He soared through the air, feeling the wind flow over his body. Crossing the gap between the two buildings, he landed on the neighboring roof. He launched himself into a roll and then leaped to his feet, moving gracefully as a cat.
Once on his feet, he looked back toward the roof he’d leaped from. The gap between the two buildings was pretty wide, so it was quite impressive that he had actually managed to make the jump. Jake walked to the opposite edge of the roof, surveying the area. High-rise buildings sprawled in every direction as far as he could see. Some of them were a little lower than his vantage point while others towered much higher into the sky.
Jake didn’t recognize the city at all. It looked unlike any city he had ever seen in his life. Wherever he looked, he saw high-rises. The city appeared to lack any unique landmarks or distinctive features that could set it apart from other cities. Peering down, he noticed scattered smaller buildings like diners or boutique shops squeezed in between the tall structures.
It might seem like an urban hell to an ordinary person, but to him, the abundance of tall buildings was actually a good thing. Maybe he would learn to shoot spider webs from his hands and swing through the city like Spider-Man. Well, probably not, but since most of the buildings stood at about the same intervals from one another, he could navigate the city by jumping from one roof to the next. Maybe he could also scale the vertical surfaces without much trouble—after all, the recent upgrade he’d acquired for Enhanced Agility had granted him some good acrobatic abilities. Perhaps in the future, he could acquire additional skills and abilities—like levitation or something similar—to navigate the city even more easily.
Anyway, the excitement of his newfound abilities filled him with an incredible sense of freedom. It felt good to be a mutant!
It was getting darker by the second, but it didn’t bother him. With Enhanced Senses raised to Rank II, he could see in the darkness even better than before. To his right stood a building that was about ten stories taller than his. He considered jumping over to it and trying to scale it to the roof. It was pretty risky, though. What if he couldn’t cling to the building and ended up falling? Sure, he was eager to test out his acrobatic abilities, but it didn’t mean he should be reckless about it. Falling from great heights would definitely hurt him, though he didn’t know how much. Most of the buildings were covered in foliage, offering plenty of handholds like vines to grab onto, but Jake decided not to try to scale vertical surfaces for the time being.
Instead, he opted to just jump from roof to roof for some time. Maybe he would even be able to reach the edge of the city to see what lay beyond. For a moment, he was perched on the edge of the roof, looking around and pondering which direction to take. The stillness of the night was broken only by the wind as well as the occasional screeching cry of a mutant. His heightened sense of hearing made the distant sounds appear closer than they actually were. Down below, walkers could be seen shuffling through the deserted streets.
Jake crouched down, preparing for a leap to the roof of another building. For a second, he was motionless, feeling the cool night air against his mutant skin. Then his muscles coiled like a spring, and he launched himself off the rooftop, propelling his body up and forward. He sailed through the air, then softly landed on the other roof. Without pausing, he broke into a sprint across the roof and jumped toward the next building.
As he flew through the air, he twisted and turned mid-air, his newfound acrobatic abilities giving him precise control over his movements. Each jump was powerful and effortless, carrying him from one rooftop to another without a sound. He did his best to move in one direction, but he had to make slight adjustments every now and then because the right buildings weren’t always in his path.
Below, the mutants roamed aimlessly, unaware of the black figure leaping above them. Now and then, his enhanced senses picked up distant sounds of gunfire along with brief muzzle flashes that momentarily illuminated the darkness of the streets down below. Jake paid them no mind, and the survivors weren’t aware of his movements either. Even if someone happened to glance up at the right moment and catch a glimpse of him leaping between buildings overhead, he doubted anyone would be able to make sense of what they were seeing. With each jump Jake performed, he felt a thrill of freedom coursing through him. It was truly amazing. He had never experienced anything like that before.
He soared through the night sky for a while, his enhanced abilities making the jumps powerful and effortless. Then, after what seemed like a very long time, he finally reached the edge of the city. He stopped at the edge of the roof, starting at the vast empty expanse extending beyond the city. There was nothing there, absolutely nothing. A desolate landscape met his eyes, with scorched earth stretching endlessly toward the distant horizon. While a road extended out of the city, it lay in ruins and was practically impassable.
The arid wasteland was split by long, wide chasms as if the terrain there was constantly ravaged by powerful earthquakes. Traveling in a straight line would be nearly impossible there. Whether on foot or in a vehicle, he would need to constantly move in a zigzagging pattern to maneuver around those huge cracks in the ground.
He doubted that vehicles he had come across in the city as a survivor would be able to drive over the rough ground of the wasteland. To navigate that kind of terrain, he would need a special off-road vehicle specifically designed for driving over rough surfaces. Jake was sure that his being a mutant wouldn’t prevent him from driving a car. Why would it? However, he was unaware of where he could find an off-road vehicle powerful enough to navigate such tough terrain. Besides, where would he go? Without any destination in mind, he could drive around in the wasteland for a long time without finding anything at all.
He decided to figure out the best way to navigate through the wasteland beyond the city’s limits at a later time. As of now, there was no reason for him to leave the city. He learned what lay beyond its boundaries, and with his curiosity now satisfied, he could continue to prowl the city that had become his hunting grounds.
Jake shifted his gaze away from the desolate wasteland and made his way to the opposite edge of the rooftop. He stared down at the streets below, which were now bathed in the moonlight. Before moving on, he assessed the amount of mana remaining in his body, realizing his recent acrobatic exploits and mana-infused jumps had considerably depleted his energy levels. Determined to fix that, he set off into the night for another nocturnal hunt for mana.