Bullets whizzed past him like angry hornets as he charged toward the two survivors. Jake didn’t even bother to dodge the rounds. He felt some of them hit him in various parts of his body, but they inflicted minimal damage. Enhanced Durability made his body incredibly resistant to damage while Enhanced Regeneration healed minor injuries in no time flat—even in the middle of a fight.
He slammed into one of the survivors, sending him sprawling to the ground. Immediately, Jake pivoted toward the other survivor and, with a powerful yank, disarmed him. Gripping the man’s head, Jake closed his eyes and activated Mana Vision. The human before him turned into a brilliant glow, indicating that his body held a substantial amount of mana.
However, when Jake attempted to extract mana from the person, nothing happened. It confirmed his suspicions. He had gathered the information he needed, so it was time to move on. He didn’t want anything else from the two survivors, so he opened his eyes and forcefully shoved the man in front of him. The survivor stumbled backward, colliding with the first one, who had just gotten back up on his feet, and they both tumbled back to the ground.
Jake left them struggling on the ground, trying to disentangle from one another. Turning around, he took off running, and by the time the two survivors finally got up and retrieved their weapons, he was long gone. As he continued to explore the city, he mulled over various thoughts in his mind.
There was a slight possibility that he couldn’t extract—or, more accurately, steal—mana stored inside humans at all. However, he dismissed the thought. After all, if he couldn’t do it, what was the point of Mana Vision revealing which humans held mana within them and in what quantities? So he was quite sure he could steal mana from humans—he just needed to learn a specific ability or perk to do that.
Jake found himself wondering what the humans thought of him. If Anton and Enid—the two survivors he had recently saved—survived long enough, they might spread the word about what had happened. The same went for the two survivors he had just interacted with. When they encountered others, they might recount their meeting with him and the details surrounding it. He was already aware that numerous stories about him were making the rounds. Survivors speculated about him endlessly, forming all sorts of assumptions, unsure of what to really make of him.
These two stories would only deepen the confusion. Survivors would never fully understand what was going on in his head—why he killed some survivors, like the first group Elena was in while saving other humans, like Anton and Enid. To them, he would always remain a complete mystery, leaving them uncertain about what to expect if they were unlucky enough to cross paths with him. They wouldn’t know if he was an enemy or an ally. Even Jake was unsure of how he truly regarded humans. While he tried to avoid confrontations with them, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t fight back when cornered or provoked.
One thing was clear, though. Many days ago, he had been eager to demonstrate to the survivors that he was intelligent and not so different from them, at least on the inside. But he had moved past those delusions. He recognized that he was fundamentally different from them, both on the outside and within. It was better for him to stay away from humans, for the good of everyone involved.
He also had no intention of trying to explain his motives to humans anymore. For one, he had learned long ago that communicating with them wasn’t easy. For another, he didn’t feel the need to do so. Although his path crossed with humans every now and then, his needs and goals were vastly different from theirs. Therefore, most of the time, he simply tried to avoid any kind of interaction with them.
Jake spent the next several days adhering to his usual routine—hunting for mana and XP while searching for elite replication pods and doing his best to steer clear of confrontations with Los Demonios and other groups of survivors. During this time, he leveled up several times, progressing from level 56 to level 61 and gaining a total of 25 skill points.
First of all, he increased the ranks of some of his abilities and skills that had reached 100% by that point, making them even more powerful and useful than they already were.
Bladed Tentacles: Rank I → Rank II
Smashfists: Rank I → Rank II
Enhanced Reflexes: Rank I → Rank II
Enhanced Strength: Rank I → Rank II
Enhanced Regeneration: Rank I → Rank II
Feral Instincts: Rank I → Rank II
Enhanced Durability: Rank I → Rank II
Following that, he spent several of his skill points to acquire upgrades for some of his skills and abilities. He used one skill point to obtain the fourth upgrade for Gravity Leap, which allowed him to drop with greater power at any moment after jumping. He knew that this upgrade wasn’t particularly useful on its own, but it was necessary for other abilities to function, which he was sure he would acquire at some point.
He also acquired all the upgrades for Cloak. Being an Uncommon ability, it had four upgrades available.
Cloak: Rank I (44%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Thanks to the first upgrade, it now took less than a second for the illusion of transparency to activate once he used Cloak. The second upgrade allowed the ability to keep pace with him when he ran, making him difficult to detect with the naked eye even when he moved quickly. With the third upgrade, Cloak rarely got turned off, even during intense battles with mutants that involved lots of erratic movements. As for the fourth upgrade, he hadn’t yet seen any survivors using special tools to detect hidden objects or mutants, but he was certain that, at some point, they would acquire such tools, and when that happened, this upgrade would prove invaluable.
He also acquired all four upgrades for the Adhesive Secretion skill.
Adhesive Secretion: Rank I (23%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
The first three upgrades basically improved the overall effectiveness of this skill. The fourth upgrade was more interesting, but Jake wasn’t sure how often he would actually use it. After all, regular survivors hardly ever attacked with bare hands, usually relying on firearms instead. However, this upgrade might be useful in battles against certain types of mutants.
With all his skills and abilities upgraded to the next available ranks and every upgrade acquired, Jake spent the rest of his skill points to boost his attributes.
At some point, Jake finally finished the Wraith mutation research quest, unlocking Morph Disguise. This ability appeared in the third section of the Genetic DevelopmentInterface titled Evolution Stage 3: “Apex Manifestation.” Since Jake remained in Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ascent,” he didn’t have access to the skills and abilities listed in the third section. Still, he could view the description of the Morph Disguise ability, even though he couldn’t acquire it yet.
Morph Disguise: This ability allows you to take on the appearance of the last human whose mind you have accessed using Mind Reader. You can change your exterior to match that of the human, and while adopting this appearance, you also retain some of the person’s memories and knowledge.
Requirements: Body 125, Mind 135, Magick 140, Mind Reader (Rank IV)
Cost: 125,000 MP (Note: You need to evolve into Stage 3 “Apex Manifestation” before you can acquire Morph Disguise.)
This ability was truly remarkable! With it, he could disguise himself as a person and walk among them undetected, blending in as if he were one of them. It would certainly open up a world of opportunities for him!
However, Morph Disguise came with an exceptionally high cost—more than double the MP he currently possessed. It was safe to assume that all skills and abilities available in Evolution Stage 3: “Apex Manifestation” would be equally expensive. Moreover, this ability relied on Mind Reader to function. He would need to upgrade Mind Reader to Rank IV before he could use Morph Disguise.
It got him thinking. The skills listed in the First Section of the Genetic Development Interface were Common, while those in the Second Section were Uncommon. He assumed the Third Section contained Epic skills. Since Morph Disguise was Epic, it fell under the Third Section, meaning he must evolve to Stage III to access that section and purchase Morph Disguise. He had been able to upgrade Common skills to Uncommon upon evolving to Stage II, which meant that all his Uncommon skills would be eligible for an upgrade to Epic once he reached Stage III, and probably so on—at least, if Stage III wasn’t the final stage of evolution. Judging by its name alone, Stage III might actually be the final stage of evolution, but sure enough, he didn’t know that for sure yet.
Anyway, Jake wondered what the requirements were for evolving into Stage 3: “Apex Manifestation.” As soon as he asked the question in his mind, the answers popped into his head.
Requirements for evolving to Stage 3
Attributes: Body 70, Mind 70, Magick 70
Enhanced Senses - Rank III
Enhanced Agility - Rank III
Enhanced Intelligence - Rank III
Enhanced Reflexes - Rank III
Enhanced Strength - Rank III
Enhanced Regeneration - Rank III
Feral Instincts - Rank III
Enhanced Durability: Rank III
He realized he wasn’t too far from meeting the requirements! He just needed to level up to 75, increase each of his attributes to 70, and raise some of his skills to Rank III. So, it wouldn’t take him long to fulfill the requirements and evolve into Stage III. The thought filled him with excitement. He could hardly wait to transform into the next form!
He then took a moment to examine all his current stats.
Race: Ex-Human Morphus
Evolution Stage 2: “Savage Ascent”
Claws: Rank III (23%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Swords: Rank II (21%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Bladed Tentacles: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Mind Reader: Rank II (15%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Smashfists: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Gravity Leap: Rank I (36%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Cloak: Rank I (44%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Enhanced Senses: Rank III (21%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Enhanced Agility: Rank III (26%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Enhanced Intelligence: Rank III (27%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
Enhanced Reflexes: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Enhanced Strength: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Enhanced Regeneration: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Feral Instincts: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Enhanced Durability: Rank II (0%) (Upgrades: 3 of 3) (Common)
Adhesive Secretion: Rank I (23%) (Upgrades: 4 of 4) (Uncommon)
After that, Jake resumed his journey.