Chapter 111

Jake continued hunting for mana for some time, using Mana Vision to locate mana items. Initially, he gathered all types of mana consumables but then opted to focus solely on the larger ones like shards and chunks. By that point, he’d collected nearly forty thousand mana points. Mana Vision proved to be an extremely useful perk. With the amount he’d collected, he could already afford to purchase a couple of skills from the Genetic Development Interface. However, the skills designed for Evolution Stage 2 had quite demanding requirements. He needed to level up a few more times to upgrade his attributes before he could purchase any of them.

Jake entered another building to find the top floor teeming with mutants. There were also several replication pods hanging from the ceiling. Dealing with the mutants didn’t take long. Once the last of them was taken care of, he turned his attention to the replication pods. He stepped to the closest one, claws poised for attack.

Through the transparent cocoon could be seen a mutant of the walker breed in the process of being developed. Jake gazed inside for a moment, and when he was about to slash his claws at the pod, a system notification flashed through his mind.

New Mutation Research!

Objective: Analyze replication pods with five different types of mutants within.

Difficulty: Hard

Reward: Mind Reader (Uncommon Ability)

Accept: Y/N

It was the second time Jake had encountered a quest of this type. The previous quest had tasked him with analyzing three different mutants being developed in replication pods. As a reward for completing the quest, he’d earned the Bladed Tentacles ability.

This quest was very similar to the previous one. It required him to analyze five creatures instead of three as before, and its difficulty was hard. Other than that, this quest didn’t differ from the last one.

The reward was an ability called Mind Reader. Jake wasn’t sure exactly what it did or how it worked, but judging from the name alone, this ability seemed quite interesting. It was of the uncommon rarity, too, which meant it would have four upgrades available for unlocking instead of the usual three.

Jake accepted the quest and gazed into the pod in front of him. He anticipated a message saying that the first mutant type had been analyzed to appear in his mind, but to his surprise, it didn’t happen. Perhaps he needed to wait a bit longer? He continued to stare into the pod, watching the mutant being created inside. It was in the early stages of development, but he could already tell it was going to be a walker.

Finally, a notification emerged in his mind. Only it wasn’t the one he’d expected.

You have already analyzed this creature.

Well, that was disappointing. It turned out that he had to find pods with mutants he hadn’t analyzed before. Although it was a new quest, the creatures he’d analyzed during the previous mutation research quest couldn’t be counted again. He’d previously analyzed three types of mutants being developed in replication pods: a walker, a leaper, and a shambler. Therefore, he now had to locate pods producing mutant types other than these three.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Jake walked around the room, peering into each of the pods. However, every pod in the room contained either a walker or a leaper. He waited. When the mutants emerged from the cocoons, he dealt with them and then checked the pods once more. After releasing the fully developed mutants, they sealed shut and began to create new ones. However, when Jake peered into them, he saw they were in the process of creating walkers and leapers again. He decided to wait a bit longer.

When a fresh batch of fully-developed mutants emerged, he quickly killed them all and examined the replication pods again. To his dismay, they were once again producing walkers and leapers. Losing patience, Jake tore the cocoons to shreds with his claws. It seemed that these particular replication pods could only create walkers and leapers.

He searched through the other floors, but there were no more replication pods anywhere in the building. It sucked. He’d completed the very first mutation research quest pretty quickly because he was able to find pods with three different creatures within the same building. His current quest, however, was definitely going to take longer to complete. It seemed he would need to visit multiple buildings containing replication pods before being able to complete the quest.

For the next hour or so, Jake combed through several buildings, looking for those containing replication pods. Since he didn’t have any means to locate replication pods in advance, he couldn’t know which buildings had them and which didn’t. Thus, he simply had to rely on luck, choosing buildings at random.

At first, he used Mana Vision to locate mana consumables so he could kill two birds with one stone: collect mana and come across replication pods in the process. However, later on, he decided to stop looking for mana items for now and fully concentrate on completing his quest first.

He would jump to a building, thoroughly search it for replication pods from the top floor to the first one, then return to the roof and leap to another building. He moved very quickly, disregarding any distractions, not even bothering to kill any mutants he encountered unless they impeded his progress.

At some point, he located a pod where a slasher was being created. He analyzed the creature, causing his quest to finally progress. A little later, in another building, he found two more different types of mutants being created in replication pods: a chaser and a whipper. After analyzing them, he quickly destroyed the pods to prevent the mutants from being released.

After a few more trips to different buildings, Jake discovered another one filled with replication pods on one floor. In one of them, he located a new type of mutant he hadn’t analyzed before. The creature being created inside the pod was massive, stretching the confines of the cocoon almost to the point of rupturing. Jake identified the creature being developed as a bloater, a mutant capable of spewing torrents of acid.

Creature analyzed. The status of mutation research has been updated.

He closed his eyes and summoned the quest menu. The active one stood at the top of the list, with all the completed quests listed below. He focused on the current one to check its status.

Status: In Progress (4 of 5)

Only one mutant type remained to be analyzed before the quest would be complete. Jake struck out with his claws at the pod before him, shredding both the cocoon and the underdeveloped bloater. He then examined the other pods hanging from the ceiling, but all of them contained mutant types he’d already analyzed. Despite this, Jake remained in high spirits. He only needed to locate one more pod with an unanalyzed mutant to finish his quest. It wouldn’t be long before he found it. He was on the brink of completing the quest.

After returning to the rooftop of the building he currently occupied, Jake took a moment to look around and gather his bearings. He chose a direction, but before he could proceed, he heard a familiar sound from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a helicopter flying over the rooftops.

It was the same chopper that had attacked him some time ago. At the moment, it was too far away for him to worry about. The two occupants of the helicopter weren’t just flying around the city for no reason. Instead, they appeared to be searching for something. Jake couldn’t help but wonder what they were looking for.

However, what humans did was not his concern. Picking a direction away from the black helicopter, he resumed his search.