roof, he easily unched himself toward the building.