Jake swiftly ran toward the group of survivors. The bluish glow from the crystal in Erick’s hands cast light every which way, making it impossible for Jake to remain undetected for long. Averie noticed him from the corner of her eye and turned her head to look in his direction.
“What the hell?” Thomas muttered, spotting him as well. “It’s a mutant! Where’d it come from?”
“It’s moving so fast,” Averie gasped.
Even though the survivors noticed him sooner than he’d hoped, it didn’t matter much. Jake sprinted so fast he was on top of the two survivors in their sleeping bags before they could even reach for their weapons. Erick cowered in fear as Jake loomed over him, staring up at the black mutant with wide eyes. Instead of going for his gun lying next to his sleeping bag, he tightened his grip on the mana crystal, holding it close to his chest. It wasn’t that he sensed Jake’s intentions but rather an instinctive move.
As Jake reached down, Erick recoiled backward, but he was too slow to evade Jake’s grasp. He closed his black textured hands around the glowing crystal and pulled. Erick held onto his precious mana consumable with all his might, and for the briefest of seconds, Jake felt a bit of resistance. Still, Erick’s feeble human body was no match for Jake’s strength. He tugged a bit harder and almost effortlessly wrenched the crystal from Erick’s grasp.
“No!” he screamed, seemingly more terrified about his precious mana crystal being taken from him than by the terrifying-looking mutant who had seized it.
Jake’s expanded field of vision allowed him to see the female survivor, Averie, still sitting in her sleeping bag on his right and the other two men, Thomas and Kaleb, standing by the windows off to his left. He could see the two men bring up their guns to aim at him, and he immediately spun in place to face them, ready to confront them if necessary. However, they refrained from opening fire, and he understood why. He stood too close to Erick, and there was also Averie behind him. They were reluctant to open fire while he stood so close to them, fearing accidentally wounding their friends.
Suddenly, a booming gunshot echoed from behind him, and in the next instant, he felt something punch him in the back, causing him to stagger. Furious, he wheeled around to see Averie holding a huge revolver resembling a Colt Python in a two-handed grip, with smoke drifting up from its muzzle. Her facial expression clearly conveyed her disbelief at how he nonchalantly shrugged off the blast from such a powerful handgun. Then determination sparked in her eyes as her index finger whitened, tightening around the trigger of the huge revolver once more.
A fraction of a second before she fired, Jake leaped out of her line of fire, throwing his body sideways. The bullet whizzed past him, missing him by a hair’s breadth. A panicked scream erupted behind him, accompanied by the shatter of a window. Jake didn’t need to glance back to know that the shot Averie had just fired almost hit one of the men standing by the windows behind him. Averie stared up at Jake with a dumbfounded look on her face. His lightning speed and incredible resistance to damage left her stunned.
What the hell are you, was clearly written on her face.
You’re about to find out, bitch, Jake thought.
Only it wasn’t exactly his thinking. His inner beast had awakened when a bullet had torn into his back, and now the monster within him craved blood. It growled within him, urging him to charge at the survivors and tear them apart. Jake was terrified to realize that deep down, it was what he too desired most at the moment. Yet he knew he couldn’t give in to the urges of his inner beast. To preserve his humanity, he had to fight against his dark impulses.
Jake spun toward the exit of the building and bolted across the hall, clutching the mana crystal tightly in one hand. As he distanced himself from the survivors, they unleashed a hail of bullets at him. The rounds whizzed by like enraged hornets, one managing to graze his back and further enraging his inner beast. But Jake didn’t slow down or look back, sprinting through the near darkness of the building. The radiant glow of the crystal made him a clear target, but his speed outpaced their aim, allowing him to evade their relentless gunfire.
Within seconds, Jake reached the entrance. Just before he burst out of the building, he heard one of the survivors exclaim to the others, “Guys, what the hell was that thing?” Then he was out of the building, jogging through the night streets overgrown with vegetation, noting that the survivors made no attempt to pursue him. He pushed on for a few blocks before gradually slowing to a stop at a deserted four-way intersection. He scanned his surroundings for any threats but didn’t spot any.
He raised the mana consumable to his eyes. It really was giving off a lot of bluish light. It was understandable why Erick had kept the crystal tightly wrapped in a dark, thick piece of fabric. For a moment, Jake just watched the bluish energy dance and swirl within the crystal. Erick had been right. It was beautiful. Despite its beauty, Jake knew he had a more practical purpose for the crystal, unlike Erick’s sentimentality toward it.
He then gave a mental command to appraise the item. Its stats instantly emerged in his mind.
Mana Crystal: 5,000 MP (Rare)
He then checked the amount of mana he currently had.
After consuming the energy from the crystal, he would possess over eight thousand MP, allowing him to unlock two or even three new abilities. If he could use the mana crystal at the moment, that is. Erick had told his friends that he hadn’t been able to absorb the mana from the crystal because he needed to be at least level 15 to do that. Perhaps, it was the case with Jake as well.
He tightened his grip around the crystal, testing its strength. Surprisingly, it didn’t shatter under his pressure, suggesting it was either more durable than other mana consumables or required him to reach level 15 to use it. However, nothing had been mentioned about the requirement to reach level 15 before being able to use the crystal in the description of the item he’d summoned a moment before. Perhaps, unlike survivors, he could use the crystal. So he tried again, exerting more strength this time. There was a moment of resistance, and then the crystal finally broke in his grip. The bluish energy escaped from the cracks, flowing toward Jake’s arm and assimilating into his black flesh. It took a few moments for the abundant mana to transfer from the crystal into him, filling him with its power.
After the absorption process was complete, Jake opened his hand, and the now empty, shattered crystal dropped to the asphalt below. Now, it was time for him to acquire some new abilities with the mana he’d gained.