Chapter 94

  His situation was arming. He still had the healing booster he’d acquired after pleting the tower-climbing challenge, and as a result, his mana was being ed at an accelerated rate. By his calcutions, by the time his body fully healed itself, he would have had no ma, which would ultimately lead to his death. The irony was not lost on him—his body would be pletely recovered by the end of the healing process, but he would still die from maion caused by the regeive ability of his body.

  Si had never happeo him before, Jake didn’t know what would happen when all his mana was depleted. Would he die instantly from maion, or would his HP be gradually decreasing instead? If it was the tter, he might have some additional time to rescue himself. In any case, allowing his mana levels to go down all the way to zero was extremely dangerous. Even if it didn’t lead to his immediate death, he had to avoid depleting all his remaining mana at all costs.

  Fortunately, that terrifying sario never happened because as he had predicted, a safeguard meism within his body kicked in when his mana levels plummeted dangerously low. Since his wounds had not pletely healed, Jake tio lose mana, but at a reduced rate. This was due to his body ceasing its healing efforts, preserving the remaining mana solely for essential funs.

  Knowing he had to replenish his mana, he searched the abandoned buildings for any mana ables. He mao find a few mana beads, each holding 100 MP. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. After extrag the precious energy from the beads, he checked his mana t again. By his calcution, he would have some mana remaining after his body had finished rest itself. Good. Jake hid in one of the darkest ers of the room in the building he was currently in a pletely still.

  For some time, he remained in the same spot, making no movements at all, like a statue, to avoid wasting additional amounts of mana and to let his body solely focus on the healing process. The room he was in had once served as a lobby. It was expa mostly empty. The evening was desding, enveloping the vast room in deep shadows.

  Jake wasn’t alohere. He could see and hear several ex-humans shuffling around the room aimlessly, but they never noticed him. When Jake moved, he hardly made any noise, and when he o, he could be pletely silent. Positioned in a dark er of the room, he merged seamlessly with the surrounding shadows, rendering himself invisible to the naked eye. The ex-humans tio wander around, oblivious to the deadly obsidian-bck predator lurking in one of the dark ers.

  Ohe healing process was finished, Jake po elimihe ex-humans. Despite having only about two hundred MP left, which would slow down all his movements, making him more vulnerable, he believed he could hahe group of low-level walkers without much difficulty. His goal would be to resume his searana. However, his pns were set to shift when an ued event occurred.

  The thunder of a gunshot echoed from the street. It was the unmistakable sound of a powerful shotgun being discharged. Almost immediately, a sed shot followed, closer this time. Jake remained motionless in the dark er of the room, listening ily to the gunshots reverberating from the nearby streets.

  It seemed that a few of the ex-humans also heard the distant sounds of shotgun bsts. Every time a gunsh out, they turheir heads this way and that, as if not quite prehending what it was or where it came from. Most of them didn’t pay attention to the sounds of gunshots at all, either failing to hear them or simply thinking they were too far away to be ed about. Jake’s hearing was much better than theirs. As he already khanks to his Enhanced Senses, distant sounds seemed much closer to him than they actually were.

  The sounds of gunfire suddenly stopped. The shooter must have resolved whatever flict they were in or moved too far away for Jake to hear. However, as it turned out a few mier, he was mistaken. A male survivor armed with a pump-a shotgun, the likely person who had been firing moments before, appeared in the doorway and sed the semi-darkness of the vast room. The survivor stood at the doorway, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lighting difference. He noticed several walkers shuffling around in the room’s depths but failed to spot Jake.

  Before entering, the survivor crouched down, removing his rucksack. Upon opening the fp, a bluish glow emanated from within. A mana able was led inside, and judging by the brightness of the light it emitted, it was quite rge. Probably, it was a mana k taining 1,000 MP or maybe even a mana crystal holding a whooping 5,000 MP. Survivors usually extracted magical energy from mana ables immediately upon discovery. Jake could only guess at the reason the survivor hadn’t done so yet. Maybe he hadn’t met the level requirement for ing this particur mana able yet. Not that Jake really cared. At that moment, all he could think about was the rge mana able stored in the survivor’s backpack. With his mana level plummeting to less than 200 MP, Jake knew he had to replenish it no matter what.

  The survivrabbed handfuls of spare shells from his rucksad shoved them into his jacket pockets. He kept gng at the ex-humans to make sure they didn’t get the drop on him while he was occupied. After stuffing his pockets with the shells, he put his rucksa arieved his shotgun from the floor where he had pced it moments earlier. Rising to his feet, he brought up his on, tug it against his shoulder, and started walking toward the ter of the room.

  The ex-humans attacked from different dires, but the seasoned survivor skillfully elimihem one by one. Jake bode his time. While the survivor was dealing with the mutants, he remained vigint, his reflexes sharp. This was why Jake chose to wait until the survivor took care of the walkers. Ohe human was doh them, he would rex and unwittingly lower his guard, thinking he was alone and safe. That would be Jake’s cue to make a move.

  Finally, all the walkers were taken care of. The survivnced around, a visible expression of disappoi on his face. tinuing to searore threats to eliminate, his gaze settled on the dark er of the room where Jake stood motionlessly. It appeared for a brief moment that he detected Jake’s presence, but then he looked away, l his pump-a shotgun.

  When the survivor retrieved his PDA and unlocked it to cheething, Jake felt a surge of excitement. He cked the ability to unlock survivors’ handheld puters. Once he dealt with the human aracted the magical energy from his rge mana able, Jake would have the opportunity to utilize the unlocked device. Perhaps he would uncover valuable information, such as markers indig the locations of the survivor’s hidden stashes where additional mana ables could be found.

  The human stood half-turoward Jake, so he khe survivor would be able to spot him out of the er of his eye when he burst out from his hiding spot in the dark er. Moreover, the human stood farther away from him than he would have preferred. Jake was left with no choice but to accept the situation as it was. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, he was determio attack the survivor.

  The human, now pletely rexed and unaware of the impending danger, believed he was alone in the room. Although the ditions wereirely in Jake’s favor, the element of surprise was on his side. He couldn’t let an opportunity to get the drop on the survivor slip between his fingers. So he took a moment to pose himself and then stepped from the shadowed er of the room.