Chapter 91

  Jake ignored Frank’s question and instead checked his health points.

  HP: 64%

  He had lost quite a lot of hit points during the battle with the chaser. His health had never dropped to 0%, so he wasn’t certain what would occur if it ever did. Would reag zero hit points meaaih? The immediate ahat came to his mind was a resounding yes.

  However, there might be more to it than just that. Sihere was no pret to refer to, it was hard to be sure about the sequences of losing all his HP. After all, he was very different from humans now. The mana stored within his strange body was able to heal extremely severe wounds at a remarkably rapid papared to human standards.

  Oher hand, his health dipping to 0% might mean that his body had sustaioo much damage to be repaired. In that case, the remaining mana might not be enough to heal his wounds, which would result in his death.

  Anyway, Jake was determio do everything possible to prevent his health points from plummeting to 0%. Self-preservation was his primary instinct.

  HP: 65%

  Slowly but steadily, his health increased as the mana stored within him was hard at work patg him up. Still, due to the signifit amount of damage his body had suffered, it would be a while before he was back to full health. Over the few hours, he would o rest to let his body solely trate on the healing process.

  Unfortunately for him, the survivors behind him had other pns.

  “Hey, I’m talking to you,” Frank growled.

  Jake heard the approag footsteps but made no move to turn around. The two survivors posed no threat to him. Instead, he focused on examining the reward he had received. Closing his eyes, he summohe Boost Menu with a sihought, and it immediately materialized in his mind.

  Boost Menu

  Rank 1:

  Enhanced Regeion

  Duration: 60 min

  Cost: 2,000 MP

  Acquire: Y/N

  Increased Movement Speed

  Duration: 60 min

  Cost: 5,000 MP

  Acquire: Insuffit MP

  Increased Strength

  Duration: 60 min

  Cost: 5,000 MP

  Acquire: Insuffit MP

  Increased Agility

  Duration: 60 min

  Cost: 5,000 MP

  Acquire: Insuffit MP

  Increased XP gain (x2)

  Duration: 60 min

  Cost: 10,000 MP

  Acquire: Insuffit MP

  Rank 2:

  None (*)

  Requirement: Kill 100 ex-human walkers.

  Progress: 0/100

  (*) Tip: To unlock additional boosts, you o upgrade the Boost Menu to the rank by fulfilling the requirement.

  Jake read through the information. The avaible boosts seemed like they could e in handy iain situations. While he didn’t currently feel the urge to enhance his strength, agility, or speed, he aowledged that they might be useful ter on. The XP boost was what truly excited him. Among all the avaible boosts, this oood out as the most appealing to him. While he couldn’t obtain it right now, he made a mental o acquire it at a ter time.

  He also couldn’t help but notice that the list of boosts was not exhaustive. Once he upgraded the Boost Menu to rank 2, additional ones would bee avaible. To upgrade the Boost Menu, he o kill one hundred walkers. He had taken dowy of them so far, but it seemed those kills didn’t t. Only the walkers he defeated from that moment onward would be tallied. That was okay. Taking out a hundred low-level walkers wasn’t a problem for him and shouldn’t be too time-ing.

  For the time being, he opted to obtain the enhanced regeion boost so that the wounds from the ret battle would heal faster. , he summohe menu showing his active status effects, which currently only dispyed one.

  Enhanced Regeion: 59 minutes, 57 seds left

  Jake then checked his mana t. He had more thahousand mana points before starting the tower-climbing challenge. Now, he was left with just over a thousand.

  He remembered that most of his mana had been drained in his attempt to write a single word, “Yes,” and the first letters of his name on Isra’s PDA. Once again, he felt frustrated by his inability to write. Even crafting a simple word demanded an immense amount of time and effort, leaving him depleted. Moreover, the act of writing even the simplest of words ed signifit amounts of mana, further fueling his frustration.

  And now the remaining mana points were diminishing at an accelerated rate because of the enhanced regeion boost. Cheg his mana t agaiiced it was not only decreasing faster than it did normally but also ing signifitly more MP than it should. So, the enhanced regeion boost came with additional mana ption.

  That was unfortunate. He wondered if he would have any mana points left once his body was fully healed. He recalled that when low on mana, his body would temporarily limit its ability to move swiftly and agilely to serve mana. It was a kind of safety meism, using the remaining mana to maintain essential bodily funs. Perhaps, the same safety measure was also applied to the enhanced regeion boost.

  Still, just to be on the safe side, he o locate and use some mana ables.

  “Hey, have you gone deaf?” Frank barked at him.

  “Don’t get too close to him,” Isra warned her panion.

  Jake opened his eyes, and all the info immediately vanished. He looked at his body. As expected, the wounds were healing at an increased rate.

  “Answer me, dammit,” Frank yelled from behind him.

  Jake finally turned around to face the two survivors. The group leader stood over a dozen yards away from him, while Isra remained farther away, at the door to the staircase. Frank frowned as he locked eyes with Jake.

  “Where’s our reward?” he asked.

  Jake simply stared at him, without making any movements estures to allow his body to focus on healing.

  “I told you so, Frank,” Isra said firmly. “There’s no reward for us. He may already have gotten his reward, but it wasn’t meant for us. We were just tools for him, nothing more. He only needed our help because of the time limit. There was never any kind of reward in store for us. We risked our lives for him for nothing.”

  Frank’s face flushed with anger as he finally accepted the fact he had been used and discarded once his usefulness had ended.

  “Is it true?” he asked, his voice trembling with rage.

  Jake simply stared at him, remaining pletely motionless.

  “You bastard,” Frank growled as he began to lift his assault rifle.

  Jake shook his head, cautioning Frank against making the biggest mistake of his life. The group leader refused to heed his advice. Bringing his on up, he aimed at Jake and pulled the trigger.