His body used just over 5,000 MP to regenerate his left arm, which was about what he had expected. Once his arm was back, Jake began his regular cleanup of the sewers, taking down every monster he encountered. By the time he finished, he had leveled up once more, earning 5 skill points. He was now at Level 78, with a total of 14 skill points at his disposal.
As planned, Jake purchased the last two abilities and one skill from the second section of the Genetic Development Interface: Spikes, Serpentine Form, and Adaptive Armor. Each of these three abilities was categorized as Uncommon and had four available upgrades. He immediately unlocked all upgrades for them, spending a total of 12 skill points.
Description: You can sprout spikes from your body, capable of impaling foes upon contact or creating obstacles.
1 - Significantly increase the amount of spikes you can protrude from your body.
2 - Significantly increase the length and strength of the spikes.
3 - Allow spikes to be launched as projectiles, enabling ranged attacks that impale enemies from a distance.
4 - Add venom to the spikes for extra damage and the potential to paralyze on contact. To use it, you need any skill that allows you to generate or keep toxins within your body, such as Toxic Resistance with the fourth upgrade. Requirements: Magick 65
This ability was quite intriguing. When Jake activated it, numerous spikes erupted from his body—his legs, arms, and even his head were covered in them. There were quite a lot of them, and since Jake acquired all the upgrades immediately after obtaining the ability, he had no reference point to determine how many spikes were originally intended to sprout from his body. However, with the first upgrade, the sheer number of spikes protruding from his body was undeniably impressive.
He stepped toward one of the walls and struck it with his right spiked arm, testing the spikes’ strength. As it turned out, they were not easily breakable. He then made his way to the middle of the tunnel he was currently in and stood still. He gave a mental command to launch the spikes, and all of them immediately detached from his body, zipping through the air in different directions like arrows. Although they didn’t travel far, some hit the walls with enough force to shatter upon impact.
This ability could definitely come in handy when fighting large groups of mutants. However, it likely wouldn’t be as effective against humans, as they mostly relied on firearms rather than engaging mutants in close-range combat. Nevertheless, launching spikes could still be useful against humans, especially when they were close enough.
The fourth upgrade could infuse his spikes with venom, but he would need toxins in his body to do so, which he currently lacked. His Toxic Resistance allowed him to obtain toxins from a caustic environment, so he knew that eventually, he would be able to test out the fourth upgrade for Spikes in action.
Ability: Serpentine Form
Description: You can generate flexible, prehensile tendrils from your body, granting the ability to ensnare targets.
1 - Enhance the strength of the tendrils, making them difficult to sever or rip away.
2 - Significantly increase the number of tendrils that can be generated at the same time.
3 - Allow the tendrils to extend over greater distances, enabling longer reach and increased maneuverability.
4 - Enable the tendrils to produce Adhesive Secretion. Requirements: the Adhesive Secretion skill
Jake tested out Serpentine Form as well. Over two dozen tendrils sprouted from his back. Unlike Bladed Tentacles, they were thinner but longer, each reaching several meters in length. He was surprised at how easily he could control each of the tendrils as if they had always been a natural part of his body. He extended some of them upward, reaching the high ceiling of the tunnel. Mentally, he activated Adhesive Secretion, and the tendrils adhered firmly to the ceiling. He flexed them, lifting himself off the ground and elevating all the way to the ceiling. Once he reached it, he positioned both his feet and hands against the surface, creating additional points of contact to make sure he was securely anchored.
So he could use Serpentine Form for tasks as well. Sure, he could have just jumped up to reach the ceiling. It wasn’t all that high, so he probably wouldn’t have even needed to use Gravity Leap. Still, it was good to have various ways to achieve the same result. He then unstuck himself from the ceiling and dropped to the tunnel floor, twisting midair and landing smoothly on his feet. With a mental command, he detached the tendrils from his body, and they fell off, quickly withering away. Some of them dried up and turned into black dust even before hitting the tunnel floor.
Skill: Adaptive Armor
Description: Your skin adopts defensive plating, providing enhanced protection against physical harm.
1 - Instantly generate additional armor plates at points of impact where piercing weapons attempt to penetrate.
2 - Increase the thickness and durability of the armor plates, improving resistance against both slashing and blunt attacks.
3 - Integrate a reflective property into the armor that can deflect projectile attacks back at the attackers.
4 - Greatly enhance resistance to energy-based weapons, with a chance to reflect such attacks back. Requirements: Body 65, Magick 70
This skill basically made him more resilient to various types of damage, for an additional mana consumption cost, of course. One of the upgrades could even make bullets bounce off his body, which was really good. He imagined the shocked faces of humans when they saw the bullets they fired ricochet back at them from him. The fourth upgrade gave him increased resistance to energy-based weapons. Even though he hadn’t encountered anyone armed with such a weapon yet, he had decided to acquire the upgrade anyway.
At some point during the sewer cleanup, he received two notifications stating that Acidic Spit and Adhesive Secretion had reached 100% and were ready to advance to the next ranks. So he allocated his two remaining skill points to upgrade Acidic Spit to Rank II and Adhesive Secretion to Rank III.
He now had only 11,000 MP left, which was even less than the 15,000 he had expected to have after acquiring the two abilities and one skill from the second section of the skill store. The other four thousand mana points had been depleted during his battles with the sewer mutants. His skills and abilities were very powerful and therefore depleted significant amounts of mana when used. At his current level, even when he was idle, his body consumed lots of MP. He also noticed that Spikes and Serpentine Form each had consumed a hefty chunk of his mana, even with just one use. Thus, he should probably avoid using them too often.
So Jake decided not to evolve into the next stage for the time being. He knew that evolving would make him stronger, which meant his body would need significantly more mana to simply function. With only eleven thousand mana points left—not much even for his current form—he opted to postpone his evolution. While he was eager to evolve and unlock new skills and abilities, he could afford to wait one more day. After all, as far as he knew, running out of mana meant certain death.
He decided to take it easy for the rest of the day to preserve his mana. After nightfall, he would go on a regular mana hunt, and once he collected enough mana, he would evolve into the next stage. For now, he opted to make his way back to the Los Demonios base he had recently located. The HQ should have finished upgrading to Level 6 by now, so it was time to find out what changes it had brought about.